Got very cold so put on the diesel heater which was lovely & toasty. Decided to turn it off when we were ready to go to sleep - big mistake as when we tried to put it on at 3 am it wouldn’t go. Tried to get Brian out of bed to give the pump a tap but surprise, surprise, he wouldn’t do it. So therefore we froze for the rest of the night. Then we discovered the gas bottle we thought was half full was in fact empty, thankfully the other bottle was full. So a quick changeover was needed there. Next, the lights suddenly went out (12 volt); we thought - is someone telling us to go home.

All these things were rectified easily so off we went on our 2nd day

Headed towards Loxton where the bakery does g/f pies. (Which are pretty good). Had an early lunch then headed toward Overland Corner where we were planning to stay the night. Even though we used google maps we managed to get ourselves a little lost on a couple of occasions - Loxton does not have great road signage we discovered.

Finally arrived here and settled in behind the pub. The pub is an old fashioned country pub that has the reputation of being haunted.

Met up with another couple, Jon & Bev who pulled in the same time as us. Had a nice little afternoon drink or two with them then arranged to meet them for dinner

When we met up with them Bev handed Brian a little goodie bag for his birthday. We had a lovely night with them but they head home to Adelaide tomorrow so we won’t see them again.

Back in the van now, diesel heater working very well & time to go to sleep

There is supposed to be a ghost in the left hand corner of this photo, unfortunately the photo doesn’t show it very well

Camp site at Overland Corner. The pub is behind the van over the hill.

Front door of the pub

Jon & Bev, some new mates

The birthday show bag & contents

Brian’s birthday card from Jon & Bev

No grass here but a nice concrete slab that stops gravel trekking into the van

Note the high fence & barb wire

Dinner tonight.

Beautiful sunset

Groceries - $61.00

Beautiful looking BBQ area

Wasnt game to look in here.

5 star bar area !!!

Some of the space equipment recovered

Woomera Travellers Village & Caravan Park. \240 $25

Ended up going to happy hour, met another couple who just happen or be hairdressers who are going our way.

Hopefully they’ll be around in 6 weeks when I need another haircut.

Lake Hart Salt Lake

Oasis Tourist Park - $111.00 & $7 for water

Continued on to the Moon Plains which really weren’t anything except a lot of barren ground. Apparently several movies , Mad Max, Priscilla Queen of the Desert have been made here using this landscape.

Next onto the Breakaways where we were offered a glass of bubbly. The wind out here was twice as bad as in town. When we were on top of the hills we were almost blown away. Very interesting rock formations with the different colours from the sediment of the soil

On we went to inspect the minefields. It just seems strange that there are pile upon pile of heaps of diggings everywhere & they just leave it all there. They are not allowed to fill in the holes in case someone walks on it & falls into the shaft. Also once a mine is abandoned, someone else can register for that claim. It makes the whole place look very untidy and unkempt, but I suppose that is what Coober Pedy is all about. We found out that the name of the town was named by the Aborigines. In their lingo it is ‘white man in a hole’

Next was a mine tour at Unooma mine where we went underground. We saw how they had dug out their homes, plus the digging of the tunnels. What do you know, the tour ended in the Jewellery shop. We didn’t succumb to buying anything although there were some lovely pieces there.

A miner coming down his shaft in the early days

A dugout lounge area

About 20 years ago Brian was asked to go to Coober Pedy & drive a bus load of school kids back as the driver had run out of hours. Yesterday he went looking for the place he stayed at & today we found it at Unooma. While he was trying to sleep during the day ( so he could drive all night) the school kids used his bedroom door as a backstop for their cricket game

That’s the room he tried to sleep in under the veranda on the right

Onto the Serbian church which was very well done. There is only about 120 Serbians left here now so the parish population is severly depleted.

Very interesting stained glass windows.

Aaron, our driver & guide was fantastic . The tour was well worth doing as I’m sure we wouldn’t have been able to see all that we did if we had done it on our own. Aaron was also very tall, about 6ft 5”. I couldn’t resist getting a photo beside him

The wind has dropped a bit now. Hopefully it goes tomorrow as everything feels all gritty with a layer of dust \240everywhere

Noble Tours - $150

Groceries - $14.50

Walked past the Opal Bug, Brian had to take a photo. Notice the old Leyland with the driller on it. Old trucks like that are everywhere (along with all the rubbish)

Early start tomorrow as we have to go about 500kms.

Fuel - $206.70

‘Slime’ (for bikes) - $21.00

Nice drive through sites, not much grass around though. Lots of that red dust.

Off to Uluru tomorrow . Apparently there are camel races there Friday night so that might be something to see.

Erldunda Caravan Park - $38

Marla Roadhouse - $6. ( Brian wanted to use the toilet in the roadhouse but felt he had to buy something - \240that was junk food. Any excuse!!! )

Erldunda Roadhouse - $1.50 - for an aboriginal lady who was trying to get Brian to give her money for ‘fish & chips for the family’ He bought her a dim dim instead .

Brian had a ride on his bike to view the lay of the land !! Then we had to go shopping for veges etc . Pleasantly surprised with the IGA here, prices weren’t so bad. Only bought enough to get us through the next few days.

As we were driving to Uluru today I looked at my bookings & realised that we had actually booked into Uluru for 5 days & not 4 as we had thought. I’d forgotten that May had 31 days & not \24030. Never mind, there’s plenty to do here.

Tom told us to walk up the hill to watch the sunset & see a pleasant surprise. We were a little early for the sunset but the surprise was a wonderful view of Uluru

Weather has been almost cool, which was nice. No flies at this stage which is unusual for here. Usually everyone has their fly nets out. Nights are very cold. Still have the heater on at night

Tomorrow we’ll visit the visitors centre, then go for a ride around Uluru. That should be very interesting as I haven’t been on my bike since I had my knee done. I’ll report tomorrow the outcome !!

Our set up here, notice the absence of any grass.

The Olga’s from our spot on top of the hill

Just a very small portion of the park

Uluru campground - 5 nights. - $208

Groceries - $54.80

Fuel - $162.26

Stopped at the viewing platform to take this photo

We did the Walpa \240Gorge walk which was about 2.4 km. Very stony and not so easy but we both managed it with no problems. I wore shorts as I thought I would get hot walking - big mistake, it was actually freezing. Temp was only about 12 degrees out there plus the wind factor was very high. Head wind walking to the end and a tail wind going back. We both managed to stay on our feet though.

Met a couple, Wendy & Leigh in the carpark that we have run into a few times before so we headed off together. Leigh had a sore knee so he was slower but notice that my darling husband took off with Wendy & left me to fend for myself.

Photo doesn’t really show just how rocky it was. Only a few paths but they were rocky as well

The platform at the end, then you have to walk back

Shows just how big these ‘rocks’ are.

Going out there we got stopped at the entrance to the NP to check we had a pass. He wasn’t concerned about the pass ( we did have one) but we got the inquisition about where we’ve been, are we from Melb, have we been to Melb in the last 14 days etc but didn’t ask for any ID. They see Victorian number plates & think we are all infected.

The sheer size of the walls are immense.

Heading back on one of the small amount of paths, but even so it was very stony & uneven to walk on.

I had meant to take my hiking pole but I forgot about it until we started going up.

At the entrance is a beautiful log seat that I presume was made from local wood, probably by the locals. Love to have one home in the garden. The wood was very shiny from everyone sitting on it over the years.

Went around to the other walk - Valley of the Winds but didn’t do the walk as it was about 7+ kms & Brian’s hip wouldn’t have made it. Not sure I would have either!!

On the way home we called into Uluru, drove around the perimeter and worked out were we had to go on Sunday when we go out to ride around it.

Had a quick look through the cultural centre.

Next stop was the Camel Farm where the Camel Cup is being run tomorrow. \240Found out we can get a bus from the campground which come & go all day, so we’ll do that.

