HEADING SOUTH TO COOLER WEATHER

We enjoyed our 4 days in Exmouth and had our first meal of prawns while we were staying there. Considering we have had the sea all around us since we arrived at Broome, we have had very little seafood. Like New Zealand, fish is very expensive in Australia. We had planned to stay at Coral Bay but with all the “grey nomads” on the move, we couldn’t get into a van park there. We decided to stay at a working cattle and sheep station instead. The station is called Bullara Station and is just off the highway between Exmouth & Coral Bay. There was cabin and van accommodation available and we got used to having sheep, goats, cows and horses wander by at any time of the day or night. The sheep and goats were quite tame but a couple had a very strong tendency to give you a good butt if they felt so inclined. Not a very good feeling when you were walking back to the van after drinking around the campfire in the dark! There was no power available but there were showers, well sort of. Outdoor showers with no roof, surrounded by thick brush, and the water was heated by a “donkey”. The things you learn in bush camping! A donkey is a water tank heated by a wood fire, and after you had your shower, you were expected to add more wood to the fire for the next person. It was a lot of fun and we met some great people there, including people from Palmerston North. Joy made some great lemonade scones for us all around the camp fire one night which were greatly appreciated. We find that people are much friendlier in bush camps and it’s amazing the stories that are told around campfires.
We decided to drive to Coral Bay for a day, as we couldn’t stay there, so as usual we had to be up at the crack of dawn and on the road early. We were following 2 vans when a car coming over the brow of a hill toward us flashed his lights, obviously warning us of something. We slowed down and saw all this debris on the road and the two vans in front pulled off the road. We both thought that one of the vans had rolled over but luckily he managed to control it and bring it off the road. The van had either lost its step and this hit the tyre causing it to blow out or it just had a blow out causing the step to fall off. Whatever caused it, the result was the explosion from the tyre had blown a hole in the floor of the van and all the debris on the road was contents being sucked out through the hole in the floor. There was clothing, drapes off the windows, electrical wiring, parts of the step, all over the road. The water tank had gone completely. There was this huge hole in the middle of the floor and inside the van it looked as if a cyclone had been through it. It was amazing. The van was an English van and we have been looking at them in NZ, but there’s no way I would buy one now.
Coral Bay is on the Ningaloo Reef and consists of 2 van parks, supermarket, bakery and gift shops and not much else except for the most beautiful beach I have even seen. I thought Mission Beach in Queensland would take a lot of beating but Coral Bay is equal to it. The water is crystal clear and calm with lots of fish to be seen when snorkelling. We set up the deck chairs about 9.30 in the morning and stayed there till 3.30 in the afternoon. We had about 3 swims as it was so hot but we didn’t get burnt as the ozone layer doesn’t seem to be so bad over here. It was a lovely day and one we’ll remember for a long time.
Carnarvon was our next stop on our trip south. Carnarvon is known as the “fruit bowl of North Western Australia” and boy does it live up to its name. The town is situated on the Gasgoyne River, which supplies all the water for the horticulture in the area. There is a difference between this river and others we have seen though, all the water is stored under about 3 metres of red sand. When you look at the river all you see is a dry water bed but this river manages to support a huge acreage of mangoes, bananas, grapes, citrus and vegetables. I have put a photo of it on my blog. Carnarvon has quite a few winds so all the properties have huge netting around and over all the plantations to protect them. We bought the most juicy mandarins we have ever tasted in Carnarvon (sorry Wendy and John). They were easy peel but much bigger than the ones we normally see and so juicy. It was in Carnarvon that we saw the second Bledisloe Cup game. We went to a local pub and most of the attendees were Kiwis so it was a good atmosphere. Except for one woman ( a Kiwi) who was three sheets to the wind before the game even started. She shouted at the players, referee etc. and as the game progressed and her alcoholic intake increased, her voice and language got worse. I know I scream at rugby games but she left me for dead. We thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle though. About 70kms. north of Carnarvon are blowholes. These are quite amazing and make Punakaiki look really tame. The roar of the water forcing itself up through these tiny holes sounded like an earthquake approaching. It was awesome.
Our next stop was Denham where we had the most awful gale force winds we have experienced in the van. My thoughts were of how cyclone prone this whole coast is, so there was not much sleep that night. According to the tourist brochures, Denham had been a derelict town in its earlier years, well, I’m sorry to say we didn’t see much difference to that description today. None of the houses have lawns as we know them, but instead everything is covered in crushed white shells. The glare from the sun shining on these shells is almost blinding. Our caravan park was covered in these shells and it was worse than the sand or red dust. It stuck to shoes, mats etc. so there was always a gritty feeling about the floor. Monkey Mia is only 26 kms. from Denham and as that was our main reason for going into Denham, on the first fine day we set off at the crack of dawn for Monkey Mia. Now we had heard differing stories about Monkey Mia; some said it was very controlled; some said it was a waste of time and others said it was over-rated, so it was with a feeling of trepidation we headed off to see the dolphins. We loved it! The dolphins come in to Monkey Mia every day about 8am, and the females, who have had calves, are fed about 5 or 6 fish by members of the public who are picked out by volunteers. There are 3 feedings a day, usually between 8am and noon. Until about 1998 feeding was open slather and all dolphins were fed, but it was found that the dolphins, which are still wild, were losing the will to fish and suffering and dying from over feeding. The Dept. of Environment and Conservation have now taken over the project and they are doing a great job. The males aren’t hand fed because they are too aggressive and the calves are fed by the mother for about 2 years so they don’t need hand feeding. The dolphins can’t be touched but they are very friendly and come right up to the water’s edge. In the afternoons they are left to their own devices and most days they can be seen in the bay catching their own fish in the sea grass. We were lucky enough to be there on a lovely sunny day and all afternoon the dolphins were darting in and out among the swimmers and boats and just having a great time. It was a lovely way to spend a day, just sitting on the beach and watching these graceful creatures splashing and diving among us.
