BigBlog

Week 41 - Lets call this week "back to reality week".Yes the fairy tale holiday is nearly over and just to rub salt into the wound I got a job. Yes I am back at Chubb doing what I enjoy but this time in the Electronic Security Business.

This week was mostly attending to housekeeping type issues with very little sightseeing. Jen spent some time at the Rocks shopping (this explains the need for me to get a job) and in the city exploring coffee shops etc while I was in at work meeting all the Sydney people.

The highlight for me was catching up with people I have worked with over the years, including their partners. We had a great dinner together.

From Sydney it is off to South West Rocks where Jen and I spent our honeymoon several generations ago. This really is a nice part of the country, long sandy beaches, green rolling hills, and tall eucalypt forests.

After reluctantly leaving SWR we visited Crescent Head, Nambucca Heads, Minnie Water, Wooli and Evans Head. These are all great places and it is hard to judge which is best, but probably Crescent Head, it just feels good. I hope someone I know buys a house here so we can visit.

We are currently in Lennox Head with my parents. It is so good to see them after such a long period of time. It makes you realize how important family really is in the grand scheme of things.

Summary

This is our last trip blog. It was never intended to be a master piece of literary excellence, and obviously isn't, but rather a conversation about what we have done and seen.  It started as a way for us to keep a record of what we did, a sort of trip diary. It then developed into a way to keep in touch with family, but so many of our friends kept asking what we were doing we included them as well. The feedback we got and the encouragement we received from so many people kept us going. Neither Jen nor I thought we could or would keep it up for forty one weeks. It is true that sometimes it seemed like a chore but mostly it was a pleasure. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed experiencing it.

If you decide that you want to see Australia then start now. It is a big country with lots to see and do and no one can see it all in one life time.... And you don't have to be a grey nomad to experience it !!

Our "Top 5 - 10 favourite experiences " in random order

After driving 56,403 kilometers around Australia this is the definitive "best of" list. 

Top 5 reasons for coming home

• To see Sarah and Sam ...yes we miss you !!!
• We have run out of money
• We want to drink wine with a vintage year rather than a "use by date ".....for you heathens, casks have a use by date !!!
• Andrew misses work !!!
• Fraser Island fishing trip(s)
• Maybe we need to live in something bigger than the average bathroom !!
• Wearing different clothes & shoes.....apart from the shorts & polo shirts in ALL the photos
• Brisbane Club
• Coffee with friends
• And last but by no means least .........To see friends and family !!

Top 5 National Parks

• Flinders Ranges- SA
• Cradle Mountain/ Lake St Clair - TAS
• Wilsons Promontory - VIC
• Franklin & Gordon River - TAS
• Kakadu -NT
• Karijini (Hamersley Ranges) - WA
• Bungle Bungles - WA
• Katherine Gorge - NT
• Cape Range NP - WA

Top 5 Walks

• Marion Peak- Cradle Mt
• Dove Lake Circuit - Cradle Mt
• Coastal Walk - Wilsons Prom
• Mt McLeod Peak - Wilsons Prom
• Rawnsley Bluff - Flinders Ranges
• Wineglass Bay - TAS
• Ubirr Peak Circuit - Kakadu
• Katherine Gorge Ridge Walk & canoe hire
• Lawn Hill Gorge Ridge Walk & canoe hire
• Wilpena Pound - Flinders Ranges
• Waeno Gorge Walk - Karijini NP

Top 5 Beaches

• Cape Range NP - WA
• Wine Glass Bay (Freycinet Peninsula)- TAS
• Cable Beach - WA
• Wilsons Prom- Vic
• Coral Bay - WA
• Lakes Entrance - VIC
• Mallacoota - VIC
• Nhulumbuy - NT

Top 5 Wildlife Sightings ( in the wild..duh)

• Splendid fairy wren ( a beautiful all blue wren)
• Crocodiles
• Cassowary
• Wombat
• Platypus
• Sea Lion
• Fairy Penguins
• Water Buffalo
• Jabiru

Top 5 Worst Roads

• Gibb River Rd - WA
• Kalumburu Rd (Mitchell Plateau) - WA
• Savannah Way - QLD/NT
• Seldom Seen Roadhouse scenic drive through Snowy River National Park - VIC
• Mungo NP to Mildura Road- NSW

Top 5 Waterfalls

• Millaa Millaa Falls - QLD
• Twin Falls - Kakadu
• Fruit Bat Falls - Cape York
• Millstream Falls - QLD
• Wangi Falls -Litchfield
• Horizontal Falls - WA

Top 5 Worst Places we visited

• Fitzroy Crossing - WA
• Derby - WA
• Borroloola - NT
• Queenstown - TAS

Top 5 Caravan Parks

• Crystal Cascades - Cairns
• Low Level - Katherine (pity about the name)
• Lakes Entrance
• Bridport - TAS (for its beachside location)
• Mallacoota - VIC (location)
• Yallingup - WA (location)
• Kalbarri - WA (location )
• People's Choice CP - Coral Bay (location )
• Cable Beach CP- Broome (location )
• Mission Beach CP
• Melrose CP - SA

Top 5 Free camp sites

• Gregory River - QLD
• Joanna - VIC
• Bay of Fires - TAS
• Alexander Bridge - Margaret River
• Lookout No 1 - Great Aust. Bight.
• North Gregory Hotel - Winton
• Avon Downs - Barclay Highway

Top 5 Scenic Drives

• Great Ocean Road
• The Waterfall Way - NSW
• Atherton Tableland Tourist Drive
• Breakaways Tourist Loop -SA
• Daintree River Road
• Parachilna/Blinman Tourist Circuit - Flinders Ranges -SA
• West Macdonnell Ranges Tourist Drive - NT
• Caves Rd- Margaret River
• All the roads around Tasmania had fantastic scenery !!!!!!!
• Hobart to South East Cape

Top 5 Adventurous Drives

• Old Telegraph Track- Cape York...as our car nearly transformed into a boat!!
• Gibb River Rd - WA - you have to like corrugations !!
• Savannah Way - Qld to NT
• Southern end of Oodnadatta track - SA

Top 5 Tours

• Port Arthur - TAS (self guide)
• Horizontal Waterfalls Plane & Boat Ride - WA
• Gordon/ Franklin River Boat Cruise- TAS
• Bruny Island Boat Ride- TAS
• Yellow River Boat Cruise- Kakadu
• Twin Falls  Shuttle Boat - Kakadu
• Boags Brewery Tour - TAS
• Cadbury Chocolates Tour - TAS
• Tom Price Open Pit Tour- WA

Top 5  Pubs

• Croydon - Qld
• Charters Towers - Qld (for the stripper & State of Origin)
• Coen - Cape York
• Pub in the Paddock - TAS
• Northhampton - WA
• Blue Heeler - Kynuna Qld
• Walkabout Creek Hotel- QLD
• York - WA

Top 5  "most interesting/ quaint" Towns

• Andamooka -SA
• Coober Pedy - SA
• New Norcia - WA
• Richmond - TAS
• Charters Towers - Qld
• Hobart - TAS
• Bridport TAS
• Stanley (The Nut) - TAS
• Ross - TAS
• Doo Town- TAS
• Gnomesville - WA

Top 5 Gorges

• Katherine Gorge - NT
• Lawn Hill - Qld
• Cobold Gorge - Qld
• Karijini - WA
• Twin Falls -Kakadu
• El Questro - WA
• Hamersley Gorge - WA
• Cataract Gorge - TAS
• Bells Gorge - WA
• Windjana Gorge - WA
• Mossman Gorge - Qld
• Tully Gorge - Qld
• Crystal Cascades - Qld
• Mitchell Plateau - WA

Top 5 most frequently asked Q's

• Where are you now ??
• How are you two getting on ?? -------(we think a lot of people thought we would be divorced by now)
• When will you be home ?? ------asked by the kids to ascertain when they had to have the house cleaned !!
• How much is it costing you?
• How much is fuel? ($1.87 pl, Courier Mail $5.60 at Karumba)

Top 5 things we have not missed about home

• Cleaning up after the kids....yes and don't be so offended S & S
• Working (JK)
• Cleaning (JK)
• Cleaning ...oops... have we already mentioned that.....

Top 5 things we will miss about our holiday

• Fresh seafood straight from the boats
• Flexibility / Freedom when we wake where / what we will do today!
• Spending nearly all day together !!!!!!! (that's what she thinks)

Week 40 - Having completed a very exciting trip across the Nullarbor (if you call three days of seeing nothing exciting) we started the week at Streaky Bay (SA). Now this is a place to die for, great beach, great town with a great feel about it, history abounds and the local farms front right onto the ocean.

Having suddenly hit the reality that Xmas is coming, that we are running out of money and we were still in Western Australia it was time to make some changes to our life. So like any good horse we turned our head for home and there is little stopping us.

So, with all the speed a diesel Pajero towing two and a half tones of pure wind resistance could muster we sped (at 90kmh) toward Sydney where we are now.

On the way we visited Iron Knob. I remember learning about this place while in primary school. We didn't really know what to expect here and it is quite hard to explain what we found. No single adjective I know can describe it. Dead, yes, slow, yes, old, defiantly, small, for sure, fun, I don't think so.

Our next point of interest was Port Augusta, or as our good friend Wayne aptly calls it Port a Gutter. We have heard good things from lots of people about Port a Gutter. It never ceases to amaze me how many strange people there are in the world. In any case we have now been there (twice) and that gives us the right to forever criticize the place.

Then it was down past Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent and into Adelaide for a flying visit. We had a much better experience in Adelaide than last time, with perfect weather and a perfect caravan park at Semaphore Beach. This is a nice part of Adelaide and Jen and I walked up the beach to Port Adelaide like two young teenagers (with serious gout, hearing and sight difficulties), all good really.

Then we went into Mildura for a night. Again this is a great palace. We did a Paddle Steamer Cruise up the Murray which was great.

Our next night was spent at Goolgowi. Nothing to report here except one of the best and cheapest caravan parks we have stayed at. Run by the local council this park had it all, including an honesty box...... Yes, we were honest.

Then it was through West Wyalong (doesn't it evoke thoughts of the OK Corral??) and into Lithgow via Cowra and Bathurst.

The highlight was Mt Panorama motor racing circuit. Anthony, you would be proud of me I actually figured out which way to go around it..... A pity it was at the top of the hill!! I am still searching the record books for a lap record of a Pajero, towing a van around Mt Panorama, but can't find one. Therefore I have no option but to claim not just a PB but a lap record of twenty two minutes.

Our final stop for the week was Lithgow. We had a busy day here with visits to the Jenolan Caves and the Zig Zag Railway. At Jenolan we completed guided tours of the Orient and Ribbon Caves. These are great caves and on par with anything we have seen at Bucan and Chillagoe....it is just in much bigger proportions ! We have decided to return to this area (on another holiday) and to Katoomba for a long weekend to investigate it more thoroughly and to enjoy some of the walks as well.

The Zig Zag Railway was just fantastic. Jen managed to get us invited onto the steam engine for almost the entire trip as only Jen could do. We got to drive and steer (steering is easy). I can't describe how much fun we had on this trip, a mixture of history, machinery, and the fireman and engine driver who were exceptionally funny people made the trip so enjoyable.

In summary this week saw us in four states with many kilometers traveled but in spite of this we had a great time.

Currently we are in Sydney where I hope to catch up with some old work friends!!

Cheers for now.   

Week 39 - We started this week in Albany, which is really the capital of the WA south coast. It is a nice enough place with some lovely beach with white sand and small bays. It is a pity the weather is so cold and windy or we would spend more time at them. We are both over the windy WA weather. It has been windy for most of our stay here.

Our beach visit was punctuated by a day trip to the Sterling Ranges where we did a walk to the top of Bluff Knoll. It was on this trip that Jen confirmed that she had done a hamstring climbing one of the trees in the previous week. It never ceases to amaze me how easily top athletes injure themselves, particularly hamstrings.

Also included in our Albany stay was a trip to the Mt Romance Sandalwood factory. It was here that we had a Cone, Gong and Bowl session. Please don't jump to the conclusion that Jen and I have finally gone mad and succumbed to the lure of a drug enhanced lifestyle!!

This is a one hour session where a group of people lie down inside a twenty metre high cone, with mirrors on the roof, place a scarf infused with sandalwood oil over the nose and mouth and inhale the aroma. The lights are turned out and ultraviolet light used to illuminate a night sky on the mirrors above. When everyone is calm and gone into a deep trance a strangely dressed old woman walks around inside the cone and gently bangs huge brass gongs. Jen and I, in the deep trance we were, picked up the vibrations and allowed them to enter our inner being, where a deep healing process took place, allowing our bodies to recover from years of abuse.

Seriously, the Cone, Gong and Bowl session was fantastic. I need to do a business case to see if one would work in Brisbane.

From Albany we started the long slow crawl east toward home following the coast road. The next major stop was Esperance. Esperance was on our must see list and we are glad we did. Esperance is a nice place, again with great beaches, little bays etc. It had a very resort feel about the town with several hundred Norfolk Island pine trees lining the waterfront and main street. It was a good place to have the car serviced and rest up prior to the trip across the Nullarbor.

As I write this we are into our second day of an expected three day crossing of this vast wilderness. They call it the treeless plain but so far that is not our experience.

Week 38  - This is the week we covered the five basic food groups of chocolate, wine, cheese, nuts and olives. Yes it was time for the Margaret River visits but more on that later.

We started the week by visiting Bunbury and Bussleton, both nice enough placed with nothing to really make them stand out from the crowd. The exception was the Bussleton Jetty which at 2 kilometers long is not something you see every day.

