A Town Called Alice

The sun is shining, and it's been a beautiful 26 degrees here in Alice Springs today.  Sorry to all of you stuck in colder climes, but it's so nice the lilly-white Victorian legs came out for an airing today for the first time, and it's been fabulous.

We've spent the past few days in Alice Springs, having come into town on Monday.  We had previously spent nearly a week in the bush, between towns, and a shower was very welcome, let me tell you.

Back-tracking though, to the Finke Gorge National Park.  This park lies west of Alice Springs, and we spent a wonderful few days meandering through it, experiencing all it had to offer.  We enjoyed the peace and absolute silence (except for a local water bird that squawked into the night) of our Finke River campsite.  The bush is so lush at this time, that there's something to see everywhere.

After leaving our river bed campsite, we completed the Finke Gorge 4WD track, heading north, and emerging at Hermannsburg.  The journey of only about 40km took us about 3 hours, crossing the dry river bed again and again as we made our way north.

We decided to leave exploring Hermannsburg for the way out and make our way straight to the campground at Palm Valley, as we'd read that it could get busy at this time of year, and we wanted to be certain of getting a site.  We needn't have worried, because as we arrived at just about midday, the campground was almost deserted and we had our choice of where we wanted to camp.  So deserted in fact, that a dingo was casually scouting around to see what he could scrounge.

It was a beautiful afternoon, and after we had lunch, we set up camp, and had a well-earned "lazy" afternoon, sitting in the sun  and reading.  The view from our campsite was so distracting, that more often than not, I found myself just sitting looking, rather than reading my book. 

We were surrounded by the red escarpment of the valley, and when the sun hit in the late afternoon, the cliffs glowed in the light.

 

  

We spent a couple of very pleasant days at Palm Valley.  I would recommend it to anyone who travels this way.  The sign at the start of the road in reads "Extreme 4WD road.  High clearance vehicles only".  We drove the 18km to the campground and wondered what they were going on about, but the final 4km from the campground into the valley itself was a different story - very slow going over rocks, washouts, river beds etc.  Great fun!!!

 

We walked the Mpulungkinya (Mool-ung-kin-yah) walk the next morning, taking about two and half hours to scout round the escarpment (I love that word - so much better than ridge, or cliff) and back into Palm Valley.  I know I'm using the word magical a lot, but really, there's no other word to describe this country.  It's breathtaking. 

 

Doug on the top of the escarpment overlooking Palm Valley

 

Down in the valley floor


 After recent rains, part of the walk was covered by the creek, and the choice was either to wade through knee-high water or cling to a cliff face and slide across.  Doug chose the cliff face option, and I tried to follow, but bottled it half-way over.  I just imagined falling backwards into the water and getting more than my feet wet.  Julie Anderson, I thought of you, as I clung to a rock face with absolutely no hand-holds, but it did me no good.  I retreated, took off my boots and socks and walked through.  Sorry, no photos, but seeing me stuck to the side of a rock face would have been kind of funny!

 

Another walk we did took us up to a look out point high above our campsite, looking down the valley.  The climb was easy enough to where the look out was, but Doug decided he needed to go higher.  Along the lines of "if they build it, they will come", this was "they've put this rock here, they must want to you climb it"!!.

 

Doug's view from the rock

 

My view of Doug

 

The rock from the ground




We left our Palm Valley campsite and travelled back through to Hermannsburg, stopping to look round the old mission buildings that form part of the community there.  Hermannsburg was the first settlement in the Northern Territory back in the late 1800's, originally established by the Lutheran Church.  It ran, on and off, as a mission until the late 1960's.  It's now a historic collection of old buildings and a museum, outlining the work of the mission.  The Lutherans didn't regard the indigenous people as inferior or 'savages'; their concern was for their souls after death, hoping to attract them to Christianity in the hope of offering them an after-life.  The mission survives today with the help of volunteer workers who staff the gallery and tea-rooms and work on maintaining the buildings in exchange for free camping.  It would be a good way to spend a month or two.

