So much more interesting than the West MacDonnell ranges and not as touristy.  A fire had gone through this area recently, you can see all the eucalypts have started to sprout again from the base.

Also passed this memorial to a dead biker, born the same year as Paul and I.  Here for a good time.  Not a long time.

One of the views of the ranges.

This is a ghost gum tree (Corymbia papuana), found in arid regions of Northern Australia and Papua New Guinea.  When last measured it was 33m tall and estimated at 300 years old, believed to be one of the oldest in the area.  You see these in various habitats.  Large trees like this usually indicate a good supply of ground water.  You can just about make me out.

View up the trunk.

Nice bark.

You often find small, crusty white patches on the leaves and these are hardened secretions of sap-sucking insects.  They are called lerp or manna and the crust has a mild sugary taste and makes a favourite bush sweet for Aboriginal children. Couldn’t quite reach the leaves though.  This is another ghost gum growing on a bank opposite.  Just as impressive.

We walked a circular route around the rim of Trephine gorge.  View at the start of the walk across to the other side of the gorge.

Here’s Paul mountain climbing again.

You can just make out the river bed to the RHS.

You can see the shear gorge walls here and river red gums that line the watercourse.

View across the top of the gorge into the valley beyond.

All the nicely laid out spinifex on the steep slopes either side of the gorge.

Preserved ripples.

Descending into the gorge.

Sheer quartzite walls.

Nice stand of ghost gums.