quick update - Adelaide S.A.

dear pals - Lou here

we are currently in Adelaide S.A.  after spending some time in the Barossa Valley and in the Adelaide Hills,  we are hoping to get to the free Wi Fi InerNet spot at the library of S.A in town tomorrow to get out a proper blog; we are running out of our Big Pond 3G MBs and we get another 6GB on the 23rd!  Damn Telstra!  You all know my feelings about that particular company eh?

Just to let you know -  we spent last night at the rear of the sports centre in Hahndorf  in the Adelaide Hills and it is actually sunny today after having crap weather (rain and cold winds) the last few days... We took in Glenelg today; that wonderful palindromic suburb of Adelaide - and very trendy the place was too...  Worth a look; we liked it heaps.

We are currently parked up in a marina near Port Adelaide;  not salubrious but hey - its free; and as we are on a tight budget of sorts, that word is our favourite.

Anyways dear readers - enough of my ramblings,  we shall get our bums to the library and another blog of literary and photographic splendour will be soon dispatched....we hope...

Love to all;  Louise and matt

Port Julia and Redbanks Conservation Park S.A. ; 9-11th Nov 2010

Hello All,  matt here again;

We are currently camped up at Redbanks Conservation Park where it is wonderfully quiet (you can hear yourself breathe) but... it is damn 'HOT' (33C) but it was cool in the night (10C).

We took it upon ourselves this morning to take a 5km trail walk around the area and apart from the great views of nothing but vast plains and rolling hills, we got caught out by the heat.

Poor Louise was suffering from light heat exhaustion and I was not too far off myself, luckily we had enough water and we managed to stumble out way back to the van to recover while taking in lots of fluids and cooling ourselves down with a damp cloth placed over our heads and under our armpits.  Not a pretty site; especially with faces red as beetroots...

I also hooked up the generator and turned on the airconditioner for an extra measure.

As you can see by the pics, Port Julia was quite a nice quaint town, most of the towns along the east and west coast of the Yorke Penninsula are holiday homes for people from as far as Broken Hill, NSW; most places only have tank water but do have electricity.

For anyone wishing to snap up a slice of real estate on the Yorke, a nice 3 bedder house will set you back anywhere in the vicinity of $120K-250K.

On our way to Redbanks C.P.  we passed through a town called Balaklava, which was named after the battle of Balaklava from the Crimean war in Russia.  When I first saw the name I though it read Baklava, which is a wonderful sweet eaten by those from the middle eastern countries  - mmmmmm Baklava.

We then passed through another place called Clare (a place known for its wine produce) and we will be returning there tomorrow to use the laundromat and library (to download some DVDs), then heading onto the Barrosa Valley for some wine tasting.  

We have discovered on this trip that most libraries have free internet and DVDs can be lent if a deposit is forthcoming (we have no permanent address of course) and we copy these movies to watch at night on the Mac, and return next day back to the library and get our deposit back.  But thank God for the ABC's IView service which means that when we can get the Net up, we can watch shows that have been recently broadcast.  We were enthralled last night to watch the BBC show 'Spooks' which is back on but I can also recommend the new Aussie drama on the ABC, with Richard Roxburgh as a barrister; it's called 'Rake' which is also very good;  sorry to ramble on about TV shows but our entertainment options on the road are quite limited...  But we are also getting through the bag of books Louise brought along too.

At every town we have stopped at along our journey, we have made it a habit to buy 2 x $1 scratchies in the hope that we strike it rich and trade in our little van for a massive winnebago LOL...

I managed to scratch up $11 yesterday in a town called Burra, so of course I bought 11 more in the hope of that big win.  From the 11 scratchies I purchased, I won another $4 and will be returning tomorrow to Burra on the way to Clare to purchase 4 more.   

We will try to keep you all posted within the next few days of our drunken journey through the Barrosa and beyond.

We hope you are all well and are enjoying our photos and blogs.

Matt and Louise xoxoxoxox 

(Julia Port camp spot 9/11/10) We had a nice little spot at Port Julia S.A. with loads of birds flying around.

(Redbank Park walking trail  - Thurs 11/10/10) Louise strutting her stuff during our 5km walk along the trial, as you can see it was quite "VAST" and heat exhaustion set in later on...

(Redbank walking trail) 11.11.10  Matt at the top of the loop and lookout of the trail, it was nice to take a windy break from the heat that crept up upon us.  The flies were bad again so the veils came in handy once more....

