Wycliffe Well to King Ash Bay 20 - 23 May

After finally leaving Alice Springs at about 12.30, we called into the Aileron Pub for a quick pint. Interesting pub, it is a place of worship, a place to gamble, a place to relieve oneself and a place to drink. Not many pubs provide such wonderful facilities. They actually have mass there every Sunday.

Aileron - Pub, Big Black Man

Wycliffe Well was a little oasis in the desert. After our bad start to the day with the car the drive to this little place was quite long. We arrived very late, about 5.45pm and ended up down the back of the park which turned out to be very quiet and serene with no one to play with. Hence, an early night. We woke the next morning to find the park deserted and realised that we had slept in – 8.15am. I cannot believe how early the old farts, oops - people get up and leave. Will someone please tell them they are on holiday!! One of the benefits to being the last to leave everyday is that you don’t have to fight to get a shower.

We left and drove about 17 kms up the road to the Devil’s Marbles. The nearly spherical (7m in diameter) granite rocks balance precariously on one another. A little bit of nature at its amazing best.

Wycliffe Well and Devils Marbles

We stopped and collected some wood along the road. We have now crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and the days are about 26 degrees and hopefully the evenings warm enough to sit outside and enjoy a fire.

A fuel stop at Tennant Creek and of course the obligatory visit to the hardware store so that Stephen could feel and smell the goods on offer. He hasn’t seen one for sometime and was starting to fret.

We drove onto Threeways where we stopped for lunch and managed to get covered in bull dust. This is where we turned right off the Stuart Highway and onto the Barkly Highway. This highway is quite busy as it is the main highway across to Queensland and Mt Isa.

About 4pm we arrived at the Barkly Homestead. An interesting roadhouse and a busy stopover for truckies and travellers alike – not much else around. They of course have a monopoly on the fuel price. We met some new best friends for drinks who have sold their house and are on the road looking for a new place to live. This couple have a “Lux” which is only 6 months old and a caravan of about the same age. They have never owned, used or towed a caravan before (although they are seasoned campers) so they have made an enormous life changing decision to become “white trailer trash”. So far most of the people we have met have been from Queensland – has Anna Bligh done anything we should know about since we left???

Up and away, I think it’s Friday, and onto the Tablelands Highway which runs through the Barkly Tablelands. What a find!! It is a one vehicle lane for 379 kilometres to Cape Crawford. A little freaked at first, it proved to be a gem. It started out with a bushy landscape leading to vast, expansive grasslands where flocks of birds would fly into the sky as we passed and lots of floodways. We saw eagles, buzzards, swallows, galahs, cockatoos and lots and lots of road kill, big and small. We had many stops because of cattle on the road, roadway which had been holed because of flood water and, of course, the obligatory photo opportunities, but it all added to the adventure. Towards the end of the road woodlands emerged, creeks began to fill with water and rocky outcrops appeared.

I actually drove for about an hour and a half and before I took off we had to find a stick for Stephen to bite on otherwise he’d have bitten his tongue off. As it was he nearly pulled the Jesus bar from the passenger side pillar. You know, it’s the handle that you grab onto when the driver is putting your life in mortal danger and you yell “JESUS” or worse.

Anyway, while Stephen was driving on this single lane minor sealed road he passed 2 4x4s and one caravan which had stopped for morning tea. When I took over I passed 3 road trains with 4 truckie thingys each, 2 caravans, 1 “Lux”, 2 Murdoch vehicles, 5 4x4s and 3 Kimberley Kampers. Why me?? What did I do wrong????

Of course in this remote part of the country there is no radio reception!!! No JJJ, no 774 ABC, no Neil Mitchell, no nothing. Lucky we have the IPod, loaded with 1502 songs or 4.2 days of music. For anyone planning a long trip we can verify that travelling at 80 kmph for 5 hours uses approx. 70 songs.

