31st JULY

Travel day today. Left Darwin this morning & after some lunch & shopping in Katherine we headed for an overnite spot about 30kms south of Mataranka but when we pulled up and switched over the fridge to run on gas it wouldn't light so Peter switched the feed over to the other bottle but still no success. As we were both hot & grumpy by this time & Peter didn't hear me suggest just changing over the bottles we headed off down the road another 130+kms to Highway Inn at Daly Waters were Peter changed the bottles & now we have gas.
Early to bed we are both tired & it is still 27C in the caravan. Val XXXX

30-7-11

Well I have finally caught up.
Today we didn't do much at all til lunch, then went for swim in the pool, was cold to start but once in it was quite refreshing.
Nanny nap after swim, then down to the bistro for more barramundi (YUMMY) for tea.
Just going to read a bit while Peter watches a movie on the laptop then off to sleep so refreshed for the drive south tomorrow Val XXX

CATCH UP 29th JULY

After a short sleep-in & fun chores ( dishes, clothes washing etc ) we headed for the big Casuarina Shopping Complex to spend our R&R day finally getting to see Harry Potter on the big screen. So endeth another day..

Forgot to say the Temperature in Darwin has been high 20's to 30 during the day & only down to low 20's overnight I hate the heat.( I suppose you are thinking why go to Darwin then?? Well had to do it at least once in my lifetime right? ) Val XXX

CATCH UP 28th JULY

Well we were up in time for Peter to make the cruise from the Culleen Bay marina. Lucky for me just a few minutes up the street was the Darwin Skycity Casino so I dropped in there for a while it was very quiet that time in the morning. Had to pick Peter back up at 4PM & it was a disappointed fisherman that I picked up the catch for the day was only 3 fish for 12 fisherman so back in time to cook tea then early to bed & an R&R day tomorrow me thinks......Val XXX ( sorry disappointed fisherman no photos )

CATCH UP 27th JULY

Today we head for Darwin it's only just over 300kms so after a roadside lunch on the way we should be there early afternoon

We stopped for lunch at Adelaide River. Here it was a hive of industry railway-wise during WWII transpoting troops to & fro for fighting & hospitals. Then it was on to the Darwin Freespirit Caravan Park for 4 nites. When we got there we booked Peter an off-shore all day fishing cruise for tomorrow. Bugger a 4.30AM start better set the alarm LOL!!! Val XXX

CATCH UP 26th JULY

Today after spending the morning doing mundane things ( washing, shopping etc ) we headed for the Cutta Cutta Caves about 30 kms south of Katherine 

These formations of flow stones & drip stones are made sparkly by the calcium carbonate particles in the water that flows thru after the wet season the photos don't show the real sparkle. On our way back we stopped again at the Katherine Hot pool for the 3rd day in a row. What a relaxing way to end the day. Watch for the salties tho ( Crochimodiles ) LOL!!! Val XXX

CATCH UP 24th & 25th JULY

Well today I took my life in my hands & decided that Peter & I should do the helicopter flight over The Katherine Gorge. What fun!!! a spectactular way to see nature at it's best.

After the flight we thought we would do the short walk around the Gorge but we got so far then there was this

and that is only about 1/4 of the whole thing and the photo doesn't really show the angle it was about 45 degrees straight up so we chickened out and did the beach walk instead neither of us are as fit as we should be ( OH THE KNEES!!!! ) Val XXXX

CATCH UP 22nd JULY

Today at Mataranka we did the trip to the Bitter Springs hot pool, fed the barramundi then had him with vegies for dinner it was a great day Val XXXX

CATCH UP 22nd JULY

Today we travelled from our overnite spot with the intention of stopping at Katherine but as we were told by my Dad that a stop at Mataranka was worth while we did just that. Val XXX

CATCH UP 20th JULY

 Well we have left Alice Springs heading for Tennant Creek tonight. On the way we stopped by the Marbles where Peter tested his strength HA!!HA!!

