That red earth of central australia

I know what you're thinking," that red dust has got him." Well you may be right and then again. I do admit that I am really looking forward to getting back there again, but NO it hasn't GOT me...well not yet anyway.

 This photo was taken at a wayside stop on our way to kings creek station near Kings Canyon.

Can you see how RED that sand is? yeah well... I am pointing to the sign showing how far we missed out on visiting all the states this year. 190klms through Aboriginal council land, permit required, no thanks. Perhaps we can do it next year. That sand was very soft and thick as well. just a short run from the main road to Kata Juta, the corrugations were bad enough in a couple of hundred metres let alone 190klms of them..

Treetops at Riddells Creek

Back at treetops for a couple of days. Our daughter  wasn't well and spent overnight in hospital. We were at Waranga basin, near Rushworth. We had stayed at Waranga a couple of times earlier in the year. The park is only a couple of klms out of the historic gold town of Rushworth. The town has a small IGA supermarket a couple of cafes, two pubs and a laundrette. Rushworth has  its own medical centre as well as a branch of the Bendigo bank. A strong community supports other businesses in the town as well. The town is more or less surrounded by one of the largest Ironbark forests in Australia and it also has a deep history of gold. Some say that there are still a lot of nuggets out there to be found. This time, those nuggets have managed to elude me, but their time will come. Waranga basin and the channel system of waterways that come from it are also good fishing spots for redfin, yellowbelly and ,in season, murray crays.

Western Queensland-Camooweal

Yesterdays post got me re-thinking the last couple of months and so, I re-visited those photos from ---Out There..and I came up with this one taken from about the same position as that magic pink/purple reflected sky that was my last post. let me know what you think via the comments at bottom of the page.

Western Queensland

Going through some more of our photos from our earlier trip to Queensland and found this photo. Might I say that of all the place we stayed in Queensland, the most picturesque, the most scenic and the most relaxing was beside a water hole at Camooweal where our good friends Norm and Dot had stayed a couple of years ago and sent a photo of this place via e-mail so that every body could see it. Well we found it Dot and Norm, and pulled in for a day and finished up staying for three or four, not sure now.Cattle coming down during the day, a pair of brolgas that graced us with their presence,and a pair of kites that had a nest high upon a branch opposite us, all shared this water hole.... Queensland magic!!
This photo almost qualifies for one of my  "every picture tells a story" shots but it was such a lovely spot that it deserved some explaination

Every Picture Tells a Story

Post WUDU extravaganza

Well it took more that one day off before we could actually say where we were going or what we were going to do. Then it's not quite all over either. do we free camp or park? we free camp. Will it be Lockwood south or Maldon, no neither, we go on to Newbridge. Aah, peace at last, feel the serenity...
Next day is Thursday 22nd november and it's Claytons birthday so we push on to Echuca Moama and the forecast is for pretty warm weather with 39 predicted for Sunday.So we booked into Shady River for the duration, tea out at the RSL which was a surprise for Clayton.

 Signed the contracts for our house as we had accepted the offer made to us without going to auction.

The Bendigo Leisurefest starts on Friday but we decide to go Saturday. caught up with michael from Epsom Palms caravan centre, Russell Breadmore, from the CIA and Warren Parrot from WUDU. Lynda Groom from Trulux Fifth wheelers was also on their stand. Spoke to several caravan sales people and looked at a lot of vans. And there were a LOT of vans there. bigger than two years ago when we were last there.According to the guy from Elite Caravans, it was a bigger show than Brisbane.
Barbecue tea with jac, mark and the kids here last night was a great chance for a good catch up. The kids took advantage of the jumping pillow and the pool.

