Ormiston Gorge and Pound is around two hours drive from Alice Springs – and on the drive there we saw our first ever wild dingo by the side of the road!

The area is part of Tjoritja / West MacDonnell National Park and there is a permanent waterhole at the gorge entrance. The waterhole was our first stop as it was only a 5 minute walk from the car park. The water level was low enough for us to walk along the side and further into the gorge without getting wet feet.

After about half an hour we retraced our steps to the car park and set off on the Ghost Gum walk – a 2.5km loop walk that went up to a lookout overlooking the gorge, along the top rim of the gorge, and then back down to water level.

We completed the loop by walking down the gorge back to the waterhole. Sometimes this requires wading through water – but in our case the water in the gorge didn’t come all the way to the edges so we made it back to the waterhole with dry feet.

After our lunch break we headed off on Pound Walk. The full walk is an 8km loop, but we just walked up to the edge of Ormiston Pound (a ‘pound’ is a large natural amphitheatre of mountains) for great views, and then returned the same way (about 7km return).

The whole area was great for birds and wildlife, and we saw our first ever spinifex pigeon, painted finch, and dusky grasswren. We also saw our first ever perentie (Australia’s largest lizard!) at the start of Pound Walk.