Adios amigos; please comment, we love to hear from you.....

louise & matt 

Flinders Rangers National Park, Mt Remarkable Nat Park, Innes Nat Park: 30th Oct - 6th Nov 2010 South Australia

Dear friends; 

 Matt here doing a quick blog to keep you all up 2 date with our adventures;  As you can see from below we are getting out there and seeing the countryside as much as possible, and we have been staying in some absolute fab national parks along the way.  

Mount Remarkable Nat Park near Port Pirie was a gem; (see below); the only thing that would have made that part of the trip more amazing was if our bloody trifecta for the Melbourne Cup had come good... Of course we had 2 of the winners, not the third, but of course there is always next year...

Currently we are in a tiny place called Point Julia on the east side of the Yorke Peninsula, and we shall be slowly making our way to the Clare Valley (wine region) and the Barossa Valley (another wine region) to grab some of the red stuff (vino).  Gotta love those cellar doors.   Such a shame Lou makes me spit it out after tasting...  

Louise taking a pose with the Wilpena Pound in the background on our 10km bush walk around one of the many walks you can do in the Flinders Ranges.  We found out its called 'pound' like in dog pound as the whole circle of hills held sheep in the old days; we did an 8km hike to one of the old houses that remains from the 1880s; life was so hard for people back then; thank the gods we are all born in the 20th century and have an easy time of it...

   31 oct 2010

It was a beautiful day, the birds were singing the temperature was great and the rabbits were - you know what  - and there were plenty of those to be seen...

Matt patting one of the furry creatures that roam the Wilpena Pound campground.  This roo came straight up to us wanting to be fed;  very surreal, but signs say 'do not feed' so we just patted it instead.

We even snuck in a warm shower here at the site where were NOT staying -  he he he...30.10.10

Matt at the lookout over the inside of the Wilpena Pound, early graziers used to hold up to 120,000 sheep in that there pound!  Its massive...    (31 oct 2010)

We hiked in 8km to get the view and it was worth it!

  Yep, it was a bit cold on this big walk - very cold winds here.

Louise with another wonderful pose on our 10km trek.  1.11.10

Not too sure if this tree had been genetically modified?  1.11.10

Our camp spot (and probably my most favorite one on this trip) at the Mount Remarkable Nat. Park.  It even had a water tap at each site and hot showers, I had a few of them each day to make up for the ones I have missed during this trip.  (we have a shower on board the van, but we are using it for storage!) 2.11.10

The stream that run past our van in the Mount Remarkable NP.  Our van is just to the right hand side of the big tree that is blocking it, in the pic. 3.11.10

Another tree we thought may have been genetically modified at the Mount Remarkable NP. 3.11.10

"LAND AHOY DERE CAPT'N" Matt giving it all at the Innes Nat Park.  Captain Pugwash, eat your heart out!  7.11.10

(Corny Point, the most westerly point on the Yorke Peninsula)  One of our lovely camp spots that we happened to find, part being pure luck and part  being a little adventurous.  During sunset, we saw dolphins swim past the point in the background of the pic.  Lovely...  8.11.10

Million dollar views which was Free to us, Louise's second favorite "F" word.

(Corny Point) I could not resist showing off my photographic flare using the macro tool on the camera.

(Corny Point)

 Louise and I decided to take a stroll around the Corny Point area and were amazed at its beauty.  You could take yourself back 200+ years or even further and imagine you were the first people to ever inhabit the land.  8.11.10

You really get a true sense of wellbeing, self independence and feel so far removed from the rest of the world, it just feels like you and nature.

"LIVE FOR THE NOW"

More later; keep checking the site;  we will always get blogs out if the Net is working and we get a signal.... Adios Amigos.... Matt

Yorke Peninsula

Dear Friends

we are currently in the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, having a great time.  I'm just putting out a quick text blog to let all know we are in the land of the living and if we can get coverage on the Net we shall put out a proper blog tonight or tomorrow (weds).

We have just stopped for lunch near Edithburgh SA ; charming little place and it's sunny and 21C, so we are not complaining at all.

We spent last night on the cliffs at Corny Point SA (free camp area) and had the joy of seeing dolphins last night surfing the waves and having a great ol time;  magic it was I tell you !!!

