Advertisement
Published: September 21st 2008
Beautiful Eyre Peninsula SA
Coffin Bay -the oysters match the view -superb! AWOL FOR 7 MONTHS!
It’s extraordinary how time goes by when one is flat out travelling. Obviously it’s time for a well-overdue update of our adventures over the past 7 months, so here’s a brief summary (well I intended it to be brief but I sorta got carried away!)
March 2008: From WA to SA and Vic, a social month for us.
By now we were heading back across the WA border into SA with a few excellent weeks discovering the Eyre Peninsula, Streaky Bay, Coffin Bay -the oysters were a true highlight, as was the fresh and frisky little lobster who refused to ‘go to sleep’ in our freezer-he did succumb eventually! Port Lincoln and its National Parks were full of surprises with extraordinary coastal scenery. We met a great Adelaide couple, Bruce and Linda, another of our ‘new, very best friends’ who own a similar camper-trailer and we bonded very quickly over a chilled drink and spent a great night of roast lamb, feisty red wine and lots of laughs. Sadly, reluctantly and slightly jaded, they returned to the work rat-race the next day. Once in Adelaide we caught up with friends, Jan and Vegie
A Bush Roast
Roast lamb with new best friends Bruce & Linda. and Joan and Bob. Bob had a well researched winery itinerary planned, so the 4 of us toured a number of wine regions until the extraordinary heat wave of 38 degrees lasting for 10 days had us scurrying to the Vic border and cooler climes plus some more wineries!
By now it was almost Easter and we had committed ( whilst still in WA!)to getting to the NSW/ QLD border for a get-together with other Oddies ie those who all own campers made by Steve and Rhonda from Australian Off Road Campers. We convinced new Adelaide friends, Bruce and Linda that it was really only a short drive from Adelaide to the Qld border, so we met up at Forbes and high-tailed it north for a great reunion with other buddies in the Border Ranges. Put the 4 of us with characters like Baz and Therese, Janine and John and our favourite camper manufacturers, Rhonda and Steve, the Easter break just shot by. After stepping across the Qld border briefly, we scurried south again and stayed at all the marvelous NSW State Parks that have town water supply dams. The camping is one of open spaces right on the
A Happy Reunion
We meet up with Joany & Bob -last seen when we left them in Athens in Nov 07. water’s edge and big fires -heaven! Did I mention the snakes, the heat, the bike puncture and the long walk back!
April 2008: Another very social month as we caught up with lots more of our dear friends, both newish and oldish!
Our travels over these couple of months resembled a winding river as we ambled from place to place exploring back roads, open farming country and river camps as we endeavored to see lots of great friends -we didn’t want to be forgotten! Lovely hospitality with Rhonda and Simon, Oddie owners in Armidale, where we were able to flush out our water tanks -such a luxury- as we had picked up some fairly unpalatable water somewhere. From there we headed to the Orange district to meet up with some other ‘new, best friends’ from outback WA, Ken and Sue. We spent a couple of days in the luxury of cabins catching up before we headed off again, this time to revisit the Cowra Japanese Gardens to admire the seasonal changes. A drive across the Blue Mountain ranges had us heading to Wiseman’s Ferry and a dirt road to Wollombi for a fun night of drinkin’ and
Some Favourite Oddies
Baz, Therese & Rhonda at Easter, Queen Mary Falls, Border Ranges NP singin’ with Graeme and Sylvie then on again north to Coffs Harbour and the stunning Sapphire Beach home and B&B of Monica and Bill known as ‘Margaritaville’ perched high on a ridge overlooking the superb coastline. We were house-sitting for them. Phil and Sue from Sydney and Adelaide respectively, came to stay and enjoy this luxurious abode- it’s great to entertain in someone else’s house!
Unfortunately, a tragic death in my brother Tom and Seka’s family and we knew we were needed back down in Geelong, Victoria. Anthony, Seka’s 27 year old son had died. Seka has a strong Croatian family with vast connections and it would be a big funeral. So we left Sapphire Beach earlier than planned to provide assistance. Having now been on the road awhile on the road, distances become less daunting, it’s really just another 1000 or so kms! It was an enormous celebration of Anthony’s life with more than 150 people coming to the wake which Tom and Seka hosted. The support from their friends was brilliant with help coming in numerous ways. A highlight was getting to eat the amazing array of homemade ‘wog’ sweets, as Seka calls them, provided by the
More Favourite Oddies
John & Janine from Birkdale with their CrossXTerrain extended family. Food is extremely important at times like this.
