Week 11 – Coral Bay to Perth – 1625 kms
Day 71 we left beautiful Coral Bay behind and headed for Shark Bay and Monkey Mia. On the way we detoured into Carnarvon for a quick look, a large service town for the Coral Coast. Finally we reached Shark Bay, a fantastic peninsula with white sands and lovely turquoise water. As time was getting away from us, we decided to only stop at the Hamelin Pool Stromatolites and Telegraph station. Stromatolites are the oldest living organism on the planet. The water in Hamelin Bay is twice as salty as usual sea water, caused by a sand bar across the bay’s entrance and rapid evaporation from the shallow water. Stromatolites are composed of bacteria and algae and animals that feed off these substances cannot tolerate such salty conditions, as a result stromatolities grow here undistributed. They are extremely slow growing and only grow at a maximum of 0.3mm a year. Our stop for the night was the Monkey Mia Dolphin resort, an outdated resort located on a beautiful clear turquoise bay. Thus we quickly set up the van and then watched the sunset over the bay.
Day 72 we participated in what Monkey Mia is famous for, the daily beach feeding of the wild dolphins. This consists of a very orchestrated show, commencing with entry into the water to approximately 40cm depth of approximately 200 people in a straight line to watch the rangers wade in the water being followed by the dolphins along the line for all to see, whilst explain all about the history of the dolphins visiting the beach and the dolphins habits. After approximately 40 minutes of this five people at random, are chosen from the crowd to hand feed one dolphin each. Luckily for Adelaide she was one of the chosen ones. This is repeated up to 3 times a morning depending on how often the dolphins decide to come in. The rest of the day was spent enjoying the resort; playing beach volleyball, riding a pedal boat, watching the dolphins and turtles playing in the water, swimming, participating in happy hour and reading a book, life is pretty tough.
Day 73, again it was time to move on, this time to Kalbarrie. However, prior to leaving Shark Bay there were still a number of attractions to visit. The first was a quick visit into Francois Peron National Park to visit the old station shearing shed and shearer quarters and to learn about Project Eden, a project to try and eradicate feral animals in the area to allow the native flora and fauna to once again thrive. Secondly it was into Denham the only town in Shark Bay, a town that in the next few years I am sure will double if not triple in size to support the increase in tourism. Finally Shell Beach, shell beach is made up of countless tiny cockle shells up to 10m in depth in places and stretching some 120kms. The shells were once quarried and used as building bricks in some of the early buildings.
Day 74 am, was spent learning about the locals wildflowers through a guided tour at the local wildflower centre, which is contained within the Kalbarrie National Park. There is over 8,000 different species of wildflowers in the surrounding area. The afternoon was spent exploring Kalbarrie National Park and relaxing at the caravan. The exploring of the national park took shorter than expected as we are all feeling very gorged and lookout over exposed and given the weather was very warm elected not to even undertaken the short walk to Z-bend lookout. However given that we had driven to the park we did make the effort to visit Natures Window and the Loop lookout. Natures window was well worth the short walk as through a natural rock arch the gorge of the Murchison River below is beautiful framed.
Day 75 saw us all wake up flat, the mornings are cold and today is to be our last night on the road before Perth, which signals the end of our trip. Not looking forward to another long day driving and the approach of Perth we slowly packed up and headed off. First stop on the way to Jurien Bay was the Principality of Hutt River. The Principality of Hutt River is not considered to be part of Australia and has its own ruler Prince Leonard, passport, currency and stamps. Leonard Casley a farmer who was appalled by new wheat quotas, succeeded from the state of Western Australia in 1970. Leonard understood the Australian constitution to a tee and managed to negotiate his way through a number of loop holes to form the principality. Leonard and the other citizens of Hutt River are no longer required to pay any taxes to the Australian Government as they are not considered to be Australian citizens. We were fortunate enough to be given a guided tour of the Principality of Hutt River by Prince Leonard himself and his lovely wife Princess Shirley. Prince Leonard was a very interesting and unassuming man now in his mid-eighties. The children thought this experience was great and loved buying stamps and obtaining the required visa to enter Hutt River. The second stop was the Pink Lakes, the water of the lakes is pink due to the naturally produced carotene in the water. Final stop for the day was Jurien Bay, a small seaside village approximately 250kms from Perth.
Day 76 saw us pack up the van for the final time and head off to the Pinnacles, natural limestone formations formed many of million of years ago contained within a sandy like desert environment in the middle of nowhere. Then it was onto Perth, specifically Coogee Beach, the car and van hand-over location. The afternoon was spent walking along the beach, setting up the van for the final time and watching the AFL grand final, go The Saints.
Day 77, a day spent exploring Fremantle and cleaning and packing up the van, ready for the hand-over to the Jefferies. The signal of the end of the van experience, an experience that hopefully gives all of us, especially the children long lasting happy memories, that’s living the dream.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Week 10 – Karijini National Park to Coral Bay – 1450 kms
Week 10 – Karijini National Park to Coral Bay – 1450 kms
Day 64 was again spent exploring Karijini National Park. This time we headed off to the western side of the park and went on an exhilarating walk in Hancock Gorge. Hancock Gorge was probably the most spectacular gorge walk we have been on, that’s saying a lot as we were starting to feel very Gorged out (just like the Church experience in Europe). The walk started with a steep cliff descent, followed by a ladder to get you to the floor of the gorge. Just a few meters from the bottom of the ladder Octavia came face to face with our first live snake for the holiday, an olive python which was approx 4 foot long. Without a scream but backing away very quickly and with a very shaky voice, she quietly explained what she saw. Once a suitable path was found we all moved loudly past the snake, keeping a very close eye on its movements. The next part of the walk was along the side of the river bed, often requiring our rock climbing skills or alternatively the need to swim through some very cold water. The gorge opened up into a beautiful natural amphitheatre. Next for the adventurous ones there was a spider walk through a very tight section of the gorge into Kermit’s pool, a breathtaking rock pool. For well equipped mountaineers the walk could continue, for us it was too challenging and thus Kermit’s pool marked the end of the trial, After the strenuous morning walk Pete and Fred decided to spend the late afternoon resting whilst the girls and I headed back to Dales Gorge, this time exploring Circular Pool. The national park has a wonderful junior ranger program and thus the children participated in the required activities diligently to ensure that they would earn their Junior Ranger badges, Thankfully, there was success all around and we now have 3 Karijini junior rangers.
Day 65 saw us depart Karijini and start to head towards Exmouth. Given the drive was about 8 hours long, we decided to break the trip at Nanutarra Roadhouse, an interesting experience. The woman working in the restaurant was a true delight, as I witnessed her tell an elderly German tourist as he was having trouble explaining his order, to not mess with her. I suppose living in the middle of nowhere can bring out people’s best qualities. On the way to Nanutarra we detoured to Tom Price and went on an Iron Ore mining tour. Pete was fascinated by the money the train drivers make and thus I can see that if anything anything happens to Geoffrey Thompson’s he will be heading to Tom Price!
Day 66 we left Nanutarra early and completed our journey to Exmouth. After setting up and all feeling quite drained from the 2 days of long driving, we headed to the local beach and swam and snorkeled the afternoon away. The early evening was completed by a visit to the wreck of the SS Mildura, a cattle ship which was wreck in bad weather in the early 1900’s and the lighthouse. We then enjoyed one of our best meals of the holiday, Indian curries prepared by Sri Lankan chef in the local Exmouth pub.
Day 67 was spent exploring Ningaloo Reef from Cape Range National Park. We all enjoyed some great swimming and snorkeling straight off the beach at Turquoise Bay and Oyster Stack, including a very pleasant drift snorkel at Turquoise Bay. Oyster Stack was fantastic, great coral and a wide range of marine life all in under 1.5 metres of water.
Day 68 saw us move off to Coral Bay to explore a different section of the Ningaloo Reef. Coral Bay is a tiny seaside town on the edge of this wonderful reef. We can only hope that Coral Bay can keep its quaint seaside charm in the years to come. Once again we spent the afternoon relaxing by swimming and snorkeling off the beach. There were two highlights to the afternoon the first was participating in the daily feeding of the Spangle Emperor off the beach and the second was once again catching up with the Dagassan family.
Day 69 saw us head off on a Quad Bike snorkeling tour, the children especially Fred think that it is the best thing we have done for the whole trip. The tour involved Pete and I each riding a quad bike with a child as a passenger, the third child went with the guide though sand dunes and along the beach. We stopped at Oyster Bridge and The Lagoon for a snorkel. Oyster Bridge was a great little cove, very protective and only about 2 meters deep with lots of coral and marine life. Fred voted Mum as the safest driver, Dad as a crazy driver and the Guide as a very crazy driver. We were fortunate to be the only ones on the tour and thus we had the beach and the bay to ourselves. The afternoon saw us again snorkel off Coral Bay’s main beach at Bill’s bay and take a stroll to see the Reef Shark at the Shark Sanctuary approximately 1km along thee beach. As the sun was setting on the water, shark spotting was difficult but we did manage to see a number of dark shark shadows in the water and some flying fish.
Day 70 again saw us head off on a tour, this time a boat tour to the outer reef for some more snorkeling and in Pete’s case a scuba dive and the highlight of the tour, swimming with a Manta Ray. Snorkeling on the outer reef was great, lots more colourful and bigger coral and marine life, including 3 reef sharks. Unfortunately the wind was quite strong so the snorkel was spoiled somewhat by a very choppy sea and low visibility. The second part of the tour was the highlight, being in the water whilst a Manta Ray of a wing span of some 6 metres quietly swims below you is quite an experience. Unfortunately the Manta Ray wasn’t in a stay and play mood and thus even with 2 swims we only got visibility of the Manta Ray for about 5 minutes, on well there is always next time. The evening was spent sharing a meal with the Dagassan’s at the local pub, the last time we would be sharing each others company on this trip as we would be heading off in separate directions. The children all played together happily on the pub lawn watching a movie on an outdoor inflatable movie screen, that’s living the dream.
Day 64 was again spent exploring Karijini National Park. This time we headed off to the western side of the park and went on an exhilarating walk in Hancock Gorge. Hancock Gorge was probably the most spectacular gorge walk we have been on, that’s saying a lot as we were starting to feel very Gorged out (just like the Church experience in Europe). The walk started with a steep cliff descent, followed by a ladder to get you to the floor of the gorge. Just a few meters from the bottom of the ladder Octavia came face to face with our first live snake for the holiday, an olive python which was approx 4 foot long. Without a scream but backing away very quickly and with a very shaky voice, she quietly explained what she saw. Once a suitable path was found we all moved loudly past the snake, keeping a very close eye on its movements. The next part of the walk was along the side of the river bed, often requiring our rock climbing skills or alternatively the need to swim through some very cold water. The gorge opened up into a beautiful natural amphitheatre. Next for the adventurous ones there was a spider walk through a very tight section of the gorge into Kermit’s pool, a breathtaking rock pool. For well equipped mountaineers the walk could continue, for us it was too challenging and thus Kermit’s pool marked the end of the trial, After the strenuous morning walk Pete and Fred decided to spend the late afternoon resting whilst the girls and I headed back to Dales Gorge, this time exploring Circular Pool. The national park has a wonderful junior ranger program and thus the children participated in the required activities diligently to ensure that they would earn their Junior Ranger badges, Thankfully, there was success all around and we now have 3 Karijini junior rangers.
Day 65 saw us depart Karijini and start to head towards Exmouth. Given the drive was about 8 hours long, we decided to break the trip at Nanutarra Roadhouse, an interesting experience. The woman working in the restaurant was a true delight, as I witnessed her tell an elderly German tourist as he was having trouble explaining his order, to not mess with her. I suppose living in the middle of nowhere can bring out people’s best qualities. On the way to Nanutarra we detoured to Tom Price and went on an Iron Ore mining tour. Pete was fascinated by the money the train drivers make and thus I can see that if anything anything happens to Geoffrey Thompson’s he will be heading to Tom Price!
Day 66 we left Nanutarra early and completed our journey to Exmouth. After setting up and all feeling quite drained from the 2 days of long driving, we headed to the local beach and swam and snorkeled the afternoon away. The early evening was completed by a visit to the wreck of the SS Mildura, a cattle ship which was wreck in bad weather in the early 1900’s and the lighthouse. We then enjoyed one of our best meals of the holiday, Indian curries prepared by Sri Lankan chef in the local Exmouth pub.