On the road out from Denham we stopped at Hamelin Pool where there is an old telegraph station, a quarry where they used to make blocks from cockle stones, and stromatolites. These are living fossils that build in the highly saline waters of Hamelin Pool and are similar to the earliest forms of life dating back 3000 million years. A viewing walkway allowed us to walk above these ancient forms of life. It was so interesting.
The West Australian wild flowers are now starting to bloom and we have seen lots of them growing alongside the roadside. They grow in places where you wouldn’t expect anything to flourish, like gravel, red dust and sand. We even saw a tiny little pink flower growing in the rocky sand by the blowholes. Jim spent ages getting the right settings for the camera to try and catch a good photo. I have put it on my blog for you to see. He was so proud of himself when he finally got it right and then proceeded to stomp over the top of it, unknowingly of course. I couldn’t believe it!
We are staying in a free bush camp at the moment and tomorrow we move onto Kalbarri where we will have 4 nights and hope to do some walking in the Murchison River Gorge. We were greeted on our arrival by about 25 policemen, all armed and wearing bullet proof vests etc. I thought this was a bit of an overkill for testing for drugs or alcohol. They never took any notice of us at all. It turns out that a really nasty bikie gang from Perth was on a tour up the West Coast and on the way decided to rough up a few pubs and their patrons; run a road train off the road; and visit a few off road caravan parks to frighten the locals!! Really nice types! Their breakdown wagon had broken down just a few kilometres from us so they had parked up in the bush till it was repaired. The police were just keeping an eye on them and us, I hope. They had made a couple of arrests but they all left with a lot of noise in the morning. The bikies I mean. The police just kept to themselves most of the time but it must have been really boring for them. Two of the vans had electronic organs with them so the owners kept everyone amused with music all day, mostly tunes from the 40s and 50s. I don’t imagine the police would have recognised many of the tunes, judging from the age of them.
We will be in Perth on 28th August so my next blog will come from there.

WEST AUSTRALIAN MINERAL WEALTH

In my last blog we had just arrived in Port Hedland and I said it looked an interesting town. Well it certainly was that. It has a population of just over 14,000 and 80% of those who work are employed by BHP Biliton. The houses all have orange/red roofs and walls but these are not painted this colour, it is the result of the iron dust that permeates the whole town. Initially the iron ore was freighted by rail from the mines in Newman, a new town 426 kms. away, and crushed on the site at Port Hedland, but it is now crushed in Newman and railed to Port Hedland where it is stockpiled before being sent overseas. The iron dust covers everything and even though all the new houses have white or silver roofs when they are built, within a couple of years, they will all just be covered with iron dust. It’s a waste of time cleaning cars, caravans etc.
We went on a tour of the BHP facility in Port Hedland and the size is amazing. A typical iron ore train travelling from Newman will have 6 locomotives pulling 336 wagons carrying more than 42,000 tonnes of ore. These trains are up to 3.75kms long so you don’t want to meet one at a railway crossing I can assure you! BHP operate 12 loaded and unloaded trains every day of the year. The biggest train ever had 632 wagons and was 7.35 kms. long. That was a world record. The ore is then shipped overseas, mainly to China, from the wharf in Port Hedland. At the moment the wharf will only accommodate 4 ships at a time but plans are underway to allow another 6 ships to load at the same time. Most ships take about 30 hours to load and there are always about 12 – 20 ships sitting offshore waiting to berth. Port Hedland ships 100 million tonnes of iron ore a year.
There is another huge mining complex in the Pilbara area of north western Australia at Tom Price. This is a mining town of about 5,000 people. It reminded us of Twizel with its shopping mall and everything tidy and neat. The mine is about 5kms. from the centre of town and all the single workers and fifos (workers who fly in, work for 3 weeks, then fly out for a week) are stationed in quarters out by the mine but all the families are housed in the town. This complex is run by Rio Tinto and all their ore is railed to Port Dampier about 600kms. south of Port Hedland. The Pilbara region supplies 34% of the world’s sea-borne iron ore trade. As you can see the resources in this area of Australia are mind blowing with reserves for another 30 years.
The wages paid to the mine workers are among the highest paid in Australia but there are some side issues that are contributing to other problems in these mining towns. There is a serious shortage of housing, especially in Port Hedland, and the rental asked for an ordinary 2 – 3 bedroom house in the area is $1500 - $2000 per week! Temperatures in the summer rise to+40C so the air conditioning costs can add another $1500 per month, depending how much time is spent in the house. The mine workers can afford these rentals and sometimes have them included in their wage package deal, but the locals who work in the shops etc. and don’t get paid the high wages, can’t afford these high rentals. As I stated at the beginning, Port Hedland is a very interesting town!
We then went bush for 3 nights in Karajini National Park. This is the second largest national park in WA and consists of lots of amazing gorges. The land above is just normal bush country with Spinifex everywhere and you wouldn’t know these gorges are even there. They all require a measure of fitness to get down into such as vertical ladders, rock walls etc. but when you get down, the scenery is amazing. There are about 7 gorges in the park with differing levels of fitness required. We never attempted the more difficult ones as they require river crossing and rock climbing up vertical walls. We watched 2 girls attempting it; one girl was fairly competent and confident but her friend was totally out of her depth. We were watching them from a lookout and my heart was in my mouth as I was sure they were going to plunge into the river below. The more confident of the two finally made it on her own but it was pretty nerve wracking watching I can tell you. There is no water or power in these bush camps but they are very popular; so popular in fact that in peak times people are queuing in their vans and campers waiting for people to leave so they can get a site. We had a lovely time in there and it was while we were there that we drove to Tom Price for a day trip. There is a fantastic lookout from Mount Nameless in Tom Price that overlooks the mines. The road to this lookout is 4WD only and is the highest accessible road in WA at 1128 metres. While we were up there we heard a huge explosion. It was a planned detonation and we caught it on camera. Very exciting.
