Hiking the Larapinta Trail – Part 2

Day 4 (half of Section 6, 15 km), aka the one with the big hole

Today started with a lie-in (7am for a 7.30am breakfast serious luxury!) and we headed out of camp at 8.30am to walk the first half of Section 6. After two incredible but challenging days, we were told today’s walking would be easier, and this was certainly true (and welcome!). Section 6 is one of the longest sections of the trail, at 29km, but we cut it short at Rocky Gully where there is vehicle access.

We achieved 11km before lunch and completed the 15km walk in the early afternoon. There were undulations for sure, but nothing on the scale of Sections 4 and 5. The troopie met us and, for the first time in over three days, we got into a vehicle and moved under something other than our own steam.

To get out of Rocky Gully took 25 minutes on a very wobbly road, but we then hit the relative highway to Ellery Creek Big Hole (where Section 6 ends). Here was a beautiful waterhole, although there were quite a few people so I was glad we were not camping there. I was told there was Optus signal , but once again I was not interested! The waterhole was huge (30m deep!) and we had a swim and a quick wash, but it was short-lived since the water was utterly freezing – the guides reckoned about 10 degrees!

We then piled back into the troopie and half an hour later arrived at the Serpentine Chalet campsite at the junction of Section 7 (which we skipped) and Section 8 (tomorrow’s walk). Serpentine Chalet was to be our home for three nights. THREE NIGHTS! So no need to pack anything up tomorrow morning! I pitched a tent for my gear and wet weather backup (which I did not need!), rolled out the swag, had a cup of tea and read my book for a while before dinner.

Speaking of dinner, yes it was once again amazing – veggie satay and wraps, followed by a sensational apple crumble cooked in the camp oven. And having not got up quite so early, we stayed up “late” (8.30!) around the fire, telling stories and playing around with the iPhone’s impressive night-time photo settings.

Day 5 (Section 8, 14km), aka the one with the hot shower

Four nights in, I finally slept really, really well… but dear god it was cold when I needed to get up in the night for the toilet, and when the alarm went off at 6am, evidenced by the amount of condensation inside my swag. I was a bit all over the place getting ready and we left a little late, but at 7.40 we piled into the troopie for the drive to the start of Section 8.

There was a big early climb to get the heart going, and then a lovely long ridge-line climb, to Counts Point – so named because you can count the highest peaks in the NT. These include including Mt Zeil (the highest in the Territory) and, in the distance, Mt Sonder, which we are climbing on Friday morning (it looks a little like a pregnant lady, we will climb the tummy!). On a trip full of sensational views, this was probably the best so far and I was just as happy as the photo suggests.

At the top, we came across two groups from Trek Larapinta, a competitor to World Expeditions, and with whom I seriously considered travelling. My choice was based on the stages included in the 9-day trip, where I took advice from a friend, but chats with the Trek Larapinta group endorsed my decision heartily. They had a larger group which seemed to have a greater range of speed (though this is due to luck as well as group size, I appreciate!) and they made more use of base camps with less movement between campsites, whereas I enjoyed walking in and out of camp where we could.

After morning tea and many, many photos at Counts Point, we returned to the junction (detour of 700m each way to the top was totally worth it!) and then descended before we stopped for lunch (with another view), 10km in. Lunch was a Vietnamese chicken noodle salad and was probably the best yet. Today was already a very good day, and it got better…

After another couple of km, we took a left off the trail on a private path to a “fancy camp” owned by World Ex, which they use for their 6-day “in comfort” trips. There were safari tents with wooden floors, a seating area under a canopy and…. HOT SHOWERS!! The showers were the reason for our visit, carefully planned to be early enough in the afternoon that we could get out before the fancy group arrived. The showers operate using a very simple but clever system – a bucket with a tap and shower head, which you fill with hot water, on a pulley to allow it to be raised and lowered. I went first so had plenty of time for a cup of tea on the comfy seats as well, and to charge my phone for a bit (and then write most of this!).

While we had been walking and then luxuriating, Ollie had taken the troopie and trailer to Alice Springs for the mid-trip restock, so we could enjoy fresh food, restocked ice in the esky, and… errm… an emptied camp toilet. When back at camp, it was all about getting prepared for tomorrow which was to be the longest walk of the trip at 31km.

We did everything we could to be ready – filling up water bottles, making breakfast (to eat on the trail after the first hour’s walk in the dark), making lunch, grabbing snacks, preparing a pile of clothes to walk in, and packing the bag to go again. Then we enjoyed entree (cheese and crackers, freshly purchased in town), dinner (Japanese curry, up to standard again!) and a cold beer as it would be rude not to take advantage of the fresh ice. And bedtime was around 7pm ahead of the 4.50 alarm tomorrow!

Day 6 (Section 9, 30km, aka the long one with the best beer of all time)

This was the day in the itinerary which had been spooking me since I booked the trip in January. I’d previously only once walked 30km in a day and it pretty much broke me, so I approached Section 9 with more than a little trepidation!

We walked out of camp at 5.30am by the light of our headtorches, with breakfast in our packs ready to eat at our first stop (but a cereal bar and banana munched before and as we set off, to keep the wolf from the door). We passed the public hikers’ campsite where there was lots of activity, and after 4km entered Inarlanga Gorge and stopped for breakfast. As we ate, Ollie explained that this is the boundary between the lands of two indigenous tribes and therefore was historically a big trading area. By the end of breakfast, it was pretty much light, so we continued without headlamps.

There was a fair bit of what we had come to call “Larapinta flat” (i.e. undulating, but as flat as it gets in these parts), but then up a big climb to Mt Giles Lookout – as long and steep as any climb we’d done in the previous five days. I was at the back of the groupbut my “plod pace” worked just fine to get me there. We enjoyed lunch at the top with spectacular views of Mt Sonder, and 16km already down. Sam later told us that the time we left Mt Giles was as early as any group he’s walked with all season so we were quite proud of that! I felt good at this point, but knew that may not last!

Next was a big ridge line walk and then a left turn to go down a spur, which took us into the Alice Valley. By this point, with 8km to go, we were starting to hurt. What was left to walk was not hard (you could almost call it flat, not just Larapinta flat!) but it was getting warm, and there was no shade and no wind. The new hiking shirt I’d bought on a whim was worth every cent of the $80 I paid for it. After feeling so good at lunchtime, I was now barely clinging on.

We stopped in a rare patch of shade to change our socks (a recommendation from Sam and Ollie to feel a bit fresher for the final stretch), have some sugar, and put on sunscreen. The remaining 5km was almost interminable but we got there! We cut off the trail when it hit the road (with 1km to go before the end of the stage at Ormiston Gorge), and the troopie came around the corner with a beep to save us! Sam emerged with an esky, proclaiming: “Save water, drink beer!”. What a hero! We all agreed this was on the podium for the best beer we had ever had.

After necking the beers which barely touched the sides, we piled into the troopie and headed to Ormiston Gorge to use the toilets and paddle in the gorge. We were to go back tomorrow for a loop walk and a longer swim opportunity so didn’t linger too long, but it was lovely to get the boots off and the feet in the cold water.

Despite all the activity at the campsite before 6am, we saw very few other hikers today – most independent walkers do it in two halves given the length, and it is too remote for most tour groups. So we felt quite the sense of achievement as we sat, exhausted, around the fire enjoying our (once again delicious) pumpkin and chorizo gnocchi followed by chocolate mousse!

Jump to: Intro | Part 1 (days 1-3) | Part 3 (days 7-9)