The end is near..and now we face the final road trip...

Sorry to say it’s all over...we left Loxton eventually and took the long way home. We stayed an extra day and of course weather was sensational. We took the time on the last day to be REAL ’vanners and we cleaned the van, top to bottom, ready for storage back home – sorry to say I didn’t have any overalls to fit the part but it’s the thought that counts.
Funny how we travelled 9000km over 31 days and only saw bad weather for about 3 days. The temperature range from 40° C down to about 10°C at Melrose was a bit hard to handle but luckily we’d packed enough clothes for that kind of variation. I’ve been trying to update the map but it won’t let me… I may do a new one, I also sent links to photos on Picasa but I’m not sure who got the email and who didn’t…if ye didn’t and you want the link send me an email.
We’ll eventually get to Birdsville and Lake Eyre, hopefully it’ll still have water in it – going by the amount of floods we passed that won’t be hard. All the roads into Birdsville, Innamincka and Lake Eyre are either still closed or 4WD only so we STILL couldn’t get there with the van even if we had the time…next time.
Anyway, back home now, Ute unpacked, van in garage, weather still good but it’s not the same L…still the “kids” are in great form and we bored them with the full slideshow, all 900 photos…yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.
TTFN…’til next time

Luverly Loxton

Loxton, another lovely town on the Murray. We decided on the way to give the National Park a miss and stay in a Caravan Park on the river, the main reason was that they hired out canoes and we fancied a wee paddle on the river. Spent the first day driving around and checking things out and found a great spot with free camping for next time, weather was glorious, 28°C and not a cloud in the sky.
Trish fancied a steak so we dragged out the BBQ, normally we’d use the ones in the park but this one was too far away from the van. The bird life around the place is amazing, Kookaburras, Cockatoos and the usual array of other parrots and squawking beasties. Just as Trish was finishing her steak a kookaburra swooped in under the awning and tried to make off with what was left but as the bone was too big the fecker couldn’t take off with it and dropped in on the ground…Trish was NOT happy and vowed to terminate the next flying thieving vermin that came near. Next morning the bacon and eggs was prepared with haste and eaten inside, just in case!

We went for our canoe trip up the Murray as we thought we’d be able to drift back down the river, it was a two seater so we could take turns paddling, OK Trish didn’t do too much of the paddling! It was hard work against the current and the wind but it was well worth the effort, we had seen an island near the town and chose that as the turning point, no other boats on the river so it was very peaceful and relaxing (for some). The trip back took less than half the time to get to the island as the current was really strong, reckon we’ll be talking about floods on the Murray River sometime soon as there is a lot of water still to come from all the other rivers we past on the trip. We decided as the weather was so good to stay another night here and then of course the weather broke and it rained…ah sure, we’ll stay another night to dry out… any excuse to put off the inevitable!!! Back to Adelaide on Sunday… Monday? Tuesday?...

Mildura and beyond...

Mildura…as expected weather sensational, 27°C and getting hotter, we’ve decided to stay here for 4 nights and just warm up, chill out and have fun. It’s a great city, lots to do and the river is flowing very nicely, the Murray River is the border line here with NSW and Victoria, we crossed the border to visit Wentworth, nice place and its another place ear marked for a longer stay, the Murray and Darling Rivers meet at Wentworth and with the amount of rain we’ve had the meeting of the waters is looking good. We had a look at the Lock and the difference in height was only about 1.5 to 2 metres, last time we went through a Lock it was at least 5 metres. Had a nice rest day and did absolutely nuffin, well, I did, Trish did our last bit of washing before we head for home. We’ve now covered over 8200 kms (that’s over 5000 miles!).
However the term “Road Closed” still haunts us, we tried every way we could think of to get to the Dig Tree and Birdsville and every time we got close it was “Road Closed”. I heard about a place called “Mungo National Park”, it was only about 100km north of Mildura and the name immediately had me intrigued, then I saw some photos and thought … “we should go there”...called into the Tourist Office in Mildura….big sign “Mungo National Park – Road Closed”…ahhh here!!!
Couple “next door” on our first few nights were from Sydney…well he was a Dub, from the Navan Road – funny when someone says the Navan Rd you can pin point where they’re from (between the Cop Shop and the Halfway House, in case ye wondered), she was a pom but we wouldn’t hold that against her and their 2 kids were really great, Trish and meself even played Vollyball with the kids and had a laff, thank God it got dark and we could call it quits, wrecked we were. We had a great few nights with them, a bit of a singsong one night but generally just chattin’ and enjoyin the wine and company…ain’t it funny how people just click. Met another couple from NZ who are on the Big Lap and not sure how long it will take and caring less, just havin fun and enjoyin the trip…way to go! I got some good advice on loading me photos so watch out you lot! Sunsets were SPECTACULAR, Murray River in full flow.
We’re off to Loxton next, not sure if we’ll “slum it” or go to a Caravan Park…