 

The "Meat House" at Hermannsburg

 

The old fence outside the tea-rooms (killer scones by the way)







 

After exploring Hermannsburg for an hour or two, we made the short journey into Alice and headed straight for the caravan park we'd booked into.  Although they're not really our choice of campsite, the Stuart Caravan Park in Alice has great facilities, isn't noisy and suited us for a couple of days.  We got the washing done, did a bit of maintenance on the vehicle and camper, did a bit of shopping and then enjoyed the sunshine and read our books.  It also gave us that chance to catch up with the kids after being out of contact until now.  It's good to know the house is still in one piece and they're getting along ok (contrary to what people might try and tell us, Warren and Darren!!).

 

Today, with all the chores done, we took ourselves off to the Desert Park, which was just being established the last time we were here (14 years ago).  It offers people, in a snap-shot environment, the opportunity of understanding the various regions that can be found in this part of Australia.  Although we were familiar with the different landscapes, having travelled through most of the different regions on the way to Alice, it was a chance for us to get answers to questions we had had on the way (what type of tree is that? - what's that bird? -  why is the rock formed that way?  etc etc).  It's very much aimed at the tourist market, but we enjoyed our visit, if for nothing else but the wildflowers and birds on display.

 

 

 

 



While taking a look through the Nocturnal House, we chanced upon our relative - a slippery little character, although beautifully marked.  Just goes to show - don't muck with a Ramsay!

 

 

Our visit to the Desert Park proved to be one of the few chances of spotting wildlife our entire trip, so far.  It's been something that we've wondered about for nearly two weeks.  There has been so little wildlife seen from the roads, and only a couple of encounters with "Derek" the Dingo at our campsite in Palm Valley.  Not even road-kill on the sides of the roads.  Oh well, maybe further north.

Tomorrow we leave Alice and head up the Tanami towards the Kimberley.  This is the real start of our trip.  We'll be heading from Halls Creek to Purnululu National Park, and from there to Broome via Fitzroy Crossing, so will probably be out of reception for about two weeks.  More updates will follow after that, including our trip to the Horizontal Falls for my birthday.

And by the way, after a couple of quiet days, we're only up to "P" in the song list.  I'm sure three days on the Tanami will sort that!!!

 

 

 

Swimming with the Fishes

It’s Sunday 20^th July and I’m writing this sitting outside the camper, looking at the escarpment over Palm Valley.  We’ve been out of reception since leaving Coober Pedy five days ago, so this might be a bit of a “catch-up”.  We get into Alice Springs tomorrow, so I’ll get it posted then.

After having a quick look round Coober Pedy (it’s a bit of a strange place), we were excited to be heading off the bitumen proper for the first time this trip.  We had grabbed a few last supplies at the supermarket, and had a surprisingly good frothy coffee, and then pointed the car in the direction of Oodnadatta.  I should have said before now, but the morning we left Melbourne, we put the music on, and started the song list at “A”.   Now I don’t have mountains of music on my iPhone, but I’ve got a bit, and who knew there were so many songs beginning with “C”???  When we left Coober Pedy, we had started in the “E”s.

The road heading out of Coober Pedy

 

We had arranged to meet friends, Kerryn and Lindsay, at the Painted Desert.  They were on their way down after a four week trip away up north, and it was great to be able to meet up with them for a night.  We had originally planned to meet at the Arckaringa Homestead, which offers camping, and stay there and drive out to the Painted Desert, but on arriving, the wind was blowing off the barren landscape, and the campground left a little to be desired for the $20 a night they were charging (read – Doug – “This is a bit shit!!!”. 

When Kerryn and Lindsay arrived, the girls took a bit of a drive out from the homestead and got to the foothills of the Painted Desert and decided that if you squinted, you could be forgiven for not seeing the No Camping sign.  It was a really magic spot, the colours and shapes of the landscape were like something out of a wild-west movie.  We found a sheltered spot down in a dry creek bed and set up for the night.  We spent a lovely night watching a fabulous moon-rise, followed by a sunrise walk up to the top of the range.  Magic!

Our campsite at the Painted Desert

 

 

It was here that we noticed that as we’d driven from Coober Pedy, the Anderson plug that connects the car and trailer had been knocked out and had dragged itself into oblivion on the unsealed road.  Doug affected a swift repair while we were camped at Painted Desert, and we thought all was good.