It was now time to retrace some tracks north, destination Brisbane, to keep some appointments and attend to ‘stuff’, as well as Maintenance for Sheila and Sherman (the Toyota and Camper) plus a major overhaul for myself! We did some more house-sitting for friends, Susan and Allan before lobbing at our ‘home-when-home’ - Joan and Bob’s. Our lovely canal friends had not forgotten us, so much time was whiled away over a damaging number of bottles throughout the 4 weeks there.
May 2008: Getting cabin fever in Bris -it’s time to go again!
We were on the road again in the last week of May and truly felt we were back to normal, despite lots of people thinking we’re odd! Now it was time to get to explore our home state of Qld as we headed up the Sunshine Coast way, not sure which way we’d continue north. The plan was to be in Palm Cove, Cairns mid June for a 30th reunion with our longtime Victorian friends, the Bush Louts.
From there, another get together with Joan and Bob, this time in Cairns, before starting
Reliable House-sitters
It's great to entertain guests, Phil & Sue, when the owners are away! out for the Big Trip to The Cape with Steve and Rhonda, our camper manufacturer friends to road-test their newest vehicle called the Quantum.
June 2008: Mothers and Mothers-in-Law!
With our dates in place for the next few weeks, it brought us up short when we heard Syd’s mum Ada, living in country Victoria had had a suspected heart attack. By now we were in Longreach. It was a difficult decision but we decided we’d head yet again back to Victoria to assist her. Despite 2 emergency ambulance dashes to hospital, the news was inconclusive re her health and she didn’t want us to come at that stage, so we continued on north but fully expecting a call. Fortunately, Syd’s super competent sister in WA was able to provide logistical support that had Ada well cared for with plans in place for her to return to live in WA. Phew!! That was close! We continued our trek around central Qld then headed to the coast again to contribute to all the noise and booze of our Bush Louts reunion. After that, we took up a short-term house-sitting opportunity in Mackay, so headed south to a 15 acre
A Surprise Reunion on the Cape
Tim, Sue, Troy & Kirrily in Jardine NP. property in the tiny town of Marian, 20 minutes from Mackay. With chooks, cows, birds, dog and cat it was a wonderful 10 day respite in amongst the cane farms right at the start of the harvesting season. The only bad thing that happened was Daisy the big, dopey, lovable dog ate my diary and slobbered all over my journal -she was just missing me!
The next family drama was my mum, Maree, an Alzeimer patient in a Victorian nursing home had a fall and broke her hip. At 85, weighing 40kg, we were concerned when she had to have emergency surgery with a pin inserted in the hip to aid in her healing and recovery. Once again, we thought we’d be heading south! Fortunately she’s a tough gal and has made good progress. So it was back on with plans to head to The Cape.
July 2008: Cape York Odyssey - Dust, corrugations, more dust and more corrugations!
After a brief catch-up and handover of stuff we’d forgotten, we left Joan and Bob in Cairns and headed to Mossman, the start of our trip way north. The funny coincidence was, they were heading to the
Sherman & Queenie Quantum
We gets points for travelling 'Cred' with our colour-coordinated rigs! Cape same as us, but by a barge that takes passengers on its delivery route to all the remote coastal towns. We missed them by 2 days in Seisha, not before Joan had been accosted by some sailing friends of mine from Cairns who knew we were heading there at the same time as they planned to be there. Maureen and Charles were quite surprised by the ‘who the hell are you?” response to their greetings when they saw Joan in the supermarket! Suffice to say it all turned out well and we all enjoyed a visit on their 60foot yacht. It’s fun to travel in convoy every now and then and our 2 weeks with Steve and Rhonda were great. Their new Quantum/Supercamper was sure put through its paces and with an average of 6 million rugged, bone shattering, teeth rattling corrugations, anything that was likely to be a problem soon became obvious, yet there were surprisingly few problems, a testament to the durability and quality of Steve’s design and engineering. His stated objective was: “To drive as fast as I can and see what breaks!” We did see a few sad sights of vehicles that gave up as
The Tip at the Top of Oz
Yep-we really did make it to this quintessential Oz landmark with Steve & Rhonda. the jarring terrain was too much! One fellow’s Jeep ‘died’ right at the beach at the tip of the Cape. We arrived as it was being retrieved by a tray truck -he was not a happy chappie! Another family had to abandon their camper trailer, unload all its contents and leave it for later retrieval as the wheel bearings had collapsed and it was a welding job. For us it was all good and reaching the northernmost town of Seisha was a real achievement. There is a huge amount of testosterone in the air when it comes to travelling the Old Telegraph Track noted for its hugely variable track conditions and often treacherous water crossings. For us we did the parts that appealed and ignored the spots that would likely have damaged our vehicles. Disaster stories abounded about stranded vehicles in creeks while we were there.
