Day 53 - Maleny

Well we're home - at least the trailer is home.  We got up early this morning 6.15 (temp 0 degrees) and were on the road by 7.15.  We only made a couple of stops for fuel and food and arrived here at 5pm.  Tomorrow will be busy with cleaning the trailer and gardening, and we will head back to Brisbane early next week.  We have had a fantastic time and feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to explore so much of our wonderful country and visit some very remote areas.  We have covered about 12,500 kms, with almost 4,000 kms on unsealed roads (some good, some bad).  We had no major mishaps, just the trailer tyres which both ended up with slow leaks.  We had put Cooper truck tyres on the car which have been fan tastic and should have put them on the trailer as well.  We will do that for the next trip - Alice Springs, Uluru, MacDonnell Ranges and Birdsville and all the southern bits we missed out on this time because of the rain and closed roads.  We heard this morning that the road from Birdsville to Windorah is still closed so we would have had to do very major detours if we had proceeded with our original itinerary.  This will be the last posting to the blog.  Hope it has been of interest, especially to our friends in the U.S.  We now have 3 1/2   weeks to get ready for the arrival of Jeff and Senya from New York and we are holidaying with them for the 5 weeks they are here.

Day 52 - Augathella

We had a big day driving today. Stopped in Longreach for a coffee and then in Barcaldine for fuel and some lunch and arrived in Augathella at about 4.30.   As the caravan park is not listed in our book and therefore doesnt have a rating, we were expecting it to be very substandard.  Quite the opposite - it is quite big, we are camped on grass and the amenities are new and clean, and moreover the showers are hot!  We really pushed ourselves today as we are within sight of home now.  We will try to get back to Maleny tomorrow even if it is after dark - the thought of a soak in a hot bath is very appealing as is our ensuite bathroom.  Will see how we go.  Now that we are nearing civilisation there are many more roadtrains and caravans on the road, all of which need passing.  And it is also very cold overnight - 2 degrees this morning here in Augathella.   Oh yes - we were listening to an interview on the ABC on the radio this morning of a lady who has a business called Tambo Teddies.  She and 2 friends started it 17 years ago when this area was gripped in drought and wool prices down so they made some teddies out of sheepskin.  They are now the largest employer in Tambo (population 400) and have made 33,000 teddies - all with a name and all numbered.  So when we passed through Tambo this afternoon, we called in and have bought a delightful teddy called Pedro for Jim to take to Canada for his new granddaughter,Camilla.

Day 50 - Winton

We spent a delightful two nights in the Bladensberg National Park, 25km from Winton.  Just the sort of camping that we love - perched on the riverbank among gum trees with only a handful of other campers all spaced out that that no-one was too close to the other.  The drove out to Lark Quarry (LH picture), 220km round trip, where there is the only known documentaation of a dinosaur stampede in the world.  The building has been built over the tracks to preserve them.  There are 3000 footprints of 5 or 6 different species of dinosaur - they have discovered that they were drinking at a waterhole 95 million years ago when a large dinosaur (RH picture shows tracks) came looking for a feed - the smaller ones panicked and the tracks are going every whichway.  Not only have they identified the species, but they can also tell how fast they were running - just amazing!   Then spent the balance of our time in the national park finishing our books before we leave for home.    

Day 48 - Mount Isa (Again!)

As you can see by the photo, we have made it back to Queensland.  We had a huge day driving from Tennant Creek to Mt Isa (over 600kms) but had the most amazing stroke of fortune on the Barkly Highway, just before Barkly Homestead.  We ran into our friends who we had left on the Tanami Track 5 days ago.  Quite amazing as neither of us had been planning to head to Mt Isa and we had each been wondering what had happened to the other as we hadn't exchanged phone numbers or email addresses.  5 minutes either way and we would have missed them as we were stopping at Barkly Homestead for coffee and they were staying on the highway.  So we both pulled into the Homestead and were able to trade stories of what had happened.  Seems they had even worse conditions on their return to Halls Creek than we did on our way to Rabbit Flat.  Seems all the roads in the Kimberley were impassable for a couple of days and the area has had its wettest July on record (up to 10th July).  They are camped with us here in Mt Isa and we have taken the opportunity to take both the car and trailer to the local car wash and hit them both with the high pressure water gun.  Neither is perfect, but do look a whole lot better.    We did have an interesting trip to the museum this afternoon and to the underground hospital.  Apparently after Darwin was bombed during WW2, the authorities thought that Mt Isa might be the next target so they decided to build a hospital underground both for the use of their current hospital patients and also for casualties from any attack that might occur.  Fortunately it was never used, although they say that the nurses use to sleep there when they were off duty as it was cool.  It then was forgotten until about 10 years ago and it has been repaired and furnished exactly as per the photos that were taken at the time of building.  There is even a ladder for escape through the ventilation shaft in case the main entrance was bombed.  It was built by the Mt Isa Mine staff in exactly the same way as the mine is built and has timber framing to hold up the ceilings etc.  They have collected lots of very old medical gear which is on display - makes one flinch to think that some of the gadgets would have been used on people.  

