A Great Little Caravan Park

Warren had read about this caravan park a couple of years ago and we made a point to stay there this time. It was about four kms off the main highway north so nice and quiet.

On the Wiki camps site that Warren uses to select parks, someone had put that scones, jam and cream turn up at your site just after settling up, what?

Yep, a nice china plate with two warm scones, jam and whipped cream arrived carried over by Sarah, and while there she took our order for breakfast as well. Yes, it is a caravan park but Sunday morning, breakfast of egg and bacon muffins and bottomless coffee for $4 was on offer. Bonus!

Five o'clock was happy hour around the fire under cover. As we dont drink very much, we dont usually go to happy hour but the friendliness of the park owners and the area. We took our bottle of coke and met a few campers who were staying. They were on a Shearers bike ride riding old bikes like the shearers used ride to their next shed.

Everyone saw them ride off this morning after a yummy breakfast.

This was our site plenty of room between vans although the rest rooms were reasonably close. Two large toilets and showers complete with bath mats and shower curtains.

 

Wee Jasper

We drove out to see a friend, its only 55 kms but the road is windy and narrow at times so an hour allowed to do the trip is best. It is now bitumen all the way now unlike when we used to drive it three times a week.

We looked at each other a couple of times and said how on earth did we do this three times a week?

After going to the caves, we then drove through the other side of the town neither of which is sealed, so it was rumble rutted and windy plus up and down hills.

This is Micalong Creek a beautiful place for camping and plenty of people do although there has been no power or showers. Phone access, no, none of that either. 

We headed here to have lunch and it was very peaceful and quiet but 24 hours and I would be looking for something to do!

Our mail run used to continue on from here and go up into the hills/mountains in the background, all on gravel roads.

Fog!

What is that? Well I know what it is but it does seem too early in the season. We left the caravan park at 8 am this morning and soon after turning on to the road we wanted we experienced roadworks to add to the fog. Dont they know its Saturday?

Mary The Ute

We have settled on Mary as the name of the ute.

 Warren says it has a woeful turning circle and needs the space of the The Queen Mary to turn, especially with Maggie two on behind. So Mary, she is named.Warren sometimes does slip into "Queenie" if he is trying to coach her into a turn without needing to do a three point turn.

Autumn Colours

The leaves are starting to turn and I had forgotten how pretty they are, we do not see a great deal of Autumn colours or leaves.

We are staying near to our last house and this was our street.

We sold in about 1999 and we had planted many of the trees on the block but of course they were not like this when we left, our place was/is on the right.

The gate looks the same but our mail boxes for the street were all at the top of the road.

This is the top of the road and the block. The people after us owned a road construction business and they leveled the block as it was on quite a slope, the house was level and for about another 20 metres and then it sloped away with a creek cutting across the bottom. We planted several dozen trees. The poplar to the right of middle was planted on top of a dead fox that we found in the paddock. We buried it and planted the poplar on top hoping that the dogs wouldn't dig up the fox as we were pretty sure it had been poisoned. Nice to see that the poplar has done well.

Cold and wet Melbourne!

We had some showers coming in Melbourne but an hour or so after arriving the rain really set in and it was cold! Rained pretty much on and off all day yesterday, the news reported that it did hold off for the Dawn service, well, I 'm not real sure where they were but rain seemed to be everywhere, puddles and wind.

Two hours it took us to get out of Melbourne with on and off showers of rain and boy oh boy was it cold.

Being April and going from Queensland to Alice Springs I wasnt even going to put in a jumper! warren told me that it was better to have extra than be cold so I grabbed one at the last minute. Thank goodness i did. The heater in the ute has been on all day and instead of buying a cold drink, its been hot coffee or chocolate. The A/C in the van has been slotted alongside the bed and the heater is out. Snow was forecast for the East of Melbourne overnight.

Funny how a few days can change things that one does or wears.

I fel that we are on our way home and I will be glad to get warmer.

Water wastage!

Nothing annoys me more, I think it must have been my upbringing. As we lived in a houseful of five and we were reliant on rain water, there could be not wastage.

We didnt have a shower at first and so we used a bath and that could only be filled to about four inches deep, just enough to wash in. We had a drop toilet so no water was used there and the washing was done in a big tub with the whites washed first then colours then the dirty clothes, dad was a mechanic so his overalls were always last.

In the last week, I have "fixed" three toilets and one running tap. The toilets were constantly running, one had the button pressed in and it had stayed in, an easy fix, give it a sharp push, it went in again and then popped out and then stopped running, the other two were similar, with a bit of a thump. The tap just needed to be turned off a bit harder.

I shudder to think how much water could have run away. Not sure if other people dont care or dont know what to do, but at least I stopped some water being wasted.

