The late afternoon sun turned the red rock mountains jutting up to my left an almost fluorescent orange as I adjusted my pack and followed the well-worn path eastward. Ahead of me were my fellow walkers and good mates Chook, Hoppy and Cam.  We had allocated seven days to walk from Ellery Creek Big Hole to the Telegraph Station near Alice Springs as the second half of the iconic Larapinta Trail.  And we were pumped.

Two years ago we walked the first half of the Larapinta Trail from a sunrise on the top of Mt. Sonder, the Northern Territory’s highest peak, to Ellery Creek Big Hole.  You can read more about that first week walk here. It had been an absolutely fabulous experience but we knew we had unfinished business and now it was time to make good on completing the walk. 

The first day was a little crazy – or mad – as we caught our flight from Sydney to Alice Springs, picked up our hire car, enjoyed the 90 minute ride out to Ellery Creek Big Hole driven by the fifth member of our team, Pearcey, who would meet us at every campsite a 4WD could get to and deliver big steaks, cold beer and other creature comforts.  We were out in the middle of Central Australia’s desert but that didn’t mean we had to completely rough it.

Chook, our courageous leader, is a supremo organiser so the rest of us followed his lead most of the time.  Hoppy is our fittest and fastest walker for sure as well as being our occasional health and safety officer.  Cam, who is Chook’s nephew, didn’t join us two years ago and met us at Ellery Creek just after completing the first half of the trail with his brother Nathan.  Our formidable team of five, despite a few old-man ailments and replaced body parts, were relieved to be back on the trail and pushing forward.

After our flight, driving out to our starting point and a 15 kilometre relatively easy walk we set up camp at Rocky Gorge, one of two nights we wouldn’t be met by Pearcey.  Never mind, Hoppy opened a beaut bottle of red wine he had carried for the occasion and we dined like kings.

The Larapinta Trail follows the West MacDonnell Mountains for about 230 kilometres, usually hugging the top of the ridges of these beautiful red rock mountains.  Most people walk it east to west but we’ve chosen west to east so that we have the afternoon sun at our backs.  This time of year we’re most likely to get frosty mornings and coolish days and that’s exactly what happened on the second day – our tents were sporting a thin layer of frost but the sun showed promise for warming us up later.

When we arrived at Hugh Gorge campground that afternoon Pearcey was there with big hamburgers and cold beer, both of which we enjoyed sitting around our hire car after another great day on the trail. 

After enjoying freshly cooked bacon and eggs rolls the next morning we made our way up and through beautiful Hugh Gorge with it’s near-vertical red rock walls towering above us, icy cold waterholes and beautiful gum trees all around. 

At one point a large waterhole blocked our way.  Chook and Hoppy chose to strip down and swim across the waterhole while Cam and I found a very sketchy little scramble across the rock face on the other side which kept us dry.  Either way, Hugh Gorge was awesome!

But we also knew that the hardest – and some say prettiest – part of our walk this week was coming up, including the test of our thighs and lungs as we climbed the ridge on tight switchbacks to the top of Razorback Ridge. 

From here we could see the sprawling West MacDonnell Ranges stretching out behind us and in front of us – the central Australian desert at it’s best.  The descent was equally steep, followed by an exhausting long section through Spencer Gorge which required athletic and nimble bouldering techniques, all of which we naturally aced.

We arrived at Birthday Waterhole that afternoon, Pearcey again in perfect position next to the large waterhole itself, and we quickly stripped down for a refreshing dip in the bitterly cold water.  After dinner I built a fire and we enjoyed the camaraderie of good mates in a beautiful place with cold beers.  It doesn’t get any better than that.