The Alice Springs Desert Park is at the base of Mount Gillen just outside Alice Springs. It is a wildlife park, native botanic gardens and cultural centre all rolled into one magnificent attraction. There are animals in large free-ranging areas, large aviaries and a nocturnal house. A range of plant habitats are recreated to showcase … More The Red Centre – Winter 2017 Day 16 – Alice Springs Desert Park

Early morning sunshine brought out the colour in these Sturt’s Desert Pea in Alice Springs. The red has not been enhanced – they are this vivid. Flynn’s memorial on Larapinta Drive west out of town. John Flynn was a minister of religion who did much to improve the health of all residents in Central Australia. … More The Red Centre – Winter 2017 Day 15 – Gorges and Chasm

The road through the West Macdonnell Ranges would be one of the most scenic in Australia. Range after range, each with different angles of folded or tilted emerge from the valley. Golden grasses from autumn rains make the area seem less arid than most other places in Central Australia we have visited. Ellery Big Hole … More The Red Centre – Winter 2017 Day 14 – West Macdonnell Ranges

Today we spent all day in the East Mcdonnell Ranges visiting four major sites –  Emily Gap, Jessie Gap, Corroboree Rock and Trephina Gorge. Emily Gap is a small reserve where a river (mostly dry breaks throgh the range. Indigenous artworks depict a caterpillar dreaming story. Zebra finches are in abundance around a wet patch … More The Red Centre – Winter 2017 Day 13 – East Macdonnell Ranges

A cool sunny morning in Erldunda today. We stopped at a rest area called Desert Oaks to view the oaks (Allocasuarina decaisneana) on red sand dunes. Flowers of the desert oak Seedpods of the desert oak – the largest of any Casuarina in Australia Spinifex Animal tracks on the red dune Beetle The area was active overnight … More The Red Centre – Winter 2017 Day 12 – The Alice

Our destination today is Erldunda, a roadhouse and accommodation complex on the junction of the Stuart and Lasseter Highways. It is considered the Centre of the Centre of Australia. We weren’t the first to leave town for the drive north but we weren’t the last. Open plains near Coober Pedy changed to Mulga woodlands then … More The Red Centre – Winter 2017 Day 11 – The Centre of the Centre

The morning was spent looking around the town features of Coober Pedy. We used Trip Advisor reviews to short list attractions most worth seeing. The Umoona Museum and opal shop contained some interesting exhibits, fossil opals and some higher quality opal jewellry. Opalised belemnites (squid like animals) from the gut of an icthyosaur. Opalised belemnites … More The Red Centre – Winter 2017 Day 10 – Coober Pedy

We left Port Augusta just after sunrise to begin the long drive to the red centre of Australia. The ranges and huge panoramic views made this our favourite drive so far this trip. Just outside Port Augusta Ranges View Rest Area A goods train heading for the coast Island Lagoon – salt lake with conical … More The Red Centre – Winter 2017 Day 9 – The Stuart Highway

Today was a day of big things – big fish, big ant, big rocks, big farmer, big galah, big trucks, big flocks and big paddocks. A big fish – before leaving Streaky Bay, we visited the local Shell station to see the great white shark replica of the exact size caught with a hand line … More The Red Centre – Winter 2017 Day 8 – Big day on the Eyre Highway

An early morning walk on th jetty is a refreshing start to the day. Everywhere we go, the locals greet us with open arms. The Streaky Bay Hotel, where we dined last night, was built in 1866, Our destination today is Point Labatt, 51km south of Streaky Bay. It is the largest mainland colony of … More The Red Centre – Winter 2017 Day 7 – Streaky Bay, Seals and Sceales

Spencers Gulf has an amazing variety of sea life. Leafy sea dragons, sea horses, giant cuttlefish and great white sharks call this area home. A morning walk on the jetty showed us a glimpse of their world with sea stars, anemones and other creatures living amonst the sea lettuce and seagrass. Port Lincoln from Winter … More The Red Centre – Winter 2017 Day 6 – The Great Southern Ocean

The western coastline of Spencers Gulf terminates at Lincoln National Park in the south. Small coastal towns of Cowell, Arno Bay, Port Neill and Tumby Bay provide breaks in the drive from Whyalla to Port Lincoln. Lilac coloured flowering gum at Whyalla Wetlands. The Wetlands themselves are artifical with the area busy in the norning … More The Red Centre – Winter 2017 Day 5 – Flinders Highway