Getting centred along the Red Centre Way

By: Summer Goodwin and Kellie Harpley

As we fly towards the outback town of Alice Springs the Red Centre drifts into view. The lazy desert, dotted with silver scrub and rocky outcrops, stretches to the horizon. Dirt roads cut across the sand like giant red snakes lazing in the sun. The magnificent MacDonnell Ranges rise abruptly beneath us to encircle Alice Springs, casting protective arms around the people who call her home.

Our bags are packed with jacket, beanie and scarves. The Red Centre is visited by Australia’s typical four seasons; we are travelling in winter and well prepared for the mercury’s drop to an average of three degrees at night.

Our five day journey is along the Red Centre Way, a partly-sealed track that winds from Alice Springs through the West MacDonnell Ranges to Watarrka National Park and on to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. We are here to unwind after months in the city, to immerse ourselves in peaceful and powerful Red Centre landscapes and get revitalised.

In Alice, we take the Aboriginal Sacred Sites and Cultural Tour with Arrernte elder Pat Dodds. Pat tells us the Dreamtime story of the Yeperenye, giant caterpillars that were transformed into the MacDonnell Ranges during the Creation period. This is the first of many Red Centre experiences that will alter our perception of the land around us and our place in it.

Alice Springs is a charming, quirky town and full of surprises. Known as Mpwante or “meeting place” to the Arrernte people, it is home to more art galleries per capita than any other place on earth.

The art is sourced from the indigenous communities of the Western and Central Deserts, world-renowned hot spots for international art collectors. The region produces a range of works as eclectic and bright as the landscapes of the Territory itself, from the vibrant palettes used in the Santa Teresa region to the earthy tones of the Western Desert.

We explore more than a dozen art galleries, including Papunya Tula, Studio 21, Gallery Gondwana and Mbantua Gallery, absorbing the plethora of stories told through the artwork. Each piece tells a story about the artist’s land, ancestry or the Dreaming and we listen with our eyes, filled with wonder.

We leave Alice and drive through the West MacDonnell Ranges to explore the geological masterpieces of Simpson’s Gap and Standley Chasm. In each location the earth has exerted its force to heave up rock walls from below its surface then left them to be shaped by time’s artisans, wind and water.

As we drive, surrounded by the grandeur of the natural landscape, the dramatic colours and wide open spaces, we find ourselves slowing down on the inside and savouring every moment. You can’t help but feel small out here and the problems of the world cease to exist.

We arrive at Ellery Creek Big Hole, a great place to swim and an internationally significant geological site - it is one of several waterholes in the Australian outback that never runs dry. It is bracingly cold, but we can’t resist a dip to wash away our city stress. The power of nature works its magic and we leave feeling rejuvenated and refreshed.

We travel on to the colourful ochre pits, 110 kilometres west of Alice. The rainbow quarry has been used for generations by the local Aboriginal people as a prime source for the ochre used in rock art and body painting.

Further along, Ormiston Gorge is a peaceful, permanent waterhole surrounded by towering red walls and there are plenty of bushwalking options, ranging from the 20-minute Ghost Gum look-out walk to the seven-kilometre Ormiston Pound Walk.

There is a picturesque campground here, but without the appropriate equipment, we opt for the comfort of a room at the nearby Glen Helen Resort. We linger outside after dinner though, to marvel at the sky’s dense carpet of stars.

After breakfast, we stop at the look-out to Mt Sonder and experience first-hand the breathtaking Namatjira landscape. This living painting is instantly recognisable from acclaimed indigenous artist Albert Namatjira’s water colour tributes and continues to inspire the region’s artists.

Taking the form of a pregnant woman reclining across the landscape, Mt Sonder is known to the Western Arrernte people as Rwetyepme. The traditional landowners believe the Dreamtime ancestors are still alive in the land today and the mountain is engraved with their tracks.

Further west, Tnorala (Gosse Bluff) Conservation Reserve is a must-see for lovers of all things astral – the massive crater was formed by a comet more than 130 million years ago and has made an indelible impression on the landscape. Impressive close up, it is even more so from a look-out east of the Reserve. Here the desert has been lulled into submission and the breeze ruffles lime-green grasses and wildflowers hued purple and white.

The next day we head to Kings Canyon, the highlight of Watarrka National Park, with its awe-inspiring, 300-metre cliff faces. We take the three-hour Rim Walk, marvelling at the hardy trees eking out an existence in this striking landscape and feeling similarly grounded in nature.

High above the valley we find the red beehive domes of the Lost City before climbing steeply down to the Garden of Eden’s cool, palm-fringed swimming hole, tucked snugly in the depths of the canyon walls.

Along the Mereenie Loop Road, 130 kilometres south-west of Alice Springs, is the Aboriginal community of Hermannsburg and just beyond it, the stunning expanse of Finke Gorge National Park. The park is home to the Finke River, believed to be some 15 million years old and the oldest river system in the world.

We see in the next morning at Uluru, silent as the light changes from blue to pink to yellow. The traditional owners, the Anangu people, tell us Uluru is hollow below the ground, and the area is inhabited by ancestral beings, part of the tjukurpa, or Dreamtime.

We take the base walk around The Rock – for some, this is the spiritual heart of outback Australia. Surrounded by a butterfly-blue sky, with the monumental red rock towering above us, we feel as powerful and inspired as we do tiny in its shadow.

We drive on to Kata Tjuta and do the Valley of the Winds Walk, which meanders through the massive rock domes, and are surprised by the yellow flocks of wild budgerigars.

On our way north back to Alice, we detour into Rainbow Valley, a huge, polished bluff embedded with bands of red, yellow and orange sandstone. The freestanding cliffs are part of the James Range and particularly striking in the early morning and late afternoon light.

Just south of Alice, we rest up at Ooraminna Homestead – outback hospitality at its best. We enjoy a relaxing pre-dinner drink with the owners and staff and tour the station to see how a cattle station survives in the desert.

Back in Alice, with our choice of cafes and restaurants, we settle in and brush the dust off our boots and hope the regenerative power of nature we experienced along the Red Centre Way will be harder to shake.