Tableland Highway - lots of cattle, caravan beginning to look a little worse for wear now, grasslands, woodlands (obligatory tree photo), Cape Crawford drinks

Finally we reached the Carpentaria Highway and there it stood – The Heartbreak Hotel Caravan Park at Cape Crawford. The journey had taken much longer than expected and we were pretty sick of sitting in the car for the past 3 days, so at 1.30pm we stopped and settled into the lush surrounds of the Heartbreak. We relaxed in the sun or under the trees, as was our want, cut up some wood for the fire (which momentarily disrupted the serenity) and ‘had a refreshing drink’ to wile away the afternoon. As evening fell we lit our fire and cooked a couple of scotch fillets, without jumpers on. Finally it is warming up. No heartbreaking tonight, we are still getting on famously!!

Last to leave yet again, we drove to Borroloola. Very exciting day in the Big B. One of the aboriginal elders (Sadie) had passed away and the locals had come in from near and far in their Sunday best. At first we thought there was a wedding but were informed that it was a funeral. We were also informed that the wake would heat up and it would be very wise to not hang around for long. (no photos as it would be tacky) So we filled up with diesel and drove on to King Ash Bay.

King Ash Bay - 21 kms of red dirt, McArthur River, dusty bikes

Now for those of you who don’t know where this is, it is on the SW corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Over 12 months ago Stephen heard someone interviewed on the country hour (6 – 7 am on Saturday) on Radio National and they raved about King Ash Bay. So of course we had to go. Hmmmmm!!!! If you love red dust and grass with more dirt than grass then this is the place for you. Personally, it is not the place for me and even Stephen agreed it was not the place for him either. The age requirement is at least 70+, you are not suppose to have your own teeth and if so several should be missing, and if you don’t have a boat, go home. The McArthur River runs alongside the camping ground and is quite picturesque but other than that there is not much to do except sit at the bar at the fishing club. So guess what we did? We heard some very funny stories and had some wonderful barra for dinner, probably the best meal on the road since leaving home. The people were very friendly but it was no Kennett River.

You live and learn – get us the hell outa here.

Alice Springs 13 - 20 May

The drive to Alice Springs was fairly uneventful except that we had to stop for a herd of camels across the Lassiter Highway. Not an everyday occurrence. We booked into the Heavitree Gap Caravan Park on someone’s recommendation. A nice park but we soon realised that the birds, which normally we would be happy to see, had a very bad pooing problem at this particular CP.

Thursday was car day. Stephen took the car to Toyota as we were having problems with the cruise control and the gear lever. Unfortunately the car doctor was unable to see the patient until Monday. No big deal as we intended to stay in Alice for a week anyway. We basically had a day off although we did manage a ride on our bikes into town in the afternoon. Travelling is very tiring you know!!

Friday we ventured to the West MacDonnell Ranges starting at Glen Helen. A pretty little waterhole but not much else. Next was Ormiston Gorge where we decided to do the Pound walk, a 3½ hour physical adventure. For most of the walk we were wondering where we were going as signage is not a big feature up this way. The track leads us through a pass in the mountains which took us about an hour. We were feeling quite chuffed as we reached the saddle of the pass as most of the walk so far had been over shale and rocks and of course, up, up, up. We are beginning to develop goat hooves and one short leg walking around rocky mountains. Finally we reached the peak where we sat and had lunch. A truly awesome view of the pound. After our cheese and vegie rolls we continued along the path which seemed to be moving further away from where we thought we should be going. Finally the path turned left and we found ourselves walking right across the centre of the pound, surrounded by the most monstrous mountains. At this point, ‘photographers heaven’, Stephen’s camera battery conked out, with the spare being faulty!! Several bad words later we resorted to the video camera. This was the first day we had taken it with us, so he managed to save a little face. Once we left the pound we walked down a dry creek bed for about 1½ hours with no signage at all, presuming we were heading in the only possible direction back to civilisation – if you can call the middle of nowhere civilisation. It was now about 3.30pm and the sun had lit up the walls of the canyon to the most magnificent burnt orange colour and yes, no photos to show. Stephen loved the walk but I found it a tad challenging particularly the last hour walking over boulders and rocks. I managed two little sleeps on the way back to the van. One very tired traveller.

West MacDonnells - Glen Helen Waterhole, Ormiston Gorge - where we were going then where we had been, the pound and the path across the pound

After three days of bird poo and dust all over the car and van we decided to move to the G’Day Mate CP – very corny but a very nice and grassy park with no bird poo and great facilities. A very cold day so spent most of it inside reading.