Warburton /Healesville to Fed Square

Peter Huth and I 

lovely course at Warburton Golf club

The park at Warburton is tucked away in a lovely setting beside a babbler (brook that is) that becomes the Yarra River. Just down the road and over a bridge is the Warburton Golf Club, the scene for our next challenge.The result of which will be revealed when the series is played from January 6th on OneHD. It's enough to say that we all had a great time....
The concert at hedgend maze Healesville was disappointing, to say the least. We have had greater numbers and a much better response from previous venues. After tea tonight, Dean Allen-Craig (the walking jukebox) played up a storm and Danny P and Wazza both had trouble keeping up with this guys amazing guitar playing knowledge. a SUPER singalong and a great night. We say goodbye to everybody today with a "See ya in Fed. square."We head for the storage yard at Braeside after several heavy showers of rain and a bleak forecast. Get our van and landcruiser hitched up and the gear transferred from one van back into ours and its off to Big4 Dandenong with the Tanami arriving later. Peter and Alison have detailed their van and are taking a cabin at Dandy Big4 as well so it gives us a chance for a last meal together, some wine and a lot of laughs. Their company has been great and they are wonderful people with a great deal of experience and knowledge of the caravan business and park industry. An early rise as the vans have to be located in Fed square by 7.00am so we leave here at about 5.30 and arrived in plenty of time at 6.30. Marg. followed me into the city in the Pathfinder that we have been using on the trip and which had to be detailed for display as well.That was a daunting task, to say the least, get a caravan and 4x4 into fed square by that time,then place the caravan where they wanted it for the mini caravan show, WOW and you know what, It went REALLY well, no probs....

Caravan Corale

Phil Conquest, Marg, Alison Huth and John Adderley

Ivan, Alex,Sally  and Marg.

Now on to the concert and some more rattling of tins and raffle ticket sales. All went well, thanks to the two schools and the lunchtime crowd. Met Ivan, Sally and Alex who were all able to stay for a while. Good to see them again.
Concert went very well, cheque presentation to the Alfred hospital and now a wind down. We take the Nissan Navara ute and the Pathfinder back to Dandy Big4 for delivery tomorrow and end up in a traffic jam on Monash Fwy that meant 1.5 hours home. Now I know why I prefer the bush..Still don't know where we are going tomorrow or what we are doing, anyway, am sure it will happen, WHATEVER....

Castlemaine to Nagambie

This trip was exceptionally good. The Presenters had gone off to Bendigo and Maldon with two other crews and we took a crew along the back roads from Castlemaine to Sutton Grange, Redesdale and on to Heathcote. Through Heathcote to the Nagambie turn off through Costerfield, Graytown and into Nagambie Big4 caravan park. Rattled tins in Nagambie that afternoon and got a great response from the public there. next morning some went back to Maldon and some went to euroa to rattle tins. On the way to Euroa we did several passing shots of the convoy of Nissans and again got a great response in Euroa.Back for lunch and off to mitchelton winery for shoot and a taste before the concert that night back at nagambie lakes leisure park. we were joined by a couple in a Chrysler Royal and vintage caravan, both of who (which) have been lovingly restored. The vehicles, not the couple.......Another great concert with larger numbers there than we had at Castlemaine.

part of the crowd at Nagambie
The trip from Nagambie to Healesville, Warburton was delayed significantly because of an earlier accident at Seymour
so instead of driving the usual route through Seymour, we were detoured by traffic police around the heavy vehicle route, which I was familiar with but I don't think anyone else was. Anyway, we were ably lead by peter huth today and stopped for a fatigue break, morning tea at yea. The next phase of our journey was a bit of a shemozzle and could have been nasty had it been allowed to continue, suffice to say, that I circled the wagons going up Mt. Donna Buang and we had a meeting the result being that I took over the lead and got the convoy arriving safely at Warburton.
GPS seemingly wanted to take us over the mountain and when I passed a sign that read "Not suitable for Trucks, Buses or Caravans", I acted...

Chrysler Royal Duo

Daylesford, Hepburn Springs and Castlemaine

The keys to allow us to fill the van with water have arrived from Brisbane this morning.

The fleet at Ballarat

My poem reading

Danny, Angie and Dean

 After  shooting at the local service station, where THEY still serve you, we headed out of town and stopped in the potato growing township of Dean. After once again mustering the troops, Tania lead the way in the Jayco Conquest motor home.One part of the group kept motoring on to Maldon and we hung back to have a run through the streets of Daylesford rattling tins. The reception was generally pretty good in Daylesford so we then headed to Hepburn Springs. Spa resort is still great. I have a photo somewhere of my great Grandfather and two great aunts sitting on a bench seat near the pavilion in the 1930's and that building is still there today. Up the hill out of Daylesford and heading for Castlemaine. This park, the Big4 is where we stayed about seven months ago and although steep banks run beside the creek on the lower side, the sites are more easy to negotiate today. we arrive en masse and are directed to our sites by Russell. After unhitching and setting up hoses, leads etc, I unlock the water tanks and fill both. we will see how the van behaves tomorrow on the way to Nagambie. Tonights concert was a real winner. John and Ann Westbury did a great job of looking after the barbecue for the crowd, Matt Hollywood was in great form with some new tricks and Danny, Angie Wazza, Dean and Tania sang up a storm. I read the poem of Satnav for the first time and it seemed to go over well.

