Alice Springs was like a big city to us after being in the bush for six weeks. They even have a K-Mart!!! It was a great place for a bit of R & R. “The Alice” as it is fondly referred to, has a number of Australian ‘firsts’. These include the laying of the Overland Telegraph Line that opened up Australia to the world, the establishment of the Old Ghan railway, the world’s first motorised road train and the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the first aerial medical organisation of its type. We visited the Old Telegraph Station which is the birthplace [View Full Entry]

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There are not enough adjectives to describe Uluru (Ayers Rock). This huge monolith which rises 348 meters from the desert has a girth of 9.4 kms. It is estimated, however, that at least two-thirds of the Rock lies beneath the surface. It has such a magical aura about it. To me it looks like a huge big red sandhill. Indescrible really. Since we were here 25 years ago we have travelled to many countries and seen some amazing sights however this is by far the most remarkable. Ross and Phil decided as soon as they saw it they wanted to climb [View Full Entry]

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30 - 0. Gotta love that score!!! Go the maroons for the next game. [View Full Entry]

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We left Coober Pedy and headed North. We stayed the night at a free campsite along with 10 other caravans!! Nice sunset though. The next day we crossed the Northern Territory border. It was nice to be back in NT. I love it here so much to see and the red earth is just fantastic. It was back in 1983 that Lee, Leanne, Kelly and I first came to Kings Canyon. In those days it had not yet become a National Park and we camped on the creek bed and due to lack of good maps at the time we were [View Full Entry]

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Heading back to Coober Pedy the next day we made a detour into the Painted Desert. This is another area that was under water 150 million years ago. Very beautiful. A very long drive and would you believe the third flat tyre for Phil. All very happy to arrive back at Coober Pedy and wash all that dust off. The next day was spent cleaning the cars. We think we have completed all the dirt roads, but of course our fearless leader (Ross) wants to go to Chambers Pilar when we get to Alice Springs…….Oh no Ross!!!! Next stop Ayers Rock, [View Full Entry]

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The next day we decided to leave our vans at the caravan park and head off to Oodnadatta and Delhousie Springs. On the way we passed the wreck of a little old car (see photo) my sister’s and Ross’ cousin name is Patsy so we couldn’t resist a photo opportunity. Oodnadatta was once the end of the Old Ghan railway and today is a small place with the Pink Roadhouse as the outstanding feature and a great museum. About 18kms up the track we turned off to Delhousie, thinking we would get there by that night. The road to Hamilton was [View Full Entry]

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After a lot of driving we decided to treat ourselves to a tour of Coober Pedy. Our tour leader’s name was Steve and he could talk under water! Very informative though and we now all know EVERYTHING about how the dirt is sucked and blown out of opal mines!!! (Lots of suckers and blowers around here). Coober Pedy is an interesting place with most of the houses and even churches being built underground. The town itself has a population of around 3,500, 60% European with 45 nationalities represented. Coober Pedy was originally known as the Stuart Range Opal Field, named after [View Full Entry]

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It’s been a busy week and lots of bush camping and outback roads. Arkaroola was a disappointment especially after driving a long way on very bad corrugated roads to get there. On the way from Blinman we called into Chambers Gorge only 9 kms off the highway but a really bad road. Ross, Alice, Phil and Robyn decided to stay there the night however being State of Origin night Lee and I decided to press on to Arkaroola where we hoped to see the game live on TV. Enough said about that…..only the first game. The caravan park at Arkaroola was [View Full Entry]

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The track was quite a good road really after what we had been on already. We drove about 110 kms to an oasis in the desert called Coward Springs. What a great place. There is a wonderful campsite and cost $8 per person per night and well worth it. There are thermal springs here and the owners have done a wonderful job restoring the old railway buildings and have made the springs like a spa. I can highly recommend this place as a stop on the track. Another wonderful night under the stars, campfire, good food etc. We decided to head [View Full Entry]

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After packing up this morning we headed for Wilpena Pound stopping at some very quaint towns like Peterborough and Quorn on the way. Wilpena Pound is in the Flinders Ranges National Park. Ross has been christened our “activities officer” or “tour leader” as he always has the map out working out which walks we are going to be taking and which roads will take us to the best spots. I have to say he is doing a great job even though he is wearing us poor old unfit people out. Our first walk was about 8.5 kms to the original Hill’s [View Full Entry]

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