They were very busy setting everything up

Back home, quick late lunch of soup and a bit of a rest before we head off to the Field of Lights tonight.

Had to have a little ride in my bike to make sure all was well for our big ride around the rock on Sunday.

Did very well, didn’t fall off which was good as I haven’t ridden it since I had my knee done.

They seemed to be in a circle with a central point with wires going off that. It’s said that there are over 50,000 lights there. I’d hate to put them out and also to remove them when it’s all finished in 2027

Today we had a bit of a different experience. We went to the Uluru Camel Cup. When we booked here we had no idea it was on but decided that it’s something we’ll probably wouldn’t see again.

Best part was that they had Hop on Hop off buses all day to the races so we didn’t have to drive. They picked us up right outside the campground.

First off you had to change real money into ‘camel money’ . Clever idea as what you don’t spend is not refundable.

Had a couple or three James Squire apple \240ciders which were actually very nice. Next surprise was lunch. I assumed there would be nothing for me but surprise, surprise, they had a Paella stall that was g/f. It must have been ok as I haven’t had any reaction.

This is Tex who won the Cup

This is Tim Tam who we were barracking for but unfortunately he’d run his race and came 4th.

Helicopters were buzzing around taking joy rides so we decided we’d have a go. Was a tad expensive for 5-7 mins but it was good to have an aerial view.

The view of the Cup from the air.

Weather was a bit better today, although the nights are still very cool. We resorted to the diesel heater this morning as it was so cold. It’s on now and is a toasty 18 degrees.

This is me on my 3rd apple cider. The sun was shining in my eyes so I ‘borrowed’ Brian’s hat

What we had left of the camel money.

Helicopter ride - $140

Camel money - $70. Drinks & lunch

So off we go on the bikes, apparently 10.6 kms around. Was surprised that there weren’t all that many walking or riding around, just enough so they didn’t get in the way. Only went a short way and we had to stop for repairs. Brian had pumped the tyres up pretty tight so we had to let them down to cope with the sandy trail.

Continued on, the bikes made it easier to go around but I think walking might have been better to actually look at the different aspects of the rock at a closer level. I wasn’t all that game to look much as I was concentrating on not falling off in the sand. We did stop frequently & looked at different bits of interest

This was the teaching cave where the young boys were instructed by the elders.

Cruising along we were looking for a place to stop to have a picnic lunch but before we knew it we were back at the carpark. It took us about 1.5 hrs to go around, that was with quite a few stops. So we sat on the stools in the carpark and ate our lunch, watching all the people either start or get back. Incidentally, this was where you could climb the Rock up until 2019.

See the whiter strip, that was the path to climb. The chain rail has since been removed. I think you’d have to be insane to even attempt to climb that, never mind trying to get back down. It is actually steeper than the photo suggests, especially the top section.

Back at the caravan now, bit of a rest afternoon. We’ll walk up the hill at the back of the campground later to check out the sunset over Uluru.

Unfortunately there was a fair bit of cloud cover so the sunset photo didn’t turn out as good as we thought.

Quite a few of us up there at the lookout & we all had a bit of a chat and laugh

Still pretty cool here, diesel heater on again tonight. Certainly different to what we thought the weather would be like. We expected cool nights but not cold days but it will get better as we go up.

The sun coming up over the campground

Today we had the pleasure of dog sitting next doors little bulldog, Cooper. \240They were going on a helicopter ride and were going to leave him in the van but we said we’d mind him as our pass is finished and we weren’t planning on doing much except household duties & packing up for tomorrow. He’s a very old dog who is also not all that well. He behaved himself admirably, didn’t hear a peep out of him. They were so appreciative that they gave us a box of chocolates (Brian can eat those) & a cooked chicken. They were going down to the supermarket to get one for themselves & we asked them to pick up one for us. Shouldn’t have done that as they wouldn’t let us pay for it.

We’ll have a drink later with them.

Had to hit the supermarket again for a few things re Kings Canyon. Got there at 9.45am only to find they didn’t open until 10am. Strange!!!

Groceries - $42.65

At the lookout these were on the rocks. Looked real momentarily until you got closer

Gorgeous little birds on the fence.

The walls of the inner canyon

The start of the walk

The flies have finally hit us. First day with the fly nets. Not sure I really like them, the nets or the flies

These are the steps that we have to climb tomorrow, all 500 of them

Got back from our walk & decided we might go out for dinner tonight at the Outback BBQ. They had lamb rump roast on the menu that sounded pretty good. Wouldn’t you know it, it was the only thing not g/f so I settled for NT Barramundi. Brian had the lamb & thoroughly enjoyed it. My barramundi was ok but could have been cooked a bit more. Sat at a table with a couple from Anglesea who happen to own a B & B, Noel & Kaylene and chatted on for a while.

Actually got dressed up a bit for dinner.

The last bit of Brian’s lamb.

Home again, played a round of cards, Brian won again, now off to bed.

Kings Canyon Resort. - $108

Outback BBQ - $68 plus bottle of sparkling $29

Wildflowers are out due to a decent rain they have had here recently. The same ones were very abundant at Uluru

This was a tree/shrub at the lookout, it had lots of flowers on it

Half way up the killer steps looking down

At the top of the steps. We thought, thank goodness we’ve done that, but unfortunately there was a lot more to come

In the centre of the Rim, too much sunlight didn’t help the focus

Right at the top, we felt like we were on top of the world

Inner canyon

These were a bit worrying. Thankfully we didn’t need a rescue helicopter. We did wonder how many times it’s been needed though

Photos simply do not do justice to the immense rock edges of this canyon.

A ravine that had a little bridge over it. That’s as far as I was going.

About the half way mark - finally got to the South side after climbing MORE steps.

This rock face looked like it had been cut with a laser cutter. The edge was so smooth. Makes you wonder how many years ago this would have split apart.

And this is what we did. Yellow marker was yesterday’s very easy walk. Blue marker is todays monumental effort.

It was only 6 kms in total but realistically it felt like 16. At one stage we thought we were well over half way until we came across a sign saying we were at the 2 km mark. That knocked our socks off a bit. But we had to keep going as you weren’t allowed to go back. Probably because the initial 500 steps were too steep to go downwards.

Headed back to the park, first stop was the Bar for a very refreshing beer for Brian & Cider for me.

Had lunch, then a well deserved rest.

View of Kings Canyon from the campground

This one hurt but at least we made it, just

Fuel - $334-06

Erldunda Caravan Park - $38

Arrived in Alice Springs about lunchtime. Very pleasant 2 hour drive.

3 years ago when Tom & Marg did this trip they stopped at Stewart’s Wells & discovered they sold g/f pies & sausage rolls. I was highly excited to be able to buy a sausage roll for morning tea. Walked in the roadhouse,which was actually pretty quirky ( we could \240have camped there overnight instead of Erldunda if we had of known about it); asked if they had g/f sausage rolls - the guy looked at me strangely and said ‘what’s that’ !!! Well there went my sausage roll.

Of course, Brian had to sample one if their home made non g/f sausage rolls, just to see if they were any good.

I wasn’t all that impressed watching him eat it while I had a dry biscuit. Ever mind, that’s how life as a Coeliac goes.

The landscape has changed incredibly leaving Erldunda, we are now in the midst of the Macdonnell ranges. They are very spectacular and are just as interesting as the ranges we’ve come \240through before.

Settled in to the G’day Mate Park. Yesterday they rang to ask a lot of \240questions about how long we have been in NT & told me we had to produce border passes for \240SA & NT.

Had everything ready when I went into reception. She didn’t ask to see anything.

Went for a tour of the town centre, its bigger than you think in the city part. Went to Coles to stock up, this one was a big one as supplies were running pretty low. We’ve used up a lot that we brought from home.

