The Youngs

2011-08-01T20:49:00.001+10:00

One of the many climbs

Crossing the Daintree River meant the end of the CREB

The boys excited to do Little Red Hill

Not sure if this photo shows the steepness of the incline up in the mountains

Tash, Me and the boys at Roaring Meg Falls

The CREB sign

The CREB

Soooo happy to be on the road again, lookout Lions Den, here we come. But, not before a quick detour to Cooktown first. Steve had been suffering tummy trouble since being on the OTL and all our supplies of Lomotil, Imodium and stuff were totally exhausted. He couldn’t cope any longer.

Before long, we pulled into the Lions Den Hotel and saw a friendly face waving us down. Shad, Tash and their boys Owen and Ryan were a family that we kept meeting up with ever since we left Cairns. It was good to see them again. We were about to set up camp next to them when the boys were berated by a random woman for hitting a tree with sticks. Heaven forbid!!! After a heated conversation between her and Steve about the intricacies of respecting fauna and Steve politely telling her to “just go away!” the camper was set up and we were down to the river for a swim.

Dinner at the pub was superb again and discussion soon led to whether we would do the CREB or not. Now, for Steve and I, travel has always been more about the track we take to get to a place rather than the destination itself. As they say – Life is the journey! The CREB has always been a must do and here it was on a platter. Sadly, we thought about how this track was to be done with the Frosts, however, since Coen we just weren’t going to be in the same place at the same time. Here we were at the top and it was going begging.

At this stage, we hadn’t heard from Terry and Shad was talking a good talk. Cam and Dan were on Steve’s back also – do it Dad, do it Dad, do it Dad!!! How can a fellow resist? That nights sleep was a restless one again. Steve was nervous about the CREB, but the blokes having a drunken weekend at the Lions Den that were still up ya-hooing and running between campsites at 2:00am also helped. I kept waiting for Steve to get up and have a go, but the next morning, everyone I spoke to said they were waiting for someone else to get up so there could be safety in numbers. No-one wanted to approach a drunken lot by themselves – good decision.

We had always thought the Frenchmans Track was going to be the ultimate track of this trip, but that was before we did the CREB. It was everything and then some…..

Stopping into Roaring Meg Falls first, we then hit the track. Full of bravado and trepidation. From here, the track took us 5 hours to complete. We averaged about 18 km’s an hour while doing continuous climbs and descents. A large part of the track felt like we were driving through tunnels of fernery. The roadside green was well above the roof of our car. It was lush and green which meant the tracks had maintained an obvious dampness since the last rains.

While letting some oncoming traffic pass us on the one lane track, we were told there was another convoy heading our way. After sending shout-outs over the two way for around 30 minutes we finally made connection and pulled over to let them through. Looking into the distance all of us marveled at the steepness of the track ahead. Big Red Hill (I think its called) appeared out of the overgrowth way up high and looked really imposing. It surely sobered the mood, but we knew the excitement was about to start. We headed off and were simply climbing and climbing, the car never came out of low range first with the locker being on for some parts of the undulations.

As our Johnnos trailed faithfully along behind us, we also had Shad and Tash a little further back. The chatter on the radio between us was excited and the men were pumped – everyone agreed on how special it was to be able to do this track. Little Red Hill was still ahead of us, and when we reached it, Steve went to walk the climb. I made Shad stay at the bottom as “Steve didn’t need any further encouragement to do this hill!” It was undulating, steep and narrow. The climb seemed to go on forever. Steve came back rubbing his hands together and just said – Let’s do this. Shad never had a doubt, he was in regardless. Tash and I exchanged nervous glances….

Steve threw the lockers on, low range first was selected. There was nothing more to do than put the foot down and go for it. As the Paj bounced and revved the whole way up, the boys and I cheered and yelled in encouragement as we held on to the panic bars for dear life. Surprisingly, it was Dan that became upset during this climb. He has been in the front seat with Steve for every crossing or climb during this trip, but I think this climb went on for so long that he became a bit overwhelmed.

We pulled over at the top and stood with cameras ready for Shad’s attempt. Again, the Hi-Lux bounced and revved its way up and word is he laughed the whole way. Not sure that Tash was laughing as hard.

At this point we thought it was a matter of crossing the Daintree and the track was over. Not so, the track just kept on giving – climb after climb, descent after descent. It seemed it was never going to end. Eventually we arrived at the Daintree River and agreed that we would pull over on the blacktop to air up. At that point we cracked a beer and agreed that was one of our best experiences ever. Shad and Tash proved to be fabulous traveling partners for this part of the trip and we were lucky to have shared it with them. Would love to do another track with them someday…

We were on the blacktop now and just hightailing it back to Cairns. About 40 km’s out of Cairns, we started hearing a slight grinding noise coming from the front of the car. After a while it started becoming more constant and louder. Cripes – what can go wrong now? We stopped a few times and Steve had a look under the car to make sure we weren’t going to lose a wheel or something. All seemed OK. Driving off again, we radioed out “Shad, are you still out there?” We were preparing ourselves to either set up on the roadside for the night, or face another lonely, slow drive not knowing if we would make it or not. Gratefully, Shad answered. “Sure am”. He doubled back, and before long they were both under the car as Tash kept me company. They discovered we had a split in the CV boot that had allowed water and grit into the CV. I think every water crossing we had made since leaving Broome had probably left a deposit in it. Wondering what we do next Shad simply stated “We’re in this together”, so followed us into Cairns and made sure we were safe and sound. Gosh that road can be dark and scarey when things aren’t going well and we can never feel more grateful for Shad’s support.

Rolling into Cairns about 9:00pm, it was an ultra quick set up and we fell in to one of the deepest, tiredest sleeps since the Wenlock.

2011-07-31T20:17:00.001+10:00

Steve and Terry at Bramwell

Its a very long road

Our home in Coen

Still heading south…

Taking all the bypass roads to travel south again made the km’s fly past. We decided that we were fanging for another one of Kaleena’s meals at Bramwell Tourist Park. This time we drove in, and the mangoes by now had started to develop and were starting to hang heavy on the trees. Cam got a bit excited about this (as we will get back home to Broome in time for the Mango Festival) and jumped up to grab a mango off the branches. Inncocent action enough until a swarm of disturbed paper wasps descended on the kids with Nat and Dan taking the brunt of some very angry insects. A bit of topical lotion and all the bites settled down and we were ready for dinner. Kaleena put chicken parmy on the menu just for us and all was good in the world. This was only a one nighter so we were back on the road early the next morning.

About 40 km’s south of Coen Steve first noticed the steering of the car became heavy, then the handbrake light came on which made him pay more attention to the instrument panel and noticed that the charge light was on. He soon stopped and didn’t hear the familiar bearing sound (which he had been WD40’ing forever) and we quickly radioed Terry to turn around as we were again in trouble.

The idler pully on the auto tensioner arm seized shearing off the arm of the auto tensioner. One look at Steve and I knew that out of all the trouble we had encountered so far, this one could be the deal breaker. By now, Terry had doubled back and the men were in the grease again. Looking at what they had to work with, Terry suggested using his spare Patrol belt. So, after removing 2 pulleys and repositioning another, they had the Patrol belt stretched on and the only decision left was whether to keep on to Musgrave or turn back to Coen. About this time, an RACQ pick up truck stopped to check on us. We told him what had happened and he suggested that there were better services at Coen. We really wanted to continue the holiday with Terry and Deb and so we decided to push on to Musgrave. After about 2 km’s and a bit of in-car discussion, Steve and I agreed we were better to turn around and get back to Coen with all its services. We pulled over to let Terry and Deb know.

At this stage we were well aware of all the hold ups due to our mechanical issues and offered to Terry for him to keep on traveling so they could still do their snorkeling. They agreed, and so Steve and I turned around and had a very pensive trip back to Coen. Although it was sad to say good-bye, after two hours of sitting alone on the roadside watching the men work on the car, not knowing what could happen, I was just relieved and grateful that at this stage, we were not on the back of a tow truck.

Pulling into Coen with the belt squeeling like a cut pig we certainly made an entrance. We pulled out side the local mechanic workshop and before long we had four blokes ringing their “brothers in law, cousins, brothers etc” finding a way to get a new tensioner into Coen. At this stage we fully realized that we had made the right decision to turn around and this town really turned it on to do everything they possibly could for us – total strangers.

While this was happening, I was on the phone to NRMA. Our roadside assistance was up for renewal about 8 weeks before we left Broome, and I was talked into upgrading our cover to Platinum Level. How lucky was that?!?! Before long, we had accommodation sorted and paid for and Lance the mechanic doing everything he could to get us a part. Only thing left for us to do was go to the pub for a drink.

Coen – what a surprise. As everything now was out of our hands, it didn’t take long before we felt like we were back on the road full time again. There was no stress, no wondering where to go next – just taking one day at a time and enjoying the moment. The hospitality we received here was excellent, and we had a great time chatting to the locals and learning a bit more about the town. There were a lot of travelers here with their own stories of breakdowns requiring towing back to Cairns and we counted our blessings that our story was not that extreme. I reckon in 2 – 5 years time, Coen will be a sought after spot to camp and we will definitely have it on our return list.

The part arrived by truck 2 days later on a Thursday afternoon about 3:00pm. By 5:00pm Steve and I with the help of Lance’s car manual to work out how the serpentine belt needs to be wound on, we had the car ready to go. Sadly we said goodbye to Coen, and after a quick text to let Terry know that we were off to the Lions Den to check out the CREB we were on our way…

2011-07-31T19:18:00.004+10:00

Our campsite at Vrilya

Our "kitchen" view

Cam and Dan

Crossing Crystal Creek

Cam and Dan on the rope swing in Crystal Creek

Vrilya Point

What a fantastic spot. I could have stayed here for a week! The drive in was rough and corrugated to say the least. These were probably the worst corrugations we had encountered on this entire trip – but so worth it. Crossing the log bridge over Crystal Creek added another fun twist.

After driving onto the beach, we headed north for about 7 km’s and camped just up near the point. The low tides created some great little paddling holes to cool down and clean off each day without the fear of crocs. The kids really enjoyed fossicking on the tidal flats, with some fabulous shells, starfish, and corals to be found. Everyone agreed that this would definitely be a two night stop-over.

The kids from a family that camped a bit south from us came and invited us to their bon-fire that night. A 3 metre tree trunk set upright in the sand and more driftwood layed teepee style around it, made for a raging fire. It burned for hours, and even at around 3:00am that morning, you could still see the upright embers standing of the central stump.

Decision making time could not be put off any longer though. Where were we going from here? Although Cape Melville was on our return agenda, it would need more nights than we had available. We decided that this would have to be left for a return trip – someday. Steve and I desperately wanted to do the CREB track but Terry and Deb really wanted to take their girls snorkeling on the reef. We all agreed that we would travel as far south as we could together, but Steve and I would head to the Lions Den to check if we could actually do the CREB and Terry and Deb would continue to Cape Trib to do their snorkeling. We would all meet in Cairns for a couple of nights to re-group.

Everyone happy, we left Cape Vrilya, but not without taking a refreshing last swim in the clear waters of Crystal Creek on the way out.

2011-07-31T19:06:00.002+10:00

A DC3 that came down in WWII

On the way to The Tip

A very windy day off Somerset Beach

The kids petting the bandicoot

Us at the Tip!

Panorama of Loyalty Beach

Loyalty Beach

From the moment we started planning this trip it seems everyone we spoke to had their own views on where to stay at the Tip. Supporters were split between Punsand Bay and Loyalty Beach. We always leant towards Loyalty Beach and so decided to run with that.

Emotions were mixed as made this last part of the journey north. It felt kind of like the beginning of the end. Although there was still lots of adventuring ahead of us, heading south would ultimately mean heading home. No time to dwell now though – there was the tip to conquer!

Loyalty Beach was a great choice. There were kids everywhere, particularly from 3 families that we kept encountering since Cairns. The beach at low tide left plenty of room for nightly soccer games and general fun, followed by spotto when darkness arrived. The closeness of Bamaga and Seisia for our shopping needs was also a plus. I really liked Bamaga. The Thursday islander presence was really strong here, and the place had a beautiful tropically friendly feel to it. The sausage rolls at the bakery were delicious too!

The boys were entertained each night by visiting bandicoots that were so tame they could sit next to them and pet them. Very cool. They also saw owls up in the trees, and after an unsuccessful late night croc hunt we found an echidna out looking for a place to sleep. It found a nice spot to dig right under Shad’s rear car tyre. Cam was wrapped.

One morning I woke to Steve swearing and cursing after a really lousey sleep. He said he kept rolling off the side of the bed in the camper, which considering he sleeps on the side that has a 4 foot drop isn’t conducive to deep sleep. The whole camper seemed to be askew and after Cam killed the cane toad that was hiding under our camper floor, we found that the inside tyre had gone flat. Bugger! An hour later, Steve had the tyre changed and the nail puncture in the old one plugged and ready to go.

The Croc Tent is a must stop while up there. Armed with souvenirs and t-shirts sprouting how we “drove the Telegraph Track” etc, we were given maps of the local attractions to visit. First though, was the Tip. The drive was through more beautiful rainforest which simply embraced us with every turn, and seemed to form tunnels that we were driving through. For some reason, I expected to be traveling through this type of forest more often, so really soaked up the atmosphere when I could. The hike to the Tip was rocky and full of those rocks “cairns” that people add to to mark their passing. Dan took a particular obsession with these by carting the biggest rock he could find and carting it to each next cairn. He started a few of his own along the way, and was disappointed on the return hike to find no-one had added to his pile. Reaching the tip there were the usual suspects – men casting out the fishing rods, others carted up golf clubs and balls to flog out into the ocean. Even the mandatory fellow stripping off for “the photo”! (Hope your sons forgive your embarrassment to them in time ShadJ) Terry bought a beer up for each of us and after a toast to the trip and photos it was time to move on.

The next day we drove the Beaches Loop Road from Somerset Beach. This map was given to us at The Croc Tent the day before and it was a fabulous day out. Similar to Chili Beach though, the high tide line was littered with debris from passing boats/ships. From fishing nets, to buoy markers, to thongs and bottles it was quite an eyesore. Even the boys remarked on the ugliness of it compared to the beauty when just looking at the ocean side. Throughout the day we also took in the DC3 wreck and Beaufort Bomber wreck sites from WWII, along with the Jardine Family cemetery. Sombre, but very interesting.

On the third night, it was clear that we were running out of time to do everything on the return trip that we had originally planned. We delayed any decision making until we checked out Vrilya Point on the way down. The length of stay there would be determined on what weather we had, so we set off again with only that destination in mind.

On getting off the ferry after crossing the Jardine River Terry came over the UHF telling us that one of our trailer tyres was about to fall off. A careful drive of another 15 metres to get on a flat spot and yep – grief again. It was the other tyre this time (at least the bearing casing was holding well) and meant another stoppage to take off the wheel and inspect. The bearing had absolutely disintegrated and the wheel was now running on the stub axle. This was never going to end well. Luckily these parts were part of Steve’s pre-planning so it was a matter of getting out the tools and doing the job. The old bearing case had seized to the stub axle (a fine testament to the heat generated) so the hammer and cold chisel came out of Steve’s toolbox and the men took turns at knocking it off. For good measure the files came out and the stub axle was filed down and the new bearing case bashed in. On the road again….

2011-07-21T11:23:00.003+10:00

The team's victory drink after crossing Nolans

As always, Dan is in the front seat for another water crossing - Nolans

Crossing Nolans Brook

The log bridge on the OTL

Crossing Sams Creek

The exit climb out of Canal Creek

Crossing Canal Creek

A travelling mate - Barry - coming into Gunshot

Helping one of the cars through Gunshot

2011-07-21T10:50:00.003+10:00

Dirty feet after playing at Gunshot

Crossing Cockatoo Creek

Crossing Mistake Creek

Exiting Palm Creek
Entry to Palm Creek

Old Telegraph Line

We traveled this track for 5 nights. It was rough and suffered some good washouts after the wet. The boys were kept busy looking for insulators on the old line after we told them we’d pay them $100 for everyone found. We thought that we were on a pretty safe bet, and sure enough, none were found. After talking to a few travelers along the way, we decided to camp at a select few creeks and then do parts of the track without the trailers attached.

The water crossings along this track are crystal clear, with waterfalls dropping into beautiful little swimming holes. Every time we got out of the car it was another opportunity to jump in the water or play in the mud.

First though, we had to cross the Palm Creek. By the time we arrived there was a tag along tour of about 11 vehicles ahead of us. We began to settle in for a long wait until it was our turn to cross. The team were preparing the exit by shoveling dry sand on the mud, and it was a continuous and arduous process but it did the trick. They were making the exit with ease. Fortunately for us, they asked if we wanted to go through in between. We jumped at the opportunity although felt a bit guilty that we were taking advantage of all their hard work without putting in. They were good about though, realizing we would travel a lot quicker than their group. Both Steve and Terry crossed with ease – so much for all the thought of needing the winch!

Next crossing was Ducie Creek. Not a difficult crossing but this is where we started having problems with our 4WD mechanism not disengaging. Steve crawled under the car again, sprayed everything with some WD-40 and fixed the problem.

We camped our first night at the Dulhunty River. Another beautiful water spot. Steve drove the car down to the river and set up the Power Shower, so it was hot water showers for all that night.

Next day we came to Bertie Creek which was a nice little drive along the river bank before crossing. We stopped the night at Cockatoo River. One we de-hitched the campers at Cockatoo River, we drove down to gunshot to see what all the fuss was about. Again, we had heard many stories of carnage and grief. Steve wanted to see for himself before deciding whether to attempt a crossing or not.

All was quiet when we arrived, so we set up for some lunch and a beer. A few lads crossed that were on a pig shooting expedition. Their pig dogs were fully geared up in chest armour and GPS trackers, and were quickly put back in their cages as we came down to the creek. As we finished lunch another couple of trucks turned up and before long there was a queue of about 20 cars waiting to try the crossing.

Gunshot itself seemed like a newly cut drop and wasn’t much different to any other boggy mudhole we’ve ever found ourselves in. This made Steve’s decision quite easy – he wasn’t going to do it as it didn’t really live up to the expectation of the “ultimate challenge”. This doesn’t mean we didn’t have a lot of fun helping all the others get through. A crowd of spectators ready with cameras and videos lined Gunshot and the usual “experts” from the peanut gallery became vocal. These included: the nobs who really should keep their mouths shut, wives reluctantly letting their husbands re-live their childhood, families like ourselves who were just out for a great day, and idiots who should know better. It turned out to be a great day, and it was interesting to note as we traveled further up the track it always seemed to be the same guys helping out.

