kings canyon area;

matt and I at the Standley Chasm

the lizards here lay on the road to heat up and expect cars to drive around them...

matt at the simpsons gap N.T

Dear chums

Louise here, again sorry for not posting earlier to the world, but, yes - once more its the fault of bloody Telstra and their crap service; what are we paying for? Anyways enough of that, and I'll relate a bit more of our trip;;; I am going back a bit now as we have had bugger all connectivity...

We left Ayers Rock and headed up the road a bit for Kings Canyon, a red rock escarpment and cliffs a few hours drive from Ayers Rock; There's a paying campsite, and we decided that the laundry bag was getting a bit full and decided to stay there and get domestic. Very nice place, great sunset views along the cliffs and a coin operated laundry - luxury... On entering the place there is a large sign warning about dingoes and saying not to try to feed or pet them as they are wild and can be dangerous. Hold that thought; Just after walking to the shop on site, what do we see in front of us, walking like he owned the place; yep - a dingo! I've never seen a wild one before and the way he just tripped around between the camper vans amazed me. Of course no camera on us, but would this face lie?

The next day we headed for the Kings Canyon area planning to do a walk around the rim, but can you believe it actually started raining, and as the walk up the side of the hill was quite steep we decided not to do it, just in case we came a cropper, and that would be the end of the trip. So we walked around inside the canyon and then up the road to the Katherine Springs 2km walk; by now the rain was a bit heavier and I broke out my old Warringah Council Rangers raincoat, a copy of the Drizabone, which I had brought along specially for this occasion! Matt broke out this lovely army camo one and off the pair of us went. Even in the wet it was good;

I am going to post this bit of the blog now and try another post after dinner; we are currently outside Darwin, after spending some time in Kakadu (which was amazing to say the least); and the connections even here are very slow;

keep smiling...

ULURU, THE OLGAS

Louise's old ranger work boots after the 10km walk around Uluru (Ayers Rock)

DEAR CHUMS

Louise here, sorry for not publishing a blog earlier than this, but we (again) have had zero coverage of the wi fi or the mobile phone (0437 397 222); damn you, bloody Telstra! But that aside, we have had a fantastic last few days. We had to stay at the Ayers Rock resort as, its the only place in town, but was very well laid out with great amenities. To enter the national park where Uluru is situated cost us $25 each for a 3 day pass; the weather was windy and cold (15C) top day temps and 2c at night, but sunny and clear; great conditions one would think for a great climb up 'the Rock'? Unfortunately, no... As we entered the park and paid our fees, there was the sign Matt did not want to read; Climb closed due to high wind conditions.

I, dear readers, did NOT want to climb the rock; signs are posted at various points from the local Anangu people asking people NOT to climb as the rock is a sacred site; plus the gruesome fact that over the last few years 35 people have died doing just that...its very steep to say the least.

So we decided to do the 'big walk' right around the rock; I have to say here we both had a very spiritual feeling when we approached the rock for the first time; it is massive; its 10km around and it says in the leaflet to allow 3 1/2 hrs; Ha! We thought, we can do it in less than that; Wrong again..

We walked for ages and it was just amazing, but by the end my legs were protesting loudly to stop...we checked out the part where the chain goes up the side for climbers to hang onto and honestly folks I got vertigo just looking at it.

The next day we came back again to have another go at the climb part for Matt, and again no go, closed again due to the wind, so we drove the 48km across the park to The Olgas; like Ayers Rock, but made of 'domes' and one is able to walk through these; we did the Valley of the winds walk; fully around, 7.4km and as the brochure states 'difficult in places'; too true; this was a 3 hr walk, and not for the faint hearted. Today my legs are still sore...

the sunset views for the Rock and the Olgas were also really good and for some reason the place is crowded with French tourists! Viewing 'the rock' we had to jostle with about 100 other campervans, all awaiting the magic moment.