Went to buy some Cider but we were rejected from the \240bottle shop by the police as we couldn’t prove where we were staying. We had to have the receipt from the caravan park which was, of course, in the caravan. First time we’ve not been allowed to buy alcohol. We’ll go & try again tomorrow

Back at the van, Brian went for \240his customary ride around while I unpacked the groceries.

Quiet night tonight watching the footy. Brian is \240pleased to have TV again after 3 nights without it. We kept \240ourselves amused by playing cards & watching the Doctor Blake mysteries on DVD.

We have grass, kind off. It’s a bit dry and needs a good water but it’s better than red dirt. Good to have the awning out at last.

Groceries - $174.00 ( prices are a bit more expensive up here - our first big shop since we left home)

G’day Mate Tourist Park - $200. \240(5 nights);

From there we walked to KMart to replenish our stock of gluten free lollies. These are a very important part of driving as when Brian gets tired, I start feeding them to him. They have to be g/f so I can have some as well.

Finally got into Liquorland only to find they didn’t stock the Cider I wanted. Went to BWS and had to go through the security process again. Fortunately they did have the James Squire Cider. I’ve taken a bit of a liking to it lately.

Stewie Egan from home lives here in Alice now with Roxanne & their boys. He came around this afternoon for a chat. We’re planning a lunch tomorrow when we can catch up with Roxy & Jet. Billy, their eldest is away in the army.

A fish man came into the park later this afternoon, so we bought 3 nice pieces of NT barramundi which we had for tea tonight. Very nice, although a bit of lemon would have been nice.

After Stewie left we went next door to the Brewery. Brian had a stout & I had a cider. We thought about going back for pizza tomorrow but I think I’ll make my own . Less CC to contend with.

Quiet night watching the footy. Come on Essendon.

BWS - Cider & Wine. $35

Lollies -$7

Brewery- $21 \240 \240pretty expensive for glass of stout & a can of cider. We only had the one each.

Fish man - $16 for 3 large pieces of barramundi

Indigenous painting- $50

We were keen to get to the actual Hall of Fame to see if we could find some identities from St Arnaud. We found Stan Schodde & Leo Pickthall but after looking for ages we couldn’t find Ron Reyne. We now think he must be in the Darwin one.

Spent a few hours here looking around all the different types of old & newer trucks. The Kenworth exhibition was very good with lots of modern trucks in it.

We also found a truck donated by Bill Fitzpatrick from Charlton, another icon of the trucking fraternity

Home for a bit of lunch. Stewie & Roxanne came around mid afternoon for a bit of a chat. We caught up with Stewie yesterday but it was good to see Roxy today.They seem to be very happy here and will stay for a while yet.

Tomorrow we have a big day doing touristy things.

Entry to Hall of Fame. - $30

Before we went out to the Chasm we went via the airport to look at all the planes that are being held there over COVID. There were apparently lots more but they have started to retrieve them for domestic use.

Couldn’t get very close as you aren’t allowed in the airport, but this gives you a bit of an idea. There are lots & lots more on the far side that you can’t see!

On the way back home we passed a car wash. Brian couldn’t resist washing the Prado as it has a slight red tinge to it. First time he has ever been through an automatic car wash. He was like a kid with a lolly.

BUT it’s all in vain. Tomorrow we’ve decided to go and watch the Finke boys doing their practice for a while. Guess where we have to go, out along the dirt roads.

Looks like yet another trip to the car wash!!!

Hopefully I’ll get these photos on soon.

Standley Chasm entry - $20

BWS - $143-50. \240Beer, Wine & Cider ( yes more, it’s nice)

Woolies - $56.26

Car wash - $15

Milner Meats - $56.13

We seem to have spent a lot here but we have lots to keep us going until we get to Darwin in 9 days time.

The West MacDonnell ranges

Walking the path to Standley Chasm, lot better path than we’ve had before. The maintenance here was excellent. Everything was very tidy

Beautiful ferns growing in the rocks

Standley Chasm at midday

Quirky looking tree, obviously burnt years ago but kept growing

Pathway to Simpsons Gap. Another good pathway, easy walk

Simpson’s Gap

We couldn’t get over the vegetation growing out if the rocks up the rock face. Looks healthy so must be getting moisture from somewhere. Amazing to think where the roots even lodge in the rock.

Getting ready to ride off

Here comes one, look at the dust, there is another rider right behind him. How can they possibly see where they are going with all that dust. Makes you want to be in the lead.!!!

Here’s the second bike

Brian standing on the track. Gives you a good idea of what they are riding on.

We went out about 40 kms on dirt roads so, what happened. Our nice clean Prado got very dirty again. So off to the car wash again. 2 in 2 days is a bit much. It was dirtier today than when we went yesterday. The car was actually a lot dirtier than it looks, it had red dust all over it.

Home for lunch, Brian had his big mushroom, I had salad of course.

Packed up ready to leave in the morning. Heading to Devils Marbles, about 400kms away.

One of the ‘hot rod ‘ type cars. Don’t exactly know what they are called . They go like hell though.

On our own Finke track

The sign into where they start the race. Couldn’t get in as they are still preparing for Sunday

Brisn just came back from his last ride, 10kms with a bowl of strawberries. Very nice, we’ll have them for dessert after our Corn Beef & veges.

Small part of the Devils Marbles

And again

Entrance to the Devils Marbles campground

Our campsite at the road side stop

Big windmill here

You don’t see signs like this in Victoria. Here the speed limit is 130 & you have to slow up for the corners

Lit the fire, love free camping.

Bit of a sunset.

Brian about to get into his mussels.

All the bras in the bar. I wasn’t leaving mine there, they are too expensive

Came across this dud, he’s supposed to be the owner of the Pub. If he is, he’ll be making lots

The entertainers, they were good.

Museum across the road that Brian took a fancy to

The iconic front of the Pub

The men’s toilets were a bit different

As were the names

Our ‘new friends’ - you certainly meet a diverse style of people when you are travelling. They were good company for a couple of hours. They are heading south, while we are heading \240north

Hi-Way Inn \240Caravan Park. - \240$28 ( with this you get a free drink each at the bar);

Daly Waters Pub, meal & drinks \240- $106

Fuel - Tenant Creek. - $137

No TV reception so Brian decided to read That’s Life. I buy one occasionally to do the crosswords but Brian tells me the stories are very interesting

After dinner we went to the reception area were they had a couple of shows. We missed the first part of the musical group, The Repeat Offenders, but they were pretty good.

Next was Nathan ‘Whippy’ Griggs, a whip cracker. Great show, he certainly could crack a whip & was highly entertaining as well.

Brisn was interested in getting a whip as he broke his just before we left. The quality of this one is not nearly as good as his old one but it’s a rememberence. He’ll get his old one repaired when we get home .

Big consultations with Nathan

Signing the whip.

Home to put the diesel heater on & off to bed. We’re late tonight, we’re usually in bed by 9.30pm but the show didn’t start until 9pm.

Mataranka Homestead Tourist Park - $70

Our little spot under the trees.

The male \240Peacock surveying his territory. The girl in the background is the Mum looking for the tooth

The female peacock. Poor female looks quite drab while the male is all glossy & colourful

Brian trying out his new whip this morning until some \240old biddy came out of her shack & told him off - it was upsetting her dog!!!

Brian floating down the river

This is what it looked like

The Banyan tree the Park is named after. Its huge & covered the whole beer garden

Brian at happy hour.

Beautiful hand crafted tables all around the place. Someone has a lot of talent. They look great.

The pool was very cold but oh so good.

We stopped at Katherine to buy some milk & bread at Woolies. They have a seperate caravan parking area that was full. Lot more caravans now on the road.

You can see how big the mound is by the people standing beside it.

The workers at work on just one that we got close too.

