RETIRED
3rd May 2000, 01:14 AM
The Trip
First off, overseas readers will need an atlas (with Australia in it) to find the way.
Secondly if you expect to read about the latest happenings in Woodturning or timber you will be sadly disappointed. As I work in timber all day, every day, I went on holiday to get away from it. Professionals will understand.
Originally we (Julie & I) intended to go to Broken Hill and head north to Bourke and work our way up to Cairns, but 2 cyclones had made the roads impassable or washed away altogether. On to plan B.
After a weeks delay (work gets in the way sometimes) we loaded the camper on the back of the truck and headed towards Adelaide from Melbourne.
Incident No.1: we pulled into a truck parking bay for some sleep the first night. Couldn’t get the truck out of top gear. The roll pin holding the 5th gear selector had fallen out (been there 20 years and chooses now to fall out.) Crawling around in the dirt I finally get the gear box into neutral and do the next 35 Klms at 60 KMH into Keith in S.A.
The friendliest, most courteous mechanic I have ever met (besides me) fixed the problem in 10 mins and off we go again towards Adelaide.
Weather is great (sun shining, 25c.) and all is well with the world until we get to Adelaide. I always thought Sydney had the worst route direction signs in Australia but Adelaide beats it. They change the route numbering system to suit themselves with destinations of suburbs instead of including national numbers with capital destinations. After a scenic tour (read lost) of the suburbs and city of beautiful Adelaide we head towards Port Augusta. Through Port Augusta with no incident and head north towards Coober Pedy.
The last time I had travelled this road (1978) you were faced with 1000ks of dirt road with corrugations that you could lose a truck in. I must be getting old but I was glad it was bitumen.
Stopped for the night just outside Coober Pedy after witnessing a great sunset, the ONLY great sunset we were to see for 2 weeks. The sunrise was spectacular as only they can be in the outback. With perfectly clear skies the amount of stars visible out there are fantastic.
The temperature was starting to get up to 30c when we arrived at Coober Pedy at about 10.00a.m.
The holiday was looking promising, good weather and starting to relax.
At Coober Pedy we went through an opal mine and underground house. We also checked out a display giving the history of Coober Pedy and the “new” bitumen north-south road. Built in 1989 so not so new now.
At 4.30 it started to rain and this was to be the weather for the next 2 weeks. High temperatures, intermittent rain storms and VERY high humidity. Typical tropical weather at the end of the wet season.
The “red centre” as it is commonly known was green for as far as you could see. I have seen it both ways before but I prefer it as a desert as the colour is awesome.
From Coober Pedy we headed north once more to Uluru or Ayers Rock as it is more commonly known. I got tired of dodging stray cattle and kangaroos in the dark (in the outback, cattle are not fenced so are free to wander wherever they like) so we stayed the night at Curtin Springs on the road to the Rock (also bitumen). The showers are something to see. You share them with every bug known to an entomologist. Water pressure that nearly pushes you down the plug hole completes the suite.
We arrived at the Rock in time for sunrise, guess what, no sun, too cloudy. We did a tour of the base of the Rock with an aboriginal guide that explained the significance of the Rock to their culture and “Dreamtime”. We then went around the Olgas, a mountain range that look like heads and in my opinion more appealing than Ayers rock.
We set off again towards Alice Springs. Arriving at Alice we stayed in a caravan park (trailer park for the yanks  http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/wink.gif with excellent facilities including a pancake breakfast on Sundays. MAN, I just hate pancakes (pigs fly too).
At this time we have driven 3,200kms. (approx 2000miles) in 3.5 days.
Incident No2: the fridge in the van is acting as an oven in the bottom and freezing everything in the top. Diagnosis by fridge mechanic, $600 to fix. We purchase a new fridge. My thanks to Roe-Aire for their courteous service.
At Alice we checked out Standley Chasm, the overland telegraph station, the arid desert park which is worth visiting just for the film, Flynn’s memorial, aviation museum and the Royal Flying Doctor service. Of course Julie has to check out Lassiters Casino where the meal and service was “par excellence”. No, we did not pay for the trip but did make a donation to the running of Lassiters, I hope the management appreciate it.
