Berri

After four days in the Flinders Rangers we stopped on the Murray River at Berri, on our way to Victoria. It was a pretty spot and we enjoyed a few lovely bike rides along the Murray River. Very nice to see a large body of water after so much desert and so many dry river beds!

So over posing for photos....

Flinders Rangers

Our spell of cooler weather continued as we headed into the Flinders Rangers. We camped by a dry creek bed surrounded by huge red river gums and explored Brachina Gorge, another deserted settlement and the very impressive Wilpena Pound. It was somewhere Tim and I had wanted to visit for a while and we weren't disappointed.

Oodnadatta Track

The road out of Dalhousie Springs was just as bad as the road in, it was slow going and very bumpy. Finally we came out onto the Oodnadatta Track, the landscape is very beautiful, baron & dry and as we passed ruins from outposts left over from the old Ghan train line we could hardly imagine living out there.
We stopped at Coward Springs for another swim, this spring was a lot cooler and we all enjoyed a refreshing dip, it must be a little awkward during the peak season though, it's not very big.
As we approached Lake Eyre we were all pretty excited. It was completely dry but the salty, crusty surface gave way to thick gooey mud, the kids had a ball running on it. We could see a vehicle in the distance, which was past the edge of the lake. It looked stuck and when we made our way out to it we found two young backpackers who had been trying to get out of the thick gooey mud for a while. They were very relieved to see us and even more relieved when Tim was able to get them out!

Out to the edge of the desert

We left Alice Springs on a very wet morning after saying good bye to Sophia and Candice (great playmates during our stay in Alice) and set off to Mount Dare (the middle of no where) and Dalhousie Springs. We stumbled onto the geographical centre of Australia on our way which is known as Lambert Gravitational Centre. The road to Mount Dare was rough, slow and rocky but we made it in time for a cold drink at the bar before closing.
The road out to Dalhousie Springs made the road to Mount Dare look tame. It took us three hours to travel 70kms, thankfully we were rewarded with a cool day and a beautiful warm spring to soak our tired travelling bones in. It is a true oasis on the edge of the Simpson Desert.

Henbury Meteorite Craters

After an amazing week exploring gorges and gigantic rocks we headed back to Alice Springs for one more week of work before going south. On the way we stopped off at the Henbury Meteorite Craters, not as impressive to look at after everything we had seen that week but when you considered how small the meteorites were and the holes they made, we were impressed.

The Olgas

So amazing that these are so close to Uluru and made from a completely different rock! We walked through the Valley of the Winds, it was beautiful, breathtaking and hot! Lola finally reached her limit and declared "I hate going for walks".

Uluru

After Kings Canyon we were very excited to spot Uluru rising out of the distance, it is huge! On the afternoon we arrived we drove around the base, and the next day we did a guided tour and loved the cave paintings and stories that went along with them. That afternoon we rode around it and the next morning we walked around in the opposite direction. We felt very lucky to see it covered in rain and looking silver, basking in sunlight bright red with a blue sky as well as with storm clouds rolling in and it looking almost purple.

Kings Canyon

From Palm Valley and Hermannsburg we headed south via the Mereenie Loop to Kings Canyon. The road was quite rough, corrugated and gave us our first flat tyre. Thankfully it was just a slow leak and we didn't know about it until the next morning. After changing the tyre (after Tim changed the tyre) we did the Kings Canyon Rim Walk, it was already hot at 8am but off we went with over 5kms to cover. It was spectacular with the view distracting us from the heat all the way around. The kids loved looking over the edge as we made our way around the rim. The next morning we did the easier walk up the valley.

West Macdonnell Ranges

After 2 weeks of work in Alice we headed west to visit Ellery Creek Big Hole, the Ochre Pits and Ormiston Gorge, it was a great day exploring, walking, climbing and swimming, just beautiful! We spent a night at Ormiston Gorge and then on to Glen Helen Gorge, where Tim finally swam in the Finke River after missing his chance to 30 years ago. We carried on down the rough dirt road to Hermannsburg & out to Palm Valley. It is an ancient valley full of palms & cicads left over from the dinosaur era, just breath taking!!

 

Ellery Big Hole and the Ochre Pits

Ormiston Gorge

East Macdonnell Ranges

There is so much to do around Alice we decided to stay for longer. We did a trip out to the East Macdonnell Ranges and visited Emily's Gap, Trephina Gorge and Arltunga, a deserted gold town. We got to see our first cave paintings, and the kids kept asking if they could come back with Maddi & Jack... so much to explore!

Alice Springs

We got our tourist on in Alice and visited the reptile park as well as the desert park. The kids loved them both. They couldn't wait to hold the olive python (sorry grandad snake warning) and loved the bird show. We also went to watch The Ghan leave for Adelaide, an impressive 27+ carriages.

Mt Isa & beyond

What can I say, Mt Isa is hot, dry & not very pretty. It certainly made us appreciate Bulli even more than we already did! We had a quick look around, stocked up & made a few minor repairs. On our way to the NT border we stopped to check out a big sink hole at Camooweal. Before long we were in the NT & pretty excited! We made a stop at Barkly Station and Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles) before heading south to Alice Springs. We scampered around the Devil's Marbles for an hour in 40˚C, we were all amazed at their size, colour and formations... beautiful!!