Pimba and Melrose

Had a good time in Coober Pedy but time to hit the road again and we need to catch up with Rob and Mel in Melrose by Friday. We decided to head for Woomera and spend Thursday night there before driving to Melrose on the Friday…very strange place Woomera, lots and lots of houses and apartments but there doesn’t seem to be anyone living there, strange VERY strange.
We decided to stay at a place called Pimba  about 10 kms along the road from Woomera. Trish’s good old Camps 4 book worked again, it shows all the free camping areas around Australia, very handy.  Pimba was a cross roads with a pub/petrol station/restaurant and a very large car park for trucks and fellow travelers. Toilets and showers are free too. We set up and after about an hour there were 12 other travelers set up around us and then the rains came and it poured for hours, then the winds came and the van shook all night long. In between howls of wind and lashes of rain I think we managed about an hours sleep….on to Melrose, things could only get better.
Heard on the radio on the way down to Melrose that all roads into Birdsville, Maree and Innamincka were closed to all traffic so that was the end of any thought of a Lake Eyre trip.
We met Rob and Mel in Port Augusta to do a wee shop and then off to Melrose, as we approached we could see black clouds rolling in and by the time we arrived it was lashing rain and then we had some hail and then some more AND it was FREEEEEEZING!!!!!  We had left Winton in 40°C, it was around 28 in Coober Pedy and now Melrose was about 5°C. There is a creek at the camp grounds and on Thursday kids were playing in it (no water!) by Friday evening we were thinking the now fast flowing river would burst its banks and flood us out, the amount of water was incredible. We lit a fire on Friday night and huddled around it, good food, good company and as usual some of us ate too much J. Saturday was expected to better weather wise but it turned out to be as cold so we headed off to the pub for a few cleansers and a meal. We had intended to stay in Melrose on Sunday night and then head to the Flinders on Monday but the weather was soooooo cold and according to a few fellow travelers it was a lot worse in the Flinders so we decided on Mildura, always warmer there and we hadn’t been in about 15 years so decision made…..

Coober Pedy

Arrived here tired and battered after a long day on the road. Checked the Oodnadatta Track at Marla on the way here to see if it was safe to travel but 4WD was suggested…maybe next time.
Coober Pedy is a very desolate place, the caravan park has no grass and the trees looked good but when we read that the ground had to be drilled to put the trees in it kinda hits home how tough it must be out here. After a good nights rest we headed off to the “Dog Fence” its now 5300km long used to be 9500km, there’s a lovely drive out of the town through The Breakaways and over looking Moon Plain…called that for a very good reason – there is nothing over a foot high and the ground looks like a moonscape, a very, very desolate place.
The Breakaways look like more diggings for opals but these are made by nature and quite remarkable…. I took about 70 photos but me feckin’ computer has put them somewhere and I can’t find them, obviously still recovering from the drink…the computer NOT me!
We visited “Old Timers Mine” what a hoot, ye get to put on a hardhat and wander through an old mine, great fun and thank God for the hardhat, I bounced off me head off the roof a few times. They have an area close to town where you can dig around and see if you can find any Opal, its called the “noodling area”, while I was in the caravan park office a young girl showed up to thank the chap there for telling here where the public “noodling area” was as she had found a large opal after she cracked open a rock with a hammer…she had had it valued … $4500…hate that!...off to Woomera tomorrow...

Kings Canyon

What a disappointment Kings Canyon was, it was very hot (36 ish and humid) after a 2 hour drive to get there we were expecting wonders but not to be, maybe if we had gone on the long walk over the top through the “Garden of Eden” it would have been worth it but it was too hot for climbing. We chose the easy walk through a gorge, nice but not as good as the other gorges near Alice…Trish made a friend... an emu which wanders around the camp site at Curtin Springs, it followed her to the loo and back, looked like it was making sure she got there and back in one piece.
Next stop Coober Pedy, we’re going to do it all in one go, about 650km, long drive in one day but it means we can spend 2  nights there….should be worth it… so far we’ve covered just over 6000 km and the car still chugs along.

A town like Alice...is there another one?

