Where have we been? where havent we been!

Touching base once more on our long and adventurous journey, I say that because now we have gone inland and north towards darwin and there is not a playground in sight! This provides a problem as we need to wear the kids out if they are to sit through boring historical tours that we want to see. Anyway, we are coping but having just left Daly Water, we are increasingly finding that since we left Townsville it is really hot and dry. We scurry inside after our driving ends about 2pm and while LJ has a sleep, we sit in air con semi comfort if we have a powered site or if no power, we swelter. We are not enjoying the heat as much as we thought. We have done the first few free camps that we planned to experience, these have been interesting and entertaining, but money saving to say the least.

Since our last blog we spent a week at Walkamin Central, which is in the Atherton Tablelands between Mareeba and Atherton, inland from Cairns. That was an experience. Only 17 dollars a night and funny little park with new amenities and not much shade but plenty of characters and friendly people. As some of you know, Lorenzo sucks his thumb. Well the first night in "the shed" by the campfire, that habit was broken. A man called Arthur saw Lorenzo thumb in and came straight up and said "You know what happens if you suck your fumb? It will drop off like this!" And he then showed his missing finger! Lorenzo wasnt sure what to make of that but he still remembers but still sticks then thumb in when required.

We also met our friends from Port douglas, Ian and Christa at the Mareeba Rodeo, which was a new experience for us, kids riding bulls and racing around barrells as well as adults. Claudia met Miss Rodeo and idolised her as she wore satin white and pink tasselled out fit. The kids got great hats thanks to christa. We also broke our fridge so for 3 days we ran on gas til we could get to Cairns to have it fixed and in the mean time, most of our meat defrosted before we noticed so we had a big cook up which lasted a week!

We decided simon would work a week in Tas and so we had to waste a week somewhere before leaving. So back to mission beach for a week for a frolic in the sea. Then we began our flying part of the trip. Off to Melbourne for a few days, then tas, latrobe Mersey hospital where we nearly froze our bits off. We knew it would be cold but ......Jeez! Then flew to Brisbane where simon loved his Prius hire car while we skunked around the Sunshine Coast specifically Cooroy Mountain. Which was a farm stay, it was lovely, mist in the morning, 22degrees in the day, chooks, Kookaburras and kangas and we also went to the beach and the gingerman factory, well Lorenzo just loved the 'gingy man' we went on a boat tunnel ride and he couldnt have opened his eyes any wider, he was dumbstruck at all the gingy mans he saw. Especially the big fella out the front. So we left rested and headed back to cairns and mission beach to begin the long drive inland.

We have travelled through dinosaur country and lots of dust, did I mention dust? And plenty of shabby roadhouses. The customer service leaves a bit to be desired, maybe the heat makes them feel like they cant be bothered, I don't know. We stayed in charters towers, which is known as charlies trousers, then free camped out past Richmond, home of the muttaburrasaurus and kronsaraus. This was interesting as it was almost on the road and all night we heard road train trucks one side and trains the other. So did the 10 other vanners so we had plenty of company. Then we stopped in Mount Isa and found the sprawling smelter and mining towers engulfed the town, everyone seems hardened to outback mining life and it was hard to get a smile from anyone. The underground hospital was interesting, built during WWII after the Japanese bombed Darwin. They thought Mount Isa might be next due to its rich mining quality. So they built a makeshift hospital under the actual hospital. At least we found a cool reting place down there and loads of 50's medical memorabilia.

After the "Isa" we drove a record 715kms in one day through the border into NT and to a free camp called Banka Banka Station, which was the coolest climate we had found as it had grass. It also had chooks, a few goats, dogs and a donkey! Then the next night we went onto Daly waters to find that the famous Beef and Barra meal still on in the pub but the entertainment cancelled. Oh well, probably too late for us as we crash and rise pretty early these days. Next day a easy 200kms to Mataranka springs. Lovely 34 degrees of pools that spew 30.5 million litres of water from the earth each day. Pretty impressive. But we had to move as Katherine awaited. And here we are, hot, cranky and a little sleep deprived as the nights dont drop to a comfortable temp. Lorenzo, in all the boredom of driving has managed to sing the Geelong theme song but at the end where it sings, "our banner's flying high from dawn to dark, down at Kardinia Park" He has replace the end with " Now let's go to the park!" Much better option, but the cats fans will be pleased he is trying. Claudia seems to be finding friends everywhere, to the point where she chats to anyone who will listen, sounds suspiciously like her mother, poor child, inflicted with verbal Diarrhoea at such a young age. She is going to be 6 soon and is so mad she still has all her baby teeth. Very jealous of you ella.

So we are off to Darwin tomorrow and my mum will join us to take a life long dream journey on "the Ghan", I will be the accompanying victim but secretly will probably love it. Then we head across to Broome and down the WA coast for a while, no plans or time constraints really, just muddling along.
Love SGC & L

---

---

---