Next stop was Florence Falls. Car park was full so had to do the circuit a few times before we could even park. It was just a ‘gentle’ walk down 135 steps to reach the plunge pool where we were very eager to get into. By this stage the temperature had reached about 34 degrees. Lots of people but we squeezed in. Very cold but lovely & refreshing. Fantastic waterfall.

Taken from the lookout. You can see how high it is on the top, then we walked down to the plunge pool.

Back up the steps, didn’t take us very long, I must be getting fitter. As we were about to go up the steps we had to wait for an elderly gent to come down. We were very worried about him as he was a large gentleman and he was visibly struggling to come down the steps. We don’t know how he would have got back up them.

Then off to Buley Rockhole. Had a bit of lunch here before looking at the Rockholes. Didn’t have a swim here.

Next off to Tolmer Falls. No swimming here, you can’t get down to the bottom ( or if you could I certainly wouldn’t)

Walked to the Observation Deck & Lookout.

Long way down there. - Tolmer Falls

On a roll now, we headed for Wangi Falls. Beautiful waterfall but unfortunately no swimming as they’ve had a croc lurking about for a while. The water is apparently higher than normal which allows the crocs to get in.

We didn’t do the longer walk to the top of the falls as it was very hot by this stage but we did fortify ourselves with a nice Weis Bar from the cafe.

Decided that was enough so made our way back to the caravan. I’ve run out of Ciders ( it’s hot here, you tend to drink more!!!) so went to the bar to see if they had any. They had a James Squire Ginger Beer so I thought I’d try that. The biggest shock was that it was $12 for 1 can. I nearly died. If she hadn’t opened it they would have got it back. Needless to say, I’ve only had the one.

Swim in the pool, changed & then to Happy Hour.

Yesterday we met a couple in the pool from NSW who we had a drink with at happy hour & we’d arranged to meet again. They also had done the tour of Litchfield but being younger they had done more than us. The arriving just before 6 so we decided after dinner we’d meet up for a couple more drinks at our van. They were staying in a cabin. They arrived with extra drinks for us, and we chatted on until about 10.30pm. ( Thats why I didn’t do the blog last night)

Wangi Falls

No swimming here.

• Our setup in the shade

This is Brisket \240He just roams around like the chickens. They try & come into the van

The owner of the caravan park is called Johno. He’s a renowned rodeo rider, along with his wife and knows the Flanagan’s from St Arnaud. Small world isn’t it.

Our resident chook coming for a visit, she actually came in the van and had a good look around.

Interesting sign at the \240entrances to the Beer Garden.

The boys at work

While they were busy doing that, I was busy spending money. I have organised a trip on the Adelaide River tomorrow & a Sunday Sunset Tour on the harbour.

The boys finally finished, Brian had to go for a refreshing swim while I prepared dinner. We had crumbed fish & chips but no salad as we didn’t have time to go to the supermarket. We’ll do that tomorrow after our River cruise - I’m out of cider !!!

While Brian was at the pool he ran into a couple from Charlton. You can’t escape from anyone

Howard Springs Holiday Park. - $302

Adelaide River Cruise - $350

On Goat Island - it’s actually a land mass in the middle of the river.

‘Nosey’ - he had a chunk of his snout bitten off by another croc years ago.

This one is called Casey- she is Kai’s pet at Goat Island

King Kai.

And his gorgeous little dog, Muddy. Muddy liked to sit on the table & help people drink their drinks.

Saw this croc sunbathing. He’d got himself very comfortable by leaning against a branch. This one was quite light in colour while some were darker or even greener

Getting a bit close now.

Moving on the mud banks

The web of the Golden Orb spider. The spiders are very large and their webs are incredibly strong. Imagine walking through that!!!

Feeding the birds.

Our bus

The Humpty Doo Pub. Not much to look at. It’s fame to claim was that the bar was featured in Crocodile Dundee at one time

And these are supposed to be the biggest horns in the Territory

Went from there to look at Fannie Bay, Brian has fond memories of riding Garvs motorbike all around this area many years ago.

Then to the Waterfront. It’s a beautifully done area.

This is the Wave pool. Unfortunately we didn’t see it in action, would have been good.

Had a Cider at Lola’s before we went to dinner at Seafood on Cullen . Nice view of the harbour

I asked for a small Cider, look at the size of it.

This sign is quite prominent here in NT!!!!

Went to the buffet at Seagood on Cullen for \240dinner. Brian was very excited to able to have unlimited oysters & prawns, among lots of other things. Was a lovely meal, not a lot of g/f options but I had enough to be satisfied.

Had a good table for viewing the sunset

The first

And the last.

Doona cover. \240- $200

Seafood on Cullen. - $118

He did actually get back before dark, but I forgot to take a photo

Put the new doona cover on, we are happy with it

Quiet night watching the footy, unfortunately the Blues are getting thrashed at the moment

Supermarket. - \240$160

Alcohol - $50

Decided to treat ourselves to a Senior lunch at the Tavern which was very nice. We then headed towards the Qantas Museum. Unfortunately it wasn’t the place we were looking for where Ron & Nancy were recognised for their contributions to the rebuilding of Tom Kruze - the mailman, Leyland truck.

Brian saw it many years ago when he was here with Garv. It’s just disappeared now.

The display was actually quite interesting though.

Brian had this exact motorbike about 25 years ago - he bought it off Lossy Hamilton

My size little car. The hardest part was getting in it.

Home for a bike ride up the road. Brian had to restrain himself from his 20 odd kms to accomodate me. We only went about 5kms. Quick swim then changed to go out for Dinner at Berry Springs, 30kms down the road, \240with some people we met at Coober Pedy. They are staying here for a while and we are leaving, so probably won’t see them again.

Tomorrow we’ll pack up to leave on Wednesday.

Had a swim & now Brian has gone for a last ride before he packs the bikes away. I was supposed to go but I decided it was too warm & Brian goes a lot further when I’m not there.

We’ll pack up a bit tonight but we’ll do the rest in the morning. We have to be out by 10am as they lock you in if you’re any later.

Heading south to Katherine. This is as far north as we can come.

Haircut - $20

Nails - $15

Relaxing after our swim.

Graham Rodger \240playing his music.

Brian finally had his lamb chops tonight so he was a happy camper.

Riverview Tourist Park. \240- \240$85.50. 2 nights.

Katherine Gorge

Boat had about 60 odd people on board and they do at least 4 of these each day. Not a bad money spinner.

As we were walking down to the boat ramp we couldn’t believe the amount of Fruit Bats (flying foxes) that were in the trees. The footpath was covered in their waste and the smell was pretty offensive.

The bats ‘resting’ in the trees. This was one tree, there were lots and lots of them, all with bats in them.

Full contingent on the boat.

Going from the first gorge to the second.

A bit of aboriginal art, couldn’t get a very good photo due to the angle and trees in the way

The deepest part of the gorge - estimated about 40 metres deep.

Showing the sheer cliff edges. Photos don’t do it justice. It’s amazing what water can do to rocks. A lot of them look like a chainsaw has cut neat little cubes here & there.

During a normal wet season the water goes up to half way of the first bigger cave. When they have a super flood the water goes as high as the top smaller cave. Amazing how much water can flow through there.

Coming back to the ramp at the end there were a lot of bats flying around, unusual as they normally don’t fly during the day. There is a sea eagle around who loves to eat the bats, so they fly away from it when it’s around.

The cage that they catch the saltwater crocs in when they manage to find themselves in the gorge. They relocate the crocs to farms for breeding purposes.

Back to the park, I’ve done a bit of cooking to use up fruit & veges etc as we go through quarantine on Sat. The fridge is nice and full so I won’t have to cook much the next couple of nights.

A beautiful day lily not far from our van.

Thus poor bat had been attacked by a magpie and had fallen out of its tree and got tangled in the sign. Fortunately the staff \240released it and it was on its way again.

Nitmiluk Gorge Tour. - $198

Fuel - $103

Didn’t do much this afternoon, there’s not much to do here. Had a walk around, had a drink & a chat with some people we’d met in Katherine, then dinner and an early night.

