The End

Sunday 16th August 2009
The wind started to blow early in the morning and there was a little bit of rain but by the time we had breakfast most of the weather appeared to have passed. Although Alexander and Andrea would have liked to stay at the farm for a few more nights we left just after 9am to cover the last 300km of our trip. As we left the farm the rain started to come down really hard and we were right in amongst it until we reached Echuca. This was the heaviest and most rain we've seen in last three month. The trip back to Wodonga was very windy but otherwise uneventful. Arriving home after 3 month away was interesting, there were buildings we hadn't seen before and when we left it certainly wasn't anywhere near as green. For the last few days we've been in search of our house key as we couldn't remember where in the caravan we put it when we left. Luckily Ilse found it yesterday so we we can at least get in.
Arriving home we found the place still standing and emptied most of the caravan into the house, picked up the key to the shed (or so I thought) and then took the caravan over to Albury. However, the attempt to unlock the door failed as I had accidentally taken the wrong key! We had to go back to Wodonga, pick up the correct key, and go back to Albury. This time I had the right key, we parked the caravan and by 3pm left the shed, did some shopping and went home to put things away.
Our holiday has finally come to an end, the kids are writing the final entry into their journals and draw lines on a map to document where we've been.
Tomorrow life will continue where we left of three month ago but we are a few experiences richer and have seen how the other half of the country lives.
Although this is the last travel entry in this blog, I will write a short trip summary in the next few days.

Lockington

Saturday 15th August 2009
We had a nice and quiet night at Ouyen Caravan Park with our Caravan still attached to the car so we can have a quick start in the morning.
However, before we could leave Ouyen we had to go past the Mallee Bakery for some fresh Vanilla Slice.
Now that we are in Victoria it feels like home when we listen to ABC radio with all the familiar voices. The only radio program we have hear all the way around was Macca on Sunday morning.
The landscape is still looking lush and green - a stark contrast to what we've seen over the last couple of months. The cows around here look very well nourished and real healthy, not like the Brahmans we saw in the northern part of Australia.
Today's track took us further across the Mallee onto the Murray Valley Highway which goes all the way home. But we turned South just after the small township of Torrumbarry and headed through Lockington and onto Ron and Vicki's farm. After a 300km trip we arrived just in time for lunch and spent the afternoon chatting and looking around the farm while the kids played with Ron and Vicki's grand children.
By the time we finished talking it was too late for us to continue onto Albury so we stayed the night in our Caravan parked in the driveway. The weather was very mild and after a BBQ in the evening we sat around the patio fire reminiscing about our travel and dreaming about future travel plans. It was very nice to spend our last evening away from home with our friends who have shared so many of the travel experiences with us.
The fire went out a bit after 9pm and we went to our caravan bed for the last time on this trip.

Back to the famous Vanilla Slice

Friday 14th August 2009
The night in the Adelaide Hills was rather cold but we survived it in our warm sleeping bags.
We had a leisurely morning, rising fairly late and having a slow breakfast and shower. By the time we were on the road it was 10:30am but we weren't planning on covering a great distance.
Driving through the green Adelaide Hills was very pleasant on this nice and sunny morning. We went all the way to a little place called Sherlock where we turned North for a little place called Karoonda. Don and Joy, a couple we met on our Neap Tide Cruise, came out to greet us and we had our picnic lunch at their place. They had just arrived home from Broome a couple of hours before we dropped in and were still unpacking their caravan. We had a good chat about both our trips and arranged to meet again in the future. By 2pm we were back on the road heading straight for Lameroo where we refuelled and about an hour later we crossed from South Australia into Victoria. From all the state crossings we have seen on our trip this was the smallest and most unimpressive, I almost went past it without noticing that we were now back in our home state.
Just on sunset we rolled into Ouyen, the place who lays claim to Victoria's best Vanilla Slice. We had some when we passed through three month ago and we loved it, so our first stop was the Malley Bakery but they had sold out. Our second option was the service station and we were in luck there.
The caravan park was almost empty, compared to three month ago, and we parked on the same site we had on our previous visit.
Before settling in for the night I removed the Jerry can from the roof and filled the car with the Diesel purchased in Wyndham WA. I also removed the Jerry Can holder in preparation for our arrival at home so we can fit the car in the garage. We enjoyed the famous Ouyen Vanilla Slice for our dessert and then hit the sack so we are well rested for the final part of our journey tomorrow.