Day 67 was spent exploring Ningaloo Reef from Cape Range National Park. We all enjoyed some great swimming and snorkeling straight off the beach at Turquoise Bay and Oyster Stack, including a very pleasant drift snorkel at Turquoise Bay. Oyster Stack was fantastic, great coral and a wide range of marine life all in under 1.5 metres of water.
Day 68 saw us move off to Coral Bay to explore a different section of the Ningaloo Reef. Coral Bay is a tiny seaside town on the edge of this wonderful reef. We can only hope that Coral Bay can keep its quaint seaside charm in the years to come. Once again we spent the afternoon relaxing by swimming and snorkeling off the beach. There were two highlights to the afternoon the first was participating in the daily feeding of the Spangle Emperor off the beach and the second was once again catching up with the Dagassan family.
Day 69 saw us head off on a Quad Bike snorkeling tour, the children especially Fred think that it is the best thing we have done for the whole trip. The tour involved Pete and I each riding a quad bike with a child as a passenger, the third child went with the guide though sand dunes and along the beach. We stopped at Oyster Bridge and The Lagoon for a snorkel. Oyster Bridge was a great little cove, very protective and only about 2 meters deep with lots of coral and marine life. Fred voted Mum as the safest driver, Dad as a crazy driver and the Guide as a very crazy driver. We were fortunate to be the only ones on the tour and thus we had the beach and the bay to ourselves. The afternoon saw us again snorkel off Coral Bay’s main beach at Bill’s bay and take a stroll to see the Reef Shark at the Shark Sanctuary approximately 1km along thee beach. As the sun was setting on the water, shark spotting was difficult but we did manage to see a number of dark shark shadows in the water and some flying fish.
Day 70 again saw us head off on a tour, this time a boat tour to the outer reef for some more snorkeling and in Pete’s case a scuba dive and the highlight of the tour, swimming with a Manta Ray. Snorkeling on the outer reef was great, lots more colourful and bigger coral and marine life, including 3 reef sharks. Unfortunately the wind was quite strong so the snorkel was spoiled somewhat by a very choppy sea and low visibility. The second part of the tour was the highlight, being in the water whilst a Manta Ray of a wing span of some 6 metres quietly swims below you is quite an experience. Unfortunately the Manta Ray wasn’t in a stay and play mood and thus even with 2 swims we only got visibility of the Manta Ray for about 5 minutes, on well there is always next time. The evening was spent sharing a meal with the Dagassan’s at the local pub, the last time we would be sharing each others company on this trip as we would be heading off in separate directions. The children all played together happily on the pub lawn watching a movie on an outdoor inflatable movie screen, that’s living the dream.
Week 9 – Cape Leveque to Karijini National Park – 880kms
Week 9 – Cape Leveque to Karijini National Park – 880kms
Days 57 and 58 were spent exploring Cape Leveque and the surrounding Dampier Peninsula. First stop was at Cygnet Bar Pearl Farm, a family run pearling operation which has been operating since the early sixties. It was very informative to learn about the process used to culture pearls. However the highlight of the visit was trying on a $53,000 pearl necklace, unfortunately Pete wasn’t feeling very generous and thus I had to hand it back. I spent the afternoon lazying around the safari tent, whilst the others went on an Aboriginal spear making tour. The children got to cut down the branch for their spears, strip the branch, fire the spear, shape it and then final paint it. Once the spears were finished they were given a demonstration on how to catch fish using their spears. Their guide was successful in his fishing attempts and thus they then all sat around a camp fire cooking and then eating the fish. Unfortunately upon their return they got bogged in the sand and had to be pushed out, this set the theme for Cape Leveque. Whilst they were getting themselves out of trouble, I was relaxing with our new friends the Hopton’s and DeGasson’s having a quite wine watching the sunset.
The next day saw us visit the One Arm Point Hatchery where they culture Troche shells for sale to Italy to be made into beautiful buttons. This was followed by a wonderful swim at Cape Leveque and final a mud crab tour. The mud crab tour turned out to be the tour from hell. First we got bogged getting into the mud crabbing location and had to be pulled out, secondly mud crabbing involved wondering through mangroves digging for mud crabs whilst being eaten alive by sand flies and mosquitoes. Our Aboriginal guide took off without providing any instruction on what we were looking for, how to catch them and finally where we meant to go. After 1.5 hours covered in mud and bites we decided to call it quits and walked ourselves back to the car. The first group was already back cooking their catch over a fire, disgusted with the tour I was in no mood to hang around and thus we headed off home ahead of the group. This plan back fired as only about 5 minutes later we became seriously bogged and had to wait for over 45 mins for the rest of the group to arrive to tow us out. Tail between our legs we kindly accepted their help and then ventured home without further incident. The one highlight was catching up with Roger Chomley an old acutance who now runs specialized tours to Cape Leveque.
Day 59 saw us have a relax morning swimming again in the beautiful bay at Cape Leveque before heading back to Broome to pick up the van and to settle ourselves once again into the Cable Beach Caravan Park. After 6 nights out of the van, we were all very pleased to be back in our home away from home.
Day 60 saw Adelaide and I treat ourselves to a horizontal falls tour. After getting up at 5am, we were picked up and driven to the airport to board our seaplane for a 1hours flight to King Sound to experience the horizontal falls. The tour was fantastic. It started with landing on water which was like landing on marshmallows’, next we were transferred to a cruise boat where we were served breakfast whilst motoring around King Sound, Beside our tour group of 10 there was no-one else around, it was so beautiful and untouched. It would be wonderful to be able to spend more time just cruising around the area. Next we were transferred onto the mother ship to go swimming with the sharks. They lowered an open shark cage approx 5 foot into the water and then we swam next to Lemon Sharks. Next was the highlight of the adventure, speeding through the horizontal falls on a 500hp boat. The horizontal falls are caused by the large tides in the area being squeezed through two narrow gorges, causing very turbulent water with whirlpools and rapids. Final it was the flight home, a very scenic flight over the Buccaneer Archipelago, Cape Leveque, the Dampier Peninsula, and finally Cable Beach. Over Cape Leveque we managed to spot our friends and take a wonderful photo showing their camp sites. Whilst Adelaide and I were off being adventurers the others were relaxing at the caravan park and writing their daily journals.
Day 61 saw Pete once again head off on a Fishing Charter and come home as the successful hunter/gatherer. He proudly again fed our friends and we spent a very enjoyable evening sharing a meal, whilst the children watched a movie. The children and I completed the items on our things to list and relaxing around the pool.
Day 62 started with a walk out to the Flying Boat wrecks in Roebuck Bay, which are only visible on low tide approximately 3 times a year. In 1942, many Dutch people were being evacuated out of Indonesia via Broome to Freemantle as the Japanese were fast approaching. Given Broome’s limited accommodation, they were often kept on the Flying Boats in the bay overnight. Moored in the bay overnight were also a number of fighters. The Japanese struck early and bombed all boats moored in the bay, unfortunately approximately 150 women and children were killed. Broome had no defence as it was believed that the Japanese would not be able to attack so far south. After our lovely morning stroll we settled in for the long drive to Port Hedland. A short lunch stop was taken at 80 mile beach a great fishing stretch approximately 300kms south of Broome. In Port Hedland we faced rain for the first time since the end of week 3 and the need for jumpers, a real shock to the system and strong signal that we were entering the final stage of our adventure.
Day 63 started with a tour of Port Hedland and its large shipping port where we watched a ship being loaded with Iron Ore bound for China. The whole town centres around the mining industry and every second car is owned by BHP Bilton. Packing up in the rain was unpleasant and we hoped that this was not to be a signal of the weather to come. The majority of the day was spent driving to Karijini National Park, reportedly the best national park in WA. After setting up the van we went on a walk of Dales Gorge, swimming in Fern Pool and Fortescue Falls returning along the Gorge rim walk back to the van whilst the sun was setting, that’s living the dream.
Days 57 and 58 were spent exploring Cape Leveque and the surrounding Dampier Peninsula. First stop was at Cygnet Bar Pearl Farm, a family run pearling operation which has been operating since the early sixties. It was very informative to learn about the process used to culture pearls. However the highlight of the visit was trying on a $53,000 pearl necklace, unfortunately Pete wasn’t feeling very generous and thus I had to hand it back. I spent the afternoon lazying around the safari tent, whilst the others went on an Aboriginal spear making tour. The children got to cut down the branch for their spears, strip the branch, fire the spear, shape it and then final paint it. Once the spears were finished they were given a demonstration on how to catch fish using their spears. Their guide was successful in his fishing attempts and thus they then all sat around a camp fire cooking and then eating the fish. Unfortunately upon their return they got bogged in the sand and had to be pushed out, this set the theme for Cape Leveque. Whilst they were getting themselves out of trouble, I was relaxing with our new friends the Hopton’s and DeGasson’s having a quite wine watching the sunset.
The next day saw us visit the One Arm Point Hatchery where they culture Troche shells for sale to Italy to be made into beautiful buttons. This was followed by a wonderful swim at Cape Leveque and final a mud crab tour. The mud crab tour turned out to be the tour from hell. First we got bogged getting into the mud crabbing location and had to be pulled out, secondly mud crabbing involved wondering through mangroves digging for mud crabs whilst being eaten alive by sand flies and mosquitoes. Our Aboriginal guide took off without providing any instruction on what we were looking for, how to catch them and finally where we meant to go. After 1.5 hours covered in mud and bites we decided to call it quits and walked ourselves back to the car. The first group was already back cooking their catch over a fire, disgusted with the tour I was in no mood to hang around and thus we headed off home ahead of the group. This plan back fired as only about 5 minutes later we became seriously bogged and had to wait for over 45 mins for the rest of the group to arrive to tow us out. Tail between our legs we kindly accepted their help and then ventured home without further incident. The one highlight was catching up with Roger Chomley an old acutance who now runs specialized tours to Cape Leveque.
Day 59 saw us have a relax morning swimming again in the beautiful bay at Cape Leveque before heading back to Broome to pick up the van and to settle ourselves once again into the Cable Beach Caravan Park. After 6 nights out of the van, we were all very pleased to be back in our home away from home.
Day 60 saw Adelaide and I treat ourselves to a horizontal falls tour. After getting up at 5am, we were picked up and driven to the airport to board our seaplane for a 1hours flight to King Sound to experience the horizontal falls. The tour was fantastic. It started with landing on water which was like landing on marshmallows’, next we were transferred to a cruise boat where we were served breakfast whilst motoring around King Sound, Beside our tour group of 10 there was no-one else around, it was so beautiful and untouched. It would be wonderful to be able to spend more time just cruising around the area. Next we were transferred onto the mother ship to go swimming with the sharks. They lowered an open shark cage approx 5 foot into the water and then we swam next to Lemon Sharks. Next was the highlight of the adventure, speeding through the horizontal falls on a 500hp boat. The horizontal falls are caused by the large tides in the area being squeezed through two narrow gorges, causing very turbulent water with whirlpools and rapids. Final it was the flight home, a very scenic flight over the Buccaneer Archipelago, Cape Leveque, the Dampier Peninsula, and finally Cable Beach. Over Cape Leveque we managed to spot our friends and take a wonderful photo showing their camp sites. Whilst Adelaide and I were off being adventurers the others were relaxing at the caravan park and writing their daily journals.
Day 61 saw Pete once again head off on a Fishing Charter and come home as the successful hunter/gatherer. He proudly again fed our friends and we spent a very enjoyable evening sharing a meal, whilst the children watched a movie. The children and I completed the items on our things to list and relaxing around the pool.
Day 62 started with a walk out to the Flying Boat wrecks in Roebuck Bay, which are only visible on low tide approximately 3 times a year. In 1942, many Dutch people were being evacuated out of Indonesia via Broome to Freemantle as the Japanese were fast approaching. Given Broome’s limited accommodation, they were often kept on the Flying Boats in the bay overnight. Moored in the bay overnight were also a number of fighters. The Japanese struck early and bombed all boats moored in the bay, unfortunately approximately 150 women and children were killed. Broome had no defence as it was believed that the Japanese would not be able to attack so far south. After our lovely morning stroll we settled in for the long drive to Port Hedland. A short lunch stop was taken at 80 mile beach a great fishing stretch approximately 300kms south of Broome. In Port Hedland we faced rain for the first time since the end of week 3 and the need for jumpers, a real shock to the system and strong signal that we were entering the final stage of our adventure.
