Top-7 off-road destinations: MacDonnell Ranges

The West and East MacDonnell Ranges around Alice Springs offer a feast of 4WD touring. You can easily spend three or four weeks in this area.

After stopping off for the short walks to Simpson’s Gap, Standley Chasm, Ellery Creek Big Hole and Serpentine Gorge you can whiz straight to Glen Helen Resort for the night, or bush camp at Redbank Gorge.

Only five kilometres from the Redbank Gorge turnoff from Namatjira Drive is an almost hidden sign to Roma Gorge, which isn’t on most maps.

Roma Gorge is at the end of an 8.5km drive up a sandy and stony, dry creek bed. It’s remarkable for having some of the best rock carvings (petroglyphs) in Central Australia.

After Roma Gorge it’s a bitumen drive to the lookout that provides spectacular views of Tnorala (Gosse Bluff). The short track into Gosse Bluff is 4WD only, with corrugations, washaways and stony creek beds along the track.

From Gosse Bluff the road heads east along Larapinta Drive to Palm Valley and the appropriately named Boggy Hole.

The turnoff to Palm Valley is clearly marked and the road is well aligned, but corrugated. From the camping area to Palm Valley itself is a drive along the dry, rocky Finke River bed.

Camping at Palm Valley is well organised, but crowded during the cooler months. There are toilets and showers, but firewood needs to be collected on the way in – well before the entrance to the National Park.

From Palm Valley the route heads east, along the bitumen Larapinta Drive towards Alice Springs, but those who don’t need to restock can swing south just before the town, on a track through Owen Springs Reserve.

Although the best known sites around Alice Springs are in the West MacDonnells, there are many natural and historic wonders to the east of the town that are not so well visited.

The bitumen-sealed Ross Highway leads to Ross River Station, which makes an ideal camping or cabin overnight stay.

En route is a turnoff to Trephina Gorge and John Hayes Rockhole. The graded road to Trephina is an all-vehicle road, but the rocky high-clearance 4WD track into John Hayes Rockhole normally means fewer people taking a dip.

The Trephina and John Hayes sites have steep, red walls beside deep waterholes, contrasting with white-barked River Red Gums.

Ross River Homestead has comfy log cabins surrounding a salt-water pool and a large fully licensed dining area and bar. There is also a shady, grassed campsite and fuel is available.

While there, take the short run down the dry Ross River bed to N’Dhala Gorge, which is famous for its hundreds of Aboriginal petroglyphs – 'pecked' rock carvings.

The East MacDonnells 4x4 Route winds north east from Ross River, crossing the rocky ranges and passing through the Arltunga Crossroads. Discovery of alluvial gold at this place in 1887 sparked a rush to the spring-fed town of Stuart (now Alice Springs).

The old gold mining buildings at Arltunga are in good condition, making it easy to relive the past. Nearby Ruby Gap is the most remote site in the East MacDonnells and has bush camping sites, without facilities or water.

The East MacDonnells 4x4 Route runs north, via Cattlewater Pass, to an intersection with the Plenty Highway. The track cuts through shallow channel country, with eroded washaways that check out wheel travel, then across flat, scrubby ground, with rocky outcrops and several parking bays for fossickers.

There’s bush camping in this area, with the bonus of gidgee wood for camp oven cooking.

Planning your Red Centre tour lets you see the best of the East and West MacDonnells in three weeks to a month.

We can’t think of another destination in Australia that provides so many outstanding sites, so close together.