Adelaide Hills

Thursday 13th August 2009
It was a sad event this morning when I put on my long trousers after nearly three months in shorts. Althoug the morning in Port Augusta wasn't really cold, we woke to an overcast sky and we knew we'd reach the cold weather today.
As soon as we left Port Augusta on the way South we noticed a significant change in the surrounding landscape with lush green paddocks and tall trees.
Later on in the day Frank informed me that we crossed Goyder's Line. The rainfall on the Northern part of this line is 250mm / year less than to the South.
Just to prove that this line realy exists we experienced our first lot of rainfall since crossing the Nullabor nearly 3 month ago.
We went through Crystal Brook and through the Clare Valley into the Adelaide Hills. What a sight to go from the red and dry desert yesterday to the green Adelaide Hills which were shrouded in a mist of low cloud with showers every few kilometers.
Today's travel really brought home the diversity of the Australian landscape and how dramatically it can change within a day's driving.
We stopped at Springton, near the Herbig Tree, and had our lunch before continuing on to Lobethal where we called into the famous Bakery before continuing onto Balhannah where we arrived at Frank and Irene's place around 1:30pm.
This time around we had to put our caravan on the concrete as the grass was too soft after the good winter rains.
By the time we finished our cuppa and headed of for a quick trip to Hahndorf the clouds had almost disappeared and we enjoyed sitting in the sun outside the shops while Irene, Ilse and Andrea checked out a few shops.
On the way home we ordered Pizza which Frank picked up later on for dinner and I made some Bread & Butter Pudding for dessert. We spent the evening looking at a few holiday shots before retiring to bed on one of our coldest nights in a long time.

Closing the Loop

Wednesday 12th August 2009
By 8am this morning we were leaving Coober Pedy behind us; as we haven't seen much of the Opal mines or Underground buildings we have to come back to this place some time in the future. On the way South we found that after the Opal fields the soil changed back to the redish colour we had seen before the Opal fields. It looks like the ground in this whole area has been turned upside down. As oppose to other mining areas where re-vegetation is a condition of the mining lease, it appears that around Coober Pedy they just dig holes and then move on.
Once we left the main mining area the landscape became very flat and almost featureless with very little vegetation. In some areas where we have seen small trees (Mulga), some bushes and grasses, the Eagles were well represented with many of them sitting in trees just beside the road, probably waiting for a free meal provided, courtesy of the passing cars.
The road South passes through the Wommera defence force land and signs on the road side reminded us that it is a prohibited area.
About 60km after our fuel stop at Glendambo, just outside the prohibited area, we stopped at a rest area on the shores of Lake Hart and had an early lunch before continuing our long track down South to Port Augusta where we arrived at 2pm after travelling 539km.
At Port Augusta we are closing the loop as we passed through here on our way to the West. On this long loop drive we covered 13,500 km in 12 weeks.
This time around we knew to go straight to the Outback Centre after dropping off the caravan. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the Centre's excellent display which explains every thing about the Outback starting at time of Gondwana Land and taking us all the way through to the present time. It covers such diverse subjects such as Flora and Fauna, Geology, Aboriginal Dreamtime stories, The Ghan, Explorers and Resources. Many displays were accompanied by short audio visual presentations and videos which provided a lot of excellent information.
We could have spent a good half day in the is Centre but unfortunately time got away from us and we had to do a little bit of shopping and fuel up the car for tomorrows trip to Balhannah.
Unfortunately today has also been my last day of wearing shorts as the weather is getting a bit cold with today's top of only 20°C I started to get cold once the sun was setting. Tomorrows destination has a top temperature forecast of only 16°C so I think I have to dust off my long pants and jumper.