Tomorrow we head for Winton and plan to stay there in the national park for a couple of days and do a side trip to Lark Quarry to check out the dinosaur stampede footprints.  It's a good feeling to be back in our home state even though we still have another 2000 kms to go.  

Day 46 - Tennant Creek

We arrived in Tennant Creek with very depleted food stocks, to find that everything was closed as it was Show Day.  The showground was right behind the camping area, so decided we should walk around and take a look.  We were among only a few white people there and I think the aboriginal kids had been waiting all year for the show to come to town.  There weren't any horses or cattle there, just dogs, clothing stalls and many many rides.  We are having two nights here and today have been to the Cultural Centre to see their display of aboriginal art and to do our shopping.  We have been amazed at the number of new buildings that are in some of these remote areas - schools, council offices, hospitals , police stations, houses etc and the aboriginies are all sitting in the street doing nothing.

Day 45 - Daly Waters

Just a short drive to Daly Waters and arrived in time for lunch in the pub.  We had lunch there on the way up so knew how good it was and how nice the camping was beside the pub.  Spent the  afternoon washing muddy clothes and booked to have barramundi at the pub for dinner.  They had a couple of entertainers in the bar so we had a fun night.  Dick Smith and his wife were in the bar having lunch when we were there - they climbed out of a very ritzy mobile home and Mrs Smith was very well dressed.  She hadn't been in the mud on the Tanami Track!   Apparently he told the staff there that he had flown over the area so many times in his helicopter, that he thought he should see it from the ground.

Day 44 - Top Springs

Had a great night in Top Springs.  After a hot shower and hairwash we felt a whole lot better.  The roadhouse which is the only building at Top Springs becomes a pub at 6.30 so after a pub meal and a couple of drinks we relaxed.  It also happened to be the 3rd State of Origin match so we watched that in the bar with a bunch of roadtrain drivers.  As soon as the game finished, they all hopped into their vehicles and sped into the night - amazing.  Some of them have 4 trailers behind them.  We have had to make some major decisions about the rest of our trip as we are now 500kms north of where we want to be and there is more rain on the way.  We really haven't got time to get to Alice Springs and Uluru, and the Plenty Highway which runs from Alice to Boulia in Qld has also had a lot of rain so it is doubtful that we would get through there, so would have to come all the way north again to go home through Mt Isa.  We'll head as far south as Tennant Creek so that we can get supplies and then 26kms back up to Threeways and across to Mt Isa and home the way we came, with a few detours.  Will go to Lawn Hill National Park before we get to Mt  Isa as we were sorry we missed that on the way up.  All a bit of a shame, but one must be flexible.  We will make that a separate holiday in the future when hopefully it is not raining and not as cold as it has been down there.  Before we left Top Springs, we spent 2 hours getting the worst of the mud off the car and the trailer, but unfortunately it has set pretty hard.  At least now we can see out of the back windows.

Day 43 - Rabbit Flat

No photos here - we were too stressed to even think about photos.  The mean-spirited old biddy was as nice as pie this morning and we filled the petrol tanks $229!!!   However we discovered that the southern part of the Tanami was awash, in fact most of central Australia is awash, with inches of very unseasonal rain.  Last year in June/July/August not a drop of rain fell.  This year is another story.  Apparently there are road trains bogged in the mud down near Alice Springs and returning to Halls Creek was not an option either as there was an impassable section just over the border.  So we were stuck in the middle, all alone.  We might have been tempted to wait a couple of days, but as we didn't have access to the campground, toilets and showers, it would have been too uncomfortable.  They suggested we go 45 kms back towards Halls Creek and turn onto an even more minor road and head north to a place called Lajamanu, an aboriginal community 230 kms north of the Tanami.  They contacted the police there and told them we were coming and we had to check in when we arrived there, otherwise they were going to come looking for us.  With hindsight, it was all very exciting, but we are pleased it's over.  The road was quite good and we carried on for another 110kms to Wave Hill where we picked up the bitumen and got to Top Springs for the night.  Another long day with a trailer full of mud.

