Well we are truly deep in the doo doo with this Covid. NSW is really getting hammered and is in lockdown until at least the end of September, and I think that may well be extended quite possibly until the end of the year. Victoria is in a similar situation albeit not nearly as bad but the state is currently in lockdown as well. Very troubling times for all people concerned, and yet there is a large proportion of people who think its ok to carry on as normal and dont mind either catching the virus or spreading on to others. But this is not the place for this matter as there are numerous other social media sites for people to have a rant about both sides of the story.

When I left you all last time around I was enjoying the ornithological delights of Kialrah pool, I ended up staying for a week as it was such a peaceful and lovely spot. Few more bird pics to follow then that should be it for a while. Im really enjoying trying to capture decent pictures of all the different types of birds the challenges are endless, namely in the fact they can’t keep still for more than a few seconds. But the book my sister bought for me about a year ago is getting well thumbed as I try and figure out just exactly what the heck the bird is I have captured. Anyway from there it was on to Karratha and the Dampier Peninsula . Once again an area dominated by the Iron Ore industry. Karratha is a very modern town with most of the building being newish and modern, good wide roads and a large variety of shops, so even though iron ore is dusty it has lots of benefits for the local towns. On the drive out to Dampier as you come over the brown of a hill the small township is dwarfed by the port and the holding area for the ore before it gets conveyor belted out to the ships, and there is a kind of orangey tinge to the port from the dust raised. There will be more on the iron ore business later on when I get to Tom Price (no not a person its a town).

From Karratha I free camped for a couple of nights at a place called Peter Creek and just for the novelty factor this creek actually had some water in it, and just a bit further on down the road I pulled into Nanutarra Road House for some fuel as it was getting on for 300kms since the last opportunity. After a coffee and the dogs had had a sniff and a stroll, it was back the way I had come for about 5kms then a right turn onto the road to Tom Price, which was just over 300kms inland. Just as an aside I tend to ry and do my trips by the 2x2x2 principle, which is only drive for 2 hours or 200kms and then stop for 2 nights, and although its not a hard and fast system it seems to work out pretty well.

Anyway along the road to Tom Price the road wound its way through some pretty decent hills the further East we travelled. The first stop was a place called House Creek rest area, and I found a lovely quiet spot in amongst the trees. A really nice and large rest area which from about midday onwards quickly started filling up. I guess by the morning there were about 25 caravans/motorhomes parked up. Luckily not all going the same way as I was, not that I cared as I had booked my site at the caravan park in Tom Price already. Next day its was back on the road for about 180kms to Paraburdoo. Although my Fuel Map app showed there was a servo here it was actually being refurbished at the time so no fuel was available. I was quite impress with Paraburdoo, although small it had a very pleasant shopping area and cafe and looked very green with all the grass and gardens very nicely tended. Got a couple of bits and pieces at the local IGA and a decent cup of coffee so I was well set. The dogs also got a bit of a stretch as well so it was a happy truck that set off again. Only went about 40kms after Paraburdoo to Milos rest area, no facilities at all just a huge area to pull over into with mostly gravel under the wheels. The bottom part of it was tarmac for the road trains and truck to pull onto. I had a couple of days here it was lovely and peaceful even when the iron ore trains went passed, the weren’t even loud enough to wake me up at night. I was the only person to park up here, a few people pulled in but didnt stay, just long enough for a cuppa.

And so it was into Tom Price and the caravan park about 2kms from the town itself. This town only came into existance in 1964, when they were prospecting for iron ore, and they started mining here in 1966. Everything is geared towards tourism and iron ore and consequently its quite a young town population wise. I think the average age of the township is mid to late 30’s, and is also quite a wealthy town. Now I did the touristy thing of a visit to the mine itself which although interesting and informative I found a bit of a let down, as we were only allowed off the coach in one place and the actual view of the mine was hindered by high fences and even higher bushes.The the other drawback to the mine trip was I had to dig out a pair of long trousers and decent boots to wear, but even thought I do say so myself I did a good impression of bob the Builder with my hard hat and goggles. Pay attention as Im going to hit you with some facts and figures and then I promise I will shut up about Iron Ore, well at least until I get to Kalgoorlie.

Here we go, buckle in. The mine here is approx 1.6kms wide 7.5kms long and 250mtrs deep, the place where we were allowed off the bus would have been 70mtrs underground before they started mining. The trains are usually up to 268 cars long and stretch for nearly 3kms, each car carries between 130 to 140 tonnes which makes the train on average 36,000+ tonnes and even at todays low price of 160 dollars per ton each train is worth nearly 6 million dollars. Most of the trains are run automatically from a central location somewhere near Perth with very few of them having any personnel on them at all. Each train has 6 engines normally three at the front and ditto at the rear, although some run 2 front 2 middle and 2 rear. And one final little snippet the Tom Price mine produces 28 million tons per annum.

Now the other good thing about Tom Price is that I was able to get my second covid vaccination sorted out, so Im fully vacced up, and no after/side affects at all which was an added bonus. What was also notable when I was in Tom Price was that the weather was definitely cooler than nearer the coast, I would say by a good 10c at night and 5/6c during the day.

Next it was back the way I had come and then out to the coast to the town of Onslow. going back was a tad boring as there was not a lot new to see, again we stopped at Paraburdoo to get some sustenance, but I had spotted another rest area Lon the way in which I thought I would give a go on this leg. It wasnt as good as the House Creek rest area but it sufficed. It was back to House Creek from there before the final leg into Onslow.

Onslow was a bit of a disappointment to be honest, there wasnt as much there as I thought although the caravan site I stayed at was very busy. The whole town had a slight air of being a bit run down and apart from travellers the main part of the town had very few people moving around. All a bit flat.

Im currently in Carnarvon which again is a very neat and tidy town right on the coast. Not a huge amount here but very busy with travellers and locals. I finally managed to get myself a 2.2kw generator for the van, so I dont have to rely on the solar now for recharging the handhelds/phone/camera batteries. Ive been after one for a while and managed to get it online with 3 days delivery. I have now got the conundrum of finding a place to stow the bloody thing. Im going to have to look into getting a box for it to put onto the back rail of the caravan and also a small stowage for the petrol container. Temporarily I think the fuel may go in the top box until I get a proper and more permanent solution sorted out. The generator is currently residing in my shower, but once it gets used I think it will have to share the dog space in the back of the ute.

As per usual a couple of pics to keep you going

Well all the borders are closed again, Sydney and Melbourne are back in full lock down as this D strain of Covid seems to be running rampant. Touch wood and so far Western Australia is unaffected, but even so Im keeping well clear of major towns and as many humans as I can. Very trying times and especially for my brother and his family who have already cancelled a trip once and it looks like they are going to have to do so again. The way things are panning out I can easily see Sydney being in lock down until the end of August. All very frustrating. Anyway wishing everyone to stay safe in these very troubling times, and so I will return you to the regular programming of where I am at currently.

On leaving Broome I was going to head North up the Dampier Penninsula to Cape Leveque, but due to a load of road works and a lot of the trip reverting to driving on dirt roads, and the weather being a bit iffy I didnt fancy getting stuck there if the rain did come down. So instead I decided to move a little South down the Coastal Highway. I travelled down as far as Goldwire Rest Area just over 120kms. Now for the past 4 days the weather had been very overcast and it was while I was at the rest area I noticed my battery was getting very low as the solar charging wasnt doing a huge amount due to the lack of sun. So I thought it would be prudent to book myself into a caravan site for a couple of days to get the system recharged. I had past a sign on the way to where I was to a place called Port Smith (not Portsmouth or Portsmiff), so looking at my trusty app I saw that there was a caravan park there, and I managed to get myself booked in for 3 nights. Well it was a bit of a drive down to it, 23kms of dirt road, which in all honesty wasnt too bad for corrugations and tyre ruts, but it was very very dusty. On getting myself booked in and set up I had a quick look around the campsite and came to the conclusion I was the odd one out there. I seemed to be the only unit without some sort of boat or tons of fishing tackle with me. On further enquiries I discovered there was nothing else in Port Smith apart from a place to launch ones boat and go fishing. No township of any size or description. So it was a very peaceful 3 nights and I was unable to regale anyone about the one that got away.

