The 1/2 Lap of Australia

Catching up

2008-09-22T06:24:00.000-07:00

I am trying to catch up on what has been missed! Having to good a time to be thinking about the blog.

Use the navigation on the left to read the days in order.

Will update more tomorrow......

Karratha to Nanutarra Roadhouse

2008-09-22T06:19:00.000-07:00

Even though we were awake early this morning due to the constant flow of four wheel drives clunking over the speed hump on the road at the front of the van, it was no rush as we had a relatively short travel day and were only heading for a roadhouse that had little or no attraction, just a place to break the journey and have a sleep.

There was of course the dilemma of finding a new kitchen plug to replace the one that had been lost the day before and what a challenge it turned out to be. Three hardware stores and a plumbing store later and I still had no plug. I was told by a couple of these places that they had run out some time ago but had never bothered to replace them, even though others had been in and asked for them.

A surprising fact is that there are no caravan or camping stores that I could find and so I had to think of an alternative, but with no luck. At my last store, a plumbing supplier, they suggested I try the local boat store as they might have one. Guess what, they did and so I bought two so that we had a spare and hopefully avoid any further emergencies of this nature. Finally I could return with the prize in hand.

After breakfast and slowly packing up, it was in the car and off to our destination for the day, Nanutarra Roadhouse. This all occurred after taking twenty minutes to get the refund back on the gate key, which was actually never used as the system was broken. We were then on our way.

Not a really exciting road today, stopped on the side of the road for lunch, but it still amazes me how it is flat for along time then all of a sudden you are in the middle of rocks or a mountain range. This is a country of many different terrains that we are lucky enough to be experiencing.

After setting up at the roadhouse, where everything was twice the price of everywhere else we sat back and relaxed. Little did we know that about one hundred metres away was a very attractive river setting We went for a walk over the bridge and saw the rocks water reflections making for a pleasant place to sit for a while.

Whim Creek to Karratha

2008-09-22T06:08:00.000-07:00

We were up fairly early and so headed off to Karratha for the night. We passed through Roebourne, an old historic town, but true to form kept on going till we reached our destination. This is a mind set we need to change to make sure we stop and look at things along the way.

We arrived in Karratha by mid morning and so went to the supermarket for morning tea and to do some shopping for the supplies required. We then headed off to the Caravan Park where we set up and had lunch.

I headed off to the Visitor Centre to find out what were the must do’s of the area and so we headed off to see the highlights.

It was off to Dampier, an absolute thrill for Cathy! We saw the big trains dropping off the raw materials, iron ore, that were then transferred to a ship and sent overseas to be processed. Of course we then buy back the finished product at a premium.

We had a drive around Dampier, a very industrial port that sends much of the mined products overseas.

It was very interesting to see the LNG plant where gas is brought in from the ocean bed, frozen and then sent to many Asian countries for the gas supplies. Each vessel that leaves sails with about ten million dollars worth of gas aboard that earns Australia foreign income. We went to see a display that talked about this process, another highlight for Cathy that was actually very interesting as it explained the process from under the ground to the arrival in the overseas ports.

We returned via Hearsons Cove, the location for tonight’s ‘Staircase to the Moon’ and made sure we knew where to go when we returned. After a quick walk along the beach and a splash in the water, we returned to the van for tea.

After tea we had a major emergency, well according to one of the travelling party anyway. We lost the kitchen sink plug! Oh dear what a tragedy! A simple trip to the tiny camp kitchen solved this problem and all dishes were washed and returned to the cupboards clean.

After this we headed off to Hearsons Cove to see the famous ‘Staircase to the Moon’, a phenomenon that only occurs three nights a month when all of the conditions are right. We had been advised that it should occur about 7:50pm and so we made sure we were there in plenty of time.

We sat and waited for what seemed a very long time and eventually the moon rose over the horizon and the reflection on the mudflats created the staircase. Something worth seeing once, but not something I would go out of my way to see again, a little overrated for me but the others seemed to enjoy it.

It was then back to the van for a goodnights sleep.

Eighty Mile Beach to Whim Creek

2008-09-22T05:53:00.000-07:00

We got up this morning with the intention of packing up and heading off to Port Hedland for a night but our plans changed as the day went.

We left the caravan park and slowly headed towards the highway along the corrugated road taking it slowly so as to make it as smooth as possible. It appears that the road was graded this morning as it does not appear to be anywhere near as rough as when we entered.

Well, what can I say, we have been to Eighty Mile Beach and are in no hurry to return there. This is most probably the first, and hopefully the last place on the trip that it feels like we could have missed and not felt disappointed. I guess that you never know until you go. But once was enough.

We headed to Port Hedland with the intention of staying there a night before heading further south. I had expected the parks to be open from now and had not prebooked and guess what, the park we wanted was full. It was a quick drive around the area and then off to South Hedland to find another caravan park. I tried ringing several times but there was no answer. When we arrived, the sign on the door said that they were at lunch and had a mobile number to ring which we did and were told to find any site. After a quick drive around, it was clear that this was not much of a park and so we quickly decided to move on.

We had lunch, Macca’s, much to the kids delight and then headed off down the highway unsure of where we would end up tonight.

We stopped at Whim Creek, an old hotel that had been demolished by a cyclone years before but had been rebuilt to its former glory. From the stories on the wall, it was a fairly famous place and a regular stop for people travelling through the area. It’s main purpose now was for the miners in the area, providing accommodation, meals and entertainment for them.

The caravan park area had to be rebuilt, and I think that they really are not concerned about this aspect anymore as they are making their money elsewhere. They did however allow people to set up in the car park area, even providing electricity if required, all for free. We were able to use the toilet and shower facilities which were very clean.

Thinking we were settling in for a quiet night, we did not realise that it was the end of shift for the miners and so they were having a party night. They work two weeks on, two weeks off on a rotating basis. They had finished the two weeks shift and so it was party time until after midnight, how lucky were we. At least the music was not bad as they played all of the golden oldies!

So after a long day, we eventually got off to sleep.

Eighty Mile Beach

2008-09-22T05:50:00.000-07:00

As I said there is little to do at this location apart from walk along the beach and relax. It was quite windy today and so it was not even that great sitting on the beach.

There was a small market with odds and ends and bits of craft on the foreshore this morning but very little worth buying. There were only about half a dozen stalls all selling similar things. I think that some of the people in the park use this as a way of selling there knickknacks or craft to get a little extra pocket money, not such a bad idea.

Well now for the fishing, it was finally about 1.5 hours before high tide and I was ready, along with a few others to head down to the beach for a chance to fish the beach for the available two hours. You guessed it, I did not get anything, but the only consoling factor was that no-one else did either. It sounds like that they are either on the bite and a lot of fish are caught, or nothing is about, which was the way it was today.

Well as for the rest of the day, nothing happened apart from watching the water go out again and then the trek to try and reach it. A walk along the beach and not much more to do.

Oh well, I suppose this is what holidays are about!

Broome to Eighty Mile Beach

2008-09-22T05:48:00.000-07:00

We left Broome, much to the disappointment of some, and headed off to Eighty Mile Beach for a couple of nights and a chance to do some fishing.

We stopped at Sandfire Roadhouse, a service station that had been burnt down some time ago and has not yet been rebuilt. As a result, the services available are very limited and there is no real shop to speak of and there is no opportunity to buy anything. Too bad if you had planned to buy anything, even bread here!

It was then on to Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park, our stop for the next few nights on our way south. It was an eight kilometre corrugated road, we were aware of this before arriving but were unsure of how bad, or good, it was until we started along the road. As you are unable to prebook this caravan park, it was also a gamble that we would travel in and find it was full and that we had wasted our time.

Two kilometres in, it was a case of whether to turn back or not. If we were only in for one night I would not have gone in any further, but the fact we were there for two nights meant it might be worthwhile. It was not that the road was really that bad it was just a slow and careful journey to the park.

We arrived at reception and were pleased to find that there was a powered site available for us for the next couple of nights but I was informed that I had missed the fishing for the day. As it turned out, you could basically only fish one hour before and after high tide. It was when we finally saw the beach that I understood why, the high and low tide levels were very different. Almost a kilometre we think!

After setting up in the park, which was not too bad since we were so isolated, it was time to have a walk over to the beach to see what we really had in store. The tide was about midway and so the beach actually looked quite good and so we decided to come back after lunch.

When we returned, it was about another 500 metres out and so not quite so good. Instead of walking along the beach, you had to walk out to the water a long, long way! This kind of took away from the look of the beach as it really was not a place you could swim, a little disappointing especially after Broome.

Nothing much else today, well there is not much to do at Eighty Mile Beach!

Broome Day 3

2008-09-08T06:32:00.000-07:00

The last day in town today so it was time to start thinking about packing and moving on. Cathy had really fallen in love with Broome and did not want to leave. As I have already said, I was pleasantly surprise with Broome and had enjoyed my time here.

After a quiet morning at the van, we headed off to the pool and beach for more swimming time and relaxed in the sunshine. It really is very tough here on holidays but someone has to do it and it might as well be us!

It would have been good to take the kids for a long ride along the beach, but because of the “Nude Republic” as Chelsea has called it, we were restricted in where we could go.

In the end we just spent the afternoon at the beach swimming and relaxing before returning to start packing for the next day.

Broome Day 2

2008-09-08T06:28:00.000-07:00

When we woke, we could hear the beach calling us so Josh and I set off on our morning bike ride and rode along the beach for a while and then returned for breakfast.

We headed into town for while and had a look around the shops buying a few souvenirs and other things. We spent a while here before we had morning tea and headed back to the van before heading down to the beach for a swim.

Once we were all ready we all headed to the beach for a swim and relaxing morning on the beach. W had decided to take the car and maybe park on the beach while we had a swim but what we did not know was what we were heading for, A NUDIST BEACH! The problem was that the age of the people there was sixty and above! Not a pretty site at all. By he sounds coming from the others in the car, some squeals and gee whizzes, they were all in a state of shock and not sure where they should look. An education for all! Sorry there are no pictures that we can publish here as children are reading this blog!

We then made a quick exit and headed to the other end of the beach for a swim in a safer area. The water looked fantastic but was still very cold, it is still very surprising how cold the water is here.

We met Clive and Maria, from NMIT, this afternoon on the beach where they were relaxing in the sunshine getting a suntan. They have flown to Broome for a week to escape the Melbourne cold weather and enjoy some of the heat we have been experiencing for the last few weeks.

After a swim it was back to the van to get ready for the camel ride that everyone was looking forward to.

We arrived on the beach to find the camels all lined up and ready to go and after a briefing we were lined up beside our assigned camel ready for a ride. There are two parts to a camel ride that make it quite hard, the standing up and sitting down of the camel. If you have not done it before, it is quite a sharp jolt as the camel rises from the ground.

We had a ride for an hour as the sunset over the water. Our camels were called Cloud (mine), Jahill (Chels & Skinny) and Zarah (Cathy & Josh). It turned out that Jahill was the tallest and most fidgety of all the camels that we had and provided Chels and Skinny with some interesting moments. It wanted to overtake the camel Cathy & Josh were on and kept making noises and jumping around, quite amusing to watch.

We later went to visit Clive and Maria in their where they were staying and after a pleasant evening returned back to the van.

