GLEN HELEN GORGE 28.08.2013 I am writing this as a i overlook Glen Helen Gorge, about 130km west of Alice Springs. There is a spiritual feeling one gets out here. At night the stars are endless and when looking at them you feel like you are floating in surreal disk amongst the universe, During the day the Finke River carves its way through the red cliffs on either side and leads into the gorge. Its here you begin to understand why the indigenous Australians have such an emotional and spiritual connection with the land. Time seems to stop and seems so insignificant as i sit her overlooking the 15 million year old gorge. I arrived at Glen Helen a couple of nights ago after being picked up in Alice by the Chef of the Glen Helen Resort. After leaving the Ghan is Alice Springs i had made a phone call to the resort to ask if i could come out and play there for a few night in return for accommodation and meals. The resort obliges and told me that Mark, The chef, would be in town the next day and could give me a ride out to Glen Helen. I like Alice but to me there was a certain sadness about it. The culture clash between the KFC/McDonalds and the indigenous culture drilled in a sad reality of what our western culture had ushed upon these people. So i was glad to get iout of alice for a few days. I immediately took a liking to Mark, the chef. He insisted we have a few beers before we head back to Glen Helen. After a few beers at Bojangles saloon, We then proceeded to the bottleshop to by the rounds for the staff at Glen Helen Resort. So with Rosie (my guitar),my backpack and a substantial amount of beer in the boot we made our way back to Glen Helen Resort. Glen Helen Resort is not what you would really call a resort. It is more of a homestead/motel. There are 15 staff employed here, mainly german and canadian. All of whom are lovely. Later that night i i played my set to an array of French, Venetians, Germans and Irish tourists ,who all seemed to love the more country orientated tunes id sing. After my set, and a few scotches at the bar, we were persuaded by Mark ( in all honesty it didn’t take much persuasion) to go back to his room fro a game of poker and to make inroads into the staff supply of beer. Tomorrow i am heading back into Alice Springs to re-join the Ghan onward to Darwin. I shall miss Glen Helen for it’s beauty, the people and the beers!
Posted on: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 06:33:34 +0000
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