Next day we crossed Canal Creek. Another pretty little creek with a very rocky exit. This was a popular spot for campers, but we decided to push on to Sam Creek. What a fabulous decision that was! We had the spot all to ourselves, a beautiful water hole and water fall within 20 metres, raging campfires each night and in close range to Fruitbat Falls, Eliot Falls and Nolans Brook.

Fruitbat Falls were fabulous. On a clear, sunny day they would be even better. The weather to date had been cloudy, overcast and threatening rain since we left Cairns but this didn’t stop the kids. Their favourite part was jumping on the Wahu’s and riding the currents along the river.

Steve and Terry also wanted to cross Nolans Brook without the campers continued the Tele Track up to Nolans and spent the day. Again, another brilliant water hole that had the kids swimming and riding the currents while the Big Kids drove their cars through. When we arrived we found one car with all its belongings strewn about trying to dry everything out. Not a good omen. After walking the crossing, the boys decided to take a different entry and they made it easily. (Maybe the previous car should have dropped his tyre pressure below 29psi – der!). I must say though, the water was over the bonnet of the Pajero, so it probably just looked easier than it actually was. After another swim and lunch, we took the bypass track back to Sams Creek for our last night. Having “done” the Tele Track and the Frenchmans Track it was now time to head to the Tip.

2011-07-20T19:37:00.002+10:00

Cam and Dan at sunset

The Rio Tinto rail transporting machinery across the Mission River

Cam and Steve with the catch

Dan with his catch

Weipa

Originally, we planned to visit Weipa on our return from the top. But, we also didn’t plan on our winch failing and thought it irresponsible to continue without having it working, particularly after seeing the exit to Palm Creek at the beginning of the Telegraph Track.

The auto electrician couldn’t do the job for three days, so we took an enforced break from the daily set up and pull down.

Apart from the general re-stocking of food and stuff, we took the kids fishing off the Mission River. Dan caught his first fish and was really excited, as was Cam with his first catch. It was good fun.

We also jumped on a Rio Tinto tour of the Bauxite Mine which was interesting. With the advertising of the tour very clearly saying there will be no toilet stops, Dan has the auspicious prestige of being the first person to ever stop the tour and get off the bus to wee. The driver wasn’t happy, as he had to stop and let him off on the roadside where the trucks were hauling which he informed an embarrassed Steve is highly illegal. Oops!

With the winch now fixed, it’s off to conquer the Old Telegraph Track!

2011-07-20T18:24:00.002+10:00

Steve working on the car

Our campsite

Bramwell Station

Full of stories and bravado, we come off the Frenchmans Track and stop to take stock at Bramwell Station. There are a few places you can stay in this area but I wouldn’t stay anywhere else. A young couple manage this place as Bramwell Station Tourist Park – and it is excellent. We had the best meals here and the hospitality shown by Dick and Kaleena is second to none. That’s my recommendation!

This was basically just a two night stopover to clean up, give the cars a once over, let the kids run wild in the wide open space and generally sit around the campfire and rehash the last few days.

We drove up to the beginning of the Telegraph Track to see what all the fuss about Palm Creek was. After watching a few attempts, we decided that we would detour to Weipa for a few nights to get the electric winch fixed before taking this track on. We’d had enough handwinching to last us a lifetime!

2011-07-20T18:00:00.001+10:00

Stuck coming out of the Wenlock

The hand winch comes out

Steve exiting the Pascoe

Steve crossing the Pascoe

The paparazzi crossing the Pascoe to get everything on camera/video

THE FRENCHMANS TRACK

This part of our trip all seems a bit surreal now, so I’m unsure how to begin. The Frenchmans Track has turned out to be every adrenalin rush we could imagine – and - yes – we would do it all again in a heartbeat!

Taking this track was the beginning of many water crossings and we were looking forward to them, but there really are only two worth mentioning here.

Word along the track about crossing the Pascoe was worrisome to say the least. It would be the first test of our equipment and skill. Coming up to the entry, we all got out of the car to check out our options. There were two Britz vans pulled up before us, but they weren’t going to cross as they didn’t have any recovery gear and also didn’t trust their experience. They were going to stay and watch us do it, but the wives got bored and so they left!

Steve and Terry took about 30 minutes walking the river, talking about which line to take, climbing the exit etc. They put the water bras on the cars, connected tree protectors and snatch straps on the other side, unfurled our winch and decided they were ready. Well, it was a pretty steep entry and another steep and rocky exit but they made it easily. Steve did have his lockers on and Terry in his Patrol didn’t need them. With the water up to the door handles it was really exciting. Daniel traveled in the car, while Cam and I took photos. Steve said Dan kept shouting “Awesome!” most of the way across and up as the old Pajero rocked and rolled its way through. Both Steve and Terry were absolutely stoked, and after a celebratory beer and a check inside the campers to see if any water had seeped through (which it had) the confidence was high as we kept moving on.

The next crossing worth mentioning was The Wenlock. Again, Steve and Terry got out of the car and spent about 30 minutes walking and talking the entry, the crossing and well, Deb and I thought they discussed the exit! Steve went first, as it was always thought that with the winch on our bullbar it made sense regardless of who needed the recovery.

Steve made it through the water without any worry, and as Deb and I cheered and shouted him up the exit it all turned south. About a third of the way up the camper dragged our car into a rut of mud that was about 2 feet deep. After quite a bit of reversing and revving, no matter what Steve did – he was stuck deep. We dragged out the winch and after about 15 minutes it went dead. Cripes, nothing left to do but get the hand winch out. Luckily, we gave this to Terry to cart as a back up. First though we needed some traction. So out came the chainsaw, and we filled the ruts with saplings and then started hand winching which pulled us about 4 metres giving us enough traction to then drive out. The last little bit it seemed as if Steve was going to roll so Terry and I jumped on the bulbar and rode the last 10 metres with him. Phew! It was about 4:00 pm by now, and it was up to Terry to make it through next.

Well, just the same, Terry started well, but again the weight of the trailer sucked him in a mud rut about a quarter of the way up the exit. Now, Terry’s vehicle is bigger than ours, and his camper is also heaps heavier. Just as we were faced with the prospect of hand winching him out also, a lad (Dennis) from Newcastle turns up and says “I’ve got a new winch on the front of my vehicle that hasn’t been tested yet……” That’s all we needed. Steve offered that if his winch burnt out while helping us, we would give him the cash to buy a new one. We eventually had to rig up a double pulley to get Terry out, and had to hook up Dennis’ car to our Pajero just to anchor it in place such was the weight of the Patrol and camper. The suction of the mud that was holding Terry back was also extreme. By about 8:00 pm and lots of nervous moments we had Terry winched out to the top of the muddy slop.

Talking about it now, we all agree it felt a bit like we were doing a Four Wheel Drive Action video (minus the professional spotlights). It was harrowing for both the men and the families as we contemplated unhitching the camper and leaving it there for the night. This wasn’t feasible so we just had to slog it out. I think the whole ordeal will always be a tribute to Steve and Terry’s friendship and their reciprocated respect for each other. It was certainly a time of need – and they did what mates do!

That night we set up camp on the other side of the Wenlock with Dennis, his mate Bryce and his dog Boots. Not only did we delay their days driving plans and put Dennis’ winch to the extreme test, we also crashed their campfire and space with four kids that love to have a chat. They took everything with a fabulous grace and sense of humour that endeared them to all of us. Our son Cameron still talks about their fire starting techniques with awe and everyone wants a dog like Boots. We will be eternally grateful that they came along when they did. Thanks lads!

2011-07-13T22:51:00.003+10:00

Dan's oyster came straight back out

Cam's oyster - straight down, but I don't think he'll ever do it again

Dan's palm hut

Chili Beach coastline

Steve sawing down the coconuts

Day Five and Six – Chili Beach:

So many people warned us to not bother staying at Chili Beach due to the south-easterlies. Everyone reckoned it was blowing a gale. Well, being who we are we thought we’d check it out for ourselves.

Finding a perfect camping spot on the Southern Sites, we set up and the kids were in heaven. Beach at our doorstep, coconuts in the thousands for them to split open and drink or eat. No matter how Cam tried, he couldn’t quite climb high enough so Steve rigged up three tent poles together and taped a hand saw onto the end to be able to reach the highest coconuts.

The wind was quite calm and for probably the first time since I left Broome I actually felt warm. Hah! We all said. This is perfect. We built the now mandatory bonfire, cooked sausage sandwiches on the barbie plate and just as we were about to settle in for another one of our “cracking” fires the rain started pouring and the wind whipped up a fury. We battened down the hatches and had an early night. Again, my fleece came out and I was freezing cold. The camper trailer was rocking and rolling with the wind all night long, but at least we stayed dry. Not a great deal of sleep happened this night – except from Cam and Dan who slept like babes. I don’t think we’ve ever camped in the rain with this camper, so at least we know the canvas is being seasoned.

Today, we drove down to the community of Lockhart River to stock up on some food. Community kids never cease to amaze me. As soon as we got out of the car they were on us. “Love your car”, “Has it got a turbo”, “What movies do you watch on the DVD screens?”, “Where you from?”. They were full of joy and curiosity. They also thought it was quite hilarious pointing out the “white kids” in the supermarket. We also went to the Gordon Air Base that was first erected in 1942. A plane came in while we were there, so it was really cool to see it in action.

At low tide, we fossicked around the rock pools and granite boulders which was really relaxing. We shucked some oysters off the rocks and dared the kids to eat a fresh oyster for $10.00. Well, Cam slid one straight down his mouth, Dan started very coolly but soon spat it out in disgust. Terry tried doing some fishing with the kids down the beach, but it was blowing an absolute gale and they soon gave up. Dan made a shelter out of coconut tree branches so the kids have been playing survivor, hunting down a bush turkey that they thought Steve could cook for dinner.

After settling back in camp for cheese, crackers and ciders, the rain and wind started up it’s ferocity again, roasting sticks for the marshmallows were created and placed ready to use, but had to wait for now. Instead, we took the Frosts ghost crabbing – Cable Beach style.

Armed with snip-snaps (kitchen tongs) each and a bucket we headed down the beach. It was high tide so we only had about a metre of sand to search, but the crabs were out in their hundreds. The kids were squealing like crazy and I’m sure they could be heard for miles around, but they had a blast. They caught at least 50 crabs between them, and we let them all out at once and squealed some more when they crawled all over their feet. The tide was coming in really fast by this time so we decided to return back to camp. It was so dark, and there was so much squealing going on that we missed our camp entrance on the way back and thought all our thongs had washed away to ocean. The Gilligan’s Island jokes were being tossed around, until Dan started to believe that we would never make our way home again. It took some convincing and there was more than one sigh of relief when we finally found our camp entrance.

Tomorrow, we start the Frenchman’s Track. It has been the ruin of many a spirit, but then again, we may just conquer!

2011-07-13T22:47:00.002+10:00

Deb, me and Steve watching the action

The kids playing around the waterways

The Archer River

Day Four – Archer River:

Continuing up the Developmental Road, we reach the Archer River. We spend the afternoon down by the river for a swim. The kids all had a blast playing in the rapids, but it was far too cold for this Kimberley hardened woman!

We spent most of our time fixing the seals on our camper as we have some water proofing issues and don’t want trouble when crossing Nolan’s and the like - I prefer my 1000 count Egyptian cotton sheets to be dry at night!

2011-07-13T22:27:00.004+10:00

The Kalpowar crossing

Deb and I pondering whether to have another or not

The Kalpowar crossing

This was meant to be another pic of Old Laura Homestead, but I downloaded the wrong one into this page and can't work out how to delete it to add the right one. Oops!

Day Three – Two night stop at Kalpowar:

Now we’re heading into Lakefield National Park, and stop at Kalpowar. We’re feeling a bit travel weary by this stage and decide to stop for two nights.

On the way, somehow, Terry’s trailer unhitched itself along the corrugations and washouts. A lot of discussion and many choice words later, Terry re-hitched and we were on our way again.

It is here that we got into our camping groove with the Frosts. By now we had had our catch up nights, gossip nights and drunken nights. Now we felt like we were actually on holiday, and it was time to get serious.

First on the agenda was a bon-fire, next came the camp oven with roast lamb and veges ready to be put in the embers. With everyone gratefully clean thanks to the power shower, the I-pod was set to shuffle and some mighty smooth sounds were soon pumping. The next night it was sirloin and scotch fillet on the Barbie plate. Mm Mm, this is what camping is all about. Terry decided to use all the firewood on the last night, and constantly reminded us “what a cracking fire” it was.

Each night, we would take the spotlights down to the crossing for a spot of croc hunting but disappointingly we never saw any. The kids wanted to go fishing while we were there, so rigged up with lures and lunch, we drove up the river a bit. After 7 snags and 7 lost lures, we were over it (so were they) and we just sat and watched the river flow. It was peacefully beautiful and a refreshing way to spend an afternoon.

2011-07-13T22:19:00.003+10:00

The Endeavour Falls

Cam at the Falls

Cooktown lighthouse

Panorama of Cooktown from the lighthouse

Day Two – driving to Endeavour Falls:

After a promise to return to The Lion’s Den on the way back, we push on north. Our destination today is only an hour or so away – Endeavour Falls, just outside Cooktown.

Walking down to the Endeavour Falls (from the camp grounds) Cam found some jungle vine hanging from the trees. After all the kids gave their best Tarzan (or Jane) impersonation we made it to the falls. The water was flowing well and about now we start making some direct comparisons to the Kimberley Wet we’ve just experienced. It wasn’t until the next day we found out about the 3 metre saltie in residence at the falls. Later in the day we went for a walk around Cooktown and found out that the track from Kalpowar to Musgrave had just opened. Phew!

Back in camp we found the Swaggers and joined them for some drinks and a bon-fire. There were plenty of kids around, so our boys were well amused and only needed us for something to eat.

Did I say drinks??? I think Debbie and I drank the entire apple supply of Australia in this one night. We were having the best time, and (in our opinion) were the funniest, most loveable, most popular people in the world. I’m sure the people that went back to camp early were thrilled with our drunken, excitable voices ringing out over the campgrounds (and for this I must apologise), but WE HAD THE BEST NIGHT EVER!!!

The next morning, we said farewell to the Swaggers, and planned to catch up again on their return from the tip.

2011-07-07T07:49:00.001+10:00

Inside the Lions Den hotel

Outside the Lions Den hotel

All of us at Cape Tribulation

Through the Daintree

Friday, 1^st July, 2011

Here we are at Chili Beach. It’s been 5 nights since we left Cairns and from this point the trip will get interesting. So, what’s been happening in those five days?

Day One – driving to The Lion’s Den Hotel:

We are so ready to leave the caravan park and get out into the open again. Although the kids have been having a great time here, I’m starting to feel like I’m living in a zoo. The Swaggers all left the day before, and we plan on catching up to them at Endeavour Falls.

A quick stop off in Port Douglas saw Terry and Debbie reminiscing their honeymoon, and then on through Cape Tribulation. The drive along Cape Tribulation was spectacular, even Cam got caught up in the beauty of the rainforest reaching right up to the coastline and started listing descriptive words to use later in his travel diary. This is exactly what I’ve been pining for since settling in Broome, and I felt like I was being wrapped in a giant, warm hug. The downside of this drive was that the winding roads meant Dan spent most of the time in the front seat with a sick bag in his lap.

Next we took the Bloomfield Track and camped the night at The Lion’s Den Hotel. Ran into a couple of the Swaggers that had braved the CREB and they were full of bravado even after one breaking their engine mount. All part of the adventure really. (We will do the CREB on the way back – without our campers in tow.)

Along all our travels we have stopped at some fabulous little pubs that have provided the best hospitality and meals. The Lion’s Den is another that didn’t disappoint. We set up camp and went back for dinner. The pub itself is full of “stuff”. From business cards, stubby coolers, writing all over the walls – left by every traveler wanting to leave their mark at this iconic spot. We decided to just drink and eat. Steve managed to give enough cheek to the waitress that he was (good-naturedly) banned from the bar as “ having enough”. Debbie and I just sat together catching up, drinking ciders and generally being raucous.

At the time, we thought the campsite was one of the windiest sites we’ve ever experienced – but we weren’t to know then what was in store for us….

2011-06-24T10:56:00.004+10:00

Cam coming out of the water slide
Cam and Melissa
The water dump
Dan
Dan, Natalie, Melissa and Cam

24th June, 2011

Spent a couple of nights now just relaxing and spending time with the Frosts. Cairns is extremely windy and cold. We can't wait to get further north and warm up a bit. Terry and Deb keep laughing at us because they're not feeling the cold as much as we are. I will be eternally grateful to our friend Ian for the roastie toastie swags he gave the boys. They have slept comfortably warm the whole way.

The kids have all re-kindled their friendships and its amazing to see how much they've grown and matured. Last time they were together, Cam and Nat were Dan's age now. They spend there days either at the water park or jumping pillow that is here at the Big 4.

The park itself is full of families that are a part of the MySwag forum that Steve and Terry are members of. One of the blokes that live here in Cairns organised a dinner last night, which was fun and a good opportunity to learn some more detail on track conditions etc. Steve and Terry are grinning like cheshire cats - Deb and I are getting more furtive as departure gets closer. Although meeting up at different way-points will happen, we will not travel with the group as this trip still remains to be about our two families being together. It is so comforting to be around people that know us well - and also to be called Vivvy again.

Our car is at the mechanics getting the diff seals fixed, Steve bought a new Hema GPS system, and we put new poly air bags in the back. All the food shopping and cry-ovacing has been done. We pull out tomorrow so this afternoon will be spent sorting out space. Terry and Deb just came back from their shopping - after pulling up next to the muddiest cars at stop lights, and having a chat through the window they are now really pumped! Can't wait......

2011-06-22T22:29:00.001+10:00

21^st June, 2011

At 9:00pm we pulled into Cairns. That was one long drive. I am amazed at how well Cam and Dan have coped with this type of travel. They put up with the hours, breakdowns, late dinners with such maturity. We never heard a whine from either of them, and for the most part they were extremely companionable the entire trip. I am so proud of them, they have proven to be real troupers.

Terry, Deb, Melissa and Natalie were all up and waiting for us. Those first hello hugs were the best part of this trip. We’ve been waiting for this for 3 years now and gosh it felt good. Time for many ciders, beers and talk and laughter long into the night. I’m glad I’m not camping next to us – CHEERS!

2011-06-22T22:27:00.005+10:00

Dan
Cam
Overnighter on the Carpentaria Highway

Steve and Dan checking out the car

19^th June, 2011

Trouble is on its way. If only we knew.

Today we got onto the Carpentaria Highway. We find ourselves on the unsealed road again with water everywhere. The floodways and culverts are beautiful waterways and as we enter the Gulf area we again start seeing the croc warning signs. Feels like home.

