Sunday 9th July Murray Sunset NP
Two weeks ago we were in Siem Reap; one week ago at Frankie's 2nd birthday; and now we're on Day Two of our long-proposed, but very little planned, trip up north in the White House.
I often get a tad apprehensive about leaving on a trip like this; Alison gets more excited about it. It usually takes a day or two to settle into it and that's what happened this time too.
We had told people that we would leave on Saturday, and we did. We had both house and flat in a suitable state to leave (we hope) for a couple of months; we even went out for a “slide show” on Friday afternoon. When we got home I thought I should check the van's oil (which, after 10 months, I've never done) but couldn't find the bonnet release lever! I had to look it up on the computer!
This did result in departure being later than perhaps expected, so that we began by driving down to central Castlemaine and having our morning coffee at Tortoise. We managed to park our rather large vehicle around the corner, in Barker St., with an empty loading zone space in front; but just before leaving, a lady came and parked in it and dashed into the laundromat. And we found that we couldn't easily unpark it! We were rather boxed in. I had to go in and ask her to move a little.
But then – off we went. We decided to go directly to Mildura, and the most direct way was along the Calder Highway. It was quite easy driving – we stopped for lunch in Wycheproof, and ended up in Mildura just before 6pm. We'd rung the River End Caravan Park and managed, after a bit of to and fro-ing, to find it. This is the only caravan park the White House has ever stayed in; it was nice before and was nice again. And being connected to power we ran the split for heating a lot of the evening.
(At lunchtime, we went to make coffee. Where was the coffee? Alison remembered putting it in in a very obvious spot, but we couldn't find it! After trying to decide between tea and hot chocolate instead, she remembered it was under the flap of the sink. We had coffee!)
I was, I think, a bit tired after getting ready to leave and driving further than we usually do.
But this morning I was refreshed. We both had a long hot shower, and washed our hair; and then investigated our toilet, which we've never used. We think on this trip there will probably be times when it would be good to be able to use it. We worked it all out, then went to the supermarket; before going across the border to the Buronga (NSW) arid area botanic gardens. They were quite nice – very familiar vegetation, but all labelled and explained. But.. a good place to visit.
As we left, we passed a row of fruit-laden citrus trees. We stopped and picked some.
After getting more fuel and checking the tyre pressures (another thing I've never done before) the next stop was Mildura Tourist Info. Here we found they were very strict about taking fruit over the border into South Australia. And we'd just picked all these oranges and mandarins!
So, we drove out towards SA. And when we stopped for lunch, at the lake at Cullulleraine, we spent a lot of the time stewing apples and oranges – and freezing some of them as well. According to Google, this is a reasonable thing to do. We'll see. Our lunch consisted almost entirely of fruit.
We continued. It seemed reasonable, as it was getting late, to stop this side of the border; so when we got to Murray Sunset National Park, we headed down a side road (West Settlement Road). The road was reasonable but doing a U-turn was not very feasible; eventually we got to an intersection, and we have parked just off the road there. It is a remote and quiet spot. We went for a walk just before dusk and saw only many kangaroos.
I am feeling more settled. There is a bit of wind blowing but no rain expected – it's rain I worry about when staying in this very non-4WD vehicle, down a dirt track.
It's a warmer night tonight and we haven't felt the need for the diesel heater.
Into South Australia tomorrow.
Monday 10th July World's End Gorge, near Burra
It was a lovely night's sleep no noises at all, a little bit of very light rainfall. It was after 8am before we got up and had mandarin and apple as a starter for breakfast, to finally use up all our fruit. Then after a bit of muesli we packed up and drove out the 3km to the highway; on the way seeing more kangaroos and a big mob of emus, who were very friendly; they didn't just run away, and a big one came up quite close.
Soon we crossed the border. One of the clocks in the car automatically adjusted the time, the other one didn't. At Yamba we had to stop at the quarantine checkpoint; we passed. Luckily we'd stopped in Victoria last night, so the frozen oranges were frozen solid. If they hadn't been, they would have been out!
On into Renmark. Tourist Info. A walk around town. It seemed a sad, spread-out, down at heel town; the town centre was quite empty, lots of vacant shops; we looked for a nice cafe for our morning coffee, but didn't find one. We did find an op shop, well organised but without a pleasant vibe.
We drove out – passing a big shopping centre on the way out, with supermarkets and a Big W. Perhaps this is where Renmark's soul is. On through the riverland. Sort of interesting, but also a bit dull – partly, perhaps, because of the solidly overcast skies. We kept looking for a cafe; Barmera; Cobdogla; no luck, so in the end we drove into Banrock Station, just beyond Kingston on Murray. Here, at last, we got a good coffee.
