Saturday 14 November continued The parade was interesting and there were 64 floats, numerous marching bands and various other features and the final float was Santa. There were a number of old “London” buses being used as floats. As Pat said it was very nice of them to lay it on for our arrival. We returned to the hotel about 11.30 am and they allowed us to check in and we retrieved our luggage and up to the room. We sorted ourselves out and got cleaned up. Pat went for a swim and I caught up with some sleep. Then about 5 pm we went out for a stroll. The parade barriers and portable toilets etc. have nearly all gone and the area is a very different one from this morning. Adelaide is cooler in temperature ... read more

Thursday 12 November continued We arrived at Coober Pedy bus station and were very pleased to see that the hotel shuttle was there waiting for us. Pat had asked if this was possible in the booking process, but we weren't sure if it would happen. Turns out that the town centre area isn't that big and everything is only 5 minutes away. That said our arrival greeting and journey to the hotel was very helpful and informative. Just in case you don't know by now the town is the Opal mining centre of the world, and Pat likes Opals. There are small and large spoil heaps for mile after mile of the drive in to town. After plenty of information was given to us about the hotel and opal mining, we were taken to our room. ... read more

Thursday 5 November continued We arrived at the b&b early afternoon and having rung the owner from the airport we were not expecting anyone there yet, but other guests greeted us on arrival. Lesley the owner arrived shortly after and made us feel very welcome. Pat was tired so lay down and had a rest for the afternoon. The owner was toing and froing and had more guests than rooms so stayed with a friend for the night. A big issue for the Australians at the moment is a volcano eruption which is cancelling flights to and from Bali, some people have been stranded for days. Hopefully we shouldn't have any problems with an internal flight tomorrow. Another early night in bed by 8.00 pm. Friday 6 November Breakfast of fruit, toast and croissants was available ... read more

Tuesday 3 November We had the kettle on about 7 am and started making a move. A good undisturbed nights sleep. Yesterday we broke the back of the journey back to Perth, so have taken the pressure off the next couple of days. We hadn't had any access to the internet for a few days and amongst a few other things we needed to book some accommodation for the end of our current leg and also Alice springs. I had noticed that the garage/shop/cafe I had visited last night had Wifi and internet advertised, so as Pat had stayed near the van last night and not had a wander round, we decided that when we left the site this morning, we would fill up with petrol, check if internet was available and if so, stop and ... read more

Wednesday 28 October continued We had access to free wifi, but only a limited amount so had no chance to blog. Pat sorted out some washing, but we did not have enough AUS$1 dollar coins to pay for the dryer. We settled down for the night about 10 pm and thankfully I had a pretty good nights sleep. Thursday 29 October The birds woke us at 7 am. The kettle went on and we showered. At 8 am the office opened so we got some more coins for the dryer. We had hung stuff on the communal washing line and between this and the dryer we sorted things. We finally moved off after 9 am and got petrol and supplies on the way out of town. Actually on Highway 1 at 10 am. We drove and ... read more