The Gott Family

Greetings from Central Australia. Week 7 of our great journey has taken us to some weird and wonderful and spectacular places in Central Australia. We started the week driving past the Devil's Marbles (Karlu Karlu) ... on our way to the over hyped Whycliffe Wells (UFO Capital of Australia). On Father's Day, we headed to Alice Springs. Great place. We stayed 3 nights there. Finally we headed for Yulara - Ayers Rock Resort - the jumping off point to seeing Uluru and Kata Tjuta (formerly known as The Olgas). We are well and truly on the home stretch. But this was a major week in what should be a part of every Australian's destination file - almost a pilgrimage of sorts. One more week to go ....... read more

The Devil’s Marbles (also known as Karlu Karlu (round rocks) and Rainbow Serpents Eggs) are found in a slight diversion of the main Stuart Highway about 50k north of Whycliffe Well. It was a good place to stretch our legs after the 450+kms of driving through the morning and early afternoon. I was surprised at the beauty in these granite formations. Everywhere I looked, there was another formation with a boulder precariously leaning on another, or looking like it was just a round ball balancing on a flat piece of ground. After we had walked through and past a number of these formations, we drove off, wondering if this was it. We rounded the bend, and found the information billboard, which explained the significance of these to the local aboriginal people. These formations were much more ... read more

A tale of great service … Up early to check the car again. Once we turned off the previous evening, it wouldn’t restart. Nothing I could do would make our beloved Sonja Kluger restart. After checking with the office, and adding another night to our stay in Darwin, I started calling auto mechanics and auto electricians to try and book the car in. Most were booked solidly until Friday or even the following week. It wasn’t looking good. I called the NRMA road assistance line, and was put straight through to AANT. Within an hour, they had a contractor at the gates of the caravan park. He started our car, and verified that the battery was dead. It would have to be replaced. He asked me to follow him to his shop, and he’d get the ... read more

Sunday the 21st of August found us in Mt Isa.....yes, there was Kmart which we were looking forward to(!) however, being Sunday it was closed! Monday was then the day for shopping, and the School of the Air visit. Tuesday the big day as we moved on and crossed into the Northern Territory via the Barkly Highway....long stretches of nothing except roadhouses to make sure you have petrol and have somewhere to stop over! Overnight at Barkly Homestead (caravan park out the back but they use a generator for electricity....runs all night!) Next day, 180kms to the Stuart Highway then left at Three Ways Roadhouse to head north to the Daly Waters Historic Pub (via only a few more roadhouses and the small town of Elliot). Interesting travelling so far when signs can only indicate hundreds ... read more

And so ends another exciting week on the Gott family adventures ... This week we ... Drove from Cairns to Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation Left Cairns and headed to Undara (and the Undara Experience) - walked through some lava tubes. Then we headed West to Karumba and the Gulf of Carpentaria Finished the week with Anthony's 16th birthday. All in all another great week. Enjoy the photos.... read more