Sunday we were off to the Alice Springs market. Todd Mall was awash with stalls and people, very alternative. We followed this with a trip to the Desert Park. This was a very pleasant surprise. A nature park showcasing the different types of landscape in the area, desert river, sand dunes and woodlands filled with an array of local trees and grasses and the most beautiful birds. It really gave you a sense of what the Red Centre is all about. It was a very cool day and we had rain, all 4 drops of it.

Desert Park - Beautiful flora and fauna

Monday the car went to the doctor and had a lot of money spent on it. Stephen and I spent the morning roaming around town and purchasing a didgeridoo which could be the end of our wonderful friendship if he continues to play it – very badly!! We visited the Women’s Hall of Fame, which was quite interesting, before picking up the car. In the afternoon we drove to Emily and Jessie Gorges in the East MacDonnell Range which were somewhat disappointing. The weather had improved and we were able to sit with some of our new best friends and have a drink or two that night.

Tuesday we were back at the West MacDonnells to go to Standley Chasm and Ellery Creek Waterhole. We managed to make the trip to Standley Chasm much more complicated than it should have been by trying to reach the second chasm. After climbing like goats once more we discovered we had gone the wrong way and had to come all the way back down. Eventually we found the second chasm which was a bit of a nothing and ended up back at the main chasm at 12pm just as the sun shone down between the two walls, a truly magnificent sight. We had lunch at the waterhole then spent the afternoon restocking at the supermarket to continue our journey the next day. Tuesday evening we dined at ‘Sporties’ – no fine dining at this joint – then finished the evening with a didgeridoo concert up the road. A very talented young man had us all enthralled with his abilities; however one wouldn’t have expected him to be tall, skinny and very, very white.

Standley Chasm - some photos with people for Jeffrey Dalton - Ellery Creek Big Hole

Wednesday morning we packed up and headed out of Alice. We were not even out of town when we again had trouble with the car electrics.

Stephen: We headed for an auto electrician where it was collectively decided that the load on the stop light circuit was right on the limit of the 10amp fuse. Over time the general wiring has probably become a little resistive and the stop light fuse continually blows. As a short term fix we have inserted a 15 amp fuse and when we get to Darwin we plan to replace all globes on the caravan with LEDs which place a much smaller load on the circuit. Now back to Anne.

Sorry about that, momentarily we were back at Roxby Downs!! Our plan was to get to Tennant Creek but this was revised and we ended up at Wycliffe Wells which is where I am signing off from. This CP, in their own words, has the greatest collection of “beer” in Australia which also includes imported beer. Stephen couldn’t contain himself as they have his favourite, Hooegarten. At $6.00 each it was a steal as XXXX Gold was $5.50. Tomorrow we head north-east towards the Gulf of Carpentaria to do sum fishin’.

Coober Pedy to Kings Canyon May 7th - 12th

A beautiful wedgetailed eagle

We spent a long day in the car driving to Yulara, roughly about 750 kms. The terrain was a little more interesting with at least some vegetation along the way. We did see lots of wedge-tailed eagles. They are beautiful birds and hover over the road waiting for someone to provide some road kill for them to eat. We arrived just in time to see the sunset over the Rock and the Olgas.

Next morning we headed off with our bikes on the back of the car for Uluru. Not cheap to get into the national park ($25 each) but the ticket lasts for 3 days. It was quite cool but once we got out of the shade and into the sun we soon warmed up. The size of the rock staggered us. We had expected big, but this is BIG. It took us just over an hour to ride the 10 kms around the base of the rock, an easy ride with lots of photo stops along the way. On the way we passed a gaggle of Loreto girls from Toorak. Lucky they were all behaving themselves or I would have had to tell on them. I do have contacts you know!! Our intention was that, when we finished our ride, we were going to attempt climbing the rock, but the conditions were quite windy and the climb was closed.

Uluru

We have met some nice people on our adventures and seem to be running into them each place we camp. Hence we now have a drinkies group to play with each night.

Saturday we ventured out to the Olgas for a walk that took us through this amazing rock formation. It took us about 3 hours but well worth the time and effort. We went back in the afternoon for photos at sunset, then home for an early night as we were knackered.