Coober Pedy

Tuesday 11th August 2009
We didn't have a particularly early start today but by 9am we were travelling East for 100km before turning South for 70km and then East again for 110km until we were back on the Stuart Highway at Erldunda where we turned off 4 days ago. Our little side trip to Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon took some 800km of driving in total and was well worth the effort.
At Erldunda, on the Stuart Highway we turned South heading for Home. About 80km down the road, at Kulgera, we filled up the car before heading across the Border into South Australia. Further South, at Marla, we had another fuel stop and ate our lunch while driving. By 5:30pm we rolled into the Stuart Range Caravan Park at Coober Pedy having covered a total distance of 753km on this rather warm day where the temperature topped at 32°C. It took us a total of 8.5hrs (including fuel stops) on the road to cover this distance which is the longest on our trip so far.
Once we got to Erldunda the landscape became pretty flat and had that very dry Desert look. The predominant colour of the soil was still a brownish red but it changed somewhere along the track to a very light, almost white colour. The last 50km into Coober Pedy were rather interesting as both sides of the road are littered with mullock heaps from Opal mining. As we got closer to Coober Pedy the heaps got higher and covered the whole landscape from horizon to horizon. Opal mining is huge everywhere around this place. Most of the mullock heaps had a whitish look about them and there was no sign of the reds we had experienced in the Centre.
Water is very limited out here, so limited in fact that the Caravan park has no water available on the sites and showers are charged at $0.20 per 3 minutes.
On the bright side, there is no charge for flushing the toilets!
We parked the Caravan just as the sun was setting in yet another wonderful outback colour display. A short drive around town gave us a bit of an overview of Coober Pedy. There are a lot of houses and Motels built underground to keep things cool during the hot summer. The whole town is focused on Opal with numerous shops and outlets for the colourful gemstone. As far as the town itself goes the best analogy I can find is "Living in a Quarry". From an elevated Lookout we could see that total absence of anything resembling grass (or even weeds) or brown soil - everything is this slightly off white sandy stuff which doesn't support any life at all.
A bit further up the road we were reminded of the harshness of the outback when we went past the western end of the Oodnadatta track where a Swiss tourist lost her life in 1998 when she walked away from her hire car after a breakdown. Since then it is a requirement for hire vehicles to be fitted with Emergency Location Transmitters and there is a memorial to her death on the Oodnadatta track.
There is nothing pretty about this place but it is certainly interesting. There must be plenty of Italians around as Coober Pedy has it's own "Italian Miners Club" - I suppose the Godfather would be rather busy out here keeping all this gemstone mining under control.
In the last few days the kids have started to talk about all the things they're going to do when they get home, not that they are home sick, but I think they are looking forward to returning home which might be by the end of this week.

Canyon for Kings

Monday 10th August 2009
Last night was fairly warm compared to our previous nights but quite pleasant for sleeping. The temperature in the morning was around 18°C and we got up early, had brekky and then drove 10km to Kings Canyon where we arrived at 7:45am to commence the famous "Rim Walk". The first part of the walk was fairly steep climb to the height to the top of the canyon. This climb was over countless (around 500 I've read) steps, some of them formed by nature others by rock and concrete. Once we arrived the top we had a great view over the area and were able to admire these intriguing rock formations close up. The walk took us along the rim of the canyon through some amazing rock formations. The rock in this area is very hard sandstone which formed many millions of years ago at the bottom of the sea. On some of the rocks we could even see the how the sand was formed into wavy patterns, as it does under water, before being turned into rock still maintaining the pattern. All the rock in the area has an orange - red - brown appearance but where a piece of rock is broken off it's a real sandy white/grey inside. The rocks have, very conveniently, formed into thousands of natural steps, many of which at the correct height to be used as a step by tourists.
Although the track was going up and down a bit, it basically followed the rim of the Canyon with little side tracks leading to some very scenic lookouts. Towards the end of the Canyon a fairly steep set of stairs led us down into the canyon to a small bridge across the canyon and to another set of stairs back up on the other side. We took a little extra walk from the other side back down to a place at the bottom of the canyon which is called "Garden Of Eden". There we found a large water hole with beautiful palm trees and nestled at the bottom rather high rock walls. This place was quite special and we found a nice rock ledge where we cooled down, had a little snack and enjoyed the ambiance for some time. After this little break we went back up tot he top of the canyon and walked back out on the other side. The views of the rocks were something to behold and reminded me a little bit of the Bungle Bungles with their beehive shapes.
We finished our walk by 11:30, a bit over the stated walk duration of 3.5 hrs, but we had a nice break at the "Garden Of Eden". Alexander was apprehensive about this walk as we have been told how hard it was, but by time we finished he was extra pleased with his effort of over 8km over fairly hard and partially steep terrain.
The Kings Canyon Rim Walk is one of the best walks I have ever done. Unfortunately, being so close to Uluru, there are too many bus tour tourists on the same walk track, in fact hundreds of them, mostly from overseas. Although they bring in the tourist dollar these masses of people spoil the serenity and natural beauty of this special place.
Back at the caravan we had our well earned lunch and a bit of a rest before I took the kids to the swimming pool. The water was far to cold for me but the kids had a great time between the water and the playground. I chatted all afternoon with other people at the pool before returning to the caravan for dinner.
Today was the start of week 13, our last week on the road as far as our [somewhat loose] plan is concerned. We are still 2500km [shortest route] away from home and still enjoying the red centre of Australia, but tomorrow we will leave Kings Canyon Resort and head towards Coober Pedy.