Also here, we were able to go for a walk. Down to their boardwalk, but not over it, because it had all been washed away in the floods. But good to have a walk, and a pleasant area to have it in.
We continued. At a lookout just short of Waikerie we stopped for a late lunch. Not as late as yesterday, but still about 2pm. On again, to Morgan and then to Burra – and this is where the day fell apart a bit. Alison driving, me navigating – not an ideal scenario, especially when road signs to Morgan were conspicuously absent. We ended up driving back into Waikerie, where there was a map outside tourist info describing the right route; we drove off that way, but it was more than 20km before we came across a sign mentioning Morgan at all!
So it was not one of our best afternoons. But it improved; we turned along the road to Burra, along a straight road through flat saltbush sheep farming country. Alison found a “ticked” campsite at World's End Gorge on Burra Creek, ~ 25km short of Burra. We came here at 5pm or so – a large camping area by the creek, with lots a some of the largest gum trees I've ever seen. Everyone is well spread out, and it's very quiet except for the birds at dusk. They aren't.
We've walked to and fro through the campsite and come home for dinner when it got dark. It's a clear night, and cold outside, but is quite warm still inside our house.
Tuesday 11th July Terowie
After yesterday, we had to improve things a bit. It was helped by not having 100% cloud cover today. We slept in till 8am, and began the day with a walk (again!) around the creek / gorge. (We found the gorge – very small – but the area is so beautiful, with the most magnificent trees.) Then we made a coffee before we left so that, if Burra (25km away) disappointed, we wouldn't feel we'd missed out too much.
After a very straightforward drive, Burra did not disappoint. A very lovely old town which reminded us of Maldon. It was full of caravans, but we found a spot to park easily, and went to tourist info. The girl here was very helpful; we asked about coffee (amongst other things) and Alison ended up by buying her one from the nearby cafe. (She does these nice spontaneous things sometimes.)
It was a very pleasant town to wander around, and that's what we did; we bought some bread rolls for lunch and made delicious ham and coleslaw rolls out of them; and I'd defrosted one of the oranges we'd frozen, and it turned out very little the worse for the experience; we peeled and ate it. Then went to the cafe for a coffee for ourselves.
A drive up to the lookout over the open-cut mine, and we headed out north. To Terowie. We knew nothing of the town, but it had a “ticked” campsite in our “Camps Australia” book; and so far, the ticked campsites have been excellent. We found Terowie is a little dying town, but a very pleasant place to stop. We are camped at an old railway siding; it is spacious, quiet, and we are the only ones here. It was very nice wandering around the town, and then reading on the old railway platform in the last of the afternoon sun.
(Terowie used to be a major railway hub where 3 different rail gauge lines met, and a lot of the work was trans-shipment of people and goods.)
And the van's diesel heater is running and is very effective; and we've charged up both little computers and one phone in the last 24 hours, with no apparent overload of the van's battery system.
Wednesday 12th July Port Augusta
It got cold last night – we had to break out the extra doona. And, lying in bed this morning, it occurred to me that the dew on the skylight above looked more like ice. Alison got up and opened it, and found ice all over the roof. And a heavy frost outside. So after getting out of the shower, and putting on my down parka, I even turned the heater on again for a little!
Off we went. It was only 25km into Peterborough; we opted not to stop there, though it seemed a reasonable town. We went further, to Orroroo; and this town we were really taken with. A lovely well-maintained town, and everyone we came across there seemed happy and friendly. We were looking in the window of the op shop (closed on Wednesdays) when a man got out of a car and said he was waiting for the key – they were opening on Wednesday mornings, to see how it went. So after a walk around town, and a coffee in one of the three cafes, we had a look around it too.
Then, it was on. Straight to Port Augusta, the largest town in the area. We arrived at 12.30, went to tourist info to find out about caravan parks and shops, bought some bread rolls, and went to the Shoreline caravan park. Put on a load of washing, ate lunch, hung the washing out (and finding the plastic clothes pegs we'd brought had got too old – about 40% broke when we tried to use them.)
And – after this mornings ice – it had been sunny and it became slightly warm! I changed into shorts (!), got down the bicycles, and we rode back into town. We need to leave here fully stocked; no town of any size now until Alice Springs. It was very pleasant riding in, and around, the town. We came back, heavily laden, as the evening chill was starting. Shorts off again.