OK have to go; battery low on the Mac

Love louise and matt

Woomera, Coober Pedy, South Australia

Hello everyone,

Matt here, well it has been over a week since our last blog,  so here it goes...

After making our way up the Eyre Peninsular and into the outback again to Woomera and Coober Pedy via port Port Augusta, we are currently in Port Pirie -  soaking up the lovely sun where we are camped up for the night at the local boat ramp (they are great places to stay in towns without paying to stay in a caravan park) -  then off tomorrow down the Yorke Peninsula.

This blog is mainly about Woomera and Coober Pedy,  and we will endeavour to get our next blog out very soon after this one to follow up to keep you all up to date with our journeys.

Woomera:  Well, the view on the drive out from Port Augusta was very sparse and made you realise just how big this beautiful country of ours really is, there was nothing (no trees) as far as the eye could see for 500km,  and I even think this was a better drive than the Nullabor.

As you can see in the pics, we passed many a great salt lake/s and the sheer size of them just left your jaw dropping to the ground.   

Woomera was a most fascinating place in a sense that you could almost feel the place buzzing from when it was full of workers and its families during the 50's and 60's.  I would like to know what will happen to all the old buildings now that they are not used.  For those who do not know, this was the place the Brits stuffed up the desert here, especially at Maralinga doing A Bomb tests in the 1950s.  The place is of course off limits but the highway runs through part of the area;  go figure...

The canteen, where we had a cup of tea, had all these old photos of the days when the place was chockers with people, they even had photos of beauty pageants being held and the social scene of the old days which gave you a real feel for the place and what it use to be like.

It would make make a great place for all the grey nomads to retire to.  (you read it here first...)

Coober Pedy,  well, three words spring to mind about this place,  IT'S A HOLE!

We were really disappointed with how the place was going and that was one direction, backwards....

Everything was run down, even the super market had hardly any food on the shelves, it appeared to be a real struggle town, a shadow of probably what it use to be like.  After driving 500km and 2 days later, we only ended up looking around for a couple of hours and GOT THE HELL OUTTA THERE!!!

Unfortunately, I can not say anything else about Coober Pedy except, we felt we had to visit the place being quite famous and all. 

Hope everyone is doing really well.

Lots of hugs and kisses

Matt xoxoxox

(Stony Point just outside of Whyalla) 

Lovely rest area, our van was just down the road on the side of the water.  It was quite windy and there was not a great deal in Whyalla to report on. But the photo looks nice!

(On the way out toWoomera and Coober Pedy)

The journey was a 1000km journey (500km each way) just to get to Coober Pedi and this basically what we saw the whole way, but nevertheless it was a spectacular of absolutely nothing.  I guess it is one of those experiences where you have to be there to really know what it feels like (photo does it no justice)

(Woomera Rocket park) 

A really facinating place to visit  and strange at the same time.  It is where the Brits tested loads of warfare rockets from 1950s - 1960s, the place had loads of accommodation blocks and houses and was like driving onto a millitary base. 

It reminded me of my old RAAF days.  

The place was like a ghost town and was quite creepy, you could almost feel the prescence of the 1960s when the place would have been buzzing with families and workers. 

Up until 1982 it was shut to the public and the road to Woomera/Coober Pedy was only sealed in 1987 from Port Augusta where we left to make this journey.

Louise with one of many a rocket that was developed here.

Boys and their toys!

I had to get a photo with this big daddy!

(Lake Hart)

One of many salt lakes along the way, this object somehow made its way way out onto the lake.  (railway nearby??)

The lake lake nearby (Lake Gairdner) was used on a number of occasions to break the land speed record.

(Lake Hart)

Another wheel stuck on the salt lake and an old one at that...

(Lake Hart)

We had to put our names in the salty sand!

(Lake Hart)

In the middle of nowhere....

(Lake Hart)

Louise with a chunk of salt left over from what we think was a disused salt mine?

(Coober Pedy)

They had the same truck set up in Lightning ridge if I remember correctly?

(Coober Pedy main drag)

Well what can I say....

That is Coober Pedy!

Not much to say about the place really, except its urban structure was faling apart, loads of shops were vacant and for lease, it just did impress us after driving 500km and two days to get there.

White Cliffs get my vote for first place then Lightning Ridge and followed way at the back by Coober Pedy.  (all opal mining towns...)

However, at least we can say we have been there and I think it is a place you have to visit when you are travelling around Australia.

