Our Travels So Far...

Well we have been on the road for 10 or 11 days (depending when I manage to get this posted)

We left home, 10^th July at 6:30am heading down to Port Macquarie. Ray had a 10:30am appointment with his Doctor before we left on our trip. He was given the ‘all clear’ so off we went.

Our first nights camp was just north of Walcha, off the road and in the bushes. It was very cold, so we had a fire, glass of wine and then a little port after dinner. Here’s Ray enjoying the fire...

We had a very early start the next morning, stopped at
Uralla for some lovely fresh bread and milk. Then on the road again, stopping for lunch and a cuppa along the way, we had a great day. Ray was very happy with the way the Cruiser was towing the caravan, and how the caravan was traveling. After driving through all the little towns along the way we arrived at Mungindi and thought it was time to stop for the night. So we drove out of town and found a roadside free camp spot to stay the night. This is a view from my door, am I glad we had our own “5 Star” toilet...There were so many burrs in the grass as well, big dry ones, the ones that hurt like hell when they stick your foot…

            Friday morning and another very early start, so that we may get a fair bit of distance in the day. This time we got to Augathella and beyond, and stayed at another “free camp” this time we weren't there on our own. There would have been about 12 caravans there before we arrived, then another three or four drove in after we had set up.

            Yet another early start, to make a big dent in the day… The view from my window while I had breakie...

           We wanted to get to Longreach for Saturday night. This time we booked into the Caravan Park we usually stop at when we’re there. Other than the fact that it was in the same location, we really didn't recognize it at all. It has been taken over by new people about three years ago, they have done so much to improve things, it was very full as well. School holidays in Queensland, so there were a lot of families camping. We wanted to catch up with our old mate Peter Sams, who we meet on our first trip out to Longreach in 2001 and who we called in on when we were out there in 2006, with Helen & Daryl. Ray went for a drive down to fuel up and it see he would be able to locate him somewhere, but all he found was some bad news, that he had a massive stroke in 2010 and died. But it was pleasing to hear that he was doing something he really loved and that was ‘fishing’. So we left Longreach the next morning with a heavy heart, but we still have some fond memories of the times we had seen him in the past.

           Our next stop was at Corella River roadside stop, just west of Cloncurry. It is a Burke & Wills Memorial. Didn't get much sleep that night, as we weren't very far off the road and the road trains were very noisy.  As we were both wide awake we decided to get on the road about 5am (still DARK) which meant we drove through Mount Isa in the dark, but the lights of the town were as we drove around the mount were gorgeous.  It was like looking at a huge pot of ‘gold’…

            After phoning Helen & Daryl along the road, to see where they were, we decided to meet at Barkly Homestead on the Barkly highway. There we had a lovely dinner at the pub, and a great night catching up with Helen & Daryl.  Again it was a lovely spot, but no rest for the wicked and we were away again in the morning, this time heading for Cape Crawford.

            We had a big day’s travel, stopping at Cape Crawford for fuel and an ice-cream.  We bush camped about 100ks west of Cape Crawford, there was only one other camper there. They were a young couple with a hard floor camper, they has two very little kids, who played happily while their parents set up the camper;  the memories of struggling with canvas, very distant. Although we did seem to have a problem ourselves, as when tried to run water we found our tanks were empty…  So Ray set about to work out why, as he had filled them back at Barkly Homestead. It seems that a couple of the connection had worked themselves loose. We were very lucky to have a huge tank at the camp stop so we filled up again. The next morning we headed off towards Daley Waters, for Beef & Burra dinner at the pub there and to enjoy the entertainment they put on, each night. It was a nice night, ‘Happy Hour’ started about 4:30pm unfortunately the ½ price for the drinks were only on selected drinks, and they knew how to charge for anything else… We had our ‘Beef & Barra’ and listened to the entertainment, then watched the State of Origin game for a while…

                                                                      Go Queensland!!!

             It’s the 18^th July 2013 and we’re off to Mataranka. We stayed in the “Bitter Springs” caravan park, lovely and cool under the shade. We decided to stay 2 nights here as it is so peaceful and quite. Ray & I both went for a couple of swims in the spring creek. It was so lovely and thermal and to just float down with the current was so nice.

            From Mataranka we drove up to Adelaide River on the Stuart Highway, we are staying here a couple of nights mainly to explore the town of WWII history. We visited the Military Cemetery this morning; here are some photos to show you how lovely it is. This is a wonderful place of rest for so many fallen comrades of WWII. All from the attacks on Darwin and northern Australia in 1942  
   

                                                             The entry to the Cemetery

             Here's Ray reading the Honor Roll of all the names of Airman, Soldiers, & Sailors buried there...

                                             This Daryl, wondering among the headstones...

                                                    This is a wide view of the lovely grounds...
                                  The youngest buried is 16 years and the oldest we could fine is 62

There are so many of these unknown buried here as well...

"Known only to God"  

How we've changed!!!

From the Old to the New...

 This is our old set-up... We have some wonderful memories of trips in our soft-floor camper. This was take just before we left on our 'Cape York' trip, in 2010. Our 80 series was a great vehicle and Ray had done some major work on it before that trip. One week after we returned home from that trip, Ray was involved in a major accident, and this old cruiser was written OFF!!! I did think of putting a photo of it on here, but thought better of it. It was a real mess...

Now, after nearly 3 years, we have decided to bite the bullet (Bank Account) and start again. This time we are doing it in 5 star....

This is our new vehicle, a SAHARA Landcrusier V8 Turbo... Also our new 'home on our back' is a 21ft JB Caravan. It is an 'off-road' Scorpion model and has been specially made to our own specs and interior design.

We love it, it is soooo comfortable. Ray has gained so much confidence with the new vehicle. And is gaining more each day as we head off into the sunset...        

Heading out again...

Well, it is almost five years since I last posted here. We have done one trip since that entry, which unfortunately I didn't make the effort to record anything of that great trip. Again it was a trip with sister Helen and her hubby, Daryl, up to Cape York Peninsula. The most northern tip of Australia.

After one week of arriving home, Ray was involved in a very serious motor vehicle accident, where he nearly lost his life. For two & a half years we have had continual trips to Doctors, Physiotherapy, Solicitors etc. Ray has recovered pretty well, and is as good as he is going to be. Therefore we have decided to start to do some more traveling, and we have purchased another Landcruiser (our other one was written off in the accident ). We would have loved to have bought a hard floor camper, but because of Ray's physical conditions, we wouldn't be able to handle the unpacking and packing up of one of these. So we have bought the next best thing...

There will be more information to follow, we are hoping to leave on Wednesday next. Stay tuned... 

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....