on The Road Again, Colac and Ballarat

Leaving the magic of the coast, we left Apollo Bay and headed into the hills of the Otway Ranges. Some magic views were taken in as we wound our way up, and up and up higher until the road starts to level out, however briefly and then the descent into Forrest and on to Colac. We circled the wagons by the lake and very close to the Botanic gardens in Colac after observing a minutes silence on the side of the road on our approach as it is Remembrance day.
Some tin shaking in the street were we met a couple of the local RSL members who took us back to their club for some tin rattlin' and that was very well received.

Colac lakeside for lunch

lunch at the lake and hit the road bound for Ballarat via Beeac, Cressy and Rokewood. The Elite caravan is still playing up even though Russell Whizz, had changed the configuration of the tow head, lowered the tyre pressures, it still ducks and weaves.
Ballarat Big4 welcome Stranger caravan park was very "Welcome" as the effort required to keep this unit on the road is exhausting and stressful.

Part of the great Ballarat crowd

Danny and Angie singing up a storm

Preparations were already under way for the mini concert with visitors taking up the car park at the front entrance to attend. From this level of activity, tonights mini concert may be a MONSTER.  Catering girls took the night off from cooking tonight but still managed to get and serve up a massive array of good pizzas for tea. Concert under way and everybody, although very tired, have made another great effort to put on a fantastic show.
Today, a lay day, has started rather lazily. Breakfast was scheduled for 8.00am . After a rough night where awnings were withdrawn because of the prevailing winds, we gathered for brekky served from inside the truck for cooked and outside for cold. Another great serve with eggs benedict being my favourite. How long can this go on?
 Off to Sovereign Hill this afternoon for some gold digging of the tin rattling kind.

WUDU Go Make Some Memories tour

The caravan convoy for charity began at Dandenong Big4 caravan park with each of the participants being introduced to their individual vans and what a display. The best of the Best have been put together to "Go make some memories" around Victoria at the top ten tourist destinations in this great state and within 2 hours of Melbourne.
 So far this trip has taken us to phillip island,where we visited the Phillip Island trout farm at Rhyll. A competition was set up between two teams to catch the most fish and pound for pound, our team won. Then we ate the fish....Yummo.
In the afternoon, half of the group visited the lovely Venus Bay and environs while the other half went into Cowes, strolled the main street and walked up and down the jetty.This was all followed by the first of the mini concerts to be performed by members of our group at several of our stays. a great day/night.
next morning as we hitched up the teams to the wagons, we found the group would travel towards Sorrento with some going to Portsea and others going to Rye. The Rye group went to a natural mineral spa and had a great time. We strolled the street of Portsea and ended up with lunch at the magnificent Portsea Hotel before our cruise across the bay to Queenscliff. The wind had picked up and the crossing could have been smoother. We travelled to beacon Resort Big4 at Queenscliff for the night where the second of the mini concerts was held in appalling cold weather. That didn't stop the performers or indeed, the 100 strong audience either. Tin rattling has produced a better result from the greater numbers obviously. a very funny night with matt Hollywood, comedian magician extraordinaire, doing a great job.
Time to get going again and this morning through Ocean Grove Torquay and stop for a break at Anglesea. Surf carnival attempt at a world record of the greatest number of surfers on the one wave was to be attempted but no news of that yet. Moved on taking several breaks for traffic to pass and our camera crews to go ahead once again to capture the convoy snaking its way along this magnificent piece of shoreline. i must say though, that i believe the road condition is the worst that i have seen it in for many years.I suppose that says something for the traffic numbers along there.
Tomorrow we leave here bound for Ballarat via Colac. Two nights there including a day off so will catch up with some cousins in the area, some shopping and a mini concert..