The Olgas at sunset with full moon

when the aliens land, here is the arrow pointing the way! (or am I the only one who thinks this is what it looks like?) at The Olgas

matt at the sunset view of the Olgas; 24.7.10

matt sitting near one of the many caves on Ayers Rock; 26.7.10

matt at the rear of the Olgas

Uluru/ayers rock at sunset; full moon; 26.7.10

After Uluru, we went to Kings Canyon; and guess what; it rained! Anyways we shall download the photos of Kings canyon in the next blog (if we can get a signal); currently we are back in Alice Springs, we are visiting Stanley Chasm tomorrow, then heading north for the town of Katherine; and onto Kakadu and Darwin; Happily it has warmed up here and for once I am not typing this in my ugg boots; bring on the hot weather I say...

So amigos, ciao for now and pls leave any comments and become a follower of our blog...

Louise & matt (loma) xxxx

Our camper van was about 50 metres from where this pic was taken at a camp spot near Normanton in the gulf of Queensland. The sunset was absolutely amazing, the place was teeming with wildlife. 16.7.10

Well Hello again friends, Louise here, we are currently parked up in a proper Caravan park at the Ti-Tree Roadhouse in the Northern Territory; (i.e we paid to stay here). Why you ask? I was desperate to wash my hair! Our shower is a bit feeble in the van and a long hot shower was required: Believe it or not its quite cold here today, it was about 9c this morning. And I was wearing a skirt - go figure...

We parked up last night at a freebie camp spot just outside Tennant Creek, then drove for lunch to the Wycliff Well Roadhouse, which is the UFO hotspot of these parts, if not the whole country... Wycliff only comprised the roadhouse and a bit of a paying campsite out the back of same;;; population about 10 I would think; no wonder our Sat Nav could not find it when we tried to enter it in this morning...

We are off in the morning to Alice Springs to have a look around, then spend the night in a free camp site nearby and then off further west to look at Ayers Rock/Uluru; something I have been wanting to see since I came here to Australia in 1979; yeah, slack I know but at least I am out here doing it now; Matt has never seen 'the rock' either, so it will be a thrill for both of us. Today 21/7/10 we got to see one of the things on our list; the Devils Marbles, just outside of Wauchope NT, and worth a look. I must say parts of the country here remind me of the Grand Canyon which we saw in 06 when we got married in Vegas... Very red/ochre coloured rocks weathered away by time.

C'mon big boy I like a big ride! this is a life size replica of a crock that was shot over 20 years ago near the town of Normanton in the gulf of Queensland; 16.7.10; Shot by a local in 1957; this is meant to be a replica of the dead beastie...

A typical sign you see in the crock infested waters of the top end. This photo was taken at Karumba in the gulf of Queensland, a spot well known for its seafood particularly prawns and barramundi.

The only picture worth taking of Mount Isa, there was not a great deal going for the place, given you could no longer take a tour in their mines, apart from going into a mock mine 40 metres deep, costing you $40 each!

A typical road train you see on the road in the west. when they drive past you laden full of cattle, the smell of them wafts into the camper van (which is unbearable) and sometimes if you are lucky, a lovely piece of a cow pat might land on your windscreen.

Just before entering NT we had to fill up with fuel ($1.80 a litre) and in the truck stop was these massive buckets being transported to a mine somewhere. I can only imagine how big the truck is that carries them? Monsters or what?

Entering the Northern Territory for the first time. And it was cold, hence the fleecy top.

'WOW' look at the size of my marble! Matt at the Devils Marbles, 21.7.10

Lovely Louise with a marble; these rocks are from a volcano 170 Million yrs ago, the soft rock wore away leaving the harder stuff under, causing the 'marbles' effect.

Had to get this photo of a split marble; Matt inside, it honestly looks like it has just been chopped in half!

A monster road train, that was parked outside the Wycliff Well roadhouse. they are over 53 metres long with over 100 tyres. I asked the driver, how he goes about reversing these suckers, and he replied "you can't"!

When you see these babies come towards you, you just pull over and slow right down, otherwise the draft of wind that follows them just blows you off the road. Very scary, esp as today it was really windy driving along the Stuart Highway. And a very cold wind I have to add.

Matt outside the Wycliff Well road house, this a known hot spot for UFO activity, not that we saw any!

So dear readers, we are off to 'the Alice' tomorrow, and if the dongle (wi fi receiver) can pick up a wi fi signal we shall tell you all about it, we have been well disappointed with the crap Telstra coverage of the wi fi and mobile phone; so much for 'complete coverage of the country', its a joke, but all that is on offer unfortunately...

please feel free to leave comments, and please pass our blog address around, we are happy to share our adventures.