We based ourselves Dunsborough for a few days and did day trips into the Margaret River area visiting numerous wineries and other food related venues including, Voyager, and Evans and Tait. A very merry time was had by all. In addition we completed several walks in the Cape Naturaliste area. Also on the agenda was a whale watching tour which was excellent and trips to Augusta and Cape Leeuwin (the most south westery point on the mainland).

Leaving the coastal area we headed inland to the famous forests of Karri, Marri and Jarrah trees. These trees are really spectacular, towering up to 90 meters high and 20 meters in circumference. Our forest journey took in the towns of Nannup, Manjimup, Quinniup, and the Beedelup National Park. Yes they all end in UP. Why, well apparently UP means place of in the aboriginal language.

Probably the most unique town we have visited to date has been a little town called Gnomesville. This is a place where people from all over the world visit and leave Gnomes in a sort of park environment. It is quite amusing reading all their names etc... A small sample in in the pictures.

We also visited the Gloucester, Diamond and Bicentennial Tree. These are all Jarrah or Karri trees about 90 meters tall with fire watch towers at the top. Access is via steel spikes hammered into the side to the tree creating a ladder to the top. These are all open to the public for climbing. Jen was the only brave one among us climbing to the top of the Diamond Tree. We were both very surprised to see that these trees were open the public to climb.

Also on the highly recommended list was the famous Valley of the Giants Tree Top walk just outside Walpole. This walk is similar the one we did in Tasmania but through quite different tree tops.

It is still very windy here in WA and the locals tell us that this in normal. It has also been a little cool. I read recently in the local paper that last weekend there were several thousand sheep killed in one night by the cold weather and last January there were thirty seven thousand frozen to death in a sudden cold snap. So in the months of October and January (in Queensland we call these months the warm months) in one year more than forty thousand sheep froze to death. The south coast of WA is not a place I would rush to retire to no matter how good the red wine is.

Cheers for now.

P.S Some Gnomesville pictures which we found quite amusing

Week 37 – This was Perth week for us. We spent all week in Perth having a good look around. Perth is a very nice place and I can definitely see why people draw parallels with Brisbane. It is the closest thing to Brisbane I have experienced.  The first few days were taken up with housekeeping issues, boring but necessary things like: washing the car and van.  

By coincidence the Fire Australia annual conference was on in Perth at the same time and I spent a couple of days catching up with a whole host of industry friends and acquaintances including a visit to the Chubb offices.  This was good and bad. The good part was seeing the people. The bad part was that it made me realize how much I miss work. Yes: you heard right, I miss work and can’t wait to return, but in the mean time there are things to see and do. 

We did all the tourist things in the city including visits to the Swan Bells and Kings Park. Kings park is in our view one of the best capital city parks we have seen.

There is an extensive display of Kangaroo Paw bushes which were all in flower, including the rare Black Kangaroo Paw, which is actually more green than black, but don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story to attract tourists. 

The highlight of the trip was a visit from Sam (still our baby) for a few days. The three of us had the best time. We did a river cruise/wine tasting tour of the Swan Valley which was exceptional.

The original plan was to visit Rottnest Island but surprise, surprise the wind was blowing a gale and the swell was predicted to be 5 meters so discretion got the better part of valor. Next week we are off to the South West corner into the Margaret River region.  

Cheers  

Week 36 - Still in WA and before we head into Perth we have traveled inland to see some wildflowers whilst enroute to New Norcia, Kalgoorlie and Hyden. We have seen some pretty wild flowers on the sides of the roads and the occasional field of colour but not in the "carpet of colours" we were anticipating. Not sure if it because of the dry weather or the over exuberant marketing of the tourist brochures !!

New Norcia was a fascinating historic town to visit. It is the only Australian town solely owned and run by Benedictine Monks with many of the buildings on the National Trust. The monks came to Australia from Spain 150 yrs ago to set up a mission for the indigenous population and it is still going albeit now in a very different form. There is some amazing history here with books and paintings from Spanish and Italian masters dating back to the 1400's, some marvelous architecture and stunning hand painted frescos which has been beautifully restored and about 17 monks(there were 80) who manage the town as it stands now with the help of 80 workers. They still pray 7 times per day and the average age of the monk now is 65. The pub (they brew their own wine and beer), service station and accommodation make the bulk of money and they remain completely self sufficient but heavily reliant on donations. It is a very peaceful and majestic town. Well worth a visit.

Kalgoorlie (the largest inland town in Australia) is a town that would not survive if not for the gold in them there hills!! We did a tour of the above ground pit and it is HUGE......it is called a super pit and they are right !! They mine 800,000 ounces of gold per year...not bad money !! It is currently 500metres deep and about 1.5 kms wide with plans to expand next year!! The trucks (and in fact all the machinery) are huge and it takes 45 mins to get from the bottom of the pit to the top with a full load of ore on board. From the public lookout the trucks look like little tonka trucks running around the place. It is bigger than the Tom Price mine and is as impressive!! Apart from the pit there is nothing much else to see in Kalgoorlie. Coolgardie is a relative ghost town now with limited services. Certainly has changed from the golden days of yesteryear.....

We moved onto Hyden (in wheatbelt country) made famous by "Wave Rock" that you see in pictures all the time. A small section of an enormous granite rock is in the shape of a huge collapsing wave .. it is 100 metres long and about 50 metres high. It is interesting to walk around and over. One of the aspects of Wave Rock which is rarely shown on photographs is the fact that there is a retaining wall about halfway up the rock which follows the contour and collects rainwater which falls upon the rock. This is apparently common on many of the rocks in this drought stricken wheatbelt area. Once done you leave Hyden as it is a rather unimportant and insignificant town but for Wave Rock. I feel very sorry for these small towns. They are very poor and try very hard to get the tourist dollar and in some towns they are successful but in most they have to work very hard for no /little return. You just wish you had tons of dough to give them.

Onto York which is a pretty little town and historic in that it was the first inland town to be settled in WA. It is just on the outskirts of Perth, so the majority of visitors are from Perth looking for a weekend away in a quiet country setting.

We are spending a week in Perth to have a good look around. Sam is coming over for a few days to see us .....so we can't wait ....

P.S. Jen neglects to tell you that we visited a brothel in Kalgoorlie, as part of a guided tour. Also, check out the New Norcia key board. What is wrong with it?

Week 35....it was very hard to leave Coral Bay but we did, and Carnavon was the first port of call for the week. It was a lot smaller than we expected. In fact most of the towns to this point traveling north to south are small which surprised us. The majority of what are supposed to be major towns are flat out having more than 500 people in them and as a consequence the services are fairly limited. Anyway Canarvon is nothing to talk about so I won't.

We moved into Denham which is a lovely fishing port with a main street and some shops, about 3 caravan parks to help support Monkey Mia and not much else. What it does have is the wind !!! God dam wind. People tell us WA stands for wait awhile, but we think it is  windy Western Australia....boy can it blow over here.....despite the wind we did still do the tourist stuff. Went to Cape Peron National Park which was absolutely beautiful. It has red sand dunes and enormous and majestic cliffs creeping right up to the shoreline, to change into magnificent white beaches and crystal clear water. It is spectacularly rugged scenery.

Monkey Mia butts up to Cape Peron. Interestingly a lot of people told us not to go to Monkey Mia as it had become too commercial with the feeding of the dolphins. Well it was fantastic and we were very pleased we went along to see the dolphins. The rangers handle the feeding of the dolphins very well and only feed the older dolphins. (If they feed the young ones then they will never learn to fend for themselves in the wild.) The dolphins had me captivated how they just lay there watching you and waiting patiently for food. They are a very beautiful animal and great to watch up close. They lie there with one eye on you rolling over every now and again just lolling about in the water. They come in for a fish feed 2-3 times in the morning only. The township itself is very small, is protected from wind and is a pretty little bay for fishing, swimming etc.

From here we moved onto Kalbarri which again is a pretty little fishing village with a river and ocean access, hugs the coastline and it too has magnificent cliffs looking out onto the Indian Ocean. Standing atop these cliffs it is hard not to marvel at the feats and the tenacity of the men who mapped our coastline in the early shipping years. How treacherous would it have been!! Kalbarri is mostly National Park and it had some great walks along gorges and up and over ridges. It was not up there for me in the top 5 National Parks but still a pleasant enough walk.

Kalbarri to Geraldton. Now Geraldton surprised us at it has a population of 30,000 people. Lots of shops, a major port and marina, a great museum highlighting the Batavia history and a Bunnings.... Andrew just had to go for a look as he was suffering hardware shopping withdrawals!! And men talk about the women in their life and their shopping habits!!! AK had to go inside "just in case we needed something for the caravan"...what a ruse!!! Apart from this Geraldton is nothing to write home about.

We did however visit the "Airing of the quilts" at Northhampton. This is where the local hang out all their quilts around town and have a gay old time. We both had a ball, Jen enjoyed the display and Andrew did a Simmy.

Driving down the coastline we called into some very small fishing shanty outposts but if you don't fish , like the wind, or the isolation then you would not like these areas. Further down the coast we found Cervantes which is well known for "The Pinnacles". The Pinnacles are 1000's of the most amazing limestone pillars rising out of a yellow sand . Some are jagged , small, tall, fat, thin, phallic in fact all sorts of shapes all dotted across a very vast area. It was truly an unexpected surprise for us. The National Park hugs the windy coastline and some pretty beaches. 

In the next week we are moving inland to see the wild flowers....and to get away form the wind.

Have a happy week.

Week 34 sees us continuing our "beach holiday" at Coral Bay which is at the lower end of the Ningaloo Reef ( we did not move too far, only to the other end of the reef). We have spent the week here just relaxing and enjoying the beach and bay...well.... it is school holidays so we have to join in and do as the locals do... relax...it is hard work towing a caravan !! Coral Bay is certainly a lot busier than any area we have ventured into for some time because of the holidays but this does in no way detract from the beauty of the area. The protection of the reef makes for great snorkeling, swimming and walking along the beaches. If I ever run away from home this is where I will come ...they even have a community nursing post manned Monday - Friday 9-5pm...I think I can manage those hours again and can dig deeply to find my old nursing skills. And besides the resident population is only 100 so how hard can it be ?? Why is WA so far away from home ???!! Look at the photos and see what I mean !!

Enough of that dream...There are many zoned sanctuary areas in Coral Bay itself, one being for the grey tipped reef sharks. It is amazing to see these baby sharks (1-2 metres long) feeding and growing up in the "nursery" and allowing us to stand in the knee deep water to get a close up view of them.

We did go on a boat trip to swim with the manta rays. This was certainly an experience like none other. Only one manta ray came good on the day (there are up to 20 "regular" visitors) but all the same this ray was very impressive with a 3 metre wing span. We swam quickly behind her while she was feeding. They can swim up to 60 kms an hour but fortunately for us this one was happy to saunter along to allow us to get a great view of her. It was a bit of a buzz really. From here we went out to see some whales but they too were elusive, so we came back to a "cleaning station" for sharks. This cleaning station is an enormous coral area where small fish hang around to clean the sharks who swim by. We snorkeled to this outer reef area and watched this cleaning service occur. I'm not sure what Andrew was thinking, but whilst we were just floating about 6 metres above them my mind started to think about the size of the sharks (the largest being 3-4 metres) and what was stopping them from eating us ??..... ....pushing this to the back of my mind, we did enjoy the spectacle playing out in front of us. I must say though I was not unhappy when our swimming guide led us back out of the area....puts a new perspective on "Cleaning" now...I never did like cleaning and nothing really changes !!!

We move onto Canarvon today and then onto Monkey Mia....more about that next week.

PS... the Exmouth prawns were fantastic as anticipated and only about $14/kg..can't get enough of them !!

Week 33 - Onslow is one of those places I have always wanted to visit. It had a kind of romantic appeal for me. My expectation was a beautiful seaside village just waiting to be discovered by the two dollar terrorists. Well, it did not live up to this expectation but was a nice place none the less. Very old, quite run down, but friendly and clean. We only spent one night their as it was WA school holidays at the end of the week. We wanted to be sure to get into the Cape Range National Park and because of their "first in best dressed" system we needed to be their early.

So we were on the road again toward Exmouth, where we spent one night prior to queuing up at 6.30am to get into the National Park. Exmouth is famous for the joint Australian, US naval communications facility with its 380meter high antenna tower. Exmouth is really going ahead. There is a canal development with blocks starting at 680K and obviously multimillion dollar houses. 

We were not disappointed the real feature here is the world famous Ningaloo Coral Reef. The reef it's self is only a couple of hundred meters from shore and the lagoon created is simply stunning. We were fortunate to capture a caravan site only fifty meters from the waters edge. The water is warm, the fishing simply great and the beaches stunning. Jen is really getting the hang of this fishing thing, she casts, catches and yes she even touches the bait occasionally. Jen is hooked on snorkelling while I have spent my time on more land based activities.

Next week it is back to Exmouth and down to Coral Bay area.

Cheers for now.

Week 32 - Marble Bar was our first port of call for the week. This small town is famous for being the hottest in Australia. Was it hot? Yes very, but was it the 40 degrees shown on the sign in town that day? Let's just say I think the locals bend the truth occasionally. The marble bar across the river is really jasper but is quite interesting none the less. It was a big day in town. Telstra had just commissioned the 3G phone network for the town and our big telco put a dozen sausages on the BBQ and invited the whole town along for a party. Leftovers went to the local dogs.

Next stop was Tom Price, the famous mining town. We did a tour of the mine operations to compliment our knowledge of the port facility. We are no certified mining experts and Jen in particular thought that Rio Tinto could improve their process considerably....double handling etc.... The Tom Price pit is incredible.

