David Vincent

deejayvee

David Vincent


I am from Sydney, Australia. Despite working in IT, my main interest when travelling is history - particularly military history. As such, I tend to visit a lot of castles.

Comments on my blog are welcome. However, any that include external links or urls will be deleted as spam.



Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Byron Bay November 4th 2020

I arrived in Byron Bay late on Monday afternoon and ran into the heavy traffic locals complain about. Thankfully, my B&B was on the edge of town, so I didn’t have to spend long stuck in traffic. After squeezing my car into a small parking space, I took my suitcase to my room and had a chat with the owners. A few people had warned me about restaurants in Byron Bay not allowing people from Sydney due to covid, so I asked them. They assured me it wasn’t an issue. In fact, he had just returned from Sydney and they were about to go out for Thai. I felt that wasn’t quite the same, as they are not residents of Sydney but I didn’t press it. I figured I would have to find out for myself. ... read more
Waiting for sunrise
Protestor Falls
Sunset attempt #1

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Port Macquarie November 2nd 2020

Just 4 weeks after arriving home from my last holiday, it was time to pack up the car again and head off on another holiday. Originally, I had planned to visit the Victorian High Country but with the state border closed I had to come up with another plan. This time I decided to stay in New South Wales and visit a region I have not been to before – the North Coast. With everyone holidaying domestically, I decided to skip the camping this time as I feared I would be packed into busy campgrounds which is not my preferred type of holiday. The forecasted wet spring also helped make the decision. So packing the car was a little quicker, but I still made sure to pack my barbecue, chair and table so I would be ... read more
Apsley Falls
Trial Bay Gaol
Number 1 Tower Lookout

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Flinders Ranges September 30th 2020

On Friday night I set my alarm for 6am to make sure I wasn’t late for my 7am booking. Awake in the morning and ready with plenty of time to spare, I headed out to the airstrip for my scenic flight. There was a minimum of 2 people on the flights, so I had booked onto a flight that already had someone booked in. However, when I got there the other person (or people) never showed, so I was left with the option of missing out or paying for 2 seats. I opted for the latter – expensive, yes, but I hoped it would be worth it. The pilot Hugh was a pleasant chap and he said it was a perfect morning for a flight. A couple of clouds over Wilpena Pound, but no wind. And ... read more
Wilpena Pound from the air
Descending from Pat's Peak
Rawnsley Bluff, Wilpena Pound

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Rawnsley Park September 25th 2020

I had an early start at Arkaroola on Tuesday morning. I packed up the car, had breakfast and checked out in time for the 8am departure of the Ridgetop Tour. The tour is probably the best-known tour at Arkaroola and while expensive, it was on my must-do list for this trip. There were 13 of us booked in so we were split over 2 Landcruisers that have been fitted out with padded seats on the back. I got in the first one and our driver was Rick, a typical outback guy with long hair and beard, and a hat similar to my own. It turned out to be an excellent decision because he was a geology nerd and had so much knowledge that he wanted to impart to us. I’ve never been big on geology, but ... read more
Sunset over Wilpena Pound
On top of Skytrek
River Red Gums

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Arkaroola September 21st 2020

A windy night gave way to an overcast Friday morning as I prepared to leave Marree. A few drops of rain falling on the dusty ground hinted at what was to come. After leaving the Marree Hotel, I had to get some fuel and buy some bread. While there, an optimistic fellow asked me about conditions up the Oodnadatta Track. I told him it was fine when I came down two days ago, but with the rain closing in, I didn’t like his chances. I drove south on the bitumen for a bit over 100km – the longest stretch of sealed road I had driven on for a few days. As I headed south, the flat landscape gave way to rising hills, and I knew I was approaching the Gammon Ranges – the northern part of ... read more
Cockatoos at Arkaroola Springs
Echo Camp Backtrack
Gill's Lookout

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Marree September 17th 2020

After three days in Uluru with barely a cloud in the sky, Sunday morning was a surprise. It was cool and cloudy, and the clouds were dark enough to suggest rain. I was going to be driving on dirt roads and camping for the next few days, so I didn’t want that. As I drove east on the Lasseter Highway, I seemed to outrun it at first. But I turned south on the Stuart Highway so by the time I reached Kulgera Roadhouse it was cloudy again. Eventually I did get enough rain to use the wiper blades twice, but that was it. Even though I had fuelled up when leaving Uluru and didn’t need more just yet, I was about to head to remote roads and wasn’t sure when I would be able to fill ... read more
Sunset over Lake Eyre
Algebuckina Bridge
Old Mount Nor'West Gorge

Oceania » Australia » Northern Territory » Uluru September 12th 2020

On Wednesday morning I checked out of the hotel and had a couple of tasks to take care of before I left Coober Pedy. I needed fuel first, and then I had to visit the most useful vending machine in the outback. This may exist elsewhere, but it’s the only one I know of – a coin-operated water station. For just $1.00 you can get 30 litres of water. One of my jerry cans was nearly empty so I wanted to fill it up. Unfortunately, the station seems to just start when you put the coin in and keeps going until 30 litres is dispensed. I wasn’t ready, and the jerry can only holds 20 litres so some water was wasted. It probably could be a bit more efficient and allow you to stop and start ... read more
Kata Tjuta from the air
Taking sunrise photos at Kata Tjuta
Taking sunset photos at Uluru

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Coober Pedy September 8th 2020

When planning this trip, there were two key places I wanted to visit and everything else was added while joining the dots. The first is the Flinders Ranges, which will be the final stage of my visit to South Australia. The other was Goog’s Track. Goog’s Track runs north from Ceduna up to the Trans-Australia railway through remote country. Described as a mini-Simpson Desert, it crosses approximately 360 sand dunes as it passes the salt lake named after the first white man to set foot on it, Goog’s Lake, and Mount Finke. While it is not a long distance - the track itself goes for about 150km – you need to be self-sufficient as the distance between services is about 350km and there is essentially no water along the way. On Friday morning I stopped for ... read more
Mount Finke casts its shadow
Me and my car
Airing down

Oceania » Australia » South Australia » Coffin Bay September 3rd 2020

I’m far from the only person to have travel plans wrecked in 2020. This year I finally got long service leave after 10 years in my job and I had plans for 4 different trips away. The first 2 were scuttled almost immediately once the pandemic hit and #4 is still in doubt. But the third trip was 5 weeks in the South Australian outback, and I was determined to make it happen. In July, South Australia almost opened the border with NSW but as they had no cases and Sydney had a small but persistent number of daily cases, that didn’t happen. I was left with two choices – cancel another holiday or cross the border and do 14 days of quarantine. As I’ve been working remotely for months, I figured I could do two ... read more
Golden Island
Seven Mile Beach
Tyres down, ready to hit the tracks

Oceania » Australia » Western Australia » Denmark October 7th 2019

The last day of school before the holidays meant a school assembly hosted by my niece’s class. They were performing a classic Banjo Patterson poem called “A Bush Christening” and she was playing a bailiff, complete with a drawn-on moustache. Through luck more than planning, I was back in Denmark and could go along to watch. With nieces and a nephew on the other side of the country, I don’t get many opportunities to see these kinds of things, so I was glad to go. But I had the rest of the day to myself so once I had finished my photos and blog from Margaret River, I had a relaxing afternoon reading and a nap before everyone came home from school and work. It was then time for a long weekend, giving me three more ... read more
Descending to Knapp Head
The Organ Pipes
Driving up the sand track




Tot: 0.088s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 13; qc: 48; dbt: 0.04s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.3mb