Blogs from Melrose, South Australia, Australia, Oceania

We backtracked a bit today. First it was back to Moonta Mines Museum to ride the tourist railway because it’s schedule is Sat/Sun/Wed and public holidays at the moment. It’s all well and good travelling outside of school holidays, but sometimes attractions don’t run everyday unless they are catering to holidaying families. Our train driver, Geoff, delivered some commentary (and Dad jokes!) along the train’s route and recorded commentary filled in the gaps to provide us with a very good idea of how tough life was at the Moonta Mines. We lunched again in Moonta, but at a different cafe to spread our $$ around town. After lunch we headed back to Kadina to fill up with diesel at the BP. The BP is opposite the water tower so we took the opportunity to photograph it ... read more

Went camping on The Roaming Swagman MRA Rally, held at Melrose in the mid north of South Australia. We arrived on Friday evening and had the tents setup just after dark. We enjoyed a fabulous Mussamon Curry (even if I say so myself) and a few wines by the campfire. Great discussion and not a very late night considering. After a fabulous breakfast we headed off on our motor bikes over to Peterborough to investigate the Steam Train museum and visit the motorcycle museum. The weather was quite hot in Melrose but atleast 8 degrees cooler in Peterborough. We went through Orroroo and found a Giant Red Gum tree that was estimated to be around 500 years old. It had a circumference of almost 11m at the base. We headed back for a late lunch and ... read more

Was sad saying gooddye to our giude Sam. He was such good fun and really added to the trip. We were teasing him about how bad things were when he only drove a BMW and didn't really believe him, however we all got to see it. Mind you he is tall and needed the leg room!!! Saturday lazed around Cairo waiting to head out at 3:30. We had had a great time, met great people and now it was time to go. Landed at Dubai wher we said goodbye to Pete who was going straight through, whoops via K. L. which was a surprise...not a good one !!!! No sleep on the plane as very cramped and full. However landed at Perth 6pm wher Steve (Pyke) met us. Was great to see him. Went to Steve ... read more

On Sunday we went on a very long walk (9 km) through Alligator Gorge. It cost $7.00 to park our car. If you go there, you walk down a big staircase to the bottom of the gorge. Turn right and the first place you come to is called the Terraces and the rocks have lots of ripples. The ripples are sand patterns left from the ancient sea bed that once was in the Flinders Ranges. On our way we found some interesting stones. The gorge walls were orange and had lots of layers. Some parts were very slippery as water was flowing along the gorge. We then climbed a hill and walked to Eaglehawk Dam where we saw a big fire water supply and kangaroos. BlueGum Flat was the next landmark. The last part of the ... read more