Blogs from Dalhousie, South Australia, Australia, Oceania

It is the third day of my compulsory rural component of my 457 visa requirement. We are required to work hard and help Chris Whittle esq with his overland adventure. After rising early and enjoying a morning swim in the steaming warm springs we make breakfast and packed up camp including the tent and Mr Whittle’s bedding, he has organised the expedition to the finest detail and is meticulous in the packing of the transport. Before departing tent pegs are licked clean, tent poles polished, wheel nuts are tightened with in an inch of their lives due to a previous unfortunate event which was of course no fault of the meticulous Mr Whittle. We make sure Mr Whittle is comfortable in the passenger seat and I drive the onerous and precarious drive to the town of ... read more

Moonlight Bubbles Waking up at Dalhousie, I peeled back my curtain to watch the sunrise over the scrub, it was a cool morning but it felt quite easy to get up. We had spent some time considering our next move, do we do the Simpson Desert or don't we? This is an opportunity that unexpectedly presented itself and perhaps it is one that we needed to take full advantage of, after all we are virtually sat on the edge of the desert and it would be a shame not to do it while we are so close. Knowing that we would be on our own, this was a big factor for us, but equally we know that there is a fair amount of traffic on this route at the moment and if we had any problems ... read more

Coward Springs(CS) via William Creek(WC), Algebuckina Bridge(AB) ,Oodnadatta(O), Hamilton mud flats(HMF) to Dalhousie Hot Springs.(DHS)- (1798 km to 2238 km ) - Note long day of driving on Oodnadatta track and rougher tracks to Dalhousie. CADES DIARY. Oodnadatta Track. Driving from 0930 am to 6 pm .Our Destination : Dalhousie Springs, a ~38 oC lake.... read more

Arrived at the “Pink Roadhouse”, Oodnadatta for lunch. Had a bite to eat and followed their instructions as to tyre pressure for the road to Dalhousie (even rougher than the Oodnadatta Track). 20km out from Oodnadatta we had a strange sound to pull over and find the rear windscreen with a small hole and the rest of it shattering. While Rod was cleaning up I got to pull out the trusty Sat Phone and called Mum to get it touch with our local Toyota dealer and to arrange for a replacement to be sent to Alice Springs. Well thank you very much Frankston Toyota for arranging all of this - and for ringing us back to save us the phone bill. I dread to think what the boss will think when he gets the bill! After ... read more