Tuesday 27th July

We had a very busy day yesterday 26^th July, up at 6.00am to be collected by our tour guide for a trip to a place called Palm Valley and a little town called Hermannsburg. The tour was a 4 wheel drive tour in a quite interesting vehicle, it was a large bus like van which seated 16 including the driver and surprisingly comfortable.

It was quite chilly when we started out but as the day wore on the temperature started to rise. The first stop along the way was to the memorial of Rev. John Flynn, as we stopped there on Tuesday we did not take our cameras, but got out and had another look with the others.

Normally the next stop would have been Hermannsburg, but due to there being a funeral in the town and the whole town closing when there is a funeral our tour guide informed us that we would be going to Palm Valley first. With a quick toilet stop at Stuarts Gap, we set of on first sealed road then onto corrugated gravel and then onto real 4 wheel driving, over river beds and rocks to get to the valley. The river we were cris-crossing was called the Rinks River even though there was rarely water in it today we were lucky enough for it to have water in it, making for some great photos along the way.

We stopped at a campground near the valley for some morning tea and another toilet break, before the last few bumpy km’s to the valley. When we got there we were surprised on not only the amount of vegetation here but also the variety. Here we found a variety of palm trees, called Red Cabbage Palms, which had been here for millions of years, left over from when the Central Australia was much wetter. This is the only place in the world that you will find these trees. Our tour took us on a 40min walk around the top of the gap with some great views of the area. After this stop the next place was a look out with spiritual references. The rock with the lookout was the place where women would hold ceremonies to initiate the girls into womanhood. There was another smaller rock that was used for the men’s ceremonies, but as the Aboriginal cultural was matriarchal meant that the women were more important than the men.

Then it was onto Hermannsburg for lunch and a look around this town that was settled by Lutheran people trying to bring religion into the aboriginal culture. The first time this was tried it failed. The second time was a little more successful, this time there were buildings established and a school set up for the local children. Some of the buildings were still standing and it was interesting to see how they would have lived out here only 100 years ago. Lunch was in the main homestead that has been set up as a restaurant and was simple but nice. After another look around it was time for the long trip back to the caravan park and an early night.

Wednesday 27^th July

Today we went out to the Desert Park. This is a large area of land depicting the three types of desert in the Northern Territory. First there was the sandy desert then the river part of the desert and then the bushier part of the desert including the animals and birds of the area. There was also a display of birds of prey that inhabit the area. This was both educational and enjoyable. There was a small group of local school children in attendance that seemed to enjoy the show as well.

Once we had finished at the Desert Park we visited the National Women’s Hall of Fame. This was housed in the old goal in the center of town, giving 2 museums in one. The part of this museum that I was interested in was the Women’s Museum. This held information on all the women who had been first in their field of work. It also showed how women had endured the harsh climate of the outback when it was first settled.There was also a great quilt made by 100's of women from around Australia This was an interesting place to visit, with lots of information run and organized by volunteer women in the area.

After we finished here we returned to camp and stated to pack up ready to travel early tomorrow.