Broome Day 1

2008-09-08T06:19:00.000-07:00

As Josh and I are early rises, we often head off for a ride or a walk for a while before returning to have breakfast. This morning was no exception and we headed off down to the beach for our ride. While we were stopped taking a photo to send to a few people, we heard someone calling Josh’s name. It turned out to be Mrs Moreland and her husband, the other lady who works in the office at the kid’s school, on their morning walk.

They were staying at another caravan park down the road, but are doing a similar trip to us. What strange places you meet people! After a chat for a while, we continued on for our ride before heading back to the van.

We eventually got moving with a drive around Broome to see the local sights. It was already mid morning and e wanted to be back for lunch and so it was going to be quick. None of us had been to Broome before and so it was all new territory for us.

We drove around to Ganthaeume Point, a place with amazing rock formations that meet the ocean. One thing that has really amazed us is the red soil, now when I say red, I mean red. I think it is even redder than the soil in the centre of Australia and what even makes it more amazing is that it finishes at the sand dunes, and turns to bright white sand.

We looked out to the ocean and surrounding areas from here and wondered around the rock formations for a little while.

We then followed a dirt road around the point and ended up at the wharf area and went for a walk along the jetty to see the boats that were in port. This was a customs controlled area and so we were not allowed to get too close to them. The water was still that amazing blur colour.

We had intended to head into town, but due to the late time, we returned back to the caravan park for lunch as we had promised Josh a swim, either at the pool or the beach.

After swimming in the pool for a while, we headed for the beach to have a swim in the water. It was still colder than expected but you still had to go in anyway. The water was an amazing colour and a pleasure to look at. After a swim, Chels and Josh decided to cover themselves in sand before having another swim to wash it all off.

We had decided to do the camel ride one night and fish and chips on the beach the other night. Due to the camels being booked out tonight, there was no decision to be made and it was planning for a meal on the beach.

We packed the chairs and table into the back of the car, rang and ordered the fish and chips and then headed for the beach. After collecting the fish and chips, we along with many others, drove the car onto the beach, set ourselves up and then had tea while the sunset over the water. Cathy had to go and buy some wine glasses, some Maison and juice for Josh so that we could all sit and pretend that were sitting sipping wine on the beach. What a very pleasant way to spend an evening! Chels & Josh even put on a show for us while we were there.

Fitzroy Crossing to Broome

2008-08-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

Time to move on to our next point, Broome and after packing up we were in the car and on the way.

While driving along the road, we saw a big hollow Boab tree, a good place for morning tea. We had seen some big trees already, but this one was the biggest we had been close to. When we had a look, the middle of it was hollow and we were able to climb inside.

Great I thought, another chance to lose the Mother-in-law along the way. After she had climbed in, I tried to get everyone into the car and drive away, but of course someone had to spoil this effort and had to help her out. The whole in the middle was big enough for everyone to climb into and have a look around.

We then headed off to Broome, unsure of what we were going to get as we had been advised that we were in the overflow area. I had booked this park about three months prior, and still got the overflow at this time. We were however pleasantly surprised when we arrived to find the site was equivalent to many other sites we had stayed in, not a problem at all.

After settling in and setting up, it was time for a swim in the pool, still chilly but not as cold as some of the others we had been to so we were able to enjoy some time in the water.

It was then time for a walk down to the beach to see what it looked like, not sure what I was expecting, but it was much better than I had expected with white sand and a lovely blue water. What did surprise me was that the sea water was cold, I had expected it to be a lot warmer than what it was. The kids had a splash and that was enough for today.

It was quickly back to the beach later to look at the spectacular sunset over the water, we said we would be back to see more of this.

Fitzroy Crossing

2008-08-28T05:23:00.000-07:00

No real rush this morning as we had plenty of time to sit and relax before heading off to Geikie Gorge for a cruise up the Fitzroy River.

Well, sometimes you really do not know what to expect and this cruise proved to be one of those times that no expectation was there to be met. When we arrived for the cruise we met Colin and Marilyn again as well as Mrs Springs(Bev), the secretary from Chels & Josh’s school, and Ted her husband. We knew that they were on the road but this was the first time we had met up with them.

Back to that cruise, it went for about one hour, cost $25 and was well worth the money. Have I mentioned before about the great masses of water that we keep coming across while on this journey, only once or twice, well today is another great example of this. The amount of water we saw was amazing and when the guide explained where the wet season high water level mark was, it was almost too difficult to comprehend the amount of water that must flow

The rock formations were created by the flow of the water, mainly in the wet season. The wet season level was about ten to fifteen meters above the current level and carried a large percentage of Western Australia’s fresh water supply. This is really a big amount of water that flows in the wet season and would be worth having a look at when it was in full flow. The problem is that Fitzroy Crossing is often isolated during this time and is not accessible by road.

The same as many other places, there are a few jobs available in this town, including the Information Centre that was also looking for staff. I do not think that the family would think this a great place to move to.

Time for another freeze in the pool and then relaxing for the rest of the afternoon.

Life is really tough!

Halls Creek to Fitzroy Crossing

2008-08-28T05:17:00.000-07:00

A very uneventful day today with a relatively short drive from Halls Creek to Fitzroy Crossing with not much to see on the way. This was a stretch without and roadhouses and so we were reliant on roadside toilets to get us through if required. We do not have an onboard ensuite and decided against buying a porta potty a decision we had so far not regretted. The only thing it stopped us doing was roadside stops, but I had not envisaged doing many if any of those along the way.

The first one we stopped at was at Mary Pool, a location that looked like a great roadside stopover point, until we saw the toilets; at least I think that is what they were meant to be. Skinny took one look and said that she was not that desperate. A lovely spot for those who have the facilities onboard.

The second stop was at a cliff road stop, again a great location with a poor excuse for toilets. Well someone had used as the smell coming from them was not very nice at all. A bit of a shame that these facilities are like this.

We then proceeded onto Fitzroy Crossing where we found the caravan park and some found the toilets even quicker. This was a good park in the middle of nowhere that provided all of the facilities we required. Josh was not to keen to stay here as it was Fitzroy crossing and he does not like Fitzroy, now the lions football club

There was one problem we found here though, well it was a problem for some. There was no channel seven or equivalent and so no Olympic Games coverage.

I drove in to town to get the bread for lunch to find out it was Sunday and the shops were shut, luckily I was still able to get some so we did not go without. The town is not very big and so one small supermarket was the only place for supplies. Apart from this it was the service stations on the main highway.

After lunch, the kids and I tried to have a swim in the pool to find out again the central heating word had still not made it here, the pool was very cold and so we lasted only a short time in the water.

I went for walk down the Fitzroy River, although there was very little water running where we were and no I did not see any crocodiles!

The rest of the day was sitting aback and relaxing.

Turkey Creek to Halls Creek

2008-08-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

What a morning, we all got up very excited and could not wait for the helicopter ride. Josh was almost running over there when it was time to pay and go for the ride.

Cathy sat in the front, Chels and I sat on the sides with no doors and Josh sat in the middle and soon after we were all buckled up we were up, up and away! Chels and Josh could not control their smiles as the helicopter rose above the ground and headed of towards the Bungles. We had no real idea what was in store.

The pilot asked if this was our first time in a helicopter and when Josh answered yes, he said it was his first time as well! Nothing like a confidence boost as you are flying away!

We got a running commentary from our pilot, Woody, and heard about his stories and the area we were flying over. What amazing scenery we saw as we flew over. It was quite cold and very windy sitting on the sides with no door but the experience was breathtaking. We were able to ask questions of Woody and Josh took the opportunity to quiz him on what he knew.

I will let the pictures show you what we saw, even though they still do not do it justice, as it is very hard to put what we saw and experienced in words.

The helicopter flight lasted forty-five minutes and the time passed very quickly but the experience was well worth it. We still would have liked the opportunity to see and feel the Bungles but this was the next best thing. Something we will all never forget.

For the record, no-one was sick although Cathy did say that there were three times that she felt close to it. The pilot had told us to look at the horizon and this fixed the problem for her.

When we returned, Colin and Marilyn had arrived and so it was a quick pack up and move so that they could get their van in and depart for their drive into the Bungles.

Of course just after they left I found that we had a flat battery and so had to get someone from the service station to help us get started. I sorted this out at Halls Creek, where a new battery was placed in the car to prevent any further problems of this sort.

Halls Creek was an interesting town with an Aboriginal problem, we had been advised that Saturday night was party night and the locals fell asleep in the streets where they stopped. Luckily for us there was a game of footy in the afternoon and the footy oval was a fair distance from the caravan park. As this was the scene of the party for the night, we only had the dull thud of the music in the background until about 4:00am and it started again just after 6:00am.

It could have been much worse, the night before the party was across the road from the caravan park and the noise was very loud and went all night. Thankfully we missed that!

Kununurra to Turkey Creek

2008-08-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

Waking up early was not too much of a problem as Josh’s body clock had still not adjusted and he was still operating on Northern Territory time. I was up and out the van not long after 6:45am and on my way to get the window fixed and then before I knew it was on my way back to pick up the family and the van.

It was in the car and on our way, towards Turkey Creek, the base from which we are to head into the Bungles. We were still undecided about driving in as we have heard many different reports about the condition of the road and whether it is too bumpy or not, we really cannot afford to be stuck here for a week.

As we could not pre book this park, we wanted to get there as early as possible to get a powered site as at this stage we were staying two nights. There was a small swimming pool and not much else to pass the afternoon away.

Skinny went for a helicopter ride over the Bungles, you can catch up with her about the details later. It had no door on the side and so there was a chance that she might fall out, I could be so lucky. The bad news is that she came back!

Our decision was made not by us, but by the people in the site beside us. When I spoke to them they informed me that they had been stuck at Turkey Creek for over a week and their car, which was at Halls Creek, was still not fixed and they were waiting on a part from Perth. Turkey Creek is a service station with a small caravan park on the side, not the place to get stuck.

We decided on doing the tour instead, but of course it was full and they could not accommodate five people. We decided that for the additional cost we would also give ourselves a treat and fly over the Bungles in the helicopter tomorrow. A new experience as apart from myself, no-one else had been in a helicopter and what a place to do it. We booked for 9:00am tomorrow.

Everyone was excited about the prospect of flying tomorrow and this appeared to alleviate the disappointment of not driving in. I am sure they will all cope.

I had booked in for two nights but was able to change the second night to Colin & Marilyn so they were guaranteed of a power site and we did not loose our money.

I went for a walk along the highway and looked at the local aboriginal community from the distance. It appeared quite large, with a school and other services available. You are not permitted into the communites, although I would really have like to go in and have a real look at what was available. They even had a community store, but again I could not get in to see it.

Back for dinner and a quiet night, well it is Turkey Creek!

Kununurra Day 2

2008-08-26T07:37:00.000-07:00

The kids did some school work this morning, Skinny went to the shops and Cathy did some house or should I say caravan work! What did I do? Well nothing important that I can remember, must have been a little more relaxing.

After lunch we headed of to Lake Argyle, what a spectacular place this turned out to be. It has been mentioned before about the way you can travel through the countryside and then see a large mass of water, this was no exception. This is a very large mass of water that provides hydro power and irrigation to the area and although I cannot remember the amount of water contained, it is huge.

