For the past four years,Strie has been working out a way to offset all carbon emissions from the business,including guests’ and guides’ flights,into biodiversity restoration projects in Tasmania. It will take at least five years of data collection to be able to claim carbon negativity for the company. “These things take time,” he said.
This is the land of Pine Gap,of Tracks,of Albert Namatjira and of songlines that reach far beyond history. But it is always in flux. A week before my trip,bushfire ripped through Ormiston Pound and by the time we walked over the blackened ground,the bright green fuzz of young buffel grass – an invasive species and a nemesis to park rangers – was already established. And,while ecotourism forms a growing element of Alice Springs’ economy and the Larapinta is a significant employer,trade is seasonal and tourism in the region has been badly knocked by reports of crime in the town.
A sense of permanent impermanence seeped in as we settled into a gentle rhythm of early rises,hikes,landcare,swims and long dinners. Mobile phone reception collapsed the minute we left Alice. I missed my family. I didn’t miss the ability to make a payment instantaneously or ‘like’ a near-stranger’s update. It occurred to me that this was yet another happy accident of Australia’s vastness:reception-free solitude is becoming a rare and highly sought-after global commodity. One day,we’ll pay a premium to drop out of signal;to be nowhere. Instead,the stars formed a web above our swags at night. I was closer to living not by rush hours and alarm clocks,but by moon and by shadow,and always,always,by water.
Hit Tjoritja at the right time of the year and the summer rains will have replenished waterholes before the dry depletes them again. After trekking to Ormiston Gorge,I swam to the end of its bottle-green pool and climbed onto a slab of sun-warmed Heavitree Quartzite,alone and insignificant below towering cliffs. Near me,iron-rich steak rocks – which look like the centrepiece of a meat raffle – sat close to ripple rocks,which once lay at the bottom of the ocean. The Alice Springs Orogeny created these lands around 350 million years ago,but the stories that make sense of it are bound in its people and plants today.
There are seeds that germinate only after fire,and eucalypts that angle their leaves 90 degrees from the fierce sun. At Ulpma/Serpentine Gorge,precious water is protected by the Carpet Snake Dreaming. At the Ochre Pits,a site of men’s ceremony,crumbling layers of prized red,yellow and white ochre appeared pixelated in the cliff side. When the Arrernte prepared ochre,they sang over it to enhance its healing powers.
Back at camp near Yeperenye,the Caterpillar Dreaming,a flock of pink cockatoos screeched past the kitchen tent where our guide cooked mutton curry,filling the air with spice.
Rangers informed us that the helipad on section 12 of the trail needed attention. We began the 16-kilometre round-trip from Redbank Gorge to the summit of Mount Sonder at 3am,walking uphill in the pitch black.
The climb became meditative,my focus narrowed to the light cast by my head torch. Inkiness arrived before the pale sun and,suddenly,the desert spread out below us. From 1380 metres,I could see the ring of Tnorala,or Gosse’s Bluff meteor crater,and the chink in the cliffs at Glen Helen. On the way down,we brushed past bush lemongrass and bush tomato,then stopped to lop spinifex and saplings from the mountain’s emergency helipad. We were back at camp for a knock-out brunch well before midday.
That afternoon,our last,we received news of a cyclone barrelling towards us from Broome. “This is not normal,” said Jen Kreusser,our guide. Cyclones belong to January and February,not April.”
We battened down the hatches and wished our temporary home luck as we drove away. “The rivers might flow,” she added,nonplussed.
Sure enough,my plane heaved up and away from Arrernte lands in the throes of that unseasonal storm. We punched through cloud before I could check whether those ancient rivers were again in flow.
THE DETAILS
Fly
Qantas and Virgin operate direct flights from Australian capital cities to Alice Springs.
Trek
Trek Larapinta’s annual six-day volunteer expedition costs $995 per person. This includes all camping equipment and campsite amenities,guiding,three meals a day plus snacks and non-alcoholic drinks,transfers from Mparntwe,and all park fees.
Accommodation
Tents,swags and all linen are provided.
Volunteers
Volunteers are expected to have a moderate level of general fitness and no special skills are required. The daily program changes depending on where and how rangers need assistance.
The writer travelled at her own expense.