So after 3 very quiet nights and with a fully charged battery it was time to get back on the road again. The sun was showing itself again as I came out of the dust and onto the Coastal Highway again. A shortish trip of less than 100kms to Stanley Rest Area where I needed to use the dump point as the caravan park didnt have one. So after sorting the van out I decided I may as well stop for the night and found a nice little spot away from everyone to relax for the remainder of the day.

The next morning it back to the road and heading further South to Sandfire Roadhouse, mainly for fuel and hopefully for a coffee, well one out of two had to do. The day had warmed up quite a bit hitting the high 20’s and was a tad windy so for $15 a night with power and water I decided to stop for a couple of nights, and even better when I got myself sorted out and the coffee machine up and running I discovered that the chap had only charged me $15 for the two nights. Well after paying over $1.60 per litre for the diesel it was the least they could do. All in all it wasnt a bad little caravan park they had attached to the Roadhouse. The only drawback was that the wind was kicking up a fair bit of dust, even the dogs thought twice about lying outside, but they were ok as I could put the aircon on for them inside. The Roadhouse was very busy with a constant stream of vehicles at the field pumps. For most of the day there seemed to be at least 3 or 4 vehicles waiting to fuel up.

Onwards Southward I saw a sign for Pardoo Roadhouse and called in to see if they had any bread or milk , of which they had neither, but I did espy a proper barista type coffee machine so I thought I had better partake in a drop or two. this has to be one of the very few Roadhouses Ive come across which had such a machine, and not too bad a cup either, so the stop wasnt a complete bust and it gave the dogs a chance to stretch their legs and have a drink. After 200kms I came across De Grey Rest Area where I was going to stop for a couple of nights.

This was a very large Rest Area well over 50acres and I managed to find a spot about 300mtrs from the road so it was very quiet. It got very busy towards the late afternoon, with probably fifty or so vehicles parked up for the night, but due to the size it never seemed to be overly crowded. The nearest people parked up to me were probably a good fifty metres away.

On leave De Grey it was a very short trip of 74kms to Port Hedland, well to be exact South Hedland and to the caravan park I was booked into. I desperately need to do some food shopping as the freezer was getting very low, and I had been out of fresh fruit and veg for a good few days. Port Hedland is a very Industrial town and its main purpose is as a port for the export of Iron Ore. The iron ore trains have to be seen to be believed. They are about 3kms long with six engines 2 at the front 2 at the rear and 2 in the middle and talking to some locals each one is worth about 1million dollars in trade. If you catch one at a level crossing you may as well put the kettle on. you are going to be there for a while. To go along with this you also get the iron ore trucks (road trains) with four trailers and the stretch to 63mtrs long. Each trailer has 24 wheels so for the 4 trailers that’s 96 wheels plus the 10 wheels on the tractor unit, and you are now starting to wish you had the truck tyre concession for the area. These trucks and trains run 24 hours a day, so as you are probably figuring out, in Western Australia there are a lot of very big holes where all this comes from. Just to finish off with the figures Port Hedland exported 725million tons in the fiscal year of 2019/2020 and is expected to better it this year. Anyway I managed to top up the freezer, get some fruit and some fresh bread. Not much else to write home about when it comes to Port Hedland.

From Port Hedland I chose to go inland about 200kms to a place called Marble Bar, which touts itself as the hottest town in Australia, this I could plainly see was due to the weather and temperatures rather than the night life. I couldn’t stop as the caravan park was full and was fully booked for at least the next 10 days. It gave me a chance to nip into the local shop which also doubled as a bakery and they had some wonderful breads cakes pastries pasties and all things boulangerie. So the $30plus later I came out with a lovely crusty loaf a couple of homemade meat pies and a couple of pasties. Definitely worth the trip just to visit this locale. On the way out of Marble Bar I stopped for a couple of nights at Des Streckfuss Rest Area which was a lovely spot right next to what was left of the river with quite an abundance of birdlife. The only drawback was the almost constant sound of the iron ore road trains going past and as I said before these vehicles ran day and night you could probably rely on getting 7 to 10 an hour either going full or coming back empty. 2 different companies coming from two different mines. But being here did give me the opportunity to hone my skills at taking pictures of the birdlife, to varying degrees of success.

Anyway I decided to go back to South Hedland for a couple of days as I needed to get my prescription filled and also I remembered I was due my second Astra Zeneca vaccine so thought I may as well sort that out while I was there. Well the prescription wasnt a problem even though it was the most I had ever paid for it just on $200 which was way more than usual. The covid vaccine was a different matter, the quoted me August before I could get it, which would have been over 3 weeks after it was due. So I will just have to wait to I get to the next decent sized town and try again, but Im guessing due to the delay I will probably have to start all over again.

Finally left Port Hedland behind me and drifted on further South and have found myself at Kialrah Pool which is roughly 40kms from Roebourne and about 10kms down a dirt road off the main highway at a lovely free camp spot right next to a billabong. Think I will chill out here for three or four days and see where is next on the agenda. Definitely cooler down this way, dont get many if any days over 30c but at least its better for the dogs so one can’t really complain. So folks that’s where I am.

Stay safe everyone, and as usual a few photos

All the Egret photos taken at Kialrah Pool Billabong

When I left you all I was croc hunting in Timber Creek, that was certainly one of the highlights of the Western travelling part of the trip. I hope you enjoyed the pics of the little cuties.

So on leaving Timber Creek the next town of any note was Kununurra in Western Australia, but I didnt fancy doing the whole trip in one hit so I pulled over in a place called Google Creek Hole. As per normal in this part of the world the creek was non existent but I found a lovely flat spot about 100mtrs of where it should have been. It was a lovely place to park up with only one small snag, which I wasnt aware of until later when I looked at the maps. I was parked near a road to an Aboriginal township about 60kms or so further on down the track. So every now and then I got traffic going past kicking up a lovely cloud of dust, and especially so when a couple of road train cattle trucks went to an from within a few hours. Luckily I could hear them coming on the return trip so I managed to get all the windows and the door shut before they trundled past. Not that I think it made too much difference but the thought was there. I stayed her for the weekend then set off to hit the Western Australia border crossing. I managed to consume all my fresh fruit and veg before heading there as they are not allowed to cross the border (very strictly controlled).

Got to the check point late morning and was waved into the truck lane just after a cattle truck road train had pulled out. Now I will leave it to your imagination to gauge the state of the pull in bay and the smell after this three trailer road train pulled out. Thankfully they had a chap there with a hose pipe trying to get rid of the worst. So after showing my border pass and getting approved it then came to the caravan inspection. Wow it was all but a full body cavity search, fridge/freezer, all cabinets, inside the cooker, under the bed, it was very thorough, eventually though I was waved through. They were quite a happy chatty bunch of inspectors so it wasnt as bad as it could have been. So starting the truck and slowly dodging the remaining cow pats I began to make my way out of the check point, when on my dashboard came an oil filter warning light. Only had about 60kms to go until Kununurra so was sure I could get it sorted once I got there, so was not overly concerned.

Booked myself into a caravan park in Kununurra, talk about price gouging $72 a night luckily being a member I got a discount of a whole $5 dollars a night. Normally these caravan parks are $35 to $40 per night. It was a lovely location right on the lake and very busy. I rang every garage in Kununurra to get an oil change and not one of the said they could fit me in in less than 2 weeks. My only other option was to try the next decent size town I would be hitting which was Halls Creek, to see if they could do it when I arrived. No problem said the mechanic there, bring it in any morning by 8am and we will get it done for you.

Kununurra is a good sized town and was very busy, being the first or last town depending on your direction of travel in Western Australia. Not a huge amount to see there but I did find the local tourist attraction called Ivanhoe Crossing. This is a causeway over a quite large and reasonably fast flowing river. I managed to get a few pics of a Ute coming across which was good to see, but me, not being the brightest thing on two legs forgot about the bow wave the vehicle was making so at the last moment I had to make a run for it before I got a good soaking at least up to the knees.

From Kununurra I did a little diversion up to Wyndham, a shortish trip of about 90kms or so. Wyndham is the Northernmost town in the Kimberley region and I thought it may be worth a look. Very disappointed not a lot there apart from possibly the worst cup of coffee I have had so far this trip. I only stayed the one night, the drive to and from was actually better than the township. They did have a not too bad IGA though so that is one tick in there box.