Just as we start enjoying the water crossings, we find that the car won’t go into 4WD anymore and we have to start traversing in 2WD. One of the crossings was over our bonnet with a steep exit that had us gritting our teeth, but we made it. After a bit of figuring about the 4WD, Steve pulled over deciding to disconnect and then reconnect the battery. Our thinking was that it would re-start the computer systems. It worked – BUT we discovered at the same time that we had done a diff seal. Oil was dripping slowly and after an hour under the car we decided to keep going but check the oil level every 15 minutes. Travelling was slow so we pulled over into a paddock for an overnight camp. This turned out to be a gift really, as the campfire was brilliant, followed by hot embers to cook our barbecue on. Wide, starry skies and not a sound to be heard for miles led to a peaceful night sleep.

20^th June, 2011

An early start for Steve as he worked under the car to determine if we should keep going. Our plan was to just keep on and continue checking the oil every couple of hours. It was clear that we were not going to make it to Cairns as scheduled, and rang Terry on the satellite phone to give them the bad news. In hindsight, I don’t know what we were thinking really. We never have been the type of traveler to do 900km days, let alone 5 of them in a row!!! Also, the state of the Carpentaria Highway also led to slow traveling with the amount of washouts. Although the Savannnah Way as a whole is an excellent trip with many things to stop and experience along the way, this will all have to wait until our return trip to Broome. For now it’s just MAKE IT TO CAIRNS. We stayed at Burketown this night, took a cabin again, started the morning under the car and drove like hell all the next day.

2011-06-22T22:27:00.001+10:00

18^th June, 2011

It’s a small world! We pulled into the servo at Kunnunurra to fill up with fuel. As I was washing the windscreen I heard “Is that you Viv?” I turned around to find an old mate Richard walking up. We were told the day before we left that he was working his way back to Knx and kept looking out for him, but was amazed to have actually run into him. Yay, there’s our accommodation on the way home sorted – yes, Jeni – we’ll cook you the camp roast then.

We did a big drive today and arrived in Daly Waters at around 8:30pm. We forgot to account for the time difference, so it all caught up to us. We broke one of our golden rules and were traveling after dark. Steve spent a bit of time roadside adjusting the spotties so we managed to dodge heaps of dingoes and wallabies on the way except for one poor little wallaby. I was a bit worried how the boys would take the fact that we ran over a creature, but funnily enough they both said a prayer (not sure where that came from) in the back seat, and then made Steve stop on the side of the road to check for blood and gore.

We took a room at Daly Waters, ate in the restaurant and had a game of pool. We absolutely love these little towns and always have a fabulous time. The boys were bought drinks and dessert from one of the traveling workers staying there so there were happy as!

2011-06-22T22:26:00.005+10:00

O-oh

17^th June, 2011

After a fabulous night sleep it’s up and at ‘em. A quick pack up and back on the road. Not long after, the laptop we run our mapping software packed it in. This meant I got to drive for a while as Steve sat in the passenger seat bashing what life was left in the computer. Not a happy man. We have become so dependant on that little red arrow showing us where we were in our surroundings, that we felt quite lost without it.

We pulled in at Halls Creek to say a quick hello to Chris at the Visitors Centre and then hit the road again. We camped at a free-camp just outside Kunnunurra. Met a young couple that had emigrated from UK to live in Oz, and were traveling around looking for “the perfect place to settle”. Had a good few drinks, said goodnight, and rested up to hit the road again. By about now I had relaxed enough to say “So, we get to Cairns a day late, that’s not so bad.” I should have kept my mouth shut as this was about to come true.

It has been amazing at how quickly we have settled into this traveling routine that we love so much.

2011-06-22T22:26:00.004+10:00

Ready for the adventure to begin
A quick camp set up
Have football - will travel

16^th June, 2011

After the last pack of the car, a final farewell to Dad (with a reminder to pick up our mail) we are gently reminded from the back seat that we haven’t yet bought him his “early birthday present’. Good grief – we must be the worst parents in the world. We ducked into the Boulevard while Steve did a top up of fuel and air. Running straight to Target and Dick Smith, we came out 10 minutes later with a new 3DS and 12 volt charger and a smiling – soon to be 7 – Daniel.

Heading out of Broome I counted about 27 caravans coming in and that was just the first 30 km’s. Fleetingly, I felt the first pangs of guilt at leaving my work team in the busiest part of the year, but I soon snapped out of it. We’ve been building up to this holiday since we arrived in Broome and it feels fabulous to be back on the road.

For the first couple of hours we were so unorganized with nothing where it should be in the car. Cripes, how did we get so out of practice.

We spent the first night at a free roadside camp at Ngumban Cliff Lookout, between Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek. We chose the only solitary spot away from all the caravans, safe, so we thought. As we built our campfire, some van up the road started their generator. Our tolerance of generators in the evening is very low at the best of times, but on our first night of camp it was obvious there was going to be grief. By 6:30 pm Steve and Cam armed themselves with a head torch and set off on a stealth mission to find out which van was breaking the code of silence. As they left I could hear them whispering what they were going to do about it. Best case scenario, a quiet conversation – worst case, well let’s just say the wire cutters stayed in the toolbox because the noise stopped at around 8:30pm.

Life is good, and you gotta love these free camps!

2011-06-15T22:45:00.002+10:00

Well, I've just been given the "calm down" talk followed by the "relax" talk followed by a hug. This can only mean one thing - we are about to set out on another trek!

Two years after settling in Broome, we've packed up the Johnno's and tomorrow morning we pull out and head to Cape York. Best thing of all - we are going with our "besties" the Frosts. After two and a half years, 500 drunken skype sessions, and lots of anticipation, planning and dreaming its all eventuating now. Right now, I feel a bit nervous however I know I'll sleep like a baby tonight and it will be Steve to lay awake staring at the ceiling going through all the possible scenarios in his head. I panic early, Steve leaves it all to the last minute.

We're leaving our home in the safe hands of our friend Mark (yes Mark - we said SAFE and you'd better catch that mouse that's invited itself over to stay) and if this mess taking over my living room ever fits into the camper we will be off tomorrow.

The plan: A five day marathon via the Savannah Way to make it to Cairns and meet with Terry, Deb, Liss and Nat for a long overdue beer (and maybe a rabbit chase) and then get going up the Cape. We have four weeks from Cairns and back to Cairns again, then we will take ten days heading home to Broome via the Lava Tubes and Roper River. Seven weeks of bliss.

This time, we are simply taking Cam and Dan out of school. We have minimal work that they will keep up with, mainly reading and math. Luckily, they are the favourite subjects of both of them. As for the rest of the time - they have their explorer bags (that go everywhere) and a whole wealth of travelling experience that will only get richer with this trip. They are two years older now with a different perspective on life and travel. They actually realise how lucky they are, and also how different their experiences make them. This is all I ask of them.

As for the car and camper we haven't changed much. Steve has added a bit of wiring in the trailer, plumbed a water system on top of the roof rack, and just some general "tinkering" as men will do. The experience of 6 months travel from East to West to get to Broome has made us much simpler campers. We don't need much more than a wide open night sky full of stars and a toasty campfire - after all, we are now rugged Kimberley folk!

So, welcome back to the blog everyone. Hope you continue to enjoy our travels as much as we do......

2009-11-30T19:46:00.003+11:00

Steve, Cam and Dan - sunset on Cable Beach The "iconic" camel rides on Cable Beach - you can smell them before you see them

Sunset at Gantheume Point

Riddell Beach

Viv, Cam and Dan on Riddell Beach cliffs

30th November, 2009
The frangipani trees are in full bloom, the boabs have grown leaves, geckos are everywhere, the mangoes are hanging on the trees trying to ripen, frogs are croaking, the fires are blazing – it must mean the wet is about to arrive. Actually, everyone will tell you that the wet is more about build up than about actual rain – but we can’t wait.

We missed the first storm of the season as we had to go back to Winmalee to fix up the house affairs and officially put it on the rental market. What a huge job! I could go on for hours about it, but have decided I’m better off by learning and moving on. We decided to store all our furniture in storage to buy us another year of time before we have to make any big decisions. Cam went back to Ellison School to see all his mates, and both Cam and Dan spent a lot of time at the Sibbald’s house. It was great to see that both of them have not lost any of their special friendship they’ve shared with Blake and Liam and things picked up from where it left. We also were glad to spend some time with Kelly and Kieran and to find the family happy and relaxed. They were a great help in what was a frantic week. We know for sure now that we won’t be returning to the mountains to live again. It is a great place to live, but the boys are loving the beach life and Steve and I have remembered how much we love the coastal life. That’s not to say the Broome will be our permanent abode, but we’ll probably look along the same latitude but on the east coast. So for now, we have a lovely young couple living in it who have already been busy making it their home, so there is no rush for action. We still have a lot of traveling to do first.

This week saw another cruise ship come into Broome Port, so I had a busy Sunday at the Visitor Centre. It really is a fabulous day. My day ended with our Helicopter Operators offering me a free 30 minute joy ride over Broome. Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity and it was magnificent! Only pity is I didn’t have my camera with me. Today also is the day I received a promotion at the Visitor Centre to Manager of Admin and Finance. Yay! I’m so excited. I officially take the role on 21st December, but have already been training in the role for the last 3 weeks. It will be full time, and the boys are already excited about going to After School/Holiday Care (BOSSCA) each day. Only 3 weeks until school holidays!!!

2009-11-22T15:53:00.002+11:00

Cam and Dan on Dan's first day in Kindy at Cable Beach Primary School - note Dan's brand new shoes that he was immediately told "We don't wear shoes in the classroom Dan". Cam, Viv and Dan at Town Beach - this is just 1 minute drive down the road from us. We were here at sunset - note the huge low tide behind us. Love the boab tree!

22^nd November, 2009

Thought it’s about time we got back to the blog and updating everyone on what we’ve been doing. We’ve been living in Broome for about twelve weeks now and still loving every bit of it.

We’re now renting a two bedroom unit in what is called the Old Broome area. Broome’s not that big so we’re close to town, amenities and beach. We’ve bought beds, a fridge and a washing machine and everything else we’re using is our camping kit. Although we’ve decided to stay here for a while, we don’t want to get too loaded down with belongings which would make it difficult to leave someday. The traveling life is not yet behind us, and we’re still making plans for the next part of the journey.

Steve is still working for NorWesCom and it’s great being able to plan our days around set starting and finishing times.

Cam is absolutely loving school. He tells me every week how he “goes to the best school in the world”. I marvel at his resilience. I was so worried about what impact our traveling would have on his schooling and here he has left grade two behind and jumped into grade three with ease. He has kept up with his class mates and is doing really well. He’s even had to learn a new script as the handwriting here in WA is quite different to what he learnt in NSW. He has made a close friend at school – Nick – which also makes quite a difference. They’ve just joined the school choir together. Cam is involved in music classes, loves the school’s science lab, and does after school sports twice a week. Report cards will be coming out soon, so we’ll get a good picture of what is really going on in his head.

Dan has started Kindy at Cable Beach Primary School. This programme is available two days a week. It is about readiness for Pre-primary next year which will be 5 days a week. He’s been on the Kindy waiting list for a while now, so as soon as his enrolment was confirmed we went out and bought him his uniform and socks and runners. He was so proud in his get up, but as soon as we dropped him off at school the teacher says “Dan, take off your socks and shoes and put them in your pigeon hole – we don’t wear shoes in the classroom.” It’s a lot more relaxed here. (Even Cam comes home from school barefoot most days.) He still goes to Day Care twice a week as well as Kindy twice a week until school holidays. Then he will go to the Out of School Care programme (BOSCCA) with Cam. Then he’ll officially be a “Big Boy”.

I have started working in Tourism Sales at the Broome Visitor Centre during school hours 4 days a week. My day is working on the front counter planning and booking tours for people visiting. I joined just towards the end of the dry season which is extremely busy but now that the wet season is upon us things have quietened down heaps. The team is great fun and I’ve started to comfortably settle in. Two of the days I’ve worked were when cruise ships have come in to port. Boy – what a day. It’s a bit like working a sports day. We had PA’s going, stalls out the front of the centre, tour operators everywhere! Such a buzz, exhausting but fun.

Life is fun and relaxed with our afternoons being spent on either Cable Beach or Gantheume Point. There is much more to tell but I’ll put it all in different segments.

2009-08-29T12:39:00.000+10:00

20th August, 2009
We’re here! We’re in Broome! After four months of traveling we will set up home for a while. We stopped off at Derby along the way to see the Boab Prison Tree and arrived in Broome around 5:00pm. Jock met us along the highway, and the boys were straight in his car to chat with “Grandad” as we made our way to his place.

We are staying in Jock’s caravan on the Willie Creek Pearl Farm Bus depot. Sounds glamourous hey? We’re currently looking for more permanent accommodation and will probably take a cabin at the local Vacation Village which has a swimming pool in it which everyone says is a must if we are to survive a wet season here. Most people now are getting ready to leave Broome and head to cooler summers south, so they rent out their places here fully furnished. We just have to wait until the right one comes along. Prices are exorbitant, with caravan sites going for $250 pw, to 2 bedroom apartments going for $550 - $600 pw minimum. We’re hoping that when the wet really hits, we’ll have a bit more bargaining power over price. We’d be happy for just a 2 bedroom cabin in the caravan park, but will need to wait a couple more weeks until more people move out to escape the wet.

Cameron starts school at the Cable Beach Primary School on Monday. He’s so excited. He will be in grade three. Where in NSW we had the choice as to when to send Cam to school due to his birthday being in February, here we don’t. So due to his age he has now skipped a whole year of schooling. He’s over the moon and thinks he’s top dog now, but we’ll see what effect it has on him down the track. The school is fabulous, and the class sizes are small – well under 20 per room, and he can’t wait to start. Due to the heat, school hours are 8:00 to 2:10 pm.

Dan starts day care one day a week next week at a place called Little Pearlers. It is opposite the road to Cam’s school, so quite convenient. He should be going to school under a Kindy programme (this is like NSW pre-school but only two days a week) but all the classes are full and there are waiting lists. Word is he won’t get in at all this year. Next year he will be in Pre-primary school (this is NSW kindy) so he’ll be with Cam. Dan also can’t wait to go to school, and begs for it every day.

Steve also starts work on Monday. He will work for NorWesCom Communications helping them develop and install Voip Networks around the Kimberley region. He’s really excited too. He gets a company Troopy to drive around in also.

We’ve had to go on a big shopping spree for Steve’s work clothes, and Cam’s school uniforms. The lady at the menswear store said “Well, we’ll be seeing a lot of you then. We’re the only menswear store in Broome, unless you shop at Target!.” That’s OK though, everything we need is here. The locals are friendly, and everyone has time to stop and have a chat and share a story. We had a really good night at the golf club, which will see Steve and I joining up soon.

As for me, I will wait until everyone is settled at work and school before I start looking seriously for work. Steve will have to do some initial traveling so I’ll keep home in order. I will put my name down at all the tour companies for part time work in the next dry season, which will be easier as Dan will be at school then. Currently, Dan is only doing day care which costs $75 per day, so no part time job will cover that.

As for Broome as a city – it’s fabulous. The local beach is Gantheume Beach, where you go at low tide. It’s about 2 minutes drive from where we live, and you pull off the road and drive down on to the beach and pull up anywhere you want. This is a perfect spot to sit and watch the sun as it sets over the Indian Ocean. The skies turn the most beautiful colours. The temperature is great (at the moment) and the waters are so warm even I can swim in them.

We’ve been here 7 days now and have done well – jobs, school, day care! Not bad, now we need a more permanent place to live. We’re happy, relaxed and care-free. We don’t need much more, particularly while we’re living in this little paradise.

2009-08-25T20:51:00.004+10:00

Crocs at Windjana Gorge - no zoom lens here, this is how close you get!

Windjana Gorge

Tunnel Creek

Bats in Tunnel Creek

19th August, 2009
Continuing along the Gibb River Road, our last stop is the Windjana National Park. Wow – talk about leaving another highlight to the last part of the trip! This place is amazing. The afternoon we got there we took a walk down the Windjana Gorge to see the Freshwater Crocodiles. There are heaps of them all at the waters edge within hand reach. No fences nothing, you would walk on them if you weren’t looking down. It was cool to see them fighting amongst themselves.

The next morning we went to Tunnel Creek. This creek runs through a cave and has a feel a bit similar to the Jenolan Caves. You walk through the tunnel across little streams, and have all these bats hanging and squeeking overhead. Dan was a real trouper with some of the streams reaching the top of his legs. For a little boy that was really quite unadventurous before we left, he has come a long way. By the time we walked out of the tunnel, the boys had declared this as their absolute highlight place of the trip. That’s saying something.

We were going to spend two nights here, but now that we’re so close to Broome, Cam and Dan wanted to just jump in the car and drive until we get there. They were on a high after walking Tunnel Creek, and now they just wanted to see Grandad. So, that’s what we did. The drive was somber as Steve and I talked about the fact that this would be the end of Part A of our travels. Although we were relieved to think we’d be in Broome that night, we were saying goodbye to our gypsy lifestyle that we have now grown to love. We’ve agreed that this will be a longer term stop to stock the bank account up, but will hit the road again when we can. We’re not finished our traveling yet.

2009-08-25T20:51:00.001+10:00

18th August, 2009
Popped back to Drysdale Station for a night before continuing along the Gibb River Road.

2009-08-25T20:38:00.003+10:00

Bradshaw Art Mitchell Falls - it's amazing that nothing is fenced off. You can stand right on the edge of the drops.

16th and 17th August, 2009
What a trip into the Mitchell Falls! The 101 kms on Kalumburu Road was great thanks to our new friend the grader driver. Then you turn left and travel for 71 kms to the Mitchell Falls camp ground. It took us two and a half hours to drive it. The corrugations and ruts were relentless AGAIN. The campground was split into Generator Camping and Quiet Camping. There was only one other camper set up in the Generator area, so we set up there (also the fact that someone had left a huge pile of firewood there was also helpful) No generators in sight and only one other camper – we picked a beauty.

We surprised the boys with a 12 minute helicopter flight up to the falls. They were absolutely beside themselves with excitement. It also meant we only had to hike the 4 kms one way. It was a great way to do it as the temperature was stinking hot, and they managed to bitch and whine all the way back to camp. In hindsight, we should have hiked there and had the helicopter pick us up, but there you go. On the hike back we saw the controversial Bradshaw Art which is a real bonus.

The power shower came in real handy each night too. At bedtime, we all layed down and looked at the stars through the open windows on the camper. I will miss these skies for a long time. Although the water wasn't torrenting over the falls, this trip is well worth the effort. This is the place that you get a true sense of the size and remoteness of the Kimberley.

2009-08-25T19:15:00.003+10:00

15th August, 2009
Further down the Gibb River Road we pull in to Drysdale Station for a night before heading up to Mitchell Falls. This cattle station is 1 million acres and was established in the 1800’s. They run a bar and restaurant as part of the park. It’s run by great people, real country and down to earth.