Cathy went as far as saying that this was some of the most, if not the most picturesque scenery that she had seen anywhere. The lake looked fantastic with the colour and the rocky surrounding making for breathtaking scenery. We saw the dam wall, that also signified the start of the Ord River and had afternoon tea here before heading back to town.

One car on the way back to the highway and it flicked up a stone and it hit the windscreen, not happy Jan! Although it looked like a good hit and chip, the damage was isolated and did not spread far at all. I was not sure of the chip could be fixed or if it was a new windscreen required, of course they would not have one in Kununurra and so were we going to get stuck here? Could we drive on? These and more questions ran through my head on the way back to town.

On arrival in Kununurra, we went straight to the windscreen shop to be told that it was a bad chip but could be fixed first thing in the morning before we headed off. I could be there at 7:00am and it would take about half an hour. With a sigh of relief we headed back to the caravan park to do a little packing before heading out for tea.

We again caught up with Colin and Marilyn tonight for a BBQ tea together, amazing that you have to come all of this way to meet people you know. Well at least they do live in Perth now and we do not see them that often.

After an enjoyable evening, it was back to our park and bed.

Kununurra Day 1

2008-08-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

Josh was up very early, well it was one and a half hours later to his body but we still had a slow morning before getting everyone motivated and in the car to head for Wyndham, Western Australia’s most northern town.

We are now travelling on the edge of the Kimberley’s, a place I want to spend some time in the future. It is really a place that requires a four wheel drive, preferably someone else’s, and a tent or off road camper trailer to really get the best view. We did get a bit of a taste of the area in what we could see, only making me more determined to return.

Along the way we pulled in at “The Grotto” where we had to walk down 140 steps to the bottom where there was a waterhole that was also the site of a waterfall in the wet season. After sitting and enjoying the scenery for a while, it was time for the climb out and time to be on our way.

On arriving it Wyndham, we quickly realised that there was very little to this town and our choice of a chip sandwich for lunch was most probably not going to be a good one.

We drove to the top of the Bastion Range to lookout over the Cambridge Gulf, a place where five rivers drained. This provided a great view of the surrounding area, although a little hazy because of the many burn offs that were happening around the countryside. It was then back into town, if you can call it that.

There was nowhere to buy those chips and so we ended up at a bakery that was quickly running out of pies, and had every cake that contained cream for sale. Was not what we expected or wanted for lunch but was not to bad as an alternative.

Went into a general store and started talking to the owner, who said that Wyndham was again a growing area and a place where there was plenty of money being made. The problem was that little or no investment was being made by the owners and so things were looking run down. Left with little enthusiasm to return to this place but not disappointed we had been there.

On the way back, we turned onto the start of the famous Gibb River Road and travelled along the first five to ten kilometres of it. It is very corrugated and rough but still one of the roads that I want to travel from end to end one day. I can only dream of it now. After this short experience, the main road appeared to be very smooth.

Before we arrived in Kununurra, we took a turn off to what was advertised as a swimming hole but turned out to be a waste of time. We go to the first spring which was little more than a big puddle on the side of the road, the next one even worse and so we headed back for the comfort of the caravan park swimming pool.

Katherine to Kununurra

2008-08-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

Left early this morning expecting a long day in the car as we headed towards Western Australia.

It is amazing the way the landscape changes as you travel along the road. It appears that there is nothing around and then, before you know it, there are mountains all around you. I know that it has been said before but we live in a very large country with many different landscapes to be explored.

We passed through the Gregory National Park, which looked like a place worth a few days visit next time. The rock formations were absolutely amazing and displayed many colours as the sun moved over them and we travelled through. We pulled in for a break at Victoria River Roadhouse and saw a sign that should have said under new ownership, but the word ownership was covered with wife and so read: “Under new wife” I found it quite amusing anyway.

We travelled onto to Timber Creek, again a place that looked like it was worth a visit in the future as we were still following the Victoria River in this area. Bought a loaf of bread here, frozen of course as all bread is in these places that we hoped would thaw by the time we were ready to stop for lunch.

We pulled in at a roadside rest stop where two coupled had settled in for a couple of days to eat all of their vegetables before they entered Western Australia, they would lose them at the border. Well we had to wait little while for our sandwiches as Cathy threw the bread around the van to try and separate the slices. I think that she thought by bouncing it on the bench, it would go into slices, but it did not work.

Through more ranges and then we arrived at the border where we had to declare any fruit, vegetables and honey. We had eaten everything before we arrived and so did not have anything to hand over. It is worth noting that they do an inspection of the car and van to check and see that you have nothing hidden away. We also gained one and half hours here, which was good a the time but also meant that it now got lighter and darker earlier, not so good.

I am afraid to say that the angry customer got what he wanted, well we got a site that we were happy with after initially being shown our designated site and expressing our disgust. We were then shown another site, little better than the first and then miraculously they found a very good site that was available for the length of our stay. We were very happy with this alternative and would have been even happier if they had given us this position in the first place.

After this initial aggravation, we were very happy at this park, The Kona Lakeside, which was situated on the side of the lake and gave us a pleasant view to enjoy for the next couple of days.

What was going to be a long drive had turned out to be quite an enjoyable drive with a range of scenery experienced on the way making it very interesting. The only disappointment was that they did not quarantine the mother-in-law and kids at the border; it was not for a lack of asking!

Darwin to Katherine

2008-08-13T06:37:00.002-07:00

We had planned to travel from Darwin to Katherine and so expected it to be a rather boring day in the car watching the road go by. We were up and on the road but not in any real rush as we were not doing any sightseeing on arrival in Katherine as this was our second visit.

It is Darwin Cup today, and so the Territory, well at least the part we are in is all closed down for the race

It was boring until we came across another mass of water in the middle of no-where. On our previous visit to Katherine we had missed Edith Falls and so made a slight detour this time to see what it had to offer.

Well to our surprise, there was a very big car park, picnic area, kiosk and other facilities for the day tripper and the small camping area. The actual waterfalls were nowhere near as big as some of the previous falls that we had seen, but the swimming hole was massive.

It was a very warm day and we were all ready to jump into the water and cool off yet again. As it was a fair swim to the actual waterfall I was the only one to venture this far, everyone else stayed near the side, swam and cooled off.

It never seems to amaze us how such a big expanse of water or a spring can appear out of what seems nowhere and provides water, normally very fresh for the surrounding area. I think that there is nothing better than swimming in some of these waterholes and floating by the cliff faces, looking up and realising just how big it is and how small I am. This swimming has really been a highlight for me, I love the beach, but really do enjoy these places as well.

It was then into the car to complete the short journey to Katherine for the night before we made the right turn and headed for Western Australia!

Darwin Day 6

2008-08-13T06:37:00.001-07:00

Sundays are not like they are at home. Here, there is very little open and so it is not a case of just going off to the shops for a few things and wandering around.

While some of the shops are opened, many are closed and so this helps force us to sit back and relax. Not that any of us are shoppers, but there is little reason to go out of the park.

We leave for Katherine tomorrow and so it is also a time to start packing up and getting ready to move on.

A few more swims in the pool, relaxing, the kids watched a movie, another swim, more relaxing and so it goes.

Life is just too tough for us on the road, but I think that with some practise I could get used to it. Anyone wanting to support us in this venture please send money or a pledge to me so that I know that I could finance this lifestyle.

As a side note, there are jobs galore around all of the areas we have been through. Nearly every caravan park is after staff and lots of shops are advertising that staff are required.

Everyone really enjoyed Darwin, but I am not sure that they would all be so happy in the summer!

Darwin Day 5

2008-08-13T06:21:00.001-07:00

Up bright and early this morning to head off to Litchfield National Park, a place I had heard so much about and was very keen to visit.

After a drive down the highway, no I did not sit on 130 kilometres an hour even thought I could have, we turned into the park to discover what it had in stall for us.

We started by going into Florence Falls, with a short diversion into Buley Rock Hole to have a look at the rock pools. As soon as we saw it, Josh and I immediately thought that it was time for a swim even though it was quite early but it would have to wait, but not for too long.

We then went to Florence Falls, which had a plunge pool at the bottom and did not look suitable for the kids to swim in. I was very tempted but knew that it was not fair on the others so held back the urge to climb down and jump in.

As it was now morning tea time, we decided to return to Buley Rock hole, have a swim and have something to eat and drink. What can I say, it was fantastic and a pleasure to swim in such fresh water, no it was not too cold either. One of the rock pools was very deep and so after I dived in a few times, Chels and Josh wanted to be in on the action as well. Three of us happy and jumping into the water, what a morning!

After we finally got out of the water, we headed off to Greenant creek with the notion of another swim in another water hole at the top of the Tjaetaba Falls. It was fairly long walk, and by this time quite warm so it was very nice to have the incentive of a swim at the top. When we got there it was picture perfect, a small hole at top of th falls to jump into and get refreshed in. This is the life! Of course the only problem was that we then had to walk back and get hot on the way. Oh well, it was worth it.

After this it was a walk and look at the Tolmer Falls which were as spectacular as the last but did not provide a swimming hole and so Josh and Chels were a little disapointed! The Falls were good anyway.

Next stop was Wangi Falls, the most popular swimming spot and largest plunge pool of them all. It was such a great feeling to swim over to the base of the falls and sit under the water crashing down on. It did hurt a little and so could not stay under it for too long. Even Skinny made it over to the falls eventually, slowly making her way over on a surf mat, Josh made it over quickly, while Skinny seemed to be going backwards. Oh well, she enjoyed it anyway.

We decided that the highlight of the day had been Buley rock and so we returned there for another swim on the way back to Darwin. Yes at 5:30pm, we were all still sitting in the rock pool, sitting under small waterfalls, thinking of our freezing friends in Melbourne, but not with much sympathy.

A day to remember today and the first day that I could repeat over and over again, this is not to say that I have not enjoyed everything that has gone on before, but I really enjoyed being able to swim in the waterholes.

Darwin Day 4

2008-08-13T06:13:00.000-07:00

Back to the Doctor today for Chelsea, this time just with Mum so the rest of us did not have to wait for them. I had to go to the supermarket, and you guessed it, I was in the queue to pay when the message came that they were out and ready to be picked up!

It turned out that Chels did not have pneumonia, but rather a chest infection that was causing the cough. This did not get us out of the medicine every six hours so we still had to get up through the night. Great!!

As we got in and out fairly quickly, we headed off to the Jumping crocodile cruise on the Adelaide River, everyone was excited about this except for Cathy who was concerned about what might happen.

We pulled up to an old tin shed that doubled for a booking office and I almost had to cancel the cruise because of the following sign!

When it was time to get on board, we headed for a larger boat that was tied to the dock, we then walked through that boat onto a smaller single level boat that was much more appealing to some of us as we thought we would get closer to the action. And we did!

We, except for Cathy, had a good time watching the crocodiles jumping out of the water to feed on the buffalo they were being teased with. We got to see Hannibal the Cannibal, a very large croc jump and then a range of other crocs that followed the boat. The guide often made comments about the security and safety of the boat and all that this did was to compound Cathy’s fears and made the rest of us laugh.

We even fed a ‘white breasted sea eagle’, sorry a ‘white bellied sea eagle to be politically correct’ that came down and took the food with its claws and took it away to eat.

