bobh

ALICE SPRINGS - WOOMERA - PORT AUGUSTA - MILDURA We have been to Alice a number of times but never stayed more than a couple of days. This time we had a week and enjoyed every minute. We loved the Alice Springs Desert Park so much that we went back a second time spending a day and a half there. They have obviously spent many millions of dollars setting up this magnificent glimpse of Australia’s desert. Hundreds of species of plants, birds and animals found across Central Australian deserts can be seen, smelt and heard. We drove west from Alice out to Palm Valley and the Hermannsburg aboriginal community. Hermannsburg was originally a Lutheran mission established in 1877. The Aboriginal artist Albert Namajira came from this place, the art and history is well preserved and interesting. ... read more

BROOME - DERBY - KUNUNURA - TIMBER CREEK I had better start with the bad news !. I hereby confirm I am a weak man, I just can’t say no when Jacquie looks at me with pleading eyes and says “I really like that pearl can we just get that one.” This happened on three occasions, firstly at the pearl wholesaler at Broome. Secondly at the pearl farm we visited near Cape Leveque and thirdly at Kununurra there was an oval shaped diamond she just had to own. I suppose I should look at the bright side. If the bank balance disappears we can always start a jewellery shop, we already have the stock. Our last week in Broome was mostly relaxing at the beach and reading. We drove out to Cape Leveque one day visiting ... read more

Tom Price - Karajini National Park - Karatha We left Exmouth about 9am heading for Paraburdoo and Tom Price. At 4pm it started to rain and it was still 100k to Paraburdoo, so we pulled into the Beasley River rest area along with seven other travellers. The open fire was inviting and we all gathered around telling travelling stories with the mandatory happy hour drinks. Next morning we continued on to Tom Price with a short detour around the streets and shopping centre of Paraburdoo. Everything was going fine until we made the final turn to the Tom Price Caravan Park. A section of the road had been torn up to remake the road and we were confronted with nearly one kilometre of watery red mud about 200 mm deep. When we finally arrived at the ... read more

GERALDTON - KALBARRI - SHARK BAY We packed up at Port Dennison just as the rain and wind started and headed off to Geralton about 300 Km North. We later found out that this turned out to be a very good move. Several hours after we left the approaching storm caused quite a bit of damage at the park. The rock sea wall near our caravan site was washed away together with about 10 meters of the sand and foreshore. Our caravan park at Geraldton was 4 Km North of main shopping area and right on the beach. We spend several nights sitting on the beach watching the sunset. I am starting to build up quite a collection of sunset photo’s. I spend a day and a bit doing some modifications to the vans plumbing. While ... read more

Our four days at Kalgoorlie were very busy, we did a 200 km outback pub crawl that took us to some unusual pubs as the pictures show. The circuit took us north towards Laverton and back through Coolgardie mostly on red dirt roads. The Kalgoorlie Super Pit is a huuuge open cut gold mine that operates 24/7. They extracts gold at the rate of 16 ounces per ton of rock. I tried to count the number of trucks that were crawling like ants out of the pit and work out the figures at $900 per ounce. I gave up after a while as there were too many zero’s. We stood at the viewing area over looking a hole in the ground that defies description. While we were there they set of a rock blast that shook ... read more