All lined up

Magnificent Boab tree in the park.

Timber Creek, home if many ‘freshies’. We didn’t see any but they are there apparently.

Today was very much cooler, only got to about 24 degrees. Very overcast and we had a few spots of rain. Almost had to put a jumper on!!!

Timber Creek Park - $35

After driving for about 50 kms I had a sudden thought that I had left my stool behind. I couldn’t for the life of me remember putting it in the van when I locked the door. Asked Brian to stop so I could check but he wouldn’t. ( he knew all the time I had put it in as he had checked around the van before we’d left). So I stressed for the next 150kms until we got to the border & had to stop for our G2G checks & Quarantine. I was very relieved to open the caravan door to find them there. Just as well because when we set up it was on quite a slope and I would never had been able to get in the door without them

As it was, we had to put both lots of steps there for me to get in. I have to be very careful getting in & out. Brian’s worried I’ll break my leg or arm or something!!!

Arrived at Lake Argyle at 8am (WA time, 9.30 NT time) so thought we’d have a good chance to get in easily. How wrong we were. We were number 60 in the queue. They took our particulars & said they’d ring us in a couple of hours. They finally rang at just after 1pm. We had given up getting in & resigned ourselves to staying across the road in the parking bay and trying tomorrow.

I think we were nearly the last van to get in. We didn’t care what site we had, just that we were able to get in here. The site we have is pretty good except for the slope, but we are here.

By the way, we had no trouble at the border, everything was in order, both with the passes & quarantine.

Brian, as usual got his bike of & toured the park. His normal practice. I strolled around & looked at the pool area etc.

The infinity pool, haven’t been in it yet as it was a bit cool here today. Hopefully tomorrow will be warmer.

View from the park

Lots of choppers offering rides. I think it’s something like $150 each for 15 mins. We’ll give this one a miss

At 4.30pm there was a young singer, Steve Case performing near the pool so went for a listen. He was good.

After we had dinner we walked down to the bar area where he was performing again. He had the whole crowd entertained. Might even buy a CD tomorrow.

Chef Brian cooking sausages

A sea plane came into land at one stage during Steve’s performance

Us waiting for 5 hours in a queue. This was only a small amount of the vans waiting.

Brian couldn’t resist the backpackers. He took this photo.!!!!

Lake Argyle Tourist Park \240- $75

The dam wall

Lake Argyle

Showing both sides of the wall

The outlet valves going into the Ord River were in full stream this morning

The Ord River

How the wall was formed

We bought a video about how the lake was made so we are looking forward to seeing that when we have some power.

After the dam we went to the Durack Homestead. This homestead was actually relocated when the lake was made as it was in its path. Great exhibition of early Australia and the struggles they had back then .

It’s been a bit modernised with the new tin roof.

Great looking fence,

The family grave yard.

Back to the van, a bit of lunch & now a rest before we tackle this very cold pool. It’s quite mild here today so I think the pool is going to be extra cold. Brian has hurt his shoulder again so I’m making him rest it to try and ease the pain a bit.

Video - Lake Argyle. \240- $22

Steve Case DVD - $25

The view in front of our van

Happy hour

Vans are packed in pretty tight here.

This is the boat we’ll be on tomorrow.

Discovery Tourist Park \240$240. - 4 nights

Supermarket $98. \240 (Prices are very expensive here)

Thirsty Camel - $70. ( yes, more alcohol)

Dylan giving us our little lesson on the Ord River Scheme.

Going down a subsidiary creek, note all the water Lily’s. This is where the Jesus birds live. They walk all over the Lily’s. And a bird, can’t remember it’s name, photoshopped my photo.

A crevice that had been formed by a waterfall over many million years.

Cruising down another creek. It was so peaceful

Saw a few ‘freshies’ sun baking on the banks

Our afternoon tea stop in the middle of who knows where. Was very well set up

Dylan preparing afternoon tea.

Our boat load, all 48 of us.

Those twin outboard motors

In front of the dam wall at Lake Argyle. The hair style was courtesy of

Sunset

And it’s gone.

This rock is called Elephant Rock, can you guess why

Dropping us back at the park

Strang looking planes, aren’t they.

Taking of was really quite different to a normal plane. Up in the air it was amazing to see the agricultural area where the production of mango crops & sandalwood were very prevalent

Vast amount of mango trees, unfortunately it’s not mango season yet so there are none around.

Sandalwood trees.

We left behind the farming area & headed toward Lake Argyle. What took us 4 hours yesterday in the boat took us 15 mins this morning. We passed over 2 stations. Both were covering enormous ground. How they find their stock is unimaginable. The ground looked like it was very arid with a lot of \240dry creeks. \240During the wet season they run very freely. They obviously have means to conserve the water.

Extremely mountainous terrain in lots of places.

And then we arrived at Lake Argyle. From the ground you think, yes the lake is big but from the air it’s enormous. You just couldn’t imagine the quantity of water in this water system. The pilot was telling us that there is the equivalent of the volume of Sydney Harbour going into the lake each day during the wet season. Obviously the level of the lake increases, as you can see from the photo

See the water line, doesn’t look like it rises much, but that would be a huge volume if water.

We cruised over the caravan park that we stayed at

You can just see the infinity pool

Then we headed to the Bungle Bungles. These are a amagnificent rock formation resembling striped honey pots, caused by wind mostly. The whole area was heaps bigger than we imagined. Truly beautiful area

You can see the striped areas and the bee hive effect.

One of the many ravinesaround the area.

Gives you a small idea of the area they cover.

Flew then over the the Argyle Diamond Mine. It’s not operational any more but there was some activity going on. They produced the largest amount of pink diamonds in the world when it was operational. Pink diamonds are very expensive so we won’t go looking at any of those, unfortunately.

Immense amount of tiers, looks great from the air.

Flew over Crocodile Rock, wonder why it’s called that?

Time for morning tea on our own uninhabited island in the middle of Lake Argyle. We had a welcoming committee when we flew in.

Morning tea stop

Hello there all you people. This is my island, not yours. We had to shoo him away before we could get out of the plane

Good shot of the seaplane.

Here we are with our life jackets firmly secured around our waists. Morning tea was a bit disappointing for me. All I got was a g/f protein ball (not all that nice either) while the rest got Choc Brownies & Mango Cake. Not as good as yesterday’s.

Homeward bound now, flew back to base.

Once we were bused back to the park we decided to go to The Pumphouse next door for lunch. Very delicious mixed with a couple of glasses of bubbly.

This was a working pump house until they put in the Diversion Dam. Some enterprising person changed it into a restaurant. The original motors are still there in case one day they have to start her up again.

Back to the van for a little nanny nap, then down to Happy Hour. This holidaying is quite exhausting.

Water was running very fast

The signs either side of the crossing

Crossing over. I took a video but this app doesn’t allow me to put that on. It gave a much better view of the car.

Home for lunch, which was actually last nights dinner.

Onto the Sandalwood factory where we watched a very informative video on the making of the oil. I didn’t realise that they harvest the wood, chop it up into wood chips, boil the hell out of those wood chips & that creates the oil.

Bought some products - some essential oil, cream for Brian’s heat rash on his forehead that doesn’t seem to want to go away & some deodorant.

Next was the Hoochery. This is a Gin distillery that has other liqueurs as well. Nicely set up as a function for events.

We tried a paddle of 3 drinks, which cost us $12. We tried a Gin, a Whiskey & an Aniseed liqueur. The gin tasted just like Gin. The whiskey was lovely & smooth & the liqueur, I thought was great as I love aniseed, don’t think Brian was all that keen on that one.

Each bottle was at least $80 plus so we decided to give them a miss.

