Woomera

Left Port Augusta 8-6-11.  8-37 am

Travelling on the Stuart Hwy to Woomera.

Passed a freight train going south, it had 78 carriages.

One side of the road is so flat, the other is hills.

The roads are great, alhough we are passing alot of road trains heading south.

We camped at Spuds road house, Pimba. Had a quick lunch, went to Woomera.

visited both the museums and all the rockets and missiles ect, a very interesting place.

It is a very cold night, Terry and the boys stayed outside drinking .

9-6-11

Up early and on the road to Andamooka and Roxby Downs.

The drive there was good. Today the boys went in one car and te girls in the other.

We drove to Andamooka first Oh! my God.The look on our faces must have been priceless.

Terry said "we have just reached the arsole of the world"

It to me was the town that had no pride, it was dirty, dusty,and dry.

Not a garden in sight. we saw one so called plant it was a weed.

There were historic dug out huts. One belonged to Jack Absolums Dad.

Who would want to live there I would never know [ not me].

So off we went to Roxby Downs just 30ks down the road. But you would have thought we were in another country.

       




 

Roxby Downs we had lunch. Terry is pretty sick with the man flu 

from being in the wind last night

Today is just as cold ,windy and blustery.But the sky is clear.

What a difference 30 ks makes.
Went back to the van for the night. During the night a young man come in beside us he had hit a Roo, He was in a Ford Sedan, it was in pretty bad shape. He was in his twenties, very lucky he was not hurt.
We were up earlyto go to Coober Pedy.




 



Port Augusta

June 5th 9am. Beautiful day once again.
Left free campsite 19ks outside of Hawker, heading for Port Augusta.
We stopped for morning tea at Quorn. Richi Richi Railway1778. Everyone went for a break had a walk around.
Terry had been going mad about the rail spikes, saying we would have to take these silly things all around Oz, It was rediculous. He walked into the station to find they were selling them for $15.00 each.He now has a change of heart
arrived at Port Augusta Lunch time ,set up, did washing, went shopping for groceries, as it is very expensive from here on in. So we had to stock up, except leafy vegies, can`t take them over the boarder into N.T.
Had the most beautiful vanilla slice.I also introduced John to a vanilla slice. [John is from Canada]
June 6th
Today we went to the Wandlate.Outback centreIt was very interesting but very cold
Booked a 2 1/2 hr cruise for 9ks up the top end of the river
June 7th
Today,John , Sandy and I went on the cruise, up the river, seeing more wonderful sights.Learning all about
the area on the side of western Australia, It is called The Eyre Penninsula.
We saw dolphins a mum and a baby.
Tasted  kangaroo and smoked yellow fin king fish. very nice.

Come back and Sandy played hairdresser, doing Carols and my hair.

Hawker

The trip is unreal, The Flinders Rangers are amazing, they are so majestic.

Along the way we see so many buildings that are made of stone. Some are farms, others we found out are homes for Shepard's quarters, where land owners had no fences they would build these homes for Shepard's to look after their sheep.

Although the floods still did their job as well, and took away the homes from families.
You can`t believe that such  beautiful homes could be hit by such devastation.

We have only been on the road for two weeks and already this country is bringing tears to my eyes, and taking our breath away,

Passed through the town of Orroroo, beautiful homes, The streets are tree lined and so clean.
The town of Carrieton is one church and one pub.
Arrived at Hawker stayed at the caravan park for 2 days, long enough to do our washing and look around for a free camp site, and we did.
So off we set for another 5 days free camping. We had camp oven baked dinners, fire non stop, and travelled every day in and out of the Rangers. It was magic. Terry loved it.
Sandy and John took a day flight over ,the Flinders ect.

On our way to Hawker

left Broken Hill 29-5-11. 9.am 2deg very Cool and over cast.
Passed through Yanta, didn`t stop or need petrol but it was the cheapest we have seen $1-43 ltr.
Stayed at Petersbourough over night on a road  side stop.  As we looked for fire wood we found old  railway spikes. To Carol Sandy and myself it  was like Xmas
 We had a fire as it was very cold.  So we were not long out of bed.
The tourist information centre was an old train carriage .It brought back lots of memories
Started out at 9am 30-5-11 going to Hawker, It is a sunny day

Broken Hill

We left Cobar this morning it is 26-5-11. 8-am

Today we meet Carol and Steven at Silverton near Broken Hill.
It is overcast but not raining.
The road is so straight, we clocked it at 990 klm before the first bend. I have never seen anything like it.
Wildlife is fantastic, we have already seen, emu`s, kangaroos, wild goats, wedge tail eagles.
The soil is beginning to become very red  already.

We have passed a bra tree, a bottle tree,hat and shoe tree. It certainly is different out in the country. Ha! Ha!

Caught up with Cas and Steven, now we are all together and we will start our trip, around Oz.
Cas had our dinner cooked when we arrived, wood for the fire. It was great.
Next day we went to tour the local area.
Silverton was where allot of Australian movies were made such as, Mad Max, A Town like Alice, Razor Back. They still have lots of memorabilia out there, it was very interesting. The Pub was great.
There is only about 60 people live there.
Next day we went looking at art gallery`s Pro Hart and Jack Absolum. Plus Cas and Sandy had an uncle who was a policeman there years ago who`s son was killed by a car when he was 10. So they went to find out where they lived. Plus we tried to track down pubs for a friend. but in the earlier days there was approx

60 hotels in the area.

Cobar

Hi everyone

We are leaving Dubbo, 8-15am , on the Newell hwy. 13deg and raining.

Heading to Cobar.

We stopped at Nyngan to see the girls nephew Craig and his wife Trish. We were informed that they have a huge mouse problem. [ I hate mice ]. So that was not good news.They have to keep everything in plastic lock boxes. My eyes were everywhere.They had to buy special traps. then they caught 120 mice in 3 days. I nearly died.

 Had morning tea ,with them then on our way again.
Passed through Naramine, The hwys are lined with poplars and oaks, all changing colour.It is a picture.
The rain is getting a little heavier.
Passed Trangie 6 shops and a pub.
!st hiccup our car is sticking in park. We keep having to push the shift Lock down.
We will have it seen to in Broken Hill.
Next town Nevertyre, 2 shops and a pub. The pub was the most modern building in town.

The scenery has turned to dry and flat, with sheep and cotton farms.

The road seems to go on forever, like the road to nowhere.

As we are travelling there are all these birds nests hanging out of the trees from cobwebs.They look beautiful early in the morning. They are made by the mistletoe bird, we have since learnt.
We arrived in Cobar stayed 2 days in a park.
 It was  freezing. We went to the tourist info centre, they had a wonderful bus tour, for 3hrs all over town and the mines. It was very informative. We enjoyed it.
Tez didn`t come as he went to have the car seen to, as they had a Nissan Dealer there.
It was only a fuse.

Another day

Sunday  22-5-11 Took off 8-45am
Another nice day. It takes us 3hrs to get organised.
Heading off on the Oxley highway
As we leave Keep It Dam on our way to Dubbo.
Still only Sandy John Terry and myself, Carol and Steven havn`t met up with us yet.
We have started to pass cotton fields. The landscape is so dry over this side of the Great Dividing Range.
The road is so straight, we clocked it at 36ks without a bend.
Passed through tiny towns, such as Carrol ,Mullalay,Gunnedah, Coonabarrabran, every town no matter how small all have a pub.
Weather has been great. Mornings are cool need a long sleeve T shirt till 10 then in a singlet top.
Travelled today 309ks to Terramungamines a free camp outside Dubbo.
By the end of the day there were 22 vans pulled in.
Next day went to replenish supplies and look around Dubbo.