Every Picture Tells a Story

Treetops scout camp

Great to be back here at treetops, or ,perhaps I already said that. Today, a new adventure for me. The rest of us, well mostly, have previously been to the Hanging Rock, Festival/market/picnic. Work has prevented me from attending in the past and nothing prevents me going anywhere now. Today was another great day. I had let Keith and Angela know where we were  going and also Elise wanted to go, so, this morning, we met at the Hanging Rock market. What a great day. Plenty of variety as far as the market stalls went although more "crafty" than produce or bric-a-brac.Some talented people doing great things with wooden barrels, tops and staves, really nice.A small band played pleasant music while we perused the goods for sale. Tried several samples on display including truffles,licourice,olive oils and dips. Home made dim sims and spring rolls and those little dutch pancakes, proffitles or something!!All good. Had K & A come back to the park for a visit and an appreciation of how good this place is.The fire is good even though we have a nice warm day. A crisp night should produce a stunner of a day tomorrow with 30C forecast for tuesday. Bring it on!

Moama to Riddells Creek

Four nights in Moama and still not quite enough time to catch up with our hosts,Jac and Mark  still, that will happen. A busy time with my meetings, Marg. catching up with some workmates, a bit of shopping and off to Mooroopna. Caught up with  James, Kate and kids over dinner and a day catching up in park at Mooroopna and off again. Head wind down the Goulburn Valley highway that is mostly duplicated now. Thats gotta be good for road stats as it has been a horror piece of road for a long time. The stretch from Murchison to Shepparton holds some horrendous records and is why I started the driver reviver along that stretch in 1979.
Swung off the GV at Nagambie and headed West. Through the rolling hills of the early goldfields depicted by mullock heaps and the native iron barks through Greytown and Costerfield we headed for Heathcote.A break for morning tea/lunch at  Gaffneys bakery which has been a favourite stopping place for years. Met Kate and Pete White, from Echuca/Moama there and a good catch up. Kate and I worked together at the Port years ago and Pete now runs E/M tourism and is doing a great job there.
On to Tooborac, Lancefield down the range to Romsey. Called in on Elise, Alistair and children before moving on to Treetops at Riddells Creek. We had pre-booked and our host, Paul had already placed a fire drum and enough wood for a couple of days at our site. Great to be back. The grounds are greener than when we left, the kangaroos are still plentiful and the sounds of the distant planes from Tulla can be heard. Nice to be here.

Adelaide

We breezed into Adelaide from Auburn an easy yet uneventful drive. Stopped for morning tea at Gawler, checked our e-mails etc there as well, couple of  phone calls and onwards. We hadn't definitely planned to stay in Adelaide but the Adelaide Shores caravan park at West Beach, has a great record of prizes and awards, so I wanted to see for myself. It's not hard to see why that is the case. This park is worthy of your consideration in every aspect. Need I say more?
On our way in to Adelaide, the GPS took a coniption and refused to load a new destination. Fortunately, I remembered that Military road runs into Old Port road ,from my DECA days there and the park is on military road, no problem...
Next morning off to Murray Bridge, and further South, past Culburra where we had our first bush camping experience. Pushing on through Bordertown and called in to Serviceton. Once the main change-over point between vic and s.a.as far as rail was concerned. The majestic station is still there and open for guided tours (free) by a very enthusiastic local, Ron.The station is built on 3 levels and consists of about 15 main rooms and about the same number of fire places. A magnificent building built in the 1880's and still looking quite good, but of course, a lot more work has to be done. We toured from the upstairs residence down to the dungeons and morgue, yes morgue.. Wow..
We stayed about 1klm out at the rec reserve, power and toilets showers and QUIET, although another two vans pulled in after we did. We were glad to be off the road and out of the wind as it hadn't been a good day, travel wise.

Auburn caravan park

Serviceton railway station

The wind died down and next morning we were gone, on our way East through Horsham, Stawell, Navarre and on to Avoca. Checked in for two nights as this place has a certain attraction. As does a lot of this area.Yesterday, we got going a little later than usual, for no particular reason other than we can. Through Maryborough, Bendigo and to Echuca Moama. Circle done, well sort of!!