Ellison sculptures by the cliffs, Port Lincoln, Lincoln national park (21-25 Oct 2010)

Hello all,

Matt here, I trust everyone is doing grand!!!

With all the flat areas we are hitting along the way for telecommunications including internet, I wanted to post this quick blog out to keep you all up-dated on our journey thus far...

Since coming across the WA border into South Australia, the coastline has been quite superb and some of the camping spots, particularly in national parks has been fantastic.  The weather has been very kind to us, although we have been plagued by flies and we have had to resort to wearing our $8.00 fly veils LOL.

There has been a few surprises along the way with the sculpture by the cliffs in Ellison, and loads of Kangaroos and Emus just grazing out side our van when parked up in the national parks.

I must say there is something very relaxing watching these animals behave in the wild, and you can't help but feel some kind of a connection to nature.

Port Lincoln was a very friendly town where we discovered at their local library, you can use their free WI FI connection and this applies to every library in the state, GO SA!

We even found out that when Emus have chicks, it is the male that looks after them (please see pic) and when I walked outside to view the full moon to my amazement, I saw two male Kangaroos fighting just on the grass in the picture below.

We left Port Lincoln today (25 Oct 2010) and are on our way to Wyalla, Port Augusta and then up to Coober Pedy.

We will try to get the blog out as much as we can, but I envisage no internet coverage once we start to head towards Coober Pedy, so please forgive us if a blog is not posted within the next week or two...

On a sad note I just wanted to say, we saw the last episode of 'The Bill' the other night and Louise and I were both terribly upset, after having watched it from it's infancy 27 years ago. Our Saturday nights will never be the same...  Boo!

Hope you are all very well and are enjoying our blog, stay well and feel free to comment.

Matt xoxoxox

The attack of the flies!  24.10.10

Our camp spot in the Lincoln national park where kangaroos and emus would be feeding on the grass in the photo taken. We even saw kangaroos having a punch-up in the full moon, which was the first time for us!

The father and his chicks in tow feeding them from just outside our camp spot.

For all you Melbourne cup fans, this photo was taken in Port Lincoln SA (home of the famous race horse Makybe Diva) which has the largest fishing fleet in Australia this town of 15,000 apparently has more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in Australia. 

I can see why, after I was very keen to dive with great white sharks, only to discover it would set me back a mere $495.00 and I was not even guaranteed to see a shark.

If I did not see any sharks I had the option of paying a half price ticket to go out for a second day, but, still not guaranteed to see a shark!

'HOW'S THAT FOR VALUE?'

One of the many sculptures we discovered on our coastal drive around Ellison.  21.10.10

Eat your heart out Geoff Williams, who is a friend of ours back in Sydney who regularly like us also visited the yearly Bondi sculptures by the sea exhibition and we would frequent the art galleries of Sydney.

Matt could not resist getting a photo opportunity.

If you look closely in the foreground you can see a blue tongue (shingle) lizard...

There were many on the day, every time you jumped out of the car to look at an art piece, there was a lizard there to welcome you.

Does this sculpture remind you of somewhere else?

This was my favorite!

Louise and her flip flops/thongs -  she loves her foot wear.

This was also one of my favorites.

Adios from matt and louise

Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Nullabor W.A and the state of South australia

good morning readers;   'We're baaacck'

Louise here and once again sorry for not getting back on line b4 this;  we were 4 days coming across from Kalgoorlie W.A  into the state of South Australia, where we are now, in a place called Port Lincoln which is very pretty.   Matt has fired up the generator to run the Mac and I am letting my fingers do the walking - make that talking -  of our adventures.

The trip across the Nullabor plains from WA into S.A of course had no wifi service and no phone service either, which makes it had to keep in contact with the outside world, as you can imagine.  Happily we had no accidents or other dramas and made it across the states and borders in one piece.   

Our Toyota motor home has now clocked up 28,000km of our journey around Oz,  we shall probably do the same again before we finish up, we are thinking.  I never was a Toyota fan before this but I am happy to say I have changed my mind big time.  

The school holidays have just finished here too, which means the roads are emptier and we do not have to queue in McDs when we stop here and there for breakfast...

Oh, and the other thing I wanted to tell you about was the hoards of Grey Nomads we see on our trip; especially the ladies - here I am about to become the fashion police, so any of you lovely men reading who do not want to be dragged into my sartorial whims, please look away now...  

