Visit the Northern Territory>>

About 140 kilometres southwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory is the 46,000 hectare Finke Gorge National Park, located in one of the driest and most inhospitable regions of Australia. The Finke River is over 250 million years old, making it one of the world’s oldest rivers, and has followed its present course for around 100 million years, carving wide sculptured gorges through the ancient rocks of the James and Krichauff Ranges.

About 5 km west of where Palm Creek enters the Finke River is Palm Valley which was discovered by early inland explorer Ernest Giles in 1872. It is a natural oasis in the arid landscape with waterholes and white river sand. It is the only place in the world where Red Cabbage Palms (Livistona mariae) survive, and the national park was declared in 1967 to protect this rare species.

Palm Valley has a great diversity of plant life, with over 400 species in the region including 22 rare and 13 relict species. Relict species are left over from the time when Central Australia had rainforest, and now survive in a few pockets where there is permanent moisture.

The last 1200 adult plants of the Red Cabbage Palm, some reaching as high as 25 metres, are found only in the sheltered gorges and valleys of the Palm Valley area. The MacDonnell Ranges cycad is another relict plant which grows on the northern and western facing slopes of Palm Valley. There are over 140 species of birds found in the park and the permanent waterholes keep the fish population alive during droughts.

Palm Valley is like an ancient botanical gardens that has survived for thousands of years. There area is also home to many native mammals and reptiles. There are several walking tracks in the area, including a 1.5km track to Kalarranga Lookout which is an easy 20 minute climb. From there you will see spectacular views of the rock amphitheatre surrounded by rugged cliffs of red sandstone which are particularly striking just after sunrise and in the late afternoon.

You can visit Palm Valley by self-driving from Alice Springs or as part of an Alice & The Rock package deal. It’s a trip you do in a day, but it transports you into a time of long ago when Central Australia was very different.

Visit the Northern Territory>>