Cathy was very happy to get her feet back on shore, but others of us could have taken even more croc viewing.

After a quick visit to the ‘Windows to the Wetlands’, a display that showed the area and gave a summary of the surroundings, we headed off to Berry Springs for yet another swim.

Josh was very excited as he got to snorkel for the first time and after a little while of getting used to the breathing process, became quite good at it. Initially Chels, who was also snorkelling for the first time, and I swam around the Springs looking at the fish under the water. We followed the current from the actual spring and down through a few deeper water holes. After a little while when Josh got used to it, he joined us and saw under water for the first time.

You could see some quite big fish that looked like you could almost touch them. Even though we tried, we missed every time. Did not stop us trying though! Of course Josh did not want to get out when it was time to go but wanted to keep snorkelling around.

This capped off what was a very enjoyable day before returning back to Darwin and bed.

Darwin Day 3

2008-08-10T05:41:00.000-07:00

We had a walk around the city this morning, looking at the shops and getting a feel for the city life in Darwin. Everyone was impressed with the city area and enjoyed the time there. We had a walk through the Mall, the shops and purchased some souvenirs, had morning tea and shopped some more.

It is a little hard to know where everything is in a new city so it took us a little while to find some shops and we really did not know what was on offer. It appeared that everyone liked Darwin and the comment was made that we could spend a few more days here already.

After a hard morning shopping and walking around it was back for lunch and another swim in the pool.

Late in the afternoon it was off to Mindil beach to attend the market, a famous market that is held weekly in Darwin. It consisted mainly of food stalls, with a large range of food types available, a smaller area of jewellery, bags and other things, and a few musicians to provide some entertainment.

I was not quite sure what I was expecting of the market, but I must admit I was a little disappointed as I thought there would be more of a market than food stalls. Oh well, we had a good time anyway.

We purchased some of the food and sat on the beach to watch the sunset with a few thousand other people. It looked like there were some regulars who had brought their chairs, drinks and purchased their food to eat by the beach.

We ended buying a couple of things but not too much. This market really is a crowd magnet and there were people everywhere.

Darwin Day 2

2008-08-10T05:24:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that the medicine diagnosed for Chelsea had to be taken every six hours for the next seven or eight days. This meant 10:00pm, 4:00am, 10:00am and 4:00pm. The alarm was set and we were up at 4:00am to syringe the 3.2 mils of medicine down Chelsea’s throat, what a joy this was!

Time for some schoolwork for Chelsea and Josh this morning, well after all we cannot have them falling behind in their education can we!

Cathy and Skinny ventured out to the shops this morning so I took the option of taking Chels & Josh for a swim in the pool.

After lunch it was off to the Museum and the “FART” gallery, well that is what the sign said as we approached it! I think that it was the Art gallery, but Josh really liked the other name. He wanted to know if he could go inside and fart? He was waiting for the sounds and smells! They never came and he was disappointed!

We had a look through the museum, with a great deal of interest in the display of cyclone Tracey. Chels had completed an assignment on this for school and so we were interested to read this information and to see some of the local information.

We spent some time looking around the museum and taking in the information. Chels especially liked the science area and spent a bit of time there.

After this it was back to Mindil Beach, this time for a swim, well for some of us anyway. We can now say that we have swum in the beach at the top and bottom of Australia. The water was actually quite warm and very enjoyable, especially for Josh who did not want to get out.

That night, it was decided that we would go to the quiz night at the bistro to show the Victorian brain power in action. Well we did that, we did not answer many questions at all. I was told to just relax on my holidays and that is exactly what our brains had done, relax! You guessed it, we did not do very well at this but it was a bit of fun anyway.

Had to go to bed after that. Well we had worked the brain really hard! (not)

Darwin Day 1

2008-08-10T05:22:00.000-07:00

There are two places that I hate waiting, one is a bank and the other is the Doctors’s surgery. Today we had to wait at the Doctor’s Surgery to find out what was wrong with Chelsea. The appointment was for 11:45 and we had to sit there until 1:00pm before she was scene by the doctor. I am not sure why they make appointments when they cannot keep them.

Chels went in and about twenty minutes later she appeared with the news that she had pneumonia, well at least that is what the Doctor has diagnosed. We now had to go for a blood test, a new experience for Chelsea, and then a chest x-ray so they could have a look and see what was happening.

We headed off to get the test completed to find the Xray people at lunch till 2:00pm but we were able to get the blood test. Chels was not looking forward to this so we got it over and done with but had to come back later for the xray. What a great day!!

After all this was over, it was time for a drive to see what Darwin had to offer. A drive around the city sites was the plan that we set off with.

After a drive through the city, we headed out to Mindil Beach for a walk and feel of the water, yes it was warm and we wished we had our bathers with us, oh well there is always tomorrow.

We kept following the esplanade area when Cathy thought she sighted Damien from 'The Biggest Loser.' I drove a bit further, but it became evident that there would be little peace if I did not turn around to see if it was really him. Eventually we found the person and yes it was him! Chels, Josh and Skinny jumped out of the car to get an autograph and once they confirmed who it was Cathy joined them. They were all so excited!

After this it was back to the van, well as far as they were concerned nothing could top this!!

Jabiru to Darwin

2008-08-06T05:35:00.000-07:00

What an exciting (not) but necessary day. We got up, packed and got in the car for the trip to Darwin the top of the Stuart highway before we started to head South and turn right.

It was goodbye to Kakadu, which is a park that covers a very large area and hello to a major city again. We arrived at the Spirit Resort in Darwin, it was hot and the kids ran under the sprinkler to get wet and cool down. We then found the pool, yes the water was cold, and then sat back and relaxed for a while.

A quick trip to the supermarket was the highlight of the afternoon! Well we are on holidays!

It was a very uneventful day actually, but we booked Chels into the Doctor because the cough was getting worse and worse.

Jabiru Day 2

2008-08-06T05:15:00.001-07:00

Chels has developed a bad cough and so we decide that we should take it a little slower today, if that is possible and so we have the morning to sit and relax. Well what else are holidays for?

We headed off after lunch towards Cooinda for the Yellow Water Cruise but before we arrived we stopped at an Aboriginal Cultural Centre. It was the Warradjan Centre just outside of Cooinda. These centres are often in the middle of no-where, but well worth a visit as it helps us to understand the culture a lot better. There were displays, video art and artefacts that all helped tell the story of the people in the local area and how they survived, found food, found medicine, made baskets and much more.

It was then a chance to quickly check out Cooinda, mainly a resort with accommodation and a caravan park and not much more. This could have been a good alternative for a night but we were happy at Jabiru anyway.

Then onto the cruise which turned out to be very worthwhile adventure. The guide on the boat pointed out the many different types of birds, a few crocs and any other wildlife that we could see.

Josh was extremely excited to see some wild horses, two lots in fact and this really made his day well his week actually. He got to see the stallion and the mares and quickly tried to name them all. While we were looking at the next thing, Josh was still looking back and dreaming about those wild horses.

We learnt about the habitat, the wildlife including birds, crocs and much more. The cruise went for about one and a half hours and then we were back on dry land. We were told that in the wet season the water was at least two meters higher than it was at the present time, this was very hard to imagine bit would be very interesting to see and compare to today.

Back to Jabiru for the night and after a little bit of packing up it was off to bed before heading to Darwin the next day.

Jabiru Day 1

2008-08-05T15:36:00.000-07:00

We made an early start, well not really early, to see some of the famous rock art that is contained in the Kakadu National Park.

We made our way to Nourlangie Rock, not only to see the impressive rock formation but also to view the impressive Aboriginal rock art that had been painted on it many years before. We walked through the rock formation, viewing shelters, galleries and great views and were amazed by the art before us.

We then climbed to an impressive lookout where we were able to look and see the Kakadu National Park as far as the eye could see.

After this we headed to a billabong to do a walk around and see the wildlife and surrounds. There were birds, a kangaroo and yes we saw a small crocodile sitting on the edge of the water in the sun. We did not get too close to this, well I was not aloud to.

It was then off to another look out, by this time it was starting to get a little warm and so it was decided this would be our last. It was a slightly more challenging climb but well worth the effort. We were able to look back at the rock we had just walked around, over the billabong we had visited and at more of Kakadu. A truly magnificent place!

After a swim in the pool and relaxing a little more we decide to head off to Ubirr to see some more rock art and watch the sunset over the wetlands.

We were lucky to be there to hear two talks from the Ranger, again a part of the free talk series, firstly about the rock art and then about the wetland area. She was extremely passionate about what she did and this was shown in the way she spoke and relayed the information.

We had the main gallery explained to us, about the paintings as there meanings. The guide explained the story of the art, and how this was a continual story that was often painted over and over as the new generations arrived. It was a story book of the development of the area, with different animals, people and landscapes, all very interesting.

We sat and heard about the aboriginal heritage and culture of the area, being asked to remove our shoes and feel mother earth under our feet. The guide spoke of an aboriginal gentleman who wanted this land to be preserved not just for now but forever and how he became a pioneer for the Aboriginal people and wrote books about his experiences and culture.

It was then a case of sit back and relax and watch the sunset over the big wetlands before us and just take in what we could see. The sun seemed to set slowly but when it came to the horizon, it disappeared in a matter of seconds. This was a very worthwhile experience and highly recommended.

Back in the car and join the queue of cars back to camp for the night.

Katherine to Jabiru

2008-08-05T15:33:00.000-07:00

It was time to leave Katherine and head off to our next destination in Jabiru, better known as Kakadu. We headed north to Pine Creek and then turned right to the Kakadu National Park.

The countryside varied along the way from desolate country to a fairly dense bushland. We started to see some of the many billabongs and creek systems that make up Kakadu and were on the lookout for the first crocodile(Salt water type)!

When we arrived we found that it was a public holiday for the Darwin show and so the supermarket was closed and we went without the bread we were expecting to have. No great cause for concern.

After checking in at the Kakadu Lodge Resort, this was after the staff finished their BBQ lunch, it was time for a cool swim in the pool. They have not heard of solar heating and cover the pools with a very heavy shade cloth, good for the old slip, slop slap but does not warm the water at all.

Made a trip to the Information Centre to make sure that we had everything ready for the next couple of days. It does get hot here quite early so we wanted to get a couple of walks in before the heat set in.

After sorting out our plans, it was just time to sit back and relax! Well what else do you expect?

Katherine Day 2

2008-08-03T07:23:00.002-07:00

We were off early this morning to Katherine Gorge as we wanted to complete a walk to a look out before heading off on our cruise. This is certainly amazing countryside and is always a surprise to see so much water in an area which you do not expect.

The walk was up a fairly steep hill and was worth the effort to see both the Gorge from a different perspective and also to view the surrounding countryside. We often say that the world is sometimes a small place and while sitting at the lookout we spoke to a couple from Melbourne who lives around our area. The guy had made a delivery to our local nursery the week before, so we found that that South Morang is still on the map.

We decided to do the three Gorge cruise that was to last for three to four hours and allowed you to swim in the Gorge through the day. So after a bit of morning tea, it was a long exhausting walk of about one hour, we headed off to the boat to sit and relax and take in the views.