Karajini National Park was the next stop. We stayed at Dales Campground and used it to visit the local gorges including Weano, Hancock, and Dales. These were all fantastic, with great swimming and walking trails. These are unique gorges having been cut out of the iron rich landscape. They take on the appearance of being made out of big steel blocks that have rusted together. They are like nothing I have seen before. The walks often take you through the creeks in the bottom, sometimes wading through cold, clear, chest deep water. Hamersley Gorge is a don't miss if you are in this part of the world. It has a special beauty which you can not put into words. Jen thought these were one of the nicest gorges/NP's she had ever seen.

We left Karajini for Millstream NP. Millstream is quite different with mostly sandy creeks and billabongs. The old homestead, now visitors centre was interesting but definitely not the highlight of our week.

Leaving Millstream we headed for the Karratha area. This drive is exceptionally scenic with open plains fringed by huge mountains. This whole area is quite green which makes for some great views.

We stayed at a small place called Point Samson just north of Karratha and did day trips to Dampier, Karratha, Wickham and Cossack. All were nice enough, but nothing to write home about. The North West Shelf, LNG plant and visitor centre is quite good. Jen was amazed at how big the project was, but I was a little disappointed expecting it to be much bigger.

Next week we are off to Onslow and the Exmouth area.

Enjoy.

Next stop was Tom Price, the famous mining town. We did a tour of the mine operations to compliment our knowledge of the port facility. We are no certified mining experts and Jen in particular thought that Rio Tinto could improve their process considerably....double handling etc.... The Tom Price pit is incredible.

Karajini National Park was the next stop. We stayed at Dales Campground and used it to visit the local gorges including Weano, Hancock, and Dales. These were all fantastic, with great swimming and walking trails. These are unique gorges having been cut out of the iron rich landscape. They take on the appearance of being made out of big steel blocks that have rusted together. They are like nothing I have seen before. The walks often take you through the creeks in the bottom, sometimes wading through cold, clear, chest deep water. Hamersley Gorge is a don't miss if you are in this part of the world. It has a special beauty which you can not put into words. Jen thought these were one of the nicest gorges/NP's she had ever seen.

We left Karajini for Millstream NP. Millstream is quite different with mostly sandy creeks and billabongs. The old homestead, now visitors centre was interesting but definitely not the highlight of our week.

Leaving Millstream we headed for the Karratha area. This drive is exceptionally scenic with open plains fringed by huge mountains. This whole area is quite green which makes for some great views.

We stayed at a small place called Point Samson just north of Karratha and did day trips to Dampier, Karratha, Wickham and Cossack. All were nice enough, but nothing to write home about. The North West Shelf, LNG plant and visitor centre is quite good. Jen was amazed at how big the project was, but I was a little disappointed expecting it to be much bigger.

Next week we are off to Onslow and the Exmouth area.

Enjoy.

Week 31 - We finally extracted ourselves out of Broome and spent this week at Eighty Mile Beach and Port Deadland, oops I mean Port Hedland.

However before we left Broome we had a very interesting experience. If you thought I was lucky not to have to buy pearls last week this week only reinforced the view that I am the luckiest man alive. We decided to spend our last Broome morning on the beach with the car and awning out. The second battery on the car was flat and in order to charge it Jen and I decided to go for a walk down the beach independently while leaving the car engine idling merrily away. Of course for security Jen, at the last minute decide to lock the car using the spare keys. A good idea, normally.

Now the Broome tide is something to behold and after going down the beach for 30 minutes or so I turned my head for home and had one of those "O @#$%" experiences. The tide was racing in and that made me start racing to the car. Twenty minutes or so later I started looking seriously for the car and with in five minutes my focus had changed from looking at the beach to looking at the surf line. All I could imagine was the worst. Our car could not be seen anywhere.

After 30 minutes walking we eventually found it. One of the locals, bless his heart, had used my hammer to break the driver's side window and because we had left the keys in the car and it running he was able to move it to higher ground.

If this hadn't happened our car would have been completely covered by the sea. The tide that day was a mere nine and a half meters and despite parking on the previous high tide mark we were in serious trouble. Needless to say we bought our saviour a nice bottle of wine to say thankyou.

The local fellow was most apologetic for smashing our window. Smash away I say. The repair cost was only $350 which compares quite favourably to the cost of replacing a car, to say nothing of the embarrassment.

Was it luck or fate that we left the keys in the car and the engine running?

Eighty Mile Beach is very similar to Broome with broad white sandy beaches and the van park right on the beach front. It was here we got into the fishing. Blue Nose Salmon were in abundance with the odd Silver Cat Fish thrown in and a few small sharks for good measure. We got several bag fulls. After 25 years of marriage I finally taught Jen how to cast a surf rod and needless to say she out fished me. Beginners luck is a wonderful thing.

Jen actually hooked and got right in to the beach wash, a stingray we estimate to be over a meter in diameter.

In Port Hedland we had the car window replaced while doing a BHP Facility tour followed up with a bit of train spotting (4 engines and 208 carriages) and over viewing the Dampier Salt works.

Tomorrow it is off to Marble Bar for the day.

Cheers for now.

P.S. Windy Western Australia is no exaggeration.

Week 30 – We have settled into what the locals call “Broome time” very easily this last week. Basically we have done very little except some serious relaxing. 

The exception to this was a visit to the Willie Creek Pearl farm. This was quite an interesting time for us learning about how pearls are grown. Normally when a man visits a jewellery store, or in this case a pearl farm and showroom with his wife it normally only has two outcomes. The first of course is a domestic to end all domestics for refusing to buy a pearl and the second is a severe lighting of the wallet. Well I am pleased to advise that neither happened to me although Jen has her eye set on some pearls eventually. 

Each day in Broome has been very similar, a walk, jog or bike ride on the beach followed by coffee in the restaurant and then back to the beach for a swim and to watch the sunset and smell the camels. 

I have tried my hand a fishing but with no luck.  

Broome town is a place with character. The people are friendly and the town clean with a certain quaintness about it. I can understand why people make a sea change and come here. I still can not get used to the road rules. There are no pedestrian crossings as I know them; instead there are signs advising pedestrians to give way to vehicles. I have never seen this before.

Week 29 saw us drive to Broome via Fitzroy Crossing and Derby. All bitumen road for a change...thank goodness!!

First stop was to Geikie Gorge at Fitzroy Crossing. This gorge was not one that we could walk through or swim in like most of the others. With no canoe of our own we went on an early morning flat bottomed boat ride and it was very beautiful. It was very still and peaceful on the water so early, the reflections of the high cliffs on the water, the sun shining and enhancing the already brilliant colours of the rocks, the abundant wildlife and many freshwater crocs, the peaceful feeling of just being there made this gorge a very special visit. Words or photos really do not do justice to this Kimberly area. Everything is big up here.....the cliffs, the waterfalls, the rock pools, the big and beautiful bays and beaches, the big tides, the big fish, the gorges, the corrugations, the distances between places...everything just seems to have this really big dimension to it. Have I mentioned the petrol prices... they are pretty big too....averaging about $1.35-$1.65 up here but have paid a whole lot more in some remote areas!!

Everything but poor old Derby is big!!! The Broome locals call Derby "the speed bump"....something you have to slow down for but don't get out of the car!! There is not much going for Derby.....It is the gateway to the Horizontal Falls....apart from that there is a long jetty and mud flats.... HUGE expanses of mudflats.

From Derby we moved onto Broome. Well...... Cable Beach is the most beautiful beach you would ever want to see and is one of the very few places we have visited on this trip where the tourist brochures do really reflect what you see in real life. Cable Beach is 22kms of white sand and turquoise water. It is not a huge surf beach as such but does have some waves to body surf every now and then..it is wise to leave your surfboards at home! Camel rides, sailing, sunset cruises all happen on this beach...a busy place. Most people flock to the beach in the afternoon to watch the sun setting over the water whilst enjoying a drink in your deck chair. Have I got you hooked yet ??You are permitted to drive your car on the beach at low tide here, because at low tide the beach is very expansive and the sand very hard. It does have a "clothes optional" beach area and you have never seen so many all over tans than up here!! Did Andrew and I get the same tan I hear you ask??? I will leave that one up to you do ponder on !! Ooh aah..the beach is very magical here and I can see why the grey nomads do migrate here annually.

Broome itself is a growing town, which relies heavily on the tourist market, has an expensive cost of living with a booming and expensive housing market (for houses made out of tin). For me it is just like any other smallish town.....the beach is what makes this place special. Not all the locals are happy about the tourists and can be overheard saying they cannot wait for the nomads to leave town!! It is getting hotter here (a constant daily 36 degrees) and the locals are saying by the end of this week that the mass exodus will commence as the nomads do not like the prolonged heat.

We have been lucky to see whilst here in Broome the beautiful "Staircase to the Moon". This natural phenomenon catches the rising moon reflecting onto the mudflats at extremely lowtide. As the moon rises an optical illusion of a staircase occurs. It occurs in the months of May to September and is a very special view.

Also we have been very lucky to see the fabulous Horizontal Water Falls in the Buccaneer Archipelago in full force. The Falls are like nothing I have experienced. There are two lakes which are connected to each other and inturn to the ocean via a small gap in the rocks. As the tide rises and falls (up to 11 meters up here) the water rushes in and out with the difference in water levels being up to 3 meters at times. This is quite a spectacular event and is truly a Horizontal Water Fall. You need to fly via seaplane to them and then catch a speed boat (and hang on for dear life) to speed through and experience the rush of water in and out through the gap in the rocks. It is a bit of a buzz really !!

Well that is Broome so far this week. Stay tuned for more next week !!

Week 27 and 28 - I would love to report that it was a Death by Chocolate week for us but that was not to be the case. Instead it was Death by Corrugation. We have travelled on some of the worst roads I have ever experienced. We were wondering if the WA government had some master plan to create a tourist attraction which saw the creation of a series of millions of deep ravines all coincidentally running across what could loosely be called the Gibb River Road!

Now that I have that off my chest it is time for details. First stop was the Ord River Dam and Lake Argyle. Both magnificent sights which make you wonder where the vision for Australia is at present. The dam and subsequent lake were built and called a white elephant at the time. Now the irrigated desert area is home to all types of tropical fruit & vegies, all irrigated of course.

Then to Kununurra, the town built specifically to service the dam and irrigated areas. Kununurra is quite a nice town and a base to visit Wyndham. Both Jen and I had hoped that Wyndam was going to be one of those ellusive undiscovered pieces of paradise. Disappointed is an understatement! Wyndham is the pits. The only attraction is the five rivers lookout which is quite spectacular and worth a look. We have visited Wyndham twice now, the first and the last time.

After leaving the van in Kununurra we headed off for the Gibb River Road. The original plan was to make two forays into this area, one from the north and the other from the south. This plan required us to travel sections of the road twice, not a good plan as it turned out. Instead we travelled from top to bottom on the Gibb River Road and circled back up to Kununurra on the black top.

First stop was the famous El Questro Resort. This is a magnificent area with lots of walks, lookouts etc. The highlights include Emma Gorge, El Questro Gorge and the Zebedee thermal springs. Our perception of the expensive ($1700 per night) part of the resort was shattered. The promotional shots show the buildings on what looks like cliffs several hundred metres high. In reality they are only 50 meters above the river level and not nearly as impressive as we expected. Lucky we decided to stay in the tent and not the resort!

From El Questro we headed to the Mitchell Plateau and the Mitchell Falls area. Again the road was shocking, although there were three graders working it and it was getting better by the day. This is very special scenery with the majestic falls having a surprising amount of water going over them.

Next stop was Bell Gorge which again offers magnificent scenery and the opportunity, which we didn't take up, to have a cooling swim. The night was spent at Windajana Gorge National Park. In my view this was one of the most interesting places off the GRR. The walk up the gorge is about 6 kilometres and on the return we were privileged to witness 30 to 40 freshwater crocodiles basking in the sun. They did not seem to mind the people around and you could get within 10 or so metres of them.

Tunnel Creek National Park was our next stop. This is a 750 metre tunnel cut through the limestone hills by the creek. We walked the entire distance, sometimes through freezing water. This was a great experience and I can highly recommend it.

The next night was spent at Halls Creek. The caravan park here has a dual fence and after the sun went down and the locals started on the VB we understood why the fencing arrangements. We took an interesting side track to Old Halls Creek to visit the Walls of China and look at the old buildings and to get a sense of the gold rush times. Nice place to visit but definitely not a place to live.

The next two nights were spent in the Purnululu National Park, otherwise known as the Bungle Bungles. Don't miss this place; it is like nothing else I have ever seen. We did all the walks and saw the famous "bee hive" hills and domes. Pictures do not do this place justice. The colours, shapes and enormity of it all is simply breathtaking. There are numerous small, less than a meter wide, gorges and chasms to walk down and we got to experience the 15 minutes of sun that the bottom of one of these chasms gets each day.

This brings us back to Kununurra where we have spent a day cleaning up and stocking the fridges again. The fruit in this area is so cheap and the best quality. Any type of melon you want is picked that day, costs only $1 each and is delicious. 

Next week we are off to Broome to see if it is all people say it is.

Week 26 - This week saw us travel the not often traversed Central Arnhem Road to visit our friends Chris and Anne Byrne. They have been living in Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsular for the last 20 plus years and know all the good places to visit.

First up it was a drive and walk around the town of Nhulunbuy and as you can imagine it does not take too long to see as they are living in a very remote area and the services are very limited. One Woollies, one servo, a few pubs and not too much more EXCEPT for the bakery!!! Anne and Chris own this and for the past few years they have been both working to build this business as well as having other job!!! Mad, I say.....everyone one else in Gove seems to take things easy and are more into the lifestyle...but not these two!! The bakery is great and I can vouch for the cakes, muffins and bread...not to mention the coffees!! Not hard to gain weight this week!! If there is a husband and wife team out there looking for a sea change, I am sure that Chris and Anne could be interested!