Mundulla my hometown

The footy grounds or showgrounds are it is now known allows camping for $15 a night for a powered sites, there are toilets and water but no showers. We decided to stay there.

While having lunch in Ross River Homestead, East of Alice Springs we were talking to fellow caches who told us that they had run an event in Mundulla a couple of years ago and sure enough there are about a dozen caches there including a multi of 18 points. This one is to get people out and about to see the sights of the district and it is estimated to take about ninety minutes. We didnt do that one but did pick up seven and saw things that jogged my memory of living and going to school there.

One of the massive trees in the area.

This is now called the Mundulla Memorial. As a kid we knew it as the Soldiers park, it had a big picket fence around it and lots and lots of trees which gave it a creepy feeling. Some of the trees have either died or been taken out as the area is now so much more open and welcoming.

We were here two days before Anzac and for the ceremony, chairs were brought in and there was a mounted horse contingent with some dressed in military uniform.

I had not seen some of these places for many years and it was good to go back.

Painting Wheat Silos

Face book is a great thing at times. We had been watching the silos being painted over several days. They have been painted over in Victoria but this one was at Coonalpyn South Aussie, not that far from our home areas.As we were heading over to Melbourne we decided to deviate and go to see in the flesh as it were.

I took this photo from one end and the others photos I took on my phone which I have trouble putting them on the blog.

It is four kids from the local primary school, the one this end has her hand up as though she is writing on the black board.

Warren topped up with fuel and must have been telling the cashier that we had come to see the silos and she told him that her son Blake is the one on the far end.

Walleroo

On the Copper Coast, an R and R day today. We had to shop and wash. Warren did some fishing well he took his fishing lines out. We stayed at this park last year, its a bit out of town and we can see the sea!

Took Val Warrens Sister, to lunch and then we had coffee near the jetty. Nice relaxing day.

Woomera

Woomera was a hush hush place when we were kids, everyone knew about it but no-one was real sure that went on there. It was a missile testing centre in conjunction with America and Britain.

We were ten k off the road so we turned in.
There is only way in and one way out and roads were all set out in a very regimental manner. We headed to the Museum, there were some items on display but not a great deal of information.

  We think this one is a Canberra Bomber but there was nothing to tell us that. We saw a couple of carloads doing what we were doing, walking and looking but the place was almost like a ghost town, no cars, no people, nothing. There was a school, an area school but Sth Australia is still on school holidays no one there.
We have planned to have lunch but I dont think there was anything there.

Paying for showers.

Last year we were at a park that had a coin operated shower and we found the same in Coober Pedy. There was no water available to hook up to the caravan but there was a tap that people could use to make tea or coffee.

Water has always been an issue there because of the lack of rain.

Now they do bring in water from about 24 kms away for a cost of $5 for 10,000 litres. This water needs to go thru a screening process. Cost for the shower was 20 cents and that got about 30 litres. Didnt have a problem paying for it but finding an actual 20 piece coin. 30 litres was certainly plenty to have a shower, even washing my hair, I took two coins with me but didnt need the second one.

Rain in Coober Pedy and on the Rock!

We had some rain last night at Coober Pedy and about half an hour into our trip South the rain did set in.

Look at that, water is starting to lay in the paddocks. We were told in Coober Pedy that they had not have any rain for eight months.

Some of the people that we met in Alice Springs went to Yularu/Ayers Rock and it was raining out there. Its very rare that it rains there either. There are waterfalls coming over the Rock and the sights are amazing.

Coober Pedy

Coming in here yesterday

Very stark landscape

We did a tour this morning, first up with the underground Church.

A house built into the hill, the black things are the breather pipes

A putting green on the golf course, players are given a piece of carpet to hit off from as a tee can not been put into the ground.

Slag heaps

As we were on a tour we were able to drive over the mine area and this hole was just on the side of the vehicle.

Lounge room of an underground house

Me using a walking pole as a walking stick. I wasnt sure that I was going to be able to go as one of my ankles is a bit gammy at the moment. Sunday I was climbing over rocks and stuff and while I dont recall hurting it, Monday morning it was quite painful to walk on. If I keep it elevated the swelling goes down so I am trying to stay off it as much as possible. I didnt go down the mine as that would have been too much walking. Hopefully my ankle will return to normal in a day or two. 

The Borders

Next stop was at the Borders.

For us it was goodbye to NT and hello to Sth Aussie our birth state

I found a cache there so now have a souvenir for this state as well, yay hoo only two left to get!

Being the responsible people that we are, we ate some of our fruit, gave some away and binned a couple of pieces because of fruit fly and crossing the border. There was no border controls like in other places but there is enough signs to encourage people to do the right thing.  