Next was Halls Creek about 350kms away, but again I broke up the trip by stopping at a lovely rest area called Bow River. A large level tarmac area so a good place to stop for a couple of nights. As per previous comments the river is virtually non existent a few small pools of water is all that is left. In full flood it would be quite a sizeable river, so from there it was Halls Creek

Got the truck sorted the day after I arrived oil and fuel filter change and a full service, so was very happy that the little problem had been sorted. Again Halls Creek was not a large town but it was fairly busy, mainly because this is the first fuel stop since Kununurra or Fitzroy Crossing depending once again on your travel route, 360kms Westerly or 290kms Easterly. The caravan park was pretty good and a reasonable price $28 per night. The strange part about it (which probably won’t make much sense to non caravaners) was that every site had a concrete slab next to it, but the power, water and waste water drain were all on the slab as well so it gave you limited room to pull out your awning and in my case to put out the cage for the dogs. Thankfully it wasnt busy enough to have more than one van parked per slab.

Onwards West next was Fitzroy Crossing, but before I got there I had a couple of places I wanted to stop at on the way. First was a place called Mary Pool which had good write up on the Wikicamps app. Well it didnt disappoint that’s for sure, but my it was a busy place. When I got there about 10am there were probably half a dozen others there, but by 4pm it was full with people pulled over on the road leading to it. Now it had a 24hr limit there (although there was no-one as far as Im aware marshalling this) but most people seemed to adhere to it, so the turnover was pretty steady. It also had toilets and a dump point so it was popular with the tour buses who pulled in at regular intervals to give there passengers a stretch and some comfort. As an aside one thing I have noticed in Western Australia is that nearly all the rest area which have toilets also have dump points, which is a great idea, maybe the rest of Australia could take note. So after one night here it was back on the road to my next planned stop which was Larrawa Station a working cattle station with a nice little campground attached. No power, but bore water toilets and showers available. $15 a night so all was good. Cody made a friend while we were there, some sort of mastiff possibly boxer cross. He was very friendly and as I say Cody really took to him. Whisper as usual did her own thing and kept herself a bit more reserved. Had two nights here and again the turn over of banners was pretty steady. Had a lovely walk down to Mosquito Creek which I guess I should have realised was neither mosquito ish or creek ish. Now to give you some sense of scale to the size of this station, the driveway from the road to the campsite was 5kms, and I saw something I think on Facebook about Jeremy Clarkson buying in his words a good size farm of 1000acres or 404hectares, this station was 425,000 hectares or 1 million acres plus change.

Had one more stop to make before Fitzroy Crossing and that was Ngunban Cliffs rest area, which was at the top of an escarpment overly looking the plains towards the west. Again a very popular place due to the view, but I managed to find a spot away from the crowds to set up shop. Only had the one night here as per the rules then it was finally down the road to Fitzroy Crossing.

Found a nice caravan park in Fitzroy Crossing but I did make the classic mistake of following the instructions on my satnav which let me down a fairly bumpy and corrugated dirt road for about 5kms to it. I later discovered a perfectly good sealed road which led to it. Booked myself in for four nights and found myself a nice shaded spot with a concrete slab to make it easier for the dogs. The caravan park was attached to the Fitzroy Crossing Inn which is the only hotel in the town, thankfully there was no noise at all from the bar. Now I will try my best to get across to you the next bit of information I gained from some photographs I saw at the reception. The Fitzroy river next to the campsite is approx 500metres wide and the campsite is probably 30plus metres above the river as it was currently running. The river while I was there was about 40metres wide running at a depth of about a metre. Now during the rainy season and especially in January when they had the storms and cyclone the campsite was flooded as was most of Fitzroy Crossing, according to the chap in the reception they were actually cut off for about 4 days at one point. The sheer volume of water needed to do this is quite staggering.

Next on the list was the small township of Derby (pronounced the American way of Derby not Darby). $50 a night per person and a very average campsite although the toilets and showers were pretty good. Managed to get a couple of photos while I was the there but the weather was pretty overcast most of the time. Had a couple of nights here which was more than enough time to see what there was to see. The main attraction of this town was the availability of tourist flights to the Horizontal Falls to which there is no road access. What they did have in Derby was the boab prison tree. This as the story goes is a large boab tree which is hollow and when they were moving prisoners up to Derby for trial they stopped at this tree and put them inside to stop them escaping.

And finally Broome and the Indian Ocean. Crazily busy in town, very tricky trying to find parking spaces either in the town or at the shopping centres. Ive been staying at Broomes Gateway caravan park about 25kms out of town, purely for the fact its only $30 a night rather than the $60 plus in or near the town. Large park where Im at, but without the benefit of power or dump point. There is water and the amenities are not too bad. What it does have though which is definite bonus for us people who travel with pets is an off lead dog run. I think the main attraction of Broome is the famous Cable Beach and possibly Gantheaume point, but trying to find somewhere to park is another matter altogether. The weather hasn’t bee too brilliant either, chilly nights, which is ok for sleeping, but quite a lot of cloud about during the day. The actual daytime temps are ok usually hovering about the high 20c. Not sure where to next, possibly North a bit to Cape Leveque just for a couple of days then a wander further down the coast.

Now before I forget a little bit of clarification. Most of the towns I visit are within or very near to National Parks, which would give the average traveller a lot of options to see and do, but since Im travelling with dogs Im banned from all National Parks so when I say not a lot to see and do its from my perspective of not being able to visit these places.

So as the country is rapidly heading back into lockdown again as clusters of this D strain of Covid seem to be spreading countrywide I hope everyone stays safe and well.

Just a few pics to end with

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Well 3839.5kms after turning right in Port Augusta the trip North has finally culminated in Darwin. Arrived here yesterday and staying for a week then the trip South starts.

I left you all in Alice Springs and from there I continued North to Ti Tree roadhouse which had a lovely little caravan park attached where I stopped for two nights for only $10 a night. Good clean amenities and what is very unusual in the outback lots of grass. Not much else to say about this place.

Next Stop was Bonny Well rest area. Again I was shocked at the amount of broken glass lying around, especially where there are 8 rubbish bins available to use. Again stayed for a couple of nights in an area behind the main rest area which was free of the glass. From there it was on to Tower free camp which as it sounds was at the base of a communications tower. Said on the sign that Telstra (Australian phone company) used this facility, but still only got two bars on my phone. Good views over the surrounding plains, but as it was on the top of a hill it got pretty windy at times. Only here for one night before rolling into Tenant Creek. Found a good caravan park here plenty of room to spread out and good facilities. At least it had an IGA (supermarket) even if it was a bit basic due to the previous IGA burnt down last year. So this one was set up in a barn at the back of the petrol station. Still, it allowed me to stock up on a few basics to keep me ticking along. The local police patrol all the caravan parks in Tennant Creek throughout the night due to a lot of reported thefts and damage. I didnt have any problems while I was there, but then again as previously mentioned having two vicious guard dogs probably helped. Once again not a huge amount to write home about its just a typical outback township, friendly people local shops and not a lot else.

My next stop was Renner Springs roadhouse, well about 10kms outside in a lovely free camp area, well off the road and lots of room. I stopped here because in my book it said that Renner Springs had its own bakery, well that and fuel. No sign of any fresh bread or the baker when I popped in. So after two nights it was back on the road again.

On travelling North to my next stop of Daly Waters, I was called up on the radio to let me know that cattle were crossing the road about 2kms ahead and could I pull over until they have passed. I did so, and got out to chat to the lady who was waving the people down just to be neighbourly. Asked her how many head were crossing she said its was only a small mob of about 2500. She asked me where I was heading to, and said well eventually Darwin but my next stop was Daly Waters. Oh she said you will like it there that’s our local. Local I thought I was still about 100kms South of the location. What also amazed me was that normally driving on this road you ver rarely see other travellers but after being parked up to let the animals cross there were a good dozen vehicles pulled over including a large bus, and yet with all this going on there were still two drivers who didnt want to stop and only did so when they couldn’t get past the number of large Bramah cattle in the road.

So after this it was in to Daly Waters. a lovely little spot, originally booked in for two nights but ended up staying four. The Daly Waters pub must be one of the busiest pubs in the Northern Territory. Good atmosphere very friendly staff and good pub grub which Im pleased to say were of a more manageable servings. The pub is also the shop, post office, cafe, and souvenir seller. I was informed when I parked up that there was a 2.5mtr saltie that liked to visit now and again. No sign of it during my stay but looking how little water there was in the local creek I feel that it may have moved on. Daly Waters is basically the pub and a small servo and a small shed full of old motor vehicles and motorcycles, well worth a browse. The caravan park was also very busy good to see so many people stopping to help the local economies recover after all the recent troubles and lockdowns.