What spectacular scenery it is. We travelled through Gorge one, there are thirteen in total, before hopping out of the boat to walk to the next Gorge and get on the next boat. In between we saw some of the Aboriginal rock art which was explained to us by our guide for the day.

The second Gorge was just a spectacular as the first but not as long and it did not seem long before we were of the boat and walking to the next Gorge and boat number three.

This was the shortest Gorge of them all, but still worth seeing. We were informed that the Gorge is purely made up of rain water that falls primarily in the wet season and provides water to this area all year round. As a result, the water level varies throughout the year and they have to use different boats during the wet season. At this time, the travel the whole three Gorges without leaving the boat and in a much quicker timeframe. We could only wonder what it would look like of the water level was three to four meters above what it was now.

On the return journey, we pulled into the bank for people to swim in the Gorge if they pleased. To this point we had not seen any crocodiles and so it all appeared to be safe. I could not wait to get in, but not many others joined in. Skinny and Josh stayed to the edge and just got wet, but Chels and I swam out into the middle of the Gorge before returning to the boat. A great experience!

Katherine Day 1

2008-08-03T07:23:00.001-07:00

After a very late start to the morning, well it was after 10:00am, we headed off to the town of Katherine to have a look around at the information centre and shops to see what was on offer.

We spent little time at the information centre, viewing a video on the top end and getting some more brochures and information. It was here that we noticed more and more orange tractors appearing in the area and later learned that they travelled from all over Australia and had meetings on a bi-yearly basis. While together they did fundraising for the Royal Flying Doctor and children’s hospitals in the areas they visited. I thought that doing at eighty-five to ninety kilometres and hour would be slow, but some of these travelled at fifty to sixty at top speed!

After a bit of lunch we headed off to Katherine Gorge with the greatest intention of having a swim, Josh was the keenest, well as you can guess the swim did not happen. We did however get to see the start of the Gorge and booked a cruise for the following day and so it was not a total waste of time.

We retuned to Katherine and went to the thermal pool for a swim, this was a mixture of man made areas and natural creek beds. It was nowhere near as warm as Mataranka, which suited some but not others. We had a good swim there for about an hour before returning to our caravan park for the evening.

Of course Josh and I did squeeze in another swim at the caravan park, chels had a bad cough and so decided not to take part.

Manyallaluk ( then to Katherine)

2008-07-28T06:14:00.000-07:00

We woke after a good night sleep, most probably because it was so quiet and prepared for the day ahead. We were to get to an aboriginal cultural experience ad were looking forward to it.

Slowly all of the Guides appeared from the local village and set up for the days activities and Josh headed off to have a talk with them while we packed the van ready to leave at the end of the day for Katherine.

We waited for a coach load of Americans to arrive, a group of students on a cultural experience before commencing and started a little late but still happy.

We started with a walk through the bush with our Guide, John, who certainly had a good knowledge of what was around and had grown up in this area with his parents. He spoke of the many plants and animals of this area and explained their purpose to the Aboriginal people. At one stage he dug, in what appeared to be a pile of dirt and produced two plant roots that were bright red and were used for dying clothes or plant fibres used for the basket making.

He surprised us all by grabbing a leaf off a tree that was full of ants and held it to show us what it was. The problem was that the ants were stinging him and running all over him but he wanted to show and tell us what they were used for. You could eat them, he did, but they were quite bitter, and you could also use them as a cold and flu medicine. This would be in a similar way to current Vics that you rub on you chest, by squashing the ants and then rubbing the juices on your chest.

There were plenty of other examples of food and medicine that he showed us along the way.

We then got to do Josh’s favourite, didgeridoo playing. John was very good at it, the rest of us well let’s just say that we are not going to make a career out of it with some very strange noises made. Josh produced the best sound, although he did not quite get the hang of the circular breathing, neither did I.

Lunch was a BBQ which included sausages, steak and kangaroo tail, yes that is right! We started the other activities. By the way we did all try the kangaroo tail except for Josh and while not the most exciting meat, was not bad either.

While waiting for lunch to be finished, josh went for a walk and spotted 'Big Red' an old horse that had stayed in the area after the farming had stopped. The horse was free to come and go as he pleased but got a treat today as he was fed a few lettuce by Josh & Chels.

We then did some spear throwing, visited the gallery of art, did some basket weaving, painting(we have the proof of this!) and fire starting using sticks. All very interesting and made it for a great interactive day. We were very lucky to be given the paintings that were drawn by the guides, of course ours, especially mine was better!

It was then a case of doing the last minute packing, saying good-bye and then on to Katherine. It was back along the dirt road and then on to Katherine for a couple of days to explore the Katherine region.

Mataranka to Manyallaluk

2008-07-28T06:08:00.000-07:00

There was no rush this morning and so we did not pack up the night before but left it all to do before we left. We only had a short journey of just over one hundred kilometres and were not sure of what to expect when we arrived so took our time.

We were still all packed by 10:00am and of course had to have one more swim (relax) in the hot thermal pool. After unwinding again, well we had packed up, we thought it was time to make a move and so headed up to the front of the park for morning tea before setting off.

It was then off in the car on our way to Manyallaluk to hopefully get an experience of aboriginal culture and expose Chelsea & Josh to what this people is all about.

We were only on the made road for a short while before we headed off into the bush along a stretch of unsealed road. There was certainly plenty of dust everywhere and the car and van turned a shade of red as we left a dust storm behind us.

We arrived at the camp site and no-one was around at all. We had a quick look around and finally found the pool, a small man made swimming hole filled by a natural spring that was very cool and refreshing. We spent most of the afternoon on our own, expecting someone to come and talk to us but no-one came. Well not exactly no-one, we did get greeted by two dogs that followed us everywhere. They were Freddie and Reptile.

Eventually, out of the bush, we met one of the guides named Nathan, who became friends with all of us, especially Josh. We found out that Nathan was a Collingwood supporter and that gave he and Josh something to talk about for quite a while. Eventually the footy came out and they had a kick together, both in bare feet, josh soon had a bright red kicking foot! He had fun anyway.

After talking to them for a while we headed off up a walk to see the sunset over the range and look at their village from the higher vantage point. They have built a hospital, school and sporting facilities and are in the process of rebuilding their community to offer something worthwhile to its population.

We ended up being the only people there for the night and lit a campfire, sat back and relaxed with the sounds of silence. Quite a strange experience being the only people around!

Mataranka

2008-07-28T06:01:00.000-07:00

There is little more to do here than relax, swim, relax, swim, relax, swim and so that is exactly what we did.

We did venture out to Bitter Springs, about three kilometres down the road for some more swimming in a different spring. While the swimming area at Mataranka was man made, at Bitter Springs, it was a natural setting. We had been advised to take goggles and snorkel and we were glad we did, what an amazing experience. I would never have thought about looking under the water, but we were all glad we did, even if Cathy nearly drowned.

At Bitter Springs, where it was more a swimming hole we were able to float down a small section and view the scenery both above and below the water, well worth it. Josh and Chels had their own surf mats and Skinny and Cathy shared one. Now depending on who you believe, either Cathy was trying to drown Skinny or Skinny was trying to crash Cathy into all of the trees. Whatever the story, they both laughed and cackled like a couple of young kids.

This is an experience not to be missed, as long as you can swim. The basic difference between the two pools is that at Mataranka, you sit or float and relax where as Bitter Springs is more of a place to swim and enjoy the surroundings.

Renner Springs to Mattaranka

2008-07-28T05:55:00.000-07:00

As we had been able to go a little further yesterday than planned, we had a shorter day than expected, still about 400 kilometers, but were able to arrive in Mattaranka by mid afternoon and head for the warm mineral spring baths and relax.

A highlight of the drive today was a visit to “Fran’s Teahouse” just north of Larrimah. This was advertised as a place where we Fran had opened a Coffee Shop in the Old Police Station and was a local identity not to be missed. Well we did not miss it, and while we paid a little more for our food, it was worth paying for the entertainment, Fran.

She was in a small kitchen, hidden behind fly screen and made her way to the door in the next room to take the orders from people, one client at a time. She did not like being watched and told us not to do that. Fran has been cooking pie for over thirty-five years, twenty-five in her current location. Cannot say it was a restaurant, a café as we are still not sure what it was but the food and entertainment were great!

Then it was on to Mattaranka where, after setting up the van, we were all able to go and soak in a warm spring bath. The water came out at about thirty-four degrees and so pleased some of us but not others as it was a little too warm and just like a bath. (Well for one of us anyway!)

This is a very popular stopping spot for people to sit back, relax and unwind after a long days travel and now we know why. I think Cathy could have stayed here for a few more days, weeks.

Nothing more to do here than just sit back and relax and so we did!

Alice Springs to Renner Springs

2008-07-23T04:08:00.001-07:00

After packing up and getting on the road well before 8:00am, it was sit back, relax and get ready for a long days driving. We had every intention of making it to Threeways, but would wait and see how we got on through the day.

There was the obvious apprehension about the car and if it was really right and ready to start the next phase of the journey, but we could only take the mechanic at their word and start going. Thankfully all went well.

This is the end of the first part of our amazing journey, now it was time to set off on part two from Alice Springs to Darwin. (With a few stops along the way of course!)

We stopped for morning tea at Ti Tree, lunch at Wycliffe Wells,( a place we had originally planned to stay at) and then continued on. Wycliffe Wells is the place in Australia that has the most sightings of UFO’s and I think that this was one of the attractions of staying there. It is actually a service station with a bar, shop and caravan park and not much more. We did not think that we missed too much.

On through Tennant Creek, a proposed day stop on our original plans, and further to Threeways. It was here that we needed to make the choice of whether we were going to turn right and head for Queensland or keep on going and although tempting, well not really, we kept on going.

We passed by Devil's Mable's and had a quick look at the rocks. It was amazing to see how some of the did not roll away, they seemed to be sitting in limbo. Would have liked to spend more time here wandering around, but maybe next time.

We had started driving before 8:00am and finished after 5:00pm so it was a long day on the road. There were no fights between the kids and we had a pleasant day in the car. As for Skinny and Cathy, that is another matter!

We drove onto a small place called Renner Springs, again little more than a service station, a pub, a small shop, some units and a caravan park but that was all we needed.

We actually felt the heat for the first time and it was away with the winter PJ’s and on with the summer ones. This was the first night we were able to sit outside and gaze at the stars until we were ready for bed.

SUMMER IS HERE! Sorry to all our Melbourne friends and families! (Not!)

Alice Springs Day 7

2008-07-23T04:01:00.000-07:00

Now hang on, we are not meant to be here for day 7! Hopefully it is our last day, not that we dislike Alice Springs that much but we just want to get on our way.

After reviewing our plans, we have decided to make some changes to our destinations. One thing that has really become apparent to us is that Chels and Josh have seen little about the true Aboriginal culture and currently have a slightly distorted view of this race and we need to do something about it.

We have found a place called Manyallaluk where we are able to go in for the day and experience the culture first hand and so have put it into our itinerary. We will stay there one night, have a full day to experience the culture as part of a tour, and then travel onto Katherine at the end of the day. Not what we had planned but now very important.

This means that we now have to long days in the car ahead of us in order to catch up and be ready for this day, in actual fact we will get ahead of our original plans but it pays to be a little flexible. We will now travel to Mataranka in two days instead of four and then move on from there.

