Ormiston Gorge to Palm Valley

This morning saw darling Tim needing a bit of a sleep in as did a few others in the group. We are expecting a top temperature of 27° today and it dosen't feel like it will get to that as there is a nice cool breeze and we had a great night by the river at 2 Mile 4WD camping spot. Perfect sunset with a wine while Tim put up the tent. This worked better for him and was lovely for me.

Food ideas:

1. Buying a baccarat cooker is an awesome idea - Deanna and Gary made amazing lamb shanks for dinner and this will make its way into my next menu plan.

2. Buying already precooked and kryovaced choices like the Coles Lamb Shanks is brilliant. Thanks for modelling for us Robyn.

Today Tim had to spend some time fixing the charger. He checked the wiring and put new fuses in for a third time. He checked the wiring and it is all alright. He thinks it got water in it somewhere and I now know something about fuses. Did you know that fusee make a weak link in a circuit and if there is a short circuit the fuse will burn out which breaks the current. Also, Lee and Paul had trouble starting their car. This meant a later than needed start to the day.

Visits to two beautiful gorges today meant me becoming the brave swimmer and on a warm day this was not a hard thing to do. Firstly we went to Ormiston Gorge and it was a beautiful easy accessed walking path to a great swimming spot. We all decided to go in and get wet, Tim and I had a good swim in the cool water and it really refreshes you. Leah, Irma and I went for a decent paddle and I overcame my fear of black water and cold, iced decents into unknown waters! This place was a pond like water hole that had a sitting area when you first arrive to it. In the first photo here you can see us all wondering what the right thing to do is - so we decided to walk around the rocks and cross the creeky rocks and enjoyed a fabulous time together. It is an intresting feeling to be in such a remote place and to only have to walk 500m to see such a lush, magnificent and peaceful place. We had lumch here today and I think it is time I take on the logistic coordinator and then that way we all know where we are headed. One of our new crew missed this turn off this morning and we now know that we need to all keep in radio touch.

Another 23km onwards saw us arrive at the most amazing spot in my life so far, Redbank Gorge. This was a natural water hole but cut in the rocks between Mt Razerback and Mt Sonder. The walk into the water hole was 1.2km and the terrain was very rocky to go into. We all persevered and were treated to an amazingly spectacular experience. We have seen bigger water holes but when we got the courage to enter this one we were shocked. It was increadibly cold and nearly two hours after being in there I am just warming up now. There  we were entering the most amazing gorge that was mind blowing.

 We swam between these two ridges for about 4-500m where we had to climb over boulders, climb up a tunnel, cross sandy sections and be brave. I have two elbow bruises and and a sore neck but am happy to get over it and toughen up.

We are now 89km from Hermansnsburg and we are passing Gosse Bluff that is 914m high everything just looks spectacularly grand. We spent the night by the side of the Finke river and had an early night. It is tiring work all this travel, camp set up and pack up but the views and experiences are amazing.