One of the best spots we have come across in central Australia is Ormiston Gorge. Ormiston is set in the West macs and is about 150kms west of Alice. Ormiston Creek cuts through the macs and eventually joins up with the Finke River. There is an almost permanent waterhole at Ormiston and the gorge is a lot bigger than some of the other gorges and gaps in the range.
The walls of the gorge are many hundreds of metres high and the whole area is stunning. There are a couple of good walks in the area, we did the Ghost gum walk. This climbed up and around a small portion of the gorge and gave a good aerial view. We wanted to do the longer pound walk but is involved swimming through a lot of cold water and we weren’t set up for that clothes wise, bags, cameras etc. The ghost gum walk said we would have to swim too but we were able to walk along the rocks beside the river to get by without getting wet.
Corinne actually went for a swim in the fish infested water at lunch time which was very brave. Not only did she take on the small man eating fish but the water was also pretty freezing.
The entire gorge is amazing and you could spend days just exploring the various parts of the large gorge and surrounding cliffs. I would probably rate Ormiston as a top 3 spot around Alice Springs due to its size, water and general beauty.
Corinne surveying the first large pool at Ormiston.
Looking back towards the start of the gorge
Looking deeper into the gorge with the sun unfortunately in an awkward position
The view of the gorge from near where we had some lunch. This is not really even the gorge, it starts around the corner to the right and goes for a long way.
The Red bluff has a great lookout on top of it that is reached via the Ghost Gum walk. You can just see a tiny bit of metal protruding fro the rocks at the very top of the cliff.
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