The Finke River, or Larapinta in the Indigenous Arrernte language, is a river in central Australia, whose bed courses through the Northern Territory and the state of South Australia. It is one of the four main rivers of Lake Eyre Basin and is thought to be the oldest riverbed in the world. It flows for only a few days a year. When this happens, its water usually disappears into the sands of the Simpson Desert, rarely if ever reaching Lake Eyre.
The source of the Finke River is in the Northern Territory\\\'s MacDonnell Ranges, which flows through central Australia. The name is first applied at the confluence of the Davenport and Ormiston Creeks, just north of Mount Zeil. From here, the river meanders for about 600 km to the western edge of the Simpson Desert in northern South Australia. It flows through the West MacDonnell and Finke Gorge National Parks.
Usually the river is a string of waterholes, but it can become a raging torrent during rare flood events, fed by tropical rains upstream. In extreme instances, water from the Finke River flows into the Macumba River, which empties into Lake Eyre – a total distance from headwater streams of about 750 km. Major tributaries include Ellery Creek, and the Palmer and Hugh Rivers.
