Coober Pedy

Monday morning we left Port Augusta heading north on our journey to Darwin. It was lovely sunshine when we left, and all the wild life were out and about again. One poor emu that we came across had just suffered impact from a vehicle that was towing a caravan, it's carcass was being removed from the road and there were feathers everywhere. The road kill on this section of the road was really bad, dead cows, kangaroos and emu's we had to slow down many times to avoid doing any damage to our vehicle and adding to the carnage,
The lakes that we passed actually had water in them, and one that was especially pretty was Lake Hart, it has a rest area there that overlooks the lake, and many travelers stop off there for an overnight stop. As it was only 11.30am when we arrived decided to push on bit further.
The Defence Force are carrying out exercises this month, so the Stuart Hwy is closed to traffic for 4hrs every second day between Bon Bon and Ingarmar which is about an 80klm stretch. Monday it was closed between 10am and 2pm, the road had only just opened when we arrived at the Bon Bon rest area, where we ended up stopping for the night, along with a dozen other caravaner's and 3 whiz bangs. Also stopped there was this fellow that was riding a push bike to Alice Springs, he slept in his swag on the ground only protection from the driving rain & wind that we had last night was the roof covering the picnic tables. Bazza asked him if he would like some hot water for a drink and he replied "if you have the coffee to go with it". This morning once again Bazza offered him a coffee and also gave him 3 weetbix in a bowl. as the only thing he has to eat are tins of tuna and he get fresh water from passing motorists. He told us he stops every 5klms for a smoke and has a shower every 1000 klms! Did not get too close and poured boiling water over the utensils he used.
The rain we had last night continued today so it was a wet & windy trip into Coober Pedy, arrived at the caravan park by 10am. The weather cleared late this afternoon, but has rained again since. We will probably leave here tomorrow if the weather is fine, as on a previous visit we had done all the tourist things. Had planned to go out to the Breakaways, but after all this rain the road is closed and it could be days before it is open again.

7metre wide load (generator)

Bon Bon rest area ended up like a caravan park

Wet and soggy at Coober Pedy caravan park

Port Augusta

Finally got away this morning after saying our final farewells and traveled 125klms to Port Augusta. On the way we saw many Kangaroos, Emus and old decaying homesteads dating back to around the 1860’s

The first port of call was to locate a Woolworth s  to restock the van and we also filled up with diesel. The price of diesel compared to when we were here 5 yrs ago is 33c per litre less, so we are very hopeful we will not be paying the exuberant prices that we paid when travelling to Darwin in 2008.

Rawnsley Park Station - Flinders Rangers

Day 1: There was not any rush to get away today, as we only had to travel 40klm. We had decided our next stop would be at Rawnsley Park Station a working sheep station, that has diversified the business with a caravan park, budget cabins, eco cabins and a restaurant.

It was a very spectacular drive this morning with the early morning sun highlighting the impressive Flinders Rangers , seeing many Kangaroos ,Emus and  Wedge Tail Eagles.  Upon arrival we were directed to a very large gravel site, now that we are in Outback South Australia we can’t expect to see any grass.

Late morning we were back in the car again heading the 25klm to Wilpena, where we went for a two hour walk into an old homestead of early settlers and from there attempted the climb to the top of the pound. The first part was relatively easy but the last 400 mtrs was very steep, so decided after reaching the 200mtr mark that to go any further with my ankle limiting my ability would be silly.  With a couple of other people from the group we descended to the first lookout, from here you were still able to appreciate the unique formation of the ranges that forms the circle of the pound. We managed without incident to descend the rest of the way and walk out to the designated pick of area and await the shuttle bus with 15 minutes to spare.

Day 2: A slow start today as Bazza actually had a sleep in this morning, after all the exercise yesterday, so my breakfast was 1hr later than usual.

We decided today to do the half day self drive route that took us through Brachine Gorge and Bunyeroo Gorge. The drive took us off the black top onto a dusty, corrugated road that deteriorated to a track with many dry river crossings and at times travelling along the actual river bed. On the return journey of the trail we were following a ridge line before descending into the Bunyeroo Valley.  Before we left the black top to drive into Brachine Gorge we stopped at Hucks Lookout,  Appealinna Ruin a Heritage Site that was a site of many arguments and fights between the settler and miners. The miners wanted access to the natural spring on the property to water their horses and stock, eventually the area where the spring was located was removed from the farmers lease. The every changing scenery was amazing with the spectacular rock formations of the gorges to the vast valley areas.
Day 3: This was our day to just hang out at the Station, catching up with the washing and washing the caravan floor etc.  We offered to dog sit our neighbour’s dog, so they could go into the National Park and go on the walk to the old homestead and lookouts. On their return they were very grateful and gave us a bottle of wine, which we shared with them that night. During the day we had time to explore the station and go for a walk out to the gap lookout.

