Day 17 - 4x4 Driving to Palm Valley

This morning we all awoke with the intention of all leaving together at quite a respectable time of 8.45 to head towards Palm Valley. Before leaving Kings Canyon, Sue came over for a chat and to wish us all safe travels and mentioned that the camp ground at Palm Valley can fill really quickly and is not very large. As we have 13 cars travelling in our convoy we thought it best to get moving but moving in such a large group is not always easy & this time we split into a few groups.

We began travelling in what was now called the rainbow group with Dave (King Billy) & family leading the way along th Meereenie Loop. We were soon caught up to by a few more cars and decided to move on directly & not stop and look at a Gosse Bluff which is a meteorite crater & get to Palm Valley early for lunch, lucky we did. The camp ground was already quite full & we all squeezed into where we could.

Lunch was provided by Darren (Darre253) & Karen, when they were camped at Yulara they were put opposite one of the large school groups and when the school left they gave them 40 wraps, a lot of cheeses slices & sliced beef so we made them into beef & cheese wraps and enjoyed them at our new camp site.

After lunch those who wanted went for a drive into Palm Valley. Palm Valley is located within the Finke Gorge National Park. The scenery is amazing, lots of beautiful red rocks & it's quite green. The track itself is a bumpy one & defiantly for 4x4 vehicles only. You drive along one of the oldest rivers in the world. Matt is loving this part of the journey, I on the other hand prefer sometimes to close my eyes. But our car made it easily. The walk once you get there is well worth it, we did the short 2km walk which took us up over the canyon then down into the Valley of Palms. This is the only place in the world where these types of palms, the Red Cabbage Palm are grown, quite special. 

During the drive in we heard the group behind us mention that Dan's (Danadelaide) car has broken a shocker on the front wheel. Not drive able. Again lucky we are in a group, John (JCOJ) & Darren (Darren253) helped get him driving back to camp where they then had to ring for a tow truck (yes they found one who came out to the middle of nowhere) to come and get them back to Alice Springs for repairs.

We have been having amazing weather. Today was actually quite hot about 27degrees, hot enough for all the kids to change into their shorts & t-shirts, the nights however have been very cold. Tonight we all headed over to Steven (StevenB)  & Sharons camp where a nice fire was burning. The kids are loving being out here, tonight the game was spotlight tiggy, which kids off all ages enjoyed.

Chloe & I headed back to our camper to find out dingoes had been hanging around. We have seen quite a lot of dingoes on our travels. So have to make sure all rubbish has been put away of a night.

Tomorrow we head to Owen Springs via the Finke Gorge 4WD route.