As we were assured we would have the car that afternoon, we started packing up and getting ready for the next stage of the journey. Alice Springs to Darwin via a few places.

Off to the shops to stock up with food until Katherine, it is much cheaper to do it this way as well as washing etc to make sure we would be ready to go the next morning.

After hearing nothing about the car, I rang at about 4:30pm to be advised that the car would now not be ready until the following day, maybe by lunchtime. Of course, I was not happy with this and said that I had been advised it was to be ready by now. What can you do? I needed the car but of course it had to be in perfect condition before we could continue.

Amazingly, no more than ten minutes later I was called to be advised that the car was ready! I was happy, amazed and concerned all at the same time.

How could it go from tomorrow lunchtime to being ready in ten minutes? I was advised that there was a miscommunication at there end and my car had been worked on, tested and was now ready to be picked up. Sure enough, I was picked up and taken to collect my car and it was sitting there waiting for me, I was told all tested and ready. After paying the bill (OUCH!) I was able to drive away and go back and start loading the bits and pieces.

As a bit of interest, the part arrived from Sydney in less than twenty-four hours, it then took twenty-one hours to travel from one end of town to the other! Amazing as this is a distance of under twenty kilometers!

Alice Springs Day 6

2008-07-23T03:50:00.000-07:00

We are all packed and ready to go, well we should be! Instead it was a sleep in and decisions about what we were going to do for the day.

We had previously seen and been told about the Alice Springs Desert Park but had not made it there. We now had the time and so decided to go and visit! Thank goodness we did. We went with no idea of what to expect, the best way to be sometimes, and were not disappointed with the park.

When you enter the park, you pick up a set of headphones and a type of radio that you carry around and push the appropriate number as you arrive at a specified location. What a great idea, not only because it gave you a running commentary, as your pace, it also became a game to spot the numbers and kept you from worrying about how far you had gone, or how far you had to go.

We started with a movie on the development of the environment and then walked around and visited areas and a nocturnal house. There were many snakes, lizards and animals in this area and so we got to see them in a miniature version of their habitat.

We saw many different types of desert landscape, each with its own story and information for you to hear or read about. Cathy was fascinated by the different uses of the many plants around the desert and became an expert on the different plants and their uses.

This place was well worth the visit and filled in the morning nicely.

After lunch it was off to visit the location of the Alice Springs School of The Air and get an insight into how many of the children in remote areas deal with their education from prep to year seven. After this they either attend boarding school or do their schooling via correspondence from Darwin. It was a shame the kids were on school holidays and so we did not get to see any classes in action, but we did get to see how it happens.

Chels and Josh were asked if they would like to do schooling this way and Chels said no, Josh yes. Chels was not happy about not being able to talk and play with her friends, once we explained this to Josh, he quickly changed his mind as well. After all, who would he play footy with at playtime?

I had heard nothing about the car and so chased what was happening to hear that the part had arrived in Alice Springs and so the car would be ready tomorrow afternoon. This now meant we started planning around a Friday departure and so worked out what the next few days had in store.

Alice Springs Day 5

2008-07-23T03:47:00.000-07:00

DISASTER! The car needs a new part and they do not have it in Alice Springs! The option was given to the part being delivered by road or by air. One would take twenty-four to forty eight hours, the other a minimum of four days. We chose the air freight option of course!

I rang RACV, thank goodness we have Total Cover to see what we were entitled to. We were able to get accommodation paid for the extra time in Alice Springs as well as a free hire car so that we were not stranded. It was expected to take about forty-eight hours and so we go the car, a ford falcon, (with Victorian number plates on it!) for this time. This covers the cost of this year’s membership, well worth it!

As you can imagine, we were not happy at all as this was not what we needed to happen to us, but what can you do, it is part of traveling. I have a friend who traveled overseas recently and was delayed because of aircraft connections, so it can happen anywhere to anyone.

We now have to make alternative plans for the next couple of days, could have been worse I guess, we could have been in the middle of no-where.

As you can guess, nothing much more happened for this day as I was not in any mood to do anything or go anywhere plus we had more time to just sit around and relax.

In the evening, Chels and I went to a talk at the caravan park about the moon stars and planets that we could see. I must admit to not being too excited at the start about this, but as the talk went on it did become more interesting. We did learn one major thing that may of you may know: How do you tell the difference between a star and a planet? Answer tomorrow. Only joking! The difference is that a star twinkles and a planet does not, it is a constant solid light! Did you know that?

We saw the moon through a telescope and was able to se the craters very clearly. We identified three planets and many stars and constellations. Oh and we saw a few satellites pass over. We were given a website, http://www.heavens-above.com/ (I think) that would tell us about any satellites that would pass over where we were that night.

After a bit more star gazing it was back to the van to ponder what had happened to us and what we were now going to do to fill in a couple of extra days here in Alice.

Alice Springs Day 4

2008-07-22T16:03:00.000-07:00

It turned out to be a bit of a rush this morning as I had thought that a guided walk commenced at 10:30am but then re-read the brochure to find it started at 10:00am. So we were up and out a little quicker than we thought as we had to get to Simpsons Gap.

We arrived at the Gap a couple of minutes late but the tour had just commenced and so we joined in. This is part of a series of free guided walks, talks and slide shows offered at a range of national parks around the Northern Territory, you can do just one, as we did or any of them if your are in the right location at the right time.

The wind was very cold blowing through the Gap and so it was quite chilly as we stood and listened to the guide explain about the flora and fauna in the gap, It was very interesting to hear about the way different trees and plants provided food and medicine for the aboriginal people. We also learnt that Simpsons Gap was originally Simsons Gap and the extra ‘p’ was added some time later, by who no-one knows. They also do not know why it was called Simsons Gap in the first place.

There was a water hole at the end of the gap, and it was rather amusing to see a “no swimming permitted” sign a fair way down the creek where it was all sand and no water to be seen.

We then headed to Standley Chasm for a walk through a track and into the Chasm itself. We did have to pay to get in here and it was shown that this was all on private land and not part of the National Parks.

We headed off, the first part was fairly easy and the initial part of the Chasm was accessible to all who wished to walk the track. It then turned into a difficult climb and we quickly realised that we had gone far enough and that it was time to turn around. Even though we thought we had become experienced bush walkers and climbers, we new our limits!

After the walk we retuned to Alice Springs to sort out a few things, including a car that seemed to be misfiring at low revs. I found a Hyundai dealer and booked it in for the next morning to make sure that everything was ok as we had many kilometers to travel between here and the next major city Darwin.

Back to relaxing, gee holidays can be hard!

Alice Springs Day 3

2008-07-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

Started the day with a free pancake breakfast at the caravan park, their Sunday morning special. The staff make pancakes for everyone staying at the park who is willing to take a plate, knife and fork and line up with everyone else to get breakfast. It is used as a time to get to know other people travelling and nametags are written and worn by those attending.

After breakfast, it was off to the Todd Mall Market, held fortnightly, where for the first time in Alice Springs, we felt like we were with a lot of tourists looking around. There was a lot of artwork, jewellery and other bits and pieces found at a market. We did not buy anything as nothing really appealing that was worth carrying for the rest of the trip. This market trip was a real highlight for Josh, not!, and he was not to keen to go and was happy to return back after we had finished.

After a bit more shopping, a new warmer sleeping bag so that they could start sleeping in the rent and a few bits and pieces it was back to the van for some more rest and relaxation.

A quick diversion up Anzac Hill for a look around alice Springs.

Chels and Josh hired a two seater go-kart to peddle around the park for an hour, for the rest of us it was a quiet relaxing afternoon.

Alice Springs Day 2

2008-07-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

Another quiet morning, before heading off to do some sightseeing.

We visited the Royal flying Doctor Base and learnt a little about the great work that these people do. I hope that we do not have to use their services on this trip, but have great regard for what they do.

On our tour, we were told that there is a waitlist for people wanting to use join the RFDS and this is a good thing. They cover a fair amount of Australia, doing emergency work, transfer of patients, clinics in remote areas and so much more. With more and more people travelling on the roads, they area also more and more in demand. The RFDS is funded by the government but also relies heavily on donations from the public to keep flying in the air.

We picked up two new family members here as well, John the flying bear and Dawn the nurse bear. John after the founder and Dawn, the lady who officially opened the RFDS.

Nothing much else today, time to rest and recuperate!

Alice Springs Day 1

2008-07-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

Alice Springs day 1

When planning the trip, the intention was to make sure that we included some rest days where we had nothing planned and could sit back and relax without feeling we had to head off and see things. This was our first real day to do this.

Washing, playing , bike riding, relaxing and some cleaning were all on the agenda today. I thought I said a day of rest?

The day started early with a flock of birds deciding that they liked the tree right above our van, and so went the sleep-in and we were awake early again.

The highlight of the day was the oven works!! Cathy cooked the first lot of biscuits for the trip, and although taking a little longer than usual, they looked great when they came out and tasted even better.

We did go into the town centre in the afternoon to have a look around just to see what there was to offer. It was during this first visit that we were introduced to the local aboriginals, I must admit to feeling somewhat depressed when looking at them as they seemed to live in conditions that did not seem to be what should be expected. I am not an expert in this area, but wish there was someway this situation could be worked out as it does not give a good impression to the kids about the real aboriginal and their culture

Yulara - Alice Springs

2008-07-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

What a cold morning it was this morning. Not sure if the was the coldest by temperature, but certainly felt it. Everyone was wrapped up trying to find someway of warming up. We got up nice and early, well except for one sleepy head who did not want to wake up.

Time to dismantle another campsite and set off for our next destination today. We are off to Alice Springs. The annoying part is that we have to back track to the Stuart Highway before we can start on a new road. Neither the Ernst Giles Road or Meringue Loop are passable by van and so we have to stick to the Lassiter Highway.

It was goodbye rock and off to a new destination. We all tried to get a last glimpse of Uluru and Kata Tjuta as we drove away, what an amazing palce this turned out to be.

Most of today we are on the road and so not much to report.

The countryside is constantly changing, leaving the red centre we headed back to a mainly rocky land, passing over many dry rivers and over a few ranges. The scenery is not what you would call amazing but is very interesting to see.

When we arrived in Alice Springs and found our caravan park, the McDonnell Ranges Park, Cathy and Skinny headed off to the supermarket to re-stock the cupboards, that were not exactly bare, but needed re-filling. We will restock next week before leaving again.

Yulara - Kata Tjuta

2008-07-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

Well today we, I, thought that we, I, was going to achieve the main goal of the trip! To watch Skinny ride off into the sunset and not come back. Well at least part of this came true!

At 10:00am Skinny was picked up by a young man on a Harley to be taken on an hour long ride around Uluru. She was given a leather jacket, gloves and a helmet to wear for this experience of a lifetime. Skinny jumped onto the back of the bike and they rode away with Skinny holding on a little bit tighter than she had been told to. Problem was they came back!

You will need to get all of the details of this from Skinny as this is a special part of her experience of the trip but it can be said that she came back with a big smile on her face after the ride.

The kids and I went for a bike ride as well, except we had to peddle and did not have the leathers, but of course wore our helmets. We road around the resort we were staying in to have a look around and buy some extra supplies that we needed.

