Arltunga

Friday 3^rd June

Today we headed east of ALICE SPRINGS along the Ross River Road to ARLTUNGA, an old Gold Mining Settlement.  To get to the settlement we had to travel for about 75 km along the sealed Ross Highway, and then head north east for 35 km along a metal road.

The metal road proved to be a bit of a goat track winding in and out of a dry river bed for the first 10 or so km.  Here was a lot of sign of recent flood damage where the road crossed and followed the creek, and a grader had spent a lot of time making the road passable.  After that it was mile after mile of quite bad corrugations.  It took about as long to do the 35 km of metal road as it did to do the 85 on the seal.

Never mind it was well worth the effort.  I had first read about and seen photos of ARLTUNGA many years ago, and had always wanted to visit it.  I was not disappointed.  To walk around what was once a thriving Gold Mining Town, and was now just a few ruins was amazing. 

ARLTUNGA was founded in 1887 after gold was found in a dry creek bed.  In the resulting Gold Rush it became Central Australia’s first town.  The gold soon ran out and the town was deserted by 1916.  The shear isolation and inhospitably of the place made it almost impossible to live there.  Everything had to be bought in by foot or horseback.

Some of the first miners to arrive there had walked more than 1650 km overland from Adelaide and Melbourne.  Firstly they followed the Over Land Telegraph for over 1500 km up to Alice Springs, then followed the Eastern  Macdonnell Ranges cross country for 120 km to Arltunga.  Many of them pushed homemade wheel barrows with all their belongings in them for the entire distance.

Walking around there you can’t help but wonder how incredibly harsh living conditions must have been.  Its stark beauty will always remain with me. It is definitely the most isolated place I have ever been in, and consider myself very lucky to have experienced it.

Cameron decided the isolated road was the ideal place for him to have another ‘Driving Lesson’, so we let him drive on the return trip for a while.  We got a running commentary from this now ‘very experienced driver.’  I told him that because this was a very different road, a lot rougher, narrower and windier, he would have to go a lot slower and concentrate a lot more.

He set off, and after a couple of km told us, “actually I’m feeling fairly confident about this”.  And then a short time later, “You know I’m feeling very relaxed even though this is a rough road”.  I also got some advice on how I should approach certain river crossings etc when next I got behind the wheel. 

I politely thanked him for his advice and then suggested that as he was doing so well perhaps it was time I had a go and tried out some of the tips he had given me.

On our way back to Alice we called in at the Ross River Resort, only to find it pretty much run down and almost deserted.  Closer to Alice we went into have a look at the TREPHINA GORGE.

The road in crossed over a couple of fords which Cameron found quite exciting. 

What a beautiful spot.   A wide gorge cut over million of years by a stream running through the Eastern Macdonnell Ranges, exposing some amazing rock formations in the process. 

By now the sun was getting low in the sky and we saw some brilliant colours on the rocks on the side of the gorge.  The river bed itself was all sand, about 20 to 30 meters wide, and as flat as a pancake.

Closer to Alice we stopped off at CORROBOREE ROCK, which was a large rock outcrop that is a Sacred Place to the Aboriginals.

We intended to also call in and see Emily and Jessie Gaps, but ran out of light.   We arrived back in ALICE just on dark after a fantastic days sightseeing.