Utechs
Welcome to the Utech Travel Adventures. Kris, Clancy, Kassidy, Myself and Jake{ who is being delivered to Melbourne for School} are off on a jaunt around Australia. Starting from Bridgetown, W.A. destination unknown! 12 months on the road, no commitments, no watches, no where we have to be. UtrackUs
Travel Blog Posts
April 24th 2009
Our time is almost up as caretakers of Hamilton Downs Youth Camp. This place has opened up a whole new window of opportunity for Kris and I for future employment. We have become involved in a Diversion Program for Aboriginal youths. The program is coordinated by NT family services and Kris and I applied to coordinate the next program in June and we got the contract. Jake, Jasmin and Mia were here for the holidays and the last week of the diversion program. We were involved in lots of interesting activities with the kids. We went out for a day and cooked Kangaroo tails in the ground, spuds, sweet potatoes and made dampers. We looked for bush tucker and found bush bananas, which I thought tasted like green peas not a banana at all. Jake, Clancy, ... read more
Hamilton Downs Youth Camp
Published: February 24th 2009Oceania » Australia » Northern Territory » Alice Springs
February 24th 2009
We have been here for one month now and have been literally right in the middle of two major disasters. The floods up in North West Queensland, which we managed to escape from by a matter of weeks and the terrible bush fires in Victoria. Fortunately we have no TV here and have been able to avoid viewing all the sadness on TV. I lost my great aunty May in the fires at King Lake and found that news on the internet first, then from family. Life goes on for the rest of us and we are happy to be here in this part of Australia right now. Theres something about this country here, quite spiritual and it draws you in. Hamilton downs is like going back 100yrs in time. The buildings have all been restored ... read more
The Red Centre
Published: February 4th 2009Oceania » Australia » Northern Territory » West McDonnell Ranges
February 4th 2009
We left the coast and headed inland, probably won't see it again till we get to Broome. Jake needed to catch the train from Tamworth to Melbourne so we headed for the hills. We camped the night at a farm stay hostel out of Moonbi, amazing scenery. We put Jake on the train the next day, boohoo! and went to the wax museumand the golden Guitar. We camped out bush just out of Nyngan, this is the only town we have travelled through twice on our trip. We were inundated by ants here and the pup was not to impressed by this. Next day we were up and out of there early. Arrived at Silverton, 25kms from Broken Hill. It was really hot weather, so the pub was the place to be. Silverton is a Ghost ... read more
Still Trippen Round
Published: January 20th 2009Oceania » Australia » Northern Territory » Alice Springs
January 20th 2009
Mum, Dad, Jessie, Kassidy and me, left Westward Ho with a new addition to the family, a puppy. Her name is Strippa and she is very cute. She is a Blue Heeler X German something. It was a long drive before we stopped at Yeppoon . We stayed with Jim +Fiona, Erin, James and Skye. They live right on the beach which was great because we could walk down to the beach when ever we liked. We did a lot of horse riding on the beach. We went to the distillery in Bundaberg Dad especially liked it. Jess and Dad got to taste the rum... ***(Wish I could)*** Mt Tambourine was the next stop. We went to see Oma and Opa and we picked up Jake. For Christmas we made a Christmas tree around the pole ... read more
November 7th 2008
Off to Mt Isa again! This time for Rehersals for the Rock Pop Mime Competition between all the schools. Clancy and all the kids from school of the air did a great performance called 'Destination unknown'. Clancy was an alien. We picked Donette, Kim ,Lil, and Tessa up from the airport and set off back to Westward Ho. Quite a contrast for them in comparison to Manjimup. We had a great week with them here and then all drove to Longreach to finally visit the Stockmens Hall of fame. We were all a tad disappointed in it, especially Kris and he was expecting to see a large photo of himself displayed in the main foyer. Sadly we said goodbye to the Edwards family in Longreach and we made the long drive back. Next into Boulia for ... read more
Far North Queensland
Published: September 22nd 2008Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Cairns » Inn The Tropics
September 22nd 2008
Its a far cry from the dry dusty deserts of Boulia, here in the wet tropics. Amazing to think it is only 10 hours drive away. We have explored heaps of rainforests around Mission beach and in the Atherton Tablelands. In Yungaburra Clancy and I did a night canoe on Lake Tineroo around the rainforest, spotlighting. It was exellent and we were lucky to see the rare Tree Kangaroo, 2 in fact , heaps of possums and some water dragons. We camped on the banks of Lake Tineroo and met some people who took the girls out on thier biscuits behind a speed boat. Headed from there down the Karanda Range into Cairns. So great to see my sister and the girls. We had a lot of great days with them all. Visited the Australian Butterfly ... read more
August 28th 2008
Hi guys. We left Westward Ho and went to Airlie Beach to go sailing in the Whitsundays. There we caught up with Jessie, Jan and her new boyfriend Captin Kev and some of her sailing mates. The first night we got on a Whitsundays Escape yacht and slept in the marina. The name of our yacht was Atoll but we renamed it The Black Smoke. We set off the next morning, Mum, Jess, Kass and I almost peed our pants because the boat tilted to one side almost in the water. (Dad got sea sick) We moored at Cid Bay for the night. Next day we sailed to Hamilton Island to drop Jessie off and that night we anchored at Nara Inlet. There we went on a beautiful walk and saw Aboriginal paintings and a really ... read more
July 22nd 2008
What a great weekend! We had Jess and Jake with us too, which made it even better. We camped at the race grounds along with 5000 others people, everyone had campfires and it was a great atmosphere. I worked in the bar for a few hours and then we got into the swing of the races. We had a few wins on the camels we backed- Loose Lips, Howlin Gale, and the Cup winner Ole Reggie Boy! Jake was very brave and was talked into entering the camel tagging competition. They put a wild camel in a yard, give you a piece of gaffa tape. You run into the yard stick the tape on the camel, run back to touch the fence then back in and retrieve your tape off the wild camel. The one with ... read more
July 13th 2008
Time is going by quickly and already it is the middle of July. We have visited Coorabulka Station for a school of the air activity day. Coorabulka is 120kms west of us and Unbelivable the manager worked with Kris 25 years ago. Jim and Fiona and thier 3 kids stayed with us at Westward Ho for a few days on thier way through to Willeroo Stn in N.T. Last weekend we went on a fishing trip to the Diamentina for a couple of days, a beautiful spot about 2 hours from Westward Ho. We caught soooooo many fish, Yellow bellies, great eating. Even Kris caught some!! Jake is here with us for the school hols, and we are picking Jess up in Mt Isa on Wednesday. The Boulia camel races are on next weekend. Jake and ... read more
June 10th 2008
Hi Guys Have just driven 2,400 kms in the last 5 days. Drove to Airlie Beach to meet Jessie and stay with her on Hamilton Island. Spent a night in Charters Towers on the way and met Jess on her 19th Birthday. So great to see her. The ferry trip out to the island is amazing scenery. Arrived at the Hamilton Island Marina and was waiting to collect my bag when a very rude person crashed into me. I was just about to say what I thought, looked up and It was Jake. He, Ben and Kim flew up to surprise me. So, we had a great party for Jess. We stayed in the Whitsunday Resort, which was extremely hard to take, surrounded by lush tropical gardens, beautiful pools and spas, so awful. We walked the ... read more
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