Next it was to the beaches. The beach areas surrounding Gove are all owned by the local indigenous community and of course that costs us money! $50.00 will buy you access to some general beach areas and more money for other harder to get to places! I would not mind if the roads were not corrugated and there were some facilities at the beaches, but all this gives you is access to a beach. Even the beaches the town are surrounded by are subject to this fee, so the locals have to pay $77.00 to live in Gove and sit on or near a beach. Anyway that is my cynical outlook and gripe......that aside the beaches are very pretty and Andrew and I managed to while away a few hours under our shade awning, fishing, reading and relaxing whilst Anne and Chris (as well as you guys) slaved away at work !!

Whilst we were in Gove the annual Gamma Festival was underway on some land about 30 klms out of town. This year the focus of the festival was based around Indigenous Health Issues with key note speakers from around Australia attending the forum. The local indigenous communities came from around the NT area to attend and learn. Probably about 1000 attended I would say. On the last evening it was "open day" for the Nhulunbuy residents. Amongst other things we listened to some indigenous bands from all the areas perform. Well if you have ever attended your child's music recital, this was not too different from that!!! Lots of kids getting up to sing and play the guitar and drums...the only difference was there was no uniform or costumes. Shorts and t-shirts of various colours, with or without thongs on their feet was the dress of the day. I actually enjoyed this as I took in the surrounding action from the locals watching the event. Anne was bored out of her brain.

Another day we were very lucky to be taken out on a fishing boat with a friend of Anne's.... Peter aka Duck. He is a great fellow and showed us a top time on his boat. The weather was very windy and we were not able to get out to the deep blue ocean so we stayed in the bay area but I still managed to catch dinner. Duck thought the HUGE fish I caught was a joke in comparison to his normal catch of fish that are by all accounts as long as your arm.....but I thought my foot long sweet lip was a pretty good effort for an amateur!!

We were a bit sad to leave Nhulunbuy as it was fun being with Chris and Anne again, but it was time to move towards WA. So we headed back to Katherine, collected our van and have for the past two days been walking around the Gregory and Keep River National Parks. Keep River (only 2 klms from the NT/WA border) is very beautiful with magnificent colours in the bee hive rock formations which we are told is very much like a miniature Bungle Bungles in WA. So that makes us even more excited to be starting our journey in WA to see the magnificent Kimberly's we have heard so much about. We have only about 3months left before we start thinking about turning our heads for home and I think we will need all that time in WA.

Stay tuned for the WA travels!! Yahoo!!

Week 25 - The focus this week was exploring Darwin. In summary it is a great place. Obviously a considerably significant factor was that we stayed in a beautiful apartment with our friend Helen Osborne. We were treated to a great time by Helen and all the other Darwin Osborne's. Thank you so much for the hospitality.

High on the agenda this week was visiting markets which are a large part of the Darwin winter lifestyle. We visited the Parap and Mindil Markets both excellent but I must say the Mindil market is the best I have ever been to and believe me that is a big call given that I am not the best market shopper.

A must do in Darwin is to watch the sunset which we did with wine and dinner a couple of nights. It is very special. The fish feeding at Doctors Gully is also a fantastic experience.

It was also good to catch up with the guys at Chubb, particularly Rick who seems to be enjoying Darwin.

The only down side for the week was the need to check and repack the caravan wheel bearings. It was good to have this task done so we can move into Western Australia with confidence.

Also on the agenda was a visit to East Point, Cullen Bay and the other beaches in the area. These are really a very special places and do not get the credit they deserve.

Friday saw us leave Darwin bound for Nhulunbuy and to visit Chris and Anne Byrne. First stop was Katherine again to drop off the van and then on to the Central Arnhem Land  Road for the 800 kilometre dirt road trip. We stopped the first night at Mainoru Store. Fuel was only $1.87 per litre here, what a bargain. We expected this trip to be quite tough with lots of corrugations and a few water crossings. The road was excellent with us able to travel mostly at 80kph and the water crossings were no more that half a meter deep.

We finally arrived in Nhulunbuy and were initially pleasantly surprised, but more on Nhulunbuy next week.

Jens hat, sunglasses and now light saber make her look like Darth Vader of Star Wars fame.

Cheers for now.

Week 24 - At long last we are at Kakadu. Will it live up to our expectations?

First stop was Cooinda near Yellow Waters. With only one Van Park and the influx of tourists they don't take bookings so it is first in best dressed. A real joy, but the upside is that once you are in you can stay a long as you like. We got the last powered site.

During our stay here we visited Gunlom and its beautiful waterfall, rock pools and after a long walk is 33 degree heat we got to Sweetwater Lagoon. The water was sweet, but what wouldn't be after 10 kilometres in 33 degree heat.

Jim Jim falls and Twin Falls were the next on our mission of exploration. These required a water crossing to get to, something that we are becoming accustomed to. This one was a mere 1100mm deep. There was a $110 fine for crossing if your vehicle was not fitted with snorkel and very clear instructions not to get out of the vehicle if you did become stuck, because of the crocks in the creek. This was by far both the longest and deepest crossing we have ever done.

The crossing was worth it. Jen rates Twin Falls area as the best she has seen. It is great but I rate it at number two next to my favourite Millaa Millaa Falls.

Next day we did some sight seeing around the Nourlangie area, including a number of walks in the park looking a waterholes, and lagoons. The highlight was the Barrk walk where we saw some incredible rock art. Neither of us is big into rock art but this worth seeing. It is still very clear and the colours a visible. We are told that the aboriginals do not touch up the art but I have my doubts. Some of this was just to clear to be twenty thousand years old. Views of the escarpment were breathtaking, the colours and depth can not be described.

Yellow Waters cruise was also on the agenda. We decided on a 2 hour sunset cruise and weren't disappointed. Birds, including the Jabiru, by the thousands, crocodiles by the dozen and tourists by the millions could be seen in all directions.

Jabiru was our next port of call. Jabiru it's self is a disappointment, there is nothing there of interest. The surrounding country side however is a different story. The Ubirr walk is a must do for every Australian. On this league of nations walk the Aussies were outnumbered by ten to one. Again we saw some spectacular rock art, mostly of the x-ray type, which is my favourite type because the artist actually needs some talent to do it.

The view from the top of the hill/lookout is the image of Kakadu we came to see. Vast expanses of flooded plains are covered in water birds and marshes and so majestic it looks artificial. Words can not do this view justice.

Next stop Darwin, and into luxury. We arrived into Darwin late Friday to visit our good friend Helen Osborne. Well we thought we were visiting Helen but in reality we are visiting all the Osborne family in NT, they even had to bring in Chanelle from Lismore to get the numbers up. Thank you so much for the hospitality, if you keep it up we may never leave.

Saturday saw us visit the Cricket, Australia vs New Zealand in the women's one day competition. This is the best day I have ever spent at the cricket and thanks to our cheering Australia secured the series with a two run victory. Don't underestimate women's cricket. These ladies are skilled and very competitive.

Sunday was off to Litchfield National Park to visit waterholes, rock formations and water falls. The views are quite special.

Throughout our travels we have heard a lot of people comparing Kakadu to Litchfield with the general consensus that Litchfield is superior to Kakadu. Our view and of course the correct position is that Kakadu is far superior, but to enjoy Kakadu you need to put in the effort and walk or 4 wheel drive to the best locations.

Next week we will explore Darwin.          

Week 23 - This was a week of exercise. First stop Mataranka, famous for the "We of the Never Never" book and movie and also the Thermal Pools at Mataranka and close by Bitter Springs. Bitter Springs is still natural but the Mataranka Pools have been concreted, right in the middle of a national park. Obviously this was done before Greenies were invented. Both pools were nice and warm with sandy bottom and the clearest water you can imagine.

The road from Borroloola to Mataranka is nothing special.The only two highlights are the Heartbreak Hotel and Daly Waters Hotel. We stopped at neither, the first because it was early in the morning. The second because one of us was confused and had us stop in the wrong place. Who is navigating on this trip? One can only imagine how the Heartbreak Hotel got its name but from the location I could come up with a number of quite plausible explanations.

Next stop was Katherine where we expected to only spend two nights but ended up staying five nights. Apart from some well overdue caravan and car cleaning we visited the Nitmiluk National Park and Gorge. Anyone over about 35 would remember these places as the Katherine Gorge. We spent two days in the gorge area. Day one was a long walk to Butterfly Gorge (number 2 of 13 parts to the gorge) and day two was a 5 hour canoe trip up the first two sections to the gorge. There are allegedly freshwater crocodiles in this area but we could not find any, hardly surprising really when you consider there are at any one time four to five power boats and ten to fifteen canoes in a 3 kilometre section of the gorge. It is amazing how nature can take second place to making money.

On exiting Katherine we headed to Edith Falls a short drive up the road but a long walk of nine kilometres to Sweetwater lagoon via Edith Falls. Since it was too early to stop for the night we made tracks for Mary River Road House, right on the southern border of Kakadu National Park. Now this is an interesting place, we paid $25 for the night for a powered site, not a lot of money but we have paid a lot less and rarely more. There is a sign in the amenities block warning us not to brush our teeth or drink the water prior to boiling it. It seems acceptable to shower in it. Dust is the order of the day on the sites. Are we expecting too much? I suppose they only get customers for six months of the year and the old supply and demand argument comes into it.

In any case Mary River Roadhouse is a safe place to sleep the night before we head off into the wilds of Kakadu. 

Week 22 - This week saw us heading for Lawn Hill National Park via Leichardt Falls, Burketown and Gregory Downs. First stop was Leichardt Falls. This huge fall was dry but it was easy to see the enormity of it and imagine how it would run in the wet season. We spotted one very large Freshwater Crocodile sunning itself on a rock here.

First stop was Gregory Downs. This is probably the best bush camp we have done on the trip so far. We parked the van no more than 2 meters from the edge of a pebble filled creek with the sweetest and clearest water I have ever seen. Apparently the creek is fed from a spring and runs all year. What started out as an overnight stop turned in to three days. I even tried some creek fishing for the famous Sooty Grunter and even put a Red Claw trap in. All I can say is ‘better lunch next time'.

Next stop was Adel's Grove, just outside Lawn Hill NP. This is also a nice spot with a beautiful walk along another creek with ferns, moss and lots of other interesting formations.

The real purpose was to go to Lawn Hill NP. Here we completed a 7 kilometre walk up which included views from the top of the gorge looking down and also along the banks. It was here we spotted a large fresh water crocodile floating on the water. The first crocodile we have actually seen the entire length of whilst still floating in the water.

Lawn Hill also saw us take to the water in a hired canoe for a leisurely 2 hour paddle up the gorge we had seen from above the previous day. Considering it had been many years since either of us had been in a canoe we were both pleased to get through with out capsizing, particularly as we spotted one large and one small freshwater crocodile on this expedition. I know that these crocodiles don't eat people but when you get a close up look at their teeth it is much better to stay out of the water in our humble opinion.

We left Lawn Hill heading west along the Savannah Way, back up to Burketown and past Doomagee toward Hells Gates. This is a dirt road/track which is the toughest we have taken the van on so far by a long shot. We camped the night at Hells Gates. Next day we headed for Borroloola and down to the Caranbirini Conservation Reserve where we stayed the night after a walk through some very interesting sandstone formations.

Next week we are moving towards Katherine and more walking in National Parks, something we have missed over the last few weeks.

It is interesting to note how poorly off the people in the country are with regard to services. There is virtually no mobile phone, or wireless internet in most of the areas we have been in over the last couple of weeks. Even fuel is a problem with 460 kilometres between fuel at Doomagee and Borallola.

And don't mention DAYLIGHT saving or the merging of council services unless you want to be threatened with death!!!

  Week 21 - We departed Cairns for the Gulf Country. First stop was Inot Hot Springs. This is a place where the river runs close to the artesian basin and the water is hot, very hot 300mm below the river bed. The caravan park pumps the water to pools and this is the attraction. As you would expect the advertising implies that if you pay your money to get in then you will live forever. It is very nice swimming at 39 degrees for a short period.

The next highlight was the Undara Lava Tubes, a great geological formation where the outside of a lava flow cooled and hardened while the inner continued to flow, quite spectacular really.

In keeping with the geological theme of our week we next visited the Cobold George. This is a "new" gorge only a couple of hundred million years old, which means that it is narrow, about 2 meters in most placed, but it is deep. We did a very informative boat trip along it in an electric boat.

It was back up to Georgetown and west on to Croydon. Croydon is another old mining town. I hate to think how many people were going to make their fortune back in the gold rush days all over Australia, but either died doing it or lived with great hardship.

Croydon, was where we watched State of Origin 3. A great game, pity about the result, but the record books will show QLD won the series.

Shire amalgamation is a hot issue out here. We have not met one person who is in favour of it. The locals will tell you that if it goes ahead there will be whole towns close down; you won't even be able to buy fuel. I am waiting for someone to tell me the sun won't come up tomorrow because of Peter Beatie. They do have some good points, Normanton Shire would be larger than the state of Victoria all managed from Normanton.

Next stop on our Savannah Way journey is Normanton on the Norman River, once bustling port, but now a town fighting back from near extinction by tourism. Normanton boast such attractions as, stone gutters, cast iron gutter ramps and a concrete crocodile (a replica of the largest ever shot at 24 feet). These are must see's (according to the brochure).

Normanton is home base for the Gulflander Train which runs from Normanton to Croydon. This gem from our past is unique in the world running on steel sleepers placed directly on the ground with no ballast. We did an evening journey to a place named Critters Camp for a BBQ dinner and the obligatory commentary, which was excellent.