Every Picture Tells a Story

Clare valley to Adelaide

The sprouting vines of the Clare valley

Paulett vineyard

From olives to grapevines

Our stay in the Clare was truly amazing. We thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.From the stone architecture, that IS south australia, to the Clare agricultural show, all amazing. Yesterday we discovered another treasure. An English manor house near Mintaro, about 12 klms out from Auburn in the Clare Valley. Martindale hall has an interesting but sad story. The owner/builder was a wealthy Englishman who came to Australia mid 1870's. His love was in England and refused to come to Australia even after he built this grand house in the English style.Nearby Mintaro is classed as a historic town and the nearby slate quarry still exports loads of stone all over the world.We were quite taken by the neatness of the area. The grapevines all showing their different stages of spring sprouting with some vines running North South, some running East West and yesterday, we found some following the contours of the hill, Great..This area is well known for some fantastic reds and their most famous variety, reisling. We have tasted several and liked most of them.Paulettes winery has a couple of real beauties. I had a glass of their 2008 Shiraz the night before at the local pub after my fish stew. A lovely, thick sticky red wine of mammoth proportions. Mellow and delicious at the same time. We  tasted several of their range on visiting the winery.Sparkling reisling was surprisingly fruity and refreshing. Their house reisling also excellent. I found the reserve shiraz a little shallow and not quite as full bodied as the current release,2008. Still a lovely shiraz.To be able to cover all of the wineries in the area you would need months and extended credit. Several of the wineries have also diversified, museums at some and restaurants at others.

Port Broughton to Clare Valley

Now the westerlies at Port Broughton aren't too bad although they have increased over the last few days to the point of us not taking any more.Generally, the mornings are ok until about 11.00 then the winds come up and become almost unbearable to be out in it. Fair enough. We decide to move inland to the Clare valley, at least within a valley we should be out of the winds.Leaving we had a good side wind, not so good for fuel consumption though. Over the green hills we run down into the Clare valley, named after County Clare in Ireland. There are a whole lot of Irish connections going on in this valley, areas like Armagh, winery names and b&b names hold traditional Irish names as well.
Saturday is the annual Clare show and we have a great time at a well supported community event. 148 years this event has run by volunteers that struggle here and wherever they have an agricultural show like this one.We loved the alpaca display and judging, watched the horse events in the main arena and moved on to the official opening with the national anthem being sung by a couple of the local girls. At the right place at the right time when a pair of sisters won the blue ribbon (first prize) for their entry in the under 6 scarecrow building competition. They also won best exhibit in show for their scarecrow and VERY excited..Great.. Stopped in at the shearing  to witness a couple of rounds of that competition as well. Moving on we saw the machinery display as well as caravans and back to the main area before the queues got too long for lunch. The exhibits within the pavillion were huge. Lots of singular flowers in vases, bunches of flowers, decorated plates with flowers wow. A good cross section of baking entries that reminded me of both my grandmothers, not for local shows but Melbourne Royal, if you don't mind. Quilts, painting, vegetables, all good. Lutheran school entry for years 6 & 7 challenged students to create a 4 generation family tree and see the results. That was great I said that should create a spark . Hopefully that spark will create a fire that the student may get a desire to research their family history even further.A walk around the show is incomplete without going down sideshow alley, some things never change although Marg noted that there were no rides that "went inside" like tunnel of love, ghost train or anything similar.

Beautifully manicured vineyards

Alpaca judging at Clare show

Floral displays at Clare show

Today the Blythe car boot sale was on and so we ventured the 12kms out to this very pleasant small stone built town.Sale was at the local picnic/bbq area and was not huge but again well supported by the local community.We bought a bag of lemons, a chrissy present and a couple of sausages in bread. Sat and chatted to the rhubarb seller who was ripped off at the clare show by his grand daughter in the rhubarb competition, YEAH right!!

Port Broughton

Dunnies at Fishermans Bay

Fishermans bay.

