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Alice Springs - August 2007

Report by Anne Way
Photos by Phil Whitham & Tiffany Bolton

It’s the middle of Australia late in August and here we are: nine cyclists led by resourceful Margaret Day—representatives of our Cycling for Pleasure Group.
On this particular day we’re at the highest point on the road between Adelaide and Darwin—729 metres above sea level. Theoretically we could coast all the way north to Darwin or all the way south to Adelaide, hundreds of kilometres in either direction. In actual fact we have climbed 41 metres north from Alice Springs which is our base for a week of Centralian Cycling. We could ride a few more kilometres to straddle the Tropic of Capricorn, but we opt to return along the Stuart Highway to the shade of red boulders for refuelling. We continue south, crossing the new Adelaide-Darwin railway line, and accompanied by the screech of galahs we wind through the slightly undulating, lightly-treed country around the dry bed of the Charles River. At the Old Telegraph Station we stop—green lawn, shade and cool drinks.

Yes, it’s warm in the afternoon—up to 30°C. But we set out on this day, as on most days, in the cool of early morning when the air is crisp, even chilly, when the ancient world of the Centre seems new.

The MacDonnell Ranges stretch east and west of the town. They are fissured with gaps, water-worn passes through the timeless rock, generally dry but flowing with water in wet years.

So we ride south from the town through Heavitree Gap, then east on smooth bitumen towards Emily Gap, passing the Camel Farm and the Date Farm into mulga country. Emily Gap still holds a little water. Kangaroos or wallabies have had a drink recently, going off with thumps of their tails. Black and white butcher birds are wary in the river gums, but can’t hide their curiosity, and also partly hidden is rock art, depicting the Dream Time story of the Three Caterpillars.

At Jessie Gap, a few kilometres further east, we have lunch under a bloodwood tree, watched by flashy green parrots. The Gap’s towering red blocks tell some of its old, old story. For how many millions of years have these fractured remnant footings of a truly mammoth range stood here?

The road to the west, Larapinta Drive, the road to Hermannsburg and Redbank Gorge, soon leaves residential Alice Springs to enter the West MacDonnell Ranges National Park. John Flynn’s grave, topped by a huge red boulder, is one of the markers—a memorial to the man, who with Alfred Traeger (inventor of the pedal wireless) provided the Outback’s ‘mantle of safety’.

There’s a shared bike-pedestrian track to Flynn’s grave, a 2-3 metre wide concrete-block path, parallel to the road. It’s bordered on the south by the red-orange presence of the range: massive, spinifex-dotted and capped by a layer of slightly-less-ancient sedimentary rock. The sharpness of this rock cuts into the sky. This is the Centre—uncompromising, silent, ageless.

Honeymoon Gap opens out to the south, our way turning off Larapinta Drive near Flynn’s Grave. In the early morning it’s quiet, still, windless, and the cold air is sharp on our faces. Honeymoon Gap is a relatively gentle place when it’s dry—wide and sandy, a favourite spot of locals, who sometimes camp amongst the river gums. We ride back close to the range, an excellent road surface, passing hobby farms, large properties, some with horses and cattle.

The favourite ride for everyone (we do it on two separate occasions) is the one that continues west past Flynn’s Grave. The concrete-block path gives way to a purpose-built bicycle path which winds into the lower slopes of the range, a firm bitumen base topped with fine gravel, with kilometre markers and information panels about the facts and mysteries of the place—geology, mythology, birds, trees and flowers. The track is winding and undulating; it passes over dry creek beds, through ghost gums, bloodwoods, mulga and witchetty bush; at every turn there’s a new view. Twice in its 17 kilometre length to Simpson’s Gap it offers resting places—slatted platforms, just made for lying out flat to gaze up and up through trees and the brilliant blue to somewhere beyond the sky.

At Simpson’s Gap there’s shade and a tap. There used to be yellow-footed rock wallabies. Maybe there are still, if one comes quietly at the right time, and can detect them amongst the falls of rock.

In between rides there are incomparably beautiful places to visit, easily accessible by bicycle. The Olive Pink Botanic Garden where it’s peaceful and shady, where the coffee is perfect. The Desert Park where three desert landscapes have been faithfully reproduced and where unfettered birds of prey swoop down spectacularly every afternoon. The Araluen Cultural Centre where original works of the Namatjira and Papunya schools of painting are hung, and where history comes to life.

In the late afternoon we tend to drift to the Red Dog cafe in The Mall, since we’re newly equipped each day, thanks to the local Bicycle Club, with vouchers for coffee. Think of pancake stacks with mango topping and cream...

A week is not really long enough. Cycling for Pleasure Group members will have to ride in the Centre again. Our special thanks are to Margaret and Graham who planned and led us safely and unerringly.

Map of suggested rides (Click to enlarge)