Five-minute read: To celebrate 10 years of marriage, Jemma and Matt head to the Red Centre.
We’d been dreaming up a glitzed up weekend away in Sydney for our 10th wedding anniversary. But children had changed our thinking, and with five kids born by our 8th year of marriage, our hearts were torn with what do that celebrated this wonderful milestone. Not wanting to let this anniversary pass by as just another day, we dreamed about the Larapinta Trail just out of Alice Springs, our hometown.
So many friends had shared such great stories of their experiences walking different sections, that we settled on section 4. With eager anticipation of the great views and challenges this particular section promised, we bundled up our energetic kiddos and handed them over to their beloved grandparents for a few nights.
On the Friday, we got up well before the sun was up, and made the 40-minute car ride from Alice Springs to Standly Chasm, where a very kind man opened the gate for us to enter so early in the morning. We had some beautiful rains in our arid land this summer, so the first leg of the journey through the creek bed had some remaining water in it.
Such a treat to navigate in the usually dry riverbeds. After a couple of kays of rock scrambling, the valley opened up to reveal the expansive and high mountain range. The trail kept begging us to climb higher and higher, and the couple of false summits did not disappoint. The colour change on the rocks as the sun rose was so magical to experience.
We know some people who have run this trail before, and our minds marvelled at their ability to do this on such an undulating track, with slippery sections, and sheer cliff like drops off the edge. Once at the summit of Brinkley’s Bluff, we soaked in the blue and purple hues of the ongoing mountain range and fuelled our belly’s for a return journey back to the car.
Our toes were sore and legs burning, but our hearts and minds ablaze at this magnificent landscape not far from our very back door. The thirst to see more of the Larapinta Trail was well and truly whet. We’re so grateful we got to celebrate 10 years of marriage with such an adventure as this. 
Words_Jemma Cann