Matt has just opened a lovely bottle of wine; made with mangos, called Mango Magic, and made here in Ti Tree; grab a bottle if you see it in the bottle shop, its great!

regards to all, louise & matt (loma)

Hey playmates;

we are currently parked outside of Camooweal; near the border with the Northern Territory; we were in Mt Isa today, a big-ish mining town in the back of beyond; not so good was the fact that we wanted to go down a big mine (of which there are lots) to be told the public cannot do this anymore! Boo! And the place is not exactly a hive of activity, let me tell you... So we are in a fab free campsite at Camooweal Billabong; right by the river, and it has been very windy; which has been good as we had to go to the laundromat in Mt Isa and do all our washing! Then stretch a rope between two trees and hang it up to dry;;; Not exactly pretty but hey! Life on the road turns you feral after a bit; thank the gods for Mitchum deodorant I say; expensive but Strong!

We took a hit from a stone on the windscreen 2 days ago, which has left a 5cm crack; we saw the local windscreen place in Mt Isa but they only replace completely, so we are struggling on with a lovely strip of medical tape on it, hoping it lasts the distance!

we are off to Tennant Creek tomorrow (or least hope to get close) then Alice Springs, then Ayers Rock, and who knows what after that?

We hope all our readers are well and welcome any feedback...

More photos will be posted soon...

Louise & Matt (loma)

19.7.10

Fletchers creek (40km o/s Charters Towers, Undarra lava Tubes

At the Fletchers creeks camping ground (40km north of Charters Towers).

Hello friends,

Just thought we would get this blog in quick before we lose wi fi coverage.

We left Charters Towers a few days ago and stayed in really nice camping spot called Fletchers Creek, where it had a pair of lovely eagles flying up and down catching fish from the waters edge.

We had only really discovered how popular campervan-ing around the countryside has become, at this particular site, there must have been over 100 vehicles in all different shapes and sizes. It just blew us away how big the campervan movement really is. Some people have full size buses decked out with even a trailer in tow with a spare car on the back of it.

We headed up to the Undarra National Park, which is famous for its lava tubes that are over 160,000 years old with the spreading of them over the land, up to 200kms. The outsides of the lava flow would cool very quickly, leaving a hollow tube for the lava to flow through at a pace of 14 kms an hour. Some of the lava from some 180 different craters flowed for over 100 years continuously.

Anyways thats enough blabbering on with cod shite and look forward to posting our next blog in the next few days/week. We are off to Kurrumbin in the gulf of Qld to try some of the prawns that are caught there, then off to visit Mt Isa to go 1.5kms down a mine shaft.

Take care all and stay in touch.

Matt and Louise xoxox

Just to give you an idea of how many campervans were at the Fletchers creek camp site 40km north of Charters Towers. There must have been over 100 campervans, caravans and motor homes, along this one road.

At the Fletchers creek camping spot just 40km north of Charters Towers.

Photo taken at a petrol station on the way to the Undarra lava tubes, these were some of the trucks we had to contend with on a 250km single lane road. We had to pull over to the side of the road and stop every time one of these monsters came roaring past.

There were no more fuel stops for 250km, and on this particular day, the diesel pump was out not working and people were pulling up wanting to fill up. I can only assume they had to stay there until the pump was fixed (maybe a few days stay in the middle of nowhere).

Louise with a black headed python where we stayed at the Undarra camping resort.

His name is Clancy and Louise wanted to take him home- she adores snakes...!!

Louise getting a photo taken before entering a lava tube.

A view inside a lava tube before walking into it, Aboriginals were believed to have once stayed in this tube when the weather was bad. They use to select places to shelter in that had two entries/exits, just incase some nasties decide to attack them from one side, they could fight and escape from the other side.

Louise walking inside a lava tube.

Inside one of the lava tubes

Lightning Ridge, Augathela, Longreach, Winton (Lark Quary)

Hello again fellow chums,

It is Matt here, I just thought I would update you all on our travels into the wilderness of god's country (Queensland)

After leaving Lightning Ridge we headed north to Augathela which was was a dot of a town and is one of those struggling places to keep it's locals, but there was a

(photo; louise fossicking at Winton)

great butchers, where I had bit of a yarn and purchased some succulent marinated pork spare ribs and cooked them up on the camp fire that night, washed down with copious amounts of cask red wine.