Back to the van for a little rest, the over to Happy Hour. Tonight the park put on Pulled Pork & Salad Sliders for $5 each. I couldn’t have them as the pork was cooked in gravy that wasn’t g/f - I even had a roll out of the freezer in case I could. They smelt terrific & Brian enjoyed his.

2 lots of us are leaving tomorrow so we had a farewell with the others. We’ve really enjoyed meeting lots here at Kununurra and again we could have stayed longer.

Back at the van, packed up a bit to head of early tomorrow

Notice how much we got for our $12!!!!

Part of our Happy Hour Group

The beautiful lab is Elly May. Every night we commandeered this beautiful slab of rock called Crocs Rock. Dave, Judy & Elly May always got there early to save the spot for us. (Elly looks sad there but she’s normally very happy)

These were the two videos but they don’t seem to work here.

Video 2, still can’t get it to run.

Getting the fire going

Different coloured flames, due to a packet of something one of the guys threw in.

All parked up

Spring Creek just down from us. Unfortunately it was a haven for mossies, so I stayed clear.

A Bowerbirds courting nest we spied in the bushes.

Steve, one of the guys, strung up a swing for his little girl - Klohe. She had no fear when he swung her very high.

The little teardrop van next to us in Kununurra. It was a really cute van but I’d rather our big van any day.

Inneke & Gary from Adelaide.

Great little camp site here with no one really close to us. Good views of the little lake

Not a bad spot

A boab tree we found on our walk in the bush, unusual that it had leaves on it at this time of the year

Love having a fire while free camping. When we stay at parks we usually can’t have a fire so we take advantage while we free camp.

Tomorrow we go to Derby to get ready for our Horizontal Falls experience.

They had trailers on the back of their bikes, one had a huge solar panel that charged extra batteries so they didn’t run out of power. On those trailers they had all their gear, tents, bedding, food etc. \240They have been travelling for 12 months and travelled in excess of 10,000 kms. Not a bad effort.

We finally set off & arrived at Derby about 11.30am. Had my first disagreement with the reception lady. Yesterday we thought we might go to Derby instead of another free camp & rang the park to see if we could get in a day earlier.

The guy I spoke to said that they would ring me if we couldn’t get in but soon after we spoke we lost service. When we did get a little bit of service I rang again & the guy said they weren’t taking any more bookings. As we hadn’t heard from them we decided to free camp, rather than get here with no booking. Unbeknown to us they had booked us in, so when we got here today she told me I had to pay for last night. In a very calm voice I explained that there was a lack of communication between us at which she at first told me that it wasn’t her problem. After a few more words she reluctantly agreed to refund the booking for last night. Don’t think I’ll go back to reception while we are here - don’t think she likes me much.

After we set up we went for a little drive around town. Didn’t take long as there isn’t too much here. \240Went for a walk along the jetty, water was very murky and lots of mud everywhere - the tide was going out. Apparently they have king tides here so we’ll go back in the morning to see where the water is.

The water coverss all that mud during high tide

That’s lots of gluggy smelly mud there

Beautiful poles under the jetty

Brian leaving with the girls.

Had some visitors this morning, this calf was a bit tired and needed a rest

Mum was watching closely

Kimberley Entrance Caravan Park. - \240$154

IGA - $58. (Slab of beer for Brian)

Drove around but there is really not very much to see or do at this place.

Had lunch, a bit of a rest, then some friends we met at Kununurra arrived ,so we started happy hour early. These people live in Bendigo.

Tomorrow is the Horizontal Falls tour.

Great view from the air

Our seaplanes lined up ready to go.

You can see the swell of the tides clearly from above.

As soon as we got onto the ‘floating hotel’ we were given a cuppa and a little chat, then we’re were loaded into the jet boats. Unfortunately we couldn’t get near the front as everyone was trying hard to get there & we were too slow.

Off we went, 1200 horsepower powering this boat. It just flew.

Going through the falls was exhilarating, it’s hard to describe the feeling. We went through both gaps, the second one considerably narrower than the first. At this stage the tide was going out . After several rides back & forth, those boat captains must really love their jobs, we went back to the big boat to have a swim with the sharks.

Even I was game enough to do this - the sharks were in a different cage than us though, so it was very pleasant to have a cool down.

Brian having a bit of a dip. I’d got out by this stage. The sharks are in the cage to the left.

The sharks floating around waiting for their barramundi scraps.

This one was having a bit of a laugh at us.

Onto the jet boats again and another few rides in the falls. After that we went down Cyclone Creek for a cruise and a bit of a discussion on the environment. We looked for the resident croc but he was hiding today. Our driver & guide on this section was a gorgeous dark skinned young girl. She was very informative, we couldn’t work out what nationality she was. She handled the boat pretty well though.

Back to the boat for lunch - fantastic meal of barramundi & salads. I had mine personally delivered to me - the others had to go & get it themselves. Beautiful meal.

After lunch we had another go in the jet boats, this time the tide was turning. It was amazing to see the water ‘turn around’

Hard to see but there were quite a few eddies in the water.

Hard to capture on a photo but one side was actually quite a bit higher than the other side.

Had to do a bit of a selfie, note the hair is a wee bit wind blown.

Back at the big boat we were hustled to the seaplane area to take off agin to go home.

This is a very well tuned industry, they were juggling planes, boats, people and meals all day. When one area was finished another group took our place. They said they put up to 260 people through a day, as incredible as it sounds, which we estimated to be close to a million a day. Not bad - but they would have a lot of expenses.

Flight home was good, we went over a barramundi farm

They breed the barramundi in these tanks, then we went mainly over the sea until we got back to Derby

Tide was out so notice all the mud flats.

Back at the park, we went to have a look at the information centre with Les \240& Wendy and bought a couple of things.

Went down to the jetty to watch the sunset which was really lovely

Happy hour time at their van that ended up about 9.30 pm. Just as well we had a good lunch as we didn’t have any tea, only nibbles. ( which was enough)

Tomorrow we are off to Broome.

The start of the sunset.

The end.

I think I’m shrinking or else Brian has got a bit taller!!!

Didn’t have any photos tonight so took one of Brian outside the van

This park is a very noisy park, everyone seems to be having a rip roaring time. Plus it is school holidays so there are kids running around everywhere, even at 8.30 pm.

Cable Beach Caravan Park. - \240$504. - 8 days.

Coles - $66

Our first sighting of Cable Beach

Not easy to ride 2 bikes.

Zander’s restaurant.

This was taken before the battery gave up. My bike looks like a baby compared to Brian’s.

Brian testing the temperature

Les and Wendy from Eaglehawk.

After we parted with the others Brian decided to go for another ride down to the beach while I did a few chores. Wore his bathers to go for a swim, I thought he was mad as it got a bit overcast and cool this afternoon. He was gone for ages and as well as a swim, he rode about 5 kms looking at all the cars having tea on the beach. He estimated to be around 200 cars down there all having tea. One lot even had a fire going, not sure that’s allowed.

We’ll do that in a couple of nights when it’s not quite so busy, although it’s amazing just how many people are around here.

The camels getting ready for their very slow stroll. This one this morning was for 40 mins but I don’t think they got far as the camels certainly don’t rush.

Roebuck Bay

The pattern on the floor is from the design on the ceiling and caused from the sun shining through. It was a very spectacular design.

We then went to Matso’s Brewery. Unfortunately we had not allowed for all the crowds here and it was totally booked out. We couldn’t even have a tasting at the bar. We’ll try and get back there before we leave.

We had seen a pub in town called the Roebuck Pub, so we decided to lunch there. We went into the main pub, which was very basic and ordered a Grilled Chicken Burger each

This place is generally called The Roey and is well known in Broome. We thought it was a bit strange that not many were around until we walked about 50 metres down the road and passed the Roey Pearl Bar, that’s where everyone was dining. The meal we had wasn’t too bad though.

After lunch we had a look at the Port, then went out to Gantheaume Point which is at the end of Cable Beach.