Day 63 started with a tour of Port Hedland and its large shipping port where we watched a ship being loaded with Iron Ore bound for China. The whole town centres around the mining industry and every second car is owned by BHP Bilton. Packing up in the rain was unpleasant and we hoped that this was not to be a signal of the weather to come. The majority of the day was spent driving to Karijini National Park, reportedly the best national park in WA. After setting up the van we went on a walk of Dales Gorge, swimming in Fern Pool and Fortescue Falls returning along the Gorge rim walk back to the van whilst the sun was setting, that’s living the dream.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Week 8 – Fitzroy Crossing to Cape Leveque via a number of very lazy days in Broome – 1,400 kms
Week 8 – Fitzroy Crossing to Cape Leveque via a number of very lazy days in Broome – 1,400 kms
Days 43 to 48 wind down time in Broome, the holiday within a holiday.
Day 43 saw us leave the dry and dusty Kimberley region behind us and head for the slightly cooler weather on the coast at Broome. Desperate to see the coast and unwind the family voted to skip the side trip to Derby and to push on as fast as we could to Broome.
Ah, five and half days of just relaxing. The first 3 nights in Broome were spent in the Cable Beach Caravan Park, we then ditched the van and headed into pure luxury, the Oaks apartments for the next 3 nights. Fred couldn’t believe his luck 3 TV’s and 2 DVD players. Besides TV and DVD, the apartment had 2 bathrooms, 3 rooms and no red dust. To top it off the apartment block had 2 very big swimming pools.
Occasionally we managed to pull ourselves away from the pool and the apartment and venture out. The family went exploring for the Dinosaur footprints at Gantheaume point, watched the sunset over Cable Beach and star gazed with our friendly APT tour guide, Sam, that we befriended in the Bungle Bungles, The girls and I wandered through the Courthouse Market and rode camels along Cable Beach. Pete went off on a fishing charter adventure and caught more fish than he had in all previous fishing trips in total over the last 45 years and brought home 3 very large fish to eat. Given the rest of the family doesn’t really eat fish, Pete fed two other families, that we had become friends with, over the next two nights and was proud of being able to fulfill the Hunter role. Fred got his TV and DVD fix, often refusing to see daylight. All in all everyone had a great time and left Broome ready for our final 4 weeks of adventure.
Day 49 we left the luxury of the Oaks behind and headed into the luxury of the Safari tents at Kooljaman, Cape Leveque. The safari tents aren’t quite the Oaks apartments but who can complain as I sit here on the balcony starring across the white sands and blue waters of the Dampier Peninsula. On the way to Cape Leveque we made 2 small detours, one to Beagle Bay to see the church built by the Pallotive Monks around 1918, which has a beautiful altar made from pearl shells and the second to Middle Lagoon for a refreshing dip. As the sun was setting we spent the early evening collecting shells and swimming in the beautiful clear still waters, that’s living the dream!
Days 43 to 48 wind down time in Broome, the holiday within a holiday.
Day 43 saw us leave the dry and dusty Kimberley region behind us and head for the slightly cooler weather on the coast at Broome. Desperate to see the coast and unwind the family voted to skip the side trip to Derby and to push on as fast as we could to Broome.
Ah, five and half days of just relaxing. The first 3 nights in Broome were spent in the Cable Beach Caravan Park, we then ditched the van and headed into pure luxury, the Oaks apartments for the next 3 nights. Fred couldn’t believe his luck 3 TV’s and 2 DVD players. Besides TV and DVD, the apartment had 2 bathrooms, 3 rooms and no red dust. To top it off the apartment block had 2 very big swimming pools.
Occasionally we managed to pull ourselves away from the pool and the apartment and venture out. The family went exploring for the Dinosaur footprints at Gantheaume point, watched the sunset over Cable Beach and star gazed with our friendly APT tour guide, Sam, that we befriended in the Bungle Bungles, The girls and I wandered through the Courthouse Market and rode camels along Cable Beach. Pete went off on a fishing charter adventure and caught more fish than he had in all previous fishing trips in total over the last 45 years and brought home 3 very large fish to eat. Given the rest of the family doesn’t really eat fish, Pete fed two other families, that we had become friends with, over the next two nights and was proud of being able to fulfill the Hunter role. Fred got his TV and DVD fix, often refusing to see daylight. All in all everyone had a great time and left Broome ready for our final 4 weeks of adventure.
Day 49 we left the luxury of the Oaks behind and headed into the luxury of the Safari tents at Kooljaman, Cape Leveque. The safari tents aren’t quite the Oaks apartments but who can complain as I sit here on the balcony starring across the white sands and blue waters of the Dampier Peninsula. On the way to Cape Leveque we made 2 small detours, one to Beagle Bay to see the church built by the Pallotive Monks around 1918, which has a beautiful altar made from pearl shells and the second to Middle Lagoon for a refreshing dip. As the sun was setting we spent the early evening collecting shells and swimming in the beautiful clear still waters, that’s living the dream!
Week 7 – Home Valley to Fitzroy Crossing
Week 7 – Home Valley to Fitzroy Crossing – 868 kms
Day 43 saw us move on from Home Valley to El Questro station. The first stop was Zebedee Springs, a series of small rock pools fed from a hot water spring, a great spot to refresh ourselves. Next it was onto the station village to select a campsite and pitch the tents. Given the sweltering night we had just experienced in our tents we had very little enthusiasm to repeat it again, however given we had no other accommodation choices, we all sat around pulling long faces watching Pete complete the set-up. All suffering from the heat, we quickly sought a waterhole which didn’t require a hike to get to, Moonshine Gorge river was the choice. After feeling suitable refreshed and rested we tackled Emma Gorge, a beautiful walk through a gorge to a very large water hole, a great reward after the 1 hour walk. We had a lovely dinner in the restaurant at the village and then retired to our special accommodation and once again spent a night sweltering in our tents through the heat.
Day 44, time to leave El Questro, head back to Kununurra to pick up the van and drive to Turkey Creek/Warmun to spend the night prior to heading into the Purnululu National Park, the home of the Bungle Bungles. Prior to leaving El Questro we had one more gorge to tackle, the El Questro gorge. This was a beautiful 4.5 hour return walk through another gorge with a number of great swimming holes along the way and of course a fantastic one at the end. The walk was very challenging for the last 1 hour with lots of large rocks to scramble over and a waterfall to climb, the children thought it was a great adventure. Unfortunately the walk was somewhat soured with Octavia getting stung be a bee on the toe, thankfully after a few tears, and no sign of a reaction we were able to continue without issue.
Days 45 and 46 involved exploring the Purnululu National Park, and treating ourselves to some home comforts by staying in the Bungle Bungle Wilderness Safari Tents run by APT. The safari tents had an ensuite and both breakfast and dinner was provided, so after life in the van it was pure luxury. Once again we tackled a number of walk; Echidna Chasm, Osmond, Kungkalatayi and Piccaninny Creek lookouts, Cathedral gorge and the Domes walk. Unfortunately our usual reward of a swim in a beautiful waterhole at the end of a long walk was not to be as the National Park at this time of the year is dry so we had to settle for a nice clean shower instead. The highlight of this part of the trip was the helicopter ride over the park especially the Domes.
Day 47 was once again a travelling day back to Turkey Creek to pick up the van and then onto Halls Creek just for an over night stop. Halls Creek was just hot and dirty and unfortunately the caravan park is very close to the hotel so we had loud music playing away to 1am and then the locals entertaining themselves on the street until about 3am, a pleasant spot to stay!
Days 48 and 49 were spent at Fitzroy Crossing and exploring the National parks nearby. Geike Gorge National park was first, where we took a boat cruise along the Fitzroy river and had many animals especially freshwater crocodiles pointed out and a very informative explanation of how the area was formed by the local Aboriginal ranger. The next day saw us drive to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek National Parks. The Windjana Gorge walk was quite disappointing, after the first 15 minutes the walk was through scrub and you couldn’t get a good look at the gorge or the river so we decided to turnout back after about 1 hour of walking, our decision was also prompted by the fact that there was no swimming. The one highlight of the walk was the number of freshwater crocodiles you saw sunning themselves on the banks of the river. As a contrast Tunnel Creek was fun, a walk through sandbanks and a river contained within a 750m tunnel. The tunnel got very dark in parts and due to the strength of our one and only torch (we forget to bring the other 6 which were back in the van) at times we could only see about 2 feet in front of ourselves, which led to a lot of screams from Adelaide. Along the way we saw some small fish and many bats, apparently there was also eels and 2 small freshwater crocodiles that we missed due to our torch strength. I am sure if we had seen them we would have been joining in the screaming with Adelaide. In the evening the girls and I ventured out to the Tin Can Cinema, on old galvanised iron shed set-up as a theatre for a private viewing of “Bran Nue Dae”, no-one else turned up. Bran Nue Dae is a story based in Broome, which was totally appropriate given it is the next stop on our itinerary. The boys stayed back at the van watching a Simpsons DVD, that’s living the dream!
Day 43 saw us move on from Home Valley to El Questro station. The first stop was Zebedee Springs, a series of small rock pools fed from a hot water spring, a great spot to refresh ourselves. Next it was onto the station village to select a campsite and pitch the tents. Given the sweltering night we had just experienced in our tents we had very little enthusiasm to repeat it again, however given we had no other accommodation choices, we all sat around pulling long faces watching Pete complete the set-up. All suffering from the heat, we quickly sought a waterhole which didn’t require a hike to get to, Moonshine Gorge river was the choice. After feeling suitable refreshed and rested we tackled Emma Gorge, a beautiful walk through a gorge to a very large water hole, a great reward after the 1 hour walk. We had a lovely dinner in the restaurant at the village and then retired to our special accommodation and once again spent a night sweltering in our tents through the heat.
Day 44, time to leave El Questro, head back to Kununurra to pick up the van and drive to Turkey Creek/Warmun to spend the night prior to heading into the Purnululu National Park, the home of the Bungle Bungles. Prior to leaving El Questro we had one more gorge to tackle, the El Questro gorge. This was a beautiful 4.5 hour return walk through another gorge with a number of great swimming holes along the way and of course a fantastic one at the end. The walk was very challenging for the last 1 hour with lots of large rocks to scramble over and a waterfall to climb, the children thought it was a great adventure. Unfortunately the walk was somewhat soured with Octavia getting stung be a bee on the toe, thankfully after a few tears, and no sign of a reaction we were able to continue without issue.
Days 45 and 46 involved exploring the Purnululu National Park, and treating ourselves to some home comforts by staying in the Bungle Bungle Wilderness Safari Tents run by APT. The safari tents had an ensuite and both breakfast and dinner was provided, so after life in the van it was pure luxury. Once again we tackled a number of walk; Echidna Chasm, Osmond, Kungkalatayi and Piccaninny Creek lookouts, Cathedral gorge and the Domes walk. Unfortunately our usual reward of a swim in a beautiful waterhole at the end of a long walk was not to be as the National Park at this time of the year is dry so we had to settle for a nice clean shower instead. The highlight of this part of the trip was the helicopter ride over the park especially the Domes.
Day 47 was once again a travelling day back to Turkey Creek to pick up the van and then onto Halls Creek just for an over night stop. Halls Creek was just hot and dirty and unfortunately the caravan park is very close to the hotel so we had loud music playing away to 1am and then the locals entertaining themselves on the street until about 3am, a pleasant spot to stay!
Days 48 and 49 were spent at Fitzroy Crossing and exploring the National parks nearby. Geike Gorge National park was first, where we took a boat cruise along the Fitzroy river and had many animals especially freshwater crocodiles pointed out and a very informative explanation of how the area was formed by the local Aboriginal ranger. The next day saw us drive to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek National Parks. The Windjana Gorge walk was quite disappointing, after the first 15 minutes the walk was through scrub and you couldn’t get a good look at the gorge or the river so we decided to turnout back after about 1 hour of walking, our decision was also prompted by the fact that there was no swimming. The one highlight of the walk was the number of freshwater crocodiles you saw sunning themselves on the banks of the river. As a contrast Tunnel Creek was fun, a walk through sandbanks and a river contained within a 750m tunnel. The tunnel got very dark in parts and due to the strength of our one and only torch (we forget to bring the other 6 which were back in the van) at times we could only see about 2 feet in front of ourselves, which led to a lot of screams from Adelaide. Along the way we saw some small fish and many bats, apparently there was also eels and 2 small freshwater crocodiles that we missed due to our torch strength. I am sure if we had seen them we would have been joining in the screaming with Adelaide. In the evening the girls and I ventured out to the Tin Can Cinema, on old galvanised iron shed set-up as a theatre for a private viewing of “Bran Nue Dae”, no-one else turned up. Bran Nue Dae is a story based in Broome, which was totally appropriate given it is the next stop on our itinerary. The boys stayed back at the van watching a Simpsons DVD, that’s living the dream!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Week 6 – Darwin to Home Valley
Week 6 – Darwin to Home Valley – 1114 kms
Day 36, time to leave Darwin. After the sadness of the last 2 weeks the whole family was glad to be back on the road and re-settled into our living the dream routine. Unfortunately the stress of the last 2 weeks and the Victorian weather had taken a toll on me and I returned from Mt Martha with one of the worst flu’s I had experienced in the last 10 years. Feeling like death we packed up and headed off to Liitchfield National Park. On the way we stopped at Berry Springs for a beautiful swim in a warm freshwater spring, despite feeling poorly the area was beautiful and the swim lifted my spirits and helped me forget about the past 2 weeks and to focus on the rest of our family adventure that we still had in front of us. We set up camp at Wangi Falls campground and quickly headed off to the beautiful Wangi Fall waterhole for a refreshing swim. The afternoon was spent exploring the national park in particular the remains of the Blyth homestead, which was occupied by the Seargant family from the late 1920’s through to the 1960’s, reading their family history was just fascinating, you just can’t imagine living in the conditions that they did. It was wonderful to spend a night where there was no lights and just the noise of the bush.