We then sat back and prepared ourselves for yet another walk, one that we did not realise would be more exhausting than any of the walks we had undertaken before. We were going to do the “Valley of the Winds” walk at Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and at just a mere 7.5 kilometres thought it would be easy after our longer walk the day before. We were wrong!

I filled the car up with petrol, at $2.04 per litre thinking that this would be enough to get us to Alice Springs and we were on our way. Little did I realise that we would travel over 100 kilometres during the afternoon to get to and from Kata Tjuta.

The Valley of the Winds is a fantastic walk, with scenery beyond expectation, but the walk itself proved to be a little more difficult than any we had attempted before. The walk to the lookouts was up and down gully’s, over rocks and dirt paths but it was well worth it. This was nothing we had been to before and was different from Kings Canyon and Uluru.

Cathy thought that this was the most spectacular walk she had taken and was amazed at the scenery along the way even if the walk was difficult. Everyone agreed that this was far more spectacular than the walk around the Uluru, even though the site of the rock was still amazing. If you get the chance to have a walk here, do so but be prepared for a hard walk. Even if you only make it to the first lookout it is worth it, if you get to the second even better.

At the second lookout, you get the choice of turning around and walking nearly 3 kilometres back or keeping on going and walking the round trip with an extra kilometre or so attached. We kept on going and found it to be a most exhilarating but tiring walk.

After about thirty minutes of hearing the High School Musical songs being regurgitated, I mean sung, two children were bribed to keep quiet for the rest of the walk so our bodies could suffer in silence while giving our eyes and ears the chance to take in the natural surroundings. Again the photos do little justice to the real thing but they will give you and idea of what the countryside is like.

We all came back very weary from the walk and after a little souvenir shopping on the way back, started packing to get ready for our trip to Alice Springs tomorrow.

Yulara - Uluru

2008-07-11T04:57:00.000-07:00

The day had finally arrived and we headed off to the Rock, firstly to do the Mala walk and then our own walk.

As we drove closer, everyone in the car was awestruck with the enormity of Uluru and could not believe what they were seeing.

Today is the day we face a moral dilemma! To climb or not to climb? Well as it turns out we do not have to make a choice as the Rock is closed due to high winds at the summit. This is now a common occurrence with the Rock regularly closed more than it is open.

We later found out that there was rain a day or two before and about one hundred climbers had to be helped down with ropes and so the Ranger decided not to open it the next day.

On the Mala walk we learnt a little about what the rock meant to the aboriginal culture and saw some of the rock art and areas used for different aspects of life. On a negative aspect, we were told that someone had graffitied some of the aboriginal art with a spray can and someone else with sunscreen, most probably due to the fact that they were unable to climb the rock.

After doing the Mala walk and learning more about the aboriginal culture and the meaning of the rock to them, Cathy immediately decided it was her decision not to climb the rock as per the request of the local tribes. The rock ended up being closed all day anyway.

Chels & Josh were keen to walk around the rock instead, a distance of about 9.5 kilometres and so we all set off on this walk at about 3:00pm to start our marathon. After an initial thought that it was going to be too far, we eventually got into the swing of the walk and made it around.

Josh, Skinny and Chels decided that they would race off ahead and then made it a stage of the Amazing Race and welcomed Cathy & I at the end to say we had been eliminated from the race.

We also had a new member on the tour today, Genevieve the stick! I am sorry to say, well not really, that the new tour member did not stay with us long at all. In fact, never made it back to the caravan park!

We then had the thrill of setting up at the sunset viewing area to watch the rock change colours as the sun went down. It is something that really has to be seen to be able to understand the thrill of seeing this phenomenon. Slowly the rock changes colour in front of your eyes until the sun sets behind you and then the colour of the sky takes over the colour show. What an amazing event!

I think that this day will last in the memory bank for a long time as a day we saw amazing rock in the middle of an amazing country!

Kings Canyon – Uluru

2008-07-09T04:39:00.000-07:00

The day Josh had been waiting for for so long had finally arrived, we are on our way to see Uluru (Ayers Rock). Josh wanted to be on rock look out from the moment we started driving but had to be convinced that it would still be some hours before we would get to see the rock.

We drove straight through, with a quick coffee stop at the Mount Conner lookout. We had read that many people wrongly think that this is Uluru when they see it, and we could understand why when we saw it. It was still a bit further till we saw the real Uluru!

About 36 kilometers from Yulara Resort, we go the first glimpse of Uluru off in the distance and what a sight it was! You really do not understand the enormity of the rock until you see it for yourself. It was not long after that we saw Kata Tjuta in the distance, another imposing rock formation.

As we kept getting closer, the rock kept getting bigger and bigger and all were taken by the fact that dominated the skyline and stood out so much.

After we arrived at the resort, the kids raced off up to one of the lookouts in the park to get a birds eye view of the rock. Josh was keen to get in the car and go straight there, we made the first trip after lunch.

For those interested, there is a small supermarket in the Yulara Resort and the price of food and vegies, while not the cheapest around was not too badly priced. We had stocked up on most things until Alice Springs, but we did get a few items to supplement the cupboard.

Entry to the national park area is by purchasing a $25.00 three day pass that allows multiple entry to the national park plus a free guided tour at the base of the rock. As we arrived at about three, our pass started from the following day and so we got good value for our money.

We visited the Aboriginal Cultural centre where we read about the cultures and beliefs of the local tribes. As per the request of the centre, no photo's were taken here and so you will have to use your imagination. It was very intersting to read about many of the cultural issues but it is a shame that few of these continue around the rock as most aboriginals now avoid this area otherwise they are just used for photgraphs.

We had every intention of walking to one of the lookouts and having a view of the sunset, but somehow we were having tea at this time and so it would have to wait until tomorrow night.

Kings Canyon

2008-07-08T04:30:00.000-07:00

I know that some of you who know us are going to find this hard to believe, but we were all up at 6:15am this morning to have breakfast and head off to Kings Canyon for our walk around the rim. Yes we were “all” up, the slowest one to get going was Chelsea but eventually she got moving as well.

We left for the canyon at about 7:00am to be there for sunrise at about 7:30am so that we could experience this great area with the rising sun showing the many colours of the rocks.

Here we were, all five of us the picture of fitness ready to undertake a walk that required medium to high fitness level to complete. We were setting off with a seven year old, a seventy year old and a slightly overweight, emphasis on the slightly, middle aged man to walk to three to four hours. The question was at this stage would we make it?

The ‘Rim Walk’ commences with a fairly steep, strenuous climb over rock steps that take you all the way to the top of the canyon. Once there, the walk gets a little easier as you literally wander around the rim of the canyon before returning down the other side. It is not for anyone who does not like heights nor has little or no fitness.

If you are fit and able, the walk is worth doing, and yes the first part is the most strenuous and takes some time to climb. By allowing plenty of time and not pushing too hard, we all made it to the top, with a few stops along the way. This was of course to admire the view, well it was really to recover but we did enjoy the view while we were getting our breath back.

After we made it to the top, it was then a case of following a clearly marked path around the rim, admiring the views along the way. We were lucky enough at one stage to catch up with a tour group and listen to what the guide had to say. Surprisingly the rock begins as a white colour and the wind blows the sand against it which eventually stains the surface and thus ends up with the red appearance that it has. It is hard to picture it as white, but you could see it in the rocks that had been broken.

The walk takes you over and through some amazing scenery and I hope some of the photos show this, although they will not do it justice I am sure.

Mid walk, you come to what is called the Garden of Eden, a water hole in a chamber that reflects the rock formation and makes it difficult to see where the rock ends and the water starts. A truly beautiful sight.

The only real issue we had on the walk was who was going to be in front as Josh wanted to lead and of course, Chelsea wanted her turn as well. We had to make sure that we gave them turns to keep the peace between them.

We were ready mid walk to sit and chew on some of the snacks we had taken and this proved a valuable rest time for weary legs, hungry stomachs and a seven year old who was starting to get a little tired. After a short break, everyone was ready to continue the second half of the walk.

As stated earlier, if you do not like heights, then this is most probably not the walk for you as many of the lookouts were literally standing on the edge of a cliff face and looking down and around the canyon. Cathy was not to keen on this part of the walk at all.

Everyone survived and we made it around safely in just over three hours! A good effort by all!

In the afternoon, Skinny and I headed to Kathleen Springs for another short walk. This was through Kathleen gorge and while maybe not as spectacular, was worth the effort. It had been used as an area to water and feed cattle and the remains of the fences were still standing. If you are in the area and have time, do the walk if you can, but it is not worth travelling great distances to.

After a bit of dingo watching, Josh did take part tonight and saw eight dingoes, and star gazing it was off to bed for a good nights sleep after a very long and strenuous day.

Erlunda – Kings Canyon Resort

2008-07-07T07:11:00.000-07:00

After a fairly early start we were off to Kings Canyon resort for a couple of nights to experience one of our first big walks for the trip.

We turned right off the Lasseter Highway and the GPS had no idea where we were, in fact it did not even register the road we were travelling on. Another lesson, make sure you carry a map with you as back up to modern technology, it may not always work when you need it. It was not that we did not know where we were going, but it is great for telling you how long it will take to get to the destination.

We arrived just after lunch and found our site, it had a million dollar view of the surrounding mountains. It would have to be one of the best sites that we have experienced in Caravan Park anywhere we have been.

No reception on any phones here, we are cut off from the outside world at last!

It is a very big caravan park but is well serviced by toilets and showers. You really need to come prepared to a place like this as food was certainly at a premium price. It pays to come stocked up when heading to a place like this, otherwise you will pay for it. Much to our surprise, the only shop closed at 7:00pm so there was nothing on offer it you realised late that you had run out of anything.

After setting up, we headed off to Kings Canyon to complete the easy walk that took you along the base area of the canyon. The scenery was spectacular and enjoyed by all. It was an easy hour walk, but was a warm up for tomorrow, a much harder tougher walk.

To walk though a canyon like this was really amazing, the high cliff walls were changing in colour as sunset came closer. This will be the first of many times that we will be amazed by this great land God has created for us to enjoy.

On arrival at Kings Canyon Resort, you are warned about the local dingoes and the fact that they roam the park at night looking for food and shoes. Even the toilets and showers have a gate that has to be used after sunset to stop them from entering the facility. They come in from the surrounding bush and wonder through the park once it gets dark. It did not take long for us to see the first dingo, the first of many, but Josh was not keen about staying outside to see them.

We sat and looked at the stars for a while. There were thousands and thousands of them. I am sure that there is not this many at home, especially where we live.

Coober Pedy – Erlunda

2008-07-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

Spent most of the day today on the road but had two highlights along the way.

The first was crossing the border into the Northern Territory, a first for nearly everyone in the car and second meeting a young boy who had affectionately become known as “Dutchie”.

When we pulled up at Erlunda, we saw a small motorhome that looked a little like the one we had seen at Woomera, sure enough it was Dutchie, his Mother and Father. Josh was very excited at the prospect of having his little playmate again and wanted to check and make sure that they were staying at the same caravan park, and yes they did. Chels and Josh played for ages with Dutchie rambling on in Dutch and no-one could understand him, but they all seemed to be having fun.