Leaving Daly Waters and stopped just North of Mataranka and an old WWII mill site. While parked up here an elderly (or should I say older) couple pulled up and tried to follow the track further into the bush to park up. The came back a few minutes later and asked if I would assist them as they had managed to dislodge the spare wheel from under their motorhome on one of the deep ruts in the track. First I had to go down the track and find said spare wheel and roll it back to where I had parked. The bracket that held the wheel was a bit buckled but with a bit of BFI (Brute Force and Ignorance) managed to get the wheel back where it belonged. Good deed done for the day. With the weather constantly in the mid 30’s I thought it was time to go back onto power to get the zircon on again for the dogs, so after two nights here it was off to Katherine.

I had four nights in Katherine on power with the aircon earning its keep, Whisper does better than Cody in the heat, he is far more ready to come in and reap the benefits of the cool air while she will stay out longer in the heat. Katherine is a larger than average township for the outback and had a good range of facilities, one of which was a decent Woolworths so I could stock up on fresh supplies, which included the main one of dog food. I went to the hot springs with the intention of having a bit of dip as I had been told of for not doing so (Jane) but they looked a bit grubby to say the least after all the recent rains they had. Also just as an aside the hot springs temperature was cooler than the outside air temperature. So I gave them a miss even though there were some locals using them. Unfortunately all the touristy type things were in the National Park which surrounds Katherine and so having dogs they were all out of bounds to me. Incidentally Katherine is 320kms or so South of Darwin and is where I have to go back to to start heading West into Western Australia.

After Katherine it was a short drive up to Edith Creek where I found a lovely spot to free camp for 4 nights. On the Monday lunchtime the sky got very dark with some heavy looking clouds, and sure enough come about 3pm we had a some stuff which Im sure goes by the name of rain. As it was still above 30c I stood out in it for about 20mins getting a good soaking but couldn’t entice the dogs to do likewise. They were looking at me as if I had finally flipped. But it was just so refreshing and thoroughly enjoyed it. It only rained for probably no more than 40-45mins and the temperature dropped from 34c to 26c in that time slot. We paid for the rain that night though as it was very humid and it brought out a few insects I hadn’t seen before and in no great rush to see again anytime soon. I was parked up within about 50mtrs of a billabong but couldn’t get down to the edge of it to have a decent look due to a lot of erosion of the banks from the rain they had received earlier in the year. But while out strolling around with the dogs on the Tuesday afternoon I saw The Ghan go passed heading up to Darwin. One other wee incident which occurred while I was parked here, on the Tuesday morning someone knocked on the caravan and said if I wanted to go up to Edith Falls (in the National Park) he would stay and keep an eye on the dogs for me. I asked if he was parking up here and he said yep just for the night I often stay here. Now I dont know what it was but something didnt seem quite right, couldn’t put my finger on it but I declined his offer saying I had already been. He then got in his motorhome and drove off back to the main road. I think I had a lucky escape there.

From here it was up to Pine Creek and stayed at the Pussycat Flats racecourse on power for 5nights. Pine Creek is an old gold mining town slowly declining. The racecourse is no longer used but the camping part of it was very well tended lots of lush grass and good facilities. The only drawback was that they only had bore water but I still had plenty onboard so wasnt too bothered by that. The one thing that did stick out or should I say up was the size of the termite mounds. Some of them were over 5mtrs high quite astonishing what these little bugs can build. There was a small shop attached to a caravan park in town and a not too bad cafe and a couple of servos, and not much else. However enjoyed my stay there and now only 200kms South of Darwin.

I had a caravan park booked in Darwin from the 4th May so I left Pine Creek the morning of the 3rd with a stop planned in Adelaide River for one night before going on to Darwin on the Tuesday morning with just over 100kms to go. Adelaide River is another one house town on the main highway but boy it was busy, probably helped by the Monday being a public holiday. Booked myself into the caravan park attached to the roadhouse and very nice it was too. after seeing a couple of the local sites, mainly the WWII cemetery I managed to spend a good hour relaxing in the camps pool. I was going to the pub for my supper but it was heaving so thought I would give it a miss and make do with what I had. So after just the one night it was onto the road for the final leg to where I am now in the suburb of Winnellie which is about 10kms from the main CBD of Darwin.

Just a little something to end on. I had to go and have my six monthly blood test this morning at The Australian Clinic Laboratory. I didnt get there until about 9am and was expecting a bit of wait. When I get these done in Penrith I normally get there by 6am where there are normally five or six already waiting. Here I walked in sat down and was called through within 5mins. All done and back in the truck by 0920. Excellent service.

Not much on the picture front but here are a few for you

Coober Pedy is now behind me as I slowly make my way Northwards with the odd detour up the Stuart Highway. My first stop after leaving was a rest area called Tarcoonyinna. I was a good 200mtrs from the road, just me two dogs and about a billion flies. I thought the flies were bad in Queensland last winter, but I must admit the Northern Territory flies have them beaten hands down. Anyway I digress, so I was looking forward to getting a good sleep as there should have been very little noise. About 1am two road trains pulled in and both either left their engines running all the time or the chiller units they were pulling had very loud compressors. What miffed me even more was there were signs at the entrance saying no trucks, which is one of the reasons I chose this site.

Consequently the next day was an early start and back onto the highway. About an hour after setting off I came to the Northern Territory border where I stopped to give “the boys” a quick run before going across. The first thing I noticed in the NT was that the highway speed limit increased from 110kph to 130kph, not that I do those sort of speeds when towing, I normally put the cruise control on 95kph and just tootle along. about 20kms or so after crossing the border I came across Kulgera Roadhouse so decided to pull in for a coffee and to top up with fuel. I was feeling so tired at the counter that I just booked myself a powered site for the night, no point continuing if you dont feel like it. So into the caravan park I go.

That evening I couldn’t be bothered cooking so thought I would get myself something to eat at the Roadhouse/pub. I had clearly lost all memory of just what outback Roadhouse meals were like. I order something light, a chicken schnitzel chips and salad, too easy. Now imagine a square dinner plate the chips covered the whole of the bottom of it, but I couldn’t see them straight off as the schnitzel completely covered all the chips, not sure how big the chooks are out this way but I wouldn’t want to meet one it a dark alley. The salad came shortly afterwards in what could only be described as a large soup bowl which, if you asked for this salad in a normal food outlet would have been a main course. I tried my very best but needless to say there was no way I could manage it all.

Saturday late evening the rains came, and down it came with a vengeance. I must admit it wasnt nearly as bad as the East Coast of Australia got, terrible flooding and damage caused there, me I just had a very noisy roof (so there went a peaceful nights sleep again) and some mud and very large puddles the next morning. It rained all Saturday night, all day Sunday and most of the day Monday. So what was originally one night stopover turned into three.

On Monday night I thought I would get a bit of a feed in the Pub again before leaving on the Tuesday morning. I thought I would play it safe and just get a burger for my supper, Oh how naive was I. This thing when it arrived stood a good 20cms (8ins) tall and consisted of 3 homemade beef patties, and they weren’t thin by any means, each topped with beetroot, cheese, onions, lettuce, tomatoes. and at the very top under the top bun was a fried egg. All this in a bun which seemed to hold it all together with help from a large skewer, very admirably . I didnt know whether to eat it or climb to the top of it a sing nearer to my God than thee. Once again I was beaten by the sheer amount of food. But in their defence you get a good lot of tucker for a very reasonable price.

On the Tuesday morning despite a very light drizzle I managed to get out of the puddles and light mud and get back on the road again. My next destination which I was quite excited to see again was Uluru (Ayres Rock). I wasnt going to reach it in one day, but I had planned where I was going to stop for the night. The first pull over place was Erldunda Roadhouse which was about 80kms up the road, again for a top up of fuel and a coffee, plus a very cheeky blueberry muffin. I was now starting to get used to the Outback fuel prices. This Roadhouse is right on the junction where I had to turn off to the West to Uluru. After fuelling the car and myself I gave the dogs a quick stretch while I booked the campsite for when I got to Uluru. While I was on the phone the dogs started kicking up a fuss in the back barking and carrying on, very strange thought I as normally the are very quiet. Originally I thought it was just a dog running around from the roadhouse, but as I looked out of the passenger window there casually strolling by the car was and Emu which the boys were saying G’day to. On leaving this location I was only planning to go another 40kms or so before pulling over for the night. Just for info from the turning to Uluru was 240kms. My planned stopover was flooded, the second one I had noticed was like a mud bath, I think the local (if there is such a thing) people in the 4X4’s had been having a real yahoo time. But I struck lucky with the third place I came across, much better option than my original choice. By this time I had travelled just over 200kms rather than the 120 or so kms I had planned. It still left me with 130kms to go.