Day 37 was again spent exploring Litchfield National Park and the wonderful safe waterholes it is renowned for, The day started with a lovely 1.5 hour walk to Tyaetaba falls along Greenant creek, followed by a visit to Buley rockhole, which is a series of small plunge pools joined by waterfalls. The afternoon was spent again at Wangi Falls trying to keep cool.
Day 38 saw us leave Litchfield behind and head to Katherine. On the way we stopped to view the magnetic termite mounds which are up to 2 metres high and all aligned north south, a natural phenoneum that no-one really understands. The second stop of the day was at Adelaide River where we visited Australia’s largest war cemetery. Over 200 people who lost their lives due to the bombing of Darwin in 1942 are buried here. When we arrived in Katherine the children were very excited to catch up with their friends Rachel and Ryan again.
Day 39 was time to say good-bye to the Northern Terrority and head off into the Kimberleys in the far north of Western Australia. Between Katherine and Kununurra there is very little, only two very small towns with really nothing to offer but fuel. The excitement of the drive was passing through the Quarantine station on the Western Australian border where both the car and caravan were searched and all fruit, vegetables and honey had to handed in.
Day 40 was spent exploring Kununurra and the surrounding area. Of course the first stop for any girl is Kimberley fine diamonds where the range of Argyle Diamonds was closely examined. Unfortunately the pink diamond ring I fancied was over $30,000 and thus I left the store empty handed. Next on the schedule was a visit to the Zebra Rock gallery. Zebra Rock gallery was a fascinating gallery on the edge of the Ord river, the stone they carve is mined from a quarry below the Argyle Dam and thus they can only access it for approximately 6 weeks a year when the water level drops low enough. The stone is striped in formation hence its name and was formed some 600 million years ago and is only found in this area. The gallery also had a great pier over the Ord where you could feed the fish and turtles. Next was a tour through the Ord Valley irrigation area, the reason the Argyle Dam was formed. They grow a range of fruits, vegetables, herbs and interestingly Sandlewood. The Sandlewood plantations are the largest commercial plantations of Sandlewood in the world. The Sandlewood is grown for its oil which is predominately used as incense or a base for perfumes. Next was the Hoochery Distillery which produces a range of rum from sugar cane. The final points of interest were 3 waterholes marked as swimming spots on the town map, unfortunately they were either stagnant or dry, however the drive to visit them required us to drive through the Ord river which was just a little scary as a croc was perched half way waiting for motorists to stall their cars.
Day 41 was spent on the Triple J tour of Lake Kununurra, the Lower Ord river, Argyle Dam and finally a tour of the Durak homestead. The tour down the river really put into perspective the size of the water flows the area experiences in the wet season. Pete was seriously jealous when he heard of the water rights the Ord farmers are allocated along with the price they pay per megalitre, however was smiling we he heard their transport costs. Visiting the Durak homestead was great as I had only just finished reading “Kings of Grass Castles” by Mary Durak which describes the Durak family’s settlement of the area. The evening was spent watching the Federal election count unfold, what a fizzier, when will we know who will form the next government?
Day 42 saw as head for Home Valley Station, a station run by an Aboriginal community. We decided to take the longer off road route to Home Valley as we weren’t towing the van to allow us to get a good feel of the isolation of the area. The first stop was the “Grotto” a waterhole at the bottom of 140 steps, once again a real disappointment as it was stagnant. Obviously the local tourism branch is trying to make something out of nothing. Second stop was Wyndham, the furthest north town in WA, obviously it is just too hard to provide facilities this far north, as it was seriously lacking in any attraction or services. We then headed off to the prison boab tree, a huge boab that was used to house prisoners on their way to Wyndham. Then it was beautiful drive along the Kiljamini track through bush scrub and sand flats, circling the Cockburn Ranges and finally along side the Pentecost river. The night was spent squashed into two 2 man tents sweating the hours away,, that’s living the dream.
Day 36, time to leave Darwin. After the sadness of the last 2 weeks the whole family was glad to be back on the road and re-settled into our living the dream routine. Unfortunately the stress of the last 2 weeks and the Victorian weather had taken a toll on me and I returned from Mt Martha with one of the worst flu’s I had experienced in the last 10 years. Feeling like death we packed up and headed off to Liitchfield National Park. On the way we stopped at Berry Springs for a beautiful swim in a warm freshwater spring, despite feeling poorly the area was beautiful and the swim lifted my spirits and helped me forget about the past 2 weeks and to focus on the rest of our family adventure that we still had in front of us. We set up camp at Wangi Falls campground and quickly headed off to the beautiful Wangi Fall waterhole for a refreshing swim. The afternoon was spent exploring the national park in particular the remains of the Blyth homestead, which was occupied by the Seargant family from the late 1920’s through to the 1960’s, reading their family history was just fascinating, you just can’t imagine living in the conditions that they did. It was wonderful to spend a night where there was no lights and just the noise of the bush.
Day 37 was again spent exploring Litchfield National Park and the wonderful safe waterholes it is renowned for, The day started with a lovely 1.5 hour walk to Tyaetaba falls along Greenant creek, followed by a visit to Buley rockhole, which is a series of small plunge pools joined by waterfalls. The afternoon was spent again at Wangi Falls trying to keep cool.
Day 38 saw us leave Litchfield behind and head to Katherine. On the way we stopped to view the magnetic termite mounds which are up to 2 metres high and all aligned north south, a natural phenoneum that no-one really understands. The second stop of the day was at Adelaide River where we visited Australia’s largest war cemetery. Over 200 people who lost their lives due to the bombing of Darwin in 1942 are buried here. When we arrived in Katherine the children were very excited to catch up with their friends Rachel and Ryan again.
Day 39 was time to say good-bye to the Northern Terrority and head off into the Kimberleys in the far north of Western Australia. Between Katherine and Kununurra there is very little, only two very small towns with really nothing to offer but fuel. The excitement of the drive was passing through the Quarantine station on the Western Australian border where both the car and caravan were searched and all fruit, vegetables and honey had to handed in.
Day 40 was spent exploring Kununurra and the surrounding area. Of course the first stop for any girl is Kimberley fine diamonds where the range of Argyle Diamonds was closely examined. Unfortunately the pink diamond ring I fancied was over $30,000 and thus I left the store empty handed. Next on the schedule was a visit to the Zebra Rock gallery. Zebra Rock gallery was a fascinating gallery on the edge of the Ord river, the stone they carve is mined from a quarry below the Argyle Dam and thus they can only access it for approximately 6 weeks a year when the water level drops low enough. The stone is striped in formation hence its name and was formed some 600 million years ago and is only found in this area. The gallery also had a great pier over the Ord where you could feed the fish and turtles. Next was a tour through the Ord Valley irrigation area, the reason the Argyle Dam was formed. They grow a range of fruits, vegetables, herbs and interestingly Sandlewood. The Sandlewood plantations are the largest commercial plantations of Sandlewood in the world. The Sandlewood is grown for its oil which is predominately used as incense or a base for perfumes. Next was the Hoochery Distillery which produces a range of rum from sugar cane. The final points of interest were 3 waterholes marked as swimming spots on the town map, unfortunately they were either stagnant or dry, however the drive to visit them required us to drive through the Ord river which was just a little scary as a croc was perched half way waiting for motorists to stall their cars.
Day 41 was spent on the Triple J tour of Lake Kununurra, the Lower Ord river, Argyle Dam and finally a tour of the Durak homestead. The tour down the river really put into perspective the size of the water flows the area experiences in the wet season. Pete was seriously jealous when he heard of the water rights the Ord farmers are allocated along with the price they pay per megalitre, however was smiling we he heard their transport costs. Visiting the Durak homestead was great as I had only just finished reading “Kings of Grass Castles” by Mary Durak which describes the Durak family’s settlement of the area. The evening was spent watching the Federal election count unfold, what a fizzier, when will we know who will form the next government?
Day 42 saw as head for Home Valley Station, a station run by an Aboriginal community. We decided to take the longer off road route to Home Valley as we weren’t towing the van to allow us to get a good feel of the isolation of the area. The first stop was the “Grotto” a waterhole at the bottom of 140 steps, once again a real disappointment as it was stagnant. Obviously the local tourism branch is trying to make something out of nothing. Second stop was Wyndham, the furthest north town in WA, obviously it is just too hard to provide facilities this far north, as it was seriously lacking in any attraction or services. We then headed off to the prison boab tree, a huge boab that was used to house prisoners on their way to Wyndham. Then it was beautiful drive along the Kiljamini track through bush scrub and sand flats, circling the Cockburn Ranges and finally along side the Pentecost river. The night was spent squashed into two 2 man tents sweating the hours away,, that’s living the dream.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Week 5 – Darwin to Mt Martha return – (by Adelaide)
Week 5
Day 29 – Today we had a look around Darwin We went to one of Darwin’s greatest attractions the Darwin wave lagoon. At the wave lagoon we rode the Big Blue Humpies on a boggie board or a donut. We were at the wave pool for around 3 hours and not once did we get out. After the wave pool we started to get a bit hungry so we had lunch at a café and then we went to the Darwin museum were we saw Sweet heat a 17 foot crocodile found in Darwin water. We also saw an exhibition on Cyclone Tracy. Cyclone Tracy was a devastating natural disaster that occurred in Christmas Eve 1974, the cyclone wiped out most of Darwin. After the museum we drive back to the caravan, we swam in the pool until dark and that’s living the dream.
Day 30 to Day 32 (Mt Martha) – Elia – A quick divert off the Living the Dream tour for the family to attend Dad’s funeral. A beautiful ending for a wonderful father.
Day 33 – Today we had a really lazy day which included having a big sleep in and staying at the caravan park the whole day. This morning was the only time we went out, we went out for breakfast at Cullen Bay. We had a quick look around Cullen Bay but Tav wanted to eat so we had to go straight to the café. After breakfast we went for a quick food shop and then we went back to the caravan park where we spent the rest of the day playing with Rachel and Ryan swimming in the pool that’s living the dream.
Day 34 – Today we went to Crocosaurus Cove where we got to hold and get our picture taken with a baby croc and swim with juvenile crocs, but there was a glass wall between us, At Crocosaurus Cove we also got watch the Barra feeding and the Big Croc feeding. We got to feed the juvenile crocs from the end of a fishing rod. After Crocosaurus Cove we had lunch and then went to a small but really fun waterslide park. At the water park there was 3 big waterslides, a swimming pool and a water playground. We went on all 3 slides over and over again, the red slide was pitch black and you had to go in a tube with a partner but the yellow and blue slides you went by yourself. My favourite slide was the yellow slide because it was the fastest, but the blue slide twisted and turned around in. After the water park we got changed and went out for dinner at the Darwin Sailing Club, that’s living the dream.
Day 35 – Today we had a good look around Darwin finding out a bit about the history of Darwin. First we went to the World War 2 oil storage tanks. The oil storage tanks were built during the second world war after the Japanese bombed the city of Darwin in 1942, just 6 weeks after pearl harbour was bombed. After the oil tanks we had a quick walk up to a lookout and then had lunch at Stokes wharf. After lunch we went to the Fannie Bay jail, were we found out about the history of the jail and the prisoners that were kept there until the jail closed in 1979. After the jail we went home and swam in the pool until it was time to go to the Mindil markets. At the market we had dinner on the beach and watched the sunset on the beach, that’s living the dream.