Tennant Creek really isn't much of a town so we kept going to a nice free camp spot for the night. Val XXXX

REDO 19th JULY

Hi everyone well since arriving in Alice we haven't done too much the first few days I was suffering from sinus again & as it was cold & wet I was happy in bed with the electric blanket on. The last couple of days the weather has improved & we have been out & about. Sunday we went to the Alice Springs Desert Park if you are ever in the area it is a must. Yesterday we went & visited the School of the Air what a fabulous way for the outback kids to learn it is school holidays so no live class but the recorded class still showed how much fun the kids have. Peter has taken the car in for service this morning & we plan to set off north tomorrow after the trailer man has checked out the chassis. catch you later guys not sure when we will have service next ValXXXXX

REDO DAY 9 11th JULY

Today we went into Alice Springs ( no caravan just car )to book a park spot for Wed, to chase up service for the car & caravan & do some shopping to last til we were back in on Wed. Back at Stuart Well there is as we found out a famous singing dingo who sort of plays the piano as he sings photos to follow XXXXX Val

REDO DAY 8 10th JULY

Before we had tyre trouble Peter had said he would like to do King's Canyon so as we couldn't do anything til Monday we decided to go. It was a beautiful place even tho as you see the photo for the walks we did the lower one as neither of our knees could take the steps up maybe next year with a bit of weight off & a bit of stairmaster training it is said to be a magnificent sight if you can do the first hard 1/2 hr. the round trip for the day was 650+kms but was worth it XXXX Val

REDO DAY 7 9th JULY

Today we spent the day travelling from Curtin Springs hopefully to Alice Springs with no spare so with the occasional breath we head off. We stopped for lunch at Stuarts Well where we were told if we hadn't booked into a park at Alice we wouldn't stand a chance as the Camel Cup was on & other things over the weekend so we decided to stay where we were & go into Alice on the Monday to organise a service for the car ( 20k logbook ) & to get the caravan looked at & tyres & rim. So the afternoon was spent having a nanny/pappy nap as neither of us slept well the night before. XXXX Val

REDO DAY 6 8th JULY

Well followers this was a bugger of a day. We left Kulgera with the hopes of arriving in Yalara ( closest town to Uluru ) that evening. We had to leave the main Stuart Hwy & travel a narrower sharp edged road, I was driving & had to move over for a semi & the caravan wheels left the bitumen didn't think much of it no real difference in the handling but after a while the electric brake control came up with a short warning so asap I pulled over only to find we had no rear passenger side tyre or alloy rim F%#$ so after some really heavy effort ( there was wire from the tyre wrapped around everything ) we got the spare on & continued not far on there was a sign for a free camp so we decided to leave the van & go into Uluru for a new tyre & rim. Luckily we stopped as the front tyre was going flat as it had small pieces of wire in it's wall in several places F%#$ another new tyre.So a 250+kms round trip to get 1 new tyre no rims to be had.

 

We did Ayers rock while we were there photos next XXXVal

REDO DAY 4 6th JULY

Hi everyone we had a great day in Coober Pedy today we went & inspected an underground house ( yes I was right yesterday as 80% of the housing is underground & you only see vents on the side of hills ) 

and we also did an opal mine tour both of which I will put photos in  the gallery shortly May not have internet the next coupla days so will catch up when I can luv to all Val xxx

REDO DAY 3 5th JULY

Well we are now in Coober Pedy. I knew it was a small town but it is really small maybe I am missing the underground dwellings will check out more tomorrow. 

We are staying 2 nights maybe do some tours. The terain today was very red even the asphalt was very red even tho the photos didn't really show it. The windmill was at Glendambo where we stopped for lunch nice little spot . ValXX

WE HAVE LIFT OFF SUNDAY 3rd JULY

Well we got away at 9.30 this morning we are now camped out about 29kms west of Keith SA The car van travelled well but we had a head wind so fuel consumption wasn't too good so let's hope for a "no wind" day tomorrow ( that means Peter too LOL!!!) Luv to all Val XXX

our overnite stop

Test Blog

Hello everyone
I didn't have much luck with Bigpond so am going to give this one a try 

Val  XX