Tuesday 9th August 2016 This morning we awoke to gray skies and the threat of a shower but we were not to be deterred from our morning plan which was to walk the easy Hills Homestead walk which took us for an easy stroll from the camp along the creek to the Hill’s Homestead. This building was restored in 1995 and with the interpretive signage tells the story of the first pioneer family to live there from the point of view of Jessie Hill the daughter of this family. From there we walked up to the Wangara lookouts from where you can actually see the “pound”, a huge valley surrounded by the ranges with the only exit along the river to the opening where we are camping. The 8kms walk and climb gave us all a ... read more

Friday 19th August 2016 Bit of a sad start to the day as we have to say our farewells to David and Helen. They were headed south to continue their adventures on their way home. The rest of us eventually checked out of the Woomera park, it is now virtually empty of all the vans that came in the night before. Our first stop was at a lookout over Island Lagoon which is known as it was the location for the first non US based deep space station located nearby. The tracking station operated until 1972. The Eucolo Creek, Island Creek, Salt Creek and Woolshed Creek feed into the lagoon which covers 96,000 hectares when full. There were some walk trails leading form the lookout but due to it being so windy and cold, no-one was ... read more

Thursday 11th August 2016 We departed from the Pound area at about 9.30am and drove south to the town of Hawker. Here we refueled and looked around the little town before setting off north again and getting to Parachilna at about midday. Some of the group couldn’t resist buying quondong pie dessert from the hotel, the rest of us waiting whilst a call was made to our next exploration site. This was at Nilpena homestead, about 20kms further north. Fossils were found on this property in 1946. This area had been a seabed about 550 million years ago and the fossils found were of soft-bodied creatures, the first found in the Southern Hemisphere. “The fossils preserved in the ancient sea-floor at Ediacara record the first known multicellular animal life on Earth that predates the Cambrian. This ... read more

Tuesday 27th - Wednesday 28th October 2015 Towards midnight the water deepened and the wind dropped, making it more comfortable for the crew trying to sleep. Rags spent the last 2 hours before his 0300 – 0600hrs watch sleeping on the couch in the flybridge able to sleep deeply as he knew he would be woken up on time. During his watch he had lightning in the distance and squalls of rain, to keep him occupied. He also had a couple of ships on the radar to watch, the one coming at him eventually crossing our route well ahead of us, the other, which we later identified as True North, sitting on our stern about 3 nm away, where it sat for the next 24 hours. Morning brought smoother seas, but all of us were glad ... read more

Tuesday 20th October 2015 The morning was spent cleaning the boat. Windows were washed, chrome polished up and the decks were scrubbed and cleared of bladders and pumps. Once again it looked like the boat that left Airlie Beach. The crew numbers increased dramatically just after 1400hrs with the arrival of Diane, Jen and Judy, Barry, Ian and Rags’ wives respectively. Originally they were joining us until Friday, by which time the boat would have had its engines serviced, and then fly home. It has now been decided that they would stay on board with us until we reach Broome, giving them the opportunity to see the waters of the Kimberley. As this area should be the highlight of the trip it was an opportunity that was too good to miss! Judy and Rags caught up ... read more