Day 29 – Today we had a look around Darwin We went to one of Darwin’s greatest attractions the Darwin wave lagoon. At the wave lagoon we rode the Big Blue Humpies on a boggie board or a donut. We were at the wave pool for around 3 hours and not once did we get out. After the wave pool we started to get a bit hungry so we had lunch at a café and then we went to the Darwin museum were we saw Sweet heat a 17 foot crocodile found in Darwin water. We also saw an exhibition on Cyclone Tracy. Cyclone Tracy was a devastating natural disaster that occurred in Christmas Eve 1974, the cyclone wiped out most of Darwin. After the museum we drive back to the caravan, we swam in the pool until dark and that’s living the dream.
Day 30 to Day 32 (Mt Martha) – Elia – A quick divert off the Living the Dream tour for the family to attend Dad’s funeral. A beautiful ending for a wonderful father.
Day 33 – Today we had a really lazy day which included having a big sleep in and staying at the caravan park the whole day. This morning was the only time we went out, we went out for breakfast at Cullen Bay. We had a quick look around Cullen Bay but Tav wanted to eat so we had to go straight to the café. After breakfast we went for a quick food shop and then we went back to the caravan park where we spent the rest of the day playing with Rachel and Ryan swimming in the pool that’s living the dream.
Day 34 – Today we went to Crocosaurus Cove where we got to hold and get our picture taken with a baby croc and swim with juvenile crocs, but there was a glass wall between us, At Crocosaurus Cove we also got watch the Barra feeding and the Big Croc feeding. We got to feed the juvenile crocs from the end of a fishing rod. After Crocosaurus Cove we had lunch and then went to a small but really fun waterslide park. At the water park there was 3 big waterslides, a swimming pool and a water playground. We went on all 3 slides over and over again, the red slide was pitch black and you had to go in a tube with a partner but the yellow and blue slides you went by yourself. My favourite slide was the yellow slide because it was the fastest, but the blue slide twisted and turned around in. After the water park we got changed and went out for dinner at the Darwin Sailing Club, that’s living the dream.
Day 35 – Today we had a good look around Darwin finding out a bit about the history of Darwin. First we went to the World War 2 oil storage tanks. The oil storage tanks were built during the second world war after the Japanese bombed the city of Darwin in 1942, just 6 weeks after pearl harbour was bombed. After the oil tanks we had a quick walk up to a lookout and then had lunch at Stokes wharf. After lunch we went to the Fannie Bay jail, were we found out about the history of the jail and the prisoners that were kept there until the jail closed in 1979. After the jail we went home and swam in the pool until it was time to go to the Mindil markets. At the market we had dinner on the beach and watched the sunset on the beach, that’s living the dream.
Week 4 – Katherine to Darwin – 390 kms (by Adelaide)
Week 4
Day 22 – Today was really hot, so we spent most of the day in the pool. We went to Katherine Gorge but there was a salt water croc where we were going to swim, so we swam in the pool at the caravan park instead. We also met up with Rachel and Ryan the friends we meet at Yulara and also at Kings Canyon. We played together in a tree for a little while and then spent the rest of the daylight in the pool. Then we went home, had dinner and then met up again after dinner and made lots of things out of paper. Even though ut was really hot we felt like we were really living the dream.
Day 23 – Today we went to the Katherine School of the Air, which I thought it wasn’t as good as the Alice Springs School of the Air, but it was still interesting. Then we went for a swim near a waterfall called Edith Falls, but first we had to do a 1 hour walk to the falls. When we got to the falls we were all really hot so we got changed into our bathers and wet for a swim. The water was a little bit cold but once I got in I was fine. We swam near the bottom of the first part of the waterfall and Dad and Tav tried to swim under it, but it didn’t work. When we had finished swimming we had lunch and dried off and then walked nack to the car, which took about half an hour so we were all pretty tired, hot and sweaty but that’s living the dream.
Day 24 – Today we travelled from Katherine to Kakadu which took 2 hours in the car. We left Katherine at about 9am but we had to stop and get the tire changed before we went to Kakadu. After an hour of fluffing around we finally headed off to Kakadu. When we arrived at Kakadu, Mary River Roadhouse, we set up the van then headed off to a set of small pools which we had to walk up a steep track to get to, but it was worth it because when we got to the top we got to swim and cool off. The walk down was really easy and not as hard as the way up. When we got back to the caravan we had a shower because we were all really dirty and then we had a BBQ dinner. In summary today when we woke up it was raining and the walk was really steep, but that’s living the dream.
Day 25 (Cooinda Lodge) – Today we went to two of Australia’s biggest and best waterfalls, Twinfalls and Jim Jim falls. Today it was really hot so we had to get going early because the drive took so long, it was hot before we arrived, When we finally got to Twin Falls we bought a boat ticket and went for a short walk and got on a boat shuttle to the falls. When we got off the boat shuffle we rock hopped around and on top of lots of rocks which was really tiring but once we got to the falls it was all worth it. We took some weird photos and had a bit to eat and paced back along on the rocks and called the boat shuttle on the radio. When we got off the boat and walked back to the car we didn’t go as we still had to explore Jim Jim falls. The walk to Jim Jim falls was really rocky so we had to rock hop the whole way, the worse bit was the end of the walk. When we got to the base of the Jim Jim falls we went for a swim but the water was so cold, I couldn’t get in, but when I was getting out I tripped so I kind of got in. The walk back wasn’t as hard but it was really really hot but that’s living the dream.
Day 26 (Cooinda Lodge)– Today we got up really early and went on the Yellow Water sunrise cruise. We had to catch a bus at 6.25am, so it was a really early start and Dad and I thought we were going to miss the bus but we made it. When we got off the bus we walked to the boat and got on. The boats were quite small and we were lucky to get seats next to each other. We saw lot of birds including Jabiru’s and lots of ducks plus many more. We also saw 9 saltwater crocodiles including one of the biggest in the park which was 4 meters long. After the cruise we caught the bus back to the caravan park and then we had breakfast and then we went to the cultural centre which was a bit like the one at Uluru. At the cultural centre we went to a weaving demo and we tried to weave but it didn’t work so the lady made a necklace for me. We drove back to the van and Rachel and Ryan were waiting for us, so we played with them and had lunch together ad then they went for the sunset cruise. When they had finished the cruise, we played together some more. Today we really felt like we were living the dream.
Day 27 (Ubirr-merl campground) – Today we saw some aboriginal artwork which was about 1,000 years old. We also walked up to a lookout where we saw a fantastic view of Kakadu. We stopped for lunch in Jabiru and then headed for Ubirr. Ubirr is just another part of Kakadu. When we arrived in Ubirr we set up the van and then saw Rachel and her Mum going to have a shower, so Tav and I went with them. After we had a shower Tav and I ran off with Rachel. After dinner we went croc spotting, if you saw red eyes in the water it was a croc. Than we went back to Rachel and Ryan’s caravan and watched Alice In Wonderland, that’s living the dream. (Elia – A very sad day for the family as Dad’s battle with cancer came to an end with Dad passing away peacefully surrounded by Mum, Ingrid and myself).
Day 28 – Today we left Kakadu and moved onto Darwin. When we arrived in Darwin we went straight to the caravan park and when we got out of the car we found it was so much warmer than Kakadu. We explored the caravan park and as soon as we found the pool we quickly got changed and jumped in. WE swam in the pool until it was time to go to the Mindil markets. The Mindil markets are the Sunday evening markets in Darwin. At the market we had dinner whilst watching the sunset over the ocean. After dinner we had a look around the market, we watched some flame throwing and then bought some friendship bracelets. To cool down we got a snow cone and that’s living the dream.
Day 22 – Today was really hot, so we spent most of the day in the pool. We went to Katherine Gorge but there was a salt water croc where we were going to swim, so we swam in the pool at the caravan park instead. We also met up with Rachel and Ryan the friends we meet at Yulara and also at Kings Canyon. We played together in a tree for a little while and then spent the rest of the daylight in the pool. Then we went home, had dinner and then met up again after dinner and made lots of things out of paper. Even though ut was really hot we felt like we were really living the dream.
Day 23 – Today we went to the Katherine School of the Air, which I thought it wasn’t as good as the Alice Springs School of the Air, but it was still interesting. Then we went for a swim near a waterfall called Edith Falls, but first we had to do a 1 hour walk to the falls. When we got to the falls we were all really hot so we got changed into our bathers and wet for a swim. The water was a little bit cold but once I got in I was fine. We swam near the bottom of the first part of the waterfall and Dad and Tav tried to swim under it, but it didn’t work. When we had finished swimming we had lunch and dried off and then walked nack to the car, which took about half an hour so we were all pretty tired, hot and sweaty but that’s living the dream.
Day 24 – Today we travelled from Katherine to Kakadu which took 2 hours in the car. We left Katherine at about 9am but we had to stop and get the tire changed before we went to Kakadu. After an hour of fluffing around we finally headed off to Kakadu. When we arrived at Kakadu, Mary River Roadhouse, we set up the van then headed off to a set of small pools which we had to walk up a steep track to get to, but it was worth it because when we got to the top we got to swim and cool off. The walk down was really easy and not as hard as the way up. When we got back to the caravan we had a shower because we were all really dirty and then we had a BBQ dinner. In summary today when we woke up it was raining and the walk was really steep, but that’s living the dream.
Day 25 (Cooinda Lodge) – Today we went to two of Australia’s biggest and best waterfalls, Twinfalls and Jim Jim falls. Today it was really hot so we had to get going early because the drive took so long, it was hot before we arrived, When we finally got to Twin Falls we bought a boat ticket and went for a short walk and got on a boat shuttle to the falls. When we got off the boat shuffle we rock hopped around and on top of lots of rocks which was really tiring but once we got to the falls it was all worth it. We took some weird photos and had a bit to eat and paced back along on the rocks and called the boat shuttle on the radio. When we got off the boat and walked back to the car we didn’t go as we still had to explore Jim Jim falls. The walk to Jim Jim falls was really rocky so we had to rock hop the whole way, the worse bit was the end of the walk. When we got to the base of the Jim Jim falls we went for a swim but the water was so cold, I couldn’t get in, but when I was getting out I tripped so I kind of got in. The walk back wasn’t as hard but it was really really hot but that’s living the dream.
Day 26 (Cooinda Lodge)– Today we got up really early and went on the Yellow Water sunrise cruise. We had to catch a bus at 6.25am, so it was a really early start and Dad and I thought we were going to miss the bus but we made it. When we got off the bus we walked to the boat and got on. The boats were quite small and we were lucky to get seats next to each other. We saw lot of birds including Jabiru’s and lots of ducks plus many more. We also saw 9 saltwater crocodiles including one of the biggest in the park which was 4 meters long. After the cruise we caught the bus back to the caravan park and then we had breakfast and then we went to the cultural centre which was a bit like the one at Uluru. At the cultural centre we went to a weaving demo and we tried to weave but it didn’t work so the lady made a necklace for me. We drove back to the van and Rachel and Ryan were waiting for us, so we played with them and had lunch together ad then they went for the sunset cruise. When they had finished the cruise, we played together some more. Today we really felt like we were living the dream.
Day 27 (Ubirr-merl campground) – Today we saw some aboriginal artwork which was about 1,000 years old. We also walked up to a lookout where we saw a fantastic view of Kakadu. We stopped for lunch in Jabiru and then headed for Ubirr. Ubirr is just another part of Kakadu. When we arrived in Ubirr we set up the van and then saw Rachel and her Mum going to have a shower, so Tav and I went with them. After we had a shower Tav and I ran off with Rachel. After dinner we went croc spotting, if you saw red eyes in the water it was a croc. Than we went back to Rachel and Ryan’s caravan and watched Alice In Wonderland, that’s living the dream. (Elia – A very sad day for the family as Dad’s battle with cancer came to an end with Dad passing away peacefully surrounded by Mum, Ingrid and myself).
Day 28 – Today we left Kakadu and moved onto Darwin. When we arrived in Darwin we went straight to the caravan park and when we got out of the car we found it was so much warmer than Kakadu. We explored the caravan park and as soon as we found the pool we quickly got changed and jumped in. WE swam in the pool until it was time to go to the Mindil markets. The Mindil markets are the Sunday evening markets in Darwin. At the market we had dinner whilst watching the sunset over the ocean. After dinner we had a look around the market, we watched some flame throwing and then bought some friendship bracelets. To cool down we got a snow cone and that’s living the dream.