Our next stop was Roebourne. The camp was pretty basic but it was a great base from which to explore the area. Roebourne is the oldest town in WA and looks it! These little towns try very hard to hang onto their identities and Roebourne had an old gaol; post office and a sobering up centre! Further out on the coast is Point Samson, where there are lovely beaches, and another old ghost town called Cossack. Cossack has kept a lot of its old existing buildings but though no-one lives there, the town has lots of visitors. It was here that we finally saw “Staircase to the Moon” . This is an illusion created by a full moon rising over mudflats on a low tide. The effect is breath taking and creates the illusion of a staircase leading to the moon. It can be seen at a few places around the top west coast of WA, especially at Broome but the moon wasn’t right when we were there. There were hundreds of people at the lookout in Cossack about 7.30pm waiting for this sight. Some had bought dinner, wine etc. so it was a real party atmosphere.
We visited Karratha and Dampier when we were in Roebourne. Karratha is a growing town which is now the hub of the Pilbara. Dampier was something else. This town houses port facilities for salt, iron, petroleum, fertilisers, niclel, copper, ammonia and sea foods and is now the highest export port in Australia. It is a very pretty town with sheltered beaches, brilliant sunsets, etc. and is the gateway to the Dampier Archipelago so there are lots of water recreation activities. We visited the visitors centre of North West Shelf Venture which is Australia’s largest oil and gas resource development. This venture supplies oil and gas to Australia; 65% of Western Australia’s domestic gas supply and international markets from gas and condensate fields located about 130km off the coast. We could see some of these rigs from the
shore.. If Asia ever suffers from a very serious recession, I don’t know how Australia would cope, but at the moment they are living the life of Reilly!
We are now in Exmouth at the top of Cape Range National Park and surrounded by
the Ningaloo Reef. There are some of the most beautiful beaches we have seen in this area and the waters within the reef are a real turquoise. We had a day out there yesterday and there were lots of snorkellers. The fish come right up to the shore and can be viewed just by paddling out. On our trip yesterday we saw about a dozen emus; lots of kangaroos, an echidna and an osprey with her nest and chicks on the top of a power pole.. Not bad for a day out eh!
I thought that once we had got past Broome the camps would not be so busy. How wrong I was. They have got busier. We are having to book at least a fortnight ahead now which is a real drag as we can’t get the number of nights we want in some places and in others we can’t get in at all. We had planned 4 nights in Coral Bay but no sites are available there until at least 10th August so we are going to have a farm stay and visit it on day trips. I think we are now in the group of Perth people who have had 3 months in Broome for the winter and are now on the homeward trek. The distances to travel between towns is beyond belief to most New Zealanders. Between Broome and Karratha it is 690 kms and between Karratha and Exmouth over 600kms. There are no towns, and I mean nothing, in between these places so we just have to stay over in roadside parks along the way with about another 20 or so caravans as it is too far to travel in one day with the van. It also means you have to keep an eye on your petrol as there are only limited places to fill up on the way.
The west oast of Australia is very prone to cyclones and all towns down the coast show photos of previous damage done. None of the houses on this coast have spoutings as they wouldn’t be able to hold the water and also because of the high winds. Port Hedland seems to be one of the more cyclone prone areas with one at least every 3 – 5 years and when you see all the growth in this area, it must give cause for concern.
WA is well known for its wild flowers and we are now starting to see signs of them on the roadsides. The most famous of these is the Sturt Desert Pea, a beautiful bright red flower that just grows wild but we will see lots more of them as we head south toward Perth. There were some photos of them on TV recently and we should see hills covered in wild flowers within the next few weeks. Looking forward to that.
We should be only a few weeks from Perth in my next blog. We are going to catch up with friends we met on the road last year and friends from New Zealand while we are there so, depending on availability of sites, we hope to spend about 2 weeks in Perth.

BROOME TO PORT HEDLAND

We are now on the trip south from Broome toward Perth. Broome is a lovely little town of about 14,000 people but the population rises to about 50,000 over the dry season which is April – November approximately. It is an old town which was formed in 1883 when the largest pearl shell in the world was discovered. In the first decade of the 20th century Broome produced 80% of the world’s Mother of Pearl shell. This was used mainly for buttons. The pearls themselves were only a small part of the business as not all shells held a pearl. At one stage there were 403 pearl boats working out of Broome. The divers on these luggers had a hell of a life. Aboriginals were used first and at one stage pearling masters were going into the communities and abducting these men to work on their ships. Most of the pearling masters were English and lived the old British aristocratic lifestyle in Broome. A law was passed that Aboriginals could not be taken forcibly so Japanese divers were bought in. These men were fearless and although the dangers of drowning, sharks, cyclones and the “bends” were always there, the Japanese worked on the pearl luggers until the 70s, except for the war years, when they were put into internment camps. The divers suits were very heavy and as well as all the warm clothing that had to be worn underneath, the extra weight was over 165kgs. Most of these men would only weigh about 75kg so it was not an easy job! When plastic buttons were developed in the 1950s that sealed the fate of the Mother of Pearl industry but with the advent of the cultured pearl in the 1970s, Broome was back into pearl production. We went on a tour looking at the life of a pearl diver and then visited a cultured pearl farm. It was all so interesting and it is now obvious to me why pearls are so expensive. There are dozens of shops selling cultured pearls in Broome. I have enclosed a photo of me holding a pearl worth $100,000!