Wattle in bloom, Port Broughton

Bearded dragon, port Broughton

Moving down the highway to Port Broughton we venture again into Port Pirie and once again impressed by the town.This time it's not just the architectural style of South Australia that dominates these areas but also the friendliness of the locals as well. In Port Augusta, we had to come back next Thursday to have a wheel taken off the caravan and replaced by the spare??? An F1 team can change all four tyres/wheels in less than 3 seconds but no, sorry can't fit you in. ok, Port Pirie Tyrepower, manager stated yeah no problems, do it straight away, and they did. Great. After lunch, thinking about the spare, that was a normal car tyre instead of a light truck tyre, went back to the same tyre place to buy a replacement, sorry, can't do, we don't have that size in stock but can give you address of a place in Adelaide where you can get the same type..Great thanks, off we go feeling even better about Pirie. Call into Port Germein, again lovely stone buildings and also magnificent dry stone walls/fences. Port Germein had the longest wooden jetty in South Australia until a lot of it was blown away in a mini cyclone a few years ago but it is still VERY long. On to Port Broughton where the caravan park has full digital television available. That was important for the forthcoming Bathurst 50th anniversary race.Lots of fishing being done here, mainly boats but some jetty fishing. Blue swimmer crabs come in here at about the same time as the big nobby headed schnapper come in. Neither of which is here yet and according to the locals, not warm enough weather yet. Still, you gotta have a go.
I found this lovely little frilled neck lizard amongst the leaves this morning. After lunch, we went out the 5klms to Fishermans Bay and came upon quite an interesting settlement that have their own dunnies all in a row, in several seperate streets. These residences are tiny little self built fishermans huts built on lease holdings that is proving difficult to manage because of re-sale issues etc. all of the streets here are fish names, Bream, Snook, Garfish Trevalley, whiting and DOLPHIN????
The wattle is starting to flower in trees in the park, confirmation of the change of seasons alright.

Every Picture Tells a Story

Port Augusta

View from park fence across to Flinders Ranges

All the washing is done and we appreciate a good drying wind without the dust. Around the town we explore the waterfront and speak to a couple of different people. One guy with a bottle on the end of a stainless steel wand walks down the ramp beside the water and takes a sample of water. I asked him if he was going to drink that stuff and he assured me not but was taking samples of water for some local authority. The stack at the local power station has not emitted smoke or anything that we have seen since our arrival. Maybe it's closed. As we drove across the bridge into town I notice what looks like a barge, with ribs exposed, lying in the mud beside the waters of the gulf. Gotta be a story there....A nice view across the backwaters of the gulf to the magnificent Flinders Ranges.
We said goodbye to Ivan and Josie (Gladstone Qld.) today and were just as fascinated today with the dispersal of the park as we ever have been. As usual, the park fills up again. At lunchtime, Neil and Phyllis (Ipswich qld) pulled in as we had just finished lunch. I told Phyllis that the pasta was off, our lunch and there was no more.. They joined us at Happy Hour together with John and ineke (Frankston) who are in another Scenic Vega. Good time as the sunset changed once again the colour of the Flinders Ranges in the background.

Coober Pedy to Port Augusta

Dust storm greets at Coober Pedy

Giant Blower Vac.

Dog fence Coober Pedy

Marg and miner friend

Coober Pedy, you either love it or hate it, was the opinion that we had heard from several people. So, the expectation was high yet curiously, unexpected. very difficult to say how we felt on the approach to this out of the way desert town. i suppose that we were fascinated by the sight of the mullock heaps so far before we actually got to coober pedy that started our amazement.A drive through the town before we checked in was equally fascinating, interesting? Yes. Should we find out a bit more? Yes. Lets get our digs first. As we checked in, the wind came up and we went through a typical pedy dust storm. Visibility down to about 15 metres and still about 34C. Nothing like a cool change or RAIN eventuated, a typical Pedy dust storm. Next day, a bit of exploring and book in for another night. Proprietor said, you already in for 2 nights, yes we want to extend, ok then...Also we would like to book in for this afternoons tour of the area..ok thanks....Mini bus tour takes about 5 hours and was great. started a bit slow with a look at the local footy ground, watered by "you tourists grey water" and about the only green place in the area.A little more history about the town before touring the diggings and explanation of these funny trucks with big drums at the back. On to an open cut mine before moving out to The Breakaways range, spectacular. on to the Dog Fence, a man made structure to keep dingos out of south Australia that runs some 3500klms.Moon Plains, strange, any wonder these areas were used to film such productions as Mad Max, Priscilla and Red Planet, it's Way Out There..Back in to town and tour of underground opal mine museum and dugout house all in one. Wow and the gorgeous opals again WOW. back on the bus to the Serbian Orthodox church, again underground, very impressive. At night, we had dinner out at the local Greek restaurant and that was exceptional. Quite busy for a friday night. We leave the next morning but not before we visit the Old Timers mine. This was South Australias winning tourist venue in 2011 and that's no wonder. This is well worthwhile visiting as you can walk through the mine, see samples of opal still in the rock, the old ways of mining and the modern systems that all lead to a dugout residence, all very well done.

