Busy Camping: Into and out of Alice

From Renahan’ s Bore, the road generally got better, given mining trucks needing access to the area. There was the odd bit of bitumen for a while, until it became totally sealed towards the end. We dropped in on Tilmouth Roadhouse for lunch, and we put 25 litres in, just to be safe. Annoyingly, especially given the price of the fuel, we didn’t need it at all, having plenty when we got to Alice.

Once in Alice, we did another complete fillup, and basically drove straight through and out to the East MacDonald Ranges. There had been plans afoot for quite a while, which centred around Alice, and was related to Glenn’s 40^th birthday celebrations. Amy was in the know, Glenn wasn’t. Glenn was on a ‘needs to know’ basis.

So what HAD been discussed is that we needed to be in Alice for a week, from the Saturday to the following Friday. We were a little early (by design), and wanted to spend some time bush camping before the Alice week. We’d decided to go out to Trephina Gorge in the East Macs, a lovely place we’d been before.

The drive out through the East Macs were a revelation, with us having forgotten how lovely it was. At Trephina Gorge, we headed up to the campground we had previously camped at. To our surprise, the camping was limited to tents and swags. No caravans or trailers. Bugger. It was probably like that last time, but we wouldn’t have taken any notice given we were tent camping.

The alternative was John Hayes Rockhole, a campground 4 kms off the Trephina Road down a reportedly rough 4WD track. Wasn’t our preference, but we had no choice.

The track did need some level of high clearance, but wasn’t that bad at all. When we got to the campground, we excitedly found that we had it to ourselves. On top of that, it was surrounded by fantastic views and rugged rocks. We were in heaven. Funny how things work out.

We stayed at John Hayes for 2 fabulous nights, all on our own barring a few visitors during the day to do the walk. We did our bush showers, the girls rode their bikes, and we did some small walks. A great way to relax, and get ready for.... well.. something?? What was going to happen????