Thursday, 10th December 2009

It was about 7am when we drove out of Coolalinga Park. There are not many good overnight spots between Darwin and Katherine, so we just kept going with the intention of stopping somewhere past Katherine.

With all the hassles of packing, we had not stocked up on food, so when we got to Katherine, we called into Woollies. It took two trips to the van with the goods, but we got our provisions for the week, then set off again.

We pulled up for the night about half way between Katherine and Mataranka. We were quite early there, so got a good site. We had no phone coverage or TV, so it was out with the generator and dish.

Several other cars also pulled in. A couple set up tents, and one just put their sleeping bags in the shelter area. They must have realy envied us, watching a movie in our air conditioned lounge and then having showers.

Friday, 11th December 2009

We had read about the Daly Waters pub, so when we came to the turnoff, we went to have a look. It is about 3km off the main road.

It is quite an interesting place!

The whole inside of the pub is filled with memorabilia of all kinds.

We had intended to have a meal there, but the prices were just a lot more than we expected to pay, so after a look around, and a talk to one of the regulars, we headed off again.

We stopped at the Newcastle Waters rest bay for the night. We had been here before, and knew it was quite good, but this time we could not get phone coverage, and it was very windy.

Saturday, 12th December 2009

Tennant Creek was the only large place on today's journey.

We called into the tourist centre. Only a stand-in person was there, as it was not really the tourist season right now. He told us a couple of things to see, but they were not open.

Went into the local supermarket and got some fresh vegetables. Also filled up with diesel and petrol for the generator.

We had intended to continue to the Devils Marbles campground, but we were tired, and so stopped at Bonney Wells rest area. It was empty when we pulled in, but soon we had some company. Once again, it was a windy night. I left the door open a little when I went out to shut of the generator, and when I got back - no Zebbie!

Lyn was out in her nighty calling for the cat, while I got the torch out of the truck cab and spotlighted her under the van. Zebbie was not in the mood to be caught, but after a few laps between the truck and van, Lyn finally got her by the tail. Not a happy cat, but at least she was safe again.

Sunday, 13th December 2009

Once we packed up, we drove the 20km to the Devils Marbles site.

Walked around a bit, and took some pictures.

Further down the highway was the Aileron settlement. There was a large statue of a native with spear on the hill behind the roadhouse.

The Tropic of Capricorn marker meant we were now leaving the tropics for sure.

Soon we were driving into Alice Springs.

The town seemed quite nice. Very pretty setting with the hills around. Nice wide streets with plenty of trees.

The caravan park we were heading for was the other side of town, so we drove right through and found the Heritage Park.

We were given a site that was not very deep, but wide enough for our truck. The park seemed alright, but there was a large problem for us. They had no dump point at all, and we could not empty our tanks there. Also we had to pay a $50 bond for Zebbie. Anyhow, we paid for two nights and set up to have a look around.

Monday, 14th December 2009

We had a look around the city in the morning, and also went to the Anzac lookout over the city. It is at the end of this street.

The city is quite green when seen from the lookout.

Lyn was impressed by the shops. They had a Millers store, and it had a sale on, so she was able to stock up.

Whenever we went to Coles, there were always groups of natives hanging around near the entrance.

One evening, we went for a look around and saw the police putting three of the natives in the paddy wagon in Coles carpark.

On a brighter note, we saw some Christmas lights too.

Where ever we went, we saw natives, but they were no trouble at all. All in all, Alice Springs appeared to be a quite nice place, especially considering its location.

Saturday, 19th December 2009

We left the van park about 8am and headed for the city dump point to empty out tanks. Opened the lid, and it was FULL. The last user had just kept on emptying and it was floating with gunk. Well we could not do much, so we left Alice with full tanks.

The vegetation was quite different to the North side. There were hardly any trees, just small scrubby plants. If we had not been further north, we would never have known how different most of the Territory is.

We stopped at Stuart's Well Roadhouse to see if Dinky the singing dingo was on, but he was up at the homestead and only brought down to the roadhouse for bus tours this time of year.

We stopped quite early for the night at a parking bay before the turnoff to Curtis Springs. No phone, just the satelite TV.

Sunday, 20th December 2009

We arrived in Yalara about 9am. It was smaller than I expected, and we found the only caravan park and booked in.

$38 a night. Certainly not cheap, but it was quite a nice place.

They gave us a double site so we could easily park and setup. It was pretty quiet around us. This was not a popular time of year.

This is the pool area near the entrance.

