Days 57 and 58. Tuesday, August 13, 2013 and Wednesday, August 14, 2013.

We have been home for nearly a week now and I thought it was about time that I tackled the blog and finished it off.

We got out of our nice, warm, comfortable bed at about 0700-ish on Tuesday. It was time to re-pack the van and hit the road. So we got ourselves dressed, showered and breakfasted (?) and got everything ready to go.

So we left Port Willunga (and Mary and Phil and Agg) and off towards Victoria we go. We hit the top of the Adelaide Hills to be met with a reasonably thick fog, but it didn't last too long. The weather had cleared up by the time we got to the lovely little village of Meadows and we got to the freeway at Mt. Barker without incident. Drove on for a couple of hours 'til we got to Coonalpyn where we had morning tea. Normally we wander around outside, sipping on our coffee and munching on whatever food Gerry gets out but mate, it was freezing, so morning tea was inside the van.

Then further east and over the border, back in Victoria, move the watch/clock half-hour forward. Lunch at Kaniva but inside the van again...much warmer. Eventually we stopped at Horsham at the Horsham Caravan park (the one beside the river in town, not the one out on the highway, that's The Wimmera Lakes). Got a nice site beside the river and after set-up we decide that we can go for a nice walk to warm up. We do exactly that and by the time we get back it's happy-hour time. While there are other people in the park they are all inside and so are we. I beat Geraldine at Scrabble one last time. Warmed the van up with the electric heater...very cozy. Off to bed, also for the last time on the road for this trip.

Next morning we were woken by a very loud bird chorus....corellas by the thousand and rainbow lorikeets by heaps, squeaking and squawking. So off to the showers, then brekky, then hit the road.

The morning was cold again but the wind nice and calm, that is until we got to Ararat. That is when the weather turned really foul but luckily the wind was blowing from a mainly north-westerly direction and we were travelling south-easterly. Yay! Quite a bit of rain though.

Quick stop at Broadford for a wee moment and morning coffee, then off through Skipton and on to Bannockburn where we arrived at Justine and Daniel's at about 1130.

We had lunch there, parked and secured the van and unloaded what we needed to into the car. So after a trip of 58 days and covering some 10,000 k's we arrived home at about 1400, nicely safe and sound. We really do live in an amazing country, which is so varied and beautiful. We met many interesting characters and caught up with old friends. A lovely time was had indeed.

Now to start planning for the next trip. 'Til then, see ya!

'Finis'

Days 53 to 56. August 9 to August 12, all in 2013.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, all spent in lovely Adelaide....wot have I done wrong in my life to deserve this? All one hears or reads about is about The Crows or The Power, but then again the weather has been fairly kind, although the wind has been quite cool. Temperature in the high teens.

Mary and Phil are great hosts and have ensured that both of us have consumed way too much alcohol, eaten too much and drunk too much coffee. We had dinner out at the Willunga Hotel (very nice) and Russell's Pizza joint, also in Willunga and also very nice.

Had coffee at Seaford, Aldinga, Noarlunga and McLaren Vale. Although we had a look around The Vale we did NOT go to one winery or cellar door. We bought our wine at whatever bottle shop we were at! We also had long walks along the beach at Port Willunga which were very pleasant and bracing! 

Mary and Geraldine with dogs above Port Willunga Beach

View of the beach and cliff area at Port Willunga

Watching the last three quarters of the Geelong v Power game on Saturday was bitter/sweet. What the hell was the last quarter all about. The other house guest here, Aggie, is a staunch Power supporter, so failing to finish them off and allowing them to dominate that last quarter took some wind out of my sails...but then again, not much!

Overall it has been a very pleasant four days or so but we are looking forward to moving on towards home tomorrow. We'll see how far we get.

Day 52. Thursday 8 August 2012

Strike me handsome it's bloody cold down here. All gloved up while I gathered up all the gear and get ready to move down the road to Adelaide. The electricity leads almost refuse to bend, they are like cold chewing gum....they are that stiff from the cold that they feel as if I could just snap them into pieces....Could really not do that but gee they feel like it.

We get under way at the 0830-ish time, but there is no real hurry. We find that the roadway between Broughton and Port Wakefield is very rough and undulating. Once through Wakefield the road becomes a divided highway all the way to Port Adelaide. From there it is a slow stop-start trip through suburbia all the way to Port Willunga (lots of ports in South Aussie).

We arrive at Mary and Phil's at about midday, so the trip was pretty cruise-y. Mary and Phil are both well and they have a 'border'...Alistair,also known as 'Aggie'. Agg has a dog too so it is all very hectic around the joint.

Gerry and Mary hard at it.

Days 48, 49, 50 and 51.. Sunday to Wednesday, 4 to 7 August 2013.

Where have we been?  Travelling days, all the way from Ross River across to Alice Springs and then south to Kulgera, Coober Pedy, Woomera and here at Port Broughton.

Sunday morning's travel was bitter sweet, leaving the lovely Ross River and back to The Alice. Fuelled up there (heaps cheaper) and back to the Stuart Highway and further south for some 300 k's to Kulgera. This place is just a dusty outback roadhouse with a certain ambiance. Had a beer at the bar before 'happy hour'. Can of beer was $8. Asked what the price was during this 'happy hour'. The reply? '30 cents off'. Didn't bother. Went back to the van and had some from the 'fridge. Much better. So many stars to see when in the outback. Gerry just loves looking at the Milky Way stuff...to me, they are just stars.

That was Sunday. On Monday we continued down the highway towards Coober Pedy. A nice easy drive, stopped at Marla Bore for some fuel, cuppa coffee and a fruity bun and some manouvering around a pesky road train that had decided to park across one end of the bowser lane while he unloaded. Ahh, the carefree nature of the outback....priceless (but can be a pain in the ring-gear!).

