Janet and Peter On Tour: Palm Valley

Today we were up at 5.45am to meet our 4WD vehicle at 7.00am to take us out to Palm Valley. After our attempt the other day and speaking to different people who had done the trip, we decided to do a tour and we are so glad we did! The tour was picking us up at the gate to where we are staying and to our horror, the front gate was locked! We tried pushing buttons to open the sliding gate but no luck. We were inside the park and needed to be out on the road before we missed the truck! I ended up shimmying under the gate with a lot of manoeuvrings and peter tried but couldn't fit. I was on the outside and he was still locked in. He ended up climbing over the barbed wire and finally we were where we were meant to be - before the truck got there. As we were dusting ourselves off and having a good laugh - a car drove up to the gate and it opened!
Anyway, the truck picked us up and we picked up 10 other people and settled back for the drive through the West McDonnell Ranges. Our driver was Jim Cottorill, he is famous in these parts for having the roadhouse at Stuarts Well for many years and having a singing Dingo. He has lived in Central Australia since he was ten years old and had many interesting stories as well as being very knowledgeable about the area. His Father started doing tours back in the 1950's and Jim and now his son continued on the tradition. When we were at Kings Canyon we crossed "Cottorill Bridge" which was named after Jim and his son who had built the original bridge with logs. It eventually fell down into the crevice and the remains can still be seen. The drive into the valley was definitely high clearance 4 wheel drive only! We shuddered over the deep corrugations and climbed "staircases", went through water, thick sand, over big boulders and narrow paths. It was so thrilling and so worth the teeth jarring bounces! It was a big day 7.00am to 6.00pm but we saw beautiful scenery, had such a good commentary, met some lovely people had a beautiful lunch in the historic Hermannsburg. We did a couple of 2km walks and when we walked back into the park where we are staying, Peter was pelted with beer cans from the two couples we have met here! They are lovely people and we have spent time with them around their camp fire at night. Peter knocked on the sides of their vans as we left this morning so it was pay back!
Mum is doing really well, she's up and about and is constantly having phone calls and visitors - sometimes I can't get through! While we were at Hermannsburg today, she Face Timed us and is looking as beautiful as ever.