Ross River

 
 
 

Day 1 at Ross River was a fairly relaxed event – just hanging around the camp grounds kicking the footy, throwing the vortex and Frisbee and greeting the Pradopoint members as they arrived. The first night was an all in BBQ and a fun social event. There are about 30 Prado’s that have come for the event, so that is about 100 people, including children, so we all pitched in helping get dinner ready throughout the afternoon. Two of the attendees have made the journey from USA, and given it was the 4th July, we celebrated with red, white and blue decorations and an Uncle Sam shaped and coloured hat cake.

During the afternoon we took a scenic walk up a small part of the East MacDonnell Range – this landscape is well defined as “rugged mountain ranges” which shimmer magnificently in the correct sunlight. We are told that the Western side of the MacDonnell’s are even more spectacular, so we have high expectations.

Day 2 / Sunday at Ross River was the first 4wd adventure and it was fantastic. We had a shotgun start at 8am (well it actually didn’t quite get going until about 8:30) and our final destination was Ruby Gap. Along the way we stopped at numerous historical sites which were mainly early settlements established by gold miners. The drive to Ruby Gap was approximately 75km each way and the last 4km was 4wd only territory and we shifted into low range. This was our first experience of proper off road driving and the Prado showed how capable it is (even in our hands) as we zig zagged across a dry river bed through soft sand and over slow rocky sections, between the gorge walls. Ruby Gap was named as a result of a prospector who thought he found Ruby’s in great abundance, but they turned our to be worthless garnets, which the kids fossicked around and found numerous examples. The gorges are magnificent – the shape and colours are captivating.

We arrived home at 5pm (big day !!!), exhausted, but enthusiastic about another journey. Dinner was a typical Sunday throw together and we sat around a campfire with our new friends and told yarns until midnight. Great day.

Day 3 - We drove a short distance to West MacDonnell Range Caravan park today (Monday) and kinda just caught up on domestics (washing and restock on food) while the kids played on the big jumping pillows. We spent the evening at the Desert Park on a Nocturnal Tour – kids loved it as we explored a section of the park for wild(ish) animals (birds, echidna, bilbies, mala etc…). Tomorrow is another short drive to Glen Helen and then some more exploring off road of the local attractions west of Alice Springs.