Winton

We weren't overly impressed with Longreach so didn't stay too long. We were all looking forward to Winton & the dinosaurs! The day we arrived it was 40ºC and although we had a little shade at the caravan park it wasn't enough. The fridge & freezer were both struggling to keep things cool in heat like that & Tim & I were craving something cold... so we bought a case. It was a hilarious set up, I had one beer, Tim had a few more & in the heat they went to our heads pretty quickly. The kids were unimpressed and completely zoned out while we giggled & carried on, it took over an hour longer to set up than normal. The dinosaur stampede was great as well as the museum & lab & we all LOVED the musical fence with its junkyard instruments & the road trains. It's such a small little town and like stepping in a time warp, but we all loved it.

Longreach

We headed north to Longreach and were all pretty excited to be in 'The Outback'! We stopped off at Barcaldine along the way to see the Tree of Knowledge and have a drink in an outback pub. Lola made friends with the locals very quickly!
Once in Longreach we visited the QANTAS Museum & Stockman Hall of Fame and stopped at the river on our way out of town for a fish.

On the road

The distance between stops is now getting bigger so the car trips are getting longer. The landscape has really changed and it is beautiful. Lots of rugged landscapes, big skies, shimmering heat haze and road trains! At times though the kids are otherwise occupied.

Emerald

The drive north from Lake Boondoomah to Emerald was a long one, and thanks to lots of road works was even longer than it needed to be. We ended up doing a one night stop over in Injune, which was completely unmentionable. Once we arrived in Emerald, we decided to stay 20kms south at Lake Maraboon and was nice to have the lake to cool down in and gave Tim another opportunity to chase red claw. At last he was successful and he ended up with 6, one was the size of a small lobster.
We did a day trip up to Sapphire and Rubyvale to try our luck fossicking. After an underground mine tour (including bats... yuk) we bought a bag of wash, it was way too hot to do our own digging. Lola found a beautiful green sapphire that was gem quality, a nice size and definitely worth cutting, while Rex and I also found a few smaller ones worth cutting. Tim got the bug and hasn't found a gem quality one yet, but we still have a bag of wash to sift through!
Both Sapphire and Rubyvale were like shanty towns almost. There are tin shacks, caravans and make-do homes because the claims aren't aloud to have permanent dwellings on them. The machinery they use to sift the wash looks like a collection of bits from the last 150 years and the surrounding landscape looks as though every inch has been dug up at some stage with uneven mounds of dirt everywhere. Not exactly beautiful, but an interesting way of life.

Lake Boondooma

After a week in Toowoomba catching up with Hugh, Fiona, Jess, EK & Will as well as mum & dad (thanks for having us Stones!) we headed north to Lake Boondooma, just north of Dalby. It was a great spot to bush camp, do some fishing and chase the elusive red claw! The temperature is starting to climb, and we were grateful for some water to cool off in, although we couldn't find a wave!

Brisbane

September 20th we arrived at Scarborough in Brisbane at Scott and Kaz's place getting ready to farewell Jac on her trip of a lifetime within a trip of a lifetime. We spent several days there, several at Cam and Carly's and Berny and Lindy's place. We enjoyed generous hospitality, great times and plenty of laughs with all the ex Qantas Sydney crew, old school / rugby mates Macca, Rein and their families plus new friends Mick and Shondell. The kids also enjoyed plenty of good company with the Argles, Wood, Murfett, Raithel, McCarthy and Racsh kids as well as meeting new friends Ryan, Macy and Luke.

We did some great day trips. One to Rainbow Beach with the Woods where Andrew, Shantelle and their family gave us an awesome day out; 4WDriving, coloured sands, whales, dolphins, turtles and more. One of the best days of our trip so far... Wish Jac could have been there.

The other trip was to McCleay and Peel Islands with Rein, Therese, Katie & Ashley. Great scenery, boating and biscuit riding. An awesome day out!

Thanks to all our wonderful friends in Brisbane for their generous hospitality and some great times.

London, The Wedding & Barcelona

What can I say, I had the best time and can't believe how lucky I am to have had such a wonderful adventure! Thank you Mick & Serg, it was such a beautiful day and I am so grateful to have been able to celebrate it with you... Congratulations, am so happy for you both! Thanks to Carol, Mark, Abbey & Lyla for giving us a room in London, it was so good to hang out again. Big hugs to Jo & Steve and the rest of the crew in London, was so great to see you all again!!! Mere, am so grateful to have such a wonderful friend, it was great to travel with you again... how much fun did we have!

Peel Island, Brisbane

During the holidays we went to my dads friends house. His name is Ryan and he took us out on is boat with my Dad, Rex, Therese, Katy and Ashley. When we were out on the boat we go towed on the biscuit. I went on my own and it was fun, I also went on it with my Dad.
When I went on my own I was a bit scared, I got splashed in the face and it was very bumpy. I really enjoyed being towed on the biscuit.
After having rides on the biscuit we went to Peel Island and had some lunch. We went swimming and saw a stingray and lots of jellyfish.