Apart from this, we pulled up the middle of what seemed no-where for lunch and everyone got their first real taste of being in the outback. There was nothing as far as the eye could see. One side note here is the lack of rest stops on the road, particularly rest stops with toilets, almost non existent, so you either had to hold on or find one of the few trees about the area.

We also got our first chance to get up and close with a road train. It was four trailers long, thankfully it was parked in the service station and so we did not have to overtake it or worry about it overtaking us.

We stopped at about 4:00pm and just relaxed, after all that is what holidays are all about.

We did learn a big lesson here that we had thought of, but had not really taken too seriously to this point. Water is not readily available in all of these areas. There was no fresh drinking water available at the park and you had to purchase it if you wanted it. The normal bottles of water were available, or you could buy a ten litre box of water for $8.30. We bought one and a spare, in case we could not get water further on.

Coober Pedy

2008-07-03T05:58:00.000-07:00

What an amazing day we had today!! If you want the short version then we had a good look around Coober Pedy. Visited some underground shops, some underground Churches, an underground house and then fininshed the day at The Breakaways. What stunning scenery.

Now if you want the extended version read on:

What a different place Coober Pedy is. If you do not like dust (Betty), this is the place for you to avoid. It is very dry and dusty with an average of 5 inches of rain per year.

We had a walk down the main street where the kids tried some ‘Noodling’, that is looking for opals in a pile of rocks. The good news is that they had fun trying, the bad news is that they did not find any! We are still on our three month caravanning holiday and did not find our fortune here.

We then went underground into old mines where there are shops and art galleries that sold local opals and artefacts. Josh bought a boomerang and a didgeridoo. We know he bought this because we heard him playing it at every chance he had for the rest of the day.

It was amazing going underground, walking into the side of the hills and seeing how the locals lived in this climate. We were told that over 80% of the population live under the ground and the other 20% are too scared to. We spoke to a local who was currently digging his own ‘dugout’ in an old mine about 4 kilometres from the town centre. He had come to Coober Pedy ten years ago to visit his brother and never left, his brother did!

We went and had a look at a couple of underground churches that allowed people to enter but just asked that you turn off the lights as you left. It would be an amazing experience to sit through a church service under the ground, but as today is Thursday we missed out on that, Josh gave us a sermon anyway!

We then made a visit to Faye’s house. This place was really quite interesting as it is a house where people live today. It had been dugout by three women over a period of many years growing from one room to at least six rooms. They did not use any of the modern equipment and so had completed it by hand. It had a couple of bedrooms, a bar, a swimming pool and the lounge and kitchen. It would be an interesting place to stay for a few days and experience living under the ground.

Driving down the road we saw the dingo fence, a fence that extends for over 2,250 kilometres to keep the dingoes away from the livestock, quite a feat to see the fence and walk a long one small section of it.

We then went for a drive to the Breakaways. A desolate but beautiful area about 30 kilometres out of Coober Pedy, the site of a few movies including Mad Max and others. Pictures really do not do this place justice but I have put in a couple anyway. It is a place bests visited at sunrise or sunset as the earth changes colour and reflects the sun. It is very much about the colours of the ground and rocks that rise above the ground in the middle of no-where.

We have a big day on the road tomorrow as we enter the Northern Territory and head for Kings Canyon and Uluru, we travel stage one to Erldunda where we will spend the night.

Woomer - Coober Pedy

2008-07-02T05:08:00.001-07:00

It was a reasonably early start today as we wanted to get through to Coober Pedy by mid afternoon without having to rush the drive. Before we left we spoke to our next door neighbour from the night before who had had two flat tyres the day before and had to go to Roxby Downs to get them fixed before they could continue their journey. I am glad this did not happen to us.

After travelling through a fair bit of fog, we stopped at Glendambo for morning tea and fuel, the most expensive so far at $1.82 per litre.

We had the thrill of seeing a few emus’ on the side of the road, a couple of young birds included. We had a bigger highlight later seeing four eagles on the side of the road having a meal on some road kill, a dead kangaroo. While three flew away just after we stopped, one stayed around a little longer so we were able to have a closer look at this big bird.

The country side is now very much the outback, with few trees and very little shrub over the ground. It was amazing to compare the countryside that we had travelled through over the last couple of days and how it had changed.

We stopped for lunch at a rest stop near Ingomar, where we had a great view of the surrounding area and saw how barren the country area is. We seemed to be literally in the middle of nowhere. A problem with these sites is the lack of toilets and so there was plenty of toilet paper lying around on the ground. It should be noted by anyone travelling this way that there are no toilets between Glendambo and Coober Pedy, over two and a half hours on the road.

Getting close to Coober Pedy., meant we started to see some of the mines, or the result of some of the mining that had happened in the area. There are dirt mounds everywhere that had been dug up in search of that illusive opal.

Not long after arriving at the caravan park, we started to see some familiar faces, including one young boy of Dutch decent who spoke little if any english. Chels and Josh had played footy with him the night before at Woomera and today it was tiggy around the playground. Although he spoke little english, it did not stop him from talking in his native tongue, often quite loudly, even though no-one else around had any idea what he was on about.

After a quick drive around town, it was back for a quiet night before we start exploring the area tomorrow.

Port Augusta - Woomera

2008-07-02T05:03:00.001-07:00

Well today, we start the circle that takes us north to Darwin before heading across to Broome, down the West Coast and the across the Nullarbor.

We did not drive that far, only about 200 kilometres and stopped at Woomera to see what this country town had to offer. What was once obviously a thriving area is now little more than what appeared to be a ghost town with very few people around in the streets. There has been an obvious attempt to beautify the area with walk ways and landscaping around the streets.

I am not sure what now keeps this town going, but the Department of Defence still does some work there. There are two museums in memory of the rocket launches in the area with a rocket display in the street. It was interesting to see and wonder what the township must have been like in its prime.

There is a small supermarket, with a chemist inside that services the township. Prices were not too bad but choice was very limited.

The excitement for the day was certain supposed adults playing on the swings in the centre of town, quite embarrassing for those watching as there was a lot of squealing and laughing. No names, but one mother and one grandmother were involved in this scene.

While it was interesting to see once, it is not a place that would be on top of the list to return to. Further down is Roxby Downs and I think that there are more services here.

Nothing much else happened today and so it was an early night for everyone. The caravan park was clean, but nothing special.

One good thing today was that I fixed the GPS by downloading a patch from the distributor. I can now see where I am going again.

Port Augusta

2008-06-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

Quiet day today as we recovered from the driving over the past two days. We then prepared for the journey ahead. No rush this morning and some people got to sleep in, yes even on holidays in a caravan some people sleep in.

Nothing much in the morning apart from washing, kicking the footy, playing games, kicking the footy, having morning tea and did I mention kicking the footy??

After lunch we had a quick look around Port Augusta, heading for the Australian Arid lands Botanic Garden. From here we were able to get some good views of the Flinders Ranges, we intend to visit this area on another trip.

Then to the water tower to get a birds eye view of the surrounding area. Josh was not too sure about coming down the stairs but in the end we all made it up and down safely.

After that is was grocery shopping ready for the next few weeks. We have heard that it is fairly expensive to buy from here to Alice Springs and so we have stocked up on some of the essentials to get us through.

Back to the van, a roast for tea, watched Black Beauty, a bit of TV and then off to bed.

Gee holidays are good!!

Coonalpyn - Port Augusta

2008-06-29T05:08:00.000-07:00

What was meant to be a quiet night turned out to be not so quiet. First a car pulled up and headed for the unit at the back of the park, then the first of four trains passed by, and then at about 11:15pm a car pulled up at the back of the van and headed for the showers. Or at least that is what we think they did! They left just after midnight; in all honesty they made very little noise but was not sure what they were doing at that late hour.

It was also the first night in the van for a while and so it takes a little while to relax and get used to the new environment. I am sure after three months I will be used to it and will have to get used to the bedroom again.

Woke up and got ready for another day in the car, today the destination was Port Augusta where we are to spend two nights before heading off on our circle. This is the point where we turn right and head up the centre or go straight on to Perth, we are turning right!

After breakfast we headed off in a little bit of rain towards Adelaide where I was hoping to find a Harvey Norman to get the GPS fixed. Yes one day into the trip and it is coming up with a fatal error screen and I cannot see the maps. Chels wanted to know what we were going to do now, and of course the answer was, we were going back to the traditional way of travelling, with a map. I am a little annoyed that it has already broken, but what can you do, will have to get this fixed though.

Anyway, we were in the car on the way, travelling into a fairly strong headwind towards Adelaide then onto our destination. After filling with petrol in Adelaide, we continued on to Dublin for morning tea, a little later than we had planned but had trouble finding a park and rest area.

It was then onto Snowtown for lunch where we met another couple who were doing the same trip as we are undertaking. While having lunch, it suddenly came to me that this was the location of the infamous Snowtown murders. I had seen this story on the television some time ago and now saw where the bank was located.

On a positive note, they had some lovely murals painted on some of the walls which were very interesting to see.

It was a very strong headwind all the way to Port Augusta, creating a dust storm at one stage that was blowing across the road. Once we were through it, it all cleared again and became a very pleasant afternoon although the wind continued to blow.

We arrived at Port Augusta just after 3:30pm and found the caravan park, Port Augusta Big 4, our camp for the next couple of nights.

After setting up, it was time to kick the footy, just for something different, this is of course Josh’s favourite pastime.

An early night for all tonight as we catch up with some of the sleep we have missed out on!

Melbourne-Coonalpyn

2008-06-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

What can I say, the day has finally arrived and we are on the road and on our way for three months. After years of saying we want to do it, it is actually happening!!

I woke at 5:30 this morning with the thought that today was the day and we are now leaving on our incredible journey.

Travelling are myself (Stuart), my wife (Cathy), my children Chels and Josh, and my mother-in-law (Skinny). Yes that is right, I have my the pleasure(??) of my mother-in-law for the next three months travelling in the same car and van.

We are travelling in a Hyundai Terrican and towing a Jayco Expanda (16-49-1 for anyone who knows the different models) and plan to call it home for the next three months on our journey.

Today we left Melbourne at about 8:15am, being waved off by our neighbours Betty & Clive as we drove down the court. Betty had made us morning tea that we ate at Ararat before continuing on our journey.

We ended the first day at Coonalpyn (SA) in a caravan park where we were the only campers. When we pulled in and the sign said to find a site, set up and the money would be collected later. It looked like everything was closed but then we saw a man riding a bike towards us and he turned out to be the manager. After paying our $17.00 for the night we set up and made ourselves right at home.

Tomorrow we travel to Port Augusta where the circle actually begins. We leave here and travel north to Darwin, stopping at many places along the way. Then on to Broome and down the west coast to Perth. From here it is back across the Nullarbor to Port Augusta and then home in time to see the Hawks win the AFL Grand Final (well I can only hope!!)

The plan is to take three months to complete this journey with plenty of fun and excitement along the way.

Read on if you are interested!!

Getting Ready

2008-06-20T06:50:00.000-07:00

With only one week to go before we head off on our journey, we are getting things ready to leave next week.

The van is booked in for a service on Tuesday and we will have it back on Wednesday afternoon. The car has been services and is ready to go.

The kids have one more week of school, I have a few more days of work to tie up some loose ends and Cathy has finished.

Cannot wait to go!!!