It was a very cold night and we woke to find ice on the top of our roof vent. However we were snug and warm and so were the boys in their swags.

We packed our backpacks and set off westwards to explore Redbank Gorge. There’s a 5km unsealed, rocky and corrugated road to the carpark and two camping areas. From Redbank Gorge carpark you can do the walk to the summit of Mt Sondor, the highest point in the West McDonells.

We followed the path to the gorge and it quickly became a scramble over rocks instead of a path. We reached the gorge at the end after negotiating the rocky waterway and were rewarded with the sight of another beautiful waterhole surrounded by towering red sandstone cliffs. Stunning! You can swim through the gorge however as the water is extremely cold a floatation device is recommended. None of us had any desire to get into that cold water. It would be great to do in warmer weather though.

We stopped at the gorge for lunch before making out way back across the rocks until we finally reached the path. It had taken us 2 hours to walk in and back out. We all felt this was the hardest walk we’d been on so far due to having to pick your way carefully over the rocky river bed without falling or twisting an ankle.

Back at camp the afternoon was spent reading, playing games, blogging and watching a couple of movies in the motorhome. Pa had a couple of little visitors for a movie session.

Pa and Riley were in charge of cooking our steaks on the camp kitchen BBQ and quite some time was spent discussing the difference between cooking a rare steak and a well-done one. Riley cooked the onions and steaks under Pa’s instructions and did a fabulous job of ensuring there was steak to meet each persons tastes. My steak was a perfect medium.

We had boiled potato with sour cream and corn on the cob to go with our steaks. There was lots of happy chatter around the dinner table.

Everyone had enjoyed our stay at Glen Helen but was now ready to move on. Everyone pitched in and packed up the outside chairs, tables, mat etc so we didn’t have to do that in the cold morning.

We had another stunning sunset for our last night at Glen Helen