Tjoritja / West MacDonnell Ranges

The West MacDonnell Ranges run for over two hundred kilometres west of Alice Springs, folded quartzite ridges from a mountain range once far higher, worn down over hundreds of millions of years and cut through by gaps and gorges where rivers broke through as the land rose. Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm, Ellery Creek Big Hole, Serpentine Gorge, Ormiston Gorge, Glen Helen and Redbank Gorge follow one another along the road, each with waterholes that hold through the dry and support relict plants like the MacDonnell Ranges cycad. Black-footed rock-wallabies live in the rockpiles. The country is Arrernte, and the ranges carry the name Tjoritja.

The landscape

• Ormiston Gorge - a wide gorge with a deep waterhole and a pound walk.
• Ellery Creek Big Hole - a permanent waterhole between quartzite walls.
• Simpsons Gap - a narrow gap with rock-wallabies in the boulders.
• The relict plants - cycads and ferns surviving in shaded gorges.

When to go

April to September; summer heat exceeds forty degrees and swimming holes become the only relief. Water in the gorges is cold year-round, sometimes shockingly so. Winter nights drop below freezing in the ranges.

What to expect

The waterholes are very cold and several have caused cold-water shock incidents. Distances between gorges are long, up to a hundred and fifty kilometres to the western end. Flies in the warm months are relentless.

Nearby

Alice Springs lies east; the Larapinta Trail follows the ranges.