As this is the “dry season”, rain was the last thing on our minds, but with climate change anything is possible and in the first 10 days of July, Broome had had its wettest July ever. Water was everywhere with roads flooded and caravan parks under water. Unlike at home, the water just wouldn’t drain away. Friends, Carole & Laurie, who were in the same caravan park as us, were in the middle of a lake with their annexe under water. It made it very difficult getting in and out for “happy hour” but it’s amazing what one can do in an emergency!
Broome is famous for its sunsets and camel rides on the beach. We had to be there for 8 days before we saw a sunset owing to the cloud, but it was worth waiting for. Jim & I also had a camel ride on the beach. It was lots of fun as long as you held on very tightly as the camel stands up and sits down. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
We went to the local outdoor cinema in Broome. The theatre is very old and all the seats are deckchairs where you can lie back under the stars and watch the movie. We saw “A Bran Nue Dae” which starred Ernie Dingo, who some of you may have seen on travel documentaries. It was a great “feel good” movie.
We had booked to take the tent and travel up to Cape Leveque on the Dampier Peninsular for 2 nights, but that plan had to be abandoned as the road was closed owing to the bad weather. We were really disappointed as we had booked that trip way back in February and worked our time in Broome around the dates. We can’t control the weather though.
Our next stop after Broome was Barn Hill Station about 120kms south of Broome on the coast. We had heard only good reports about this unique place and they weren’t wrong. We had to drive 10kms. along a red dirt road with the van on the back to reach the caravan park. The camp is on a working cattle station and we often had Brahman cattle wander through the park looking for greener pastures. It is really a place to be seen to be believed. It sports a bowling green, which is always busy, a reception area and a little shop that sold limited groceries and the most amazing lamingtons and sausage rolls. There are no marked sites as such, you just squeeze them in where and if you can. The ablution blocks are something else. Some were unisex and some not but most of them had no roofs and were made of corrugated iron. The doors were most ingenious as none of them fitted at all well with large gaps leaving nothing to the imagination. The water for the showers was heated by either lighting a wood fire in a chimney or by black polythene hoses utilising the heat of the sun. A very basic solar plan. One night we were there over 200 vans were in the park. Some of the sites had beautiful sea views for which they had to pay extra but the beach was magic. Just blue skies and azure seas as far as one could see and lovely warm water to swim in. I don’t care how basic the camp was; it was worth every bit of it. They had entertainment on a couple of nights a week; roast dinners and BBQs. We loved it so much we stayed there twice as long as we planned.
It was then on to Eighty Mile Beach which is self-explanatory really. Another 10 km. trek on a dirt road but the approach to this camp showed us the damage done by a cyclone in December last. 285km an hour wind gusts hit this camp and palm trees and other vegetation are still lying where they were thrown. I have posted a photo to show the bare trees. Luckily no-one was at the park when the cyclone struck as it is closed during the wet season so no-one was killed. It’s shocking to see the damage that was done. It is now business as usual again and the camp was full the whole time we were there. It is a very popular fishing spot but no swimming is allowed as there are stingrays; sharks; and stingers everywhere. The beach is covered in shells and we have collected quite a number of beautiful shells to hopefully take home.
We are now in Port Hedland which is the main port for iron ore from the Pilbara region. Even though it is mainly a mining town, it is a very interesting town and I look forward to telling you all about it in my next blog.
Travelling in the same direction as we are around Australia are hundreds of others doing the same thing and lots of time you meet up with the same people again and again. It’s good to catch up and swap notes and often make life long friends. We have done this again this year and my Contact List is getting bigger.
Lots of caravanners have names for their vans or different titles on the back. We have seen some very clever ones like “Runaway Grandparents”; “This is the kid’s inheritance” and the funniest (I think anyway) “Adventure in Dementia” Love it.

RIGHT ACROSS THE TOP

What an amazing few weeks we have had since my last blog. We have driven over 2500 kms. from Katherine in the centre of Australia right across the top, with side trips to Wyndham and Derby, to Broome which is at the top of the west coast of Australia. Our travels have taken us through the Kimberley area of North Western Australia, with some of the most amazing scenery we have ever seen. More of that later as I am getting a bit ahead of myself.
We left Katherine on a beautiful cloudless day with blue skies as far as the eye could see. We drove through the Gregory National Park with its colourful escarpments to Victoria River Roadhouse, an idyllic spot on the Victoria River. We had considered stopping there but as it was only 10.30am, we decided to carry on to Timber Creek. Wrong move! Timber Creek consists of 2 caravan parks, a roadhouse, fuel station and not much else. We chose the wrong caravan park as we only discovered the other one later. Our park was beside the hotel, which was one the worst outback hotels we have seen. It is now owned and administered jointly with an aborigine group who seem to be able to drink at any time of the day or night, buy as much alcohol as their car will hold, then drive home with the police reluctant to step in. A big van called the “Black Maria”, owned by the elders of the community, calls at the hotel late at night to pick up those who can’t stand up or don’t own a car. It is so pitiful and sad to see so many of these people slowly killing themselves. The children are taken to the pub as well. They obviously don’t need to go to school and they are parked out the front with a big bag of fries. We were told later that this was not a common occurrence and there must have some form of family celebration that day. To add to the dramas of the day when I turned on my power adaptor to charge up my laptop, it promptly blew the overload switch in the van and all the lights. I think it was either a power surge or a change in the voltage from the power in the caravan park. I don’t know how it didn’t fry my hard drive, but thankfully it didn’t. You can understand why I wasn’t totally enamoured with Timber Creek. I then had to order a replacement power adaptor and get it when I got to Broome in about 3 weeks time! No computer till then.
The next day we moved onto a free camp under an escarpment in Gregory National Park. It was a lovely spot and we shared it with about 25 other vans. Campfires and sitting under the stars, what more could anyone ask for?