As we pulled up to a campsite a fellow came over and told Steve he heard a “knocking” sound as we drove past. As we were setting up, we discovered that the rear gate that opens the kitchen out had come off it’s lock. The amount of corrugations we had just traveled meant the metal had ripped completely down the bottom hinge. Not good. Paul, the son of the station owners runs a repair/mechanic shop and he managed to weld it back for us. Steve had a great chat with him about the emergencies he has to attend to, and this is where you get the hands on information about what we're doing. As Paul says, everyone travels with spare parts, axles, tyres etc, but they don't have the grease, welder, tyre pliers or any other mechanical stuff you need to actually put these spares to use. That's OK if you can pull into a station such as Drysdale, but if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere you'd have to be pretty lucky for another traveler to stop to help that has a welder in the back.

We had dinner at the homestead and Dan discovered he LOVES cauliflower! Much to our dismay – we hate it. We also met the fellow who was grading the road up to the Mitchell Falls, which I must mention was as smooth as a highway. A lot of people also told us not to bother going up to the falls as it was the dry season and there wouldn’t be enough water flowing blah blah blah! Once again we decided to make up our own minds and see for ourselves.

2009-08-25T18:42:00.003+10:00

Swimming in the water holes Boating down the Chamberlain Gorge (before the battery ran out) Dan's "perfect view"

A fewmungus (Dan's word - it means really big) Boab tree

13th and 14th August, 2009
Now we’re on the Gibb River Road and our first stop is El Questro. This is such a beautiful place. Probably lots more commercial than other campgrounds along the way, but great none-the-less. The lodge dammed the river in a few places behind the restaurant which gives a nice place to swim or sit on lush green grass.

We took a drive up the Saddleback Ridge which gave 360 degree views around the Kimberleys. The drive up was really steep and fun, an unexpected treat. The boab trees here are amazing. We found one that was so big, we could park the car under it. It must have been thousands of years old. The Kapok tree is also everywhere. We discovered it is known as a Calendar Tree which means when it is in flower it means something integral to the indigenous tribes – in this case, it means that the crocodiles are laying their eggs, a real delicacy.

We also hired an electric boat to take up the Chamberlain Gorge which was a great opportunity to see a gorge from a different angle – water. I was constantly struck at how grown up the boys have become as I watched Cam take the rudder and steer us up the river while Dan perched on top of the bow for the perfect view. Unfortunately, the battery ran out half way through the return trip, so Steve and I had to row back while Cam kept the rudder straight. We couldn’t work out why we kept veering left when we turned around to find Cam had let go of the rudder and was picking his toenails – oblivious to our exertion. This is also the time that Dan announced he could communicate with birds! The whole trip was echoed with Dan going Tweet Tweet Tweety Tweety Tweet in response to the plentiful birds along the gorge. It was funny at first, but now……not so.

2009-08-25T18:35:00.001+10:00

Along the Victoria River

12th August, 2009
Blatting down the highway trying to get as far as we could found us camping at Victoria River Roadhouse. This place was right on the Victoria River and what a pleasant little spot it proved to be. We camped down close to the river and we were surrounded by long reedy grass which was home to these noisy little marsupial things and other tiny birds. A walk down to the river showed the mandatory croc warnings that we have grown accustomed to. The river was as calm and smooth as a pane of glass. The reflections were so clear, it was beautiful. The boys learnt about the “ripple effect” by throwing rocks into the water causing ripples that spread out for metres. This is also the morning that Cam discovered the joys of a tube of condensed milk – Mmmmmm!

2009-08-11T16:52:00.003+10:00

11th August, 2009
Our last night in Darwin and we've moved into a cabin for the night. We've spent the day cleaning, washing, shopping and cryovacing to get ready for the Gibb River Road part of the journey. We are keen to hit the road again for a lot of reasons. Mainly because it means we are closer to Broome and seeing Steve's Dad (Jock). The boys are looking forward to spending their days with Grandad and settling down for a while.

Although we had one busy day here, the rest of our time has been spent lazing around the resort and pool. We haven't even gone to Kakadu or Litchfield as we first thought we would. And before anyone starts commenting that we should have seen this, or we should have gone there, we have found that regardless of where we are, it is important to relax, take stock and spend some quiet time as a family unit. It has been great to be in a family groove of just looking after one another and playing without timetables, schedules and long drives.

We have really enjoyed what we have seen of Darwin and although it's hot, the humidity has only just started to concern us over the last 2 days. Best get used to it I suppose, because it's going to get a whole lot worse!

Tomorrow we hit the road again. We'll do a long day on the road, and stop somewhere when we've had enough. Our main aim is to get back to Kununurra to be in a position to get on the Gibb River Road. Maybe we'll make it in a day, maybe two...

2009-08-09T21:02:00.001+10:00

Fish feeding at Aquascene

8th and 9th August, 2009
Still totally enjoying Darwin. On Saturday we went to the Parap Markets and feasted on satays, curries and seafood while strolling through the stalls. Finished the day up with a swim in the pool.

Today was a big day. Started with an early morning to catch the high tide for some fish feeding. Excellent. This is run by AquaScene as a tourist gig. The fish come to feeding area in their hundreds. There were mullet, catfish, whiprays, milk fish and others. You throw in bits of bread and they come and eat it out of your hand while swimming around your feet. The boys thought it was ‘awesome’.

Then we went to the wave pool. This is just like at Jambaroo at home, but only a wave pool and far less crowded. They supply all the boogie boards and biscuit rings. Cam had a blast. Seems he has left the Wrangler/Cowboy days behind and heading towards the surfie/moondoggie phase. Dan took a bit of warming up to it, but in the end he too was in the waves like a dude.

Then tonight we went to the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets. The whole family enjoyed these. We saw crafts and stuff that we haven’t seen at any other markets – really unique. And the food – we stuffed ourselves crazy with more asian delights and bought ourselves some trinkets. What a great day.

2009-08-09T19:20:00.000+10:00

6th August, 2009
We’re in Darwin and staying at the FreeSpirit Caravan Park. It’s brilliant. The park has a beautiful swimming pool (with waterfall) which has a paved outdoor area surrounded with palm trees and flowing onto a bar/restaurant. The boys are swimming constantly, and I can’t remember the last time I saw their finger/toenails so clean. We are relaxed, happy and getting a tan. What more could we ask for? I HOPE YOU’RE ALL AS JEALOUS AS HELL!!!

The car has been in to TJM to get the front lockers fixed which is ironic since our most toughest roads are behind us.

2009-08-06T21:41:00.003+10:00

Swimming at Edith Falls Steve swimming

Not even a croc warning could stop them

4th and 5th August, 2009
Aaahh, we love the smell of roadkill on our highways! Traveling north-east now as we travel to Edith Falls in Kakadu. How exciting. No chance of starving on this highway as the roadkill includes: kangaroos, wallabies, wild boar, cows all accompanied by a wretched stench. The upside of this is that the wedgetail eagles were having a feast.

We pulled in to the Old Victoria River crossing where the old causeway was visible but severely eroded. This might be a morning tea challenge on the way back from Darwin.

Now we have crossed the NT border AGAIN! We have crossed into NT so many times from either WA, QLD, SA we have no idea of what time it is. The boys no longer have a bed time, we just go to sleep when we’re tired and wake up when we’re not. It appears to be working well for us for the time being.

Edith Falls is a neat little campground with lots of green grass. I mention this, because we haven’t seen green grass for a long time. Even the boys get excited about it. Luckily we got one of the last 3 camp sites in the park.

After our first problem of locating our site (I read the map wrong and guided Steve to site #26. There was a Britz van (of all things) parked there. Steve got out and told the fellow he was in the wrong site, to which a map was promptly produced to prove otherwise. Oops, I should have taken us to site #16. I don’t know why I consistently give Steve these reasons to shake his head at me.

Our neighbours on the first night were caravaners who brought their LCD TV screen outside for their nights viewing. God! we thought, out in the middle of nowhere and we’re going to have to listen to mind-dumbing American Sit-coms all night. Fortunately, they turned it off around 6:30 and went inside.

The swimming holes are fantastic if not a bit too cold for me. Steve and the boys went in for swims, even after reading the signs about crocodiles! Suppose that’s one thing we’re going to have to get used to for a while. Cam, who has been so gung-ho about finding crocs and what he’d do if the event ever happened, did have a second think about swimming but soon got over it.

The weather temperature is perfect. Within two days our nightly apparel has gone from:
Alice Springs – socks, boots, track pants, singlet, t-shirt, long sleeved t-shirt, hoodie jacket, scarf and a fleece over the top (yes – all worn at once) to
Edith Falls – thongs, board shorts, singlet.
We sit outside under the shade of a tree, and at night it is beautiful to sit outdoors – no mossies, moths or flies. Bloody fantastic we think! Now that we’re warm, we just have to get rid of the red dust. We are even sleeping with all the windows open to let in some fresh air.

Tomorrow we pack up again and head up to Darwin. Mostly, we’re looking forward to being in a city which has such an Asian influence in their food. Look out markets – here we come…

2009-08-03T22:25:00.002+10:00

2nd and 3rd August, 2009
Beautiful, clean, black tar seal roads! Who’d have thought those words would come from us? We have left the dust, sand and corrugations behind for a while and have headed to Kununurra. We’ve taken a cabin for two nights as we are quite simply - DIRTY. Everything we touch leaves our hands filthy and our skin is dry and splitting – we need to chill out. We haven’t done much here, just relaxed in this pretty town.

The vegetation along the highway now includes Boab Trees which stand majestically among the gums. I couldn’t get a picture though, as Cam and I were busy in the back seat doing school work. Dan sat in the front discussing monster truck and 4WD’ing techniques with Steve in between singing gangster rap while listening to his i-Pod.

Tomorrow, we head to Edith Falls for a couple of nights before hitting Darwin.

2009-08-03T22:20:00.003+10:00

Hiking through the Echidna Chasm Dan climbing one of the conglomerate rock formations that make up the Echidna Chasm

Cam resting in the natural ampitheatre of the Cathedral Walk

The beginning of the Cathedral Walk

Some of the rock formations

31st July and 1st August, 2009
After a few nights of only overnight stopovers, we decided to spend a couple of nights in the Bungle Bungles. It’s a road that you cannot take caravans on, so as you come to the turnoff, there’s a river spot that is as busy as a Big 4 caravan park. Luckily, we could drive in and camp. The drive took about 70 minutes and it was rough. On the way out, Cam, Dan and myself got car sick – no vomiting luckily, just a few very pale faces. However, it proved to be one of the most rewarding drives we’ve done. The Bungles are impressive in every sense of the word.

We did two walks: the Echidna Chasm in the morning, and then the Cathedral Walk in the afternoon. Even the boys were marveling at how spectacular this place was.

Another plus was the fact that water is abundant. We set up the Power Shower and had hot showers every night. Camping next to us was a family holidaying from Germany, and one of their teenage girls came over to have a shower as well. Worked an absolute treat and the water temperature was spot on.

The camping grounds are great with firewood delivered daily. On the first night no one lit a fire, so we gathered it up and hid it under our trailer so another lot was delivered the next morning. So, on our last night we had one beauty of a bonfire with our neighbouring German family and another fellow camped on the other side of us.

This is also where our worst experiences with European Britz Van drivers occurred. They travel 10 kmp on these corrugations with fully inflated tyres because they have no idea of what they’re doing. We nearly got run off the road overtaking them, as they also hadn’t learnt what the rear vision mirror was for.

2009-08-03T22:19:00.004+10:00

From the rim of Wolf Creek Crater

The view looking into the crater30th July, 2009
Pulled in to Wolf Creek Crater for the night. After all the hype we couldn’t miss this opportunity. We were also told that this track had people seriously shredding multiple tyres and destroying shockies, but once again we drove on regardless. So glad we did – it was awesome! Did a hike up to the top rim of the crater and it was so windy we seriously had to hold on to Dan or he would have blown away. The view was superb.

There was a bunch of young lads camped nearby, breaking every rule possible. Music was blaring, they had stocked enough firewood for a bonfire to last the whole night. They were loud and judging by the rum bottle being passed around about to have a REALLY GOOD NIGHT. Steve decided to go over for a “friendly” meet and greet. Turned out to be a great bunch of young lads and one girl who are working their way around the country and had just thrown in their jobs at Fitzroy Crossing and were traveling to the next town for new work. They had no tent or sleeping bags – just a blanket each. The girl was going to sleep in the car, and the boys had a great idea to sleep on top of the water tank. At least their consumption of rum would have dulled the pain if they rolled off. They were hoping the Rangers wouldn’t come around about the fire as they had no way of cooking their dinner without a fire. Oh – to be young again! True to their word though, they did turn everything down once our boys had gone to bed. Either that or they all passed out.

2009-08-03T22:18:00.002+10:00

Along the Tanami Desert Road the landscape was dense with these termite mounds that stretched to the horizon on both sides of the road

28th and 29th July, 2009
Need spare parts??? Don’t go to a wrecker, just travel the Tanami Desert. This road is absolutely littered with abandoned, burnt out, overturned, completely raided cars. As much as the Plenty Highway was the place for shredded tyres, this is the road for car parts.

It feels good to be traveling north now, knowing that we will finally start warming up – God knows we need it. The Tanami Desert Road itself wasn’t that bad. Some parts of it were pretty corrugated, but tyre pressure takes care of that. Some parts, like near the Granite Mines it was being graded and was almost like highway.

We were a bit tentative about doing this road as quite a few travelers had told us how rough it was, particularly the road to Wolf Creek Crater. This seems to be a recurring theme that we keep coming across but have now learnt to trust ourselves, our car and our skill. Doing the Tanami for us was a bit like the Simpson Desert – it was one of those things we have planned for a long time. Even though the road really didn’t add much value to our trip, it’s another nick we can add to our Micky Thompson’s.

We stopped the night at Renahan’s Bore which is a truck stop. Then hit the road early the next morning. We popped in to Rabbit Flat for some petrol where we found the owners to be absolutely fabulous and talkative. Even while trying to fend off some locals waiting for the 12:OO noon curfew so they could buy beer.

We overtook a motor bike rider just before pulling over for lunch, and after half an hour noticed he hadn’t come along. Steve decided to turn back and look for him. We found him stopped in the middle of the road letting his engine cool down as the road was so rutted for him he couldn’t get out of first gear. After a quick chat, we were on our way but left him with a very slow journey at 5 – 10 kmp.

2009-08-03T21:49:00.001+10:00

25th, 26th, 27th and 28th July, 2009
It’s now been exactly 3 months since first hitting the road in Winmalee. We’ve seen a lot of fabulous things, met heaps of people and have learnt plenty. Thought now might be a good time to share some of our learnings:

If you are planning on doing a trip like this, do it with a 4WD. We’ve met heaps of caravaners that are towing with 2WD sedans and such and are missing all the lesser known sights like Palm Valley, Roma Gorge etc. It’s such a shame to do all this traveling and not give yourself the best opportunity to see everything.

Don’t skimp on storage boxes. We bought ours from The Reject Shop, which are great for at home and they also fitted exactly in our traveling space available. It didn’t take long before the corrugations took their toll, and they have all broken. The ones in the car are fine, but the ones in the trailer are scattered in dumps everywhere.

If you can buy or make a protective covering for any of your gear – do it. Once again, the corrugations have worn through everything. I’ve found old flannelette pillow cases are good, and also old sports socks are great for popping your mobile or i-Pod into for protection. Believe me, nothing is safe. Even the screws on our sunvisors have worked themselves loose.

Get yourself a cryovac machine. We bought ours at K-Mart and it cost around $130. It has saved us this amount and more already. Regardless of how well we planned our meals, and bought our meat, we always over estimated the amount of really good cooked meals we felt like, particularly on the stretches of overnight camps. Of course, the meat was either thrown out or we cooked it just because we had to. The cryovac machine has given us much more fridge life to our food.

Travel with those microfibre cleaning coths. They clean the dust off everything, and believe me, that red bulldust gets everywhere.

Have a spray can of dry silicone spray handy to use on all your zips.

There will come a time when you WILL want to wash your car.

Prepare your children for the trip. Get them as independent as you can so that when you are at these amazing places, they don’t wait for you to entertain them. They need to be able to get out and explore.

If you have a soft top camper – everytime you zip or unzip the canopy, dust off the zipper with a paintbrush and then spray it with some water (use on of those cheapo spray bottles). We’ve only just found out that this is the best method for a smoother slide.

People in Britz vans know nothing about driving!

Corrugations are all about tyre pressure and speed.

One person’s view of a “tough track that will take you 3 hours to travel” is not necessarily yours. Trust your own experiences and skill and make your own decisions, otherwise you will miss out on some spectacular sights.

WE MUST BE ONE OF THE LUCKIEST FAMILIES IN THE WORLD!

2009-08-03T12:21:00.001+10:00

25th July, 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAN!!!
Dan had a great birthday with gifts of some lego, a new DS game, and a little i-Pod shuffle. We bought a few little cup cakes and put candles on them as his birthday cake. We were about to light them so we could sing Happy Birthday and Dan goes “Hold on a moment, I’ll be right back”. He bolted off to the playground and came back with two little friends to share his cake and help sing. They were twin sisters – he must already be learning from Cam.

2009-07-25T18:26:00.001+10:00

24th July, 2009
Made it to Alice Springs just in time to set up camp and for Steve and Cam to do a quick birthday present shop for Dan. Tomorrow’s the big day, I wonder what changes it will bring.

Steve also spoke with the store that installed the Front Air Locker – interesting conversation. We can get the airlocker hose fixed, but we’ll have to go to Darwin to do so. Once again, our plans have changed and we’re heading to Darwin. The Audio Option Headrest DVD player on Cam’s side also needs replacing and we need a TJM store to do it and Darwin is the only one in our sights. Oh well, there are worse places we could be diverted to.

It’s only been 3 months of traveling but we have asked the car, trailer and modifications to do some really hard work. The constant corrugations and ruts have now worked all the inside screws loose, with the sun visors and such needing constant attention on the way to Gemtree. It’s all good though. We’ve traveled some amazing tracks and seen incredible beauty – what more can you ask for?

2009-07-25T18:10:00.002+10:00

Flock of corellas along the Plenty Highway Fossicking for gems at Garnet Gully

23rd July, 2009
Followed the Plenty Hwy to a campsite called Gemtree. What a neat place. The campsites are so far apart from each other, you can have a campfire, the generator shuts off at 10:00pm – bliss. Really, really pretty.

We paid $10.00 for the opportunity to go to the ground’s Garnet Gully, where the boys both filled a bucket with sand, and then go and sift through it for gems. Although nothing found is of “gem” quality, Cam in particular was so excited as his booty of rocks grew to include garnets, crystals and various ores that he found himself. He puts this down to one of the best highlights of the trip so far.