.

A Welcome sight

We had been travelling for awhile and had spied a sign advising of a park 5 kms ahead, adverting shade and picnic tables, nothing else. We thought oh well, no toilets but we would stop anyway. How nice it was to drive in and see the above. Two toilets and Warren told me that the one on the left had paper but not the other so i grabbed a roll from the van and left it.

Later we caught up to a water truck who was serving these way side stops. He does it twice a week goes from Alice Springs down to the border, fills up the water tank so there is hand washing available, fills up the soap dispenser and empties the bins, he even sweeps off the concrete pads. Does the left hand side going down turns around at the border and does the same going back. He also does the same on the road out to the Rock but he stays the night out there before returning. What a great thing from the Northern Territory Government.

Emily's Gap

We took lots of photos here as we needed to answer questions in regards to the rock formations, colour etc.

This little fella was crossing the road that we were travelling on so we stopped and let him go across, he wasnt very fast as he had a gammy back leg.

Even though it is dry here in the centre there is quite a lot of tufts of grass. This is the only wildlife we saw in six days in Alice plus three horses out West of Alice (this is on the East side)

The quietness and the size of these rocks are quite eerie.

Corrobree Rock

I know I havent spelt that right and spell checker wont give me the right thing either.

We could have gone for a short walk around the base of it but as I am a bit proppy at the moment we didnt.
This was where the Arrente menfolk would gather for ceremonies and dance.

 Nice boards to read though at the entrance which was only a couple of hundred metres off the road.

Ross River Homestead

After dropping Sheri at the airport, we ventured out to Ross River, Warren had not been there in about 34 years after visiting a few times in his school years.

Two fellows cachers were there ordering lunch just before us which was fortunate as I didnt realise that there would be no service out there. While lunch was cooking we went to look at a certain piece of machinery out the front, found just as they called us for lunch.

One of the guys used to be a ranger at Trephina Gorge not far down the track. He now lives at Mt Gambier and of course we told them that we were from Naracoorte/Locarbor and Mundulla, one and two hours north of Mt Gambier.

His grandmother had relatives in my area and they were our neighbors when I was growing up. It was interesting to talk to some one who knew people that we did.

After lunch Warren wanted to show me where he was bucked off a horse fifty years and just how it was.

This is the homestead as it is today.

Helicopter ride

Alice Springs helicopters came out on Saturday afternoon and for $70 each we could have a trip over Alice.
Awesome! They were taking three each trip which suited us fine so Warren Sheridan and myself went up together.

I was called to sit in the front seat and this was before take off, there were two blokes and they both flew and took turns to do the admin and the strapping in of people.

The scenery was/is awesome! All too son it was over but everyone who came off the flights had smiles on their faces and agreed that it was incredible.

Easter weekend in the Alice

OMG! What an incredible weekend it has been. The wrap up was this morning and we are staying another night and leaving tomorrow.

Activities for the weekend included Bead making and boomerang painting, these were conducted by the local Aboriginal community. We were shown how to do it, all materials supplied and then got to take home what we had done.

There were some seminars held, path tags and Earth cache a reviewers talk (they are the people who publish new caches after making sure that they are suitable and in a good place).

Night entertainment was the movie Lion shown on a blow up screen, we all sat in the grandstand and watched, the following night was Red Dog 2, third night was Photography followed by a reptile show.

Yesterday we took place in a car parade through town, each team had received a car flag with the team name on it, there were over 45 cars in the procession. Last night was the final night with a live band, a video of the car parade, lots of prizes given out and then fireworks.

This was all free! Sponsors of the event were Garmin and Geostuff  and the major sponsors being the NT tourism who put in a lot of money towards new caches being put out and the goodies that everyone was given.

We have also been out caching and between us nabbed 100 caches. I was hoping to get 100 maybe 150 for the whole month but have done over that and still have another fifteen days of travel!

Today's activities

Wow, we were spoiled for choice again today. I attended a path tag swap and picked up some great tags. also got some useful information regarding one pesky cache that we havent been able to find in Mt Isa. Not that we are going back there but I just wanted confirmation that it was there, I was given a description of where it was by Trekking Trev, he had found it four days before we were there, he told me that it was their visit so I didnt feel so bad as it was only our second visit.

We bought lunch today as there are food stalls here as well as IGA Supermarkets!

After lunch we went to bead making, the local Aboriginal group had brought in beads made from tree seeds and they had burnt a hole through them so that they could be threaded on to a cord, after we were happy with them they sprayed them with lacquer that really bought out the colours.

Later there were boomerang painting or animal painting. Because boomerangs are a weapon only men could paint them, Warren went down but they had no brushes left, so many people wanted to do it so we just socialized and watch others.