After pancakes on Sunday we head down to town and of all the luck they have a massive street market. Now if there is one thing that Julie really hates it is markets (about as much as casinos). For the next 3 hours we check out didgeridoos, books and all other manner of things. We then went out to the Ghan museum and the Transport Heritage Centre. You could spend hours in there if you love trucks and cars. Unfortunately we did not have the time spend too long but in 2 hours we saw quite a lot.
North to Tennant Creek to see sunrise at the Devils Marbles, guess what, right on, cloudy no sun. At T.C. we went on a guided tour through a gold mine, checked out an old open cut gold mine and the pebbles (little marbles).
From here, express to Darwin. Caravan park again in Darwin. More rain but still hot,damned hot!!
At this time we have driven 5810kms. (approx 3,600miles) in 7 days.
In Darwin we fed the fish, saw the WW2 underground oil storage tanks, did the historical walk and the wharf precinct where we checked out the pearling display and the Indo Pacific marine centre. Of course we donated to the management of the MGM casino. Julie believes in sharing the wealth.
On the way south again we spent the day at the Territory Wildlife Park. If you see nothing else in the Northern Territory I would have to say that this and Litchfield National park are worth the trip. As you can see we went to Litchfield National Park camping the night at Wangi (pronounced Wongy ) falls. There are numerous falls in the park and other sites accessible by 4WD. All 4WD tracks were closed due to the rain. The best time to see the falls in the National park was when we did, water pouring over them in all their glory.
Incident No.3: whilst strolling in the dark I fell over one of the steel fireplaces provide by the national park service. Not one to do things by halves, I gashed my leg to the bone, bruised my hip and dented the pride enormously. Hurt like hell and I limped for the next week. Congratulations to the National park service for building the strongest fireplaces I have ever see. The doctor at Batchelor deserves a special mention because she came from home to open the surgery to check me out on Good Friday.
We did not go to Kakadu because most roads were closed due to rain and all the locals reckon Litchfield is better any way.
South back to Katherine and a boat cruise on the Katherine Gorge. Luck was running with us because it was the first 2 gorge cruise that they had for 15 days because of rain. We stayed in a caravan park at Katherine. It was so hot and humid even at 9.00p.m that I had my first swim for nearly 20 years in the pool there.
From Katherine we headed south to 3 Ways just north of Tennant Creek and then east towards Camooweal. Our next stop is Longreach to check out the Stockmans Hall of Fame.
We intended to do a mine tour at Mount Isa but they don’t have them outside working hours and as it was Easter, the mine was closed.
When we get to Longreach the rain is falling not in drops but somebody has put a fire hose on to the windscreen and it is cold, really cold. First time for a while that we have to put jumpers on. We check into a caravan park and are told that it has been like that for 4 days. It tones down to light rain and eventually stops the next day as we are in the Stockmans Hall of Fame.
This building is magnificent and the displays well thought out and executed but it wasn’t built to handle this much water and the lower levels had 2” of water on the floor.
At this time we have driven 7466kms. (approx 4,580miles) in 14 days.
We have lunch and head towards our next destination, Brisbane, where we catch up with some friends and freeload off them for 2 days and just vege out. They are heading to their daughters place in Sydney, so we travel in convoy to Sydney and then we head home to Melbourne at a leisurely pace.
We arrived home to see the first clear sunset for 18 days. The next day IT RAINED.
Some trivial notes:
Total distance travelled was 10608kms. Approx 6576mls.
Dearest fuel price: $1.16/litre, $5.27 /imperial gallon.
On the whole trip, no where did we strike an unfriendly waiter/waitress, service station attendant or shop assistant and most went out of their way to be helpful however in one instance at a service station the attendant knew nothing about where to obtain tourist information. In my opinion not good enough in a place that relied heavily on tourist trade to survive.
For more information on the places mentioned go to:
http://www.opalcapitaloftheworld.com.au/
http://www.northernterritory.com/index.html
------------------
Ian () Robertson
"We do good turns every day"
First off, overseas readers will need an atlas (with Australia in it) to find the way.
