Nele & Andrew Around Oz: Gorge Campsite, Trephina Gorge National Park, NT

Day 159 – 25^th July 2011

Gorge Campsite, Trephina Gorge National Park, NT

Today we visited Ruby Gap Nature Park, linked to the first mining rush in 1886 in Central Australia when explorer David Lindsay found what he thought were rubies in the bed of the Hale River. By 1886 it was found that the stones were merely high grade garnets, not nearly as valuable as rubies. This remote park was only opened 2 weeks ago and hadn’t been opened for the last 18 months; therefore the 4WD drive into the park took over 3h over quite a rough track. The scenery was however magnificent! The last kilometres are along the riverbed and as it was sandy with rocks hidden below we decided to stop to avoid any trouble. After a quick lunch we continued to walk along the riverbed towards Glen Annie Gorge. Unfortunately we didn’t quite get there as we had to keep track of time as the drive back would take 3h as well and we wanted to be sure to get out of the park with or without any trouble within daylight. We got back to the main road without any issues by 5pm and took a short detour to have a look at the Arltunga Historical Reserve, Central Australia’s first town born out of a gold rush in 1887. Thanks Maureen and Andy for taking us with you on this wonderful day and the great driving!

We all thought Ruby Gap was great and we will have to come back to finish the walk to Glen Annie Gorge and Fox’s Grave. Ideally you would camp a couple of nights in the park, leaving you a whole day to do the walk and enjoy this remote setting.