Tonight was the Official opening which included a welcome from the original owners, the Arrente people. Each state is represented as well as five overseas countries.

Then there was indigenous dancing with singing and didgeridoo playing.

Lion The Movie

Talk about spoiled, last night at our event we were treated to an outdoor movie Lion.

I had wanted to see it but had got around to going and then when I saw that it was going to feature, that was a bonus.

Lion is a true story about a young Indian boy who was adopted by an Australian couple. He had a family, mother, brother and baby sister in Indian but had been separated from them when he was about five.

Twenty years later his memories of his first family over come him and he tried to find them using what he could remember.

Tropic of Capricorn

Today we drove out to the T of C. I didnt realise that we would be so high,its about 35 kms north of Alice Springs.

We arrived in Alice yesterday and set up camp at Bathershite park, I think that is how it is spelt. More and more people are coming in with some many different rigs.

Northern Terriory

We crossed the border today! We were going to have an early lunch at the crossing but we were at it before we realised and it was too difficult to turn the ute and van around.

Yesterday's post was a bit difficult to read, it was like an almost cryptic puzzle. My lap top does have a couple of letters that refuse to work if it has been left for awhile.

Lunch was at Avon Downs rest stop opposite the Avon Downs police station, the station itself is about 2 kms off the highway. While we wete having lunch, the cops set up a road block, they had a car with flashing lights facing each way. As we went to leave they stopped us and advised that thefe were two fugitives on the run from Darwin jail and it was believed they were on the Barkley highway. Then the female cop asked Warren if he would mind doing a breath test. Usually thete is no choice, of course he said no and did it but never been asked "would you mind" before.

On our ay!

Houe itter got through the flooded road and e left on unday afternoon, a day and a half off chedule.

Our firt cache it a bit little.

Our firt top at Dalby and e got a dicount a e had tayed there before almot to year ago.Then on to Augathella and e picked up a cache in tone before heading out for the day.

Around Longreach the landcape a flat greenih and not much to ee.

Afternoon tea at Burke and ill memorial.

Nice pull off the road.
Computer i playing up ith a couple of letter not co operating, hope to recify.

What one sees is not always what one first thinks

Sheridan and I went for a country drive yesterday, we found one cache that we were looking for and the next three were across a flooded road so we didn't go any further being mindful of "If its flooded, forget it."

Driving back, we both thought that it was possible a cache was in this dead tree on the side of the road. There were also tyre tracks to show that some else had stopped there.

Sheri says well off you go, so I got out of the car and stepped through the long damp green grass. nothing at the tree and I headed to another tree nearby, I looked down and saw what I thought was a man's rubber boot and then I saw the other one.

 More of a look and I realised that it was a snake coiled up.
I was wearing closed in shoes but my foot was only about a foot away. I hot footed it out of there. I know that one should just stand still but i think that is if they are moving.it is my first snake that I have seen here in Queensland so in fourteen years thats very low sightings.

we ventured back into suburbia and when looking on a bridge, a three inch lizard or gecko run along in front of me and apparently i yelled and moved quicker than I had for the snake!

Warren assurred me when i got home and described the markings thast it was only a carpet snake and therefore non venomous. I often wonder about snakes when out and about but as it was cool and damp, I did not even think about it yesterday, he was probably coiled to keep warm.

Out to Lunch

We are in limbo because of Cyclone Debbie. Our house sitters were to arrive yesterday afternoon for a hand over and then we were to leave this morning.

They have been down south and the roads are cut so they cannot get here at the moment. They hoped to be here today but roads are still out. Roads were to open this afternoon but they will be chocked with cars and people trying to get to where ever they want to go.

They and us are hoping that they can leave tomorrow morning and then we will probably leave in the afternoon. We are not booked in anywhere until Sunday 9th of April.

The van is all packed well except a couple of last minute things, food has gone or in caravan so I said to Warren that we needed to go out for lunch. he got a bit suspicious and asked if there was an ulterior motive, yes, no food that I want to unpack.

He only wanted to go to the mall to have Chinese. I got a rice roll full of salad, thin noodles and three prawns, not bad for $2.90. The mall's eating area was full and we had to play spot the empty table.

Just realised that I have to find something for dinner but there is some salad stuff in house fridge and potatoes plus heaps of fish in the freezer so home made fish and chips. I didn't pack any fish to take away as it thaws too quick and am a bit worried about changing from electricity to battery or gas.

All the washing is done except what we are wearing, everything is clean and tidy, even my sewing room and while I would love to go and sew, I am a messer when I sew so it would need to be cleaned and tidied again, so TV and reading is the only thing available to do. Thank goodness footy is back.