For those with a technical interest the train (55 tons of it) is driven by a 60 year old102 hp diesel engine coupled to a 4 speed transmission driving a differential with reverse capability. It uses 16 litres of fuel for every 100klm travelled. A lot of Caravan owners would be happy with that sort of fuel consumption.

The Gulflander is an experience I will never forget.

Next stop Karumba, home of the gulf fishing industry. Karumba has more Two Dollar Terrorists to the acre than any other part of Australia we have visited. There must be a worldwide shortage of aluminium boats, they all have one and who knows how many fish they catch. Most seem to spend 3-4 months in Karumba with fishing being the only pastime. It is a nice enough place but not for me, not for a long time anyway. We visited the Barramundi breading and information centre, which is staffed entirely by volunteers. They sell more than 80 million fingerlings a year for stocking into the dams and local waterways.

Tomorrow we head further west toward Lawn Hill National Park and the Northern Territory.

Week 20 saw us sharing our holidays with our two girls- Sarah and Sam- in Cairns. They were on Uni and school teaching holidays so what a better time than after the Cape York experience to have a bit of down time !! It was lovely to see them again, to catch up on the family and Brisbane news...and the unit is still intact... we think !! Andrew had not seen them since we left on Feb 1^st and so we were all pretty excited to regroup as a family again albeit for only a week......

First day was a talk fest whilst going for a drive around the Cairns area. We ended the day with a visit to the night markets for a Chinese massage which felt more like Chinese torture especially when they dug pointy objects into your pressure points on the soles of your feet!! How this is meant to make you feel relaxed evades my logic !! We were all lined up beside each other as they started with our feet first before progressing to our bodies and as each one of us had our feet "massaged" we would start laughing as it was hysterical to see each one's reaction with the pointer digging into your feet....you had to be there.... it was funny really !!!

Next day up bright and early.... ( a new experience for the girls), first stop was the Mossman Gorge for a short walk and look around and then onto visit the Daintree area and a River Cruise where we spotted salt water crocodiles, some beautiful birds, snakes in trees and a various assortment of other wildlife. The highlight was of course was the croc spotting !! BIG woppers live in this water...no question about swimming in this water or NOT... We really enjoyed this cruise and felt very lucky to be part of the "wilderness"!!

 From here we moved up to Cape Tribulation to enjoy the rainforest meeting the ocean. It really is a very beautiful part of the world. And guess what ??? We saw our first wild CASSOWARY !!!!! Yes, they really do exist ( but not in the numbers the National Parks would like us to believe !!!). Anyway the bird was spectacular but I think the moment was lost on Sarah and Sam!!! They did not appreciate the build up and anticipation of this momentous occasion !! We have been on the prowl looking for this elusive cassowary for about 6-8 weeks now!! At last we can tick this off our "to do/to see" list !!!

Kuranda was the next port of call traveling via the sky rail. Again a very pretty ride to Kuranda above the tree tops and looking over the Barron Gorge and Falls. Sam loved Kuranda  because all the shops were her sort of shop... hippy clothes, crystals, chimes, feel good shops..... you know what I mean......It is pretty but is a bit run down but in their defence there is some renovation work happening.

Port Douglas was the next days outing and a stop along the way at all the beaches that we hear about.. Palm Cove, Trinity Beach etc....like all houses right on the beach you need serious money to own one !! So we bought two houses!!

 Just joking and checking that you are awake and not bored with this diatribe!!

Anyway back to Port Doulgas.....Andrew walked the beach area whilst we girls hit the shops!! It is very much like the Noosa shopping area...a lot of looking and coffee drinking in a very casual atmosphere. It was a lovely afternoon. And yes the girls did manage to buy a dress each !! Opportunist shopping at its best !

The next day was I think the highlight of the girls' stay with us..... A day spent white water rafting down the very full and fast flowing Tully River. Despite the water being freezing and the air temp no warmer, they returned regaling us with who fell out of the raft first, who crashed into whom, who sat in the bumpiest seat at the front of the raft, who laughed, who hurt the most and how much fun it was..... it was a great day and they have the video to re-live it over and over and over again if you are up to it !!

Next we ventured onto a cruise to the outer Barrier Reef visiting two different reefs. Again the temp was cool and so wet suits were in order for the wimps !! Brave Andrew toughed it out in just his bathers !!! I would have had my ugg boots on if possible !!! Anyway the snorkeling was great and despite the hesitation of swimming with all sorts of sea creatures the girls did eventually enjoy the experience once they chilled out and realized the Loch Ness monster was not watching them !!

All too soon it was time for us to part company and go our separate ways again. Four adults in a two person caravan, does gets a bit squashy after a while....next time maybe we will stay in a motel and the girls can have the caravan !! It was great to see the girls and as much as we miss them and love them dearly, it was a nice feeling to get back on the road again resuming our travels on the Savannah Highway towards the NT.

It is Sarah's birthday today and we are not there to share it with her !!! There are lots of firsts happening for us all this year. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH !! We love you both......

Week 18 and 19 – Cape York here we come. The Nielsen’s were due to arrive from Brisbane on Saturday afternoon ready for a Sunday departure for “The Tip”. So we called them on Thursday evening to check progress. All was going well apart from the new engine which was required for Jakes car. A simple matter really, replacing an engine on a Friday and Saturday in a strange town (Rockhampton).  The engine was replaced and the delay was only one day, remarkable really.  So on Monday we boldly went where we believed thousands had been before.

Our chosen route was up the Bloomfield track, through the Daintree National Park past the Lions Den Hotel (yes another pub) and on to Cooktown. I was looking forward to Cooktown, as I had a vision of cheap real estate with lots of upside potential. Wrong again, the real estate prices would scare you. 

From Cooktown we followed a track which basically follows the coast line about 20-30 kilometres inland past Cape Flattery, through Starky National Park and on to Cape Melville, Bathurst Bay and Princess Charlotte Bay.

All great except that the roads were slow going and we had to be in Coen to meet some work commitments for Wayne on the Thursday(and the State of origin was on the Wednesday pm ) so we did not get right into the bay areas.

Wendy was not too sorry about this as Bathurst Bay was where the lady was attacked by a croc last year!! Despite this it was a nice area to camp as very few people travel on this road.  So for us it was a detour through the Lakefield National Park to Laura and on to Coen.

Lakefield NP was fairly uneventful unless you consider breaking off the gear lever an event. Yes Jake managed to break off the Low Range Gear Leaver. This was a first for me. A little ingenuity from Wayne by drilling out the stub and fitting a screwdriver as the new lever. The screwdriver was permanently welded in place at Coen, well almost permanently.  

At Coen we were privileged to be able to watch the second State of Origin, where else but at the pub. Don’t worry Mum, I don’t have a drinking problem, yet.  This was an amazing place to watch the football, probably the best atmosphere

I have ever experienced in any place to watch football other than actually being at the ground. The pub had about 80 patrons, 75 of which were aboriginal or yellow (their words not mine, yellow meaning half cast). They all knew their team, the players, the rules and they had the loudest, most enthusiastic support you could imagine. Even the slightest sign of brilliance called for cheering like there was no tomorrow.  Out of the 75 locals, 76 of them were drunk, really drunk, but not one of them caused any trouble during or after the game.

They mixed with us, talked to us, advised us and in the end surprised us by their good behaviour. From Coen we planned to follow the Old Telegraph Line to the tip. A burst brake line (Jake’s car) made us change the order of our itinerary and visit Weipa on the way up not back as planned.  

Eventually we got to the Old Telegraph Line. Now on the map it shows this as a straight line. Never believe a map, this road has more turns and twists than it has potholes.

This is a serious 4 wheel drive track. It has the lot, mud bogs, water crossings, sand, corrugations and bull dust. In places you can still see the old telegraph poles they used to hold the wires.

For those technically minded they are the same poles used on the central Australian Telegraph line and at more than 100years old are still showing no signs of rust on any of them. The galvanising on them is far superior to what you get today. Despite the toughness of this track we only had two vehicles bogged (not mine, I watched from behind and learned from others), one broken, for the second time, gear lever and a slightly dented side step. Not bad really. 

The deepest water crossing was waste deep or a little deeper, but there was no problem for any vehicle. This really is a beautiful part of the world with Fruit Bat Falls (obligatory swimming spot) and Elliott Falls the highlights.

 So it was across the Jardine River ferry and on to Bamaga, Seisa and finally to our camp spot at Punsand Bay, about 10 kilometres as the crow flies to the Top of Cape York. Basing ourselves at Punsand Bay we visited Thursday Island, and of course The Tip. 

During one of my early morning walks I came across 2 crocodile slides 50 meters apart about 3 kilometres from our camp spot. Unfortunately I forgot to tell anyone until the next day so they were less spectacular when the whole party saw them. I felt a little safer when I realised that one of the slides was going up and the other going down. This was the only encounter with crocs we had!!  

Finally we left Punsand Bay, bound for home. Our intention was to go via Chilli Beach and Lochardt River but when we got to the turnoff we discovered the road was closed due to the recent rains.

So we camped on the Wenlock River where we met up with some young blokes who were hunting pigs with dogs (dogging). They proudly showed Jake their catch for the day and as you can imagine Jen and Wendy were repulsed by it all.  Our last night together was in Laura so we decided to eat out. Where else but the pub? The food was great, memorable in fact but the menu was not the most extensive I have seen. You could choose anything you wanted, so long as it was Spaghetti Bolognaise. I still say the sauce came out of a Campbells can. 

South of Laura we visited some Aboriginal Rock Art. I am not big on Aboriginal Rock Art, in fact it leaves me a bit cold but as rock art goes this is the best I have ever seen, clear and recognisable figures for a change.  The road heading down the track from Chilli beach to south of Laura was very wet, slippery and boggy and there was talk of the road may be closed to north bound travellers. We were lucky to get out when we did. 

So it is down the road to Mount Molloy where we turned left to Mossman and the Nielsen’s headed south to Brisbane. It was a fantastic two weeks made all that more enjoyable by travelling with some of the best friends anyone could have.    

Week 17 - This week started like many others. We were in a rush to get out of Millaa Millaa (nice place, pity it rained all day every day). We moved only a short distance to Lake Tinaroo. This lake was made back in the 50's when the greenies weren't so active and a more sensible approach to water management was taken. The lake is stocked with Barra and other fresh water fish. So being the dedicated fisherman that I am, I decided to give it a go. Luck was with me that day, I didn't get so much as a bite, nibble or any other indication that fish were actually there. I was very lucky indeed, no fish to clean after that little trip.

Both Jen and I had a goal to see a Cassowary in the wild, not too hard you might think considering that every corner has a sign up saying "Be careful, Cassowary's cross here". Well I am convinced this is a marketing plan to get the two dollar terrorists into the area. There are no Cassowary's to be seen here or anywhere we have been. Don't be fooled like us.  

From Tinaroo it is off to Mossman via Atherton and Mareeba. Both of these places are nice enough but are desperately looking for something to make them important. At Mareeba we visited a Boutique Coffee Roastery and had a great time. For very little money we sat in on a 2 hour talk about Coffee, how it is grown, harvested and finally roasted. Included was a tasting of 28 different blends of coffee and 4 teas. This, in my opinion was far better than any of the wine tastings we had done previously. Was that because you can drive after?

We also saw Tea and Coffee growing for the first time. By the way, don't believe the advertisements where you see tea picked lovingly by hand, it is done every 21 days using a giant lawn mower.  

A great place is Mossman, 4 pubs, one sugar mill and the most confusing intersection in the world (including the intersection/parking lot around the Arc d' Triomphe in France). This of course is the Douglas Shire, which is where Jenny Douglas can trace her husbands family. Everything in this area is Douglas something. Yes we  were thinking of you Jenny.

At Mossman we visited the famous Mossman Gorge and you can see why it is so famous. At Mossman we did the shopping for our planned Cape York trip and prepared the vehicle with new tyres and rear springs. It was nice to have a few days down time, doing nothing in particular.

However, in keeping with our plan to see as much as possible we did a day trip to Chillagoe to visit the caves and the old smelter site. Both were very interesting and I can thoroughly recommend them to everyone.  

Next week it is off to the Cape York with our good friends from Brisbane Wayne, Wendy and Jake Nielsen.

Please note we have included photos of us this time to keep Sarah and Sam happy.

Enjoy.

This week we have not moved too far...just from Townsville to Lucinda, onto Mission Beach and then up to where we are presently, Millaa Millaa on the Atherton Tablelands.

It has been a week of "first's"......we saw for the first time: koala's in the wild, platypi in the wild (for me-Jen at least ), wild boars in a rainforest, the longest single drop waterfall in Australia (Wallaman Falls) and reputedly the widest single drop waterfall in Australia (Millstream Falls). By far the prettiest waterfall we have seen in Australia (according to the power of Andrew and Jenny) is the Millaa Millaa Falls...they really are very pretty ...not just the falls but in the surrounding area as well.

So where have we seen these "first's" I hear you ask!!! The koalas were on Magnetic Island, the platypi and lots of great turtles were sighted in a creek near Wallaman Falls west of Ingham. The waterfalls and rainforest boar sightings were around here at Millaa Millaa. We are still yet to see the cassowary in the wild. We are told there are about 1200 hiding out in the rainforests, but we are starting to think it is a marketing ploy to get the tourists in !!

What was Lucinda like ?? A great fishing village (but it was very windy when we were there so no fish were caught ) but all the same it is a nice area. Lots of Victorians holed out here for the winter months...March to September. Now, that is a Caravan Park to own - waterfront views, it is flat for bike riding, fishing opportunities, beach walking and the tenancy is high summer and winter! Just look out for the mossies.

