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) , which has a camping area with good facilities. Tours must be booked in advance
and can include a 1½-hour rock-art and bush medicine tour (adult/child $15/13) with
billy tea and damper.
About 26km from the Wallace Rockhole turn-off, continuing along Larapinta Dr, you
will pass the lonely Namatjira Monument , which is about 8km from Hermannsburg.
Hermannsburg
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The Aboriginal community of Hermannsburg (Ntaria), about 125km from Alice Springs,
is famous as the one-time home of artist Albert Namatjira and the site of the Hermanns-
burg Mission.
The whitewashed walls of the mission ( 08-8956 7402; www.hermannsburg.com ; adult/
child $10/5; 9am-4pm Mar-Nov, 10am-4pm Dec-Feb) are shaded by majestic river gums and
date palms. This fascinating monument to the Territory's early Lutheran missionaries in-
cludes a school building, a church and various outbuildings. The 'Manse' houses an art
gallery and a history of the life and times of Albert Namatjira as well as work of 39 Her-
mannsburg artists.
The Kata-Anga Tea Room (meals $8-12; 9am-4pm) , in the old missionary house,
serves yummy apple strudel and Devonshire teas. Distinctive paintings and pottery by
the locals is also on display here and is for sale.
West of Hermannsburg is Namatjira's House .
Finke Gorge National Park
With its primordial landscape, the Finke Gorge National Park, south of Hermannsburg, is
one of central Australia's premier wilderness reserves. The top-billing attraction is Palm
Valley , famous for its red cabbage palms, which exist nowhere else in the world. These
relics from prehistoric times give the valley the feel of a picture-book oasis.
Tracks include the Arankaia walk (2km loop, one hour), which traverses the valley, re-
turning via the sandstone plateau; the Mpulungkinya track (5km loop, two hours), head-
ing down the gorge before joining the Arankaia walk; and the Mpaara track (5km loop,
two hours), taking in the Finke River, Palm Bend and a rugged amphitheatre (a semi-
circle of sandstone formations sculpted by a now-extinct meander of Palm Creek).
There's also a popular camping ground (adult/child $6.60/3.30) .
Access to the park follows the sandy bed of the Finke River and rocky tracks, so a
high-clearance 4WD is essential. If you don't have one, several tour operators go to Palm
 
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