Woomera central

A long way to port Augusta, just over 520klms and too big a day for us. Nice and comfortable with a couple of hundred instead of the BIG days over 400. We head out of town and Simone at Macdonnel ranges was definitely right. We had seen a variety of landscapes before and after Alice Springs and that stuck out. The trip South is very much the same old thing although we do see some change from flat drab gibber plains to all of a sudden straggly, treed plains and back to a red soil again.We see other messas in the distance and ranges that are yet far off. Could they be the Flinders? probably. We push on to Pimba, a spot on the map where there is a Tavern/roadhouse/fuel stop. Not gonna stay at the free stop there, we head North again to Woomera into the towns caravan park. While I finish setting up and am informed about the happy hour that starts at 4.00pm in the bar within the caravan park ( Now that's a NEWY) Marg chose to take the 10 minute walk up the town and came back with an interesting report. ALL the houses look the same, only some are occupied and others although empty like the school, the shops, the hospital and the theatre, all LOOK great. well presented town in need of another owner, currently defence department. Great museum display in middle of town with more rockets than a bonfire on Guy Fawkes night .Previously housing 6000 and now only 250, a town with a past and unfortunately, not much future...The next day on to Port Augusta. A short hop of about 170klms. we pass valleys that lead to large salt lakes surrounded by more red soil. For the first time we see feral goats feeding on the scrub, More emus and the road kill has also changed. We see more cattle now since leaving the Territory interspersed with big Red kangaroos. We have also seen more wedged tail eagles now as well. a coffee break at a roadside stop that sees a venturer on a pushbike arrive. We hear he is from Bali and we settle down to a well earned coffee. We had turned the gas on to boil the kettle. Another couple in a 5th wheeler pulled in and so we offered them the rest of our boiled water, no sense in throwing it out and they were very appreciative. The Flinders look bluer than last year and we are actually looking out across the dry bed of Lake Torrens, largest salt lake in South Australia. i remember flying over this lake last year during the flight back from William Creek and Lake Eyre. Fuel is getting lower and we push into port Augusta before the fuel light starts to glow. I had planned the consumption of the landcruiser from my previous useage and allowed us enough to get to where it would obviously be cheaper. We arrive in Port Augusta and book in for three nights, the park overlooks the top of the Gulf and is back dropped by the Flinders Ranges and we will explore the town a little later. Fuel is more reasonable at 1.51/ltr and as I fill up i  redeem a 15cents/ltr discount on my Everyday Rewards card.

Every Picture Tells a Story

Uluru to Coober Pedy

Ayres Rock, Uluru or whatever you want to call it, is IMPRESSIVE. I don't think it matters what time of day you see the ROCK, it's always going to impress. we went to the Olgas first, kata tjuta is the traditional name and now I'm torn between the three. Mt. Connor,a sandstone mesa, Uluru, a monolith and Kata Tjuta, a conglomerate. They each are beautiful individually and I would prefer not to choose a favourite. suffice to say that the whole area is fascinating and, for the first time visitor, awesome.We had planned ahead and took a salad tea to make sure we were in the right spot for sunset on the rock. We drove around the rock after visiting the interpretive centre that was extremely good. Then we took up , what we had picked earlier, as the best site to view the sunset. it wasn't long before the whole car park was full and we were glad of our earlier planning. Spoke to Graham, who asked us to take his photo in front of the rock. Graham is a kiwi and riding a POSTIE BIKE around Oz..Unreal..Anyway, sunset incredible. Some cloud on the horizon changed the colour early but it came back again. After sunset we made our way with the throng, to Yalara and bought some diesel that would assist tomorrow. $2.10/ltr but we have seen it more expensive. 90klms back to Curtin Springs and a speed limit of 110. I choose to drive at 90-100 and I'm glad I did. A big red kangaroo came out of nowhere and hit the front of our vehicle and fortunately didn't do a lot of damage although paid the eternal price for this venture. Another 30klms to go before we got back to the van, not easy, but we were ok.
Next day, Andrew, a father of 3 who we had met at Macdonnel ranges caravan park had arrived with his family into Curtin Springs. Marg recognised daughter Abbie from pancake Sunday at the park in Alice. Andrew   helped me get the parking light back into a secure holding place and we lit a fire and happy hour with Charlie and Monique. Marg cooked cheese scones in our new bodurie and we learnt a lot from these French/swiss people.
Away and heading East again. At Erldunda we fuel up at .40c less than at Yulara and meet Graham (postie bike) again.
As we turn South, the tail wind is obvious and we cruise at 100klm'h and sit on about 13.5ltrs/100klms a great run. Into Marla bore tourist resort for the night after a couple of stops and once again passing GRAHAM. The night at Marla was incredible. Started with a dust storm and then the loudest electrical display we have heard/seen for a long time. The rain was only nuisance value but the lightning incredible.