We then crossed over into Western Australia where the border is policed with quarantine officers. Fresh fruit, vegetables, honey and certain types of wood cannot be bought in WA so these officials go through your car and caravan with a fine tooth comb checking everything out. We also had to put our clocks back 1 ½ hours as we crossed the border. That’s a big change and made for quite a long day.
Our first stop in WA was Kununurra, a town that was built in the 1960s for the Ord River Irrigation scheme. It has grown to a very busy tourist centre with a population of about 6000 and has market gardens, sandalwood trees and mangoes. The Ord River was dammed in 1971 to form a storage reservoir supplying water to Lake Argyle, the biggest man made lake in Australia. When formed it flooded Argyle Station, a one million acre cattle station owned by the Durack family. The family home, which was built in 1884, has been completely rebuilt, stone by stone, near Lake Argyle and is now a museum. Lake Argyle is a beautiful spot, especially when viewed from the numerous lookouts that have been built around it. We were told that the water in the lake would fill Sydney Harbour between 19 to 22 times. It is a huge complex. While in Kununurra we visited Hoochery Distillery, an old country and western type saloon bar, which makes rum. The rum liqueurs were very moorish! We also visited Zebra Rock Gallery where we met Ron Valentine and his wife. Ron worked with Jim in the police at Porirua. Small world again. Across the road from our caravan park was the Mirima National Park where we spent an afternoon walking and climbing over rock formations. We then went on a sunset BBQ cruise on the Ord River. It was a lovely evening and we saw hundreds of fruit bats flying off into the sunset. As I said there are lots of mango farms in the area and the fruit bats are a real problem.
Our next stop was Wyndham, which wasn’t quite like the way the glossy brochures painted it. This town is the most northerly town in WA . It ha the most amazing lookout where you can see 5 rivers merging into one and a great little museum but not much else. The town is dying and there are few shops and amenities left in it.
The Bungle Bungles in Purnululu National Park was our next destination. This park has been on our “to do” list since our friends, Rachel and Jim, told us about it after their visit to it in 2006. It was the reason we bought a caravan and 4WD instead of a motorhome as you need a 4WD to travel the dreadful road conditions and caravans are not allowed. We did see a Holden ute attempt it but he only made it as far as the first river crossing! We took our tent with us and stored our van for 2 nights. It takes between 2 and 3 hours to drive the 53 kms. into the park, depending on the weather and road conditions, but boy it was worth it. This national park only became popular in 1988 after a TV documentary, and now has World Heritage listing. It was magic with all the tiger-striped, beehive-shaped rock domes. The colour changes depending on the direction of the sun. We walked in there for 2 days but only in the mornings, as by lunch time the temperature was in the mid 30s and far too hot. There are 2 camping areas in the park with only toilets and bore water. We had to take in all our food, water and equipment with us. We cooked on either our camp cooker or around the campfire where we shared damper, marshmallows and even a birthday cake! It was great and has to be the highlight of our Aussie trips so far.
Fitzroy Crossing was our next stop. The van park here was lovely with green grass and lots of water. Thank you Peter and Marilyn with your suggestion on this one! Our first shower after 4 days was just the best ever. Three loads of very dirty, dusty washing later and we were all set to start again. We went for a cruise up the Geikie Gorge on the Fitzroy River which was lovely. Once again the setting sun shining on the rock formations made it a special place. To illustrate that some great things are being achieved by Aboriginal communities we visited an artist’s co-operative called Mangkaja Arts Resource Centre where about 12 women were working on their paintings. This centre has been created to encourage the younger people to learn about their culture and history. One lady was working on the most beautiful painting. It was about the size of a large coffee table and the lady in charge said it would probably sell for about $5000. Very impressive.
It was then on to Derby, a town of about 5000 whose claim to fame is that it has the highest tidal range in Australia, the highest being over 11 metres. We watched the tide turn from low and it’s amazing how quickly the huge harbour fills up. Derby is also the gateway to the Horizontal Waterfalls in the Buccaneer Archipelago; Winjama Gorge and the Gibb River Road, which is a shorter route to Wyndham, but it is a dirt road for most of the way and not recommended for normal caravans. We visited the Boab Prison Tree while in Derby. These trees are huge trees with a bulbous shaped trunk and are only found between Broome and The Victoria River Basin in the Northern Territory. The one in Derby was supposed to have been used by police in the early 1900s to keep Aboriginal prisoners in overnight while they were being moved to and from Derby. Not a very nice experience I am sure. I have included it in my photos.
We had a very interesting experience while we were in Derby. We were sitting outside having a drink with friends, as you do on the road, when we were approached by an older Aboriginal woman and a man about 30. The man had 3 or 4 paintings with him and was trying to sell them. We were very impressed by his artistic ability and as the price was considerably lower than other pieces we had seen, we bought one. Jim noticed a stamp on the back suggesting it had come from a local prison. The artist told us he had been to prison a few times and had just come out after doing 10 months. We didn’t ask why he had been in there but taking people at face value, he seemed a likeable chap. The lady was his grandmother and they both told us the meaning of the painting and a lot of their family history. It was a most interesting evening and as our friends bought a painting too, quite a successful one for the artist.
Jim & I went to the Derby Bush Races last Saturday. It was a lot of fun. There was Fashion in the Field prizes for the best dressed woman, man and child so there was some quite fancy outfits there. Most race-goers would have been visitors though and shorts, t-shirts and Akubras were the order of the day. We really enjoyed the experience.
We are now in Broome. My computer is once more doing its normal thing and it is raining heavily, which is not normal. We have had temperatures as high as 35C over the past few weeks so it is a shock to have it drop to 19C! We are staying here for a week so I will be able to tell you all about it in my next blog.

