Wednesday 8th March and Thursday 9th March 2017 We keep on saying we aren’t going to travel overseas for a while, instead travel Australia more in our caravan, but some-one always seems to make a suggestion or invite us to go away. This time our friends Helen and David, from Queensland, mentioned they were going to Japan around now and why didn’t we meet up with them? So here we are and we catch up with them next week for 4 or 5 days in Hiroshima. It’s been a hard 24 hours we’ve just endured, but it almost feels worth it with our feet up and drinking a few Bushmills whisky that we picked up duty free. We booked our trip using our Qantas Frequent Flyer points, claimed our free Qantas Club Lounge passes we get ... read more

Wednesday 21st September 2016 We left fairly early this morning, with the temperature almost being cool enough for a warm top. This didn’t last long, although at no stage during the day were we as hot as we had been. The temperatures are dropping as we head south. We didn’t stop at Sandfire Roadhouse, which we passed on our way to our destination today, 80 Mile Beach, as we had plenty of fuel and were only driving less than 150kms today. Caravan park fees are exorbitant here compared to other places we have been to with stipulations that you don’t use your washing machines or showers whilst in the camp, you need to use the ones provided. We booked in for 2 nights and set up camp with Marlene and Chris under several shady trees. We ... read more

Tuesday 15th September 2016 We woke to the raucous cacophony of the birds in the trees in the park at about 0600hrs. By 0630hrs we had ourselves out of bed to start another glorious day. On the road by 0830hrs, quite relaxed after having another shower and talking to our neighbours before leaving. The temperature was already in the high 20s so we were happy to be in the aircon of the car. Our first stop was at about 1030 hrs just after entering the Gregory National Park. Sullivan Campground is designated rest/camp spot with seats and bbqs under trees next to the Victoria River. This is the longest river in the Northern Territory, about 560kms long. From here we continued to the Victoria River Roadhouse sitting on the river’s bank with a long traffic bridge ... read more

Saturday 3rd September 2016 Last night we all agreed that we would move northwards and Barrow Creek Roadhouse, 280kms away, was to be our stop for the night. Mark and Helena decided they were going to do more sightseeing before leaving and as we hadn’t been through the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens we went there. Good decision, the Olive Pink Botanic Garden was well worth going to. Miss Olive Pink was an unconventional anthropologist who championed the welfare of the aborigines from the 1940s, a botanical artist and a woman ahead of her time in promoting the cultivation of Australia's native plants. The garden consists of more than 600 plant species from all over Central Australia including 33 that are rare or endangered. The garden was opened to the public in 1985. We set off climbing ... read more

Saturday 27th August 2016 We left Uluru this morning; we headed for Alice Springs, Mark and Helena to Kings Canyon. Mark and Helena want to drive the dirt road between Kings Canyon and Alice (The Mareenie Loop) and as we couldn't consider dragging our caravan over this we've decided to continue directly to Alice on the bitumen road, having been to King's Canyon in the past. We did meet up for morning coffee at a rest stop about 150kms up the road, before the others took the side road to the Gorge and we headed on to Erldunda, the turn-off northwards. Here we had lunch and set off up the Stuart Highway until we reached the Finke River crossing, about 120kms before Alice Springs. Several other vans were already there and we joined them on a ... read more