We can see it in the distance from our part of the beach.

Lots of people around

Home for a bit of a rest, then packed up the Prado with chairs, table & esky and headed down to the beach to watch the sunset. Lots and lots down there doing the same thing.

This was just a small portion

We even managed to get the awning out, for perhaps the 3rd time

Brian went for a swim at 5pm, very brave as it was getting quite cool by then.

Saw the camels wandering past with their load of tourists. Tonight there were 3 lots, all full. At $80 an adult & $50 per child that’s a lot of money

Wandering back

Heading off into the sunset.

Packed up quickly as sunset happened, \240to get of the beach. There is only one exit so it takes some time to get off the sand.

This was only a few cars, another 10 mins and it would have been bedlam.

Cooked a pizza for tea tonight but had to use a wrap as the base as there were no g/f pizza bases available at the supermarket. It didn’t turn out too bad. Useful to know if we get caught again without a base. (and I’m not so good making them from scratch unlike Tom - he’s are great)

Tomorrow we go to Willey’s Pearl Farm .

This is the Roey Pub, pretty rustic lookin

Arrived at the farm with plenty of time to spare before our tour. Had a quick look in the showroom and realised we wouldn’t be buying anything as the pearls were glorious but way too expensive. I was especially taken with the golden or champagne coloured ones.

We started the tour in the Hatchery where our guide, Kim instructed us in the growing process of a Pearl. This farm is a small family business and they do everything by hand which results in a better pearl. It was fascinating to learn about all the different types of pearls and how to care for them. I have several different types of pearls at home, from real pearls which belonged to Brian’s mother to freshwater pearls in necklaces and bracelets. I don’t wear them all that much but after this tour I’ll have to bring them out more. They need to be worn to keep their lustre.

Next we hopped on the boat to go out and inspect the oyster beds. The more advanced oysters are put out here to develop their pearls in a more natural setting.

Our boat driver, can’t remember his name, pulled out one of the sections to show and explain what happens.

The we went for a little tour up Willie Creek, we were on a tour that was at high tide, so we could get up there for a fair way.

When we got back we had a bit of morning tea. I was given a seperate one as I couldn’t eat the damper that the others had. After that we had another little lecture, this time Kim opened an oyster to pull out the pearl. The pearl was later valued at about $2500 and a couple of small ones were worth about $20 each.

This is the ones Kim took out. It’s amazing that the oyster can produce something so beautiful.

Kim also passed around a couple of other pearls for us to look at.

This one is worth about $10,000

This one valued at about $20,000. Well over our budget.

They retrieved one a couple of weeks ago that was valued at $150,000. We actually saw it later on the showroom. I held onto it for a very brief time but very quickly returned it to the salesperson.

Lunch was next, we ordered a seafood plate each. We met up with Ineke & Gary who we had met previously and had lunch together. Nice glass of wine, included in the lunch price, complimented the dish. My g/f version was as nice as the others.

We sat chatting for a while until we were the only ones left so thought we’d better get going.

Back home Brian pumped up the tyres again using our new little compressor. It worked very well and didn’t take very long at all.

Yesterday Brian had bought a mirror for his bike and put it on this afternoon. It was a little challenging but he managed ok. He’ll test it out in the morning.

Beautiful pond of goldfish at the farm

A copy of their resident croc. We didn’t see him today as it was high tide and he would have been hiding in the reeds somewhere.

Willie Creek Farm Tour - $190. \240 (Including lunch)

Forgot to take a before photo but this was at the end. Didn’t enjoy it much, did we.

Brian enjoyed the Ginger Beer and the Honey Lemon beer the best. We ended up buy a 6 pack of the ginger beer to add to our collection of ciders and wine

Fueled up again to go on Friday. Tried to go to the Museum but it was crowded so gave that a miss. We’ll try that again tomorrow morning. The crowds in this place are incredible. You can’t go anywhere without heaps and heaps of people. It’s getting to the point where you just can’t get into places.

Decided we’d go back to Zander’s to have another seafood platter for lunch. Was very delicious. Realised when we were half way through it that we are having fish and salad for tea tonight. Ah well, we’ll certainly get in our Omega 3 today. The fish is courtesy of our nearly neighbours.

After lunch Brian went back to the beach for a swim but I opted to go to the pool. I’m not keen on the sea water. The pool water here is freezing but also very refreshing on a hot day.

Our little home here at Broome. We had a pretty good site, we were even able to get TV when many around us couldn’t because of the trees. There are trees like this all through the park, it’s lovely and shady everywhere.

I was sitting outside reading this afternoon and I had a few visitors.

Really different types of rocks along the beach line. This was at low tide. High tide, the water laps these rock formations

See the difference between the red rock face and the white sand. Quite a contrast.

Had a long walk along the beach, came across a rock pool to cool off our feet

Home for lunch and a rest, then got ourselves organised to go back to the beach for a sunset viewing with Gary & Ineke. Took a bottle of wine and some nibbles with us to watch the beautiful sunset happen

The start

Nearly there - remarkable photo

All gone

Back at the vans, we were supposed to go to listen to a singer at the reception area, but realised that we could hear it very clearly from the van so we stayed put.

Had a few more drinks and before we knew it, it was 9pm and still no dinner. About to go and cook something when the neighbours arrived with a nibbly platter so we stayed \240for a bit longer. As a result we ended up having toast and corn beef for tea.

Barn Hill has been very nice - nice and relaxing, haven’t needed to do much, had wonderful walks on the beach, spent great times with new friends. Probably could have spent another couple of days here. Tomorrow we head of towards Port Hedland.

The singer tonight, don’t know what her name is but she was pretty good. Quite a few people down there listening

‘Two brothers from a different mother’, Gary & Brian have been asked a couple of times if they were brothers!!!

Ineke against the backdrop of the beautiful Indian Ocean

Bobcat at work in the park , Brian was very interested to watch the lady driver work it.

The reception area was a little different to most.

The bowling green which is very popular amongst all the grey nomads

The toilets were a little quirky, open air - thankfully we had no rain.

Each site had a name, ours was House Cow

Our site, lots of red dust around here, but beautiful \240and shady.

Tomorrow we brave the 10kms back out on the dirt and corrugated road to the highway. Another early start to get to our free camp by lunchtime.

Our camp here tonight. Michael & Linda are behind us.

As we got closer to Port Hedland we noticed a lot more truck activity, most had 4 trailers on. We thought they’d either be carting iron ore or salt.

Drove into Port Hedland as we had to get a couple of essentials - milk & bread for Brian so had a look around at the port. Saw a huge mound of salt that seemed to be unloading from somewhere into a huge pile with a dozer on the top pushing it up.

Not to much to see and we had the van on so we were restricted to where we could go.

Headed of to our next camp at Peawah River and again hit a heap of wide loads coming to to town.

Fortunately these ones were in a parking bay so we missed them. Arrived about 1pm to our next stop, set up at the back and had a bit of a stroll around. This campsite was quite small and very close to the highway so I think we’ll get a lot of road noise tonight.

Michael & Linda arrived and set up next to us. We all had a quite afternoon and evening. We were going to light a fire but it wasn’t really cold enough so we thought we’d save our little bit of remaining wood for later.

We seem to be going to bed earlier than normal when we free camp, probably because we haven’t got the TV to distract us. We could use it to watch a DVD but so far we haven’t bothered.

Looking very neglected now

This was all there was on the highway, very easy to miss.

The family graveyard. These were some of the members of the family that ran the pub. These were all ex servicemen. It was very touching to see them all together.