You all probably know that in my younger days (when I was thin and better looking!) I did a bit of photo modelling and I was a film extra for about 5 years in UK, did some TV ads here in Australia when I first arrived and I have acted as a stylist for the odd magazine when asked....  So I feel I can comment on what I see - as we go around Australia  I see the female of the grey nomads species all dressed as follows;  Short grey hair, usually NOT permed (thank the gods) a baggy man type shirt or T Shirt (usually from that shop they all love - Millers) and  the ubiquitous three quarter trousers/pants followed under by some kind of sneakers/trainers; this awful look can be completed with cheap rubber thongs (flip flops for the uk readers), which makes me want to squirm.  Ugh! 

 If I had a dollar for every woman I have seen dressed like this I would be up to my ears in cash!  C'mon ladies, look around!  Just because you have gotten older and put a few kilos in weight on, you don't have to dress like this.   And as I always say when it comes to fashion, "be a shepherd not a sheep".

OK -  I feel better now for that, and I'll just relate under the photos below the relevant details... Please excuse them being a bit out of order, but I loaded them on at the local library, then lost some text and they appeared as below.     Oh the trials of being a blogger.

Here I am under one of the giant boulders in a field near Streaky Bay S.A; they are known as Murphy's Haystacks and there are about 20 or so here; they are 160 Million yrs old and have been weathered over that time.  Wed 20.10.10

Here is Matt with a skull of a baby humpback whale that was washed ashore at the Head of Bight along the Nullabor Plain just inside the SA Border;  Matt was pissed off they charged us $12 ea to get in and we only saw 2 whales (mother & calf) about 50m off the shore;  Most other places we have 'whale watched' have been free...  sun 17.10.10

A view of the "90 Mile Straight' road from W A to S.A (going east); this truck overtaking us here was one of the smaller road trains I should add...  fri 15.10.10  11am

Here is matt at the sign to the Head of Bight Park;  quite cold it was too;  sun 17.10.10

Here is Matt at the sign at the start of the '90 Mile straight'  - there was a tree opposite with odd socks and other junk left my various travellers;  Fri 15.10.10

Here I am at the sign for wildlife;  I have to say, we did not see any of the ones on the sign; Sat 16.10.10

Matt with the Nullabor Plain sign;  Nullabor is short for 'nullis arboris' meaning "No trees", but I have to say we only counted about 50km or so of absolutely no trees, only scrub.  16.10.10

Here I am inside the Questa Casa brothel in Kalgoorlie WA;  That's a whip by the way;  as this is a gold mining town, they had some odd rules about brothels etc;  This one is the oldest one still working, and the girls sit in booths in the front and entice the customers, this is the s&m room if that sort of thing is your fancy;  the girls get paid 60% and the house 40% of the fees, but girls here can refuse customers if they want.  Unlike other places here where the customer pays, picks a girl and she had to do the deed.

Here I am outside the place, managed to get the boob job done after all; and yes, that thing I am holding does take batteries...

One of the original hotels; the York, in the main drag of Kalgoorlie WA;  we had lunch there and very nice it was too;  they have accommodation as well, and the inside was lovely too;   tues 12.10.10

This is the 'super pit ' gold mine that is literally 1km from the York Hotel (above) in Kalgoorlie WA; this gold mine was originally hundreds of small mines, but Alan Bond in the 80s bought them up and made one big mine out of it;  its 500m deep and 3km long;  those dots are the massive trucks used to carry the rocks to the ore crushers (260 tonne) each trip.  13.10.10

this was the best beach!  Its Cape Le Grand beach, in Cape Le grande park,  just outside Esperance WA;  sun 10.10.10

Here we have Skippy on Lucky Beach, Cape Le grand;  10.10.10

Lucky Beach, Cape le Grand;  a fantastic beach, the sand is so fine, its like walking on talculm powder. 10.10.10  (west view)

Lucky beach, WA (east view)

Here I am with a dragon fly I rescued from the shore edge as a wave had washed over the poor thing; he dried out on my hand and then flew away;   Twilight Beach, Esperance ,WA ; fri 8.10.10

Head of Bight National Park;  cold & windy,  17.10.10

I will finish this post now while we have the net access;  please leave comments if you can; we value all and every bit of input from you all;

regards

Louise and Matt

(Loma)  24.10.10