Wednesday 31st August

I have been a bit behind the ball this week, the weather here at Alice Springs is a perfect 28deg (max) but by the end of the day you are tired because of being dehydrated, so I had a bit of catching up today.

For those of you following on a map (Dad)
Day 10 Wonarah Bore (down the road from Barkleys Homestead)
Day 11 Devils Marbles
Day 12 - 17 Alice Springs

We left Mt Isa and went across to Camooweal (had to buy an icecream) & then we stopped on the other side of the river to catch up with a couple that we met at Adels Grove. They had emailed us to see where we were and to stop for a cup of coffee (so we did). I bought the fruitcake (thanks to Mum's recipe) and stayed for about an hour for a bit of a chat. All the vans were pulling in to stay along the river for the free campsite as the Camooweal Drovers Run was starting in the next couple of days. Unfortunately we had to get on our way to Alice Springs to get the Handbrake fixed so couldn't stay.

Not much along that stretch of road, but grasslands so we found a free campsite at Wonarah Bore and Paul was mesmerised by a bloke on his Triumph Rocket, but I was more intrigued by his passenger, a lovely blue dog with his own buggy. Don't you just love the expression on the dog's face!

You wouldn't believe it, but a bus pulled up to camp for the night, with a family of 4 plus 1 chook, that was a sight for sore eyes underneath the bus in the middle of nowhere??

Next Day we thought we would ditch the boring cereal for breakfast and have a good cooked breakfast at the Barkly Homestead Roadhouse. We have heard that they cook a mean burger which costs about $15 and has the lot and stands about 10cm high! Apart from the Baked Beans (which are always good) they gave me powdered scrambled eggs, what a disappointment. Paul had fried, so they may have run out of eggs, I don't know, but
needless to say they were left on the plate!

We stopped next at the ThreeWays Roadhouse for a fuel stop and quickly got asked by the 'local person' if I was going to the Pub which is attached to the Service Station. It's a bit different up here...

Tennant Creek is an interesting Place. Most of the shops either have screens or are boarded up. We stopped at a local Arts and Crafts Shop and then kept driving.

Most days we drive for about 400 ks as there is not much inbetween, so we pulled into Devils Marbles for the night at the Campsite, which cost us the mere sum of $6.60. There ended up being aobut 20 vans by sundown then we all went on to the rocks to watch the sunset which was just awesome

The local dingo met us, he didn't seem to care about much and after dinner when we turned off all the lights to see the magic of the stars shining so brightly, it was funny to hear the licks of the dingo out of our grey water bucket!

Next Day we drove about another 400ks to Alice Springs, what a wonderful place, there is everything here, you just wouldn't think that you are smack in the middle of a desert!

Next day we drove to the East Macdonnell Ranges and stopped at Emily's gorge, Jesse's gorge, Corroboree Rock, Ross River Homestead and then a 4wd track to N'Dhala Gorge which had some amazing Rock Carvings

The car went into the Landrover Hospital for 3 days to get the handbrake fixed, so we had to use the backup devices (funnily enough same happened on the Dubbo trip) and cycled around Alice Springs. It is a good thing that the place is flat. It was a bit of light relief for me to do some shopping (yeay) and Paul ended up buying a didgeridoo. He did pretty well for a beginner, but I am hoping that it improves over the next 4 months

Yesterday we went on a Tour to the Macdonell ranges and visited Anzac Hill, John Flynn's grave, Stanley Chasm & Simpsons Gorge and then finished off the afternoon at the Desert Park.

We finally got the car back today (and I won't say how much it cost, but let's just say I might have to reconsider the pearl ring when I get to Broome...don't be silly)

Tomorrow we head off to Yulara/Ayers Rock for 3 nights accomodation at Voyages, so it will be a nice relief for:

1.  not wearing thongs into the Caravan Park's Showers
2.  being in a Queen size bed, not a cramped double
3.  Our own bathroom (what bliss and maybe even a bath)
4.  Actually going out for a meal

Take Care All
P & J
xxx

Tuesday 23rd August

Well finally Electricity and Internet at Mt Isa.  We have travelled about 2,500 kms in just over a week and it has been an interesting week. We were very tired as we were doing a lot of driving to try and get to the top end of Qld to see places that we hadn't seen before and finally took 2 days break at Adels Grove to have some RnR.
For those of you who are following on a map:
Day 3 Barcaldine
Day 4 Kynuna
Day 5 Gregory Downs
Day 6 & 7 Adels Grove
Day 8 & 9 Mt Isa

We have seen kangaroos, emus, galahs, cockatoos, budgies, dingo (1), lots of cows, sheep and wild cats, luckily most of them alive!