Had a really good run, we only had to go 135kms. Arrived at the park and booked in. We could only get an unpowered site tonight. We were actually supposed to stay 2 nights but decided that it was too far to drive to Exmouth Thursday - about 540kms so cancelled one night here and we’ll do a free camp down the road about 300kms away. Then an easy couple of hundred on Thursday. Unpacked then went for a little look at the town. Everything looks quite neat and tidy and relatively new. It looks like a lot of work has been done here in recent times. Went to Coles to get some avocado’s as I realised Exmouth only have IGA. They are a $1 each in Coles & Woolies so stocked up with 3. Last IGA we went to they were much more than a $1

Drive to the lookout over the beach, tide was way out so didn’t look all that interesting.

Long way to the water

In the distance we could see a flame, must be a gas pipe there or something similar

Went to another lookout over the town. It’s really quite big when you see if from above

These were just the residential areas, the city part was more to the left.

On the way back we saw a sign for a barber so I suggested to Brian he should perhaps have his hair cut while he could.

It cost $30 which I thought was a wee bit extravagant for a No 2 all over. My haircut cost $20 and she at least styled it when I had it done in Broome

Back at the park Brian saw a sign to wash cars, so he dropped me off and hightailed it back to give the Prado a bit of a birthday. It was covered in red dust from going into Barn Hill. So we now have a lovely clean shiny car again. Forgot to take a photo, I’ll take one in the morning.

Put the TV on with the inverter so Brian could watch Outback Truckers but it’s pixelating a fair bit, so I don’t think he’ll get to see much.

As we are going south the weather is changing. Mornings are a bit cool, days are still lovely with temps of 30 degrees but the nights are getting very cool. We’ve only got another couple of weeeks before we hit the real cold. With all the lockdowns going on I think we’ll turn around and go back to Broome for a couple of months. Wouldn’t that be great.

Barber - $30

Coles - $11

Pilbara Discovery Park - $40-50. (Expensive enough for an unpowered site but we do have water. We weren’t supposed to but we hooked into a spare tap next door - have to get something for the $40 )

Had a nice little level spot away from the road. You can still hear the road noise but it seems to die down after a while

Later this afternoon a young lady drove around selling relish and home grown veges. We bought some Mango & Chilli Relish, a sweetcorn, zucchini & butternut pumpkin.

She is the caretaker who looks after this rest area and lives nearby.

Brian assisted with a Lemon Chicken Stir Fry tonight. I cut up the veges, he cooked. Was very nice.

Brian cooking up his stir fry

Lovely sunsets up this way.

Brian reading in bed last night when the lights went out.

Tomorrow we finally get to Exmouth where we all met up. Tom & Marg are already there, Danny, Kirsten and the kids are about 30 kms up the road from us we think \240It’s taken a fair bit of organising for us all to meet at this particular time. Looking forward to seeing them all. I think my liver will suffer a bit more!!!

Karratha Battery & Caravan Centre - $449.95

Our van set with Tim’s next door

Danny, Ki

This is our group before we headed off for the walk. We didn’t actually get an after one where some of us were feeling a bit poorly. But - we made it. \240Tom as been sacked as the walk tour guide from now on!!!

This was where we were going, but we managed to take the very long way around

Beautiful scenery, when you look around Kirsten.

It’s a long , long way down there

Had a quite afternoon getting ready for our ‘swim with the whale sharks tour’ tomorrow. It’s a full day tour as have to be up early. Danny & Kirsten are having a kid free day - Jac & Nick are looking after the kids for them, so they are looking forward to that, even if they have to spend it with us oldies.

Went to the camp kitchen for tea, we all had simple stuff. \240Jackie made a tuna pasta bake for their 2 families and realised when she put it in the oven that she had forgotten to put the tuna in. Crisis averted, they put the tuna in the bottom of the bowl and put the pasta on top. \240Tasted just the same.

This is only about half of us, the camp kitchen is really very nice. We are in the newer section where all the facilities are pretty good.

Saw a beautiful sunset while were there over the pool

Fueled up again.

Fuel - $250

The boat ramp was at Turquoise Bay, about 30 mins away from the town.

We were the ferried over to the big boat Latitude 22, our luxury vessel for our tour.

Our skipper for the day, I think her name was Michelle. She didn’t inspire much confidence in us when she was so rugged up, but she said anything below 30 degrees is cold for her.

We had a quick breakfast when we first got there, then it was a mad scramble \240to put on wetsuits, now that’s certainly a challenge in itself!!! - and then hit the water for our first snorkel. I was very tentative about it all as the water was pretty deep but one of the guides took me in hand and towed me around on her life saving device. So I still got to snorkel but I wasn’t worried. My arm doesn’t allow me to swim and I get a bit panicky in deep water now.

Here they all are ready to drop into the water when the command is given.

And they are off.

Back on the boat again after the snorkel & \240while we were having morning tea the guides gave directions to the ones who were swimming with the whale sharks. There is a spotter in the air who radios back to the boat when he sights anything of interest. All of a sudden the guides will shout out - go, go ,go and everyone is again in the water. They saw a 6m whale shark and also a proper shark was hovering around them. Poor shark probably thought he’d come across a pod of seals and was looking for lunch. The guides got them all out of the water pretty fast.

Our boat was pretty lucky as we saw whale sharks, sharks, dolphins, whales, \240turtles & orcas. Apparently some of the other companies didn’t spot much at all. The swimmers were in and out of the water about 6 times.

After my snorkel I had had enough so got changed. Marg and Tom stayed in their wetsuits in case there was time for another snorkel later.

They provided a nice lunch of cold meats and salads, even had some prawns.

After lunch we toured around the bays to see if we could find some whales. We spotted several over the day, a few of them tail slapping for us.

We also spotted a pod of orcas which is quite rare this time of the year. We followed them for a while in the boat - it was good to see them so close.

On the way home we were treated with a glass of bubbly. That ended a really good day.

We also had a photographer on board who was taking photos all day but I can’t download them, have to use WiFi and the parks is not strong enough. I was hoping to include some in here but I’ll add them in later.

The happy couple, Danny & Kirsten

Getting ready for their first swim.

The lighthouse has now been discommissioned as a lighthouse.

From here we drove back to look at the HMAS Mildura which was sank during a cyclone. The wreck can still be clearly seen at low tide. It had cattle on board that were left to swim to shore or die, unfortunately most didn’t make it. Most of the crew were rescued by another boat in the area.

Had to get back to the park quickly as we all had to go out for dinner at the Whalebone Brewery- Quinn’s choice, but only because he wanted pizza for dinner. The older members enjoyed a drink or two while the kids enjoyed their pizzas. ( so did we)

All there as well as a couple of extras, all except the birthday boy

Lovely set up, mild night and we all enjoyed not having to cook dinner

The menu, we even had a gluten free base ( for an additional price of course) but Tom & I enjoyed it very much.

Back at the park for birthday cake and the night was done.

None of us have packed up at all so tomorrow will not be an early departure. We only have about 80kms to go so we are not concerned.

We’ll be at Osprey Bay for the next 5 nights so we won’t have any telephone or internet coverage at all. I’ll do my blog every day but it probably won’t go through until next Saturday when we head to Cárnarvon

The birthday boy, he was getting \240a little tired by this time, but he still rallied for birthday cake later. He’s not doing too badly, he only had his cast off from his broken arm a couple of days ago.

Stayed until sunset, then home for dinner. Tonight we had a curry which Brian helped me cook.

Beautiful sunset, as they all are along this coast. After we’d cleaned up we went for a cuppa at Tom & Margs.

We are all spread out here and it’s a fair way between camps so riding the bikes is the best way to get around.

The hosts, Peter & Sue have also warned us that there have been lots of sightings of King Brown Snakes. I was ready to pack up and go after that information.

Brian went for a ride down to the other section just on dark and came across one ( snake) laying across the path. He actually rode over it. So we all have to be extremely vigilant and not go off any of the paths.

Not sure what’s on yet tomorrow, but I’m sure we’ll be busy.

The wildflowers are starting to come out now, this one looks like a Stuart Pea.

Another cute little one.