Heading for the Oz Grand Canyon

Sunday 9th August 2009
We had a Sunday breakfast with Baked Beans and Eggs to start the day. Yesterday was our last day here at Yulara and I must say that I enjoyed Uluru more that I thought I would.
Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park is the only National Park I have ever been to that comes under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, every other park is the responsibility of the relevant State Government. It wasn't until 1985 that the park was handed back to traditional owners and then only on the condition that they lease it back to the Government for 99 years. However, the major change was that the park is managed by a board of 8 traditional owners (4 male, 4 female) and 4 Government and Parks representatives, so the Anangu people have the majority. The issue of climbing Uluru has been in the news of late and that's all related to the draft management plan that will close the climb for good - a very good idea in my opinion!
We enjoyed our stay at Yulara but the caravan park part of the resort leaves a bit to be desired, in particular the showers which have one of those water saving non-adjustable shower heads which produced a stream of water really close to the wall and right above the taps leaving only 15cm or so to get under it. Getting wet under this shower was rather difficult and made it impossible to comply with the "Save Water" signs around the place. I was certainly glad to get away from those showers.
Being Sunday we had a slow morning and didn't get on the road until after 9am but we didn't have to cover a great distance, just over 300km. First we had to back track as Yulara is a dead end [sealed] road and the only way out was the way we came in. We headed East through Curtain Springs (a road house) and past Mt Conner until we turned North onto the Kings Canyon road and after 67km West again for another 100km until we reached Kings Canyon Resort some 6km past the Kings Canyon turnoff. The caravan part of this resort is quite nice with lots of amenity blocks and some shade. We picked a nice site and parked our caravan, had lunch and then started talking to the neighbours who'd just returned from the "Kings Canyon Rim Walk". We got all the good oil about how exhausting this walk is and that we have to leave early in the morning and finish before the day heats up.
Today we had 30°C and tomorrow will be similar, so we better take their advice and get away early.
In the afternoon a caravan pulled in next to us and we soon discovered the people come from Upper Gundowring, just a few km's out of Wodonga.
At 3pm we went for a short drive to check out Kings Canyon and do the 2km Kings Creek walk which took us along the bottom of Kings Canyon to a viewing platform near the end of the Canyon. We met Bern and Patrizia from Germany and had a nice chat with them during our walk.
Back at the caravan park a lady came along to warn us about the Dingos which frequent the park - they will take any shoes left unattended even if the shoe owner is close by. Earlier today one Dingo had to be chased out of a tent after it opened the zip. Apparently the Dingos can open zips, if the zip is only left half an inch open the Dingo will push its nose in and work the zip upwards until it can get in. The same applies to Caravans - if doors are left open Dingos will get in and really mess up the inside in search of food. It's not just shoes but towels, drink bottles and all sorts of things get taken by Dingos around here. I wonder if Dingos around here also take children, we might leave our outside for the night .......

Kata Tjuta

Saturday 8th August 2009
The night wasn't quite as cold as I expected but still down to 5°C in the morning. We packed a picnic lunch and drove out to the Uluru Cultural Centre where the tourist information is located but unfortunately it was unattended (again) so we continued to Mala car park where tourists start their climb on the rock. Not that I had any intention of climbing it, but this morning the climb was closed due to forecast winds exceeding 25kt. The park board of management has put in a draft development plan to close the climb in a few years time but the traditional owners already ask tourists to respect their local laws and not to climb the rock. So far 35 deaths have been recorded from people attempting the climb.
We met up with the Rangers who conducted the Mala walk along the base of Uluru to Kantju Gorge.
Mala is the Rufous Hare Wallaby which plays a big part in Tjukurpa, the Dreaming (or creation story) of the local Anangu people. We went to many interesting places that had been used for many thousands of years to educate young people and prepare equipment and people for sacred ceremonies. There was a separate place for men and for woman to keep their activities and storys from each other - a bit like what happens today in white man's world!
We also learned a bit more about bush tucker and the use of the Bloodwood tree as an antiseptic.
After this very informative walk we went for a drive around Uluru and then continued onto Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) which is a 50km trip. We stopped at the Dune Viewing platform to admire this impressive formation of rounded rocks from a distance. Kata Tjuta rises over 500mt above its surrounds, whereas Uluru is only 350mt high.
We stopped at the Sunset Viewing car park to have our lunch before continuing onto The "Valley Of The Winds" where we walked to a lookout right in the middle of Kata Tjuta. It was great to walk right next to these rounded, but very steep, hills made of conglomerate rock. It's easy to see how the local Creation stories talk about these impressive natural features as something that has been left behind by the ancestors, who were large versions of local animals, on their travels throughout this land. It is also easy to see how some of these places are considered sacred and off limits to everyone but the oldest and wisest elders in a community.
Next on the agenda was the Walpa (Windy) Gorge walk which took us about 1.3km into a Gorge formerly known as Olga Gorge. I'm not too sure how high the near vertical walls were but they were towering hundreds of meters above us and some parts of this Gorge never see sunlight. There was even a little bit of water running near the end of the Gorge. We went all the way to the end of the Gorge and sat there for some time enjoying the view and the cool air. Walpa Gorge is certainly an impressive sight but there is a continuous stream of tourists flowing in and out. They come by the bus loads from all corners of the earth to see this fantastic place. Tourist numbers peaked in the year of the Sydney Olympics at 500,000 per year but are now back to under 400,000 per year.
On our way back to Yulara we stopped at the Sunset Viewing car park to get a few nice shots of Kata Tjuta in good light and then we were on our way.
Back at Yulara we filled up the car, went to the supermarket for some supplies and finally arrived back at the caravan just before 6pm. The kids have already fallen asleep after all the walking during the day and I won't be far behind them.