Week 3: Central Australia to Katherine
LIVING THE DREAM - 81 days of pure bliss!
Week 3
Day 15 saw us leave behind Kings Canyon and make our way to Alice Springs. It was amazing to see hills and plenty of green vegetation; apparently the area has had one of its coldest and wettest winters on record. The drive was just over 500 kms with not much in between. The only diversion taken was to see the Henbury Meteorite Craters. The cluster of 12 small craters were formed after a meteor fell to earth 4700 years ago. After 2 weeks of easy camping dinners; pasta, tacos and bbq’s we took advantage of being in a big city, the first since Mildura and treated ourselves to a great Chinese dinner.
Day 16 saw us explore Alice Springs and two of Australian’s greatest institutions’; The School of the Air and the Royal Flying Doctor Service Base. The School of the Air is absolutely fantastic, we were lucky enough to be able to sit in on a grade 4 and a grade 2/3 class. This school has 240 students and covers an area greater than Eastern Europe. The use of IT to conduct classes now makes the distances between the pupils disappear as all are connected by a live video link. Like all government schools the service is provided free to all students including the necessary infrastructure to allow them to participate. Adelaide was very taken by the concept and now wants us to move into the area but at least 80kms from Alice Springs so that she can enroll in the school. After discussing how apples wouldn’t really grow that well in this region she decided she will marry a station owner and then have her 4 own children attend the School of the Air. The Royal Flying Doctor Service Base was as equally impressive. It is amazing to think that such a critical service that allows people to live and work remotely only receives approx 40% of its funding from the government, the rest comes through funding raising, including the necessary capital to purchase new aircraft and equipment. The rest of the day was spent completing a home work session and planning the rest of our week’s adventures.
Day 17 was another National Park adventure this time exploring the West MacDonnell Ranges. The countryside is just beautiful with the most fantastic rock formations and waterholes. It would be great to come back and actually walk some if not all of the Larapinta trial. The first stop for the day was the Ormiston Gorge and Pound, where we decided to walk the Ghost Gum walk, a moderate walk giving lovely views down the gorge. Due to the recent heavy rains, the last section of the walk was underwater and involved us trekking through the very cold river and scaling up and down rocks, which the children thought was a fantastic adventure. The weather was beautiful and thus the children could not resist swimming in a beautiful rock hole even though the water temperature was just above freezing. Next stop was Glen Helen Gorge (one of few permanent waterholes in the region), which was disappointing after Ormiston Gorge, as the lead up to the gorge was just grassy weedy plains, although I did get the feeling that if we had actually progressed through the gorge the view would have been superb. The final stop of the day was the Ellery Creek Big Hole, a huge natural rock pool, which many locals use in summer to cool off in. Once gain Tavi and Fred couldn’t resist the temptation of the water and again braved the cold. The area definitely deserves a longer visit.
We have been very fortunate that a good friend Meagan has agreed to keep Pete company when I head back to Mt Martha to visit Dad for 12 days and thus Day 18 was spent picking up Meagan from the airport and introducing her to caravan life with 3 children. The afternoon saw us visit the Alice Springs Desert Park, which has on display a good representation of the flora and fauna found in the region. Both Pete and I are very surprised that Meagan agreed to stay on after Day 1 and is willing to take on the challenge of the Thompsons.
Day 19 saw the lovely weather (high 20s disappear) to a very wet and cold day which was a great pity as we had planned another day exploring the West MacDonald Ranges. Like true adventurers we didn’t let the weather deter us and we set off to explore Simpsons Gap and Standley Chasm. The weather held off as we explored Simpsons Gap and completed a nice 1 hour walk to a nearby lookout. Unfortunately the weather and our adventurer spirit didn’t hold and by the time we got to Standley Chasm it was pouring like rain, being unprepared without rain coats or umbrellas’ we decided to call our expedition to a halt and head back to Alice Springs for a nice hot chocolate. We spent the evening with Greg (Paul Thompson’s twin brother – my sisters partner) and his wife Susan sharing a lovely meal and hearing about all the tricks that the identical twins (Paul & Greg) had played over the years, the children we fascinated.
Day 20 saw me kiss the family and Meagan good-bye and wish them all the very best for the next 12 days without me. I spent the day further exploring Alice Springs, visiting Art Galleries and having a behind the scenes tour of the Art Precedent with Greg who works there before catching my flight back to Melbourne. The others set off on their long drive to Renner Springs. It is now over to Adelaide to update you on their adventures of the following 12 days.
Adelaide wrote:
Day 20 we went from Alice Springs to Renner Springs, it took 9 whole hours in the car. We left Alice Springs about 9am and arrived at 6pm, but we stopped a few times on the way. On the road just after we left Alice Springs we heard a quiet boom, we pulled up on the side of the road and saw that one of the caravan’s wheels had exploded. Luckily we had a spare tyre on the back, so Dad changed the tyre, it took 1 hour to do, but we managed, When we finally got on the road again we stopped at the Devils Marbles. The Devil Marbles are huge rocks in the middle of nowhere. We took some photos of us holding the rocks and then got back on the road. We filled up on petrol in Tennant Creek and decided to keep going to Banka Banka, but the park was full so went to Renner Springs instead. We arrived just before it got dark and set up the van. We had dinner and the site we where on had no power, I guess that’s living the dream.
Day 21, today is Dad’s birthday. We got up early and said Happy Birthday to Dad. Dad opened his presents and then we finally got on the road. We were heading for Bitter Springs but in the end decided to keep going to Katherine. But we did stop in Bitter Springs for a swim in a very warm water hole. The temperature was about 34 degC so we played in it for along time. When we got out of the water we got changed and then got on the road again to Katherine. When we arrived in Katherine we set-up the van and had dinner. The weather has finally changed and now it is really hot. Today we finally got some hot weather and even though it is really hot now, its living the dream.
Week 3
Day 15 saw us leave behind Kings Canyon and make our way to Alice Springs. It was amazing to see hills and plenty of green vegetation; apparently the area has had one of its coldest and wettest winters on record. The drive was just over 500 kms with not much in between. The only diversion taken was to see the Henbury Meteorite Craters. The cluster of 12 small craters were formed after a meteor fell to earth 4700 years ago. After 2 weeks of easy camping dinners; pasta, tacos and bbq’s we took advantage of being in a big city, the first since Mildura and treated ourselves to a great Chinese dinner.
Day 16 saw us explore Alice Springs and two of Australian’s greatest institutions’; The School of the Air and the Royal Flying Doctor Service Base. The School of the Air is absolutely fantastic, we were lucky enough to be able to sit in on a grade 4 and a grade 2/3 class. This school has 240 students and covers an area greater than Eastern Europe. The use of IT to conduct classes now makes the distances between the pupils disappear as all are connected by a live video link. Like all government schools the service is provided free to all students including the necessary infrastructure to allow them to participate. Adelaide was very taken by the concept and now wants us to move into the area but at least 80kms from Alice Springs so that she can enroll in the school. After discussing how apples wouldn’t really grow that well in this region she decided she will marry a station owner and then have her 4 own children attend the School of the Air. The Royal Flying Doctor Service Base was as equally impressive. It is amazing to think that such a critical service that allows people to live and work remotely only receives approx 40% of its funding from the government, the rest comes through funding raising, including the necessary capital to purchase new aircraft and equipment. The rest of the day was spent completing a home work session and planning the rest of our week’s adventures.
Day 17 was another National Park adventure this time exploring the West MacDonnell Ranges. The countryside is just beautiful with the most fantastic rock formations and waterholes. It would be great to come back and actually walk some if not all of the Larapinta trial. The first stop for the day was the Ormiston Gorge and Pound, where we decided to walk the Ghost Gum walk, a moderate walk giving lovely views down the gorge. Due to the recent heavy rains, the last section of the walk was underwater and involved us trekking through the very cold river and scaling up and down rocks, which the children thought was a fantastic adventure. The weather was beautiful and thus the children could not resist swimming in a beautiful rock hole even though the water temperature was just above freezing. Next stop was Glen Helen Gorge (one of few permanent waterholes in the region), which was disappointing after Ormiston Gorge, as the lead up to the gorge was just grassy weedy plains, although I did get the feeling that if we had actually progressed through the gorge the view would have been superb. The final stop of the day was the Ellery Creek Big Hole, a huge natural rock pool, which many locals use in summer to cool off in. Once gain Tavi and Fred couldn’t resist the temptation of the water and again braved the cold. The area definitely deserves a longer visit.
We have been very fortunate that a good friend Meagan has agreed to keep Pete company when I head back to Mt Martha to visit Dad for 12 days and thus Day 18 was spent picking up Meagan from the airport and introducing her to caravan life with 3 children. The afternoon saw us visit the Alice Springs Desert Park, which has on display a good representation of the flora and fauna found in the region. Both Pete and I are very surprised that Meagan agreed to stay on after Day 1 and is willing to take on the challenge of the Thompsons.
Day 19 saw the lovely weather (high 20s disappear) to a very wet and cold day which was a great pity as we had planned another day exploring the West MacDonald Ranges. Like true adventurers we didn’t let the weather deter us and we set off to explore Simpsons Gap and Standley Chasm. The weather held off as we explored Simpsons Gap and completed a nice 1 hour walk to a nearby lookout. Unfortunately the weather and our adventurer spirit didn’t hold and by the time we got to Standley Chasm it was pouring like rain, being unprepared without rain coats or umbrellas’ we decided to call our expedition to a halt and head back to Alice Springs for a nice hot chocolate. We spent the evening with Greg (Paul Thompson’s twin brother – my sisters partner) and his wife Susan sharing a lovely meal and hearing about all the tricks that the identical twins (Paul & Greg) had played over the years, the children we fascinated.
Day 20 saw me kiss the family and Meagan good-bye and wish them all the very best for the next 12 days without me. I spent the day further exploring Alice Springs, visiting Art Galleries and having a behind the scenes tour of the Art Precedent with Greg who works there before catching my flight back to Melbourne. The others set off on their long drive to Renner Springs. It is now over to Adelaide to update you on their adventures of the following 12 days.
Adelaide wrote:
Day 20 we went from Alice Springs to Renner Springs, it took 9 whole hours in the car. We left Alice Springs about 9am and arrived at 6pm, but we stopped a few times on the way. On the road just after we left Alice Springs we heard a quiet boom, we pulled up on the side of the road and saw that one of the caravan’s wheels had exploded. Luckily we had a spare tyre on the back, so Dad changed the tyre, it took 1 hour to do, but we managed, When we finally got on the road again we stopped at the Devils Marbles. The Devil Marbles are huge rocks in the middle of nowhere. We took some photos of us holding the rocks and then got back on the road. We filled up on petrol in Tennant Creek and decided to keep going to Banka Banka, but the park was full so went to Renner Springs instead. We arrived just before it got dark and set up the van. We had dinner and the site we where on had no power, I guess that’s living the dream.
Day 21, today is Dad’s birthday. We got up early and said Happy Birthday to Dad. Dad opened his presents and then we finally got on the road. We were heading for Bitter Springs but in the end decided to keep going to Katherine. But we did stop in Bitter Springs for a swim in a very warm water hole. The temperature was about 34 degC so we played in it for along time. When we got out of the water we got changed and then got on the road again to Katherine. When we arrived in Katherine we set-up the van and had dinner. The weather has finally changed and now it is really hot. Today we finally got some hot weather and even though it is really hot now, its living the dream.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Week 2 - Willam Creek, Coober Pedy, Ayers and Kings Canyon
Week 2: Outback South Australia to Central Australia - 1631 kms
Day 8 was consumed with discovering Lake Eyre. In the morning we drove down to Halligan and ABC Bays and walked to the edge of the lake. Lake Eyre only totally fills once every 20+ years and only has water in it about once every 6+ years. Lake Eyre is the largest salt lake in Australia and the third largest in the world. It is also the lowest point of Australia at 15m below sea level. The visit to Lake Eyre involved a 75 minute drive from William Creek down a very good condition 4wd track and then a 200m walk to the edge of the lake, There was an amazing number of small sardine like fish and grasshoppers dead on the sand, obviously caught by the evaporating lake, of course Fred and Tavi had great delight in chasing Adelaide around with the dead fish. The water was very salty. The weather was terrible we were all rugged up in coats and beanies, the wind felt like it was coming straight off Antarctica not the Strzelecki Desert. The afternoon saw us discover Lake Eyre by air in a tiny eight seater with a pilot who looked too young to legally drink. Pete took the seat next to the pilot and the rest of us piled into the back. Octavia who suffers motion sickness and hates any form of scary ride put on a very brave face, closed her eyes a lot and finally put herself to sleep to avoid throwing up. Fred got very sick of the headphones and kicked them off 5 minutes into the 1 hour flight and probably now has hearing damage. The view from the air was great, you really did get a great appreciation of the size of the lake. We were also very luck to see a flock of pelicans who take refugee on an island in the middle of the lake. From the air you also got the sense of how it is in the middle of nowhere not a house to be seen for miles and just flat dirt plains with little vegetation. The evening was spent having a great meal at the William Creek Hotel and retiring to our peaceful hotel room where we slept by the noise of the diesel powered electricity generator all night. News from Mt Martha was as good as it could be, with news that Dad was recovering slowly, however the long term position has got worse and thus I have made the decision to break up my trip and fly home from Alice springs for 12 days and catch up with Pete and the children in Darwin.