After a bit of a look around, we headed out to "The Rock". We had not gone far when we struck the checkpoint, so we pulled up on the side of the road and took this picture.

Back at the camp we found a viewing site on a sand dune closeby, so we will try for a better picture later.

The day turned into 40 degrees, so we just stayed in the air conditioning.

When night came, another wonder of the desert country came to the fore - stillness.
There was no wind at all, and noise carried forever. We could hear everyone elses music, vehicle rattles and door closes. Some of our near neighbours were just in tents and camper trailers, so I'm sure they were as anoyed at the noise from our air conditioner.

The park has a noise curfew at 10.00pm, with a phone number to call to get the ranger if it is exceeded.

Monday, 21th December 2009

This morning we collected our Christmas mail from the post office, and stocked up on vegies from the store. Surprisingly quite a few of the prices were much cheaper than Darwin.

A phone call to my sister alerted us to the flood warnings for here. Aparently the cyclone we avoided in Darwin has gone around the country and is coming this way as a severe rain depression. There is a flood warning for this area on Thursday and Friday, so we are thinking of leaving before the bad weather hits.

The evening weather radar on the internet was not too good, so we saw the reception of the park, and they refunded our unused days, We are leaving tomorow morning.

Tuesday, 22nd December 2009

By 7am we were leaving the Ayers rock park. I had taken one last trip to the viewing platform on the dunes near the van to see the early sunshine on the rock, but with all the clouds around, it was nothing much at all.

We stopped on the roadside on the way out for another attempt to see colour in the Rock, but it was still not to be.

A way back down the road is Mount Conner.

It actualy looks more interesting then Ayers rock.

For the rest of the day, we just put on the miles to get well clear of any storms. Stopped for the night just past Marla in South Australia.

It was a very hot day and night.

Wednesday, 23nd December 2009

We had a rather bad night. just when we had gone to bed, two roadtrains came into the site and started their diesel air conditioner motors and set up for the night. It was too much for us, so I got up and started our generator so at least we were cooler while we listened to them. Ended up a restless night.

Next stop was Coober Pedy.

As we stopped in town, it was 42 degrees, and with a VERY strong, dry, hot wind blowing. It was not very nice at all.

We did a bit of shopping, and filled up the fuel tanks and left.

The conditions did not get any better. The wind was hot and gusting all day. It was not a pleasant drive, but stopping was not much either.

We just kept going to Woomera. Got there quite late, and went to the only caravan park to make sure we had a good night's sleep. We were their only customer, and we soon set up.

Thursday, 24nd December 2009

We were woken up at midnight by the wind gusts, and I went outside to make sure everything was secure. Later it started raining.

In the early morning, we took some photos through the drizzle.

First is our site at the Woomera Caravan Park.

There is a great open-air museum of rockets tested at Woomera. I had a quick look around, but could not spend much time as I was getting too wet.

Driving around the town really impressed us. It was a very modern, neat and tidy place. We would have liked better weather to really see what was on offer.

On our way out of town, we took some more pictures at the town entrance, then headed toward Port Augusta, where we intended to visit the pie shop for lunch.

We parked in the club carpark right near the main street of Port Augusta and walked to the pie shop. Luckily we only bought one pastie as it was not as good as last time we were here.

Next stop was Port Pirie, where we wanted to visit the Terry White chemist for Lyn's weigh-in.

We had some trouble finding the right shopping centre, but finaly got it right. the weigh-in went very well, and Lyn was well pleased.

Getting tired by now, we continued on toward a rest area near Dublin, about an hour out of Adelaide. When we got there, it had been 'improved' with fencing and tree removal, making it just about useless for us. We did stop and cook tea, but decided to press on through Adelaide when the traffic died down and finally stop for the night near Murray Bridge

We had a good run through the city. The traffic was light, and the GPS took us around the city centre, through some pretty suburbs. Adelaide is a nice place to visit.

The trip through the Hills was slow and uneventful, and by dark we found our stopping place, before Murray Bridge. We were the only ones there, so we set up for a good sleep.

Friday, 25nd December 2009 -- Christmas Day

Since we had covered so much ground yesterday, we were quite close to our destination - Mount Gambier. We set off early, and stopped for Christmas Dinner well past Keith.

By 2pm, we were parked in front of my sister's house, ready to set up in her paddock while we did some repairs to the van, and sort out our possessions that we have in storage.

We leave Mount Gambier - click here to follow.

Return to previous page - click here for our second time in Darwin.