Clothes in, pack everything away, fill up with water; we ended up having a weak G&T, and going over to the camp kitchen to make dinner after 7.30 – to find that the kitchen was lit only from the glass-doored fridge there, was poorly stocked with cookware, had no crockery or cutlery, and was adjacent to a TV room where a group of people were watching the rugby. Not really ideal, but.... we did cook and eat there.
Now we're back inside, connected to power with the roof split giving us some heat. Cold outside, again.
Thursday 13th July Mulga Well, north of Glendambo
We began with a walk along the beach next to the caravan park (cool, but with a cloudless blue sky which persisted all day) before driving back into town to get some rolls for lunch and fill up with fuel. We are heading up into sparsely populated areas now.
We drove out to the intersection of the roads to WA and NT (tidied up a bit since we were here 27 years ago, and not as iconic now) and headed away north. Unfortunately into a strong northerly wind which has not helped our fuel economy. But the Stuart Highway, so far, is in excellent condition, the traffic not too heavy; we mosey along at 80km/hr, and we never obstructed drivers behind much at all. As driving goes, it was very good.
No cafes today, and we didn't expect any. We stopped for our morning tea at Ranges View Rest Area, and drove for most of the day; sometimes flat, sometimes undulating scrubby country with a number of large salt lakes. We had lunch at Island Lagoon rest area, overlooking some of them; drove through Pimba; stopped at a “ticked” rest area for afternoon tea at Lake Hart, but walked down to the lake beforehand. It is a very pretty area; we had to cross the Ghan railway line to access the lakefront. (We have seen a couple of very long freight trains on the line today.)
It was too soon to stop; and the Lake Hart rest area not a special as some of the other “ticked” ones; we continued on, past Glendambo. There are rest areas 30 and 60km beyond Glendambo; we though we'd start looking for somewhere when we got to the 30km one, at 5pm. But we found it quite reasonable, quite large and varied, and empty; we stopped.
Another car came in soon after; they've camped up at the far end and we can't see or hear them.
We've had dinner earlier than often (all done by 7pm). And while it's cooling down now, it's not nearly as chilly as it has been earlier. It has become shorts-in-the-afternoons weather.
And Alison and I've not had any real disagreements today.
And the cloudless, moonless night sky here? Magnificent!
Friday 14th July Coober Pedy
Mulga Well was a good spot for sleep. Some traffic at night, but not a lot, and we were well off the road. I dispensed with an undershirt – the afternoons are too warm. And by 8.30am (our earliest start yet) we were back on the road for the 210km drive to Coober Pedy. Very straightforward; I drove for an hour, Alison drove for an hour, I drove again. Easy driving with not much traffic. We stopped at Ingomar North rest area at 11am for a coffee, then drove on into Coober Pedy.
27 years ago, the last time we drove up here, I don't recall doing anything in Coober Pedy at all. So this time, we thought we should. We drove in to tourist info – always a good start. The lady there was very nice – French, married to a German opal miner; there are a lot of mines here, and mine tours, and opal shops; she told us of two free camping spots as well. One is in the middle of town, at the “Old Timers' Mine”. We went there – and, while it is sort of wall-to-wall caravans, it's not bad. We nabbed a reasonably big spot, down at the back.
We had lunch. Then, went for a “self-guided” tour down the Old Timers' mine. It was worthwhile, and quite interesting. When we came out, we discovered there were toilets here as well, which we hadn't known about. So many vehicles these days are self-contained (like ours).
Then, time to do our own thing. We unloaded the bikes, and rode off into town. Up the main street to the roundabout, and then off to a cafe Alison had read about. We found it – but was it the right one? We had one of our little disagreements here, but then had a nice coffee with a brownie and all was well.
We rode down the main street, going into a couple a opal shops. Alison was looking for something like the boulder opal kangaroo we found years ago in Lightning Ridge; there was nothing anything like it. So we went to the IGA supermarket.
Then, time for Alison to go noodling. I left her at one of the sites for this, and went off for more of a bike ride. Up around the back and then up to Tom Cat Hill Road, where we'd been told there was another free camping area. I rode up the road quite a way, but never found it. Where we have parked is the best option!
Back to Alison, and then back home. The bikes are packed away back on the bike rack, and my long pants are back on again; but it is still relatively warm here.
We had dinner – and everyone else around seemed to go to bed, except for a few who'd been out to the pub. It was so quiet that I didn't even feel we could watch TV, because of the sound. So we went to bed, really early – at 9.30pm.