Olgas

Dreamtime and story telling are very big in this area and I do have a story to tell about life in the caravan park. I was quietly sitting reading my book in the sun and I noticed that one of the cars was leaving to go for a drive. Next thing there was an enormous bang and a man yelling. It appears his wife was going to the shop and drove off without disconnecting the electric chord from the back of the car to the caravan. This man started telling a story in a very loud voice about a female dog who came from Effing (near Lalor in Melbourne???). This story didn’t seem to distress his wife at all even when he told the whole camp that it was the third electric chord she had wrecked. She smiled sweetly at him and happily got back into the car and drove off. He continued to relate his story even though she had left. It was very hard trying not to laugh out loud at his antics. I suppose I shouldn’t laugh too much as I haven’t done it yet, but it is probably only a matter of time.

Mother’s Day was spent travelling to Kings Canyon. The vegetation was very different from what we had previously seen, lot of trees and shrubs, more eagles and the odd camel grazing on the side of the road. The caravan park was very tranquil and shady apart from the group of kids from Townsville who are making a bit of a racket. We took a short walk out to Kings Creek then back to the park. There are a lot of the same people at the park again and I think this will be the case until we reach Darwin when some will head east and the others west. Also everyone is on a different time schedule so some we disappear quicker than others.

We have been having far too much to drink. Each night we sit with someone and drink whatever, gin, wine, beer until it is dinner time – usually about 7.30pm. By then it is hard to actually cook and clean up so there has been a lot of cleaning up in the morning.

Monday we went on the Kings Canyon rim walk. It was a 3 hours and 30 minute walk/climb around the rim of the canyon. I think you could easily class it as difficult, especially the beginning where you climb vertically up the wall of the canyon. We started the walk behind a girl who obviously loved cheese (Nata, you will understand what I mean) but soon passed her and her boyfriend. The scenery very much reminded us of the Kimberley. The colours, rock formations, Stephen’s blue singlet and my grey shorts brought back fond memories of our trip last year. I am sure the Scapers will agree when they see the photos. You could feel the serenity. I must remember to change the wardrobe when we next go on a trip. We had lunch at the “Garden of Eden” which was probably the nicest spot along the way and got a second wind to resume the climb. Took some wonderful photos, picture postcard style. Certainly a must see on everyone’s bucket list. Rewarded ourselves with an icy-pole when we returned to the caravan park. Stephen tried out his solar panel to recharge the second battery with some success. We have had a few problems with the car and will have to see a mechanic when we get to the Alice in a few days.

Kings Canyon

Familiar photo - different face

There have been a number of dingos roaming through the caravan park both at Uluru and Kings Canyon and you have to make sure that you put everything away at night or they will take it, but I haven’t seen one take a baybeee yet!. They love to howl at sunset and sunrise and about 2am for some reason.

Tuesday we spent a quiet morning watching people leave then did some washing and sat in the sun and read. In the afternoon we went for a drive to Kathleen Springs. A nice little waterhole but a bit disappointing after yesterday’s magnificence. We leave early tomorrow to drive to Alice Springs. We will once again be in mobile range so will have a chance to upload the blog and talk to the family. Different caravan park - familiar pose

Portagutta (brudda) to Coober Pedy April 30th - May 6th

Slow start to the day as we are only travelling to Port Augusta or Portagutta Brudda. Please don’t rush to get there, although I did momentarily forget we were in SA while we were in Wilpena, Portagutta soon reminded us. Sorry Croweaters!! Did some shopping and went for a counter meal at the pub, can hardly call it out for dinner, had a toast to our dear friend Peter Mitchell, then spent the night watching telly like old boring people. Sorry Pete, no tales of bird poo on the head this year.

April 30 – Stephen’s birthday. Drove to Roxby Downs to fulfil his birthday wish (no not that), to visit the BHP Billiton mine, as one does!!!! No tour on the Thursday so we spent the day riding our bikes around Roxby. An interesting town with a population of around 4500, of which approx 25% are aged 15 and under, mainly young families. Made birthday dinner of chops, mash potatoes and vegies, yes that is what he wanted!!

Friday Stephen was up early for his tour of the mine. His other wish for his birthday (still not that) was that I not go; I was very happy with this arrangement as I hate mine tours. I will let Stephen tell you all about his very exciting morning while I yawn.