It was good to do this trip, yet we wouldn’t hurry back -a bloody long and rugged trip that takes it toll on people and their vehicles. For us it’s a case of ‘been there, done that!’
So, when we left Steve and Rhonda to return to Caloundra, we went way out west
Lawn Hill NP QLD
A serene and tranquil experience paddling up through the gorges. again through Chillagoe, Mt Surprise and Normanton. We do an awful lot of back-tracking and revisiting of places but there’s always a new perspective or something we’ve missed, this time the wattle was out. A real highlight was Lawn Hill National Park, I was skeptical as we’d heard so much about it from travelers, and was quite prepared to be disappointed. This was not the case and indeed it ranks up there as one of the favourite destinations. Adel’s Grove is a delightful campground on the border of the park just 10kms away. As I have a personal protest going with National Parks about their booking system,(don’t get me started!) on principle I refused to stay there. Adel’s was the better choice by far - with a magical, shady grove of trees by the permanent river, dappled sunlight, space and a resident Green Diamond Python. The canoe trip through the gorges was almost surreal, roasted red cliffs soothed by an array of lush green palms and foliage, the colours echoed in the silent waters as we silently paddled up through the sheer gorges. Am I waxing lyrical here? It truly was that superb!
We did have to climb the barrages
Heads Down, Bums Up!
Here's the amazing rescue crew from Adel's Grove come to our rescue and drag the canoe several hundred metres before continuing upstream - it does pay to have a strong man like Syd as several others couldn’t manage this part. After 3 days at Adel’s, we decided to head across the Qld/NT border to revisit our friends Fee and Mark in Katherine.
The next part of this trip is a must read for all of you who just love disaster stories!
We left Adel’s Grove on a sizzling Sunday morning heading cross country via Doomadgee towards Hell’s Gate then across the border to Borroloola. The track was pastoral land yet actually a gazzetted road with at least a dozen gates. Not a soul passed as we ambled along reasonable dirt and rocky tracks. A sudden soft thump from the rear and we pulled over thinking “Bugger, a flat tyre!”
Oh No! Far worse!! Sherman’s right tyre was leaning into the camper at a peculiar angle. We had broken a trailing arm -for the uninitiated, this was SERIOUS. It was a welding job -there was no other option. So - we set up some shelter from the sun and Syd pulled the wheel off and inspected the damage. It didn’t get
The Beautiful Barcoo River
This is a typical river camp view. All the rivers run brown. Add in a campfire, birdlife & the luxury of time = enjoyment personified! any better as we’d broken the weld in 2 places. I dragged out the so-far 99% unreliable Satellite phone. Where did we call to get recovery assistance -Burketown or Mt Isa? Either way, we’d be in for a few days wait. Amazingly I got reception, so hurriedly called Adel’s Grove for advice. Rod the owner-manager happened to be around and upon hearing of the situation promised he’d be out with a welder and angle grinder in a couple of hours!!
The only vehicle that passed as we sat and waited was a beat up old Defender with mini camper trailer. Bob, in his pale blue crimpoline shorts belted up around his nipples hopped out to investigate. He would have been well into his 80’s and Elsie, his wife was not far behind! They were fascinated by our predicament and took photos. Elsie says they love heading off bush, but they get sick of people telling them they should be in a nursing home! A great vital and active couple, it’s wonderful to see their quest for a simple life. Anyway, we knew they would pass on a situation report to our Roadside Assistance Crew. Sure enough, 2 hours later
Sunset Over Coongie Lakes
Admiring the sunset over a convivial drink with friends is an excellent past-time! the vehicle arrived with 2 guys, their ladies and 2 children -all on board for a Sunday outing. An hour later and we were mobile again. These 2 guys just got down to it, assessed the situation and provided a fix that solved our problem and got us mobile again. We couldn’t believe our good fortune. To cap it all off, Rod told us of a delightful camp just back up the track by the Elizabeth River, so we headed there for the night. I named it our ‘$250 exclusive campsite’ as that was all they’d take for the 120km round trip,time, labour and parts. Marvellous people we have met! Which reminds me, we ran into 4 different couples while in Nth Qld and the Cape, people we had met in SA, WA and NT during our travels. The biggest surprise was seeing our Kalumbaru and fresh fish mates (from a previous Blog entry)- Tim, Sue and their great kids Troy & Kirrily, in Jardine River National Park on the Cape. What a noisy reunion plus a reminder: -One is never totally anonymous!!
