Day 4 - Ormiston Gorge and party time

A two hour walk brought us to the stunning view of Ormiston Pound - too big to capture in one photo. Next time I buy a camera I will try to get one with a panorama function.

 

The Ormiston Pound lookout where we enjoyed the view while eating Arnotts family assorted biscuits produced by Annabelle, prior to her suggesting we take three steps back for her photo of us as we stood on the narrow ridge.

View from the gorge lookout down in to Ormiston Gorge.

 

 After a delicious bacon, fried egg and salad lunch we spent longer than we should have relaxing in the gorge, choosing names for the first children of our French honeymooners who were swimming and taking photos of each other. None of the rest of us were brave enough to swim in the surprisingly very cold water.

 

Then after a drink at the Glenn Helen pub while Annabelle phoned her bosses to reassure them she had not lost, or killed, anyone - we headed off to collect firewood and have a brief stop at Ellery Creek Big Hole before arriving at our final camp site.

 

We arrived at Hugh Creek as darkness descended. This time there were no glamping tents, no camp kitchen, no toilets - just creek bed sand, gum trees and millions of stars. The sky in central Australia is truly magnificent. We had perfectly clear skies and never a cloud in sight and barely a sliver of a moon, so the stars and satelites and shooting stars were spectacular. The starry skies are another experience that remains captured only within my memory as I have no photos to do them justice.

 

We sat on rolled up swags to eat our dinner, followed by toasting marshmallows and quite a bit of red wine (Nada!) Loretta introduced our international friends to the TimTam slam. I passed around Cadbury's roast almond chocolate. Peter (Pasquale - not my brother Pete) produced an iPhone movie guessing game and there were all sorts of stories told including some about various battery operated devices in swags and hospital emergency departments which I am not going to retell here. Eventually Annabelle had to be "Mum" and tell us all to go to bed!

 

Going to bed involved rolling out the swag, inserting a nice thick blanket and sleeping bag inside, and zipping everything up. Both blanket and sleeping bag were needed (as well as wearing thermals) as it is very cold in the desert at night - all our nights were definitely below 5 degrees which is about average for winter back home in Devonport, Tasmania. But, I don't sleep outside at home. However, I was warm enough and the sand was very comfy. The sound of the crackling fire was lovely and the ceiling of stars was incredible.