DAY 74 - 02/05/2010 - Alice Springs, NT

Today is the day the girls have been looking forward to since we arrived. Pancake day. The pancakes were yummy and generous in size. They just keep on serving them until everyone is full. The record for men is 13 and women is 8. They encourage you to break the record. Waz got to 6 and I pathetically got to 2. My form wasn't too good this morning. I think the girls ate more than me.

With full bellys we head off to do some siteseeing along the West Macdonnell Ranges.

We visited Standley Chasm. It was a 1.5km walk from the carpark. Some parts of the walk were a little tricky for Lilly. At one stage Warren had to put her on his shoulders and he accidentally walked her into an overhanging gumtree branch. She let out a big cry, the poor little thing. Warren felt terrible.

Standley Chasm was beautiful. We walk thru a small gap between two steep gorges. The best time to visit here is during the middle of the day when the sun is shining right down on it creating a orange red reflection up the gorge walls. We got some great photos here.

Tree hugger

Our next destination is Ormiston Gorge and waterhole. This gorge is also situated on the West Macdonnell Ranges but its a fair drive from Standley Chasm.

Its supposed to be the most spectacular scenery in these ranges.

We could only walk as far as the waterhole and view the gorge from a distance. It had recently flooded here and the walk to the gorge was inaccessable. We sat by the waterhole and relaxed. It was very peaceful here. Alicia and Taylah sketched some pictures of their surroundings and Lilly played in the sand. Even though it is a very hot day the water is icy cold and too cold for us to swim in. There were others who did swim but they looked like they were freezing their buts off.