Saturday 15th July Agnes Creek, north of Marla
Being so early to bed meant that 1. I didn't sleep as well as sometimes, and 2. I woke up early. But not as early as many others! A number of caravans hitched up and left just as it was getting light. We were quite early, moving out at 8.30am. Into the main street for bread, fuel, and water. The water is desalinated bore water, and costs $1 for 30 litres; but the payment machine was broken, so we just filled up. It is better water than Port Augusta's.
Then, it was off to the Breakaways – a range of very colourful hills ~20km to the north-east. Along the sealed Oodnadatta road to the Dog Fence, then past a sign saying “4WD and high clearance only”. We have neither of these, but we had heard that the road was fine, and it was. Slow going in parts with corrugations, but no great problem at all.
It was quite spectacular. We stopped multiple times, took heaps of photos; the only downside was a strong cold wind, and clouds developing in the sky. (This led to not wearing shorts today, but also to much better fuel consumption as this wind is a southerly.)
We stopped at Kanku Pulka lookout, up on the escarpment, and had our morning coffee there. Inside, out of the wind. Then on Angkata lookout, before heading back out onto the Stuart Highway again, and continuing on north. Swap drivers at the first rest area, stop for lunch at the second; then just – driving north. We stopped at the roadhouse in Marla (the last town in SA) for a coffee; then drove another 87km to this rest area at a tad after 5pm. It is another “ticked” one; and while there are ~15 other vehicles here, it is a very widespread area, next to dry creek with large gum trees, and we are not cramped at all.
Sunday 16th July Henbury Meteorite Craters
Agnes Creek was a very good spot for the night. We slept in. Turned on the hot water eater for our shower, as every morning – and, as on the last few mornings, waited for the gas to run out. Still, it didn't! But it must, soon.
And then got on the road again, north to the NT border. Alison (especially) had worried about fruit and vegetable quarantine at the border, but... there was nothing. Perhaps a bin at the border – but that was all. The country was very green the whole way, with the flatter country in South Australia becoming much more hilly into the NT. Very pleasant driving. We arrived at Kulgera, the first roadhouse in the NT, about 11am; it is a very old-style roadhouse / pub. Alison bought me an expensive cup of coffee, which fortunately was a good cup of coffee.
On again. Our camps book had shown no campsites south of Alice Springs yesterday, but today I found a different page (larger scale) with quite a lot! We stopped at the Desert Oaks rest area for lunch, then continued to the Ernest Giles Road.
This is the way to the Henbury meteorite craters. 11km of gravel road, quite corrugated, with a few areas where there had been recent water damage; so the going was fine, but slow. Second gear most of the time. We got to the turnoff and had another 4km of the same, before getting to the parks campsite. As in Victoria, you're meant to book these online; but there's no phone reception here, so......
We camped in one of the four spots. It is a very pretty area, and very quiet. We arrived about 3pm – our earliest arrival anywhere, so far. This gave us time for Alison to fasten a magnet to the end of a walking pole, and walk over to the craters looking for bits of meteorite. Not successfully, though. But the craters are very pretty, now with trees and shrubs growing in them, and a couple with little lakes as well.
Another couple turned up, so we have neighbours tonight. A couple of about our age in a 4WD camper, who seem fine. We had a coffee, read for a while, talked to the neighbours, Shane and Penny. A walk back to the water at dusk to see wildlife – but only crows and a pigeon.
Penny & Shane Bellthorpe
0427 177 779
Karungkarni Art, Kalkarindji
Monday 17th July Trephina Gorge
A lovely quiet place to be. We thought Penny and Shane would have left early, but no – so after another chat we both drove out at almost the same time. The 15km trip out to the highway took, as it did on the way in, the best part of ¾ hour. But then, it was up the highway. It looked rather hillier and windier than we remembered – until we remembered that we'd never driven this section before! Last time, in Big Red, we went on the 4WD track up the Finke to Hermannsburg.
After driving through country which looked much less green than what we've been used to, and past a big new housing development south of Heavitree Gap, we drove into Alice Springs at ~ 12.30pm; with Alison driving and me navigating, which is not our preferred way of doing it. We needed to park the vehicle; not so easy. Most of the parking spots are angles, and with the bikes on the back we poke out too much. We ended up at the sports ground at the north end of town.
Then – a walk. Tourist info, which is in the middle of town with no parking at all. A strange place to have it, but.... They were quite helpful, though. We walked down to the RFDS cafe at the south end of town for coffee and cake; checked out the showers at the council offices (cost: $6.50); went to call in at Central Clinic, to find that it's not there any more. Up Todd Mall, which has many more closed up shops than it used to; and over to the supermarkets for some food.