We took the opportunity to make Day 9 a rest day and catch up on a few items which needed completing. The first part of the day involved driving back from William Creek to Coober Pedy, buying provisions including post cards, followed by doing some minor running repairs to the van and packing it up ready for our biggest day of travel to date. The second part of the day involved moving into our underground house which was to be home for the night. The house is run as a B&B and was exceptionally comfortable, it was great to have a proper shower and toilet (which we didn’t have to share) and to not feel cold for the first time since leaving Shepparton (for the children the highlight was having a TV and being able to watch Packed to the Rafters, unfortunately MasterChef was not being shown).Underground houses maintain a constant temperature between 18-23degC which is great for an area where the temperatures can vary greatly from below zero to the low, if not high 40’s. Post cards to home and diaries were then written.
Day 10 was a long slog, 736kms and just under 10 hours, to travel from Coober Pedy to Ayers Rock (Yulura -the town that provides the necessary infrastructure for Ayers Rock). We decided to not break the trip and avoid going through the whole set up process again in towns which really have nothing to offer. The drive until Ulura came into site was just long, although it was fascinating to see the landscape change from flat dust dessert to more heavily vegetated sand dunes. One highlight was definitely crossing the border into the Northern Territory, as this meant that for both Adelaide and I that we have now been to every state and territory in Australia. Pete had achieved this feat some time ago and the little two just have Western Australia and the ACT to go! The sight of Ulura in the distance is really quite magical, it is even more beautiful than the pictures. Ayers Rock Resort in Yulura is a mini city with everything from camping to 5 star accommodation and restaurants’, a medical centre, police station, a little shopping village. Camping in the camp ground gives you access to the whole resort. This was home for the next three nights. It was beautiful to watch the sunset over Ayers Rock with a glass of wine in hand.
Days 11 and 12 were spent exploring the Ulura-Kata Tjuta National Park. Day 11 was a visit to the rock, unfortunately the rock climb was closed (apparently it is now very rarely open as safety precautions imposed due to wind, temperature and rain take precedent. In fact it had only been open for 2 hours in the last 2 weeks) due to high winds and thus we settled for completing the rock base walk of 10.6 kms. The walk was just a flat circuit and in many places over 100m away from the edge of the rock and thus quite boring. Due to the numerous scared sites around the rock, photographing in many areas is prohibited. Due to the monotonous nature of the walk it was very hard to keep the children interested, however promises of snack treats at certain intervals kept them going. Fred walked all the way and only whined a little, a real miracle for the child who still wishes that he could fit in a pram. The cultural centre established next to the rock is very interesting with a great history of the local Aboriginals and the flora and fauna found in the area. Day 12 was spent at the Olgas completing the 7.4kms Valley of the Wind walk. This was a beautiful walk through the domes, up and down the valleys, much more strenuous than the rock base walk, however all made it without any complaint. If you only have time for one walk – do the Olgas.
Day 13 saw us move from Yulura to Kings Canyon Resort and take a rest from the walking, much to Fred’s relief, although this was short lived when a compulsory 2 hour homework session was enforced, although who can complain when the class room looked over the George Gill range. The children also caught up with some friends they had made at Ayers Rock Resort and thus had a lovely time running a muck, The caravan park was just beautiful as the back drop of the George Gill range was gorgeous. Wi;d dingoes roamed the parks. The evening saw us watching and participating in a local show put on by the Roadies, a duo, who during the day manned reception at the resort and who wouldn’t last more than 10 seconds on Red Faces and thus as you can imagine was world class. The children loved it to such an extent that they made me re-live it the next night, some how Pete managed to escape.
Day 14 was again a hiking a day, this time taking on the Kings Canyon Rim Walk, a leisurely 6 km walk with a 100m climb at the start just to get the heart going. This was a beautiful walk around the rim of the canyon with spectacular views and a beautiful detour down to a beautiful billabong. It is a pity that the weather is so cold as the water looked very inviting. Tavi, Adelaide and I felt that we hadn’t quite done enough walking for the day and also completed the 2km Kings Creek Walk. Adelaide still had enough walking and decided to accompany Pete on a 1 hour walk around the resort, oh to be young! Dinner was spent watching the sunset over Kings Canyon – that’s living the dream
Day 8 was consumed with discovering Lake Eyre. In the morning we drove down to Halligan and ABC Bays and walked to the edge of the lake. Lake Eyre only totally fills once every 20+ years and only has water in it about once every 6+ years. Lake Eyre is the largest salt lake in Australia and the third largest in the world. It is also the lowest point of Australia at 15m below sea level. The visit to Lake Eyre involved a 75 minute drive from William Creek down a very good condition 4wd track and then a 200m walk to the edge of the lake, There was an amazing number of small sardine like fish and grasshoppers dead on the sand, obviously caught by the evaporating lake, of course Fred and Tavi had great delight in chasing Adelaide around with the dead fish. The water was very salty. The weather was terrible we were all rugged up in coats and beanies, the wind felt like it was coming straight off Antarctica not the Strzelecki Desert. The afternoon saw us discover Lake Eyre by air in a tiny eight seater with a pilot who looked too young to legally drink. Pete took the seat next to the pilot and the rest of us piled into the back. Octavia who suffers motion sickness and hates any form of scary ride put on a very brave face, closed her eyes a lot and finally put herself to sleep to avoid throwing up. Fred got very sick of the headphones and kicked them off 5 minutes into the 1 hour flight and probably now has hearing damage. The view from the air was great, you really did get a great appreciation of the size of the lake. We were also very luck to see a flock of pelicans who take refugee on an island in the middle of the lake. From the air you also got the sense of how it is in the middle of nowhere not a house to be seen for miles and just flat dirt plains with little vegetation. The evening was spent having a great meal at the William Creek Hotel and retiring to our peaceful hotel room where we slept by the noise of the diesel powered electricity generator all night. News from Mt Martha was as good as it could be, with news that Dad was recovering slowly, however the long term position has got worse and thus I have made the decision to break up my trip and fly home from Alice springs for 12 days and catch up with Pete and the children in Darwin.
We took the opportunity to make Day 9 a rest day and catch up on a few items which needed completing. The first part of the day involved driving back from William Creek to Coober Pedy, buying provisions including post cards, followed by doing some minor running repairs to the van and packing it up ready for our biggest day of travel to date. The second part of the day involved moving into our underground house which was to be home for the night. The house is run as a B&B and was exceptionally comfortable, it was great to have a proper shower and toilet (which we didn’t have to share) and to not feel cold for the first time since leaving Shepparton (for the children the highlight was having a TV and being able to watch Packed to the Rafters, unfortunately MasterChef was not being shown).Underground houses maintain a constant temperature between 18-23degC which is great for an area where the temperatures can vary greatly from below zero to the low, if not high 40’s. Post cards to home and diaries were then written.
Day 10 was a long slog, 736kms and just under 10 hours, to travel from Coober Pedy to Ayers Rock (Yulura -the town that provides the necessary infrastructure for Ayers Rock). We decided to not break the trip and avoid going through the whole set up process again in towns which really have nothing to offer. The drive until Ulura came into site was just long, although it was fascinating to see the landscape change from flat dust dessert to more heavily vegetated sand dunes. One highlight was definitely crossing the border into the Northern Territory, as this meant that for both Adelaide and I that we have now been to every state and territory in Australia. Pete had achieved this feat some time ago and the little two just have Western Australia and the ACT to go! The sight of Ulura in the distance is really quite magical, it is even more beautiful than the pictures. Ayers Rock Resort in Yulura is a mini city with everything from camping to 5 star accommodation and restaurants’, a medical centre, police station, a little shopping village. Camping in the camp ground gives you access to the whole resort. This was home for the next three nights. It was beautiful to watch the sunset over Ayers Rock with a glass of wine in hand.
Days 11 and 12 were spent exploring the Ulura-Kata Tjuta National Park. Day 11 was a visit to the rock, unfortunately the rock climb was closed (apparently it is now very rarely open as safety precautions imposed due to wind, temperature and rain take precedent. In fact it had only been open for 2 hours in the last 2 weeks) due to high winds and thus we settled for completing the rock base walk of 10.6 kms. The walk was just a flat circuit and in many places over 100m away from the edge of the rock and thus quite boring. Due to the numerous scared sites around the rock, photographing in many areas is prohibited. Due to the monotonous nature of the walk it was very hard to keep the children interested, however promises of snack treats at certain intervals kept them going. Fred walked all the way and only whined a little, a real miracle for the child who still wishes that he could fit in a pram. The cultural centre established next to the rock is very interesting with a great history of the local Aboriginals and the flora and fauna found in the area. Day 12 was spent at the Olgas completing the 7.4kms Valley of the Wind walk. This was a beautiful walk through the domes, up and down the valleys, much more strenuous than the rock base walk, however all made it without any complaint. If you only have time for one walk – do the Olgas.
Day 13 saw us move from Yulura to Kings Canyon Resort and take a rest from the walking, much to Fred’s relief, although this was short lived when a compulsory 2 hour homework session was enforced, although who can complain when the class room looked over the George Gill range. The children also caught up with some friends they had made at Ayers Rock Resort and thus had a lovely time running a muck, The caravan park was just beautiful as the back drop of the George Gill range was gorgeous. Wi;d dingoes roamed the parks. The evening saw us watching and participating in a local show put on by the Roadies, a duo, who during the day manned reception at the resort and who wouldn’t last more than 10 seconds on Red Faces and thus as you can imagine was world class. The children loved it to such an extent that they made me re-live it the next night, some how Pete managed to escape.
Day 14 was again a hiking a day, this time taking on the Kings Canyon Rim Walk, a leisurely 6 km walk with a 100m climb at the start just to get the heart going. This was a beautiful walk around the rim of the canyon with spectacular views and a beautiful detour down to a beautiful billabong. It is a pity that the weather is so cold as the water looked very inviting. Tavi, Adelaide and I felt that we hadn’t quite done enough walking for the day and also completed the 2km Kings Creek Walk. Adelaide still had enough walking and decided to accompany Pete on a 1 hour walk around the resort, oh to be young! Dinner was spent watching the sunset over Kings Canyon – that’s living the dream
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Day 2 ( The way Dick saw it)
Day 2 [how dick saw it]
Today we went on a paddle steamer called the Melbourne PS. We passed thought a loch. At lunch it stared to rain. It dried up and then we had a milkshake and a hot chocolate.
Today we went on a paddle steamer called the Melbourne PS. We passed thought a loch. At lunch it stared to rain. It dried up and then we had a milkshake and a hot chocolate.
Week 1 - Shepp to Coober Pedy
LIVING THE DREAM - 81 days of pure bliss!
Week 1: Shepparton to Outback South Australia – 2,140kms
Wow, week 1has already passed, only 11 to go. The first week has seen us travel from Shepparton to William Creek, which is on the edge of Lake Eyre, outback South Australia.
In typically Griswold style or I should say in Pete’s style, the start of the trip commenced about 3 hours behind schedule. The family was packed and all ready to go by 8.30am, but Pete just had to squeeze in a few more hours of work and get a last minute check on the caravan done, of course all jobs which should have been completed the week before. At 11am, the Living the Dream adventure commenced.
Day 1 saw us travel from Shepparton to Mildura, which was home for the first two nights. The cold weather was definitely not left behind with Mildura having a maximum day time temperature of only 7 degC. Thankfully we had the foresight to take along a couple of fan heaters, which has made life in the caravan very comfortable. The first of many caravan set-ups went without a hitch, however it did take its toll on us that we needed to eat out.