HEADING WEST

We have certainly done some different things over the past 2 weeks since my last blog, which was written in Longreach. We really enjoyed Longreach and learning how the early pioneers, explorers, cattle hands and even convicts, managed to make Australia into the country it is today. The population is very proud of its history, even of the Ned Kelly gang and other very crooked early settlers. After Longreach we moved onto Winton which is a small outback town with the claim to fame that this is where Banjo Paterson wrote “Waltzing Matilda”. There is a Waltzing Matilda Centre; a statue of Banjo Paterson and a statue of the swagman all in this little town of about 300 people. We have decided to spend a few nights on this trip in either free camps on the side of the road or out the back of outback hotels or similar places. This was going to be our first experience. We arrived at the North Gregory Hotel in Winton and parked out the back along with about a dozen other vans. We had to register at the hotel which is similar to hundreds of such hotels around the country. The arrangement was we had to pay a $10 bond that was refundable when we either bought a meal or drink in the pub. This place was advertised as having showers and toilets but no power, which didn’t worry us as we have gas for cooking and our own toilet. The shower was something to behold I can tell you. The water in Winton smells like the sulphur smell in Rotorua, except about 10 times worse, and has lots of iron in it as well, so it leaves a stain and smell on wash basins, showers etc. You wouldn’t believe what the shower looked like so Jim & I decided to use our own hot water for a “top and tail”; ABC (armpits, bum and crotch) or as another Australian told me “a Pommie wash”. You can take your pick!!! It was a lot of laughs though. We were told of a new exciting happening in Winton and a group of us went out on the main street on the Saturday night to see. It was described as an aquarium filling up in a shop window! We could hardly wait. This phenomenon took place in an empty shop which looked as if it was a café with chairs and tables. The sequence started with what looked like water pouring into the shop through the roof and as the shop filled with water, the chairs and tables started floating all around and then a barramundi and a huge crab floated by. It was all done with a TV set and lighting set up in the shop being reflected onto the shop window. The whole town came out to watch. I wish I had videoed it. Another funny thing happened to us in Winton. Jim & I were walking along the street on the Sunday afternoon where nothing was opened except the pubs and a few gem shops. We saw this very bored gent sitting outside one shop obviously waiting for his wife to finish her shopping. He had a pair of hiking sticks which Jim & I have been trying to buy since our walk around Carnarvon. We asked him where he got them and he replied, “Invercargill New Zealand” Now most of you know that Jim and I both come from Invercargill so he got rather a surprise when we told him. He was over in Brisbane with his wife and sister and decided to come up to Winton and Longreach for a couple of days. His name was John Anderson and he worked with Jim’s sister and her husband at the smelter. Small world eh!
We then moved on to what was going to be our second free camp but I’m afraid they were just too basic for us so we drove onto Cloncurry and stayed at a lovely caravan park on the main road. On our trip that day we passed the hotel where “Crocodile Dundee” was filmed. We took some photos but it has been done up a bit and lost some of its originality. Cloncurry is another small country town that was built on mining but is now getting smaller all the time. Our next stop was Mount Isa where we stayed last year but we wanted to stock up on groceries, wine etc. The roof of our annexe has been deteriorating with being left outside all the time, so after another hole was found in it, we set out to find another patch to cover it up. To cut a long story short, they guy was a very good salesman and we ended up with a completely new roof. The installer gave us a real good deal and had it up and fitted within a day. It looks great and no more worries about tears and rips. We met Diane and Graham in Mount Isa, he is another ex cop, and we had a great time with them. Here’s a story against us. There are not the special wine deals that we have had for the previous 2 years, especially in the outback, so in Mt. Isa we found a bottle store that had 2 litre wine casks, past their ”best buy” date but not their “use by” date, and only $5! We bought 4 of these and very proudly told Diane & Graham about our great buy that night. They went and got some the next day, after having to wait an hour for the shop to be able to sell cask wine. That night, which was the night before we left Mount Isa, we decided to sample the wine. The contents of the first cask were a dark yellow colour and smelled like vinegar so we decided to try the lot and of course they were all the same. We left them by the rubbish tin the next morning and suggested that Diane & Graham return them along with theirs. We got an email from Diane to say they did just that and got their money back, including our $20. She wanted to send it on to us but it’s too complicated so we suggested she invest it in the pokies and if she has a big win, then we may look at some way of passing it on. No more cheap wine for us!!
We moved on from Queensland to Northern Territory and on the border the N/T police were bringing everyone in at 9am, breath testing them all; checking licences and all vehicles registrations. The guy in front of us got a ticket for having a cracked windscreen, so it is quite a lucrative money spinner for the local constabulary!
We had our first night free camping on the side of the road on the Barkly Tablelands. There were about 12 vans there and it had turned very windy so it was safer to pull off and park up. We’ve done it now so there will be lots more of it to come I’m sure.
Banka Banka was our next stop. We had passed this very popular cheap camp on the Stuart Highway last year and it was well worth the stop. No power but lovely grassed sites, hot showers and a video about the history of the station. It has had quite a few owners and has just been sold again to a consortium of Aborigines who plan to have a TAFE there to teach the indigenous people about hospitality and tourism and then they hope to update the facilities. I hope it doesn’t lose the character though.
