Home Again

Well we have been home for about 1 week now and I'm still trying to sort out camping stuff and cloths, but I have a good reason for being so slack... we have both arrived home with a good dose of the flu...

On our arrival home to "Wandarrah", we drove in the front gate and we came face to face with this sign.... Well, we know we said quite often on our trip; "Oh, we could live here..." but we didn't think the neighbours would take us literally. We really have lovely friends for neighbours....Hmmmm!!!!!

Then after having recovered from that shock, we took a look across the front paddock and saw this BLACK sheet, then really started to wondered "What the Hell.....????"

Our lovely little friend next door, decided to burn off the road bank of dead grass, when it got away from her. I won't go into detail as to how she managed to do such a great job, just lets say it was a burn off gone wrong.....Aye Jan?

A lot of people have asked "What's the best thing about being home?" I would have to say -Sleeping in our own bed and using our own bathroom and shower... It really is good to be home, but I really must say we had a wonderful trip and saw some beautiful sights and met some lovely people. I would like to thank you all again for reading my stories, but please stay tuned as I will be putting up a lot more pictures for you all to have a look at, from time to time. I'll also give you a few stats on our ks and fuel etc.

Good Samaritan

Sunday 3rd August 2008
Well, I must tell you all... Ray’s ‘Good Samaritan’ deed has earned ME another little treasure yesterday. On our way along the road yesterday afternoon we passed someone broken down on the side of the road, so of course we stopped to see if we could help. He had a broken water shaft and had put the fan through the radiator and done a lot of damage. We offered whatever help we could, he just said “If you could take me to my home, so that I can come back with my car and tow the thing home again, that would be great.” So off we went, he started talking about what he does etc, as you do. When we got to his house which was at Mintabie, just west of Marla, Ray help him get some fuel from a 44gal drum to take with him. Then he said “just come inside for a moment, I’ll show you something.” So in we went, and he gave me a beautiful Opal Dubblet, it is really lovely, how lucky am I?
We are bushing camping tonight and have had a great fire going to keep warm... we’ll have to find our winter cloths soon, they are all packed away up on the roof rack at the moment.

Our Last Few Days...

Friday 1st August 2008
Wow, I still have service, so thought I’d jot down a bit of what we have been up to over the past few days. Arrived into Yalura on Wednesday and set up in the camping grounds at the Ayers Rock Resort. But firstly I’d like to wish my Dad a very Happy Birthday for today; I hope you have a great day Dad. On Wednesday when we arrived we went out to Ayers Rock (Uluru) for a look and investigate some of the walks that were available to do. Well, it was unbelievable the trouble it was to get into a park that is in our OWN country!!!!! Forms to fill out, photo ID to show, passes to have printed and laminated... then shown each time you want to go into visit the Rock or the Olgers (Kata Tju­ta). Anyway we had to get a pass for 3 days, which now entitles us to come anytime over the next 12 months. It expires 30-07-2009, bloody ridiculous. The Government to making a squillion out of this National Park, as it is leased back to the Federal Government to manage and run, with all proceeds going back to them NOT the Aboriginals. The Rangers get an amount to run it and one ranger told us that their budget had been cut severely. What do you know.....
Anyway all the politics aside, the Rock is certainly a very majestic piece of this planet that it would make anyone proud to say “It’s ours”. It really is amazing and somehow, there are no words to explain how it feels when you’re up close to it. You can feel how it would be sacred, but not only to the Aboriginals but to all fellow Australians. Yesterday, we went on a walk half way around, didn’t do all the way, it is 9.4kms, too much for this old dear. Then last night, we went back out to do one other walk up into the Gorge, before we
watched the sunset over the Rock. It was awesome to watch the colours change as the sun went down behind us.
Today we went out to the Olgers (Kata Tjuta).
They are just as wonderful, only they are a lot of smaller domes; one of them is about 250mt higher than the Rock. These look to be made up of a different rock texture to Ayers Rock though. Still they really are just as majestic and a MUST see, when you ever get the chance.
We will be heading towards home tomorrow, via Finley to see Mum & Dad and Heddy, Daryl and the girls, then Wagga to see the Bubby Girls (Mum & Dad too), Jan & John, then Sydney to see Siovhan then Woy Woy to see the little men (their Mum & Dad as well). So it will probably be a couple of weeks before we’re having coffee on the Nut House Coffee Shop Deck (next door). Also I may not have service over the next few days, when we’re stopped as we’ll be bushing camping most of the way home to Finley. So this could be the last entry from actually on the trip, we’ll see... Thanks for the interest in my Blog and I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Last weeks Adventures