Day 2 was spent exploring Mildura. Pete had visited numerous times previously to see grape and orange growers, but it was a first time visit for the rest of us. The morning saw us tour the mighty Murray River on the last steam driven paddle ship the PS Melbourne. Both Pete and I were amazed by the loch system, with levels being controlled in excessive of 3 meters along this part of the river. The afternoon was spent topping up on supplies, a microwave dish to cook porridge and buying nuts to replace the one already lost on one of the stabliser legs (it must have shaken loose), Pete visiting an Orange buyer for old time sake and the rest of us indulging in hot chocolate and playing board games on a cold and wet afternoon. With more time to prepare the first of many caravan park meals was prepared and cooked without issue.
Day 3 saw us on the road again travelling to Broken Hill. The sight seeing stops included the junction where the Murray and Darling rivers combine in Wentworth and the Perry Sand Hills, an unique sand hill formation in the middle of nowhere which were formed some 40,000 years ago. The sand hills were definitely a highlight for the children who just loved to run up and roll down the orange sanded dunes. Broken Hill was a stark contrast to tree lined Mildura, just dirt everywhere, not a tree in sight and only small scrubs less than 0.5m high in the middle of dirt fields. For a city which has been responsible for so much of Australia’s wealth, the town looked very poor, lots of corrugated iron houses with old couches on the front verandahs and empty retail fronts. This is with the exception of the main street which has a number of beautiful late 1880’s & 1890’s buildings which have been fully restored.
Day 4 was consumed exploring Broken Hill and the surrounding area. Broken Hill to make up for the decline in mining has turned itself into a very interesting tourist town with plenty of art, history and countryside to explore. First visit for the day was the Living Desert, where we visited the Sculpture Symposium (in 1987 12 sculptures from around the world were invite to carve a sculpture from local rock representing an aspect of local Aboriginal life). We saw Sturt’s Desert Pea (hopefully it will grow in Shepparton and become a feature of the Clarke Crt garden) and other native flowers. Next was a visit to the (Kevin) Pro Hart gallery, a hit for the whole family. Through the great advertising medium of TV the children are familiar with his work and were fascinated to see the dragon fly that Pro Hart painted on the carpet for the carpet cleaner ad and that his grandson now emulates on the latest ad. Pro Hart’s work has many different styles, all which I truly enjoy. The children kept commenting how Aunty Andrea would have enjoyed the gallery {especially the large female derriere painting). Next it was onto Silverton, an old ghost town which was a very wealthy area before the bigger deposits of silver, zinc and lead were found in Broken Hill. Silverton has also featured in many movies including Mad Max 2 and A Town Like Alice. The finally stop for the day was the Miners Memorial a terrific tribute to those who have lost their lives mining in the area. A great reminder on how dangerous mining was - there were so many cave ins, electrocutions, and falls. Fred was excited to see some many miners called Frederick.
Day 5 was again a travel day leaving Broken Hill behind for Woomera. The planned stop was Port Augusta but given we had made good time, Port Augusta became our lunch spot and we pushed through to Woomera. Our pre-packing in preparation for an early get away really paid off. The landscape was bare and really offered no interesting stops, although the bush toilet stops are causing lots of angst. Woomera was established to be a rocket testing facility for the defence force just after the second world war, in collaboration with the English forces, Over the years it has had a very interesting history developing rockets, bombs and satellites’ in joint ventures with other nations, Today there are very little programs in process due to costs, however as late as June the area was closed as a Japanese satellite re-entered earth and landed in the surrounding area. As a contrast to Broken Hill, Woomera is exceptionally well kept, very neat and tidy. It is amazing what a difference government dollars make. Woomera has a great rocket park and museum and I would recommend a visit to all.
Day 6 Woomera to Coober Pedy.
Once again we started early and made it to Coober Pedy just prior to lunch. The only stop was a very quick photo of Lake Hart. Coober Pedy is a real outback town; very run down, very little there and our first sighting of Aboriginals’ just hanging around town. The landscape is very bleak lots of dirt sand hills everywhere and no vegetation at all. The afternoon was spent learning about Coober Pedy’s history at the Umoona mine and museum. The tour was fantastic and to date has been a family highlight. The tour involved exploring a miner’s underground house as it would have been in the 1950’s, a modern day underground house and then a mine tour where the evolution of opal mining techniques were explained. An opal seam was also shown on the tour. The tour concluded with a film on how opals were formed. The museum was also excellent explaining the discovery of opals and the creation of Coober Pedy as it is today. In addition, it housed a collection of fossils which were found just outside of Coober Pedy in the 1970’s of a plesiosaurs.
Day 7 saw us continue our exploration of Coober Pedy, with a visit to two underground churches, to a noddling area to try and find our own opals and finally a demonstration of the equipment the miners use to excavate and recover the opals. Unfortunately as we were taking our lunch break bad news was received from Mt Martha, Dad had taken a turn for the worse and was rushed to hospital, he had developed an infection. The next 6 hours were just a waiting game as we waited to hear whether or not the antibiotics were going to be effective. We decided as there was nothing we could as we waited for news, that we would continue with our planned itinerary and headed out to William Creek (after we confirmed what flights were available out of Coober Pedy the following day). William Creek is the smallest town in South Australia with a population which ranges between 6 and 12 and is one of the gate ways for Lake Eyre north. William Creek has a charming pub, with great outback character and is always full of outback adventurers, just like us. The children were amazed at the lack of facilities, no shops, no drinking water or mobile phone reception and only a couple of houses. The lack of mobile phone reception was a real issue as I was desperate for news from home, but thankfully there was one public phone booth and I managed to make the dreaded call and found out that Dad was as good as he could be but the next couple of days would tell. We spent the evening tucked up in our cabin playing board games and having a wonderful family time, that’s living the dream.
Week 1: Shepparton to Outback South Australia – 2,140kms
Wow, week 1has already passed, only 11 to go. The first week has seen us travel from Shepparton to William Creek, which is on the edge of Lake Eyre, outback South Australia.
In typically Griswold style or I should say in Pete’s style, the start of the trip commenced about 3 hours behind schedule. The family was packed and all ready to go by 8.30am, but Pete just had to squeeze in a few more hours of work and get a last minute check on the caravan done, of course all jobs which should have been completed the week before. At 11am, the Living the Dream adventure commenced.
Day 1 saw us travel from Shepparton to Mildura, which was home for the first two nights. The cold weather was definitely not left behind with Mildura having a maximum day time temperature of only 7 degC. Thankfully we had the foresight to take along a couple of fan heaters, which has made life in the caravan very comfortable. The first of many caravan set-ups went without a hitch, however it did take its toll on us that we needed to eat out.
Day 2 was spent exploring Mildura. Pete had visited numerous times previously to see grape and orange growers, but it was a first time visit for the rest of us. The morning saw us tour the mighty Murray River on the last steam driven paddle ship the PS Melbourne. Both Pete and I were amazed by the loch system, with levels being controlled in excessive of 3 meters along this part of the river. The afternoon was spent topping up on supplies, a microwave dish to cook porridge and buying nuts to replace the one already lost on one of the stabliser legs (it must have shaken loose), Pete visiting an Orange buyer for old time sake and the rest of us indulging in hot chocolate and playing board games on a cold and wet afternoon. With more time to prepare the first of many caravan park meals was prepared and cooked without issue.
Day 3 saw us on the road again travelling to Broken Hill. The sight seeing stops included the junction where the Murray and Darling rivers combine in Wentworth and the Perry Sand Hills, an unique sand hill formation in the middle of nowhere which were formed some 40,000 years ago. The sand hills were definitely a highlight for the children who just loved to run up and roll down the orange sanded dunes. Broken Hill was a stark contrast to tree lined Mildura, just dirt everywhere, not a tree in sight and only small scrubs less than 0.5m high in the middle of dirt fields. For a city which has been responsible for so much of Australia’s wealth, the town looked very poor, lots of corrugated iron houses with old couches on the front verandahs and empty retail fronts. This is with the exception of the main street which has a number of beautiful late 1880’s & 1890’s buildings which have been fully restored.
Day 4 was consumed exploring Broken Hill and the surrounding area. Broken Hill to make up for the decline in mining has turned itself into a very interesting tourist town with plenty of art, history and countryside to explore. First visit for the day was the Living Desert, where we visited the Sculpture Symposium (in 1987 12 sculptures from around the world were invite to carve a sculpture from local rock representing an aspect of local Aboriginal life). We saw Sturt’s Desert Pea (hopefully it will grow in Shepparton and become a feature of the Clarke Crt garden) and other native flowers. Next was a visit to the (Kevin) Pro Hart gallery, a hit for the whole family. Through the great advertising medium of TV the children are familiar with his work and were fascinated to see the dragon fly that Pro Hart painted on the carpet for the carpet cleaner ad and that his grandson now emulates on the latest ad. Pro Hart’s work has many different styles, all which I truly enjoy. The children kept commenting how Aunty Andrea would have enjoyed the gallery {especially the large female derriere painting). Next it was onto Silverton, an old ghost town which was a very wealthy area before the bigger deposits of silver, zinc and lead were found in Broken Hill. Silverton has also featured in many movies including Mad Max 2 and A Town Like Alice. The finally stop for the day was the Miners Memorial a terrific tribute to those who have lost their lives mining in the area. A great reminder on how dangerous mining was - there were so many cave ins, electrocutions, and falls. Fred was excited to see some many miners called Frederick.
Day 5 was again a travel day leaving Broken Hill behind for Woomera. The planned stop was Port Augusta but given we had made good time, Port Augusta became our lunch spot and we pushed through to Woomera. Our pre-packing in preparation for an early get away really paid off. The landscape was bare and really offered no interesting stops, although the bush toilet stops are causing lots of angst. Woomera was established to be a rocket testing facility for the defence force just after the second world war, in collaboration with the English forces, Over the years it has had a very interesting history developing rockets, bombs and satellites’ in joint ventures with other nations, Today there are very little programs in process due to costs, however as late as June the area was closed as a Japanese satellite re-entered earth and landed in the surrounding area. As a contrast to Broken Hill, Woomera is exceptionally well kept, very neat and tidy. It is amazing what a difference government dollars make. Woomera has a great rocket park and museum and I would recommend a visit to all.
Day 6 Woomera to Coober Pedy.
Once again we started early and made it to Coober Pedy just prior to lunch. The only stop was a very quick photo of Lake Hart. Coober Pedy is a real outback town; very run down, very little there and our first sighting of Aboriginals’ just hanging around town. The landscape is very bleak lots of dirt sand hills everywhere and no vegetation at all. The afternoon was spent learning about Coober Pedy’s history at the Umoona mine and museum. The tour was fantastic and to date has been a family highlight. The tour involved exploring a miner’s underground house as it would have been in the 1950’s, a modern day underground house and then a mine tour where the evolution of opal mining techniques were explained. An opal seam was also shown on the tour. The tour concluded with a film on how opals were formed. The museum was also excellent explaining the discovery of opals and the creation of Coober Pedy as it is today. In addition, it housed a collection of fossils which were found just outside of Coober Pedy in the 1970’s of a plesiosaurs.
Day 7 saw us continue our exploration of Coober Pedy, with a visit to two underground churches, to a noddling area to try and find our own opals and finally a demonstration of the equipment the miners use to excavate and recover the opals. Unfortunately as we were taking our lunch break bad news was received from Mt Martha, Dad had taken a turn for the worse and was rushed to hospital, he had developed an infection. The next 6 hours were just a waiting game as we waited to hear whether or not the antibiotics were going to be effective. We decided as there was nothing we could as we waited for news, that we would continue with our planned itinerary and headed out to William Creek (after we confirmed what flights were available out of Coober Pedy the following day). William Creek is the smallest town in South Australia with a population which ranges between 6 and 12 and is one of the gate ways for Lake Eyre north. William Creek has a charming pub, with great outback character and is always full of outback adventurers, just like us. The children were amazed at the lack of facilities, no shops, no drinking water or mobile phone reception and only a couple of houses. The lack of mobile phone reception was a real issue as I was desperate for news from home, but thankfully there was one public phone booth and I managed to make the dreaded call and found out that Dad was as good as he could be but the next couple of days would tell. We spent the evening tucked up in our cabin playing board games and having a wonderful family time, that’s living the dream.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Day 1 (The way Wednesday saw it)
This morning we did the final packing for our around Australia adventure. Around 10:30AM we finally left clarke crt. On our way we stopped at Cohuna for a leg strech, the next stop was in Swan Hill for lunch at a park on the Murray River and finally on to Mildura.When we finally arrive in Mildura the power went out, but thats living the dream!
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