The next day it was on to Uluru or to be precise Yulara, which is where the camp site was and that was about 20kms before Uluru. Yulara is basically only there to service all the visitors who come to see the rock. It is just a load of hotels, holiday apartments and a camping and caravan park. Allied to this there is a small supermarket a couple of bars/cafes, and 3 or 4 shops selling all the touristy type stuff.

The last time I was there was 1998, and boy its grown a bit since then. The hotel I stayed at then was closed, the sign said due to covid but looking inside it had been stripped. Maybe they are going to refurbish it. I remember going out the back door to the hotel when I was there walking about 100mtrs then up a small sand dune for a lovely clear view of the rock. Now if you went out the back door and walked 50mtrs you were in a residential street, or to be more accurate someones back garden. Still Uluru is still an awe inspiring sight for what is basically a large lump of sandstone in the middle of nowhere. You will all no doubt be pleased to learn that my new hoover came in very handy with all the red sand the boys dragged in.

My stay passed all to quickly and I was soon making the trek back to the Erldunda roadhouse for my morning coffe, and again a fuel top up. You may be be wondering why I stop for fuel so often. You soon learn that due to the distances between places in the Outback that if you pass somewhere selling fuel you top up the tanks as there is no guarantee that the next place will have any.

I was looking forward to getting to my next planned stop which was Alice Springs, another place which has long been on my list of places to visit in Oz. About 30kms after the roadhouse I found a lovely Rest Area called Desert Oaks to stay for a couple of nights, before making the push to Alice. Tonight is my last night in Alice Springs, back on the road tomorrow, but Ive had a really good time here. Ive long had a liking for Aboriginal Art and boy they have some really lovely pieces on display in their galleries, unfortunately only two things stopped my from buying some, firstly the prices, and secondly the sheer size of some of them. I done a few little trips out and about, one to the Alice Springs Telegraph station which was the first telegraph station built and used to receive messages and telegrams from Singapore, before other other stations came into being and then messages were sent around Australia. I was a bit disappointed with my visit here and all the building were locked so you couldn’t go in and look around. So you were basically paying $15.50 just to walk around some old buildings. Anzac hill was a lovely place, it overlooked the whole town and the Mcdonnell ranges which ring the township. But also it was dedicated to all the Australians that had died in all the wars they were engaged in going right back before WWI. One place I was glad I visited was Standley Chasm which is basically an 80mtr high and 3mtr wide chasm made by water/rivers over a millennia or two, its all dried up now but you can walk along it. I had to leave the dogs in the van for a couple of hours, well nearer three, but they were fine as I left the aircon on for them. The reason for that is because you are not allowed to take dogs in National Parks, (again dont get me on my soapbox about that). So they had to take on the duties of vicious guard dogs for a spell. Like so many other places Ive been to I think Alice could be my kind of town, especially as the lady on the radio here was complaining it was a bit chilly in the morning as it was only 16c. If only they knew.

Anyway shipmates, I think that will do for this missive and as per a couple of photos for you non readers to look at.

Ooops before I forget. Pats I’ve now got a whistling kettle that whistles.

Welcome one and all

Firstly I want to say hi to my niece Kate who gets let out of jail today, when I say jail I mean hotel quarantine, but they are setting her free at 1600hrs today into the custody of her mum and dad.

So what’s been happening. Before leaving Dunkeld I found a really good bakery in one of the back roads of the town, crusty sourdough, and a great breakfast of home made croissants with home made blueberry jam, it was a struggle to contain myself to only two. Anyway I got my permit to cross the border into South Australia so I set off on the 1st of March to my next destination of Dartmoor. This free camp had good write ups and it was only about 30kms from the border, so it made an ideal place to park up for a couple of days. Superb location of about 7 or 8 acres roughly, all on well kept grass and lots of trees for shelter (not that it was needed as the weather wasn’t crash hot to say the least). It also had the added bonus of a toilet available. Now looking at a few of the write ups there were quite a few comments about them seeing Koalas in the trees and on the ground. Well they must have gone away for the two nights I was there as didn’t see or hear any at all. I still live in hope of seeing one in the wild. Nothing to see in Dartmoor, a shop, school, and a couple of petrol pumps and you had done the the grand tour, but it was well worth the stopover for the peace and quiet.

From Dartmoor it was over the border, dumping all my fruit and veg in the quarantine bin on the way and into South Australia. I must say once I crossed the border I felt like my trip had now begun. About 30kms the otherwise of Mt Gambier, which is a town not an actual mountain was a small village called Tantanoola my next stopping point for one night. You basically parked up on the village green, where there were public toilets which is always handy. Please don’t get the idea my whole life revolves around toilets but when you travel in a caravan they do come in handy. Only one shop here which was also the Post Office, but managed to pick up a couple of bits I needed, plus a paper, I was getting crossword withdrawal. I was going to go for a beer in the local hotel which was just across the road, but, unfortunately it was closed with a sign saying looking for new management.

On leaving Tantanoola I took the coast road rather than just carry on up the A1 which I had previously travelled on my trip in 2019 to Coober Pedy. I just enjoy taking the road less travelled and the A1 in all honesty is a pretty boring road, the only good thing about it is that it goes all the way round Australia so its very hard to get lost if you stay on it.

Got some lovely views of the sea driving up to my next port of call which was Kingston SE (SE stands for South East, but they tag it onto their name for some reason). This was a small seaside town where they had camping for travellers right opposite the beach. When I arrived it was very busy and getting near to full, and with a holiday weekend in the offing I imagined us all squeezed in like sardines so I gave it a miss. I did find a place called Wills beach camping about 5kms North of town, which wasn’t busy at all when I arrived only, if memory serves me well 3 others camping there. It had showers, toilets and a place to top up with fresh water all for $10 a night, so as it was a holiday weekend I booked myself and the boys in for 4 nights. From the caravan to the sea was less than 100mtrs so the dogs and I went down every day to have a paddle, man it was good. You could walk out over fifty metres and the sea was only up to your thighs, very gentle waves, and ideal spot for kids and dogs. And most days we had it all to ourselves apart from the occasional 4×4 driving along it. Now the only drawback with being this close to the sea and the beach was the amount of sand the dogs managed to bring into the caravan. This ended up with me having to sweep out the caravan four or five times a day. So after four days of being a beach bum it was time to move on again.

Now some of you may remember that March/April time last year when I was in Queensland I had to travel on a very rough stretch of road which broke my UHF/CB radio aerial and caused my rear view camera on the caravan to pack up. I thought as I was doing a big trip it may be wise to get it fixed so I could see the road trains sneaking up behind me. Well I found a place in Murray Bridge who dealt with my make of camera and they said they would have a look at if for me. So long story short they affirmed that the camera was at fault and not the wiring and fitted a new camera for me. I was well pleased and very happy that it was all sorted out. Now I just have to remember to switch it on as Ive been without it for just about a year now. I only stayed in Murray Bridge for two nights as I had been there before. So from there I took the back roads to a small town called Snowtown.

I stayed for the night at Hummocks Station just outside Snowtown, beautiful setting with all grass sites to park on. This is still a working station, but as well as having a caravan park they also have a function centre with living accommodation. I met the two pet/friendly cows (Fish and Chips) and the two friendly hand reared goats (Salt and Vinegar). Now the two cows were probably the tallest cows I have ever seen. I know Im no giant in any sense of the word but they towered over me.

Port Augusta was the next stop, stayed there for 3 nights so it gave me a chance to stock up and chill out before turning right and starting the haul North. The highlight of the stop here was buying a stick hoover which was on sale. If Im going to have sand in the van again, which I probably will once I get properly into the outback, I wanted the easy option. Been here a couple of times before so didnt really do anything worth talking about.

