3 Day East MacDonnel Songlines

Depart from Alice Springs

Day 1 - Around Town in Alice Springs and East Mac Donnell Ranges

Take a cultural tour around the town with your Aboriginal guide on a dot-painted bicycle. Learn about the cultural Songlines or Creation stories of Mubantau (Alice Springs) and the Caterpillar Dreaming. Saying goodbye to our Aboriginal guide we continue on our journey out of Alice Springs east to the MacDonnell Ranges visiting the first of our Aboriginal sacred sites where the Caterpillar beings of Mubantua (Alice Springs) originated forming The Gap and other topographic features. View the sacred site where a large rock art painting depicts the Caterpillar Dreaming. Here we enjoy some morning tea.
We continue on to our next stop Corroboree Rock, an outstanding dark grey column of dolomite that was of great importance to the Aboriginal people of the region and was used as a storage site for ceremonial objects by the Eastern Arrernte Aboriginal people. We take a walk around this amazing rock as your guide explains the environment and landscapes. We take a short rest as we travel further into these magnificent ranges and Trephina Gorge.

We travel through to find a lunch spot under the sheltering branches of the great trees of the area and take time to absorb the rugged beauty of this magnificent gorge and the ranges around us. We stop by a giant ghost gum, Eucalyptus papuana (family Myrtaceae), a medium-sized tree of open woodlands with smooth, powdery, white bark. The tree has drooping foliage and is drought-resistant. The leaves are long, smooth and often scicle-shaped or wavy. This tree provides excellent fire wood and the leaves are used by Aboriginal people as a fish poison.

Early in the afternoon we make our way to our first night’s accommodation and a relaxing dinner at one of the older homesteads of the area.

Day 2 - East Mac Donnell Ranges

After breakfast we say our goodbyes and the adventure really begins as we take to the dirt track and make our way to Arltunga. Arltunga is officially known as central Australia's first town, and you can experience it all for yourself and learn about the gold rush where alluvial gold was discovered in a dry creek bed in 1887.

After morning tea we meet with our Aboriginal guide, a traditional Arrente man who will introduce you to his county. Listen to the traditional interpretation of the cultural landscapes and view the world through the eyes of an Aboriginal man. Hear the stories of an Aboriginal person’s history of the mission days, growing up as a stockman and how he survived in harmony with the land.

As we make our way to tonight’s accommodation sit back and let your guide take you back in time to the days of the first pioneers of the region and listen as your guide explains the path these first pioneers travelled. We arrive at a working cattle station, which covers 3,000 square kilometres. The station is one of the original pastoral leaseholds in the region and showcases an old homestead where you will enjoy the spectacular sunset as the sun dips below this picturesque landscape. Have an enjoyable dinner and take the time to walk under the amazing star-studded night skies.

Day 3 - East Mac Donnell Ranges to Alice Springs

Rising early we enjoy a country-cooked breakfast before we make our way toward our next cultural experience, and the last stop on this journey. We travel along the dirt track to meet our Aboriginal hosts, who welcome us to their Homelands and teach us about their Corkwood Songlines in song and by painting. We enjoy a picnic lunch before we make our way back to Alice Springs and the final stop on our Cultural and Pioneering Tour.

This tour concludes at Alice Springs.