She's a mighty big Rock .....

Friday 7th August 2009
The nights in Alice are pretty cold and we have had the heater going every morning with temperatures between 1 and 2°C. By 8am the sun comes over the MacDonnell Ranges and it's quite pleasant. We said goodbye to Rex and Sue and got on the road by 8:15 am, they headed North but our track took us down the Stuart Hwy in a Southerly direction. We soon realized how unique the Landscape at Alice Springs is. North and South of Alice it's mainly flat but Alice is nestled in amongst the many hills which form the MacDonnell Ranges, I can see why people settled in Alice.
After driving 200km South we reached Erldunda where we refuelled and turned off the Stuart Hwy only 70km North of the border to South Australia. The next part of the track took us another 240km to the West past Mt.Conner and through Mt.Ebenezer and Curtin Springs and finally arriving at Yulara where we checked into the Caravan Park at "Ayers Rock Resort", a few km's up the road from the Big Rock.
After a late lunch and a chat with the neighbours Andrea and I went for a drive to the Big Rock, called Uluru (Ayers Rock). I must say that Uluru wasn't on the top of my things to see but when we got up close to the Rock I was impressed. It is absoluteley massive, smooth on the outside and set in flat country. Certainly the most impressive monolith I have every seen. Uluru is one of the worlds top five tourist destinations, so you can imagine that everything is well organized and well managed and both cars and buses are catered for. After a quick walk through the cultural centre we went back to fetch Ilse and Alexander and then headed to the "Sunset Carpark" were we were amongst many other cars that had come to this vantage point to see and photograph the sunset on Uluru. The colours were nice, changing from bright orange to deep red as the sun was setting behind us bathing the Rock and its surrounds in pastel colours. It's very easy to see that this Rock would leave people in awe by it's size and by its colours - these are the colours that define the Australian Outback.
On the way back to the caravan, driving towards the west, we saw the silhouette of the Olgas against the post sunset sky with its yellow colours. By the time we got back to the caravan the sky in the West was a deep red against the backdrop of the endless desert going all the way to WA. Another beautiful day in the Australian Outback is coming to an end and I expect another cool night is ahead of us.