Stephen: one of the interesting facts of the Olympic Dam was that on the day of my visit BHP Billiton released an EIS that addressed the proposal to convert the current underground mine to an open cut that would ultimately be the biggest open cut mine in the world. To reach the ore body they would need to excavate the topsoil to a depth of 350 metres and a diameter of >1km. This means moving 1 million cubic metres of soil every day for between 1-2 years. I’d like to see that!!!!! Back to Anne.

Facts and figures and mines - BOOORING. Left Roxby after lunch and drove to Glendambo. I hope the road isn’t going to be like this all the way – kilometre after kilometre of flat rocky earth, white line, white line. Glendambo Roadhouse was a place we won’t bother talking about; let’s just say we were up really early the next day to move on.

Kilometres of nothing

Saturday drove to Coober Pedy. My God, it appears the road isn’t going to change. We arrived in CP about lunchtime and set up camp. We now have it down to 15 minutes, each with our own little jobs. Still no fights or arguments, don’t quite know what is happening, we seem to be in new territory. Could we be relaxed and happy???? We spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun and waiting for 4pm when we could have a drink without looking like soaks.

Sunday we took a tour of CP and again spent the afternoon in the sun. CP is an interesting town, not much to look at, but has an interesting history with the opal mining. Wrote a letter to the grandchildren and we are anxiously waiting for a letter from Fynn to arrive sometime in the next few days.

Underground House - Opal Mines Mounds

Monday morning we were up bright and early as we had booked to go on the Mail Run from CP to William Creek to Oodnadatta and back to CP, a total of 12 hours and 45 minutes. A fabulous day. Peter, the mailman, takes guests (13) out in his big Oka, a 4 wheel drive the size of a tank. We passed the dingo fence, kilometres of open land with the landscape changing every hundred k’s or so from moon plains to sand dunes to rocks that shone like glass. Every now and again you would see a tree or bushes but not very often. Conditions were so harsh I have no idea how the explorers ever had the determination to forge across this land, especially as they walked all the way, unable to call a taxi!! Peter was full of stories and yarns and I swear, did not stop talking all day. We had lunch at William Creek and dinner at the Pink Roadhouse in Oodnadatta. I have absolutely no inclination to return to Oodnadatta, what a dive. The most interesting house was one that had a lovely grass front lawn of about 4 x 15 metres with a ride on mower in the driveway and about 5 dozen empty beer cans in a pile at the front door. We delivered the mail to 6 homesteads along the way. The first, Anna Creek, which is literally the same size as Belgium, had a lovely old stone house with lots of outbuildings, but the rest were just modest 3 bedroom houses with a tin roof and lots of sheds and old machinery around. Interesting to see that herds of horses have been replaced by herds of Hondas and Yamahas at all the homesteads.

Sand Dunes going to William Creek - Anna Creek Homestead

William Creek Pub - note the push bikes

Oodnadatta Track

Oodnadatta Town - Sunsets over Oodnadatta

Breakaways



Tuesday we took a scenic flight over Lake Eyre. Interesting to see from the sky all we had seen the day before by road. We flew North East over the Davenport Ranges to the lake. The focus of the flight was the northern part of the lake and especially the Warburton River and the flood plains which are currently feeding Lake Eyre courtesy of the Queensland floods. Flocks of pelicans have turned up to breed and we saw some swans and ducks but must say was a little disappointed we didn’t see more wildlife. The lake is vast but only has about 3cms of water in it and you can quite easily see the bottom. We flew down to 500 metres and had a wonderful overall view of the surrounds. We can now say we have seen Lake Eyre with water in it, but cannot say we have seen it without water, which is a bit weird. Went out to the Breakaway in the late afternoon to a spectacular site. It is too hard to describe so look at the photos. We had a drink sitting on the back of the ute and watched the sun go down with a couple of young German backpackers.

Wharburton River

Lake Eyre

Wednesday we cleaned up, did some washing, went on a ride, wrote some stuff for the blog and generally did not do too much. Our letter from Fynn arrived. “Dear Grandma and Grandad, I hope you have fun at the beach. Love Fynn.” We have seen lots of sand Fynn, but not much water. Now that the letter has arrived we can now leave CP. Another hard day at the office!!