Finke Gorge National Park

The Finke River is often described as the oldest watercourse on earth, following a route it has held for something like a hundred million years while the land around it changed completely. Within its gorge system lies Palm Valley, where several thousand red cabbage palms grow, a species found nowhere else in the world, surviving in a moist pocket left behind when central Australia dried out. Walking tracks run through the palm stand and up onto the surrounding sandstone plateau, where the Mpaara and Arankaia trails cross rock formations and lookouts. Access is along the sandy Finke riverbed itself, which requires high-clearance four-wheel drive and gets vehicles stuck regularly.

What you actually see

• The red cabbage palms - several thousand of a species found only here.
• The Finke riverbed - the ancient watercourse, also the access route.
• The plateau walks - sandstone formations and lookouts above the valley.
• The gorge walls - red rock enclosing the palm stand.

When to go

April to September; summer heat is extreme and the sandy track worse. The riverbed access can be cut after rain. Early starts avoid both heat and the middle-of-day tour traffic.

Honest expectations

Access is by four-wheel drive only along a rough sandy riverbed, and hire agreements often exclude it; two-wheel drives get bogged regularly. There is no fuel or water in the park. Facilities amount to a campground with basic amenities.

Nearby

Hermannsburg lies northeast; the West MacDonnell Ranges are north.