Blogs from Marla, South Australia, Australia, Oceania

2020!! What a year!! We had two overseas trips planned and paid for but Covid-19 struck and so they were on hold. However, we saw that The Ghan was recommencing and there was a generous package being offered for a trip on the train, seven nights in Darwin and various excursions all for the price of what it usually costs for the train alone! So here we are, on the train on our way tot he Top End. We left on Sunday morning. Tracey kindly drove us to the Rail Terminal and we were quickly through the check-in process, including showing our border permits which allow us entry to the Northern Territory. Strange to have to think of borders in your own country!! We waited in the comfortable lounge until it was time to board. Our ... read more

Day 7 and we were starting to get just a little behind with the "plan" - nothing to worry about but we needed to get up early and drive most of the day. So we did. We hit Coober Pedy late morning and filled up with diesel and then decided to have a quick look at the town. Neither of us had been to Coober Pedy before, although I had been underground at White Cliffs (another opal mining town near Wilcannia in NSW). We had a look in one shop and then went next door where we met Nicky (the wife of the opal miner). Nicky and George are lovely folk and you should look them up if you are up that way (Miner Direct is the name I think). Georgi and Nicky were chatting away ... read more

Marla, South Australia, 6 juillet Le temps maussade des quinze derniers jours m’a poussé vers le nord, où j’ai retrouvé le soleil et un début de chaleur… Les paysages splendides de la Great Ocean road resteront cependant gravés dans ma mémoire à jamais. Pas mal de route au compteur depuis trois jours, avec des étapes à Mount Gambier, Adelaide et Woomera hier soir. Dès que l’on quitte les rivages de l’océan Indien, le paysage se transforme radicalement et en quelques encablures nous entrons dans le mythique outback australien. L’espace s’étire et les étendues semi-désertiques semblent infinies, on a l’impression de naviguer sur une mer rouge couverte d’arbrisseaux. Ma première étape dans cet univers si particulier m’a permis de rencontrer quelques «Aussies» pour l’apéro (un sympatique bar en plein air dans le camping, on devrait importer l’idée!) ... read more

Hi All Our last contact was from Streaky Bay on the Eyre Peninsula. From there we moved on to Melrose just south of Port Augusta where we left the camper and headed half way home to Keith to meet Craig and Sarah and pick up the bud. He was a bit strange for a couple of days with all the travel but has now settled in quite nicely. Our next port of call was the Painted Desert where we set up camp on the cattle station Arckaringa . It is east of the highway approx 90 km's from Oodnadatta and run by a 4th generation family who run 5 stations in the district. To give you an idea of how vast this area is Arckaringa is 4300 square km's in size and runs just over 2000 ... read more

We set out for Oodnadatta this morning. Our first stop was the Algebucking Bridge on the Old Ghan Railway line, this would have been a great place to camp overnight if we had known it was here ! We arrived in Oodnadatta in time to have morning tea at the Pink Roadhouse. The coffee and tourist information were great (wouldn't want to live here). After advice from the local we decided to drive through the painted desert on our way to the Stuart Hwy and we are all glad that we did - the scenery was fantastic, it was much hillier than we expected with lots of floodways and dry creek beds. After the great drive through the desert we pulled into the service station at Marla and ran into Brett and Debbie Roe, we all ... read more