West Of Alice

Thursday 6th August 2009
Having lost the whole day yesterday I was keen to start exploring some of the areas out of Alice. Ilse packed our lunch and we headed West along Larapinta Drive which leads to Hermannsburg, the famous old Lutheran Mission which was handed back to the traditional owners in 1982. Hermannsburg's most famous son is the late Albert Namatjira, who is reckognized as the first Aboriginal artist [in a white man's sense] and who's paintings are worth a fortune nowadays. He has started an industry which is now turning over $250 million per annum - what proportion of these millions actually ends up with Aboriginal artists is questionable.
These days Hermannsburg is an aboriginal community which closed off to white people but there is a museum and some old buildings accessible to tourists. We didn't go to Hermannsburg but instead turned right into Namatjira Drive which took us all the way to Glen Helen, an old Homestead and a Gorge about 135km West of Alice. The water at the Gorge looked beautiful and inviting but both air and water temperature were too cold.
The drive to Glen Helen took us through some very interesting country which is part of the West MacDonnell Ranges. The landscape contains everything from small rolling hills to steep cliff faces and from virtually bare ground to lush green areas. Most of the creeks were typical dry desert creeks with water running below the surface and an occasinal water hole.
On our way back to Alice we called in at Ormiston Gorge where we walked to the magnificent Ghost Gum lookout to see the Gorge below and the huge Orange Rock that towers above it.
Next was the Ochre Pits, an old quarry where the Aboriginals got their Ochre from. In this one pit we could see white, yellow and purple Ochre all in the one rock wall. Ochre was (and still is) very imortant and valuable to Aboriginal people. It is mixed with animal fat and painted on the body for ceremonial purposes but it's also used as an ointment for all sorts of ailments. Ochre was heavily traded amongst the different clans and it was a man's responsibility to keep up the supply of Ochre for the family.
A bit further down the road was Ellery Creek Big Hole, a beautiful water hole set in a very nice Gorge. We had our lunch at one of the picnic tables and gave the kids a little bit of time to play in the sand before moving on to Simpsons Gap, just a few km's out of Alice.
We had to get back to Alice by 4pm for the last tour of day at the Royal Flying Doctor Base. We saw a little movie about the Flying Doctor, listened to a talk by one of the staff members and checked out the operations centre of the Base before proceeding to the museum. With a little bit of time on our hands before the shops closed we had a look at Todd Street Mall where Aboriginal Art is sold in shops and on the streets by the Aboriginal Artists themselves.
All around town we saw the advertising for the upcoming Henley-On-Todd Regatta. The Todd river runs (if you can call it that) through the centre on Alice but only carries water during heavy rains and floods. The Regatta, just like the famous "Henley-On-Thames" in England, is conducted with boats. The total absence of water in the Todd river is only a minor problem as the boats don't have a bottom and are propelled by legs in Fred Flintstone fashion - it sounds like a lot of fun.
Most dog owners in Alice use the Todd river on a daily basis to walk their dogs [in the river bed].
We hit the supermarket for a last shopping trip before heading out into the bush again tomorrow.
Tonight we had Sue and Rex (Grand Parents of Alexanders School mate) come over for a visit to exchange travel ideas as they are heading North where we have just come from. As always when we have visitors, bed time was pretty late and the blog didn't get done either.

Stuck ...

Wednesday 5th August 2009
We were all fired up this morning, ready for our trip to Glen Helen Homestead and Gorge. However, as I started the car there was a hissing sound from under the bonnet and when I looked there was engine oil pouring out the bottom of the car. A quick call to the Mitsubishi 24/7 assistance line had me talking to the local Mitsubishi Service centre where I was told that they could look at the car this afternoon. About an hour later a tow truck arrived at the caravn park and loaded our car to take it into town. Just as well we are only a few kms from the centre of Alice Springs.
We were now stuck in the caravan park without a car. The kids were extremely happy about our situation as they could go to the playground and spend the morning having fun. After lunch we got going on some more school work to fill in the time. By 3:30pm I started to ring the Mitsubishi dealer to find out when I could get the car back. By 4pm I stood at the gate of the caravn park to see if I could get a lift into town with someone. As luck would have it there was not a single car for over 15 minutes and I was just about to head for the bus stop down the road when the caravan park staff knocked off work. I managed to convince a very nice lady to give me a lift into town so I could pick up the car. As it turns out the place which performed the 15000 km service in Darwin didn't do a good job. They didn't change both seals on the oil filter as they were supposed to and as a result the second seal blew and thats where the oil was pouring out as soon as the engine was started.
With the car back in running order I went straight back to the caravan park to fetch the rest of the family and go for a shopping trip to stock up on food.
Ilse met a couple from Wodonga, parked just a couple of sites away from us, who are the grand parents of Alexander's school mate. Within a couple of hours of that encounter Ilse met the former neighbours of very good friends of ours. It's a small world indeed.
Our travel plans had to go on hold today so we will continue tomorrow where we've left of this morning.