Came out of the caravan park travelled about 200mtrs and turned right, the trip North had started, now I have travelled this way before so I knew where to stop and where to get fuel so was quiet happy. My first stop was Spuds roadhouse, where I topped off with diesel and got a good cup of truckers coffee. Let the dogs out for a stretch, and had my first encounter with the flies, now me and flies dont have much of a relationship, but we are going to become well acquainted over the coming months. My overnight stop was going to be at Glendamo roadhouse but when I got there it was all closed up except for the petrol pumps, hopefully they are upgrading it and not closing it permanently. Luckily not faraway was a large rest area, where I and a fellow traveller parked up for the night. From here it was an easy drive of about 250kms to Coober Pedy which is where I am at the moment. Now I won’t bore you telling about this town as its already been done, or as my good friend Shelley would say P/R. (Navy communicators speak). What I will say is that its about 20c cooler than the last time I was here high 20’s rather than high 40’s on the centigrade scale. So at least this time Im able to leave the caravan for more than 20 minutes at a time. I got myself out to the Breakaway range and the dog fence today which was a good drive on dirt roads. The Breakaway range is about 30km North of Coober Pedy, and where this all sits (the range and the town) was 70+million years ago under the water of a large inland sea. When it all disappeared about 25million years ago this hills were left behind and they look like they have broken away from the main Sturt range further to the East. Hence all the opals in this area. The dog fence is a 5,614 kilometre or 3,488miles fence which was built in the late 1800s, keeps the dingos to the North of the Sheep and Cattle areas to the South. The fence stretches from Southern Queensland above Brisbane right down to virtually the border between Western and South Australia

Anyway here for a couple more nights then the rest of my trip is on previously untravelled (by me) route. Next big stop will be Uluru (Ayres rock). I should cross over the border into Norther Territory either over the weekend or early next week (which reminds me I must organise my permit). So for now I will say a good day to you all.

I left Deniliquin after four nights, very relaxing and man the bakery on the main road made the best pies, I did regulate myself on them but still managed to sneak a couple into the freezer. Travelled up to Hay where I stayed a week at the free camp site, not a great deal in Hay but it has all that you may need. Whilst there summer really kicked in and we had five consecutive days when the temperature went above 40c which by the by 40c is equivalent to 104f, topping out at 45c on a couple of days.The dogs really suffered a bit even with regular trips to the river for a cool down. It even got to the stage where the dogs slept outside which is something they have never done in all the years Ive had them. Anyway we all managed to survive.

From Hay we moved on to Griffith where I had to get the caravan inspected for its annual safety check. It was discovered during the check that only three of the four brakes on the caravan were working, luckily it was a simple fix which was done there and then, the brakes on the caravan are electrically activated and one of the wires had parted. Five minutes later it was all sorted and I got my pass certificate. So all done for another year. I was surprised just how big Griffith was, but its not what you would call a pretty town, and the amount of traffic also caused me to raise an eyebrow. The weather wasnt great while I was there and two of the days it rained and the tempreture dropped from mid to high twenties down to barely 17c. Quite the change after Hay. Nearly had to break out the long trews. While I was in Griffith the border regulations eased a bit and I managed to get a permit to go into Victoria which I was very pleased about, as this would ease my transition to South Australia in preparation to going North for winter.

So it was back to Hay for Monday thru Wednesday nights, a lot cooler this time so dogs showed no interest at all in going into the river, then back to Deniliquin for one night, and then it was down into Victoria on the Friday morning. So I travelled down to Bendigo, through quite a bit of drizzle, to spend four days catching up with my sister, and the dogs caught up with their cousin Molly. Had a great weekend catching up with her, eating some fine home cooking with lots of tea and coffee. We did learn that making Yorkshire puddings with wholemeal flour is not the best.

From Bendigo I travelled South Easterly to a lovely free camping spot called King Parrot Creek, as it says on the tin it was right by the river and had the place to myself for the two nights I spent there. But unbeknownst to me this wasnt to be my only stop at the location. While I was at King Parrot Creek I decided my next stop would be a township called Marysville up in the Yarra ranges. Now the last time I was in Marysville was in 2010 about 18months after the Black Saturday bush fires had swept through a large portion of this area of Victoria, the town was virtually wiped off the map with only 14 of the 400 or so buildings remaining, and even more tragically 45 lives were lost in the town. When we drove through rebuilding had begun but it was a very barren stark place and had a real feeling of emptiness and desolation, and black stumps of trees stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions. My plans were scotched when I got there as none of the campsites allowed dogs so it was a matter of just driving through rather than staying. Well I must say I was greatly surprised as it is now a thriving town, much larger that it was originally and very modern looking. All the trees around and in the town have regrown and there wasnt a thing I recognised. I was pleased that the town had rejuvenated and prospered, but sad to see there was nothing of the old town. Ce la vie, so it was onwards to a Lillydale (to a campsite that accepted dogs) for a couple of nights, and to catch up with a lovely lady called Bev who Ive known for a good number of years.

Got myself all sorted at the campsite put coffee pot on and arranged to meet Bev the following day. Popped out of the van to give the dogs a biscuit and when I went to go back in the door handle snapped off in my hand. Luckily I managed to get the door reopened after a lot of fiddling about with pliers and screwdrivers. So it was a hasty drive to Jayco caravans in another suburb to get a new door handle. When I asked how easy it was to fit they said just follow the instructions on YouTube. So armed with my new outside door assembly off I trotted to have a look at You Tube to figure out how its done. Now for some reason none of the instruction videos had any sound on them apart from some very annoying music, so it was overly insightful, but luckily I got the gist, or so I thought. After fiddling around for nearly 2 and a half hours of trying to get the said bits reassembled unsuccessfully, I stumbled on the fact that you had to have the door in the locked position to do so. So consequently after learning this little nugget it all went back together in about 10mins or so. I must say though I was very wary using the door for a couple of hours afterwards in case it all fell apart. Anywho its all still working. Met up with Bev the following day and we went out for lunch during which the Victoria Premier decided to call a snap five day lockdown State wide due to a growing number of Covid cases in Melbourne around one of the quarantine hotels. The lockdown would come into effect at midnight that night. Now I wasnt keen on being caught in the caravan park for the five days for two main reasons, firstly the cost and secondly the last time a snap lockdown was called it lasted the best part of 7 months. So with deep regret I had to cut short my catchup and head back to the caravan and pack it up and get back on the road to somewhere I could stay. The obvious place was King Parrot Creek where I could free camp and it was less than 80kms from where I was. I was back on the road by 1500hrs and parked up again at King Parrot by approx 1700hrs. Once again I had the place to myself.

I was very surprised with the amount of traffic still using the road for the duration of the lockdown, now the trucks were understandable but the amount of cars and caravan/motorhomes was staggering. On the second day of my stay I got a knock on the caravan and the dogs started barking. When I went out there was a lady there who said she had seen me park up the day before and assumed I was isolating and ask if I wanted some fruit she had collected from her property. Certainly I say expecting a couple of apples and maybe pears, well I got nearly a washing basket full of plums, peaches, apples, pears, and some fresh basil and parsley, wow I was pleasantly surprised. I lived very healthily for my lockdown.

The lockdown thankfully, was lifted after the fifth day and I decided to go back to Bendigo again to top up with water and empty the waste and rubbish, and to decide where to head to next. So my sister had to put up with me again, but we did manage to go out for lunch in Castlemaine where we had wood fired pizza helped along by a glass of red. My brother had told me about a small town called Dunkeld on the Western edge of Victoria before it goes into South Australia with a nice caravan park. So I thought why not lets head for there.

Stopped just under halfway to Dunkeld at a place called Woaky Yaloak Creek, a lovely small free camp site about 2kms after a one pony town of Scarsdale. Little bit of water in the creek but not much else around. Stayed for two night then onwards to Dunkeld. Arrived early afternoon at the caravan park in Dunkeld and got a nice deal of $25 a night on with power and water so booked for five nights. Dunkeld is right at the Southern end of the Grampian mountain range and is a very scenic little place. Very popular with walkers and hikers or as we called them in NZ trampers. The campsite is small and old but spotlessly clean and very well looked after. Ive taken a couple of drives out and managed to get some photos which is always an added bonus. I went out to a couple of waterfalls this morning, those of you who have been with me since my NZ travels will know Im partial to a waterfall or two, but both were bone dry, not a drip or drizzle to be had, but the round trip of 100kms wasnt a completely wasted as I managed to get some new towing mirrors for the car as my other ones had come to the end of their days.