Secondly if you expect to read about the latest happenings in Woodturning or timber you will be sadly disappointed. As I work in timber all day, every day, I went on holiday to get away from it. Professionals will understand.
Originally we (Julie & I) intended to go to Broken Hill and head north to Bourke and work our way up to Cairns, but 2 cyclones had made the roads impassable or washed away altogether. On to plan B.
After a weeks delay (work gets in the way sometimes) we loaded the camper on the back of the truck and headed towards Adelaide from Melbourne.
Incident No.1: we pulled into a truck parking bay for some sleep the first night. Couldn’t get the truck out of top gear. The roll pin holding the 5th gear selector had fallen out (been there 20 years and chooses now to fall out.) Crawling around in the dirt I finally get the gear box into neutral and do the next 35 Klms at 60 KMH into Keith in S.A.
The friendliest, most courteous mechanic I have ever met (besides me) fixed the problem in 10 mins and off we go again towards Adelaide.
Weather is great (sun shining, 25c.) and all is well with the world until we get to Adelaide. I always thought Sydney had the worst route direction signs in Australia but Adelaide beats it. They change the route numbering system to suit themselves with destinations of suburbs instead of including national numbers with capital destinations. After a scenic tour (read lost) of the suburbs and city of beautiful Adelaide we head towards Port Augusta. Through Port Augusta with no incident and head north towards Coober Pedy.
The last time I had travelled this road (1978) you were faced with 1000ks of dirt road with corrugations that you could lose a truck in. I must be getting old but I was glad it was bitumen.
Stopped for the night just outside Coober Pedy after witnessing a great sunset, the ONLY great sunset we were to see for 2 weeks. The sunrise was spectacular as only they can be in the outback. With perfectly clear skies the amount of stars visible out there are fantastic.
The temperature was starting to get up to 30c when we arrived at Coober Pedy at about 10.00a.m.
The holiday was looking promising, good weather and starting to relax.
At Coober Pedy we went through an opal mine and underground house. We also checked out a display giving the history of Coober Pedy and the “new” bitumen north-south road. Built in 1989 so not so new now.
At 4.30 it started to rain and this was to be the weather for the next 2 weeks. High temperatures, intermittent rain storms and VERY high humidity. Typical tropical weather at the end of the wet season.
The “red centre” as it is commonly known was green for as far as you could see. I have seen it both ways before but I prefer it as a desert as the colour is awesome.
From Coober Pedy we headed north once more to Uluru or Ayers Rock as it is more commonly known. I got tired of dodging stray cattle and kangaroos in the dark (in the outback, cattle are not fenced so are free to wander wherever they like) so we stayed the night at Curtin Springs on the road to the Rock (also bitumen). The showers are something to see. You share them with every bug known to an entomologist. Water pressure that nearly pushes you down the plug hole completes the suite.
We arrived at the Rock in time for sunrise, guess what, no sun, too cloudy. We did a tour of the base of the Rock with an aboriginal guide that explained the significance of the Rock to their culture and “Dreamtime”. We then went around the Olgas, a mountain range that look like heads and in my opinion more appealing than Ayers rock.
We set off again towards Alice Springs. Arriving at Alice we stayed in a caravan park (trailer park for the yanks  http://ubb.ubeaut.com.au/ubb/wink.gif with excellent facilities including a pancake breakfast on Sundays. MAN, I just hate pancakes (pigs fly too).
At this time we have driven 3,200kms. (approx 2000miles) in 3.5 days.
Incident No2: the fridge in the van is acting as an oven in the bottom and freezing everything in the top. Diagnosis by fridge mechanic, $600 to fix. We purchase a new fridge. My thanks to Roe-Aire for their courteous service.
At Alice we checked out Standley Chasm, the overland telegraph station, the arid desert park which is worth visiting just for the film, Flynn’s memorial, aviation museum and the Royal Flying Doctor service. Of course Julie has to check out Lassiters Casino where the meal and service was “par excellence”. No, we did not pay for the trip but did make a donation to the running of Lassiters, I hope the management appreciate it.