Wednesday 23rd July 2008
Well, we set off this morning with the idea we would Bush Camp along the road at where ever we get to by about 4:30pm. We arrived at Mataranka about 10:30am and decided to stop at Bitter Springs for a dip in the thermal pools... it was wonderful!!! Swam there for about an hour and a half it was so good, we both felt so energised afterwards. Back into the wagon again and headed for “Fran’s Devonshire Tea House” at Larrimah, she had a freshly baked leg of lamb in the oven and home-made Damper Rolls... this was her special for the day, Roast Lamb on a Damper Roll with gravy.... Yummo!!!!! Then we had sweets, Oh Boy!!! Ray had a home-made “Fruit Spring Roll” with home-made Ice-cream. Of course he couldn’t eat the Ice-cream so I had to eat that... double Yummo!!! I also had a home-made butter-milk scone with jam & cream... Yummo-Bumbo. Then we rolled ourselves back into the wagon and continued on our journey to ’who knows where’. Arrived at Daley Waters about 3:30pm, thought we’d drive in for a look. Then remembered that this is where the ‘singing chook man’ is – Frank, so stayed the night here, along with another 500 travellers with their caravans, mobile-homes, campers and tents, but it was a great night with Burra & Salads for dinner and Bacon Eggs & Pancakes for breakfast. Yummo-Bumbo Again!!!!

Thursday 24th July 2008
Travelled from Daley Waters to Wauchope today, big drive, after all the food we have eaten over the past 24hours, it was a very lethargic drive as well.....

Friday 25th July 2008
Arrived in Alice for lunch today, did another small shop for a few supplies, got more fuel and continued on our journey to Stuart Wells, where we booked in for 2 nights. We met a couple from Coffs Harbour who are working at the Roadhouse for a few weeks. Small world aye!!! We also met “Dinky” the signing dingo... great act for an old dingo, obviously love the sound of the piano and just goes off with his ‘singing’ howling...

Sunday 27th July 2008
On the road again after a day of R&R. We arrived at the Kings Canyon Resort about 3:30pm, and the place was chock-a-block with caravans. There we were trying to park on a tiny squishing little corner site... and we were going to be there for 3 nights, I don’t think so.... Along came a lovely little lady scooting around on a Skoda, to help us. She immediately took us to a great spot on a grassy area away from the entire crowd, and it is lovely. We have settled in here for a few days to go for the Canyon walks.

Monday 28th July 2008
Up early this morning to get our BIG walk started before it gets too hot. We did the Kings Canyon Ridge walk!!! It began with a very very steep climb up the spur of the canyon to the top. Then we walked all around the rim of the canyon, some places it was along the cliff edge, which didn’t impress Ray very much. There were some very easy places as well; a lot of work has been put into making the walk as safe as possible, with steps, boardwalks and bridges across the actual canyon. Once around the main canyon part, we descended down the other side back to the car

park.

It was a 6km loop walk and took us nearly 4 hours. About half way along the walk is the Garden of Eden, a delightful area of cool waterholes and riverine vegetation. Although I think it is dried up at the moment, as we didn’t see any waterholes. It was still very impressive just the same.

It never ceases to amaze me how this planet is put together. The land formations just across Australia along are unbelievable. After our walk this morning, we had a very lazy afternoon and an early night.

Tuesday 29th July 2008
This morning, more walking... not quite as early start but we did do 2 walks. The first one was up the Kings Creek itself. This was at the bottom of the Canyon, opposed to where we were yesterday, at the top; along the dry creek bed of the Canyon. A very easy walk along a path, about 2km and it look us about an hour. Extremely interesting to see the amazing textures and formation in the rock walls, also the way nature creates her magnificent brick work. The second walk was into Katherine Springs, it was about 2.6kms and a very dry walk, but at the dead end of the path was a large pool of spring water, although it certainly was not swimmable or drinkable. We have some very friendly wild life in our camp site here. Lots of pigeons, pee-wees, crows and dingos, all come for a wander through the camp looking for whatever they can find to eat. There are lots of signs around, warning us of the dingos and NOT to feed them or encourage them into the park. They really don’t need any encouragement though; they just come right on in up close to where we are sitting. It’s off to Ayers Rock tomorrow, hope it’s all that I’m expecting....

The Holiday Stories Continue

Well we have had a wonderful week in Darwin. It really is a lovely city, very similar to Canberra in the way it’s laid out. We saw lots of tourist things; Ray was very keen to check out all the WW11 history that was in the museums, so we did the rounds of them. It really is quite frightening to really learn just how close we came to being owned by the Japanese. I don’t think our history books tell the full story, as to how many times Darwin and the top end were attacked. We had a walk through the Oil tunnels that were built towards the end of WW11, they are huge, but would you believe... they were never used. The Navy said at the end of the war – “We don’t need them now, you can do with them what you want.” We also had a sunset harbour cruise, nice but another ripe off for the tourists. We also met some lovely people that were camped near us in the Park.