The country side is awash with flowers, trees, grasses and water, water everywhere. On the way to Alice we heard the Birdsville Track is still closed to cars with caravans in tow and some poor chap was on the radio and he’s been stuck in Innamincka for 3 days and no chance of getting out in the new future as the Cooper Creek is still flooded, so looks like we may the right decision to go the long way round…..so far we’re up to 5000km and still going strong!
Nice little town, very busy, maybe that’s down to the Masters Games. We did the usual tourist things a drive along the MacDonnell Ranges, Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm and then felt a bit “gorged” so we missed the next lot and headed off to Ormiston Gorge – very impressive and with all the rains they’ve had around here the place is very green with flowers everywhere, we had a few rivers to cross and the car went through with trepidation but made it back in one piece with no danger lights on. Saw the sunset from ANZAC Hill, nice…the Master Games opening ceremony was on in the local park so we had a good view from the Hill and they played that great song as they marched in…Waltzing Matilda…
Lots of eagles on the side of the road chewing on road kill but some of them are so big you’d wonder if they’d actually killed the beast and were just tucking in.
We then headed off to Uluru, about 500km south of Alice and found a free campsite at Curtin Springs, funny – no power, no phone coverage but great internet connection! Technology , ay? Its amazing the distance between everywhere, Curtin Springs is about 100km from Uluru and about 200km from Kings Canyon, which we’re told is worth the trip
Spectacular sunset at Uluru, but before that we had a stroll around and I even climbed a bit of the rock, didn’t have time to go too high as I would’ve missed the sunset (that’s my excuse anyway). … we then drove back to the free camp at Curtin Springs, tomorrow Kings Canyon….

Barkly Homestead to the Alice

Barkly to Alice

Anyway I’d give the Barkly Homestead a big miss, its all very expensive, they do have a sign that (they think) explains the expense – They claim they run their generators all day and all night and they use 500 litres of Diesel hence the reason for the high costs BUT if they pay $1.50 per litre (and I doubt its that expensive) then their running costs are $750 per day and they don’t have any other power bills.
Tennant Creek…I hadn’t been to TC for over 20 years and it was a LOT bigger than I remembered, still not a place I’d settle into, we had a quick trip out Peko Road where I lived for 6 weeks but I couldn’t remember how far out the place was, must’ve been all the alcohol consumed, so we turned around and headed into town for a cuppa. We couldn’t find a park for the car and van so we continued on our way…next stop Devils Marbles… an amazing place and there is a great camp ground but Trish saw a Dingo and that was that, couldn’t see the Dingo getting into the caravan and carrying us off but …had a walk through the rocks a bite to eat and off again…we stopped and Wycliffe Well, the “UFO Centre of Australia”…sorry Mike, we didn’t see any! Had a nice evening doing the washing and chatting with some other travelers, they were on their way to Alice for the Masters Games…we hadn’t heard about this and were worried we wouldn’t get a “haltin’ site” but it turned out the “Masters” had booked every room in Alice but very few were bringing caravans so we had a spot.
The drive from Mount Isa all the way to Alice is VERY boring and although there are changes in scenery it just takes soooooooo many kilometres to change. The real interesting thing has been the road trains, now they are BIG machines and when ye see a truck with 3 trailers its over 50 metres long and full of cows…ye wouldn’t want to be over taking them in a convertible car if the cows let go, brings a new meaning to a pat on the head. The mining trucks are even bigger with four trailers and to see them snake through the country side is quite amazing.
Did i mention the weather? We saw rain at the Barkly Homestead, had a bit more at Wycliffe Wells and it was overcast and gloomy all the way to Alice and since then its been sunny, a bit chilly but still sunny. I had to wear jeans and jumper for the first time here last night, more on Alice later..

Longreach to Cloncurry to Barkly Homestead

Longreach to Cloncurry.
We set off for Winton and were going to stay there one night but I rang the Birdsville Hotel and was told the road south was closed to cars with caravans, we might make it through but they now had a ferry over the Cooper Creek and it wouldn’t take caravans so we decided on the way to Winton to go the long way round through Alice Springs, this was going to add about 3000km to the trip but better to know now than half way down the Birdsville Track.  The revised plan is to head to Alice Springs, Kings Canyon and Uluru (that’s Ayers Rock in case ye didn’t know) and then down to Melrose via Coober Pedy to catch up with Rob and Mel for a great weekend!
So…we had a wee stop in Winton, they actually have a museum dedicated to Waltzing Matilda…yes a museum dedicated to one song…very odd BUT very entertaining and well worth the visit, if only to hear all the versions of the song, still reckon John Williamson does the best! On to Cloncurry – claim to fame the birthplace of the Flying Doctors, no, not the TV show the actual service, ye eejit!!
Funny how many towns in west QLD claim QANTAS, Flying Doctors and School of the Air – now called the School of Distance Education as I suppose they use very little “air” and more computers these days.
Spent a very hot night in Cloncurry…It was 38C when we arrived at around 5pm after a 600km drive. Next morning off to Mount Isa, Camooweal and then into the Northern Territory. We broke our own record by being packed, hooked up and on the road by 8am!! Please take note Simmo’s we didn’t even disturb the neighbours, that’s what Croc’s can do for ye and no WL needed as it was bright J.
Had a quick stop over in Mount Isa and then off to Camooweal, which is close to the border with NT. The scenery did change a lot from flat boring to amazing hills, to flat grass lands, to Mulga Scrub…how those explorer chappies kept going is beyond me, it must have been soul destroying to get to the top of a hill and see scrub in every direction to the horizon! When we left Camooweal there was a sign with “ SH 440”, which normally means a town with the letters S H is 440km away, it took us a LONG time to work out that the SH was the Stuart Highway and that was the next main intersection and there is NOTHING between Camooweal and Three Ways, we did find a roadhouse and camped out the back, power, toilets, pub and Trish what more could ye want! ( J )