Although we could only stay the one night this time, we will head back there after Dan’s birthday and do a proper fossicking tour. This one will be more for the adults and hopefully I’ll find some garnets worth setting into jewellery.

2009-07-25T18:03:00.002+10:00

22nd July, 2009
Today was nothing more than a road trip trying to get to Alice Springs. Stayed overnight at Jervois Station and left the next day. It was a nice little campsite on a cattle station which is run as a sideline to the farming duties. Hot showers, toilets and peace and quiet. Nothing to complain about here. Fuel was $1.95/l but you don’t have much choice now that Tobermorey Station has closed.

2009-07-21T16:44:00.004+10:00

Entering the O'Donoghue Hwy which becomes the Plenty Hwy at the NT border On the way to Boulia

Birdlife of the Burke River at Boulia

20th, 21st July, 2009
Following Eyre Creek to Boulia has been a beautiful drive. It’s been refreshing to see greenery and the wildlife has been abundant. We’ve seen the return of emus running alongside the car, pelicans and hawks riding the thermals in the sky, and lizards sunning themselves by the side of the road. After the sparseness of the desert, it’s great to see life again.

Our campsite is grass, so we’re taking two days to get really clean. After not washing our hair for 7 days, a quick Pantene 3 minute miracle is in order.

On the last night, our camp was surround by wild ponies. Steve went out to have a look as we could hear lots of foot stamping and snorting going on, and he found ponies with their noses in our food box. Now, we're used to hiding stuff away from dingoes, but ponies is another thing all together.

2009-07-21T16:40:00.004+10:00

Birdsville Hotel

17th,18th, 19th July, 2009
Finally – Birdsville. All we wanted was to have a hot shower and get to the pub. By the time we set up camp we found out that if you hadn’t ordered dinner by 6:00 pm, you would be waiting for ever for your meal. So we didn’t have a shower, just went filthy to the pub. We changed our clothes (had to as we’d been wearing them every day for the last 5 days), but that’s all. Dirty body, dirty hair – what was new? Gee it felt good to be out.

Second day was full of washing clothes and bed sheets and generally cleaning up. I had a washing line incident where someone had taken all our clothes off the line and piled them up with someone else's clothes, so that they could hang their wet washing up overnight when it wouldn't dry anyway! I had many words at them and for the rest of our stay at Birdsville I was imagining ladies running scared and hiding everytime I approached the amenities block. I was not a happy camper - it's just not the way we do things. The red sand was everywhere, even our scalps were red from the constant build up of layers of sand.

That night, we went out to the pub again as they were playing the second Bledisloe Cup game. First rugby game we've seen. Couldn’t believe we were watching Rugby in Birdsville. This night – far too many Cidars! FM17 were leaving the next day, so it was "let’s have many for the road (but only one West Coast Cooler)".

Third day – a very sad good-bye to the FM17 crew. Then more tidying up. We moved into a room for the night and watched TV. How luxurious. That morning, Steve took the boys into the Mens to brush their teeth. While Steve was in the loo, a man was standing next to Dan at the mirrors shaving his head. Anyone who knows Dan can imagine how that conversation went – Steve crept out in silence not wanting to own up to him.

Now it’s time to head to the Plenty Highway back to Alice Springs for Dan’s 5th Birthday.

2009-07-21T16:14:00.007+10:00

Us at Poeppel Corner The brackets of our side step ripped off, so we all signed it and planted it in the Desert as a momento

Steve climbing a dune - Where do I go once I reach the top???

The track goes on forever

The recovery on the second day. This family slept overnight like this waiting for someone to come along. We happened to be "someone".

Our campsite on the first night

Will Dan ever forgive me for this picture?

13th, 14th, 15th, 16th July 2009
It’s finally here. The moment we have been building up to for so long. We have planned and fine-tuned our emergency plans, arranged for Terry to get an SMS each night from our sat phone as to whether we’re safe or not, we have plenty of water, fuel and supplies. We’re ready, but we’re not complacent. So much has happened on this trip that it has been our biggest highlight of our trip so far. I’ll break it down into days:

Day One:
We set off and life was good. Hey, we’re fulfilling one of our lifetime goals – what could be better. Early on the track we came up behind this convoy of 3 vehicles. Actually, we heard them on the UHF before we saw them. Man – do these guys talk – yap yap yap!!! Well, before long they pulled over and let us pass and we discovered over the radio they were going to travel the WAA line. Well, we thought, we only had to listen to the chatter for half a day as we were going to do the Rigg Road route.

Further down the road, we overtook these two support vehicles for a group of four guys doing the crossing on motor bikes. They were going to do the WAA line as well. We got to the turnoff – left for WAA line or right to the Rigg Road. We knew the Rigg Road was supposed to be easier, and we thought hard about the fact that we were traveling alone. BUT – we knew we had a 3 car convoy behind us, and another convoy of 2 cars and 4 motor bikes. We had our back covered, and we grew very brave. We took the WAA line, now there was no turning back.

We traveled on for an hour or two before setting up camp as we had to make sure we stayed in front of the chatty ones, we couldn’t afford to let them get ahead of us. Had a fabulous camp in the middle of nowhere. The night sky was the most bright and spectacular I have ever seen. We had a fire and cooked some sausages on the Barbie plate – what a feast. The camp toilet seat was set up, but we didn’t put up the privacy tent as we were the only ones around for miles and miles. Everyone needs to experience sitting on a toilet seat at 2:00am in the open air looking up at a Simpson Desert sky! We went to bed early, as we had to make sure we were first on the road again.

Day Two:
We woke early and pulled down camp, racing to beat the others. Moving again, we turned on the UHF and the chatter was on again and Yay – they were behind us.

After about two hours on the road we were cresting a sand dune to be met at the top by a woman waving frantically. We pulled up, walked over the dune and found that they had mis-judged the crest and fell into a hole and rolled their Toyota Tray-on completely on it’s side. All four wheels were in the air.

Steve put the winch to good use and got them righted, then the motorbike crowd turned up and helped pull them out of the hole. We knew the chatty crew were behind us, so I radioed through to warn them of the build up as we were really close to a crest. They soon pulled up and started helping with the recovery as well. I don’t quite know how to describe this moment – but we feel we have made friends for life from this chatty convoy of three vehicles.

There was Laurence and Mia with their son Jake in the Triton, Mia’s mum and Dad - John and Col in another Pajero and their friend Curt with his children Melanie, Andrew and Samantha in a Navara. After a morning smoko with them and a complete de-brief on the recovery we were soon part of their convoy and were chatting away on the UHF like the best of them. While scanning channel 10, they chatted madly away on 17 which was soon dubbed FM17. The family we recovered – Peter, Jan and their son Sam also joined the convoy for the rest of the trip.

Later on in the day, we came across the 4 bikers. One had broken his ribs, and another had broken his leg. Their support cars had a doctor on board and they had a sat phone, so there was nothing we could do and carried on in the trip. We never found out later what happened there next, but Steve and I were glad we had the support of FM17 with us.

This is also the day that we experienced some really steep dunes with deep wallows on approach that forced us to slow down on the climb just when we really needed to speed up. The dunes we were crossing ranged from 5 to 15 metres in height. On the first climb Steve tried to engage the front lockers but only got a sound of the compressor endlessly pumping. We hadn’t even used them – what was wrong? A quick look under the car showed that when it was fitted, the rubber compressor hosing was fitted too close in proximity to the exhaust headers which had heated up intensely due to the low range/high rev work the car was asked constantly asked to do, and the hose melted away. A few choice words were spoken as we considered having to do the rest of the trip without the locker. One of the reasons we were so sure we could do this trip was because we had a locker. Now it was up to us alone. Only one thing to do….grit our teeth, close our eyes and hold on……..

Day Three:
Before setting off, Steve managed to fix the front locker with some gaffer tape and we started our journey again feeling a bit more comfortable.

Today saw us on the French Line and stopping at Poeppel Corner for a photo opportunity. This is another border three-ways of Queensland, Northern Territory and South Australia.

Every day it was sand dune after sand dune. The climbs were steep and the wallows were deep. It was swail (a word Curt called them, don't know it myself - I thought he was calling them whales and it was an "in" joke) after swail/hollow. Every dune was a challenge but we were rewarded at the crest of each dune with some of the most beautiful views we'll ever see. It was interesting to watch the change in sand from yellows to reds and back to yellows as we followed different tracks from the Rigg to the WAA to the French to the QAA line. That night around the campfire, I really needed a freshen up, so brought out the face creams and all the ladies and I had a bit of a facial bonding moment in the middle of the desert. Boy, it felt good!

Day Four:
Our last day in the desert. We had Birdsville on our mind for hot showers, big steak and cold beer. Unfortunately we still had to take the Lake Eyre detour which added another couple of hours of driving onto the day. We got to the Big Red turnoff but decided to come back and do it the next day, it was getting late.

This has also been the trip where Dan has come into his own. He turns 5 next Saturday and we are seeing a change in him. He has been the first to make friends with the children on this crossing and Cam has had to fit in accordingly. It hasn't been easy for Cam in this change of roles, but it has been exciting to watch Dan take all the initiatives and watch the other children respond to him accordingly. Do I have to tell you how indulged Dan was? He hasn't lost any of his "winning" personality.

Day Five:
After much anticipation and psyching up we drove out to Big Red. Now, I don’t want to sound smart or anything but we all found it quite a disappointment. After the approaches and crests on a lot of the sand dunes we had encountered in the last four days, this was nothing. I suppose it’s purpose is to give people a go at the dune without having to cross the Simpson – and that’s good enough. But I don’t believe being able to climb it is all that brag-worthy. We had one fellow tell us out-right that we wouldn’t be able to climb it because our car was petrol and manual (obviously he was trying to make himself feel better about not making it up). Needless to say, Steve had great pleasure in telling him we made it first go!

Also, no-one at Big Red was using their UHF’s so cars were going east to west and back all over the place. The motor bikes didn’t have sand flags and there were kids running all over the place (sorry, they were ours).

Best Advice we were given:
-If you don’t make it up a dune, don’t be afraid to make your own tracks to get over.
-If all else fails, get out of the car and walk along the dune. You’d be surprised how many bypass tracks you find. (We had to do this once – actually Curt got out of his car and did it for us)

Facts and figures:
We averaged around 18kph each day.
We used 191 litres of fuel (our car is manual/and petrol driven)

Our tips:
-Use the desert UHF channel 10. Call frequently where you are and what direction you are heading particularly when cresting sand dunes. Of all the bikers we encountered, none had sand flags on their bikes.
-Carry a sat phone and make sure people know what your crossing route is.
-Don't underestimate the amount of respect this desert deserves. We have experienced it at it's best, but have also seen it bring out the worst for some travellers. Be prepared, double check everything.

A big THANK YOU…goes to the Corrong crew – FM17. We feel blessed to have met you, and you will always be a part of our lives. After an amazing journey across the Simpson Desert kind strangers became our firm friends. We have shared the most hilarious jokes, personal insights, witty jibes, brilliant skies, one camel sighting, too many Scotches, Beers, Cider and one West Coast Cooler a night. And above all fabulous body odour! I have tears in my eyes as I write this partly from emotion and partly from laughing so bloody hard my cheeks hurt. John, Col, Laurence, Mia and Curt are the kind of people we want in our corner, covering our back – because we would always do the same for them.

2009-07-21T15:36:00.002+10:00

The entrance to the Dalhousie Spring - 37 degrees of therapy Steve enjoying a cold beer at sunset

The Mt Dare Hotel - it's a rough drive but the beer was cold

12th and 13th July, 2009
After Oodnadatta we drove straight up to Dalhousie Springs. Again, we found the road corrugated and rutted to buggery. So much in fact, that when we opened the esky for our evening cocktail, the twist tops on two of my Strongbows had twisted open. Lucky Steve had heaps of beer, I was worried I’d have to have a dry night!

The springs don’t disappoint in any way. The temperature is about 37 degrees and so good for the body after the corrugations, ruts and dust we’ve endured for the past couple of days. After a while of soaking, we needed to get out of the springs to cool down. However, it was so cold in the air that it didn’t take long before we jumped back in. There’s also hundreds of these tiny fish that nibble and suck on your skin if you stand still for too long. I suppose they eat all the dry skin and stuff. It was a brilliant place to re-charge for a couple of nights as this is the gateway to the Simpson Desert. This is also the spot where you talk to other people about the impending crossing. When we mentioned we were towing a trailer most people would smirk and say “Good Luck!”. Thankfully, we also met Kevin from the Portland 4WD Club, who also drives a Paj and said “Go for it, you can do it!” We didn’t really know what to think and our mood was darkening.

We also met up with a fellow that we met in Alice Springs who was crossing the desert with a mate on motor bikes. They were as keen as mustard, but one day into the crossing one of them flew over the front of the bike and became heavily concussed and that was the end of that. The Mt Dare recovery truck came in about 4:00am that morning picking up the bikes. Our mood darkened more.

We also took a drive up to Mt Dare to fill up on fuel, grab our last meat pie and have a beer. The road was horrendous (are you getting the recurring theme about the roads yet?) but worth the drive as the pub is a beautifully friendly place to stop and have a chat.

Although the campgrounds at Dalhousie were full to overflowing, we stayed quite insular within our own tent. Our mood was starting to get somber as we considered what we were about to attempt. We’d heard the horror stories, we’d read the horror stories, and up to then we had actually met one of the horror stories – we were hoping like hell we didn’t become one too.

One night we met the local Ecologist and started chatting. I ran some facts by him that were given to us by a park employee in Yulara (such as identifying how pure a dingo is by his tracks - see earlier post from Ayres Rock). He found that quite amusing, and we learnt "if you want to know anything about your surroundings - ask the ecologist not park staff!"

2009-07-21T15:29:00.004+10:00

Inside the Roadhouse The Pink Roadhouse

Steve

Scenes from the Painted Desert

10th and 11th July, 2009
Now we’re off to Oodnadatta via the Painted Desert. We were going to camp at Cadney Homestead for the night, but were making good time and thought the late afternoon would be a good time of day to see the desert. We were right, it was a great drive, not too rutted. The colour of the mountains reminded us a lot of the Ochre Pit walls in the West MacDonnell Ranges – really pretty. After another big day of driving, we arrived at the Pink Roadhouse in Oodnadatta.

I know everyone raves about this place being an icon and all that, but personally, I found it a dump. There is literally junk lying all over the place, the building is like a jigsaw puzzle with the amount of add-ons and lean to’s attached to it. Also, on the road we often hear stories about the people in these outback places being cranky old b***ards who will leave someone stranded if a wrong word is said. We usually put these stories down to Urban Myths as we have always experienced great hospitality in the outback. However, here we saw it happen: A young couple camping next to us snapped their spring mount on the camper. The owner was going to fix it for them, but then flew into a foul mouthed tantrum because one of his staff let a traveler use his compressor. The language was more colourful than the roadhouse itself, and he drove off in a huff and left the couple stranded. As they were standing there a bit bewildered, Steve had offered to have a look at it for them and two hours later he had fixed it for them and they were off again (only cost them a thank-you instead of the hundreds of exorbitant dollars the Roadhouse would have charged). Now, there could be a lot of other stuff going on in the owner’s background, but I do think that although they might be in a remote place and the last and only hope for a lot of travelers, it doesn’t give anyone license for rudeness. We are slugged a fortune for food, camping, alchohol, souvenirs – you name it – but we pay it to support these places in tougher times. So I say “Stop believing the press and publicity you are receiving and start appreciating the travelers that keep you in business!!!

Anyway, the night we got there, we met the managers of Neutral Junction Station in Barrow Creek NT, who were there for the annual Bronco Branding/Camp Draught competition the next day. So, we stayed for another night so we could go. It was a great day out. Ranchers from all over SA travel to compete in this for cash prizes and we certainly met our share of characters. Cam and Dan made friends with one of their sons, and we’re off among the cattle yards, on the horses and having a great time. They finished the day off with some Bronco Riding which really proves how tough these guys are. Loved it. We ended up staying for a few beers with some of the lads afterwards and generally mucked up with some really genuine and friendly outback people.

2009-07-21T14:28:00.003+10:00

Cam and Dan at Lambert's Geographical Centre of Australia

9th July, 2009
Leaving Alice Springs behind for a while at least, it felt good to be back on the road. We’re ready for adventure. We traveled the Old Ghan Railway Line to Finke. Once again we were hit with the most juddering corrugations that left everyone exhausted. We also had to go quite slow anyway, as the track was covered in Old Ghan Spikes. They have worked their way out of the sleepers and soil underneath the road and just lay on top of the dirt. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pick up a few more spikes - much to Steve's dismay. Cam and Dan ran along beside the car and passed them in through the window. It was quite funny. We were going to camp at Finke, but once we got there found it wasn’t really our kind of place, so kept going.

We also stopped off for a photo opportunity at Lambert's Geographical Centre of Australia. We found ourselves at Kulgera pretty late in the day so decided to get a room for the night. The Kulgera Pub is the first or last pub you come across in the NT, depending on whether you’re traveling north or south. It’s a pretty cool place to stop and have a beer. Within 5 minutes we had met our neighbour Michael. We went to the pub for dinner (no surprises there) where Cam received some more training on the pool table (he can actually sink balls now) and Michael arrived with his 3 children (Jonathon, Caitlin and Mark). We had a fabulous night of laughter with the kids running absolute riot all over the place.

2009-07-21T14:23:00.000+10:00

4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th July, 2009
Back in Alice Springs for final repairs and rest until hitting the desert. First stop was the Alice Show for the kids to scare us witless on the dodgem cars (as Steve and I had to be passengers) and do a grab on show bags. Also went to the local craft and arts market. It was again interesting to note the amount of stalls set up to sell goods and send money to places like Cambodia and Timor??? Still unsure why we aren’t fundraising for the local community? God knows they need it! Anyway, I’ve already had my rant about that.

Caught up with Dale for the last time before he heads off back to the UK. Was great to get to spend some time, as I fear it will be a while before we’re all together again.

Now that the power shower has been installed and the CV joint replaced , we’re good to go. It is with much anticipation that we again start the beginning of our desert journey…

2009-07-06T11:56:00.001+10:00

The men at Roma Gorge (behind these walls is secret Aboriginal Men's Business) Petroglyphs at Roma Gorge

The Ochre Pits

Steve cooking at Ormiston Gorge

Ormiston Gorge water hole

Ghost gum at Ormiston Gorge

Ormiston Gorge lookout

29th, 30th June, 1st, 2nd , 3rd July 2009
After checking out some of the campsites around the West MacDonnell Ranges, we decided on setting up at Ormiston Gorge. It’s about in the middle of all the known gorges and attractions, so we thought it would be a good place to set up camp and do day trips from here. The grounds are beautiful. We have flushing toilets and solar showers. By the end of the day, we found that the campers are really packed in as it is first in first serve. That was OK, we had great neighbours (Barrie and Sheila – a couple from Gladstone) and lots of families. Also, the birdlife (feathered variety) is abundant. Saw lots of species that we hadn’t seen before.