Anyway Im here in Dunkeld till Monday and hoping to cross into South Australia sometime next week, so as my jacket spud is ready I will bid you all adieu and bon soir

Just for info if anyone is following on a map, King Parrot Creek is midway between the towns of Seymour and Yea

A few pics to end with

Firstly my sincere apologies for leaving it so long to update what’s going on and where Ive been etc etc. No excuses Im afraid, it was purely down to laziness. So I will endeavour to up date you on a regular basis from here on.

I finally got back to Blaxland and my brothers house on the 9th of November having dropped off the caravan to get the roof repaired and a new water pump fitted. Three weeks later I was out and about once again, and I was hoping to start the long trip, down to Victoria to call in on my sister, then across to South Australia then North through the centre of the country to Darwin and slowly drift down the west coast towards Perth. I reckoned this should take me about 18months to 2 years. However, as with all the best plans these days, Corona virus had other ideas and all the borders were closed again due to a couple of outbreaks in the Sydney area. So, basically I was locked into NSW until they decide to let people move freely again. Just as an aside, they have people from Victoria unable to get back home due to the restrictions, but they can fly in 1200 tennis players and support staff, some already with positive tests. I guess money talks. Now they are all complaining as there has been four more positive test and they are all in strict isolation. Welcome to the real world I say.

Anyway enough of that sort of thing. So I left Blaxland on 30th November to start my long trip, we were all virus free at this point and borders were sort of open, and drove down to the lovely little township of Gunning, staying at the Showgrounds free of charge. Weather was sunny with the odd shower but very windy. Whilst the caravan was in getting repaired I had a new awning fitted, well, the second day of using it the wind started to pick up so I thought I would roll the awning away. Took off the guy ropes and undid the locking nut in readiness to roll it back up to the van, when a large gust of wind folded it back for me, well one end of it anyway. Unfortunately in folding it back the wind actually badly buckled one of the arms, so my new awning on the second day of use was in the words of Hugh Grant buggered. It took me nearly two hours of banging the arm on a block of wood and with my mallet to get it to fold back flat against the van. So it was onto the phone again to book the caravan in for another repair in Canberra, which was only about 60kms away.

The van was booked in for the 14th Dec so I stayed in gunning until the 11th then drifted down to Canberra ready for the 14th. I was looking forward to Canberra a place I have always liked and especially looked forward to revisiting the National War Memorial/Musuem. Again the best plans were foiled this time by the weather, it rained pretty much the whole weekend so it was a very quiet time.

By now the borders had shut again, so rather than the planned trip into Victoria, I thought it was a good idea to pay a visit to the Snowy Mountains area, so South again it was on leaving Canberra.

Stayed the night just outside the town of Cooma, I was going to stay in the town bu the free camp space was full so found another one about 10kms outside at a place called Numerella. Basically just a large flat area with a couple of long drop toilets, but perfectly adequate. At least here the sun was out so I was able to dry out a couple of things which had got wet in the car. The following morning it was a leisurely drive up to Jindabyne, which in winter time is a ski resort and I had booked myself into a nice caravan park for a couple of night. Once again the rain came so sight seeing was not really an option, I was going to go further into the mountains to the town of Threbo, but that was inside the National Park and dogs are not allowed. Technically you can drive through but other than the toilet you are not allowed to stop or use any other facility so didnt see the point of going.

Looking at my book of maps I thought a nice drive over the mountains would be in order to a town on the West side called Tumut (for those interested google Tumut Brooms). from Jindabyne to Tumut is a trip of about 200kms or so. I set off in bright sunshine and it was looking like a lovely day so was really looking forward to the drive over the mountains and taking some photos on the way, and also seeing all the damage caused by the fires at the beginning of last year (2020). A recurring theme in this blog and something I should have been aware of was, the best laid plans. Came down the mountain then turned to catch another road up into the mountains towards Tumut, as soon as I started climbing again it wasnt too long until I was in the clouds and down to about 20mtr visibility with a very light drizzle. So it was all lights on and a slow crawl, and saw absolutely nothing apart from the verge and the road, I even went thru a small village and could only just make out the buildings either side. It wasn’t until I started coming down the other side that it started to clear and when I got to lake Bowring it came out sunny again. So it was on to Tumut and parking up by the river which was running a bit high but I was a good 3metres above it. A lovely spot and Tumut itself is a lovely little town. Stayed here for five nights when on the last night heavy rain was forecast for the area and as the river had risen about .75mtr since I had arrived I thought it may be prudent to move on as the river was only going to get higher and the ground would turn very muddy.

So onwards again still generally heading south to a wee place called Batlow, famous for its apples and cherries. Huge orchards all covered with miles of netting to keep the birds and bugs off. Again found a lovely little spot to free camp and spent Christmas here before leaving on the 27th. Still with the recurring theme of plans, I was heading to a town called Henty to go onto power for a couple of days. As I was still the foothills of the snowy mountains it looked like it would be a nice trip for part of the way before heading Westerly and flatter land.

Coming down a hill I noticed the smell of something like burning rubber and thought one of the van wheels had locked up, pulled into a gravel lay-by no sound of skidding but I thought at least it will give me a chance to let the dogs have a stretch and some water. On checking the van wheels nothing seemed excessively hot and nothing appeared locked, strange thought I. On returning to the car to get the water for the dogs, the whole car smelt of burning oil, on popping th bonnet blue smoke was coming out from the rear of the engine roughly where the turbos were. Just my luck no phone signal, so I had to wait for just over an hour until someone came by and kindly took me up the hill to get reception. Called NRMA (our AA/RAC) told them I had a major oil leak and would need a tow, sorted they say. Another hour later the patrol turns up,what seems the problem he say, big oil leak says I, oh he says that’s an immediate tow as we can’t fix them on the road, that’s what I told your call centre I reply, nearly 3 hours later the tow truck turns up loads the car and hooks up the caravan behind. While waiting for the truck someone else stops by to asks if he can help as he was a mechanic. He has a look and says it looks like intercooler has blown and if that’s the case it’s probably cooked the turbos as well, if that was the case I was looking at a $4k to $5.5k or so. Any ways I get taken to Wagga Wagga and dropped off at the Showgrounds which luckily was less than 2kms from the Nissan dealer.
Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as first thought it was just the manifold into the intercooler had broken, so all up it was less than $600, so was more than happy with that.

So by now it was a warm welcome to 2021, with everything crossed it would be a better year.

From Wagga it was onwards to Urana still heading West and heading into the outback, stayed free camping for a week and we had two days of very hot weather one of 42c and the other 44c and when you only have a 4inch 12v fan to try and cool you it’s a lost cause. The dogs particularly suffered it would certainly help if they liked to swim, they weren’t overly keen that I put ice into their water.

From Urana it was on to Deniliquin a town I free camped in last year, this time I booked into a lovely campsite for four nights. This is my kind of town not too big but everything you need including a really lovely bakery. From there it was to my present position in Hay. Huge free camp area again near the river and good facilities. From here it will be Griffith as I need the van to get its annual safety inspection and that’s the closest where there is a mechanic who does that sort of thing.

So that’s about it, we are all up to date, and will forego any further plan making and just go by gut feeling.

a few photos to end with, haven’t taken any for a while but will get back into it

Well Mt Isa was a pleasant place to stay for a few days, apart from its remoteness it is certainly the kind of town which would be very easy to live in, has everything you need and only a ten minute drive in any direction and you are back in the bush again. I stayed at a very pleasant caravan park in town, and had the unique experience where every powered site had its own ensuite shower and toilet rather than the usual fare of communal ones.

Now the Isa (as its known locally) is famous for its mines which are also the towns biggest employer with approximately 4000 people. There are 3 large mines and when I say large they are very large where they mine zinc, copper and lead silver. To give you some sort of scale the mines cover an area of approximately 32,000 hectares (80,000 acres), are up to 2 kilometres deep and stretch roughly 52kms North to South. So yes large.