Wellshot at Ilfracombe

Ilfracombe – This is what the holiday is all about, pulling into a little park and meeting like minded souls, a stay of 2 nights ended up being 4, happy hour was a hoot with the resident bush poets and joke tellers, it usually lasted until well after 8pm and by then there was nothing for it but a glass of red…we had to leave to save the livers, I know its probably a bit late for us anyway but the thought was there.
If EVER you heading to Longreach take time out to visit Ilfracombe, the Caravan Park Happy Hour and the Wellshot Hotel, great food, great people and money on the ceiling, ask Joanne how to do it , for a fee of course…but the fee goes to the RFDS or the local Museum so its well worth it - what a great little town, about 200 people they say live here and they have a mile of machinery on the road as you come in, sound terrible but its SO well done, in between the machinery are little old buildings with things from the past one houses rifles and flags!
Many, many more oddities along the mile long Folk Museum. In the Memorial Park they have a swimming pool and ...you guessed it...an Artesian Spa, bloody beautiful, especially as its around 34C. We've done the Stockmans Hall of Fame and the QANTAS Museum in Longreach - have some nice photos but can't get enough speed with this old 'puter to get them loaded and I can't take it out and about as the internal battery still has the DT's.

Mind you we did have to spend an extra day to get the car fixed…but thats another story....

Red wine and laptops

Where have yis been? I hear ye shout.... well, did you know red wine and laptops don't mix? I swiped a fly and a perfectly good glass of red ended up all over the key board of my laptop, there followed lots of strange beeps and gurgles and then silence and and blackness...and the computer was dark too!
It now works on occasions when i can get power and range of wi fi....which aint too often out here...speaking of out here...we're in Longreach (really in Ilfracombe but Longreach is easier to spell) but i'm getting ahead of meself...lets go back to Charleville...
We had a great time, saw Venus, Jupiter and who could forget our good mate Alpha Centauri, a binary star as I'm sure you're all aware, did you know one of Jupiters equatorial belts is missing? Did you care? Anyway the Observatory in Charleville is well worth a visit. We felt a bit cramped in the Van Park so we departed and headed to Blackall, population 1456 and it has its own Olympic size pool, HEATED for fecks sake!!! It's heated from an Artesian well, where the water comes out at 58C degrees so they actually have to cool it for the pool and spa, pool is kept at 30C and the spa at 38C, we had a VERY relaxing afternoon there. The only down side was the mozzies (mosquitoes to you lot up there) they were bleedin' HUGE, the size of seagulls (slight exageration) and not only could ye hear them you could see them, splatted a good few and there was red stuff everywhere but wasn't sure if it was blood or red wine residue from the laptop incident. Mozzies don't normally like me - something to do with alcohol levels i'm told -but the Blackall buggers loved me and i've got the welts to prove it, ye should see poor Trish!!
Blackall is also famous for the Black Stump, there are a few around Oz but this one was used for surveying so had a special appeal. There are many more "Black Stumps" but the one that tickled me was the stockman who went off into the bush to round up cattle and when he got back to camp his poor missus had fallen in the camp fire and all that was left was a "Black Stump"...supposed to have happened in the 1870's i think, but a good story none the less me thinks.
Met some people who told us the road to Jericho was open so we thought we'd drive to Longreach that way. Had to see a place called Jericho on the Jordon River and its just south of a lake called Galilee...as we drove out of Blackall a big sign said "Road Open" so off we went on a very bumpy, unsealed road, lots of mud, sand, gravel and ruts but all in all an uneventful trip until we got to Jericho and looked back the the big sign said "Road Closed"...looks like we'll give the Birdsville Track a crack...watch out for the next instalment, with Road Trains and things that fly...