Desert song festival

Day 108 – Ormiston Gorge, Australia

So yesterday, a fellow traveller told me about this a cappella concert in the wild, and did I wish to come listen with her and her friends: either there would be a place in their car, or there was a bus going there.

So I said “sure”, and that I would check with her the next morning to see how to organize things.

Things would have gone more smoothly if I hadn’t decided that 11:45 am was a good definition of “morning”.

Ormiston Gorge

I checked with the friends, and the car was full; and they weren’t sure where the bus was leaving from in the town. So I asked my dear friend Google, who found the details -and that the shuttle was leaving at 12 am at 7 min’s walk from the hostel. And I would need some cash to pay it, when I was out of it.

So I kind of left in a hurry, coming back just to put water in my backpack (not unpacked from the day before, fortunately), and strode to the library (the shuttle departure point).

They were running not quite late, but not quite on time either, so I had just the time to go to the nearest ATM, pay the nice lady, and take the second-last seat. Pfiou!

Ormiston Gorge

So, no lunch, some water, and not quite sure where I was going and listening to what.

The Desert Song Festival is an annual event, taking place during the month-long Alice Springs festival, with several music events in interesting venues. The closing event is an a cappella concert in the Ormiston Gorge, and a shuttle service allows people without transportation -or who don’t want to drive 2 hours each way- to get there.

Of course, the shuttle bus dropped us there two hours before the start of the concert, so I had the time to reconnoitre -and take some nice pictures. And buy a sandwich, because, no lunch. I was lucky that there was a small cafe at the parking.

The concert was richer than I was expecting. In addition to Alice Springs’ choir, there were the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir, a percussionist from Mali, who played drum and balafon (a xylophone with gourds), a singer from the First Nations of Taiwan, a violinist…

Ormiston Gorge – Desert Song Festival – A cappella in the Gorge

There was one or two songs I knew, the rest was new (ah! rhymes!), and I mostly enjoyed it.

But it ended, we had to hustle to the shuttle, because, 2 hours, and then it was night and we were back in Alice Springs.

From the bus, I enjoyed the landscape (and the sunset), I was happy to have the time to run around the waterhole taking pictures and still have the time to sit in a good place, and I was so lucky to have left with my jacket, because when night falls… or even when one is in the shade… it’s cold!

As usual, all the pictures are in the gallery.

Edit: When I spoke to the fellow travellers the next day, I learned that they took a wrong turn -actually, it’s more they missed the turn and went on straight-, and this being Australia, they went a long way before realizing their mistake. So they arrived… in time for the clapping. The one at the end of the concert. I was lucky to get my shuttle!