We left Kerryn and Lindsay the next morning, and as they headed south, we continued the journey north, seeking some warmer weather.  Pleasant days at the moment, but pretty chilly nights.  We headed up through Oodnadatta, having coffee at the Pink Roadhouse, and took the road to Dalhousie Springs.  Dalhousie is one of the gateways for the Simpson Desert crossings and the campground was busy with folk either arriving or preparing to leave to cross the desert. 

Pink Roadhouse - Oodnadatta

 

On the edge of the Simpson at Dalhousie Springs

 



We set up camp and headed down to the springs for a swim.  Who would have thought that on the edge of the desert you could find a waterhole, filled by a hot spring?  The water was 37 degrees and we enjoyed our desert bath for an hour or more.  Other residents of the water enjoyed us being there too.  The waterhole is filled with tiny fish (if you’ve been to Bali or Thailand and seen the “fish-feet” tanks on offer, it was exactly the same thing).  Tiny little fish nibbling on all the dead skin cells – a weird feeling at first, but you got used to it.   Just to prove that it’s a small world we live in, we had been chatting to the Rangers at the campground and it turns out that her brother is one of our next-door neighbours!  You come all this way……………… and Happy Birthday Ranger Dot!!!

Swimming with the fishes in the hot spring



 



From Dalhousie, we headed further north, up through the desert to Mt Dare and on up Binns Track to Old Andado.  This was a property, owned and run by a woman called Molly Clark, until well into her eighties.  When Molly got too old, she moved into an aged care home in Alice Springs, but her homestead has been left exactly as if she’s just gone into town for the day.  It’s an amazing snap shot of what life must have been like struggling in such a harsh environment.  Molly passed away a couple of years ago, and it’s a real privilege to be able to share some of her story.

 

 



Molly Clark's Old Andado homestead

 

 

We turned west from Old Andado and headed towards the highway, making camp in another dry creek bed off the road outside Finke.  Go back a few paragraphs to the mention of the Anderson plug and how we thought all was well.  It turned out that the cables dragging on the ground before we noticed them, must have shorted out the fuse near the second battery, and it hadn’t been charging while we had been driving, as we thought it had.  We found this out whilst camped in said dry creek bed, when I tried to switch on the lights to make dinner.  No lights!  Now I don’t know if you’ve been out in the middle of the outback at night, but it’s dark.  Really dark.  So, it was a case of adapt and overcome that night, we cooked and ate by torchlight, and sat round the fire till bed time.  The situation was fixable, with a bit of bodgy wiring on Doug’s part, and we can get it sorted when we get to Alice.  The plus side though, was the stars that night went from horizon to horizon – just magnificent – and in our dark campsite, there was nothing to detract from them.

We hit the highway the next day, taking a quick side-trip to visit Lambert’s Centre.  Here, in the middle of the bush, is a marker placed at the geographical centre of Australia.  A bit of a let down really, but I don’t really know what I expected.  Anyway, onwards and northwards.

Lambert Centre

 

We stopped to refuel at Kulgera.  That took a bit of getting over - $2.09 per litre for diesel.  Then after a hundred or so kilometres on the highway, we headed off the bitumen again, making for the Finke Gorge National Park.  The track we were driving would take us up through this magnificent country, driving in and out of the riverbed of the mighty Finke River.  It’s said to be the oldest river in the world and when in full flood it would be awesome to see.  Mostly dry at the moment, we snaked in and around sandy beds, rocks, washouts and trees, averaging about 20km/h, until we found a campsite on the edge of the river around 6ish.  It had been a big day and we were both tired, but we still had to marvel at how lucky we were to be able to get to places like this.  It was certainly remote country.  We had only passed about three other vehicles since leaving the highway. 

Doesn't really look that rough, does it?

Morning camp in the dry Finke River

 

And so our first week on the road has come and gone already.  We’ve travelled a fair way, and packed a bit in.  The wind-swept lookout and doof-doof music seem a long time ago now.  More about Finke Gorge next time.  In the meantime, there’s a walk needing to be explored this afternoon (and we’re up to “M” in the song list).



 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 



 

 

 

Sleepless in South Australia

I'm not sure what I was expecting from our great adventure, but to say that it got off to a less than smooth start might be an understatement.