We then had two nights at Daley Waters Highway Inn as we did the pub last year and then moved on to Katherine. We had planned to stay at Edith Falls but because it was a long holiday weekend here for Queen’s birthday we couldn’t get in. We had to get some groceries and do laundry so decided to make Katherine our base and have a day in Edith Falls. We went there yesterday and loved it. We went for a walk up to a waterfall where some were swimming but it was a bit cool for us, so we sat and watched and took in the beautiful scenery then finished the walk. It was only a 2.6km walk ( a doddle for us!!) but it was very hot, 30C, and lots of rock climbing. It amazes us what people wear for these walks. We passed a couple who were obviously not fit at all and very inappropriately dressed for the trip. They both had jandals, or thongs for Aussies, on and she had no hat and I’m not sure if they had water. She was complaining that the signs had not mentioned that the track was not level. We checked when we got back and it said “for a moderate fitness level” which they certainly weren’t. I doubt if they would have made it to the top.
We move west tomorrow and will cross into Western Australia in a couple of days. Really looking forward to this stage of our journey as it is all new to us. We have to put our clocks back 1 ½ hours then so we will be 2 hours behind Queensland and 4 hours behind NZ.. It’s going to be a long day that day.
Even though we had been to all the places we have visited over the past 8 – 10 days we have noticed some differences. The most surprising thing is the lushness of the bush. Queensland and southern parts of Northern Territory had a very wet season and the greenness of the undergrowth has produced new growth in the trees and grasses. The yellow wattle is coming into flower up in this area and it looks amazing with the green bush. Last year everything looked so dry and dusty. Another thing we have noticed is the lack of road kill; hardly any kangaroos and we haven’t seen any big beasts at all. Seemingly because of the lushness of the bush, the animals haven’t had to venture too far for feed and they are staying put. We sat on the verandah of the inn at Daly Waters on Sunday with our wine and watched the sunset. Fantastic. We spoke to a couple of truckies who had stopped for a rest and one had left Brisbane and the other Sydney, on Friday and had driven all the way to Darwin with a co-driver. After they unloaded and loaded again in Darwin, they would be on the road within about 9 hours and heading back home. The rigs they drive are huge with up to 4 trailers behind. One guy said he got $2,200 in the bank for this one trip. They deserve it though.
Congratulations to the All Whites. We had been inundated by media reports before the Australian/Germany game how the Aussies were going to beat Germany by taking it to them as Germany were slow starters. We all saw how slow they were; 2- 0 by half time and 4 –0 at the finish. A very sad lot of Australians the next day. This morning we waited for the news of NZ’s first game. Jim woke me at 7am to say that “NZ had an outstanding performance against Slovakia to draw 1 all” Wow! The Sydney Morning Herald had the headlines “Australasia 1 – Slovakia 1”. The TV made a big deal how it was NZ’s first ever goal scored in a World Cup. There’s no way Australia will let NZ be better than them!!!
It is now farewell from Northern Territory and our next blog will be from Western Australia. We won’t have cell phone or internet coverage for some of this trip but will be back online where and when we can.

CAR PROBLEMS

Well, the start of our big journey didn’t go that well. We had booked the Prado into a garage in North Lakes while we were at Nicolas. Jim had a list of things he wanted checked before we hit the road. The end result of that was a bill for $1600 which included a new cam belt and a new water pump plus a lot of little things as preventative measures. We had already budgeted for a new set of tyres for the van so thought we were all set to go. We managed to get out of Noosa between cyclists and marathon runners about 90 minutes earlier than expected so we were in high spirits as we headed up the Bruce Highway. Just after passing through Gympie the water temperature started rising alarmingly high and we had a boiling radiator. After a couple of stops we decided to back track to Gympie and get the problem sorted. There was no way we were heading off into the unknown with car problems. The upshot was, the radiator was in a right mess and needed replacing. Another $680! There won’t be too much dining out and drinking done for the next few weeks till we recuperate some of these cost blowouts!
We enjoyed our stay in Noosa again. It is such a lovely spot. We caught up with Trish and Llew, friends who now live in Noosa, and we all went out for a lovely Thai meal. It was good catching up with them.
The first few weeks of this trip are going to be spent meeting up with people we either met in NZ., or on the road over here. After we finally got the car sorted out it was on the road to Munduberra. This little town is north west of Brisbane and is in a citrus growing area. On our first road trip to Australia in 2008, we met Wendy and John. He had been in the NZ Police and is now doing a similar thing to us. We met them in Bagara, then last year we caught up with them in Nambour just before we flew home. They are now working in Munduberra in a citrus packing shed for 8 months of the year. We stayed a night with them and John cooked a huge BBQ on his new Webber. It was lovely but once again Jim got reflux. Thank goodness his medication has now kicked in and he seems to be having no trouble. There were lots of laughs and jokes shared that night.
The next morning we said farewells to Wendy and John as they went off to work and we left for Moura where we were going to catch up with Sally, Kent and their twin 6 year old sons, Callum & Connor. Kent is in the Queensland Police and Sally is a nurse at the local hospital. We met them on our whale watching trip from Hervey Bay in 2008. We have kept in touch and last year they joined us for a night in Cania Gorge. Kent is stationed in Moura, which is a small mining town of about 2,500 people. They were so pleased to see us and had decided they were going to hitch up their caravan and join us for our first experience of bush camping. We were glad they were there to show us the ropes but it was a magic experience. We camped by the Dawson River about 10 kms. out of Moura. We cooked a BBQ dinner and lit a huge campfire then Jim & Kent went back into Moura to see the first of the State of Origin, while Sally put the boys to bed. We then had a couple of glasses of wine sitting around the campfire in the moonlight just chatting. I loved it and can’t wait to do it again. It looked like rain the next day so we took the van back into Moura and Kent, Jim & I had a game of golf. I must admit it definitely wasn’t my best game but it was a lot of fun on a lovely 9hole course. We all went to the local RSL that night for dinner and my memories of Moura will always be the friendliness of the local people and the community spirit. It was great spending some time in a small local community with such great friends.