Hills Homestead Wilpena Pound

Taking in the scenery Wilpena Pound

200mtrs from the top, as far as I could go!

Sunset Rawnsley Park Station

Hucks Lookout

Harsh Enviroment

Wills Homestead 1856

Garden area behind the stone wall Wills Homestead

Bunyeroo Gorge

At Rawnsley Park Station

Campsite Rawnsley Park Station

Dry creek bed Rawnsley Park station

Burra - Hawker

Awoke to a very brisk and overcast morning, with the occasional shower of rain. Had thought we would spend more time at Burra exploring the Historic Township, but as weather conditions were not very pleasant, after a quick tour around the town and a trip up to the open cut mine lookout, we left Burra to head north. Today we saw many wind farms in the distance dotting the hill line, with their slow moving blades. The scenery was constantly changing from open flat plateaus to saltbush and hills.

W e made a slight detour into the old railway town of Teowie, the population is only 150 and many of the buildings are boarded up and deserted, which is a typical depressing sign of many outback towns. Teowie was once a busy railway town where the rail carriages had to be unloaded and reloaded as the railway lines changed from narrow to a wider gauge. Our next stop was Peterborough where we had a guided tour of the Steam Town Heritage Rail Centre with the only remaining triple gauge turntable in the world. Steam trains and carriages are all housed and displayed in the 23 bay Roundhouse building.

Leaving Peterborough we headed further north before stopping for a quick lunch break at Orroroo. Arriving at Hawker we quickly settled in to the caravan park and then it was time for walk around the township. The weather has improved slightly, not so chilly and damp

Open cut copper mine Burra

Miners Dugouts

Burra Town Hall

Roundhouse Peterborough

Mildura - Burra

Woke to a blue sky this morning so headed off, but it was not long before the weather deteriorated with intermittent heavy showers. Stopping along the way at Renmark which is located on the banks of the Murray River, a visit to the local Chemist to get the drugs that will keep us going a bit longer. The next stop was Berry, where we found a nice park beside the Murray to have our lunch, a very heavy shower of rain passed over while we were there so did not get to explore too much. The next little town was Morgan a lovely Heritage town with a vehicular crossing over the Murray. We arrived here at Burra just after 3pm, at least the weather was fine but a bit chilly, so rugged up and went for a hour long walk after being car bound for so long. We are looking forward to exploring Burra tomorrow as it has many Heritage buildings and a old open cut copper mine.

Murray River Renmark

Berry waterfront

Old bridge Burra

Hobart - Mildura

As we were very organised this year we managed to get away nice and early Saturday morning, stopping off to say goodbye to Tan, Greg and boys. We also left our dog Doug with them to have his holiday for the next four months. We met up with our friends from Cobram (Vic) that have been travelling Tassie for the last month at the Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm for a very enjoyable lunch, and hope to see them on our return journey through Cobram in September.
On board the Spirit we had drinks with Gladys and Graeme who we had met when we were both staying at Bargara Beach two years ago and have kept in touch since. Helen & Vince whom we also met at Bargara were on the boat as well, it was quiet a coincident, they were again heading straight for Bargara to spend the winter.
We arrived in Melbourne at 6.30am after a very good crossing, to a clear day and a picturesque sunrise. We headed west to Ballarat,  finding it very fresh upon arrival. At the railway station we stopped to have a look at an old Steam Train that was about to leave, then it was a quick look around the old Gold Mining town with it's beautiful Heritage buildings and churches, before heading north towards Mildura.
Feeling quiet tired by late morning we found a lovely little spot to pull into near a old church at Bung Bong, we had a little nanna nap, lunch and decided we would spend the night as the weather had deteriorated and it was raining. Lovely and warm in the caravan with the gas heater!
This morning we were away by 9am after a good nights sleep, heading up the Sunraysia Hwy it was very bumpy a bit of a roller coaster ride, passing through the lovely township of St Arnaud and onto Ouyen where we stopped for lunch. After lunch it was on the road again with a change of driver for the final leg to Mildura,  we were now on the Calder Hwy which was a much smoother ride. We stopped at Red Cliffe to take a few photo's of Big Lizzie, which had been built in the early 1900's to cart wool from outback stations in the Broken Hill area, then later used to clear trees and scrub. Big Lizze is 34ft long 11ft wide and 18ft high weighing in at 45 tons.

Steam Engine Ballarat

Free camp Bung Bong

Bazza cooking the snags

A couple of Big Lizzie's

Seymour - Melbourne- Home

Yarrawonga

Dust storm Cobram

Deloraine (Tas)