Mount Conno

Uluru

Sunset at the Rock

Kata Tjuta

We had learnt from Simone at Macdonnel Ranges that the drive South to Port Augusta was boring. We can now confirm that although, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" applies as well. There is a LONG way between these points and done on a regular basis it could become mundane, however as first time visitors, we find the changes subtle but there just the same. the ghan train line comes back and is gone again, the undulating road gives views of hidden valleys and salt pans and rolling bare hills and then white mini-peaks that is the lunar type landscape around Coober Pedy.

Erldunda Footy Final

Before leaving Alice we watched as Collingwood were eliminated from the rest of the years matches by a great side Sydney Swans. Hope that they do well against the hawks in the Grand final. we watched the second semi at Erldunda tavern with allan and carol who are from Adelaide and of course Crows supporters. They are also disappointed with the crows demise, but, hey, there's always next year and nobody knows that saying like a Collingwood supporter.
Next day it's off to Kings Canyon. We stay at kings Creek station that is manned by international back packers. We're fine with that although language can still be a problem. Anyone rang Telstra  or Bigpond with problems lately?Anyway, we find our site with the help of a Geordie on a quad bike, out here on a two year working visa and about to leave at the end of the month because "It'll be too hot ay." Settle in and we still have plenty of time to explore Kings Canyon. Visit the resort first and check out their campinmg facilities and there is definitely more grass. We have red sand. The walk into Kings canyon was great. An easy walk in 34C heat and we should have taken our water with us but you learn from these things. Some insane people took the rim tour and we saw them half way up to the top of the canyon and they looked as if they were struggling, I know we would have been at that stage. At the end of the canyon, a school group arrived as we were appreciating the dramatic views. They set up for a group shot and we got out before take 18 or "stop mucking around" from one of the teachers. Chat resulted in they were staying at same place and putting a concert on tonight, please come along...... Bairnsdale secondary College band and the concert was VERY good.Off to Curtin Springs station next morning and caught a glimpse of what we thought was the ROCK but instead it was the equally impressive Mt.Connor as we came back to the intersection to turn to Ularu.

Curtin Springs is a station of about a million acres, yeah thats right!! it's 1,600 sq miles.. In a practical sense that's a lot of ground to look after. So if the homestead is in the centre, it's 2 days travel to the front gate. Our perth friends Ivan and Chris, in Ivans job he called a station owner once and was asked where are you, he replied at your front gate, the farmer replied OK I'll see you in two days, cos thats how long it took from the homestead to the front gate..WOW..

Alice to Erldunda

well, we said goodbye to Alice this morning, not so much a goodbye as a so long? (a corny mid 50's phrase)  we will be back. have been very impressed by the Alice. Moving on today.  we leave nice and early as far as the temp is concerned. Out of the park by about 9.20 and hit the road. I had already topped up the diesel yesterday, so it was really only a matter of packing up the camp. Under normal circumstances, i would be a lot more organised but with Collingwood playing in a semi and it coming through live, i had other things on my mind. i would usually dismantle the awning rafters, pack up the bbq and put the chairs in their travel bags before the morning came, BUT.....  Anyhow, all is history now, on the road and the EVER changing landscape seems to enthrall us with every turn. Changes between, riverbeds. grasslands and woodlands as well as the sandy areas incorporating salt pans as well, always changing, always grabbing your attention. Traffic is slow on the road today and we have wondered if the Road Trains have the weekends off because I am sure the number we meet must be minimal and I'm fine with that. We pause for a break at a monument for cannonball memorial. two officials and two Japanese competitors died here in 1994 doing what they all loved, no other details but I am sure they would be available. tragic circumstances I am sure, and I'm not gonna look for any more detail. we see bearded dragons on different parts of the road, traffic warning signs for kangaroos and a new one for camels. All the while, new messas come into view, rich in colour and the jump ups relatively close to the road look as if they have been placed there ever so carefully by a clever stonemasons hand but they were there before the masons, lovely stuff.

Every Picture Tells a Story