We had a wonderful evening celebrating Liam's 21st, with friends and family sharing food, memories, laughs and cake.  It was a lovely way to mark a milestone and I hope he enjoyed it as much as we did.  The celebrations didn't last too late, and we were tucked up in bed, ready for an early start the next day.

The rest of the household weren't as excited about our departure as we were obviously, as no one made it up to say goodbye.  Our goodbyes had all been said the night before, and we'll be in contact regularly, so I don't know what I was expecting at 7.00am on a Saturday morning.  Maybe streamers and balloons and lots of bon voyage music, but I had to make do with a selfie of us, in the pouring rain, ready to hit the road.

We had an uneventful day, travelling over country that we knew well, so our objective was to get as far away as possible.  We had morning tea in Beaufort, lunch in Nhill and barrelled through to Murray Bridge for our first night's stop.  Here is where Day 1 gets interesting.  We had found a free camp just out of town, having located it on an app that lists these things.  Well, even with GPS coordinates, we couldn't find anything that vaguely looked like a spot to pull off and camp, so as it was getting late, and we were tired, we headed for a caravan park in town.

A lot of thought went into finding this caravan park, as we'd stopped in a park in Tailem Bend on a trip two years ago, which was right beside the highway and were "rocked" to sleep all night by the sounds of large trucks and their engine brakes.  So this time, we found a quiet little park at the far end of town, right on the Murray.  It seemed idyllic!!!

 

 

That is, until about 10.30pm, when the house across the road from the park cranked up the music, as someone (Caitlin or Cailem, I couldn't quite distinguish which) was having a birthday.  Well, they must have invested heavily in sound equipment, as it did a wonderful job of spreading the joys of techno music over the entire area.  And add to that the random fireworks being let off at what seemed like the next site to us, we didn't get much sleep.  The police came round about 1.30am, and the music subsided for a bit, then up it went again.  I called the police about 2.30am, and again it subsided, but ramped up again............... and so on.

 

Not to worry, we got a good, hot shower and were on the road again by 9.30am the next morning, if a little bleary.

 

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day, crisp and cold (not getting above 11 degrees all day) but lovely sunshine.  We took a dawdle up through the Barossa and Clare Valleys, through all the vineyards.  It's such a pretty area.   Little, pretty towns with the most beautiful stone buildings.  We had a lovely trip. 

 

 

 

We arrived at Wilmington, in the southern Flinders, mid afternoon, and had planned to take in the Landrover museum, which we'd heard about.  It was an experience.  The old couple that own the Wilmington Toy Museum have included a whole room dedicated to toy/model Landrovers and other memorabilia of the marque. 

 

 

 

 

 

To top it all off, the old guy has a serious collection of full-size Landrovers in the garden.  Doug found one that he wanted to take home for Tom.

 

 

Camp from here was a short drive out of town to a place called Hancock's Lookout, a beautiful spot overlooking Spencer Gulf and across to the Iron Knob.  We were lucky to only share this spot with a couple of other 4WDs and a couple of caravans.  What a beautiful way to spend an evening............... or so we thought.

 

 

 



 

 

Around 9pm it started getting a bit breezy, so we retreated inside the camper.  The wind continued to build until by 11pm it was blowing an absolute gale, and we were huddled in bed wondering if the camper was going to stand the night.  We got up, put layers of clothes on, because by this time, it was freezing cold, and tied a rope round and round the camper to tie the roof down.  Back to bed and the wind pounded us all night, making sleep almost impossible.  We heard the two caravans packing up sometime in the middle of the night and moving on, but if we'd tried to pack the camper up, I'm sure the roof would have blown off it.



 

So morning came, and the wind had dropped a bit.  It was early, but after a swift coffee, we decided to take advantage of a drop in the wind, and get things packed away and head off.  It would be ok.  There were plenty of coffee shops in Port Augusta to keep us going.  Who needed sleep?

 

We arrived in Port Augusta just before 9am.  I had been having problems with my laptop since leaving home (typical isn't it.........worked fine at home).  Anyway, I thought I would try to get it fixed while in the last big town we would be in for a while.  Asking at the local electronic shop if he knew anyone who could do the job, the nice man sent us in the direction of Walt's Computers. 