Around Alice

Tuesday 4th August 2009
Yesterday was another one of NT's 19 public holidays, the most of any Australian state or Territory. Today everything is back to normal and we started our day with a quick shopping trip. One of our mobile phones packed it in yesterday, apparently condensation was the problem, so today we got another one at the local shop and also shopped for food.
Next stop was Alice Springs School of the Air where 15 teachers look after 169 students spread over 1.3 million square kilometers, a land mass the same size as central Europe. Most of the students are on cattle stations and in remote communities up to 1000km away from the school. The school used to operate via radio but in 2005 they made the change to internet satellite technology and now they have computers and web cams to participate in a virtual classroom. In addition to the on-air time spent with teachers the children also need a home tutor with is often mum or dad but if they are too busy a governess is employed to take children through their school work. Written school work is mailed back to the school every fortnight and assessed by the teachers. The teachers normally make one trip a year out to the stations to meet with students and two or three times a year all students, tutors and teachers come together for a week in Alice Springs.
The school has just extended its program to cover up to year nine but the remainder of the school years have to be completed in a normal school so boarding is the common option. As you can imagine, children which have never been in a class room find it quite hard to adjust to the social structure in a boarding school.
While at the school we could witness a Japanese class being conducted in one studio and an aboriginal class happening in the other studio.
Back to the caravan for lunch and then out to "Desert Park", a wildlife park set at the foot of the West MacDonnell Ranges. The park is on a large parcel of land and sectioned into different wildlife habitats such as Sand Country, Woodland and Desert Rivers to outline that the Red Centre of Australia is everything but lifeless.
At the start everyone gets a little MP3 player and throughout the park there are signs showing the appropriate track number which is then selected on the player - very neat, it's like having your own private guide, in your chosen language.
There were lots of bird enclosures and a Nocturnal House where we saw some of the desert night time animals such as the Bilby. The bird of prey display was very impressive, in particular the the Black Breasted Buzzard using a rock to crack open an Emu egg. All right in front of us. We saw a Falcon, Kites, an Owl and and even a humble Magpie being flown in the open air display.
At the end of the walk there was a movie about the Aboriginal Creation story screened in a theatre. At the end of the movie the whole screen dropped down to reveal a very impressive view out onto the West MacDonnell Ranges through a glass wall.
Back at the caravan park I attended a talk by a local Astronomer. There is an observatory in an elevated area at the back of caravan park complete with light shielding - not bad.
Unfortunately we were just a couple of days away from full moon so observing wasn't really that great and I ended up back at the caravan to avoid the cold.

The Alice

Monday 3rd August 2009
Banka Banka was behind us by 8:30am, we rolled into Tennant Creek just after 9am, filled up the car and kept heading South. During yesterday's travel we saw temperatures rise as high as 27°C but today the highest was only 23°C. The morning temperature in Alice Springs was only 2°C.
Along the way we stopped at a place called Devils Marbles, a sacred Aboriginal site with the Marbles representing the eggs of the rainbow serpent which plays a significant role in creation dream time.
The Marbles are really just a large collection of rocks weathered into a round shape. It is quite remarkable as these round rocks are in the middle of the dessert, surrounded by scrub.
Not far from the Marbles is a small place called Wycliff Well and it's claim to fame is that it is the "UFO Centre of Australia". UFO sightings go back as far as the 2nd World War where the servicemen stationed at Wycliff Well (to grow vegetables) kept a book with records of the sightings. Unfortunately the old book has been stolen but a new book, containing records back to the 90's, is there on the front counter, for everyone to see.
We filled up the car, bought some muffins and put the foot down to get away from there before the aliens had a chance to abduct us.
Going further south we had another fuel stop before calling in at Red Centre Farm to purchase some tomatoes and Mango Ice Cream. We also had our lunch there and then continued the long track South where we arrived at the Tropic of Capricorn about 30km North of Alice Springs. After crossing the Tropic in a northerly direction on 6th June we are finally leaving the Tropics behind us after spending nearly 2 month up there.
By 4pm, after having covered 600km, we concluded the days driving at a Caravan Park on the Southern side of Alice. For the last 150km into Alice we were listening to ABC radio and there was a special report about the 80 year anniversary Ghan which was in Alice today. As soon as our Caravan was set up we hopped back in the car to see the Ghan at Alice Springs railway station.
The Ghan was the train responsible for opening up the Australian Outback when it started in 1929. The population of Alice was just over 100, but with the Ghan, or Alice Springs Express as it used to be called, Adelaide was only a train trip away and Alice soon began to grow. However, it was not until 2004 that the railway to Darwin was completed and ever since then the Ghan goes from Adelaide all the way through to Darwin, a two and a half day trip covering just under 3000km. These days the Ghan is one of the Great Train trips of the world and mainly frequented by tourists from all over the world. Today we counted 33 carriages on the train, three of them were car carriers for passengers vehicles.
We watched the Ghan depart punctually at 6pm just as the sun was setting behind the hills of Alice Springs and I couldn't help conjuring up images from an Agatha Christie movies as the train slowly accelerated away into the sunset.
While we were in town we also checked out the fabulous views from ANZAC Hill before returning back to the Caravan to plan tomorrow's activities.