From Lucinda we moved up the road to Mission Beach via Tully--- the wettest place on earth !! God only knows how the farmers get time to cut the sugar cane and bananas in between rain showers. The big gum boot which has pride of place in the entrance to Tully township stands 7 metres tall and the rain has been measured in one year to that height !! Needless to say the grass is always green here and the swimming holes are full !!

The Murray Falls and Alligator Nest Swimming Hole (no need to worry there are no real alligators in the water) near Tully are very spectacular and would be great rock pools for swimming if the weather was hotter and drier !! Speaking of Tully we visited the Tully Gorge and Falls and watched some people having a great time riding the rapids. It looked very entertaining and lots of fun.

Mission Beach was very pleasant. Not quite the Noosa Beach white sand but still good for 14 kms of beach walking!! (We caught the bus home that day.)

On the way we visited Paronella Park, with it's grand gardens and buildings including Ball Room, Castle Tower, Hydroelectric station, Tennis Court, and Tea Gardens built by a Spanish immigrant and his wife in the 1930's.

Millaa Millaa is very much like Toowoomba is in winter in terms of the fog, moist air and the low clouds closing in early in the afternoon. We are 900 metres above sea level so I suppose that stands to reason.

We decided to watch the Wallabies win against Wales for the second week in a row at the Millaa Millaa Pub. Very entertaining these pubs ! At the start we were a bit worried about this pub, within 5 minutes of entering we heard "Achy Breaky Heart" on the Jukebox. We met the legend of Millaa Millaa "Joe" who is 80 years old and still milks 100 cows twice day with a prosthetic leg (from the hip) and a lung condition and weighs about 50 kg in his very short shorts. Allegedly, he used to chop 70 trees by hand per day in the local forest...ah the good old days !! They don't make men like that anymore!! Anyway back to the bar... When we were into the first 20 minutes of the game and we were down to 4 patrons (Andrew and I plus two farmers- a tea plantation farmer and a banana farmer) the barmaid realised we were not leaving the pub until the Rugby was over. So she told us that we would have to drink enough to cover her wages other wise the boss would be mad she kept the pub open!! Well, what a challenge. The two farmers decided to face this challenge head on and immediately booked a room each for the night!! On to the bar the money was laid !! (as an aside, there are not too many pubs where you can leave your money bag full of cash on the bar or give the barmaid your eftpos card and ask her to get money out for him and then tell the whole bar area what your pin number is ! ). It was a fun evening after that......the biggest concern the banana farmer has was that Brisbane being on water restrictions and with the talk of the recycled water may in fact change the taste of his favourite XXXX drink.....recycled water in his beer ??? !!! He is considering making the change to rum like his mate beside him was downing for the sake of the bar maids wages !!

Anyway we are having fun and will continue to do so for the sake of all the workers having to toil hard !! See you for the next instalment !!

PS to Kelly Browne........, sorry for being a boring blog writer but Andrew and I will still take it in turns to write so maybe you can read every other one !!

Week 15 - After leaving the thriving metropolis of Cloncurry we headed down the Matilda Highway. First stop was the Walkabout Creek Hotel, famous as the pub that featured in the Crocodile Dundee movies. It is amazing how a simple timber building can make you feel so good. Perhaps it had something to do with the Beer. Pity about the publican, he had the personality of a house brick and we could have bought a few more beers if he had been up for a chat.

It was here that we named a special group of caravaner's the "two dollar terrorists". While in the pub two travellers pulled up and asked the publican for one beer and could they sit on the balcony just outside the dining room and eat their sandwiches. Obviously he said no and I must say that he was much more polite than many others would be, including me.

Next stop was the Blue Heeler Hotel.  Much better service here. Jen and I considered taking a job here as cook and bar tender but the career prospects weren't good. All in all not a bad experience here.

We also stopped at the Combo Waterhole, famous as the billabong in Waltzing Matilda.

From here it was to another pub, the North Gregory Hotel in Winton. By this stage we were hooked on pubs and actually stayed out the back of this fine establishment for free. Yes free, no charge is made by the publican, but obviously he expects you to buy a meal and a few beers at the least. Not some of these two dollar terrorists. They decided that the meals were cheaper across the road so that is where they went for three nights running. Sad cases really.

Winton boasts three main attractions. The first and best is the Waltzing Matilda Centre, which describes the origin of the song and how it evolved, along with audio recordings of at least a dozen versions. Definitely worth a visit. We allowed only a couple of hours but took more than half a day. I recommend it. The attached historical museum is also brilliant.

The other two attractions were so good they took a further 15 minutes to explore. The first was an open air picture theatre and museum which reminded me of my good friend Michael Hawkins for no other reason than it was a picture theatre/museum/skating rink. It even boasts the worlds largest deck chair, now that was classic. The second was something to do with Dinosaurs, but really very ordinary.

Winton to Hughenden was uneventful except for Jen warning some truck drivers on the CB to stay away from our daughters.( they were talking about an upcoming rodeo and the fillies they may meet...Jen said that these fillies are somebody's daughters!!

At Hughenden we had a very enjoyable night listening to a local country and western singer named Ron Sellars at the van park. Watch this guy, he is very good and is going on the road shortly. A thoroughly enjoyable night was had by all. The two dollar terrorists showed their colours again here but you will have to buy the book to get the details.

Next stop Charters Towers and State of Origin night. Charters Towers is locked in a time warp, the shops are old, the people are old. However it was fascinating.

State of Origin night was a classic. To get the atmosphere Jen and I went to the "unnamed to protect against litigation" Hotel. By now you are thinking that we have a drinking problem and the whole trip is just a pub crawl. Not so, this was a cultural visit, complete with topless meat tray ticket seller, smoking area where only drugs are smoked, non smoking area with 9 no smoking signs and Jen and I the only non smokers.

Just to remind Joe, QLD won, again.

At the conclusion of this evening of fine dining and culture, Jen was asked to make a tip (dollars) to encourage our topless meat tray ticket seller to do a full strip. At this point we decided that we were cultured enough and declined.

Next stop Townsville and catch up with Kerry and Peter Kennedy, friends from Brisbane and Sydney. We had a great evening with them lots of laughs and catching up on all the news of children etc... They have a lovely house with pool built right on a lovely park.

We also visited Cameron and Lyn McNaught at their place and by coincidence they were going over to their unit on Magnetic Island the same day we were planning to visit. Their unit, where do I start? This unit is ultra modern, very functional, very new and very white. The sum of which made me very jealous. Like every one we have visited on our trip they have made us very welcome, fed and watered us to extreme. Thank you.

On Magnetic Island we did all the obligatory sight seeing things. Of particular interest was the Forts Walk with Lyn where we visited the WW2 gun placements protecting Townsville and saw our first koalas in the wild. The Wallabies won that evening.

While in Townsville I visited the Chubb offices and spoke to Jeff, Mark, Matthew and others. It was good to see them again and catch up on all the CFS news. Thanks guys.

Tomorrow we leave Townsville bound for Lucinda and some fishing if the wind dies down.

CYA soon.         

We spent some time in Alice Springs having a bit of a rest and spring clean of the caravan after having lived in red dust over the past few weeks. It was nice to take time out from our "hectic" schedule!!

Alice was pleasant. Would not like to live there but was nice to travel through. Walked through the gorges of the west Mac Donnell Ranges which again showed us their various colours dependent upon the time of the day. Can see where Albert Namatjira got his inspiration. It is a pretty area. The ochre pits were interesting and there is plenty more ochre in the mountains for many indigenous ceremonies to come. Andrew enjoyed the Old Ghan and the Overland Telegraph Line Museums.

From Alice we travelled to the Devils Marbles. Interesting arrangement of rocks. We camped there overnight to watch the sun set over the rocks but it rained!! The locals were happy and it did give us a different picture of the area. In fact the whole NT areas we have travelled through so far have received quite a lot of rain in recent times and the whole area is covered in green stuff !! Pity it does not move to Q'ld.

Onto Tennant Creek.....in and out like a flash...not much there !! Turned right at the Three Ways heading to Qld for the State of Origin!! They talk a different language in all those other states !!

Onto Mt Isa...yippee back in Qld for a month or so !! Mt Isa was fascinating. It was not as big as I expected in terms of the shops, but the Mt Isa Mine certainly was. We did an underground mine tour which was fantastic. One thing is for sure I will never be a miner and those miners deserve all the money they get....they can have it.....not a lifestyle for me /us!! And I thought I had a tough life/job.....The accompanying local history museum was also great and the information on the Riversleigh Fossil Site gave us a taste of what to visit when we go to the Lawn Hill area.

Drove through the deserted Mary Kathleen township and mingled with the ghosts for a while....and then onto Cloncurry....it is a small but emerging town which is trying hard to make a bigger stamp on the map. We really liked it here.....In fact the old country towns are really doing it tough. You just feel for the folk serving you and wishing you could do more for them. It is really tough for them out here.

Oh well stayed tuned for more next week...have a good one...we will be thinking of you all !!

Week 13 - Unlucky for some, but very lucky for us. Not working and out in the great Australian outback.

We left the Flinders Ranges with lots of great memories and headed north up through Leigh Creek, and Lyndhurst. Lyndhurst is at the corner of the Oodnadatta and Strzelecki Track. We have passed this way a couple of times previously but always headed up the Strzelecki. This time we went up the Oodnadatta track way. The first night was at a ghost town named Farina. Farina originally founded in the mid 1800's to grow wheat, now it won't even grow a single blade of grass. The old town is crumbling but you can still see the original buildings.

From Farina, we pushed on to Maree which was once the original Rail Head for the old Ghan train the town has been slowly dying since the Rail head moved further north to Oodnadatta. It's only claim to fame really is being the last fuel and turn off to the Birdsville track.

The country out here is the greenest I have ever seen it. There is still a lot more rain needed but recent falls have helped.

From Maree we went further north along the Oodnadatta track and made a left turn down to Roxby Downs, Olympic Dam and Andamooka. Roxby Downs and Olympic Dam are typical moderm mining facilities which could be anywhere, but Andamooka is something else.

Andamooka is famous for Opals. It is probably the most disorganised, rundown town I have ever seen. The whole town looks like one giant rubbish tip, or scrap metal yard with people living in humpies there. It is really third world, but fascinating to look at. The locals must surely be the toughest individuals there is. It is the sort of town every one should visit, but don't stray there.

Next stop was Woomera. Woomera is really a one feature town and that is the Rocket Museum and associated outside display. Absolutely fascinating, I had no idea that for a short time we were actually in the space race. The displays, models and stories are great. We thought that it would be one of those places where an hour would be al that is needed but it took us all morning to see it all. A highly recommended visit for all, particularly for those with engineering interests.  

Next stop Coober Pedy, world Opal capital. We really enjoyed our visit here. The town is mostly underground, with home cut into the cliffs. The people are friendly although it has a real frontier feel and I suspect that the local public bar could be an interesting place on occasions. We did a tour of the town and visited underground churches, homes, and shops. Coober Pedy also has that scrap metal yard, everyone seems to have all sorts of steel fabricated items in their front yard. The place is full of character.

At Coober Pedy we visited the Breakaways, a mountain range just west. Spectacular is the only way to describe these ancient mountains, eroded to show all the rich reds, yellows and white shades. It is really worth a visit. We are told that it is similar to the Painted Desert a bit to the north west which we were planning to visit but cancelled having seen the Breakaways. 

Next stop was the Henbury Meteorite Craters. The craters themselves are a bit disappointing, just holes in the ground. We stayed here the night. There were only the two couples camped here. The lady had a miniature harp which she played while we talked underneath a perfect sky, no clouds, no light pollution. The stars were brilliant.

Next stop was Alice Springs where we are now. More on Alice next week.

Cheers for now.

We started the week commencing the 30th May on a great note in the fabulous Barossa Valley. The wine tasting was entertaining to say the least and we did not come home empty handed!! We finished that day off by having a meal with our great Brissy friend Caroline Cox who was in Adelaide for the night with work. It was fun talking with Carol again. She always makes me laugh.

The next night we had an equally great time and meal with one of Andrew's work colleagues Scott Newman and his wife Terri Anne . Greek food and great company made for a fun night.

Whilst we waited for our caravan to be repaired (water was leaking in under the something or other !!) we visited Victor Harbour to have our last dose of beach. We also visited the RM William's museum. It was interesting and a fitting place to visit prior to our outback travels.

From Adelaide we moved onto Melrose at the base of Mt Remarkable in the Southern Flinders Ranges. It was very nice there and we had a few good walks in and around the area.

Enroute to The Flinders Ranges at Wilpina we called into Port Pirie and Port Augusta. Not a lot to talk about in either of these places. Don't leave home to rush there.

In The Flinders Ranges we stayed at Rawnsley Park which is a working sheep station. Wilpena Pound is very different and a great place to walk into and over. The colours of the mountains are beautiful. I was very impressed by the different colours at all times in the day. The surrounding gorges are magnificent and the gum trees are very special. I can see where Hans Heysen got his inspiration for his art work.

We were sitting around a camp fire there having a wine with a couple only to discover that the lady (Meg), her sister and brother lived diagonally opposite us in Toowoomba and we used to play together until we moved away when I was about 6yo. They used to visit our house as we had a TV and they didn't. What a small world. Meg is lovely and it was great to meet she and her husband Brian. What a small world....see what campfire conversations lead to !!

Starting the week of April 23rd still sees us on the Great Ocean Road (GOR). The tour guide who talked and walked us through the lighthouse at Cape Otway had grown up in the area and so had lots of interesting stories about the lighthouse and maritime history. He was very entertaining. The GOR route really is very lovely and the rock formations are quite spectacular.

