Glen Helen Resort is located 133 km west of Alice Springs at the end of the sealed section of road known as Namatjira Drive. No one knows who named the region but it was one of the first pastoral leases in Central Australia. Bookings can be made by telephoning the park and please tell the resort that you have seen their photos on Caravan Park Photos.
Photos on this page were kindly supplied by our roving reporter Roger Sando in October 2011. Roger writes:
We are members of the Steel City Sport Fishing Club in Whyalla SA and we have travelled by caravan through most areas of South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory in the last 5 or 6 years or so.
In July 2011, eight caravans (mostly recently retired people) travelled up along the Stuart Highway stopping at Coober Pedy, Kings Creek Station, Yulara, Alice Springs and both theEast and West MacDonnell Ranges.
Glen Helen was the totally unexpected highlight of our trip. We stayed there for four nights and could easily have stayed longer. It is a convenient point to motor out from each day to the various tourist attractions in the West Mac Donnell Ranges, without having to drive many more kilometres in and out of Alice Springs. Each day we took a cut lunch and visited the various Gorges and attractions.... completing many long walking tracks and trails and climbing just about every lookout and vantage point open to the public.
Places we visited included the Gosse Bluff Comet Crater, RedBanks Gorge, Ellery Big Hole, Ochre Pits, Serpentine Gorge, Ormiston Gorge and Ormiston Pound.
The camp ground is all hard dirt on two levels and there are about 30 powered sites available. It is a basic park but quite roomy and has some shade trees and a nice lawned area for camping and tents etc. The showers and toilets are only a short walk up the hill from the couple of rows of van sites and they are usually kept quite clean. They are portable type buildings and appear to be in sufficient numbers for the size of the park. There was always hot water available and there are a couple of ensuite type cubicles which provide both showers and toilets together.
Staff in the resort were very friendly and helpful and we spent several nights in the resort lounge area in front of a log fire listening to a very capable young lady singing for an hour or so. Bar prices and selection are both reasonable considering the location and unlimited free coffee, chocolate and tea is available in the lounge area for people who are staying three nights or more in the park.
There is a small swimming pool but no playground for kids. There is plenty of scope for exploring the area around Glen Helen itself and the Finke river which runs through at the back of the resort. They have a sheltered outside verandah dining area overlooking the river where they serve up some wicked and delicious famous Glen Helen hamburgers.
Camp fires are allowed in designated sites and we spent several very enjoyable afternoons/evenings sitting around a couple of "choofers" watching the sunset play on the red, red vertical face of the 300 foot hillside at the back of the resort. It was a great place to visit just to relax, explore and simply chill out for a while".
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