After restocking with groceries and water it was back on the road and back towards Cloncurry to the free camp location I had passed on the way in. This was called Clem Watson Park which was only about 70kms away so a quick trip for the dogs. The free camping area was centred around a large dam with a decreasing water line do to the lack of rain, but with plenty still in it. Now if the Queensland government ever want to know where all the tourists and travellers are well I can certainly tell them, a good proportion of them were here. I would say, probably conservatively, that there were 100 vans and motorhomes of all types here. Some obviously set up for a long stay. Thankfully it was a very large area so there was plenty of room to be by yourself or if you prefer and crave to be near others, which some people seem to like, you can almost be semi-detached. On the way to this stop over I passed a sign for Mary Kathleen township and mine without really telling you anymore about what was there and due to the lack of internet or phone I wasnt able to call on Mr Google for any answers. So we took a drive out there one day to have a look and a nosey and it was very strange. The town has long gone but the roads are still there so are the driveways and the concrete slabs on which the houses sat and even the odd mail box at the end of some driveways. Apparently up to 1000 people lived and worked here before it all petered out in the 1950’s. The mine which was about 4kms further on from the town along a very rough dusty and potholed road was an opencast mine of which you could still see some workings but its rapidly being reclaimed by nature.

After staying at Clem Watson Park for a week I had to go back to Mt Isa as my low oil warning light on the truck came on so that needed taking care of. Stayed at a different caravan park this time no ensuite but overall probably having the edge on the previous one. I also had to purchase a new fold away table for the van as the one Vicky very kindly gave me finally said enough is enough when I put my foot stool on it while sweeping the floor and with a creak and a groan promptly collapsed. I did try and salvage it but alas it had truly expired.

From my second stay in the Isa I was in a bit of a quandary on the next direction to take. My options were to go further West to Camooweal and then cross into Northern Territory or to go South towards Boulia. I was sorely tempted to go the Western route but nagging the back of my mind was the concern of what happens if they completely close off the borders again. Apart from Darwin, Alice Springs and Uluru there isn’t much else to keep one occupied in the NT. All three are on my to do list with Uluru being a long awaited return trip, but it will have to wait until travelling and life in general is much easier. I was going to say back to normal but I think that could be even further down the line if ever.

So with the truck oiled and decision made South it was with my first stop being at Dajarra Dam about 20kms prior to the Dajarra itself. It was the usual scenario here, no phone internet or radio reception, I really do need to get a better portable radio and also in this case not a great deal of water in the dam. Its hard to say how big the dam would be if it was full but judging by the banks around most of it I would say that it was less than 20% full. At present it is no more than a decent watering hole for the 200/300 head of cattle which were mooching about the area. On the far side of the water there was a small copse of about 30 or so trees and the same again on the side I was parked up at. Now the trees on the far bank was home to a large group (probably a 100 or so) cockatoos, and the trees nearest me seemed to full of Galahs. It was almost like two gangs staring each other down over the divide but never mixing. Very West Side Story. As previously mentioned this was also home to some cattle who in the first couple of days I was there would come and have a look at what was what and have a bit of sniff around. I think though that they quickly learnt that the van was protected by a highly trained and vicious guard dog called Whisper, who wouldn’t hesitate to give them a good barking to if they came a bit too close, admittedly all while vigorously wagging her tail. I think she was having flashbacks to her much younger days.

After spending a week here it was onwards to Boulia and where I am currently parked up. I did read an interesting fact at the Information Centre. Bouliashire covers an area of 62,000sq kms (24,000sq miles) with at the last census (2016) 437 residents, or roughly 55sq miles per person. Here on this blog we do the maths for you, all part of the service.

Well I guess that’s the lot for this episode, as usual a few pics for those who prefer looking at pictures rather than reading

On leaving Karumba I was at a bit of a loss to think of where I wanted to go, I knew Mt Isa was on the cards but didnt really want to head straight there, so I decided to go back to Leichhardt Lagoon and do a spot of free camping for a while. I booked in initially for a week but in the end I stayed for three weeks. So quiet and peaceful with an abundance of birdlife and wallabies. I saw some snake trails but thankfully none were keen to make my acquaintance. The only thing lacking there was any phone/internet reception, having to drive 20+kms to Normanton for a signal was not ideal and became a bit of a chore, so only did it a couple of times a week.

All the water at the lagoon is bore water and to say it is not of good quality would be very polite, it comes out with a decidedly yellow tinge, but it was okay for the dogs. I was at the tap filling my 20ltr water container when a chap came up to me and said, “You know that’s bore water and not suitable for drinking” yes says I, I use this container for water for my dogs. Wow he says that’s quite a lot of water for dogs, well I replied getting a bit miffed at him, they dont actually drink it all at once. I think he got the message then and carried on wherever he was walking to.

I am constantly surprised by the price of everyday items in the Outback, I know they have freight costs which they claw back from their customers, but boy there must be a better way. Taking Normanton as an example, there is no industry there at all, just a few outlying cattle stations, so most of their revenue for the shops comes from passing tourists and travellers. I would say the populace is about 1000 to 1500 max and I would imagine a majority of them are on minimum wage if they are lucky enough to have a job at all. So for these people food shopping must be very difficult and require careful budgeting. I stocked up with a few staples and bits and bobs, came to just about 2 carrier bags worth and I was looking at a bill of over $140. Fuel prices weren’t too bad probably between 10 and 15cents a litre more than the large towns (except Burke and Wills roadhouse, more on that later). I just feel that there must be a way that the governments both State and Federal could subsidise them a bit to help them out, even more so in these troubling times when there aren’t the travellers on the roads like there normally would be.

Whilst at the Lagoon I got to see the Gulflander train come through the area. This now is mainly a tourist train as to when it was built in 1950 as a link between Normanton and Croydon. Now it travels just twice a week on Wednesday from Normanton to Croydon and returning on Thursday. Its a trip of 154kms and takes just over 5 hours, so as you can do the maths its no intercity express. Mind you when you see the state of the track in some places its no wonder it doesn’t exactly zip along. It stops at a few places of interest on both legs of the trip and also takes the mail for residents of the cattle stations it passes.

It also came to pass while I was at the Lagoon that the borders were shut again due to NSW having a couple of hotspots of the virus flare up again, and poor old Victoria getting absolutely hammered by Covid19. Very concerned for my sister and her family in Bendigo, but touch wood all seems well with them at the moment. Stay very safe.

So finally after 3 weeks it was time to move on and start the trip to Mt Isa, so I turned South and was making my first stop at Burke and Wills roadhouse, which as you may well recall was where I got turned around back in early April. A very uneventful drive down of about 200kms with a few stops for the dogs to stretch their legs and have a sniff around, I did notice that there were quite a few people heading North but not so many going my way, and this was borne out when I got to the Roadhouse. It took the best part of an hour to top up with diesel as the place was mobbed, mainly fellow caravaners and a good handful or more of roadtrains. As I was one of the very few Southbounders I had to join the Northbound queue to get fuel as they were using both sides of the pump. As is the problem when you are towing although there are two pumps effectively you can only use one at a time as the tow blocks the other one. So after queueing for the fuel I then had to join the queue to pay. I was planning on staying here for the night and driving down to Cloncurry the next day (about another 200kms), but even the parking area was very busy, so I bit the bullet and phoned ahead and booked a spot in Cloncurry for the next few days. And further to my fuel prices whinge earlier Burke and Will Roadhouse were still charging $174 a litre same as back in April, and between 40 and 50cents a litre more. With the amount of vehicles stopping for fuel they must have been making up for lost time.

An easy drive down to Cloncurry again with a few stops for the rear passengers. Cloncurry is a decent size place with one major claim to fame in that it is the birthplace of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, founded by John Flynn in 1928. It started of as the Air Medical Service which was initially a one year experiment in Cloncurry and this eventually morphed into the RFDS. Nothing much else makes Cloncurry stand out from another other largish outback town. On a personal note it did stand out in another way though, in that the caravan park I stayed at (Discovery Cloncurry) the washing machines and soap powder were free to use. First time Ive come across this in NZ or Australia. And as I had 3 weeks of washing to catch up on including two loads of bedding it was most welcome. So after staying for four nights there (stay four pay for three deal) I hit the road to Mt Isa

A very rugged and scenic drive of about 120kms ensued, there looked a couple of good free camping spots I passed on the way which I may well make use of when I leave. Hopefully get some shots of the landscapes as well at the same time. I did think of my friends Mike and Di in NZ when I passed the rifle range on the way into the city as Im sure Di told me they had been here shooting, but with my memory I may well be wrong. And yes Mt Isa is classed as City and not a town and from what Ive seen so far of it I have been pleasantly impressed. Apart from the huge open cast mines right on the edge of town and the very tall chimneys attached to the mines the rest of the place is fairly modern.