The small town butchers have the best cuts of meats where they usually get their meat straight from a local farm.

Augathella was also the home of a movie, "Smiley" made in 1955 and also had a great wall mural. As you can see from the pics, we stayed at some really nice camping spots that are littered along the Matilda Highway that runs through the centre of NSW and QLD.

(photo; dinosaur footprint @ winton )

Longreach is quite a large town with a population of 3500 country bumpkins and home to the Qantas museum, which was well worth the visit, it was a typical country town where all the shops close down at midday on Saturday and closed all day Sunday.

After Longreach we high tailed it to Winton, which was made on the sheeps back (I had the best Sunday lamb roast lunch and the local pub for $10) and now is also now famous for its dinosaur fossils, and stampede (pictured). To see the dinoasaur stampede, we had to go on a tour group trip 100kms south of Winton, to see the Lark Quary, which was practically ALL corrugated dirt road!

(photo; hall with dino stampede inside)

But well worth the trip to see 65 million year old foot prints of a dinosaur stampede, where a larger dinosaur is chasing the smaller ones (as in the pics), looking at this made me feel like a caveman waiting for a something to come around the corner to eat me!

After spending the past 4 nights camping, we have decided to splash out and stay at a caravan site for the night so we can have a nice long hot shower, wash our clothes, hair, etc and be around civilisation.

(photo; lou o/s old store Winton; 12.7.10)

Hope everyone is doing well and will keep you all posted within the next few days.

Ciao...

(photo: matt at longreach/qantas museum 10.7.10)

(photo; campsite o/s Longreach 11.7.10)

(photo;campsite at Mitchell 9.7.10)

(photo: Us at Lightning Ridge; 7.7.10)

(photo: Auguthella, NSW ; 5.7.10)

Please excuse the layout ; we are getting used to the blog format; We are currently in Undara National Park and we are visiting the lava tubes here (near Cairns) which are unique and formed 160,ooo years ago ; we shall take photos and try and upload more; we have had very bad reception for wi fi the past few nights so hopefully we can get better coverage in the future!

Lightning Ridge, Bourke, Silverton

The free hot baths at Lightning Ridge; 7.7.10
Matt in the 52C hot water baths; we were cooked when we left an hour later
Louise at Lunatic Hill open cut mine 7.7.10
matt outside old Bourke railway; now gone; 5.7.10
the rainbow appeared as Matt was changing our first flat tyre on way to White Cliffs
Louise fossiking for opal chips at White Cliffs; and she found some too...
Inside mine at Mad Jock's place, White Cliffs
Overlooking White Cliffs; it was 13c and cold
Matt at Day Dream mine, Silverton; we went down a shaft; it was great...
Lou at Silverton on old rail bike
matt with car used in Mad Max 5.7.10

Dear chums,

It's Matt here, thought I would have a go at an entry to our blog.

Since replacing our three tyres after grief at White Cliffs, we moved onto Bourke, then Lightning Ridge.

Some of the photos are a little out of order due to the Dr Who time we are on, so please bear with me.

There was not too much at Bourke to look at except to grab a counter meal at the Oxford hotel (we were the only ones in there the whole time apart from the staff), we then took a drive down to the river Darling to grab some water shots and take in the ambience of the area, where some lovely black cockatoos delighted us with their song.

We decided to head straight to Lightning Ridge, where it got its name from when a shepherd and his dog quite a few years ago were mustering 200 sheep and the shepherd was struck down by lightning, and the people of the area referred to it as Lightning Ridge.

The best thing about 'the Ridge' is the lunches at the local bowling club ($12.50 for chicken schnitzel with chips and gravy) then we headed down to the free hot artesian bore baths (57C), absolutely relaxing, I almost fell asleep when I got back into the campervan about 2 hrs later.

We are heading up north to God's country (Queensland) over the next few days to get a little warmer and to visit the Qantas museum in Longreach.

Will keep you all posted.

All the best.

Matt