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Emily Gap is only a few minutes away from Alice Springs.
If you are heading out into the Eastern MacDonnell Ranges, it will be “your” first gap.
Beautiful aesthetically, and of geological interest too, Emily Gap/Anthwerrke has enormous cultural significance to the Eastern Arrernte People.
Accordingly, although it is an easily accessed, “open” and popular spot for both tourists and locals, visitors are requested to treat it with respect.
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The MacDonnell Ranges are rich in birdlife, including species unfamiliar to most suburban Australians.
This post’s photo may look “peaceful”, but in the middle of the day at Jessie Gap, the Australian zebra finch “action” was in fact a display of incredibly fleet, flurrying, “colour and movement”.
The pictured individuals were just part of a large flock, whose members were repeatedly zapping to and from tree and waterhole.
Jessie Gap is a short drive south-east, from Alice Springs.
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Eucalyptus gamophylla flourishes in very demanding environments, mostly in Central Australia.
Very hardy, even by mallee standards, it is one of several (quite different) mallee eucalypt species that are commonly known as “blue mallee”.
As you can see, blue is not its only hue.
It is not hard to see why florists and flower arrangers seek out its leaves.
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I am unsure whether the pictured grass is or is not a member of the genius Triodia.
“Spinifex” or not, this “blonde” is formidable!
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You are looking (I think) at a so-called “spinifex” grass, demonstrating its hardiness in Trephina Gorge, circa 85 kilometres east of Alice Springs.
What Australians call “spinifex” is something entirely different from the “true” spinifex, which are coastal grasses that grow on at least three continents, including Australia.
The uniquely Australian “spinifex” are inland dwellers, tussocky, clump-forming grasses that grow mostly in arid or semi-arid zones,
Typically, they dominate their preferred habitats, forming “hummock grasslands”, some of which are vast.
In Australia, almost every so-called “spinifex” is a member of the large, endemic Australian genus Triodia.
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The Western MacDonnell Ranges enjoy a rather higher public profile than do the Eastern.
Imagine someone who has “just 24 hours in Alice”, insufficient time/inclination to walk very far, and a keen desire to spend the whole day in the MacDonnell Ranges.
I would advise that person to “head west” – that side of the ranges has the most jaw-dropping vistas, the highest mountains, the deepest gorge….
However, you should ensure that you have at least “several days in Alice”, and you really should “head east” as well as west.
Trephina Gorge offers a particularly rewarding combination of beautiful scenery, pretty easy walking, and highly diverse, lovely vegetation.
Comments closedAbove, you are looking at an uncommonly old, very large example of an “iconic” Australian tree: Corymbia aparrerinja, commonly known as ghost gum.
This particular tree, near Trephina Gorge, circa one hour east of Alice Springs, is billed as the largest living ghost gum.
Close by, is a smaller but more elegant ghost gum; the “powdered” hand in #3 of this series was my beloved’s, immediately after she had gently rubbed that tree’s trunk.
For many thousands of years, Central Australia’s first humans have been putting ghost gum bark’s white powder to ceremonial use…
Comments closedQ: what on earth is a human’s freshly-powdered palm – pictured below – doing in this particular series?
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This post’s photo was taken circa 10 kilometres away from Ormiston Gorge.
The vantage point was just a couple of kilometres north of Glen Helen, and the image looks north-east.
In the foreground you can see the Finke River, which is oft-described as the world’s oldest.
I am pretty sure that the highest mountain you can see (on the horizon’s right hand side) is Mt Giles (1,389 metres ASL) which is on the eastern side of Ormiston Pound; Mt Giles’ peak is the highest point on the Pound’s ramparts.
As you can see, this particular desert country does not fit most urban-dwelling humans’ preconceptions of what deserts are “meant” to look like!
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This first episode’s headline is neither a mistake, nor ironic.
If you live in or near to Alice Springs, the nearest ocean shore is more than 1,500 kilometres distant; most of Australia’s saltwater beaches are rather more than 2,000 kilometres away.
However, courtesy of the MacDonnell Ranges, which spread hundreds of kilometres east-west-ish from Alice, you have easy access to some very beautiful beaches.
(Alice Springs sits just north of one of the Ranges’ “Gaps”)
A few of those beaches even offer swimming, in spectacularly located, “permanent” waterholes,
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