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Cruising the Eastern Macs
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Another early start and we're on the Ross Highway, heading out as far as the sealed track will take us on the Eastern Macs trail. First stop, Emily Gap. We were promised water, although this didn't materialize, and the gap itself wasn't much to write home about, compared to those of the Western Macs. What we did see were some rather curious Aboriginal Cave Paintings, made from red and white ochre and animal fat. They supposedly depicted 3 caterpillars, symbolizing a famous Aboriginal explorer who ate caterpillars at this site to survive. Personally I found them quite striking, especially when stepping back and looking at the rocks from a distance as they really stood out.
 
Similar paintings were found just up the road, at Jessie Gap, and these were complimented by white stripes splashed on the red sank rock, supposedly depicting the fact that emus were found at this site, many years ago.
The next stop was at Corroborree Rock, which was a large fin-shaped rock, that looked quite different from each of the differing viewpoints offered on our short circuit walk of it. At first it looked extremely narrow,tall, and colourful in the sun, and then around the other side, it was more of a semi-circular shape, along with being darker and more jagged.
  
Vowing to only continue as far the sealed road this time (only because there didn't seem too much of interest beyond it!), we swiftly came to the last stop, Trephina Gorge, which was worth the wait, and rivalled the gorges we visited in the Western Macs. We embarked on a "round the gorge" walk, which first took us on a steep ascent around the rim of the gorge, where the red rock was seemingly formed in the shape of jagged bricks, patching together, jutting out at remarkable slanted angles.
Up on the ridge we ventured close to the edge for a spectactular photo opportunity of the waterhole down below, between the gorge. This again was a vertigo inducing experience.
  
Following the track around the rim took us down into the gorge, and across the sand and rocks beside the water, which we deemed to be a tad too murky for a swim. We carried on, ploughing through the sand at a snail's pace, under the increasingly hot sun, chatting away, before it suddenly dawned on us that we'd gone way too far and missed the car park! Thus, we ended up cutting through the shrubbery back to the road to follow it back. The ground was littered with an abundance of mango-esque fruit, although we had no idea where it came from, as the trees didn't seem to be bearing any fruit...
Annnnnnnyway, that little adventure brought us to the end of the MacDonnell trails, and we returned on the Ross Highway back to the Alice, ready to head south once more...
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