Our next stop was Carnarvon National Park where we caught up with Neale & Cathy, friends we met on the road last year. They were already at Takarakka Bush Resort when we arrived so after catching up with them Jim & I went for a couple of small walks in the park in readiness for the big one the next day. We all had drinks that night and the next morning Jim & I set off. There are all sorts of combinations of walks that one can take in this National Park but as we were both feeling quite energetic, we decided to do the 15 km. walk. This involved walking along the floor of the Gorge for about 5 kms. and then taking side tours to different walks on the way back. Most of the main walking track is level but there are lots of steps and the side tracks involve river crossings; climbing a 4 tiered ladder up to an amphitheatre and lots of steep uphill walks. We did it but the last 2.8 kms to the car park was a killer! There were no markings on the track to tell us how far we had to go so we were both very pleased to see the car park. There was a great feeling of achievement when we finished it though. This gorge wasn’t as spectacular as some of the gorges we saw last year but it was definitely the hardest. The sound of the birds in the bush was just fabulous and we even saw an echidna, something like a porcupine with a long snout and strong claws. We were concerned how we would both feel the next day but amazingly our bodies coped very well, although we were both in bed very early.
It was then onto the Gemfield areas of Australia; Emerald; Sapphire and Rubyvale. We both envisaged something quite different from what we found in these areas. I know of lots of people who come here, year after year, just to fossick for gemstones, especially sapphires. There are hundreds of small claims all across the land here and most of them have a caravan with a lean-to attached, an old car (usually a wreck) and lots of machinery and equipment all around. Visitors can buy a bucket of wash, where the digging has all been done for you, and you can sieve and sort out the gems, if there are any. They usually leave a few small uncut stones in most of the buckets. Or you can buy the stones either set or unset for quite reasonable prices. Judging by the quality of the houses, shops and cars, there is not much money to be made from fossicking at the moment!! It was quite an eye opener though and I’m glad we had the experience. On the road from Emerald we saw a huge paddock just covered with sunflowers. They looked so lovely with all with their faces facing the sun. We also passed a paddock of cotton. There is lots of cotton grown in this area but most of it had been picked by the time we arrived. It was good to see a paddock of the white cotton balls.
It was then on to the real outback of Queensland and Longreach. It was a long trip and the roads leave much to be desired. Lots of humps and bumps and goodness knows what sort of damage it does to our spines. Longreach is famous for the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and for being the birthplace of QANTAS. We spent one day at each of these complexes and enjoyed both. They are two different concepts but lots of imagination and thought has gone into providing interesting and enjoyable venues where we learnt lots about the struggles of the Aborigines; convicts; early settlers; and the hard times to get QANTAS accepted by the Federal Govt. All the things that are part of Australia’s history and make it the country it is today.
Had to laugh at the sports news this morning. They were commenting on the selections for the Wallabies rugby team (which is rare indeed) and called the coach Robbie Dingo Deans!! I suppose the media have to do something to make him sound like an Australian.
We have been out of range of most forms of communication over the past week; no radio; no TV; no internet; no mobile phones and even no newspapers. It was good to get back into the real world once again. We will probably be non communicado again next week so I will get the next blog done when and where I can.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Here we are at the beginning of our third and longest caravan tour of Australia. It should be as good as last years and, hopefully, a lot better. We have such a long way to travel, from the east coast, up to the top and across to the west and back down to the south coast, across the Nullabor and back to Melbourne.
We arrived in Brisbane on 10th May and had 9 days with Nicola, Adrian, Brodie & Kaley at their home in North Lakes, north of Brisbane. This is a new satellite city only about half an hour from the centre of Brisbane, depending on the traffic of course! It was great catching up with them all and to find that they have settled in well at their jobs and schools. Even Raz the dog has finally got used to the change of temperatures.
Last Sunday we all went up to Caloundra for a picnic. That was the only day when the sun didn’t come out, but it wasn’t cold (for us anyway). We had a lovely day and Jim & I played soccer on the beach with the rest of the family and the girls hired kayaks. I found out very quickly that kicking a soccer ball with bare feet isn’t the best exercise. My big toe suffered for the next few days but it was all in a good cause, I think!
The photos are showing some of the building growth around North Lakes. This is all within a few blocks of Nicola’s home. We saw 4 new houses being trucked in within half an hour one morning. All the tradesmen start work about 7am and it is all on from there. There are new developments being opened up all the time and all the roading, medical services, shopping malls and parks are put in at the same time so that all services are up and running when the houses are ready. The growth is phenomenal. Mr Key, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, would give anything for this to be happening at home.
The other photo is of me taking Raz for a walk at 7.15am, please note 7.15 AM. My friends and family will be amazed at that as most days at that time I am still in my bed, waiting for my breakfast! It’s beautiful and sunny at that time of the morning here and, with Jim urging me on, I had no choice.
We picked up our 4WD the day after we arrived We had put covers on both the Prado and the caravan but with the heavy rain and wind that Queensland had over the summer, we were advised by the storers that they both tore and blew off. We thought both vehicles would be dirty but they weren’t too bad. We had put all sorts of pest repellents in the van and there were a couple of dead huge cockroaches in the van, so obviously they worked. We gave both vehicles a good clean and tidy and we are all back to normal once again.
We are now in Noosa and parked in a lovely park that we used last year. It is right on the Noosa Rived with lots of passing boats and ferries. There are plenty of walkways along the river. Tomorrow, Sunday, there is a huge bike race, triathalon, and half marathon so the whole of Noosa is almost in lock down from 4am to 2.30 pm. We are due to move on tomorrow to Mundubbera but can’t get out till 2.30pm so it will be a late arrival time.
We are catching up with 3 couples that we met on our first and second trips over the next 10 days so we’re looking forward to that. We will then head to Longreach with a stop at Emerald where we hope to do some fossiking. We may be lucky!
Our next blog will probably come from Longreach.