The other sites we looked at were:
Glen Helen – this is a resort style that had a restaurant, bar and small shop which were beautiful attached to it, but the campsite was stuck right out in the open. It didn’t have the gorge “feel” we were looking for.
Redbank Gorge – a beautiful gorge campground that allowed for campfires (unusually). Had a pit toilet, no showers. The surrounds were really nice but it seemed to be the place that the real serious hikers were camping at – with a 4 year old, we don’t fit that category (probably wouldn’t without a 4 year old either!)

We went for a hike today along the Ormiston Gorge and then down to the river bed (which is now dry except for a few waterholes) and hiked back to camp. It was about 4km’s which is a good go for Dan. Once again the views and escarpments were beautiful. The riverbed was littered with little waterholes along the way, albeit stagnant and teeming with dead fish. At least the pelicans get a good free feed.

Monday there was a free Ranger talk about identifying signs of life in the gorge, which was really good. It was held by Ranger Mandy, who did the whole talk with a baby python on her head. Cam is really taking a huge interest in these talks, and now when we do hikes he is starting to identify different animal tracks and poo. Yay, he’s learning! Wednesday night there was another slideshow talk by Ranger Leanne. Again, Cam listened intently to all the talks on animals and plantlife.

We’ve cooked a couple of roast dinners on the Cobb and Steve is starting to perfect the heating. He did a great pork roast with apple sauce that we made from some old apples we had. We all gobbled it down immediately as our neighbours were drooling.

The purchase of a cryovac machine (we bought it in Alice Springs) has also been a blessing. We’ve found that since leaving Broken Hill, there haven’t been many butchers that provide the service so we bought a little one for ourselves. We’ve found that no matter how much you plan your meals, there was always wasted meat as we opted for the simpler noodle meals more often than thought. At least now, we don’t have the waste.

Another highlight on the camp was visiting Roma Gorge. It isn’t written about in any of our tour books, and we were told about it by the camp manager at Ormiston. We had to drive about 8 km’s along this sandy/rocky riverbed (yes – it was dry) to get to this little path. About 300 metres along the path are these amazing Aboriginal petroglyphs all along the rock faces. This is the first time I was hit with how special this traveling opportunity is for us. It was absolutely beautiful. We stopped at this little water hole which had hundreds of tiny finches feeding in it.

The Ochre Pits and Serpentine Gorge are also well worth a visit. We didn’t go to Standley Chasm as we weren’t going to pay money to see a gorge when we’d seen so much beauty for free. There will be more gorges when we hit Kakadu and Katherine (and we’ll be able to swim in those) so we decided to stop before we were gorged out!

We also met at camp two brothers Mark and David who had this amazing artwork on the pipe carrier on top of their car. Mark painted pictures of the places they were visiting – it really looked amazing. We now have a “Mark Original” on the cap of our pipe also – a demonic looking smiley face!

2009-06-28T19:26:00.001+10:00

HEY EVERYONE, GET ISSUE NUMBER 135 OF AUSTRALIAN 4WD ACTION MAGAZINE. WE ARE FEATURED ON THE DVD!!!

2009-06-28T19:18:00.002+10:00

At the Reptile Park

The Monster Trucks

26th, 27th and 28th June, 2009
Another 3 days have passed and once again we’re preparing to leave. The bearings have been fixed, but it will take a week for the CV joint to arrive from Brisbane. This means we will leave tomorrow morning to head off into the West MacDonnell Ranges for a week, as a lot of it is 2WD suitable or not hard core 4WD, so the Paj will be able to take it. We’ll then return for another couple of days to get the CV replaced, go to the Alice Springs show, and hopefully get a Piranha Power Shower installed under the bonnet (it’s on order too). As we wrote earlier, the Coleman Hot Water On Demand system bumped itself on over some corrugations and the impellor burnt out. A long discussion has followed and we’ve decided this: Boiling water for the washing up has not been a problem, it’s really just the shower we miss. By putting the shower under the bonnet it will save us a lot of space also. So, it’s bye bye Coleman (we’re sending you back home) and hello Piranha! That of course is all dependant on delivery to Alice Springs.

We took the boys to the local Reptile Park which was absolutely fabulous. The exhibits were all based on snakes and lizards of differing types. After a while, they did an informative show (a bit like the Reptile Man that does the birthday parties and stuff) followed by handling the animals. It wasn’t timed or anything, the boys held these animals for as long as they wanted – there was no rush. They were stoked. Even Dan went up and held this snake that curled all over him – never thought I’d see that. Cam of course was in his element. On leaving I said to the owner “Thanks, that was really excellent”, to which Cam corrected “No Mum, that was wicked!” So I guess that was the ultimate seal of approval.

Also, while being here in the NT the boys have taken a liking to AFL. Most of the travelers we meet are from Victoria so there is no hope of them knowing anything about Rugby Union. They sell these AFL collector cards at newsagencies here and the boys are once again obsessed much to our dismay as we have no idea what they’re talking about. Nor do we have the inclination to learn!

It’s time to move on, we’ve spent long enough in one place. I’m getting itchy feet!

2009-06-25T20:33:00.001+10:00

A really cool rock formation Engravings on the Pillar - J Ross is an original the rest are vandals

Chambers Pillar

25th June, 2009
Today saw us leave Alice Springs to Chambers Pillar. This was to be the first leg of our trip across the Simpson Desert. Not to be. On the way we started hearing a rattling noise in the front passenger tyre casings. We traveled on, and took the tyre off at the Pillar to find that we had shattered the upper ball joint and have a ‘worrying’ click in the front CV, both need replacing ASAP.

Well, we were here now, not much to do about it but enjoy the night, because out of all the spares we are carrying, these aren’t one of them. However, once Steve had taken the jack out and took the tyre off, the men of camp surrounded us thicker than the flies. After much conjecture and another beer it was agreed that Steve was right. With the amount of punishing corrugations we are traveling (to the Pillar included), we were lucky to discover this so soon. The more we think about, we heard the same noise doing the Mereenie Loop, and had we paid more attention and trusted our knowledge this would have been fixed before we set off on this leg of our travels. The old adages of pay attention to noises and check your vehicle every day rings true – also we must trust our knowledge of our vehicle and not sweep things under the mud mat, so to speak.

Anyway, enough of that. Chambers Pillar was really great. We didn’t get “the fabulous sunset or sunrise photo” as it was overcast as anything. What I really noticed was that although we have felt this strong, cold wind every day that we’ve been away, this is the first time I’ve “heard” it. It breezed through the tree we were camping next to with a comforting eeriness (if that makes sense). We are remote, and it sounded good.

We climbed up the Pillar and checked out the carvings of the exploration party that named and discovered it and once again marveled at what could be going through these men’s minds to tackle such harsh land. Lucky for Australia that they did.

Another couple were camping there that had a young Aboriginal boy living with them through school terms. This kid was brilliant. He spends spare time with his native family/tribe and is well trained in gathering and indentifying bush tucker and what animal lives down each hole. Needless to say, Cam and Dan were enthralled and loved hiking and exploring with him. From our part, it was great to meet one of the 95% that everyone keeps talking about but we never saw. If we didn’t have to come back to Alice for repairs, we would have traveled with this family for another couple of nights. Oh well.

So, now we sit back at Alice Springs. The boys have given the jumping pillow another bashing and we wait for repairs to be done….

2009-06-22T21:27:00.000+10:00

16th – 24th June, 2009
Made it to Alice Springs. We’ll be spending heaps of time here as it will be our last resort-style stop until after crossing the Simpson (which by the way, still has our heart racing). Also, we’ll wait here until we can catch up with Steve’s brother Dale again. It’s not often we’re in the same country, let alone state or city, so we’ll make the most of it while we can. We’re staying at the MacDonnell Range Big 4, and it is one of the best parks I’ve ever seen. This morning we had free pancakes at the camp kitchen while meeting some of the other locals. There’s a jumping pillow that keeps the boys occupied from breakfast to dinner with a few snack visits in between. I’m constantly amazed at the capacity children have for saying goodbye to “friends” and then instantly making new ones.

The rear springs are fixed and the old Paj is looking much better in the arse, so we’re comfortable about that. Have to take it back on Monday though as they accidentally pinched one of the hoses to the rear poly bags making it hard to inflate. No worries they said, we’ll fix that up for you. I even went so far as to wash the car today. That Lake Eyre mud wasn’t looking too flash.

We also took the boys to the Monster Trucks at Arunga Park. Although Dan thought it was the best thing he’s ever seen, it was an almighty rip-off. It cost us $120 for the family, and we thought we’d see monster trucks. Well, we did – for about a total of 10 minutes. The rest of the show was little pee-wees on trail bikes doing fill ins while the trucks got ready. That’s an adults view, and Dan took what he got and cheered and shouted out for his favourites like a diehard. He loved it. Cam and Dan also got to see their first live fireworks display and it was great. Cheered along by the drunken crowd of lads behind us, they were enthralled and the oohs and aahs were abundant. After Dan had had enough of fist pumping the air in excitement, it was time to go home. We left a bit early and found that we had been parked in this paddock and had to squeeze through this tiny little gap. We got through but then found all the entry and exits had been blocked in also. The only way out was through this dried up river bed. Half way through we found it was pretty deep and we were in pitch black except for the spotties. We reversed out, pumped up the air lockers, and presto, out of that spot in a jiffy. Little did we think that the first time we used our air lockers would be to get us out of a car park in Alice Springs. But there you go - job done!

We also went for a walk around the Desert Park. This is a fabulous attraction. When you enter you are given a recorder with headphones. Each significant spot is numbered and you key that number into the recorder and a message plays with information relating to that spot. Really cool. There are a number of enclosures of native birds, nocturnal animals etc. It appeared to be mating season for the local ducks and thorny devils so the boys got sex education at the same time. Bargain!

Also, we bought ourselves a Cobb Cooker. You’ve got to put this on your camping shopping list. With the amount of places restricting fire places and such, we were really craving a roast meal. We tried a roast cooked on a Cobb by traveling friends John and Kaye at Lake Eyre and it was so tender and juicy! We’ve cooked a curry and roast sausages so far and it is really worth the money.

Alice Springs is also proving to be one of those places that makes you question that old “indigenous” issue. From Coober Pedy to Uluru to Alice Springs you are constantly confronted with the issue under differing guises. In Uluru you are taught about custom, culture, the meaning of tribe and being with family support and friendship. Which sounds great, but it’s white fellas telling us about all this. You go for the didgeridoo lessons, and it’s white fellas giving them. Yet along the way you are faced with the grim reality that the Tribe has a lot of strays out there that are not really keeping their part of the bargain. Off-license liquor shops don’t open until 2:00pm which means the line up to these places starts at around 12:30. Reluctant to give up their place in line, people are urinating along the shopfronts and generally being out of order waiting to buy their six pack of beer (that’s all they’re allowed to buy). As white people, we have to show our identification and address to prove we will not sell our alcohol to the local missions. You walk down the main shopping malls and see the indigenous in the parks or along the arcades and nobody will look at them or even acknowledge their existence. The store fronts are full of Indigenous Art, but it’s all been whitewashed into what the overseas market wants and expects. What’s going wrong here? Are the tribes letting their own people down or is the white fella really to blame here? What effect has the “sorry speech” really had? I’ve always thought we must make up for our sins (even though it was not our generation’s or the last generation’s sins) and do good. But you walk around here, and I fear it is all for nothing. My thoughts and attitudes are in turmoil, and I must travel on to work out my ultimate feelings. I must admit right now however, that I’m disappointed and shocked at what I’m seeing.

2009-06-18T18:26:00.001+10:00

Sunset view from our camp at Palm Valley Dan on two wheels

All of us at Palm Valley

Escarpments at Palm Valley

14th and 15th June, 2009
Packed up bright and early as we wanted to hike around Kings Canyon before heading to Palm Valley. We hiked the Kings Canyon River walk and the scenary was beautiful. I’m going to stop writing about it at this point, because there are only so many ways to describe “red rock, blue sky, white cloud”. Take it from me though – well worth the walk. We didn’t do the ridge walk as Dan would not have had it in him. Also, Steve fell off the trailer the morning before while trying to flatten the canopy down so he was very happy to blame the shorter walk on Dan too. Lately, we can get between 3 and 4 km worth of hiking, but that’s about his limit – good enough though.

Then we drove off to Palm Valley via the Mereenie Loop. Once we left the blacktop, it was about 100km of soul destroying, bone rattling corrugations. Dan got car sick from the juddering and undulations and started vomiting (luckily we gave him the car sick bags as soon as he started saying he didn’t feel well). By the time we got to Palm Valley we were all over it. However, the place has been worth every bit of it. The camp is surrounded by red escarpment and dingoes! Every time you look up there’s another one staring at you from the grasses. We sat around the campfire last night, but kept the torches handy to investigate every rustle we heard. I tried to convince the boys that they wouldn’t come near the tent, while Steve was in the background chasing them away – luckily they believed us and went to bed.

This morning we hiked through the gorges which the place is named after. Amazing – I had to keep reminding myself I’m in Central Australia looking at these little water holes, surrounded by Cycad Palms and the rare Red Cabbage Palm in the middle of these red rock escarpments. Quite surreal.

Richard and Carolyn left after that for Alice which is quite sad – we’ve really enjoyed their company. Carolyn and I swapped details so we could get together in Alice only to find (after they were out of radio range) that we’d given each other our own details back! Hope we find them….

Tomorrow morning we’re heading off to Alice Springs as well. We’ve booked 5 nights at the Big 4 to re-stock and do some repairs…

2009-06-18T18:21:00.001+10:00

Kings Canyon River Walk

There are photos of the night out, but you'll have to pay me for them!!!

13th June, 2009
We finally packed up and left Yulara. We felt so at home there, it came to the point that if we didn’t leave soon, we’d end up not leaving at all. Although it was a peaceful stay, which on the last two days the boys were off and playing all day while Steve and I lounged around camp reading and doing crosswords. But, it was time to go….now we’re in the West McDonnell Ranges and it’s beautiful.

We camped at the Kings Canyon Resort which was brilliant. This place was attached to a Mobil Service Station, had 3 bars and restaurants and overall was really friendly. We met the couple next door – Richard and Carolyn, with their 3 boys Christian, Will and Lachlan. Cam and Dan were set. The boys spent the afternoon playing, and then we left to have dinner at the Outback Bar (where we later met up with Richard and Carolyn). The meals were gigantic and delicious and they had this couple called the Roadies playing guitar and singing. Before long they had all the kids on stage with musical instruments, playing and singing along with microphones. It was brilliant. The lady had them so under control and enthusiastic (reminded me of Mrs Murray!). Then they pulled all the adults up and we had to either sing, dance or generally make fools of ourselves but we had a blast. Such an unexpected night, that we will remember for a long time. We even have the “performance diplomas’ to prove it.

That night, we all made the decision to head into Palm Valley for a night. It is 4WD access only, so of course, we can’t miss that chance…

2009-06-10T15:41:00.003+10:00

Sunset at Uluru Mala Walk at Uluru

Uluru

Valley of the Winds - Kata Tjuta

Skyline view of Kata Tjuta

6th, 7th 8th, 9th 10th, 11th and 12th June, 2009
Leaving Erldunda, the boys are excited to see Uluru, not realizing it would be a few hours before we got within sight of it. About half an hour before you see Uluru there is Mt Connor, which is a huge flat top mesa. The boys went crazy thinking that was Ayres Rock (Steve and I did the same thing 10 years ago). It certainly set the tone for what was in store for them.

The camping grounds here are great. Clean and quiet, without being jam packed on top of one another, so we’ve stayed for a week. Mainly because the boys have been making some great friends here, and it's been a really peaceful stay. Once again John and Kaye have been with us, however they left today so we may not see them now for a while.

The best tour we’ve done is a ranger guided walk around the base of the rock. The ranger is actually living with the local aboriginal tribe so his knowledge of EVERYTHING is amazing. Cam was enthralled. He didn’t leave the rangers side for the entire 2 hours. We all learnt so much.

It’s good to see how attitudes are changing about climbing the rock, although slowly. Even with Steve and I. Ten years ago we climbed the rock without a second thought. Today, we felt uneasy as we let the boys climb up as far as the chain link fence. They wanted to say they’ve been on the rock but it felt wrong. These days it’s discouraged more because of safety issues rather than spiritual. The ranger walks are great in showing that the real meaning and learnings of the rock are found by walking around the base. The achievement of climbing the rock is simply thought of as “white man’s folly”. (Or “minga” as they term the people who climb – it’s the aboriginal word for ant, which is what everyone looks like so high up on the rock).

Next, we did a walk around Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). We only did about 4 km’s of it (return) as that was all Dan had in him. Still, it was beautiful. The deep reds of the rock contrasting against the vibrancy of the blue sky is breathtaking.

Next, Steve’s brother Dale came in with a tour group. He is currently working for a few months in Alice Springs (while organizing his visa’s) as a tour guide. What a treat for the boys. We met him at the sunset viewing station, and then he brought the tour in to camp right opposite our camp site. We joined them for the bonfire and drinks and they boys were beside themselves with happiness. The Japanese girls on tour were taking photos of them like crazy and Cam played up to them like a real pro. They also took charge of showing everyone where the bathrooms were and all. I think the Young family could make a business out of this tour guide stuff. Dale brought an extra swag so Cam could sleep out under the stars with him, but he baulked when he discovered the swags didn’t have a roof, and opted for comfort in the camper. Mind you – even tough Uncle Dale opted to sleep under our awning so he didn’t get “dewy”. Suppose you have to take a break when you can get one.

The dingos are prevalent around here. Steve was confronted by one this morning as he got out of the tent. It had his head stuck in our rubbish bag. The nights are noisy with their howling. Every day there is a sighting within our camp grounds as they’re not fenced off as they are at Fraser Island. We just learnt how to check the footprints - the closer the left and right prints are to a straight line, the more pure the dingo. Apparently the ones here are cross breeding with dogs from the settlements and are not pure anymore.

The birds are another frustration. The little native minor birds (as much as we love them) are constantly in our food. You have to pack everything away as soon as you use it otherwise their beaks are pecking away at it. If you sit still for a moment while eating, they hop on the table and eat the food off your fork.

Cam and Dan are still thriving and growing up more and more everyday. They are learning and experiencing lots, and their independence is astounding. Although we still have some tough discussions, Cam is beginning to take real control of his schooling, and showing maturity in planning his day around studies. Let's hope it continues....

