LAST DAY IN THE DESERT (And yes, a ‘roo sighting)

I spent my last few days in the desert in the famous town of Alice Springs.  One day I was to visit the West MacDonald ranges out of town, but it literally poured rain!   To the point it was hard to drive. In the desert!  What was amazing to see, and I think it shows in some photos is how quickly the desert greens up when it does get rain.

A much greener than normal desert a few hours after the rain.

Many of you have commented about my lack of kangaroo sighting proof.  I totally agree, and travel Dan decided to resolve this once and for all.  So, I visited the Desert Park “zoo.”  Hey, as I said, it was raining, so hiking was out of the question and the place gets great reviews. And, on the long drive into it, a bunch of wild kangaroos crossed in front of me. Again, they were gone before the camera could be positioned, but they were there, promise!  (Sure do miss the elephants and giraffes of Africa. They were large and did not run right away.)

But anyway, below you will see a pathetic kangaroo shot. I guess the most interesting thing about this zoo is that the people can open the gates and go into the enclosure with the animals.  And I did and they were just there, staring at me.  I felt so brave…….

OK, finally a ‘roo shot.  I am right in there with them. Don’t they look fearful?

The spiny lizard, the “Animal of the month at Desert Park.”  Seriously.  Just sort of like the “employee of the month” award I guess.  Pretty cute, though, huh? It is about 7″ long.

There are also some shots of a nice hike I did the following day in the East ranges.  On this day, we were back to blazing sun and nearly 100 degrees so even the relatively short hike was challenging again.

Now, for a total change in environment, I am off to Tasmania!

Typical East range view

 

Once again, brave Travel Dan doing anything for a shot. This time he is fording an obviously dangerous river.

 

Come on, even on a gravel road going nowhere?  Maybe it is where they practice?

 

The “trail” at Trahina Gorge Park.  Yes, it is again about 95 degrees, so any uphill trail is a bit tough.

 

Nice view down to the gorge

 

That is a creek bed in the center, but could be part of the trail.

 

the Trahina gorge

 

The hike back was in the sand in the river bed. Slow going but very beautiful views.

 

Actually signed as the largest ghost gum in Australia. Quite majestic.

 

Some sort of a flowering bush near the gum tree.