After pancakes on Sunday we head down to town and of all the luck they have a massive street market. Now if there is one thing that Julie really hates it is markets (about as much as casinos). For the next 3 hours we check out didgeridoos, books and all other manner of things. We then went out to the Ghan museum and the Transport Heritage Centre. You could spend hours in there if you love trucks and cars. Unfortunately we did not have the time spend too long but in 2 hours we saw quite a lot.
North to Tennant Creek to see sunrise at the Devils Marbles, guess what, right on, cloudy no sun. At T.C. we went on a guided tour through a gold mine, checked out an old open cut gold mine and the pebbles (little marbles).
From here, express to Darwin. Caravan park again in Darwin. More rain but still hot,damned hot!!
At this time we have driven 5810kms. (approx 3,600miles) in 7 days.
In Darwin we fed the fish, saw the WW2 underground oil storage tanks, did the historical walk and the wharf precinct where we checked out the pearling display and the Indo Pacific marine centre. Of course we donated to the management of the MGM casino. Julie believes in sharing the wealth.
On the way south again we spent the day at the Territory Wildlife Park. If you see nothing else in the Northern Territory I would have to say that this and Litchfield National park are worth the trip. As you can see we went to Litchfield National Park camping the night at Wangi (pronounced Wongy ) falls. There are numerous falls in the park and other sites accessible by 4WD. All 4WD tracks were closed due to the rain. The best time to see the falls in the National park was when we did, water pouring over them in all their glory.
Incident No.3: whilst strolling in the dark I fell over one of the steel fireplaces provide by the national park service. Not one to do things by halves, I gashed my leg to the bone, bruised my hip and dented the pride enormously. Hurt like hell and I limped for the next week. Congratulations to the National park service for building the strongest fireplaces I have ever see. The doctor at Batchelor deserves a special mention because she came from home to open the surgery to check me out on Good Friday.
We did not go to Kakadu because most roads were closed due to rain and all the locals reckon Litchfield is better any way.
South back to Katherine and a boat cruise on the Katherine Gorge. Luck was running with us because it was the first 2 gorge cruise that they had for 15 days because of rain. We stayed in a caravan park at Katherine. It was so hot and humid even at 9.00p.m that I had my first swim for nearly 20 years in the pool there.
From Katherine we headed south to 3 Ways just north of Tennant Creek and then east towards Camooweal. Our next stop is Longreach to check out the Stockmans Hall of Fame.
We intended to do a mine tour at Mount Isa but they don’t have them outside working hours and as it was Easter, the mine was closed.
When we get to Longreach the rain is falling not in drops but somebody has put a fire hose on to the windscreen and it is cold, really cold. First time for a while that we have to put jumpers on. We check into a caravan park and are told that it has been like that for 4 days. It tones down to light rain and eventually stops the next day as we are in the Stockmans Hall of Fame.
This building is magnificent and the displays well thought out and executed but it wasn’t built to handle this much water and the lower levels had 2” of water on the floor.
At this time we have driven 7466kms. (approx 4,580miles) in 14 days.
We have lunch and head towards our next destination, Brisbane, where we catch up with some friends and freeload off them for 2 days and just vege out. They are heading to their daughters place in Sydney, so we travel in convoy to Sydney and then we head home to Melbourne at a leisurely pace.
We arrived home to see the first clear sunset for 18 days. The next day IT RAINED.
Some trivial notes:
Total distance travelled was 10608kms. Approx 6576mls.
Dearest fuel price: $1.16/litre, $5.27 /imperial gallon.
On the whole trip, no where did we strike an unfriendly waiter/waitress, service station attendant or shop assistant and most went out of their way to be helpful however in one instance at a service station the attendant knew nothing about where to obtain tourist information. In my opinion not good enough in a place that relied heavily on tourist trade to survive.
For more information on the places mentioned go to:
http://www.opalcapitaloftheworld.com.au/
http://www.northernterritory.com/index.html
------------------
Ian () Robertson
"We do good turns every day"