Tomorrow morning will see us packing up and heading off to Kings Canyon for a while...

2009-06-07T20:56:00.002+10:00

The Breakaways The Breakaways

Blower being used over mullock hills in Coober Pedy

5th June, 2009
After 5 hours in the car we have finally made it to the Northern Territory and now we are sitting in a motel room in Erldunda. We didn’t arrive here until 6:00pm, so opted for a room instead of setting up the camper. Not much to report here, just stopping for a night and will set off in the morning for Uluru. Once again the constant hum of generators is with us, but at least we can close the motel room door and block most of it out.

Must say though, that this place has the BEST bakery we have every encountered. Breakfast was a real treat.

On the way we did stop off at the Breakaways which is just about 30 km’s north of Coober Pedy. They were brilliant. The views were breathtakings and encompassed all the earthy colours from whites through to oranges and red to dark browns. I only hope our photos do it justice.

That’s about it for here, we’re just looking forward to Uluru.

2009-06-04T17:10:00.001+10:00

Testing out the mining equipment Signage advising not to walk backwards

In the Old Timer's Mine

1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th June, 2009
We pulled into Coober Pedy and decided to get clean and cosy for a few nights in a caravan park. Steve, Mal and John parked the cars outside the park while checking in – we didn’t want the owners to see the state of the cars. Driving to our sites brought many stares from the current residents as we all pulled in to sites next to each other. Many people came up to speak to us just because of the state of the cars and everyone in the park knew who we were. After two days here, Steve and John went to the car wash and cleaned them down a bit.

Mal and Donna spent two nights here with us – the kids got along famously. Being on the farm Mal’s kids were all kitted out in their denims and pull on boots which Cam thought was the greatest look he’s ever seen (compared to his everyday attire of thongs and boardies). Anyway, Cam’s sneakers were unwearable after Lake Eyre, so he decided he wanted boots as well. We went into town and bought him a pair, so when we got back to camp, he put on his jeans and hat also so he could look just like Teagan and Jayden. You can imagine his surprise when they came back from the shops in boardies and thongs shouting “Look Cam, we’re just like you!” The first night here, we were all so starved for junk food that we had pizza for dinner. Mal and Steve went to buy them and $109 we had a feast for 3 meals on them. Needless to say, we’re over it now.

While here, we went noodling (which is the word for fossicking on the nodules of piled dirt) for opals and found a few little potch chips. Enough to keep the boys happy in their desire for rocks. Then we went to the Old Time Mine Museum which took us through an opal mine, into underground homes and showed us the machinery used in mining. It was one of the best attractions I have ever been to. Really worth the money.
Wednesday saw us meeting Jamie and Miranda with their children Kiara and Jaxon. Great young couple that we ended up watching the State of Origin in their caravan that night. They are Queenslanders too, so it was the first time in ages that I wasn’t in the minority. Can I say – What a great result too! Cameron and Kiara also took their bounty of opal chips and tried to sell them to other people in the park. Ever the capitalists they made $1 each.

It is also here that Cameron has finally seen that he is not the only child that has to do schoolwork. Up to now, all the other children we’ve met have just taken 3 months or so off school without any catch up work to do. This is why Cam’s been balking at his work so badly. Here in Coober Pedy, he has met four other kids that all had to do daily studies, and it finally hit him that he is no exception. I think up til now he thought I was making him do work that he didn’t need to do. Now he seems to realize this is normal and I’m not the bad guy! Whew, the last couple of days have been an absolute pleasure with Cam being motivated and enthusiastic in his work.

Apart from that, we’ve just been chilling out around camp enjoying not having to pack or unpack for a few nights. Next stop – Erldunda where we’ll meet up with John and Kay again.

2009-06-04T16:35:00.004+10:00

Teagan, Cam, Harry and Ned paddling in Lake Eyre Sunset over Lake Eyre

Sign at the beginning advising of "High Risk Danger" The line-up: John's Discovery, Our Pajero, Evan's Delica and Daniel's Triton

The Mitsubishi Line-up

31st June, 2009
Packing up at Coward Springs we all decide to meet at the Halligan Bay turnoff. We decided to go up to William Creek to grab a pie for lunch – any excuse for a Mrs Mac’s. Once again, the skies are buzzing with charter planes. You’re only out of the car for 20 seconds and you’re approached to book a flight. We declined. We were at William Creek 10 years ago, and we were looking forward to re-visiting the place. Sad really – it seemed far more commercial now and we promptly changed our mind about coming in to camp for a night. A quick visit was enough.

Returning back to the Halligan Bay turnoff to wait for the others, we checked out the cars that were returning. They were filthy! We were told by some that the road was so bad it took them two and half hours to drive the 62 km’s to the bay. We were eager and apprehensive at the same time. There was us in the Pajero, Evan and Cathy in the Delica, John and Kay in the Discovery and Daniel and Melissa in the Triton. Although the road wasn’t as bad as everyone said, it was hugely rutted out, and the corrugations were jolting. Having said that, we drove the whole way in All Wheel Drive, we were hoping to get the winch out or at least have to use the new front lockers. Oh well, next time. Even so, it was great to be in the mud.

As soon as we arrived, the kids ran straight down to the lake’s edge and paddled around the water. Cam came back absolutely covered in mud from his elbows down and he stank like mad. Not a good thing really when we can’t wash as there was no fresh water at the camp. We cleaned him up as much as we could – but what could you say, he won’t get another chance to romp in Lake Eyre again any time soon. About now, another family arrived to set up camp – Mal and Donna with their children Teagan, Jayden and Zac. We clicked with them immediately.

After watching the sunset over the Lake, and a quick dinner of hot dogs, we went to bed early. Morning saw another set of campers setting up their wind surfer to go for a ride on the lake. We couldn’t miss that sight, so tramped down the mud again – how cool!

Leaving Lake Eyre, we all drove out to William Creek for goodbyes. Evan and Cathy went up to Oodnadatta, John and Kaye and us were off to Coober Pedy, and Mal and Donna changed their plans and came with us. Pulling in to William Creek, our cars and trailers were completely covered in mud. There was not a clean spot on them. Needless to say, we caused quite a stir with everyone stopping to ask where we’ve been. After another pie, and quick goodbyes (because we’ll probably see everyone in Alice Springs again), it was off to Coober Pedy.

2009-06-04T16:14:00.003+10:00

Blanche Cup

The hot spring Bath Tub

Alberrie Creek

30th May, 2009
We pulled out of Marree and followed the Oodnadatta Track up to Coward Springs. The signs said it all “You are now entering remote territory!” The drive was easy taking us past Alberrie Creek which has all these crazy sculptures on the side of the road. Someone even made up a somewhat human skeleton using old cow, horse or camel bones. Heaps of photo opportunities here. The Old Ghan line lies faithfully to our left as we continue our way north.

Along the way, we stopped off at Blanche’s Teacup and The Bubbler, which are two natural springs supporting plant and animal life found nowhere else on earth. It was absolutely FREEZING which meant we didn’t stick around for long, but the landscape was beautiful and we did get to see a few creatures.

We arrived at Coward Springs and met up with Cathy and Evan, about two hours later John and Kaye turned up. Then another couple (Daniel, Melissa and their daughter Georgia) we all met in Leigh Creek arrived. It’s strange – we are seeing more of these “traveling friends” than we did of our long time friends back home. We are enjoying the convoy, and sharing a fire is always more fun.

Coward Springs is definitely the oasis in the middle of nowhere, including palm trees. The spring itself is exactly like the pictures in the books, but too cold for me. Cameron went in for about one and a half hours although he was purple by the time he came out. Needless to say, he was the cleanest in the family that night.

Around the fire that night, Steve mentioned we were traveling to Halligan’s Bay in the morning – which is the road that takes you down to the water’s edge of Lake Eyre. Within seconds, everyone was in and we looked forward to the convoy of four cars down to the Lake. Ooh, the anticipation….

2009-06-04T15:57:00.002+10:00

Lake Eyre Yacht Club Remote Area Sign at the beginning of the

Oodnadatta Track Fossicking for spikes along the Old Ghan Railway Line

The Ghan Locomotive

28th, 29th May, 2009
We’ve made it to Marree after stopping off at Leigh Creek for some food. After being met at the front drive of the local caravan park by it’s main man Ron, we opted to take a “motel” room for the night. I use the word motel very loosely. We’re in a caravan park and the motel rooms are relocatable quarters used on building sites and such. However, we have our own hot shower (with heaps of pressure) and the boys are excited to sleep in a bed. We are very comfortable and warm.

At night, the park puts on a dinner and campfire for $10 a head. It is open to anyone including the staff and locals around here. What a great night. We sat around the fire with all the other travelers and swapped stories over a few coldies. Steve and I looked over at each other and both knew we were where we wanted to be. We are with other 4WD’ing and camping folk and it’s a great community. The locals are warm and friendly, always ready for a beer, chat or prank (which I still seem to be an easy target for).

We also saw another side of the traveling community – the light aircraft pilots. Had a great chat with our neighbour here, who is flying his two children in his Cessna for a holiday in Coober Pedy. He was with two other groups flying their own planes too. How glamourous does that sound?

We saw John Williamson at the old railway station also. He is filming a story on the Ghan. Cam really wanted to go back and get his autograph for his friend Melissa (who just loves John’s music) but we couldn’t find him again – sorry Lissy, we did try!

This is the place that we first noticed the absolute silence of a town. Most places we’ve been to so far have had the constant drone of a generator going. The generator sounds have been replaced with the constant buzz of the charter planes that crowd the skies with people taking their joy flights over Lake Eyre. Although this is the high season for the outback at the best of times, having the lake filled with water provides an extra boost of tourists which is helping these towns thrive

Evan, Cathy and their boys arrived also. Seems we’re going to be traveling in tandem for a while. Cam is ecstatic about that thought.

Talking a hike along the Old Ghan track we discovered heaps of old railway spikes and nails that were used in building the line. We have collected a few as rare souvenirs of our history. Once again we are reminded of how little attention we paid in school and are thirsting for more education. There is now a huge list of things we need to look up on the internet when we next have access.

The corrugations have now taken a toll on the number plate of the trailer. When we arrived here there was only one screw left holding it in place. Lucky.

Now that we’re at the start of the Oodnadatta Track, we will head off tomorrow for Coward Springs. Can’t wait for the nice warm bath in the open air spring. Sounds like a great place to open a special bottle of wine I’ve been carrying!

2009-06-04T15:42:00.001+10:00

Arkaroola Scenery Cam and Dan along the Ochre Wall

Roasting marshmallows

Escarpment

25th, 26th, 27th May, 2009
I’m sitting by the banks of an old dry river bed sipping on a chardonnay after a long day of hiking and 4WD’ing. How lucky am I? We are at Arkaroola in the Gammon Ranges which is part of the Flinders Ranges in SA. The place is beautiful. We are camping on the banks of a dried river bed, so we’re hoping it won’t rain. If it does, we’ll be flooded out – like we were warned!

We arrived Monday, set up camp and had a lazy late afternoon building the fire and just settling in.

Tuesday, we went for a drive and hiked through the gorges. Magnificent! - every hill we drove up or corner we came around opened up to another fabulous vista. This was also Steve’s first opportunity to do some 4WD’ing, although not hard-core in any way, it was a lot of fun.

A lot of people told us we must see the Flinders Ranges, but we were always willing to forego them. We’re so glad now that we didn’t. The boys are doing so much hiking and exploring we hardly see them all day. By the time it’s bed-time there are no complaints just very tired faces.

Wednesday – we are sitting around camp doing a bit of housekeeping. Steve has the chainsaw out and is getting ready for tonight’s fire. John and Kay have arrived in Arkaroola as well, so they will join us tonight for the fire.

Cameron, Ned and Harry went for what we thought was a little bush walk. An hour later we looked up and they were at the top of the mountain where we are camped. What an adventure. I suppose Cam took our constant suggestions of going off for an explore a little toooooo far, but he had a ball. The boys we are camping with are real adventurers, and Cam is having a great time just going off with them and searching our environment. He seems to be finding an independence in him that either we didn’t allow before or he didn’t know he had – regardless, it fits him well.

Tomorrow we will leave here and start our journey up the Oodnadatta Track. We’ll stock up first at Leigh Creek, and see how far up we can get. Hopefully, the weather will start to warm up a bit more the further north we travel. Last night in particular was freezing, with it being 2 degrees when we woke up at 8:00am.

2009-06-01T22:17:00.002+10:00

View over Leigh Creek Coal Mine

22nd, 23rd, 24th May, 2009
We are now camping at Leigh Creek. It’s a nicely set up mining town with all facilities available – at reasonable prices. We were only going to stay for two nights, but then a family from Melbourne (Evan, Cathy and their 3 sons Jack, Harry and Ned) turned up. Straight away the boys were introduced and off to play. How could we leave after only one night. So we stayed on and it has proven worthwhile.

Cam has now finished his first two weeks of Home Schooling, which has been a task in itself. Although I feel I now know the process a lot better, Cam still has a long way to go towards improving his motivation. However, it's still early days and I'm sure he get better at it.

While here, we are doing a lot of repairs. Washing down all the rubber seals on the trailer and car, siliconing up the gaps (as we are getting heaps of dirt inside). The trailer light plug came loose from the car and tore off, so Steve managed to buy some form of convertor and then adapt it to fit our connection. The connection in the charger on the power tank came loose, so Steve soldered it back into place. Now it works like a charm. The Coleman Hot Water System vibrated itself on and burnt out the pump. We only just replaced this before we left. We’ve sent an SOS to Joan at home to race to Penrith to buy us another and post it on to us at Coober Pedy – she has just reported “mission accomplished”. We really want to have the shower available while in the Desert. These corrugations are playing havoc, but we will prevail in the end. At least Steve’s bush mechanic skills are being put to good use.

The first two days and nights had the wind blowing a gale. On the third night it brought the rain which had us lying awake all night wondering if we’d ever get out of here. That’s the night we had a fire along with our new neighbours and other travelers we met at Montecollina Bore. Evan and Cathy mentioned they were off the next day to Arkaroola, so we promptly invited ourselves along. That is, if we can pack up a dry camp…..

2009-05-24T11:58:00.001+10:00

Montecollina Bore Campsite

Sunset

Thursday, 21st May 2009
As if there was any doubt – Steve made it over the sand dunes and we managed to leave Coongie Lakes. After showering and then filling up in Innamincka (including a quick beer or two) we drove down the Strzelecki Track and made it as far as the Montecollina Bore and camped for the night. It was a quiet night with a beautiful sunset and even prettier sunrise (so says Steve who couldn’t be bothered getting the tripod out). The water coming out of the bore was hotter than shower water. The boys could hardly keep their hands under the stream to wash their faces. A quick thanks to those who have bought shares in the Moomba Geo-thermal plant – the Strzlecki was nicely graded which meant quite a comfortable drive. Only time for a one night stop, must make it to Leigh Creek to fill up on supplies that we won’t have to pay an arm and a leg for.

2009-05-22T17:33:00.002+10:00

Sunset over Coongie Lake as seen from our campsite The killer swarm of mossies each night

Our campsite with the lake behind us which is actually what our tent opens up to

A sunset picture over the lake

17th, 18th, 19th and 20th May, 2009
Here we are at the Coongie Lakes. It’s beautiful. Our campsite is right on the lake front with sandy beach and dunes for the kids to play in. Cam and Dan are in their element. They are straight out of the tent and start playing in the sand. They’ve spent all their time making sand balls which has just resulted in a huge ball fight between them and Steve. Not sure who won, but Steve and Cam ended up in the lake for a refreshing dip. We are camping with Allan and Roslyn whom we met in Cameron Corner. They are great company. Taking a drive today found out there is not that much to see, and that this is the kind of place you come to to do nothing else but chill out. Cam did the whole drive standing on the side sills, even through the water crossings – he was stoked. These are the things we did as kids, and it’s great that Cam is having this same opportunity. After the drive we had a liquid lunch by camp with Allan and Ros, so I guess you could say we are “chilling out”.

We have a resident pelican that calmly patrols our shore at regular intervals each day, and a local dingo that scours our campsite each day. Cam got out of the tent this morning to come face to face with it – he was really excited and spooked at the same time. This has been a really refreshing stop for us – peaceful and fun. Cam and I even spent a lot of time getting up to date on his schoolwork.

All day is spent fighting off the flies – we are so glad for the fly nets we bought to wear over our hats. When night time comes it’s a different story. Then come the killer moths and mossies by the droves. We took a photo of the roof of our annex one night and I swear there were more than a hundred mossies milling around up there looking for a free feed. At about 7:00pm we all go inside the tent and play card/board games until bedtime. It’s always an early night, but good family time.

Since we are staying for four nights, we bought the camp shower out. That was a welcome luxury. Living in this sand has made our skin so dry, it was great to be clean and moisturized for a change. Also, this is the first time we have set up the camp toilet – which is working a treat. The boys love it. It’s not often you get to sit on the loo looking out over a beautiful lake. Doesn’t feel like we’re roughing it at all.

Tomorrow we will pack up and start traveling back to civilization and prepare ourselves for the trepidation of the Simpson Desert. We are hearing a lot of differing stories about traveling the Simpson from East to West, and traveling with a trailer, but I’m sure Steve can get us through. If not, at least he’ll have a reason to lie awake every night!!!

2009-05-22T17:12:00.003+10:00

Dan on a Coolibah tree Cam on a Coolibah tree

Getting petrol at the Innamincka Trading Post

The Innamincka Hotel

The Dig Tree The Dig Tree

View across the Cooper River

Friday 15th May
We are now in Innamincka camping along the Cooper River by a coolibah tree, the galahs riotous in the trees above – how Australian is that?

We traveled here via the Old Strzelecki Track. It started off pretty good with the boys enjoying the “woopty doo’s” our talk for the continuous undulations that feel like you’re riding a roller coaster. After about a half hour of this, Dan decided he was going to throw up. A very quick pull over and a lot of fresh air stopped this from happening, and Dan rode the rest of the way with the window open. We soon worked out that the red flags on top of the woopty’s meant there was a washout over the rise. The track was in pretty good condition until about 50 km’s outside of Innamincka. Then we were on some of the most juddering corrugations we have ever been on. I almost needed to stop and put on the sports bra!

We noticed at Cameron Corner that our Micky Thompson MTZ’s tread was being sliced off on the outside. Thought to ourselves “Now, that’s not supposed to happen.” After doing the Old Strzlecki, we worked this out: on the few occasions that we hit a dip or washout too quickly, the front bullbar was slicing the lugs off. While this is annoying in itself, at least we know it’s not the fault of the tyre.

