Rainbow Valley

Heading South from Alice we enjoyed one of the short moves that the grey nomads are famous for and headed to Rainbow Valley, just 75kms on the Stuart Highway and about 20kms on dirt into the Conservation Reserve.

The lady in the information centre in Alice had recommend Rainbow Valley as a nice place to camp and indicated we would get in but that the road was not the best and a 4WD was recommended. There was also mixed information on the forums about the road and the camping area, with the last couple of kms into the park getting a lot of comments for being narrow and sandy.

So after an easy drive on the bitumen down to the turn off it was onto the dirt. Less than a kilometre in we stopped to lower the tyre pressure as the road was very badly corrugated. We continued along at about 30 km/h slowing to 20 km/h or less for the really bad sections of corrugations. After suffering the rough road for 17kms we got to the park entry (a lonely sign and a cattle grid) and to my surprise a well formed gravel road and no corrugations. The last few kms was a breeze. As we drove into the campground before us stood the spectacular cliffs of rainbow valley. The campground was well laid out but very tight for large rigs like ours, we pulled up beside the only available spot that we would fit into and had a chat to our would-be neighbours for the night and who's view we were about to block. The lovely couple welcomed us and during the afternoon had many visits from our kids, Maddi especially as she did a great drawing of the cliffs to show them. Ray kindly helped me fix the jockey wheel which had lost a bolt on the rough roads around Lawn Hill. Like many of the seasoned travellers he had a good supply of nuts and bolts with them.

We had a very relaxing afternoon, this getting to our camping spot at lunchtime is fantastic and this beautiful weather is great. Lunch was inside the van with the view of the cliffs out the window. Later, we all went on the short walk to Mushroom Rock, a free standing rock along the valley floor that is incredibly weathered sandstone, taking in the spectacular cliff above the clay pan on the way.






We returned to camp in time to enjoy sunset over the valley and eat dinner as the light faded. The after dinner entertainment was hopping mice spotting, which for the 3 noisy kids was hard but for Thea and I easy. Every time the kids circled the van by torch light they sent the mice our way as they went around the other side of the van. Finally the kids were quiet enough for the mice to come onto the green mat while the kids were sitting still. We also had a short period after dinner, before the moon rose, where the star lit sky was amazing.



Another perfectly clear day followed, starting with a glowing sunrise out our window, breakfast of pancakes and dinner already cooking in the thermal slow cooker.


A relaxing pack up and back out the bumpy (understatement) road and we are on our way to Uluru for a few days.


Till next time.
Tig