By Lola

Rainbow Beach

During the holidays I went to Rainbow Beach with my friend Nathan and Addison and another family. When we got on the beach there was nothing much to see but after 300 metres we saw massive sand dunes with red, orange, yellow, white, grey, brown, black, pink and blue sand.

We drove on the beach for about an hour, then we turned off into a bush track. On the other side there was another track up to Double Island Point, so we walked up to the top and saw dolphins, turtles, manta rays, and whales.

When we were turning into the bush track to come back our cars engine made a weird banging noise and then we got stuck in soft sand. Lola panicked and started crying, but luckily my Dads friend helped us get out and keep going.

On the way back we collected different coloured sands and when we got back to my friends house we bought some bottles and put the sand into the bottles and it looked really cool.

By Rex

Caloundra

We had been given a tip from some Caloundra locals we met in Evans Head that Dickies Beach was a good place to stay and they were right. The beach was beautiful & the bike tracks all the way along the coast both north & south were great. We rode up to Currumundi Lake most afternoons to watch the sun set and for the kids to play on the mud flats... beautiful! Lola had her first encounter with a snake on the bike track, luckily as she skidded to a stop she didn't stop right on top of it.
Tim caught up for a coffee with an old Qantas friend so gives a shout out to Fitzy!!

Toowoomba

After Evans Head we dropped in to Toowoomba for a couple of days to catch up with Hugh, Fiona, Jess, Ella & Willie. Was great timing as the garden festival was on, weather was beautiful and we spent a lovely afternoon in the gardens... I see you William!

Evans Head

We had checked out Evans Head on our way to Lismore and thought it looked really nice down by the river, hence we booked in there for 4 nights to return after Lismore. We had a great time at Evans head.
Some nice bike rides, kayaking on the river, fishing and surfing. Rex and Lola had fun catching crabs on the sand flats at low tide until Rex had a run in with an oyster shell. We caught a couple of nice bream which Jac and I had for dinner. Jac caught some nice waves in just off the break wall. Lola made a pretty pipi garden on Chinamans beach. We all had such a good time here that we booked in for an extra night before heading up to Toowoomba.

Lismore

Our next stop was Lismore. We went there to visit our good friends Cel and Graham. They have a beautiful house near the centre of town. Grahams gourmet meals and Cels gourmet coffees were to die for. While there we went to a nice local market at The Channon, up to Protesters Falls in Nightcap National Park then on to Nimbin for a late lunch. It was a lovely Sunday out and great to spend a few days catching up with Cel and Graham.

Rex's Poem, My Granny

Rex had to write, perform and publish a poem for school. We think he has done such a great job, hope you enjoy it mum! Just click on the title below:

Rex's Poem, My Granny

Lola's Project

Lola needed to create a book on how to do a new sport, she then had to publish it or share it with other people so they could learn about it. This is her book. She would love to hear from anyone on what they thought of it.

Bundjalung National Park

Bundjalung National Park is just south of Evans Head and is lovely! There is a tidal creek that follows parallel to the beach for 4.5kms, it is absolutely pristine with amazing birdlife (and the occassional fighter jet from the airbase a bit further north). We had a few great kayak adventures, caught a couple of little fish and found out the house has been rented finally... all good! The 10 mile beach was too rough for swimming but was a nice view from the bushwalking tracks. The campsites were all hidden among the trees and so we felt really secluded. I knew camping under trees would mean spiders, I just didn't really think there would be so many!
Rexie did really well to put together a project on rocks and create his own museum, we were all very impressed.

Yamba

We are ready for some warm weather! We continued along the Old Grafton Road to Grafton, which followed the Clarence River. It was a beautiful drive, we went through an old 'ghost town' and through a hand cut tunnel in the rock face. Was really remote but very beautiful. Once we hit Grafton we headed North to Yamba and spent 4 days swimming, kayaking and fishing. We spent an afternoon exploring Angourie Blue Pools, it was nearly as beautiful as the Illawarra. It's now time to get lost on the north coast for a while, it won't be the first time!

Mann River

From the farm we headed towards the coast... it was time for some warmer weather! We made a two night stop at a little nature reserve on the Mann River, just outside Glenn Innes on the Old Grafton Road. It was a great spot, the river was beautiful with lots of big boulders to rock hop on. Falling asleep to the sound of the river was just lovely! The kids found a hide out on an island in the middle of the river. We hardly saw them during daylight hours, but unfortunately they paid with sand fly bites all over them... the joys of the outdoors!

Peter's Farm

The kids were really excited to visit the farm and we were excited to escape indoors overnight during the cold snap around Armidale. We spent two lovely days there and Tim got to spend some quality time with his uncle while helping him put up fences. The kids loved watching Jock the working dog round up the sheep as well as riding on the back of the ute everywhere they went. Lola managed to touch the only electric fence operating on the farm and the yelling gallop that followed was quite unique!