Blogs from Outback, South Australia, Australia, Oceania

14 - 18 May 2011 OODNADATTA TRACK!!! We came, we saw, we conquered! Well, it wasn't really that hardcore... The start (or end for those travelling south) of the Oodnadatta Track is a little town called Marree. It is of great significance in the history of the camel men and it was a bit of a shake up to us in terms of distances between towns and lack of available water.. We stayed only a night and accidently met a lovely woman working at the health centre who let us bring car & camper around into the backyard of the hospital and fill up our tanks with drinking water. She saved us a lot of time and money so it was a very lucky (and unusual) trail of circumstances that brought us to her. We met ... read more

Someone once said “be careful what you wish for”…if only I had taken heed!!! Having complained incessantly for the last few months about having to wear thermals, jumpers and wet weather gear (“why oh why didn’t we go north” was mentioned more than a few times!) we are now cowering in the shade of a gum tree at Hancocks lookout near the Flinders Ranges trying to see the funny side of the Australian climate! After leaving Adelaide our plan was to travel northwards to the Flinders Ranges National Park, across the Oodnadatta track and to visit Coober Pedy while the temperatures were still cool enough to do it comfortably and to be back in Adelaide well before summer hit on the 1st Dec. Unbeknown to us, nature obviously had other ideas of when summer was to ... read more

DAY 149 When you are travelling it is easy to forget what day it is, you can have a rough idea but time escapes and the days blend into the weeks as easily as the weeks blend into the months. So I guess it was only natural that I kept forgetting that my birthday was coming up. So today is my birthday, 21 again I can hear you all say, though Andy is a bit more brutal than that with 21 times 2 and then some. I woke up during the night and saw that it was after midnight, “Happy Birthday” I said to myself and smiled knowing that there is a card waiting for me on the table at the bottom of the bed. It was to be my only card of the day, knowing ... read more

13 days, 3914 kms, 4 states, 1 territory, 3 drivers, two car rentals, 4 swags, 1 flight, 2 tents, 12 litres of water, $1.86/litre, a broken CD player, and no roadkill. Are we there yet? It all started in Sydney, where we picked up Brenda Dovick, a friend from Sioux Lookout. Brenda has 'gone walkabout' for a little R 'n' R (research & writing). We were driving to South Australia, but what road ever follows a straight line? So we thought we'd make a few stops along the way. This, my friends, was an epic journey. A true test of the wills. We have seen things and had experiences that have amazed even our Aussie friends. Not for the faint hearted. And not for those who have difficulties sitting for long periods of time. Thank god ... read more

Well, day 1 finally came. All that anticipation and then the 5am wake up for the 11hr drive to Burra SA on the way to Uluru. What a long long day. especially the first 2 hours after Mildura. The last hour into Burra was fantastic. Ro made it with 0 k's of petrol left. See ya.... read more