Late afternoon, we drove out again – out to the East McDonnells, to Trephina Gorge. A lovely drive in late afternoon light, with the sun behind us. We stopped at Emily Gap, for a little walk; we started out riding our bikes along the trail to Jessie Gap, but I found the track too rocky and not enjoyable enough, so we turned around, At Trephina Gorge, the NP campgrounds have the same rules (book on-line, but there's no phone reception, so we couldn't); the sites are all numbered, but we've found a nice quiet one.
Tomorrow, we plan to stay here and have a no-driving day!
Tuesday 18th July Trephina Gorge
This morning, the gas finally did run out. I woke at 3.15am to see the red light on, on the fridge; I got up and turned it off. But then slept very little – I don't know why; I had nothing to worry about. As a result we got up quite early, changed the gas bottle (really easy when the gas bottle has the right fitting!), turned the fridge on again; put on walking shoes, packed the daypacks, and at 8.30am set off. Wearing shorts and a thin jacket.
We'd decided to do the Ridgetop Walk, a 5-hour trip up on top of the ridge, leading down into the “Chain of Ponds” and ending at John Hayes Waterhole. This is an 8km walk from where we are camped, along 4WD track and road.... we plan to just walk back home.
The gorge, in the morning sun, looked magnificent. We walked up – and up – and eventually came out on the ridgetop, with magnificent views around. Up a side track to Taylor's Lookout, atop a high bluff; here Alison wrote in the visitor's book there. A couple of blokes appeared – we've seen no-one else on this walk – and wrote in it too. And - “you're from Castlemaine!” They were from Bendigo, and had seen the only other visitor's book Alison had written in, in Coober Pedy – where they announced loudly to another couple in the museum there “You're from Castlemaine!” but got no response. It wasn't us.
Then down, down, down, and through the high gorge of Chain of Ponds. There was was water in some of the ponds, but mostly somewhat stagnant and not so enticing for a dip; but visually, it was splendid. The walk finished with a walk up and around the top of the gorge, before dropping down to the campground.
Then, the walk out. The 4WD track was for real – we couldn't have driven in. A couple of car passed us; we were hoping for a lift, but the first didn't stop or offer, and the second had no room. After 4km we got to the main road, where after 15 minutes or so we were offered a lift home.
We got home at 2-ish. And both collapsed a little bit; it was a really good walk, but we've not been doing nearly as much walking as we usually do in the past couple of months.
After a couple of hours doing little, we'd recovered enough to go on another walk – a much shorter one, the Gorge Walk – along the western rim of Trephina Gorge, and then back along the bottom. Another good walk.
Back home at 5pm, and time to think about cooking dinner on the gas barbecue here. I went off to cook it -which was difficult, as it was a ½ chicken. I ended up cutting it ito pieces on the barbecue; and it ended up properly cooked.
After dinner, it was dark already. We walked over and chatted to the Bendigo people we'd met this morning. I was still in shorts, and it was getting a bit chilly. So we excused ourselves, came home and had a hot shower and put on clean clothes. Like this, inside, we're very comfortable.
It's our 4th night since we filled up with water, and we still have ¼ tank left.
Wednesday 19th July Alice Springs
We got up and left Trephina Gorge, and straight back to Alice Springs; and straight down Ilparpa Road to Wanngardi Caravan Park. It was before 10am, and we're in their last available powered site. We immediately went over and did two loads of washing, hung it out, and headed into Alice Springs town. This time, we knew where to go and park; and we walked around town doing various shopping in town things – all very successfully. We went back to the RFDS cafe for lunch, stocked up on food etc., and at 2.30 drove back out to the caravan park.
Here – after reading in the sun for ½ hour – and being in phone range for a change – we looked at our emails, paid bills, etc. etc.; and at 4.30 went over for drinks with others here. This was really a waste of time, but the park managers arrange it and I felt we should support it. We left it early to go for a ride down to the meant-to-be-nearby claypans; 700m down the road, then off onto a track. A sandy track which became sandier, far and away the deepest sand I've ever had to ride in. After a km, not having found any claypans, we gave up and rode home.
Then I went over to the camp kitchen while Alison cleaned things up in the van, and even did some ironing. Unfortunately the cleaning took longer because she found red wine had escaped from a cask – fortunately not disastrously.
Now its after 9pm; I still need to load on the next website page before bed. And then tomorrow we plan to continue north. My jeans were washed today, and I plan to see if I can start the day tomorrow in shorts!