 

Sure he said.  No problem, bring it round in about an hour.  So we dawdled in Maccas, filled the fuel and water tanks and then made our way to Walt's.  In a hard-to-find back street of Port Augusta we found his "shop". 

 







 

To say I approached with a bit of trepidation was putting it mildly, but although it was the mostly unlikely of premises, Dennis Walter, one-time truckie and now computer handyman, was the genius I needed.  He fixed my issues, didn't charge me the earth and had us on the road again in about an hour.

 

So now it was midday, and we still had 550km to go to Coober Pedy.  So it was back to "get as far away as possible" as we put the head down and bum up and took off up the Stuart Highway. 

 

After two nights of very little sleep, we decided to stay in a caravan park rather than risk the elements again in the camp spots outside town.  They seemed a bit open to the elements, and this blogger needs some sleep tonight.

 

We've checked into a powered site, have the fan heater and computer running without a care, and as soon as I click "Save" for this post, I'm off to bed.

 

Coober Pedy and beyond is waiting for tomorrow.................

 



 

Catching up, cake and just general craziness.

Well, I said the four weeks would fly by, and I was right.  I'm not sure what happened, but it's now D-Day minus one.  And I didn't really get much chance to expand on this blog, but then there's only so much you would want to hear about packing, shopping, sorting and more packing.

We've certainly packed a lot in to the past four weeks.  Having a deadline certainly gives you focus.  We managed to include a good few social events as well, catching up with friends before heading off.  These catch ups always included food too.  It was great to have breakfast with friends Bob and Debbie last weekend.  They're about to head off with their car and caravan with no end date to their trip.  It certainly puts ideas in your head. 

We spent a great day in Melbourne a few weeks back, taking in the new Explore Australia Expo, and then following up with dinner and a show.  Being dyed-in-the-wool Rocky Horror fans, we loved having the chance to see Craig McLachlan reprise the role of Frank.  A great show!

We've had family celebrations too, with Matt turning a year older at the end of June and Liam officially becoming an adult today.  Happy 21st Liam!  We're having a small dinner tonight with some family and friends to mark this milestone.   He wanted a new bed for his birthday, so we spent a great afternoon trying out all the possibilities in well-known bed stores around town.  He now sleeps in the lap of luxury!

 

 

 

It was important to us to be here for his birthday, so our whole trip was planned with a departure date of tomorrow.  Birthday - tick! Then we can go.

Trip preparation continued over the past month, with the camper set up in the driveway so it could be packed.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but the weather in Melbourne has been absolutely foul of late (apologies to my Scottish friends - it wasn't really that bad, I've just been here too long!)  So instead of a quick set up, pack and fold down, the camper was up for over a fortnight.  We could just never get it dry at the right time to get it folded down.

But the good thing is, everything fitted!  I didn't think it would, but we're actually travelling ok for space.  The kitchen table was laden with food and other things, the spare bed was covered in clothes and stuff, but eventually it's all found a home.  The coffin is brilliant, it fits so much.  So it's packed, the camper's packed, the car's packed.  Phew!!!

 

In amongst all this planning, packing and socialising, we've also welcomed Matt, Nat, Tom and Charlotte to the household.  They moved out of their rental last weekend, and into our house.  It will be great for them to be able to save a bit of money while living here, and also good company for Liam.  I have to say, from a Grandma's point of view, it's nice to be able to spend some time with them before we go.

I finished up at work yesterday, having counted down since what seems like months (it probably was months, now I think of it).  It was a bit of a weird feeling handing over to my replacement, Casey. I was almost teary getting in the car at the end of the day and waving goodbye to my boss, Penny and all my good friends there, but that only lasted a minute or two.  Once out the gate, thoughts turned quickly to the road ahead.

I did have a lovely surprise this week at work though.  A surprise birthday celebration for me.  I thought I would be able to quietly slip into the second half of my century unnoticed, but thanks to my office-mate Cathy, there was singing and cake (love the plaque on the cake - somehow it seems easier to take!!)

Not much left to do now except go.  Hopefully we'll be on the road early tomorrow morning. 

But in the meantime, there's a 21st birthday to celebrate.............. I think we should go out for lunch!!