Savusavu, Fiji - January 2013

This will be a fairly little post as not a lot happened this day! My one over-riding memory of the day was of the stifling humidity. Before we were off the ship the captain was warning the guests about going ashore due to the heat and humidity. Being the hardcore cruisers Sam and I are, we went ashore anyway, jumping off the tender we noticed straight away the lines of punters waiting to get back to the air conditioning on the ship, hmmmm.

Punters coming ashore in a tender.

The tender dropped us at the Copra Shed Marina and Sam and I decided that we would take a bit of a walk around town to check the place out. Savusavu is the only entry point for yachts on the island of Vanua Levu so there was no shortage of boats bobbing about in the harbour.  After checking out the shops and the yachts to the east of the marina we headed west along the main drag for awhile. We had heard about some hot springs so we thought that we would check them out. The hot springs were situated behind a sports oval and were literally boiling hot, not somewhere I'd even dip my toe.

The water in the harbour at Savusavu was almost dead calm, with no breeze the humidity was oppressive.

There was a little bit of rain around which only made it more oppressive.

Some of the local kids playing on the jetty.

With the sweat dripping off us it was time to admit defeat and head back to the ship, judging by the queue to get back on the ship it looked like everybody else had the same idea. The ships crew did a fantastic job handing out cool towels and looking after some of the people that had been over come with the heat. Before long we got on board a tender and set of across the still water of the harbour that had an oily dead calm appearance to it. It was with some relief that we got back on the ship and we certainly savoured the air conditioning, anyone who knows me would be surprised that I am talking up the heat as it normally doesn't worry me but that particular day the heat and the humidity combined to make it very uncomfortable.

A little more rain on the way.

Savusavu harbour from the ship.

The Dirt.
Savusavu is the main city on the island of Vanua Levu in Fiji, I get a feeling that I didn't see the best of the place. Next time I go there I'll try to organize a dive tour, at least that way I'll get out of the heat for awhile. The main street is along the waterfront and you can walk from one end of town to the other in less than thirty minutes. The hot springs are behind the oval and aren't signposted, don't think you'll be swimming there as they bubble up into a very shallow creek.

The clouds provided for a great sunset.

Trephina Ridge Top Walk, Trephina Gorge Nature Park - April 2006

The Eastern MacDonnell Ranges are often over looked by people visiting Alice Springs, and while they aren't as spectacular as the Western Mac's they have a few hidden gems buried away. One of those gems is Trephina Gorge, dig a little deeper and you'll discover John Hayes Rockhole, my plan for the day was to do a loop walk from Trephina Gorge out to John Hayes Rockhole via the Ridgetop Trail before returning to the troopie via John Hayes Creek and then finally Trephina Creek.

Trephina Gorge at the start of the walk.

Leaving the troopie parked at the Trephina Gorge car park at 8:00 am, I picked up the trail which climbed high up on the eastern cliffs of Trephina Gorge. The day was already fairly warm at this early hour and there was a bit of dust haze in the air, I was carrying all the water that I'd need for the day but was hoping that I'd find enough water on the track somewhere to have a bit of a swim, time would tell.

Looking across Trephina Creek as I climbed the cliffs above the gorge.

Leaving Trephina Gorge the track now headed generally westerly, eventually attaining the ridgetop for which the track is named. I followed the ridge all the way out to Turners Lookout, the desert looking very dry and forbidding with all the dust flying around. Doubling back a little from Turners Lookout I picked up a track heading generally south easterly, this was my route into John Hayes Creek and its gorge.

Looking west from Turners Lookout.

Looking to the North West from Turners Lookout.

While the gorge in John Hayes Creek isn't as high as some in the territory it is fairly long and I spent the next couple of hours rock hoping and scrambling down the gorge. Sometimes the route would have to leave the gorge completely to bypass waterfalls, other times I could find a safe route to scramble down the dry waterfalls. The cliffs of the gorge provided welcome shade as I made my way down.

The gorge cut by John Hayes Creek.

The bed of the creek provided fairly easy walking.

There were a few waterfalls to scramble around.

Nearing John Hayes Rockhole the track once again scaled the cliffs to by pass a series of waterfalls that ended with the waterhole at the bottom. The place was deserted, in fact I didn't see another person all day, so I stripped off and jumped into the freezing waterhole. I passed the next few hours on rotation between swimming in the freezing water and baking on the hot red rocks, I was in no hurry to head off from this spot because the next 6 kilometres back to the troopie would be a bit of a road bash.

This one looked a bit festy, I think I'll leave it for the wildlife.

With the sun getting low on the horizon I eventually decided that I'd better head off. Initially I followed a 4wd track that follows John Hayes Creek back to its junction with Trephina Creek, the track alternated between the sandy flats beside the creek and the creek itself. It was all fairly easy going though and in under an hour I was back on the access road to Trephina Gorge, turning north I was back at the troopie just as dusk was coming down. Just over an hour later I was back at the hotel enjoying a cold beer.

John Hayes Rockhole.

After a bit of  a swim I'd follow the line of trees towards the top left of the photo.

The Dirt.
The walk is in the Trephina Gorge Nature Park in the Eastern MacDonnell Ranges about an hour out of Alice Springs. I walked about 21 kilometres on this walk although if you had two 4wd's you could cut out around 6 kilometres. The walk is a medium walk, although don't attempt it in summer when it would be baking hot. There are a couple of other short walks around  Trephina Gorge that are worth a look. I didn't use any notes but it would be worth checking out Take a Walk in the Northern Territory's National Parks by John Daly as he may have written the walk up by now, by book wasn't around when I did the walk.

I had to circle around the rockhole before I could get down.

One more look at the view from Turners Lookout.