August: We have a plan!
We then headed back south to Caloundra to get
Wildflower Heaven!
I'm in my element amongst the 'Poached Egg" daisies. Sherman repaired, happily for us, under warranty, by Steve the manufacturer, then stayed on in Brisbane again for 3 weeks. By now we had decided to stay on the road for the duration, so something needed to be done about our 2 packed storage sheds full of stuff we hadn’t used for nearly 2 years. So, the monster garage sale was set up and we got rid of a huge pile of stuff -there sure were some bargains to be had. We keep obscene amounts of stuff as a reminder of a past life, now we are creating a new life and just don’t need so much. It’s a cathartic feeling to break attachments to ‘things’ and de-clutter your life!
By the end of August, we were back on the road with Steve and Rhonda again. This time were we road-testing Quantum production number 2, destination Innaminka and Birdsville. Hot and dry weather was the order as we were heading on dirt for the majority of the trip. A rain band had us holding over in Cunnamulla (almost as bad as Thargabloodyminda, 2 years ago) for a night, from then on it was perfect. Despite having done parts of
Wildflower Work of Art?
Nature's still-life at its best. this area 2 years ago, it was great to revisit the Dig Tree site of Burke and Wills fame and camp a number of nights on various parts of the extensive Coopers Creek. Coongie Lakes National Park in SA delighted us all with its shady camp spots right on the lake edge backed up by deep red sand dunes covered in carpets of wildflowers and myriads of fascinating animal tracks. From there we took the Walkers Crossing route to join the Birdsville Track across numerous gas and oil plains. Our plan to arrive in Birdsville on the day after the famous races was a good one. There were 6000 people in town over the race period and fortunately for us 99% had departed that morning, so a pleasant time was had camped again on a waterhole, part of the mighty Diamantina river system. Of course, there was the usual hooning up and down the mightiest of the Simpson Desert sand dunes, namely “Big Red”, putting the vehicles, minus the trailers, through all sorts of challenges. It really does all come down to tyre pressure in the end. It’s a great spectator sport and we found ourselves barracking for people after
Red Sandunes at Coongie Lakes
Rhonda & Steve amongst the blooms. their first, second, even third attempts to reach the top failed.
The trip was trouble free except for one flat tyre, it takes us about 30 mins to change it and we’re back on the road. We left Steve and Rhonda at Windorah and have been exploring more outback national parks lapping up the variety in solitude, scenery and splendour. We have been able to do so much riverside camping and have campfires in so many places, the Barcoo River towns have opened us vast tracts of riverside space for free or $2 per night camping. They’re smart as they have realized it brings and keeps tourists in their towns and generates dollars.
October 2008: Reunions in Charlieville, then back to Brissie -then where?.
We are due to meet up with Joan and Bob (again!) this time in Charlieville where they and other friends, Bev and Graeme are visiting as part of a train trip, before we return to Brissie to sell Sherman and upgrade to a new Super-camper, the Quantum, the ones we’ve been road-testing. From there, we have decided to do some part-time hospitality work in various areas that take our fancy, so will undertake some
On Top of Big Red.
Doesn't look much from here does it? ‘upskilling’ eg Caravan Park Management Course, upgrade driving licences to include rigid vehicles etc as part of becoming nomadic worker/wanderers. Sounds great doesn’t it?
The general plan from here is head south around November, Xmas somewhere then be in Morgan SA just after Xmas to meet up with our best buddies for a week on a luxury houseboat back on the Mighty Murray River -what there still is of it! From there we think it’s back to WA to see Ada, Syd’s mum and perhaps find some short-term work that appeals…and yet…as you all know :
Things could change!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.319s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 10; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0621s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