We had a bit of short break at Longreach so Paul could find the local bakery and rate the cream donut (only 7/10) but we had a look around the Qantas museum and the main street. We stopped also at Winton as I wanted to go into the local Arts and Crafts shop as the ladies make the best 2 double hand towels! We were lucky outside of Winton as Paul saw the Hot Water Cover fly off the van, so lucky we found it and it is not damaged and now stuck on by tape, but it works.

We ended up at the famous Blue Heeler Pub at Kynuna which was a sight to be seen, people have put their names all over the inside of the pub (to me it looks like graffiti), so we had a couple of beers to keep the economy going in the local population of 20. Next morning we headed towards Cloncurry and we thought we would get some diesel at McKinley, where the famous Walkabout Creek is (didn't look like much so we didn't stop). Well never assume, it is 80kms from Kynuna or 106 kms to Cluncurry and their diesel pump was broken and we only had 88kms of fuel! Luckily I have a husband that drives me nuts sometimes, but he knows his stuff about his beloved Landrover and figured it we drove at 75kms an hour and keep the revs down, we could make it into Cloncurry. So that's what we did, luckily for me i fell asleep so I couldn't keep looking at the fuel gauge. We made it with 6kms to spare. We now carry 2 jerry cans of fuel on the roof!

We then drove another 325 kms to Gregory Downs and bedded down for the night at the free campsite. We left early in the morning to head 100 kms up the road to Lawn Hill National Park. A nice easy drive I thought, we passed a couple of Cattle road trains and had to pull over on the side of the road as they are so big, we ended up going for an hour and the road started to get very small and we thought this can't be right. The GPS Co-ordinates didn't even work in the GPS. We did the safe thing and turned around and went all the way back to Gregory Downs to be told we were on the right track, so back we went again and 4 hours from when we started we got to Adels Grove, but it was worth it.

We went on a Sunset tour to Harry's Hill and got some nibblies and Chardy/red wine and watched the sun go down over the range it was beautiful. Next day we went to the Gorge and hired a canoe for an hour and it was absolutely beautiful, the red of the Gorge, green of the palms and gorgeous blue sky, it was heaven. Trouble is I don't like water and keep watching the water for the Crocs! (shouldn't have watched Swamp People for the last couple of weeks about Croc hunting in the Bayou). Paul even had a bit of a fish in the local stream and we ended up the afternoon in the hammock..bliss!

We set off the next morning for Mt Isa and took 5 1/2 hours drive to 330 kms on a dirt road, gees the red dirt has got into everything, it has even got into the braking system and stuffed up the electronic handbrake on the car, so Paul is trying to blow the dust out with his compressor, but to no avail, we will need to hopefully get it fixed in Alice Springs as no one in Mt Isa can fix it, but at least there is a Landrover Mechanic in Alice (who would have thought). So yesterday afternoon was a day of washing and cleaning to get the red dust off everything. We have found that one of the seals on a back window has come loose due to the corrugation on the road and it sucked in the dust.

Also we have broken the cupboard shelf, a stone has chipped a chunk out of the step into the van, bolts have come off the internal speakers, the external shower lock came loose and we were driving with the shower head dangling (what a sight). You don't realise what damage the roads can do.

So we are staying another day at The Isa and head off tomorrow across to Tennant Creek. Take Care all...love P & J

Day 2

Well here we are at Roma, we were tired yesterday so only drove 3 hours to the other side of Dalby and ended up at a free campsite at Warra. It was a bit noisy as it was on the main highway and every 3rd vehicle was a truck, but to our surprise around the corner was a 105 year old pub, so we had to keeep the local economy going and have a couple of beers. I think we couldn't keep our eyes open past 8pm. It took us a while to get to Roma this morning as we had to do a detour on the old Roma road as they had shut down the highway due to a nasty accident, we got here and using the free wifi at McDonalds but it is very slow (i am no good at being patient). we are going to head off to Mitchell this afternoon and have a dip in the Artesian Thermal baths.......heaven

Doing the Countdown

Had the best lunch yesterday with a group of fantastic girls, it is really starting to hit that we are leaving for 5 months. Started packing this morning and got to the T Shirts (packed about 10) I think I need to minimise that by half as I am not going on a normal holiday with a suitcase. I reckon sarong, togs, shorts, summer dresses, comfy long pants should be able to do it...starting to get exciting