There are endless camping and hiking possibilities here. I absolutely love it. At the end of July, we decided to get into the car and head east, along Ross Highway, and into the East Macs (East MacDonnell Range). We packed our tent and sleeping bags and headed out.
Arltunga was officially founded in 1887 after gold was discovered in the area, and it was Central Australia's first town. Miners came from all over to mine for gold, but the harsh landscape would prove to be too difficult to manage. The lack of water was the biggest hardship, making even basic survival a challenge. This ghost town once supported 300 people and there was a community that was established, equipped with their own police station (below).
From a prior drive out this way, we knew there was a nice little spot for lunch at the Ross River Resort. It's located at the end of the Ross Highway, about 83 km from home.
After lunch, we backtracked just a little to get on the Arltunga Road. We drove for about 2 hours along a dirt road, stopping a little before 3pm. We wanted to make sure we had enough time to explore the area and set up the tent before it got dark.
As you can see, we're sort of in the middle of nowhere.
And it was great. After we set up the tent (in the clearing below), I wanted to do a little climbing. So we climbed the hill (pictured) opposite the hill where we pitched the tent.
We climbed for about an hour. The views at the top were stunning!
That night we saw the Milky Way!
The next morning we packed up the little tent, and headed out to Arltunga.
It was a great weekend! For the full album of pictures, check them out here: https://goo.gl/photos/8FSoeP3sWRtv7DM6A
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