We went to the site of the Dig Tree and of Burke’s grave. I’ve often marveled at the amount of history that people get to see when they’ve returned from Europe, but today have been humbled by my own country’s history. Between Milparinka and Innamincka the history of our first explorers is amazing and their achievements even more so. I feel like ripping open my old school books and re-learning all over again. Cam doesn’t quite understand the importance yet, but I feel in a couple of years time when he is back in the schoolroom learning about this stuff it will finally click and he’ll be able to say “I’ve been there” or “I’ve seen that”! Yes, he’ll probably be that child!

Steve and I are sitting down for a coldie at camp (even though we’ve just had a couple at the Innamincka Pub), and the boys are down fossicking by the river. They’re searching for firewood for tonight.

While the camping is good, we are missing the warmth and friendliness of Milparinka and Cameron Corner.

The campfire is being lit now, and my glass needs refilling. Tomorrow, we’re off to camp at the Coongee Lakes for a couple of nights. We are traveling with another couple from QLD – Allan and Roslyn that we met in Cameron Corner. It will be nice again to have new company. We hear it’s fabulous!!! Can’t wait to report for myself.

2009-05-22T17:08:00.003+10:00

Emus along the Middle Road Cameron behind the bar at Cameron Corner with Fenn and Bill

Cam, Steve and Dan on Cameron Corner's version of "Little Red"
Cameron on the QLD Border driving in to the Corner Store

All of us with a hand covering the three states borders - QLD, NSW and SA

The borderlines

Cam and Dan "camping at Cameron Corner"

Thursday 14th May, 2009
We’ve made it to Cameron Corner!!! It took a long time to get here though.

After arriving back in Broken Hill on Friday afternoon, we made it to Miss Pat’s Windscreens who just happened to have a rear window for our car in stock. They tinted it that afternoon, then opened for us on Saturday to finish the job. We were advised not to take the car on corrugated roads for a day, so hung around Broken Hill just to relax and do “not a lot”. Broken Hill has certainly been a place where we’ve needed a lot of things. I must say, it’s not a very pretty town but the professional services we have encountered along the way have been some of the best. It rings true that it’s the people that make a town!!!

Monday saw us packed up and driving back to Milparinka. The boys were hanging out for another meal of fish and chips cooked by Phyl at the pub – she didn’t disappoint. Although Milparinka is steeped in history of gold mining and exploration – we’ll always remember it for the hospitality of Phyl. Cam also ripped two toe-nails off his foot while trying to dig out a huge lump of rock – ouch. He’s now limping and hopping everywhere. While there we did a lot of fossicking, visited the grave of James Poole, Sturt’s Cairn and walked along Evelyn Creek (now stone dry), and of course, met some of the locals over a coldie at the pub.

Wednesday had us arriving in Cameron Corner. First we had to make a quick stop in Tibbooburra to pick up some school supplies at the School Of The Air. Then we took the Middle Road through Sturt National Park to Cameron Corner. I think of National Parks as being green and full of vegetation and wildlife. Not so anymore. The surroundings are vast and dry. Once we were within about 50 km’s of Cameron Corner there wasn’t even any wildlife anymore.

Welcome to Corner Country! Apart from the place being on 3 corners (SA, NSW and QLD) the iconic spot is the Corner Store. It is physically located in QLD, has a SA telephone number, and a NSW postal address. How confusing is that? The store is full of memorabilia of all the people that have visited – hats, stickers, business cards, road signs anything. Your camping fee is a $5.00 note that has a tack stuck in the middle of it, then wrapped around a 20cent piece for weight. You then have to toss it into the air so that it sticks in the roof. If you smash a light bulb – you have to shout the bar a drink. All proceeds are cleared from the roof yearly and donated to the RFDS. I think they said they were able to donate about $8,000 last year. Must mention that Steve got in first go. This allows him to state “I got it up at Cameron Corner”. Our first night was a quiet one, where we cooked our own dinner and then shared a campfire with another couple (Jo and John from Keith SA) to roast marshmallows for dessert. This was a really nice evening and we enjoyed the conversations – hopefully Jo and John will join us next year for a trip to the Cape. The second night was a different story. We were lucky enough to have Bill, Fenn and Cheryl in residence and boy – did they put on their ‘special’ brand of hospitality. These guys have traveled everywhere and the stories they share are hilarious. Bill and Fenn bounce off each other better than Abbot and Costello. Cameron and Dan were fussed over like crazy (again) and they loved all the attention, although this time it was a lot more raucous from Bill and Fenn. Even “Officer Mitchell” paid a visit resulting in Cam and Dan both being charged with numerous offences which had to be paid by Steve buying more beer. I tried to tell Officer Mitchell that I had been “very, very naughty and needed dealing with but he ran off to Steve. Don’t know if that’s good or bad??? Cam had heaps of photos taken of himself behind the bar and he was treated like royalty. What a fabulous night. A good night sleep listening to the dingoes howling in the distance (I hope) and it’s off to Innamincka via the Old Strzelecki Track.

2009-05-08T18:22:00.002+10:00

View of the plains along the Silver City Highway to Milparinka Steve at the bar of the Albert Hotel, Milparinka

Dan feeding the animals with Phyl, and Cam watching

Friday, 8th May, 2009
I don’t really know where to begin. After one night in Milparinka, here we sit again at Broken Hill!!! After driving 290km to Milpararinka we discovered while we were setting up camp that we had shattered the rear windscreen. We had no choice but to return to Broken Hill as there are no other services around. Now we know, when you travel on these corrugated roads (towing a trailer – even though you have a stone guard) you cover the rear window with a flattened out cardboard box – this stops all the ricochets. Anyway, this is our first impression of Milparinka….

We had geared the boys up for a solid 3-4 hour drive, took them to McDonald’s for breakfast (last maccas for a long time – or so we thought) so we were ready. The drive was beautiful. Every corner hid a different vista. The earthy colours of the land contrasting against the bright blue of the sky were wondrous. The feeling of anticipation rose as we realized that we were truly entering the ‘outback’. About time!!! The road stretched long ahead of us, flanked by vast properties and salt lakes. The sheep were being mustered, so we were hoping to visit a station for the boys to see it. The plains were abundant with kangaroos and emus running wild, while the sky was constantly patrolled by wedgetail eagles whose wingspans reached at least 2 meters. Magnificent.

Cam and Dan finally put the DS’s and Movies away to search the plains for wildlife. They were finally finding their travel groove. They delighted in spotting ‘mirages’ for the first time, and willy willy’s kicking up the dust.

We reached Milparinka and set up our first “free” camp on the dry banks of an old river bed. This is when we noticed the shattered window – it was still in situ but totally shattered like honeycomb. Thank God for the satellite phone. A quick call to Tim at the Broken Hill Caravan Park (who has saved us on a number of occasions) and we had booked to come back, and he had found us a smash repairer that just happened to have a window for a Pajero NM in stock. What are the chances of that happening in Broken Hill? Having fixed all that, what would be the next logical thing to do…..go to the pub for a beer.

Milparinka is known for it’s pub – now we know why. We were greeted by Phyl who is one great honest lady. Knows everything you need to know and cooks a great meal. I have never felt so at home in a pub anywhere, than I have at Phyl’s. It was more like sitting in your loungeroom – but with more travelers memorabilia. After dinner was eaten and cleared away, in came the baby sheep and goat, which Cam and Dan delighted in feeding their nightly bottle of milk. Phyl also took the boys out fossicking, and gave Cam a piece of petrified wood that was beginning to opalize. He was absolutely wrapped.

So now we have left Milparinka to come back to Broken Hill. The boys have just discovered that one of the friends they made earlier is still here, so they are ecstatic. Cam even went in the pool for a swim – we watched while wearing our fleeces. The usual flock of cockatoos have just flown past and we have that sense of de-ja-vu – way cool. We’ll now be here until Monday and can’t wait to get back to Milparinka and share another beer with Phyl.

2009-05-06T18:26:00.002+10:00

Mad Max's Interceptor at the Silverton Hotel Cam taking a lesson in the old schoolroom in Silverton

One of the painted utes at Silverton

The RFDS hangar

The Sculptor Symposium

Wednesday, 6th May, 2009
Here we are at Broken Hill. We arrived on Saturday 2nd May to a total meltdown from the boys. It was a long drive from Mungo NP, and the boys had had enough. We always knew there would be a few days of long driving, but have now re-thought.

We only planned to stay here for two nights, but kept extending for different reasons. Firstly, my laptop died a quiet death, so we stayed on for Steve to fix it, but it wasn’t to be. Now I sit typing on my NEW faster, sexier laptop! Yesterday Dan kept complaining about it hurting to eat, which didn’t get better this morning. An emergency appointment was made at the Broken Hill Dental Centre. I was a bit dubious about this considering we knew nothing about the professional services in this place. What a surprise – a professional clinic with children’s waiting room and playstation, with staff that were the best I have ever encountered. Happily I report there were no cavities, only some food stuck in between his teeth. It’s also been good having another day or so to repack the car – now that we know what is used regularly or not.

It is here in Broken Hill that you truly get to understand the population of “Grey Nomads”. Every day, around 3:00pm the caravans turn up in their droves. They set up their caravans or Winnebagos along with their satellite dishes and flat screen LCD TV’s, and stroll around with beer in hand to check out everyone else’s set up. If they’re lucky, they’re invited onto another nomad’s territory for a closer inspection. We signed on to the wireless internet today and there is even a special wireless network site for Nomads. Funnily enough, they don’t seem to talk to us much – we’re obviously not grey enough yet.

What have we seen while we’ve been here?
The Symposium Desert: After a 1.2km hike up a hill, you get to view a symposium of sculptures against the natural outback landscape and skyline. We did this at sunset and it was spectacular. 12 sculptors from around the world were invited to come to Broken Hill to make these formations (which stand about 1 – 2 metres high) in 1993. One is even made by a local un-named resident of Katoomba (for my locals). Cameron was beside himself with joy on the hike up as the track was scattered full of natural quartz and pyrite. His pockets were so full he could hardly walk.

Silverton: This is a historic village that was in it’s prime in the 1800’s. It is probably best known for being the location of filming for Mad Max II, Dirty Deeds, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the RFDS series and XXXX beer ads. The original "Interceptor" from Mad Max is still standing in front of the Silverton Hotel, along with heaps of memorabilia of the movie. There was also an old school house full of school time stories and stuff which Cam loved. He got to sit at the old desks, write with a nib and ink and realize how good schooling is now. It’s been a highlight for him so far.

From here you drive to the Mundi Mundi Lookout where you feel like you’re on the edge of the world as you look out across the flatlands of the Mundi Mundi plains that stretch out for an eternity.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service: We did a tour around the headquarters for the RFDS. Saw the radio room, the planes and a museum with the general history of the service. Steve loved this.

The nightly flock of 100’s of cockatoos is flying past right now and we’re hoping they don’t decide again to roost in the tree at our camp spot like last night. They shat all over our trailer. Not so lucky – here they are. Better not shit on my new laptop as I’m typing.

Tomorrow we are off to Milparinka. Now it feels like we are going to do and see what we set out to. Leaving the city and towns behind us, we are now at the entrance to the greater outback – can’t wait.

2009-05-03T16:40:00.002+10:00

Views from the old woolshed on Mungo Lake All of us on the "Walls of China" The "Walls of China"

View across Mungo Lake

Friday, 1st May, 2009
The sun is about to set, and we are sitting around the campfire in Mungo National Park. It feels so good.

The road to Mungo NP finally re-opened and we came in on Wednesday. Once again setting up has been quick and easy. We are still finetuning where everything goes once camp is erected, but we’re getting there. Travelling with the camper/trailer certainly has advantages – like a really comfortable night sleep.

Mungo Fact sheet:
"Mungo NP covers much of an ancient dry lakebed system in southwest NSW. During the last ice ages, Lake Mungo was one of a chain of freshwater lakes strung along Willandra Creek, then a main channel of the Lachlan River. These dry lakebeds preserve the longest continual record of aboriginal life in Australia, dating from approximately 40,000 years ago to the present day. The lunette (or “walls”) contain extremely well preserved campfires, cooking hearths and burials. The oldest recorded cremation in the world has been found at Mungo. The Willandra Lakes region is a major part of the jigsaw of Australian and world archaeology."

This place is really amazing. It’s great to have a campfire each night and enjoy the socialization a fire naturally brings with it. We’ve had the roast lamb in the dutch oven, slow-cooked in the fire embers – YUM! However, no leftovers for tonight’s dinner, so it will probably be noodles. The bush walks are great with wildlife such as kangaroos and shinglebacks being regularly sighted. The boys are so noisy everything else runs away before we get there. You actually walk down into the basin of the dried lake and lookout to the white walls of the lake. They stand out along the horizon bright and white against the blue sky and are nicknamed the “Wall of China” – fair comparison.

Today we went for a drive along the dried basin of the lake to the Wall of China. Amazing! It felt like we were hiking on another planet – bit like the moon and mars rolled into one. The boys went crazy running up and rolling down the sand dunes. Then it was time to drive back to camp, which included many sightings of kangaroos and emus running in the bushland, to be in time for showers at the Information Centre.

Dan rode his pushbike on two wheels for the first time today!!!

The satellite phone is working well. We had to test it out a few times for the sheer fun of it. We’ve set up the solar panel which is keeping up with the boys nightly playstation and movie fest, and also recharging our batteries which in turn runs our inverter which then charges our myriad of lights, cameras and PC.

Tomorrow we are driving to Broken Hill. That will be our chance to re-stock our food supplies – most importantly fruit tingles – ready to drive on to Cameron Corner.

2009-04-27T19:43:00.003+10:00

View across the Murrumbidgee - the final resting place

Murrumbidgee River, Gundagai

View across the plains driving out to Hay

Viv and Dan along the Murray River, Mildura
View along the Murray River, Mildura

Monday 27th April, 2009
Here we are camping-in-style (that’s code-word for sitting in a Deluxe Suite Cabin) in Mildura. It has rained since the day we left and we’ve opted for a bit of extra comfort. Cam and Dan are crying because they want to be in the tent. They say, “We’re supposed to be camping – we want to sleep in the tent!!!” Frustrating, but it bodes well to the amount of camping they are in for.

We started our journey a couple days late, and left the mountains on Anzac Day. Time was getting away from us and we didn’t want to start this adventure stressed and pushed for time. After all, what’s a couple of days in a 12 month plan right? We’re creating our own path, so chose to pack peacefully.

Day one brought us to Gundagai. It was bucketing with rain and around 4 degrees, so we chose to book a cabin for the night. Our purpose in Gundagai was solely to scatter my Mum’s ashes on the Murrimbidgee River. She passed around 7 years ago, and this was her final wish. Now was our moment to grant it. Cam was 10 months old when she passed, and Dan wasn’t even thought of. I wasn’t sure how they would understand what we were doing so Steve told them that we were scattering memories of Grandma. I was so surprised when both of them said some very touching words that brought tears to our eyes – I didn’t think they had it in them – as they say, “from the mouths of babes”. They did us proud. Now that Mum was home and free it was time to continue.

Day two brought us to Hay. Again, not much to write about, just freezing cold and raining again. We did set up the trailer though, and I must say “I LOVE JOHNNO!”. The whole set up was terrific. We were fully set up with kitchen and bedding within 15 minutes – and that’s the first time! We were enjoying an open sky night, but soon had to set up the awning also, which gave us plenty of room for table and chairs and everyone to sit under to eat. What more can you ask for. The drawer access and under bed storage was a treat too. I feel like I’m camping in a palace.

Day three brings us to Mildura. The drive here was a stark contrast to the Blue Mountains. The farms and fields stretch as far as the horizon, and not a hill or mountain in sight. The greenness of Gundagai, stretched to a dryness of Hay, back to the green/lush properties of Mildura. We are waiting to get to the Mungo National Park which has currently closed it’s access due to the amount of rain we’ve had. Not a bad thing though, we’re right on the Murray River and it’s at least 13 degrees warmer. The car seems to be sagging in the arse a bit, even with the rear poly bags set at 30 psi. We’re going to pop into the local 4WD workshop and see if we can get some new heavy duty springs fitted. Fuel usage is a bit of a surprise as well. While the Paj is doing well with the new exhaust which has added a few extra horse power we need to slow down, relax and sit at 100K to get better fuel economy. We will get about 800K from 160ltrs at highway speeds but expect to do better on the dirt as we will be going slower.

The hardest part right now is understanding that we don’t have to be in any hurry. There are no timetables, no rules – just adventure. Steve and I often look at each other and have to prompt each other to say “Who Cares? Tomorrow’s another day. We are looking forward to spending our first night “in the middle of nowhere!” It can’t come soon enough.

2009-04-07T15:41:00.013+10:00

Packing the car and trailer

Will it all fit in? All packed and seconds from leaving

We’ve always believed it’s important to have a dream, something to work towards. Well, our dream is now a reality. We are finally leaving the rat-race behind, packing the family up and travelling the road less travelled. (Although it does seem this road is getting more and more travellers these days)

We’re Steve and Viv Young, and along with our two sons Cameron (8) and Daniel (4) we’re off on a year long trek around Australia. We’ve always had a love of four wheel driving and camping, having children simply enhanced it. Cam and Dan both experienced their first campout at 2 weeks old, and they have loved it ever since. For Cam it’s all about the destination – he loves the campfires, the fossicking, the wildlife, the environment and lifestyle. On the other hand, for Dan it’s all about the journey – the rougher, steeper, muddier the road the better, as he constantly reminds Dad to “put it into low range”.

Steve has wrapped up his work with American Express already, and I will say good-bye to my workmates at Suncorp on the 9th April. This will really mark the true beginning for me. Cam has been enrolled in the School of Distance Education so he can continue his Grade 2 studies. At regular intervals dependant on our itinerary, they send us a USB key with all his classes downloaded, and we send it back on completion. A new key will be waiting at our next advised stop. How easy is that?

As we prepare to leave in 16 days, there’s no time now for fears or anxiety. Now we are taken over by exhilaration and the unbelievable realization of how fortunate we are to be in a position to do this.

How will we get there? The Pajero NM of course! We will also be towing a Johnno’s Off Road Camper Trailer. For those who know us well – Yes, we’ve eaten our words and have opted for comfort and a speedy camp set-up. Let’s face it - we are getting older.

The Paj has received a few modifications, such as: 2.5”lift; 81ltr long range aux fuel tank; Garmin UHF radio; Rhino roof rack; Dual batteries; Hella 4000 spotties; ARB steel front bar fitted with an 10,000lb Ox TJM winch; Micky Thompson MTZ’s; Rear Polly Bags; Front ARB Locker; In-dash GPS linked to the laptop; 60ltr Waeco fridge fitted into our own custom shelving in the rear; and most importantly the Option Audio Media system mounted in the headrests.

Now all we have to do is have the farewell party before the tenants move in. Wonder if they'll clean up the mess too?