From the GOR we moved out to the Grampians. Funny how you look forward to bushwalking when you have had the previous week looking at the ocean. Spoilt aren't we? We did a few lovely walks and a great drive that showed us the true colour and diversity of the Grampians.

After leaving Halls Gap (the Grampians main township) we visited the Hall of Fame at Stawell to specifically confirm that all the stories that Russell Cox told us about him running in the Stawell Gift ( a professional foot race) were in fact the truth and nothing but the truth !!And sure as eggs ...there was Russell's name on many entries into the major and minor races. He may not have won the Stawell Gift but the fact that he entered over at least a 6 year period makes him our bloody fit hero!! Impressive really!!

Well from Stawell we at long last crossed the Victorian border into South Australia...I was beginning to think we could not get out of Victoria!!

Robe was our first stay overnight in SA. Robe (about 4hrs south of Adelaide) had been recommended to us by a lot of people. Ordinarily it would have been very beautiful with a lovely beach and great walking tracks around the township..... but when we arrived it started to rain and did not let up. The wind was ferocious and the view from the caravan was limiting. Even so it is a great little fishing village and we stocked up on some great locally caught fish.

Onto Adelaide to catch up with Wendy Neilsen on Sunday who was in Adelaide for the weekend to visit her Dad, Arthur. It was lovely to see Arthur again.....We used to see Arthur and Rhonda when they visited QLD in their caravan...now it was our turn to repay their courtesy.

It rained all weekend in Adelaide and you have never seen so many happy people all talking about their rain gages. We did not mind the rain as we are only hoping it rains in Qld soon too !! Never the less we managed to get out to see the Murray River areas and the birthplace of the Murray paddle steamer. It is lovely scenery despite the low river levels. We intend staying in Adelaide for a few more days yet...have to do some wine tasting !!! We also visited hahndorf, a great little german settled town, with all the traditional German shops etc including Pubs (with knee slapping music) and the dearest beer in the world.

Week 10 – Jen cam home from Brisbane/Toowoomba this week. It is good to have her back.  From Mildura we moved on to Ballarat, the largest inland Victorian city. It is obvious how wealthy the town was in the gold rush days. The streets are wide, and the buildings grand. It is good to see them kept in reasonable condition.    Lake Wendouree is completely dry, with people walking across the lake bed as a short cut to town. It is hard to believe that the 1956 Olympic Rowing was held on this lake.  

We made the obligatory trip to Sovereign Hill, a recreation of the gold rush period, the Gold Museum and to the Eureka Centre. Sovereign Hill was great, I can highly recommend it. The Gold Museum was also good but give a wide berth to the Eureka Centre. 

Next stop was Geelong on route to Torquay at the beginning of the Great Ocean Road. Geelong is a nice town, nothing to write home about but with a nice feel about it. There is nothing of significance her but the waterfront has been redeveloped recently and is worth a look. 

Torquay is smaller than I imagined, with only a few thousand people. It is famous for the surfing, Bells Beach in particular. Bells lived up to it’s reputation, beautifully formed swells coming though in well spaced sets.

We saw for the first time what is described and stand up paddle surfing, a sort of cross between kayaking and surfing, using a single paddle on a surfboard. Will it take off? Yes only because it will be easier to commit surf rage with a 2 meter paddle in your hands. From Torquay it is on to Lorne.

This is one place which has gone ahead in the last few years, large motels, restaurants and coffee shops everywhere. We visited Erskin Falls, which should be renamed Erskin Dribble as this once proud waterfall has been reduced to a mere trickle. That evening we went bush to a glow worm bank where we saw hundreds of Glow Worms doing there stuff. Saturday saw the arrival of Ian (George) Bowen an old friend Pauline.

We had a great weekend with them. It’s all good. Next week we are off to continue the Great Ocean Road and then perhaps up to the Grampians. 

Cheers for now.

Week 9 – Not much to report this week. It has mostly been a week of preparation for maintenance, car, caravan, and family. Jen has made a flying visit to Brisbane and Toowoomba to check on a few things including Mother, Children and teeth.  I travelled from Tassy to Victoria as a day crossing on the Spirit of Tasmania. I thought this might be a bit romantic, like a cruise, but was very wrong. There is nothing to see except a rough Bass Straight for most of the trip.  Arriving in central Melbourne in peak hour with a caravan in tow and my navigator in Brisbane was a new experience for me. I eventually got through it all and was focused on getting out of Melbourne so drove a few hours out of town ad stopped in a roadside stop just south of Bendigo.  

I spent the next day in Bendigo, looking at the history etc. Interesting but nothing special.. From there the plan was to follow the Murray River to Mildura. I visited all the towns we learned about in Primary School geography, Swan Hill, Kerang, Boundary Bend and Euston. All are nice but significantly smaller than I expected.  

Finally arrived in Mildura and was pleasantly surprised. It is much larger than I expected, very pretty and clean. Mildura will be my base for next week or so while I get all the servicing done etc.. I spent the day travelling to the Mungo National Park and World Heritage area. This is the area where Mungo Man and Mungo Woman were found and are the oldest evidence of aboriginal inhabitancy in Australia.

 It was all very interesting; in particular the famous “Walls of China” a geographic feature. The history of pastoral involvement in the area is also fascinating. It is amazing how much damage 100 years of unsustainable grazing can do on this area.  

The Murray River is definitely in trouble, there is very little water in it. The use of this water is questionable. You can argue that the irrigation is essential, because it feeds us but the use of the water on gardens and lawns is very suspect. The sprinklers come on each day at the local water commission. Nice if you can get away with it. 

Cheers for Now.

Week 8 - This week saw us leave Launceston and head for the North East of Tassy, up through Devonport and Burnie, neither of which is really inspiring. We stayed at a little place called Wynyard, which is quite nice and did day trips form there. It was up to Rocky Cape, Boat Harbour Beach, Stanley and Smithton, both are nice places. Stanley in particular is a small seaside town settled in the early/mid 1800's. It is actually the oldest farming area in Tassy. It is fantastic; we climbed The Nut (just a big rock) and walked the streets which haven't changed for 150 years.

From Stanley it was to the wild west coast, down to Arthur River and the local forests. We visited "The End of the Earth" and they are serious. This is real deliverance country. When you see people making their living out of collecting and drying Giant Kelp you know not to stop for long, but it was an experience.

From Wynyard we moved on to the famous Cradle Mountain. It takes only three words to describe Cradle Mountain; Spectacular, Cold and Wet. We did the obligatory walk around Dove Lake and climbed Marion's Lookout with views over the lakes and rolling hills.

From Cradle Mountain it was on to Strahan via Zeehan. Strahan was the old wharf town for Queenstown mine so is full of history, rack railways, old pubs etc...

Strahan is the base for the Gordon River cruises, which we did. This was probably the highlight of the week, moving out through Hells Gates, up the Gordon River and then to Sarah Island Convict Ruins. The food was also good, a nice change from home cooked meals.

From here it is off to Lake St Clair via Queenstown. Queenstown is probably the worst case of environmental vandalism I have ever seen. Mountains completely stripped of all trees, in fact anything living. All the top soil washed away. It didn't take long for us to decide to leave Queenstown. Lake St Clair is also a nice spot, but clearly the poor cousin to Cradle Mountain. The lake it's self is very beautiful, but the surrounding area while nice is not special in any way. The walking tracks are in poor condition, but we did have a nice time none the less.

Then it was back to Hobart, so Jen could get on a plane back to Brisbane for a visit to the dentist and a dose of family.

I visited Latrobe (just out from Devonport). Latrobe is billed as the "World Platypus Watching Headquarters" and I can see why. The local river is simply full of these little creatures. You could get within a few meters of them before they would move on. I must confess this is the first time I have caught more than a fleeting glance at a Platypus in the wild. What an experience to see these playful animals going about there business

Well, we are now heading back to the mainland for more adventures.

Tasmania is really a beautiful place some lasting memories not mentioned in other diary notes include:

• We never felt like someone was trying to rip us off.
• People are always friendly
• We saw very little graffiti, even in the big towns.
• Tasmanians are very proud of their State and happy to show it off. They list all the attractions and are very good a differentiating them. For example you can see "the oldest convict built bridge" and the "oldest convict bridge still in use" or the "oldest church" and the "oldest catholic church" and the "oldest anglican church". However the best attraction is a "Geological Formation" in Hobart, which is as far as we could tell, is a pile of rocks.

Special thanks to those who helped us out with our trip plans, Rod Rigby, Alan Ling, and of course Patty and Geoffrey Goodchild, who apart from feeding us endless scones, biscuits etc collected our mail and gave us the good mail on what to see and what not to.

Week 7- We started the week by celebrating Jen's birthday. The day was spent at a place called the Friendly Beaches on the East Coast. Sitting on the beach reading books, sleeping and walking was the order of the day. A great day. A little fishing but no fish.

From Coles Bay we moved on through Bicheno, Scaramander and St Helen's finishing up at The Gardens on the famous Bay of Fires.  It was beautiful. The whitest sand I have ever seen with crystal clear water and small rocky headlands covered with orange algae.

Then it was on up to the Mount William National Park and Stumpies Beaches. This is really the North East Corner of Tasmania. Amazing country this, some of it reminded me of the Central Australian Desert (apart from the coast of course). Then it was on to Bridport where we spent a couple of nights. Our site undoubtedly the best view of the trip so far, 20 meters from a virtually private beach. Bridport is a nice place but nothing to do, unless you want to play the 49^th best public golf course in the world. Looked like any other Golf Course to me.

Leaving Bridport we went to Launceston via Low Head and George Town. Low Head had some serious history attached with a fully restored Pilot Station and lighthouse. This was done courtesy of BHP following the sinking of the Iron Maiden.

We have done the obligatory Historic Walk through Launceston which is quite pleasant and a day trip up to the Ben Lomond Alpine Village. Tomorrow we go to the Boags Brewery for a tour. The whole pub/beer thing is amazing down here. Southern Tassy is Cascade Country, while north it is Boags. Amazing how a beer that we consider a premium in QLD is the every day beer here.

Week 6 - Lets call it the "warm week". Yes that is right, warm. The sun was out, we needed hats, sunglasses and sun screen, our skin and flesh was warmed, even our bones were warmed. Fantastic, it is nice to have some sun for a change.

This week saw us leave Bruny Island and head to the Tasman Penisular, more commonly know as Port Arthur. This was a great place as the convict history is amazing. We spent a day looking at the Penal Settlement and another day visiting the scenery and the old convict coal mines. Out of interest there was a James Kilby who arrived in Port Arthur as a convict in 1820. I wonder if he was a relative? We visited all the local attractions, including Whites Beach, Eaglehawk Neck etc... It makes you realise how lucky we are to be living in this time not a few hundred years ago.

From there we visited Jenny N's aunt and uncle again( Patty and Geoffrey in Hobart) to collect the mail and have afternoon tea. Thanks for the hospitality, but next time less "window envelopes" in the mail please.

Then up the East Coast through Richmond, Orford, Tribunna, Swansea and finally to Coles Bay on the Freycinet Peninsular.

Richmond was great, a very historic town with lots of history, old buildings and allegedly Australia's oldest bridge....I am sure I have seen this claimed elsewhere. The other towns were rather underwhelming except for Coles Bay which we love. So far we have visited the world famous Wineglass Bay, Sleepy Bay and Hazard Bay. These really are beautiful places. A long walk, ten plus kilometres, up hill and over dale, on a track covered in boulders. We also visited a bay called Blue Stone Bay, 4*4 access only and it was also good. On leaving I wanted to explore some unmarked tracks but Jen wouldn't let me. Wayne N, where are you when I really need you? I could have used your support on that one.

We have been trying all the local seafood, all sorts of fish I have never heard of. So far we have found no duds, but there is still plenty of time for us to try all sorts of strange delicacies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do we miss work? Not yet, but both of us are sure we will. We do miss the people though.

Do we miss home? No not yet.

Do we miss the kids? Yes, politically correct, but true.

Do we miss our friends? YES

Is it expensive? About what we expected.

Are we taking off weight? Not much, perhaps a little.

Are we doing exercise? Lots, mainly bush walking.

Do we drink much? Answer - Does a one legged duck swim in a circle?

Are we enjoying it? Absolutely

Week 5 saw us entering Tasmania on the good ship “Spirit of Tasmania”. What a big boat this is!!  But they could do with me organising them in terms of getting the cars and people on and off as it is a huge disorganised mess. The Port of Melbourne is a car park when all the cars coming off are met by the impatient cars waiting to go on !! Some traffic management would be of some benefit. Could be my next job… 

We moved from the Port of Devonport directly to Hobart where we stayed for the week. Our only plan was to see Hobart and the SE corner. We got the hot tips of where to (and where not to) go whilst in Tassie  from Andrew’s work colleague Alan Ling (and Rod Rigby in Brisbane who is doing his bit for Chubb in Tasmania and from Jennie Nosworthy’s Aunt and Uncle…thanks Jen, Alan and Rod we are very jealous…. 

Hobart is a very pleasant city, no hustle and bustle and from all appearances not too much to stress about down here…certainly the people are very accommodating and take their time with you. Nobody is in a rush and they are very happy with their quieter life down here. The wharf areas are steeped in history and are a great place to visit. In our walk around the city we even saw a game of Real Tennis being played….ie. the French version not lawn tennis. Very interesting. 

Windy Mt Wellington lived up to its name and we were met with a temperature of 9 degrees, which is bearable, but the WIND factor of minus 9 is not so pleasant. All the same a great view.

