Finke about it!

Those that know Ben well will know that there was no way we could drive back to Alice Springs the same way we had come and of course “I didn’t come on this trip to stay on the highway!”  Finke hosts the annual desert race from Finke to Alice and back again. Motorbikes and desert vehicles. As we weren’t going to be in Alice for the race Ben at least wanted to drive the track, so we did.

From Ayers Rock we travelled back to the east to Kulgera, only 20kms from the South Australian border, visited the geographical centre point of Australia on the way and soon arrived at Finke.What an eye opener. The locals greeted us with a fire in the middle of the street, about 30 dogs roaming around and needless to say we drove straight through and spent a nervous overnight stay about 50km out of town. The Finke Race follows the old Ghan rail track and while the history and ruins along the way are very interesting they are unkept, damaged and littered.

Closer to Alice Springs, along the Finke track we took the turn off to visit Chambers Pillar. The history here is amazing. Explorers left there initials and date carved into the pillar to show they had made it that far and travelled through. If anything, the Finke track made us realise how tough our ancestors would have done it, travelling through this country in a 4wd could be hard going enough, let alone on a camel!

Finally we made it back to Alice for a brief overnight stay before heading north again. I must make a special mention of another 2 places before we go. “Fresh In The Desert” is a fresh produce shop in Alice where you can get anything from Dragonfruit & Camel Ham (as we did) to potatoes and deli items. Worth a visit. The other is the small Italian pizza restaurant which served possibly the best pizza i have ever bought! Yum.

Camel Ham & Dragonfruit

Geographical centre point of Australia!

Driving the Finke Desert Race Track

Chambers Pillar.