Rainbow Valley

It's taken us nearly twenty years to return to Rainbow Valley.

This time, we came with our drone, which gave us a fantastic perspective over our last visit.

Rainbow Valley is located in the James Range, seventy-four kilometres southeast of Alice Springs. Access is along a twenty-two-kilometre sandy and corrugated road east of the Stuart Highway. Our van tyres were reduced to twenty-eight psi, and our Chev tyres were reduced from sixty-five to forty psi to give us a smoother ride. 

It's not unusual to see camels in desert areas, but we were surprised to see them so close to the road; 

There are two campsites, and we are in the bush campsite with ten bays more suitable for caravans. The main camp is closer to the claypan and sandstone cliffs, but the five sites there are much smaller and more suited to camper trailers and tents.

On our first evening, we cooked a marinated beef brisket that we bought from home. Firstly, it was cooked in the camp oven with heat beads, finished over the fire and served with a Thai-style salad and crispy onion.

Fly nets are necessary, and the annoying little buggers only disappear once the sun sets, so eating our dinner under the stars and in front of the fire was lovely.

While the cliffs behind the claypan are impressive during the day, they come into their own once the sun sets. This is when the colours of the sandstone indeed come alive.