Day 9 Ellery Creek North to Ghost Gum Flat. 12.5 degrees-28.1 degrees celcius. 21km Medium. 350m down 440m up.
Woke up usual daylight/sunrise time and had Baked Beans for breakfast and some broken tea bags from cup of tea. The crows yesterday while I went to the toilet got into my stove bag and plastic bag only to be disappointed it was tea bags and not something nicer.
I got going by 8.00am well after everyone else. Plan was to carry 2.5 litres of water to Rocky Gully then fill up there onto Ghost gum flat for camping overnight then Hugh Gorge for another fill up on water.
It was an overcast day with cloud cover but still warm. With somebody else's rubbish picked up I headed past the shelter to cross the Ellery creek which had water in it so a small deviation from the normal creek crossing.
It was 3.3km to the Ellery Creek Junction thenm a few more kilometres to Rocky Gully. As tourits don't do this stretch the trail was not as well maintained.
Had a full pack of food so it wasn't easy going plus the valley was not so flat.
at midday I arrived at Rocky Gully for lunch and a couple were just heading off as I arrived. It has no shelter but some shade and some good campsites plus toilet and water tank. A one hour lunch and 1.00pm departure with 5.5 litres of water now made the trip harder.
No-one else was seen from now on and just listened to music with rest stops every 4 km markers. I thought Ghost Gum was at 8.8km for some reason so when I reached there I was looking for a Ghost Gum and flat campsite. No where to be found so assumed it was further on and then downhill to cross a creek and then there it was sticking out above the bushes. at 6.6km form Hugh Gorge. I had arrived at 4.00pm. A table was perfect to rest and put the rucksack on, do my stretches and have dinner. There were probably only two campsites there and I had to search for some more rocks to keep the tent from blowing over in the wind. Plus I had it all to myself. This was the longest stretch so far and despite the kilometres down so far I still found today hard. The shoulders starting to ache over the day, hips were fine but the legs got tired.
It seems everyone must be going from Alice Springs but only in peaks and troughs depending on what day they leave.