Got to our favourite park at Coober Pedy at a reasonable hour. Geraldine had co-ordinated our trip to ensure that we stopped at this park so that we could have one of their famous pizzas. I agreed with that idea, 'coz they are REALLY good. But.....they are doing renovations now aren't they? The pizza oven is disconnected isn't it....back in operation of Friday, isn't it? But today is Monday! Do we stay until Friday? Nope, we get a pizza from 'John's' which is nearly as good...the red wine helps things along. We live!!!!

Tuesday was a drive south along a rather featureless highway for nearly 400 k's to Woomera. The highlight of the drive was having a 'burger with the lot at a place called Pimba. Turned left after the burger to Woomera. Parked the van at the tourist park (a dusty, well-used place), then had a walk around good old Woomera. Checked out a few displays of the old rocket stuff and the museum place. Went to the bar at about 1700 for happy hour. Had a chat with Rob and  'my name is Gay, not 'I am Gay', who hail from a place called Lara, just north of Geelong! Small world I keep saying! The bar is so basic it has a great ambiance. The grey nomads have their usual one or two drinks and go back to their vans and continue drinking their cheapies. The mining blokes stay at the bar until whenever.

Wake up Wednesday and there is dew on the car windows for the first time in weeks....and it is quite cold. Head off down towards Port Augusta. We are travelling in as south-westerly direction and the wind is a fairly stiff southerly...a bit of hard work for the car and me but we do alright! Stop at Augusta and pick up some provisions. Having turned left at the Eyre Highway we now travel towards Adelaide until the turn-off to Port Broughton...about 30 k's off the highway but beside the water. We get a lovely site right beside the bay. Set up camp, go for a walk along the pier (if there is a pier in a town, we will walk it!). Have a nice afternoon at the park, talk to the neighbours and watch the sun go down over said bay while we enjoy a beer/wine, but hell it's cold!

Tomorrow we will be back in a big city and shall be spending a few days with Mary and Phil at Port Willunga.

Day 47. Saturday 3rd August, 2013.

Another cold night so snuggle-up in bed until a reasonable hour then up for coffee. A quiet day and being the week-end, no construction work to interrupt the serenity.

Time to take the territory on a bit of rough-stuff on the road to N'Dhala Gorge. This is a 4WD track, part of what is known as Binns Track.  Google it and see. We cross the Ross River a number of times. There is water at all these crossing 'coz the crossing as actually lower than the water-table. A bit of sand here and there and rocky bits make it a great driving experience (that Geraldine would rather miss out on. Glad she let me buy the car!)

The Gorge is no-where near as spectacular as Trephina but this one does have the added feature of having very ancient aboriginal petroglyphs scattered here and there. We wander along and find some here and there. The National Parks have supplied only a few explanatory signs so it is all good fun...a bit like a treasure hunt really.

This is what a petroglyph looks like...may thousands of years old.

We spent about an hour wandering here and there and then made our way back to the homestead along the track....more fun.

A very relaxing afternoon, gathering firewood for tonight, visiting the homestead for souvenirs (must have those) and reading in the sunshine. This is a long week-end in the Territory and it is noticeable that there are many more campers in the park. Just as well we are moving on tomorrow.

Day 46. Friday 2nd August 2013.

A nice little sleep-in and then off we go for a huge 80 k drive to Ross River Homestead, which is located due east of Alice at the end of the Ross Highway.

We travelled along and through the East MacDonnell Ranges, spectacular country and not as well known as the West MacDonnell's. One really does need to visit both and appreciate their individual beauty.

We set up camp in a wonderful spot. It is quite isolated and the power is supplied by a generator that runs only from 0700 to 0900 and then again from 1630 to 2100-ish. Actually all times in the Territory as '-ish'. Anyway, although this place is isolated it is wonderful and a joy to behold....even though there is a lot of earth-moving going on nearby. management is improving the camp-ground and of course one cannot make an omelette without breaking an egg or two..therefore we do have some dust and noise but the ambiance of the place gets us over that little problem.We both loved it.

Ross River Homestead Resort

After the chats and things we drove to Trephina Gorge and went for a couple of long-ish walks. Beautiful country. The photos I took really do not do the place justice.

Trephina Gorge

The place is managed by Roman Long Ukrainian Name, who was a border at Chanel in Geelong at the same time I was St. Joey's. We had a chat about those times and he mentioned a few names that I knew. These sort of things never cease to amaze me. His son Shane runs the bar back at the actual homestead. Bit of a character is Shane and you can never be sure if he is fair dinkum or just taking the piss. We wandered over to the bar at about 1630-ish and he then organises for us to have a bit of a 4WD tour of the place courtesy of driver Jen, a young Canadian back-packer. Bloody rough trip it was too but a nice thing to do. 'Course when we got back we had to have a beer or two to talk about it...so we did.

I got a bit of firewood so that we could sit abound a nice fire before and after tea. Pure bliss.

Day 45. Thursday, 1 August 2012.

A relatively quiet day was had. We remained in Alice and journeyed out a few k's along the Ross River Highway and studied the near East MacDonnell Ranges. We wandered through Emily Gap and then Jessie Gap. Both a quite short but wide fissures through the ranges. There is also some very ancient aboriginal art to be seen. Not as elaborate as that seen in Kakadu, quite simple really but still has a story to tell.

We then went out further to a place called Corroboree Rock....a strange feature which is sacred to the Arrente people but 'tis said that they did not hold corroborees there. Go figure.

We had a 'picnic' lunch after we wandered around that place then back to the caravan park for a quiet afternoon spent reading in the sunshine and talking to some of the neighbours.

Corroboree Rock

View of Emily Gap