A famous Pub

Sunday 2nd August 2009
We were back on the road by 8am this morning heading further South along the Stuart Highway. Although today is Sunday the kids had a full day of school work as we had lots of time while travelling. Alexander started the day with a Mexican Standoff when he refused to do any school work, but the withdrawal of food soon had him back on track.
Our first stop was 170km down the road at a place called Daly Waters - apart from some WW2 remnants and the Stuart Tree there isn't much to see at this location, but the Daly Waters Pub is well worth the visit. It is a bit of an icon for travellers in this isolated area and we had to stop to find out why. The pub is an old tin building and the inside is stacked full of all sorts of collections from patrons. There are German Police Badges, Bra's, undies, national flags, shirts, name cards, foreign currency, number plates and everything else one can think of. A beautiful beer garden outside also houses a big BBQ area where they cook their famous Barra and Steak every night for the crowds that stay in the adjacent caravan facility. Like every good country pub this one also has a resident entertainer to keep the crowds amused at night. His name is Frank and we met him just outside the pub where he keeps his 12 bantam roosters which accompany him on his travels. Frank is actually from Renmark but spends every tourist season at Daly Waters entertaining the crowds with singing, jokes and bush poetry every night between April an August. The end of the season is coming up in a couple weeks when the weather up here starts to warm up and Frank is looking forward to returning back home to Renmark where his wife is. He says Daly Waters Pub had a very good season and there hasn't been any evidence of the Global Financial Crisis, quite the opposite, they had to extend the beer garden to accommodate more patrons.
Goes to show, a good pub is recession proof - people always like to eat, drink and be entertained, especially when times are a bit tough.
After a couple of Croissants and some ice cream we made tracks and spent the rest of the day in the car until we arrived at Banka Banka Station around 3pm in the afternoon. The little campground doesn't have power but there is plenty of spring water available so we gave the caravan and the car a bit of a wash before settling in for dinner and a slide show about station life at 7pm.

We Of The Never Never

Saturday 1st August 2009
We spent another day at Mataranka so we could explore the other thermal pool.
Ron and went for an early morning walk to Bitter Springs where steam was rising from the warm water into the chilly morning air. At this time of the morning we were on our own and these tropical pools looked magnificent with the sun rising slowly through the forest of large palm trees. By the time we came back to the caravan we had earned our breakfast.
Our first trip for the day was to "Mataranka Homestead", not the real one but the one that was constructed for the movie "We Of The Never Never". The story is about Jeanie Gunn who was the first white woman to settle in this aera in 1902. Her novel, which is an autobiography of her experience at Elsey Station, was translated into German in 1927 and was turned into a movie in the 80's. It was quite interesting to go to the site of the real homestead (Elsey Homestead), not far away from the movie set, and read a bit about history of this isolated place of culture and civilization our here in the "Never Never". The movie is screened daily at noon in the Bar which is loacted where the old Elsey Homestead once stood.
The Mataranka Thermal Pools are only a few hundered meters from the Elsey Homestead site and the swimmng part is niceley constructed with easy access. Water temperature was 34°C and we spent a couple of hours in the pool and around the little waterfall just below the pool. The pool is a meeting place where campers and caravaners exchange their travel experiences and socialize for many hours whilst enjoying the warm water. The only reason why we left the warm water was that the worms were starting to bite and we brought no food. We had lunch back at the caravan before heading back out to another part of Elsey National Park. This time it was the Roper River where we checked out another camp ground which was nearly empty - it appears people don't like camp grounds without power.
A short distance further away was a little area called Mulurark where we found a nice beach on the Roper River where we spent a bit of time casting our lures in search for the famous Barramundi but with the temperatures being so cold (29°C max, 10°C min) the Barra were in hiding somewhere deep down and not even our lures could coax them out of their hiding spots.
After a some time at the Roper we went back into Mataranka to get fuel from one of the three outlets. Diesel prices vary greatly between them, ranging from $1.43 to $1.58 all within a hundred yards of each other.
Back at the caravan I packed away our fishing rods as we are now heading into the red centre where water is hard to come by and fishing is something people only talk about.
Tomorrow we will head further South and probably spend the night at Banka Banka station but I think we'll be out of phone range so I can't update our travel blog.