The Cadbury factory chocolate tour was a very interesting tour, and the smell and taste of the chocolate was too much to resist and we did succumb to the temptation of a Top Deck chocolate….or two !! (See picture of Jen walking out with a box of 100 Summer Rolls, seconds for $12.00.) 

Moving to the very South we had great plans of doing a 4 hour walk from Cockle Creek(the most southerly road in Tasmania) to the only accessible walking  southern point - South East Cape. When we got there we discovered it rains 212 days per year and guess what ?? This day was no different. The weather was awful. Instead of the much anticipated walk had a long look around the Huon Valley taking in all the apple, pear and cherry trees. It is really a lovely area…and very green. 

The Tahune airwalk in this SE corner is amazing. It is a steel structure 40metres high and winds around the tree tops giving us spectacular views over the joining of the Houn and Picton Rivers and beyond to the mountains and forests. From Hobart we moved on to Bruny Island where we are now. This is where the Hobart people tend to go to live in their shacks for the weekend. It has fairy penguin and shearwater rookeries, the beaches are lovely and the bay we are staying in, is protected from the Tasman Sea winds. Andrew caught a salmon today and so is keen to catch more fish. 

We have been fortunate to experience a 3hr Environmental Cruise here. We saw colonies of seals, deep sea caves and the most awesome sea cliffs. It really is a majestic area and makes us feel very small when we look upwards at these huge cliffs.

We are staying here until the weather turns bad…(could be tomorrow the way Tassie’s weather changes in a day) then off to Port Arthur to finish off this corner of Tassie…. Until then…have a good week at work.

Week four started by us leaving "The Prom". Heaven help us, we are both starting to talk like Victorian's. It was off to Phillip Island for us for three days.

Again Philip Island is a nice place, lots of great costal scenery. Rocky headlands, beautiful beaches and some nice townships abound but the interior of the island is very ordinary, just dry dusty paddocks with few diversions. The drought has hit this area very hard with little or no water in any of the dams, making for fairly ordinary scenary.

The highlight of Philip Island is of course the Penguin Parade. These little fellows have the toughest life of any animal I know. They spend 12 hours a day in the open ocean swimming about looking for food and then come ashore at night and have to climb up sand hills and walk up to a kilometre to their nest for the night. To top of all this they all smell worse than anything you can imagine, so not doubt have very few friends. Darryl, Noel and AL would love the surf here.

We also climbed Mount Woolamai which is at the north easterly corner of the island and have a spectacular 360 degree view of the surrounding area. If you visit Philip Island, stay at Cowes as it is the only decent place to stay.

From there it was off to the big smoke, well Mornington Peninsular anyway. This (the scernary) is very similar to The Prom but with lots of money added. We were back on the bikes here with a big ride from Sorrento to Rye along the coast looking at all the boats, jetties etc. It was our first sighting of real Bathing Huts, having only seen them in photos previously. They are very quaint and have a certain appeal which is very captivating, at least for a Queenslander.

Mornington Peninsular was mostly a social visit for us. We had lunch with some old Chubb friends, Paul and Dennis, which was very pleasant.(forgot to take the photo to acknowledge). We also caught up with an old school friend Ian "George" Bowen.

Jen's wish was to do the Main Yarra bike trail. George was the navigator and I am pleased to report that we made it, all 42, yes 42 kilometres of it. Now for some of you (Joe, Carol and Phil in particular) this may not seem hard but for us it is a real feat. So now we have done it twice, the first and the last time. And we must report that we can still sit the next day and do not have any lasting soreness. It was very painful for Jen to watch George just cruise up the hills when she was huffing and puffing and walking ... must get the gear thing under control... Also George looked the part by wearing the latest gear...it made him look professional and a star beside Jen and I in our "everyday" clothes.

Aside from this there is nothing really serious to report. As I write this we are on the Spirit of Tasmania heading into who knows what. Both of us are really looking forward to Tassie. We have heard no bad reports and everyone we talk to tells us we will have a wonderful time. We estimate spending about a month in Tasmania, but have not booked a return ticket, just in case we want to spend more time.

Well this week we have had a mix of ocean views and fishing opportunities vs hiking up to spectacular views in the various National Parks and bush camping.

After leaving Mallacoota we traveled a short distance to Buchan Caves which is in the heart of the Gippsland Mountain country and famous for its remarkable series of limestone caves. It was set in a very pretty camping ground and was very quiet and serene. Definitely worth a visit if you are ever down this way.

From Buchan Caves we set out for a day trip to travel on a leisurely and scenic 300km "Tourist drive" of the Snowy Mountain National Park. Eight hours later......we arrived home...holy hell...was it scary. Never do this trip !!!! Yes the scenery was spectacular, but the roads are something else. Thank god we were not driving in a land cruiser as it would have been too wide for the roads that were apparently meant for 2 way traffic !! What a joke... Soft edges, windy roads, 600 metre drops off the cliff faces and not to mention the oncoming traffic. If you cannot reverse back at least 200metres with one eye on the edge of the 600metre drop and one eye on the windy and tortuous road, Never do this trip!!!

Down to Lakes Entrance and back onto more familiar territory...ocean views and a very busy fishing industry. Lakes Entrance is a very nice sleepy little town with great bike paths, very flat terrain and lucky to have both lake and beach fishing opportunities. The trawlers sell their own prawns from their boats and it is nice to go and chat to them about their work. Unfortunately Andrew was not successful in catching the big jew fish here but did manage to catch a nice salmon for dinner. What a Man !!He's a keeper !!

We are currently at Wilson's Promontory National Park which provides us with both bush and beach walking. It has 400 campsites, does not have the heated shower floor tiles but is a great place to relax and take in the great views. We walked up Mt Bishop today and at the top we had magnificent views of a good portion of the park and some nearby islands. The photos do not do the scenery justice, but it does give you a small taste of what we are seeing on our journey.

It has been a very lovely week and one that has given us time to walk and talk and reflect on the important things in life....holidays !!! See you next week.

Canberra was great. Apart from seeing Val and Graham, Dionne and Rebecca we visited Mt Stromlow, the Carillon, Old Parliament House and Lake Burley Griffin. I can’t believe the damage from the Canberra fire in 2003 is still very evident. 

We also visited Val’s Dragon Boat Club and looked at her Dragon Boat. We are both still amazed at Val doing this. A little known fact is that she is trying out for a veteran’s team, I think representing ACT….our hero Val….. 

A big thank you to Val and Graham for having us. 

Next stop Pambula Beach, just south of Merimbula. Pambula Beach is a typical beach resort. Jen really liked it because of the heated tiles on the bathroom floor and the heated spa. Who said “Trailer Trash” did it hard.

The caravan park is right on the beach and a wonderful spot. Kangaroos are permanently in the park, great for kids. Fishing was lousy with nothing being caught. 

We also visited Ben Boyd National Park. This is an amazing place. We do not have enough time to explain fully but essentially there was a man, Ben Boyd ( who else) who had a vision for the area in the1800’s. He built a town and a private lighthouse. The area is famous for whaling. We visited the old Davidson Whaling Station. A tough life they had. 

Day trips from Pambula Beach include Bermagui, Bega (the cheese factory), Tathra and national parks/beaches too numerous to mention. 

We left Pambula Beach heading for Lakes Entrance. However we got seriously distracted by a great place called Mallacoota, just over the Victorian coastal border, which is a small town on a river mouth. So, like all good nomads we decided to stay for a few days. The best way to describe Mallacoota is, for those Queenslander’s old enough to remember, it is like Noosaville 35 years ago. It is a fishing village, with 400, yes 400, camp/caravan sites occupying the best real-estate in town. In fact the caravan park is the town. The only down side is that the wind has been 35 knots today and really making life difficult. (But this is not usual) 

Tomorrow it is off to Lakes Entrance, but we said that a week ago. Lets hope we make it his time. 

Cheers for now.

Well at long last we have actually left. Spent the first few days in Toowoomba with Jen’s family doing the long good bye and a few jobs around the place. Then it was off to Lennox Head for a few days with Andrews' parents again for the long good bye and a few jobs. The Lennox Head gang are now on email/internet etc and doing really well with it. I am not sure if I will be able to take up new technology when I am 70.

After the family thing it was off to Yamba for a couple of nights. Great place, lovely beaches, terrific little town with friendly people. We got a van site right on the river easy walking and riding to the beach.

Then it was off toward Canberra. We decided to go through Grafton an up over the range to Dorrigo National Park along the Waterfall Way. This is a lovely drive, very steep and hilly country. We decided to bush camp at the Danger Falls which was very pleasant.

The next day was when the drama really started. We headed off with a plan to get to Bathurst and spend the next day looking around there. After filling up at Armidale I was felling really pleased with the fuel consumption of the car, considering we were hauling 2 tons up Mt Everest type hills. A few hours on I wasn’t feeling so chuffed with my self at a small town known as Wattle Flat we decided that we did not have enough fuel to get to Bathurst so stayed the night there, illegally in the rest area. The next day unhooked the van and decided to head to Bathurst some 40 kilometers dawn the track. A mere three kilometers down the road we ran out of fuel, yes ran out. Called the Mitsubishi help line and they sent out a mechanic with some fuel. Total cost $20 and he gave us 20 litres of diesel. What I thought would be the dearest fuel I would ever buy turned out to be the cheapest.

We finally made it to Canberra on the designated day but our visit to Bathurst included the Service Station and the road out of town, perhaps next time.

Right now we are in Canberra, with Val and Graham. We had a wonderful dinner with them last night and visited the multicultural festival to watch dance and drink Polish beer. There is a good reason you don’t see much Polish beer in Oz, bloody awful. Today, Sunday we visited the Deep Space Communications Center, Corillon and Mt Stromlow, absolutely fantastic.

Plans for week two include more time in Canberra and trip to the coast, probably to the South NSW coast.

Cheers for now.

There are photos in the gallery, but for those interested the following is the technical description.

Caravan

It is a Roadstar, Dreamtime Cruiser, 18 feet long (yes caravans are still in feet and inches) off road with dual axels and 16 inch wheels. Inside we have all the usual features, four burner stove, 160ltr, gas, mains and 12 volt fridge, microwave and rangehood. We have 60ltrs of water underneath and three taps, one for filterd mains pressure, one for the tank and a further tap for mains pressure. There is a TV and DVD player which can be turned to view from either bed or lounge. The van in airconditioned with 2 only four seasons vents. We also have dual batteries and dual 9kg gass bottles which shoud give us enough energy for two weeks out of van parks. On the back is bike rack and two jerry can holders for either diesel or water. We will mostly use these for shower water for use when out of van parks. Most important is a Queen Size bed.

Car

The car is a 2006, NP Pajero Exceed with 3.2Ltr turbo diesel. The car is fitted with dual batteries, fridge and draw system which I built and fitted to the back. Up front we have a TJM Bull Bar with twin Hella Bitumen Burners for night vision. Inside we have a Fujitsu GPS Media Centre (fantastic unit) and a cargo barrier. For a towing hitch we have a Hayman Reese load levelling hitch. On the top is an all alloy Track Master Roof Rack fitter with 3 jerry cans for additional fuel if required and two cheap spot lights to give night vision at the rear.

Bikes

We have two bikes. One old faithfull, flipside about 110 years old, fitted with optional fishing rod holder and the second is a new ladies bike fitted with a special comfortable bum enlarging seat.

Other Inclusions

We are also taking a Cobb Oven to bake bread and cook roast meat. Fishing gear and rods covering beach, estury and river applications. In addition we are taking a laptop fitted with Telstra "I've been everywhere man" mobile access, so we can keep this blog up to date. The laptop will be stored in a safe permanently fitted to the van. Alos we are taking an inverter to recharge the camera, computer etc....

Many people have asked us what our plans are for the trip, where we will be going, when will we be there etc...

Believe it or not we don't have a detailed plan, but in general terms our plan is as follows.

We plan on leaving Brisbane on February 1st then spending two nights in Toowoomba with Jen's family. then it is off to Lennox Head for a few nights with Andrew's family. From there it is a short trip down the road to Yamba, a place that believe it or not neither of us have ever visited, but brother Bruce thinks is heaven on earth.  Hope to catch some good fish there. From there it is off inland and spend a few days getting Canberra for a day or two with the hope of catching up with our good friends Val and Graham.

After Canberra we head straight to Melbourne to get the ship to Tasmania for approximately 3-4 weeks. then it is back across to the Great Ocean Road to South Australia. Then to Perth via the coast and perhaps a detour to gold fields. We really want to spend some time in the Margaret River Area, Esperance etc... Then it is up the coast of WA to places to numerous to name here. We plan on spending a lot of time in north WA. From there it is off to the NT National Parks. We may, depending on budget take a short holiday from our holiday here to go the South East Asia for a week or so, perhaps Bali again if it hasn't been blown up by then. Then to North QLD via the Gulf and to Cooktown and Cape York and back home via the QLD coast. 

So what do we plan on doing? Lots of nothing, sprinkled with some bush walking, bike riding, fishing and sight seeing.   

Jen had her Xmas/Leaving Party last night. Gerat time was had by all. She has some wonderful friends and I even detected a tear. Wonderful bracelet given as a present. I might just let her take it on our trip.

Click on the Photo Library button avove to check it out.

Only one week to go until Xmas. All good. The time is getting closer, Jen and I are working even harder, doing stupid hours. I have tried to slow down but just not happening. I was in the office at 5.00am yesterday and Jen at 7.00am. I came home at 6.30 but Jen, well it was after 10.30pm. It seems strange to have her arround this time of year normally she is up the hill with Yanna.

 I can't believe the gifts Jen is getting from doctors she has helped (actually I can believe given the passion and hours put in). Flowers, wine, cards, gift baskets, I wish they would give money.