Thursday 17th July 2008
Left Lee Point Caravan Park early this morning and headed towards Kakadu. Went to the Spectacular Jumping Crocodiles at Middle Point on the Adelaide River, not a bad show... The croc really is a mean looking creator though, especially the BIG ones. Had some lunch at Corroboree Park Inn, then went on to Aurora Resort – Kakadu and stayed for 2 nights.

Friday 18th July 2008
I must say, since being on this trip I have experienced a few new things, but the scariest one would have been this morning when I went to the shower block for a shower and came face to feet with a snake. I’m not sure who was the most frightened though. He just slithered past me and down the drain hole in the next shower cubicle, consequently I returned to the camper and had a 3F (some of you will know what that is) I wasn’t staying in the shower block for anything... Ray went to find someone that looked like they worked there, to report it. They just said “Yeah, it was probably a water python; we usually pull them out of the toilets... We went for a drive up to Jabiru, just to have a look about... not much there, Supermarket, Centre link, Medical Centre, heat and flies etc... Lovely bakery though, so we bought some nice fresh bread to keep us going. Went back to our camp and had a swim in the pool at the resort. Lovely!!!! Not having a shower tonight either...

Saturday 19th July 2008
On our way to our next port of call in Kakadu, which was a bush camp near “Yellow Waters”, we drove up to a beautiful spot called Ubirr (Oo-beer). We walked right up to the top of the Escarpment to check out the view... It was spectacular absolute breath-taking. One can only imagine what it would be like in the wet season. Had a burger at the Boarder Store, and then off to Calais Crossing. This is a crossing over the East Alligator River, and if you get there at the right time, when the tide is changing, there are lots of Barramundi, that get caught in the over flow. This is where the crocs get a real good feed. Lots of big crocs came sliding down from the muddy banks to start feasting. It was here we witnessed the stupidest act from a tourist I’ve even seen. This, I can only call him a twit, man walked out into the water that was running over the crossing, up to his knees. While he was doing this, we were watching a big croc swim up to about 4 metres from where he was standing. We set up another great bush camp... except for the MOZZIES!!! Boy!!! They just about picked us up and carried us out of there. We just had to cover ourselves with the good old RID and had lots of mossies coils burning around the camper.

Sunday 20th July 2008
Up very early this morning to catch the Sunrise Cruise on the Yellow Water River. This was really very nice, a bit cool and fresh at that time of the morning, but we soon warmed up when the sun came up. It was a lovely cruise with lots and lots of bird life, all different kinds. We also saw wild horses, dingos and more crocs. Back to Cooinda Resort for some brekkie or brunch, then we had a walk up to a look-out that was such a rough and steep walk, but I guess it was worth it, a 360 degree view of Kakadu. Then back to our mozzie filled camp for an early dinner so that we could get inside the camper before we needed to turn on the light. An early pack up in the morning to get out of this place...

Monday 21st July 2008
Down to Katherine today, booked into the Knots Crossing Resort/Caravan Park. We have booked on the Gorge Cruise for the morning trip. Hope this one is worth it...

Tuesday 22nd July 2008

Well, we have been out to the “Katherine Gorges” this morning. Three flat bottom boats lined up, each holding up to 60 people. We were doing the 3 Gorge Cruise, there were also other ones going at the same time. They do at least 3 of these cruises during the day, so that’s 9 x 60.... We paid $69 for our 3 Gorge cruise; this was a middle of the range cruise. Now, do the math... 9 x 60 x 69 x 365days = ???? And all this is owned by our native brothers that have been here for 50,000 years... Hmmmmm!!!! Don’t tell me they’re hard done by!!!!! But we did enjoy seeing the gorges and the amazing formation of the walls of the gorge.

Our Visit to Licthfield National Park NT

These are the Florence Falls, by far they largest ones in the park. We didn't do the 1/2k walk (or climb) down to the plunge pool for a swim...
These are the Buley Rockpools just below the Florence Falls. When for a swim here.



Wangi Falls, went for a swim here... although there were Groc signs around, but apparently they trap them before they get into this part...hmmm!!!




These are the Tjaynera Falls, went swimming here as well, very cold but very refreshing.




Another water crossing for Ray... this one was .75cm deep. Ray crossed a few times hence the photo...

Some more Holiday Photos

Well as promised, here are some holiday pics for you to have a look at...

This is one of the Pentacost River Crossings we had to cross coming into Kununurra. This is not us but one of the cars that crossed after us obviously...

Have a look at the reflections in this pool of water called the "Grotto" We had to walk down 152 steps that had been carved or manipulated into the rock face. Just amazing!!!

Now for some Boab trees....

Left, we have a tree that is reported to be over 2000 years old.

The one the right we have a Boab Prison Tree used in the 1800 to house prisoners overnight when transferring them to somewhere else.