Day 42 - Wolfe Creek

We arrived at Wolfe Creek mid afternoon and as we were setting up camp, it started to rain.  Not just light rain, it absolutely poured and poured all night.  Wolfe Creek is famous for its meteorite crater which was formed 300 million years ago when a meteorite crashed to earth.  We huddled in our trailer and our friends huddled in theirs - no-one slept because of the steady noise on our canvas roofs.  We had a conference the next morning and decided that as the rain had eased off a bit, we would go back to the Tanami Track (about 20kms) and head down to Rabbit Flat and camp there.  Unfortunately during that 20km drive, they developed engine problems - a warning light came on and when he looked in the manual, found that he had to consult a Toyota dealer asap.  So they headed back to Halls Creek and we continued to Rabbit Flat.  Well what a day.  We slipped and slid in parts, were constantly changing to 4wd high and low range when we hit really sticky bits.  The photo shows the road when we left our friends but unfortunately we don't have an 'after' photo of the car and trailer.  Called into an Aboriginal community to top up our fuel - $2.30 per litre - and on we went.  Saw no-one else all day except for two camels who were standing in the middle of the road.  After crossing the border the road improved a little and we reached Rabbit Flat at about 4.30 in the afternoon.  For those of you who don't know about Rabbit Flat - it is a strange building surrounded by trees and one petrol pump at the front and it is run by a very eccentric couple who sometimes won't serve fuel if it doesn't suit them.  Well we were not the best sight - car and trailer plastered with red mud that sticks like concrete, and we were wet and bedraggled too.  Unfortunately we interrupted the owner's wife in the middle of an overseas telephone call - when we said we would like to camp for the night we were told very firmly that the campground was flooded and we couldn't stay.  So we drove back up the road about 5kms and set up in the mud and slush on the side of the road.  Another night of not much sleep!  At 1am we heard a car approaching and we both lay there hoping that it didn't stop.  It didn't, but goodness knows where they were going as the roads by then were impassable.  However the rain stopped at about 7pm and the wind blew all night so we ended up with dry canvas to pack up.   We drove back to get our fuel, hoping that they would be nice to us this time!! 

Day 38 - Purnululu National Park - Bungle Bungles

We left Fitzroy Crossing in light rain and it rained on and off all the way to the Bungles.  Stopped in Halls Creek to do a little shopping and to refuel and it was freezing cold and damp.  Made good time to the turnoff to the Bungles and at least the rain settled the dust on the road.  The road into the national park is 52kms of quite rough dirt, a few creek crossings and corrugations.  Took about an hour and a half and after checking out the two campgrounds, decided to stay at the southern one as it was smaller and very few people there.  Because of the road conditions, there were only camper trailers and tents there.  The rain stopped as we arrived so we set up quite comfortably and put up our ensuite so we could have a shower - no showers here, just toilets.  The next morning the sun was shining and the sky cloudless and we committed to  stay for 4 nights.  It was quite warm so we decided we would do a walk in the morning, come home for lunch and spend the afternoons reading.  The scenery is stunning.  The Park was world heritage listed in 2003 due to its natural beauty and unusual geology.  The landscape is covered with domes that are striped in orange and grey with a pattern that looks like roof shingles.  In between the domes there are stunning gorges carved through the rock.  We did all the walks - Cathedral Gorge, Mini Palm Gorge, Echidna Chasm where the sun shines to the floor of the chasm at midday (see the photo) and Piccaninny Creek.   It was quite festive at Echidna Chasm as there were about 30 people standing just waiting for the moment when the sun was overhead and in the right spot for photos.  Some of the walks were challenging with boulders to scramble over and rocks to squeeze between, but in the tricky bits they have put in ladders to make things easy.  We have had lots of exercise which must be doing us some good - even had to put another hole in Jim's belt so his pants wouldn't fall off!!  We headed back to Halls Creek after an early start but this time had to contend with the dust on the road - no rain this time.  We had planned to stay at Halls Creek on Monday night and then head down the Tanami Track on Tuesday morning but we ran into a couple from Victoria who we had met up with a couple of times along the way - they were two cars behind us in the queue for diesel - they were also going down the Tanami so we decided we would go together.  The plan was to get to Wolfe Creek for the night which was about 170kms so off we went.