A Boomerang return from Adelaide to Alice Springs and back

Tuesday 15th November we escape the city with Groovy Grape Tours to start our "Desert Patrol" tour. We got picked up from Annies Place, our hostel in Adelaide at 06:45 - we were the first pick up. As we got to the bus, we were welcomed by Sam and Penny, our tour guides for the week. To my amazement, Sam was the guide that took Sarah and I from Alice Springs to Uluru back in 2009 - what was the chance of that! Different tour leaving from a different city.....madness!

So once everyone was picked up - 14 in total - we hit the road, heading North to the Flinders Ranges. We passed many salt lakes which were pink However, due to the saltiness, nothing can live in them apart from Algae - hence the pinkness. The pink salt is often taken from the lake as it is pretty sort after in restaurants.

We all write our names on our windows - easier to remember everyones names!

We pass through many small towns including Melrose - the oldest town in South Australia. It is home to 'Mount Remarkable' which is 960ft tall - the biggest in the National Park. We also drove past Wilsons Stationmaster Residence - an abandoned farm built in the 1880's.

Farmers would venture out into the desert as the land was cheaper and you could purchase a larger area but after having 10 year droughts, with the result of poor crop growth, the farmers would return back to the city.

After stopping for lunch, we explored the Wilpena Pound, part of another National Park. It seems all of Australia is a National Park of some sort! Anyway - we walked to the top of Wilpena to the lookout - was definitely worth the climb

We head to Angorichina, set up camp, have dinner and get to sleep in our swags. (swags, for those who don't know - are hardcore sleeping bags but with a slim mattress in the bottom with canvas tops to make them water resistant, NOT waterproof!)

Weds 16 - Destination outback. We follow the old Ghan railway track and its long abandoned railway settlements.

We stop at Leigh Creek, where we purchased some cookies, and me a hat! Should keep those flies out my ears! This town was originally located 5kms up the road but it was found to be sitting on top of a huge amount of coal so the town was literally picked up and moved. We stop to look at the Coal mine

Next town is Lyndhurst. A quick visit to Talc Alf where he explains his own ideas on the meaning behind each word in our language. It all seems a little far fetched, but an interesting perspective.


Lunch stop - Marree. Another town desolute due to the old Ghan track closing. It's pretty remote territory, with red, stony plains stretching across the horizon, although over the past couple of years it has been getting greener and greener through the vast amount of rainfall. Kangaroo Cous Cous for lunch! Yum!

Onward to Lake Eyre - only fills up once in a blue moon. Last time was in the 1970's. Luckily for us it is full but only because of all the flooding they had in Queensland last year. Even now it is starting to retreat. The (salt) lake is 12 metres below sea level.

Last stop for the day - Coward Springs. An all-natural spring which comes up from the Great Artisan Basement (GAB). The GAB is a 2 million year old spring that sits under the earth gathering water from New Guinea. Although it's a natural source of water and takes an age to get it so you are encouraged to use water efficiently. Was great sitting in it, feeling the mineral water bubbling against your legs and cooling you down form the hot heat.

On our way to Williams Creek (South Australias smallest town) where we set up camp, we stop and collect firewood. Everyone is encouraged to use the old sleepers from the old Ghan Railway track.

A beautiful sunset rests over us as we have dinner - with the hopping mice.

Thurs 17th

Taking an isolated track through Anna Creek, the worlds largest cattle station (the size of the UK), we head towards the Opal capital of the world - Coober Pedy. Along the way we come across a car wreck and cross the worlds longest fence. The fence is 5,300kms in length and exists to keep dingos on the Northern side to protect the cattle and sheep on the Southern side. Helge stops for a wee and found a geocache.

Coober Pedy - famous for it's opals, We all get a photo of the iconic sign, as below, and find that we're sleeping in an underground bunker on an actual bed! 70% of the population live underground due to severity of the heat - can get upto 52C in the summer and below freezing in the winter. By living in the dug outs the temparate remains at a constant 20-23 C throughout the year.

We went on a tour of the Underground Opal mines and learnt about the history of Coober Pedy, the dug outs and its opals.

Bex and I went and explored - found an underground book shop, hotel and church.

In the evening we headed out for Pizza and then on to a bar. Played Fussball with Sam, Helge and Chris.

Fri 18th

Had a long drive - over 800kms - the equivalent of driving from one end of Germany to the other. Played a few games on the bus, feeling like more of a group.

Again, we stop for firewood - I managed to pull out a whole tree (it was dead!)

We stayed in Kings Creek station - almost a thousand hectares. We all jumped into the swimming pool and, later, built a huge fire. Angelika and Chris had brought a bottle of Port and shared that with everyone. Attempted to play the didgeridoo.

We were back to sleeping in swags again - but it started raining half way through the night so headed for cover. It stopped so we layed out under the stars again only for it to start raining again. We couldn't be doing with all this moving about so decided to just stay out in it! Didn't get too wet!

Sat 19th

We spend the morning at Watarrka (Kings Canyon) and walk the 3 hour trail. Some magnificent views and a tranquil lake but quite tiring!

And in the evening we got to experience Uluru, also known as Ayres Rock, at Sunset. Got some nice pictures. A few beers, some good banter, a good meal. Happy Days! Back to the campsite, swags under the stars again.

Sun 20th

There was no chance of seeing sunrise at Uluru - woke up at 5.30am to rain. Was meant to be getting up at 5.45 anyway, but it didn't actually stop raining all day! We got taken on a 5 mile walk around Kata Tjuta and got absolutely drenched. Was nice seeing it, although you were constantly looking down as to not step in any rivers or trip over any rocks. Was awesome seeing all the water cascading down the rocks though!

We walked to the Karu lookout, Karingana Lookout and walked through the Valley of the Winds (it lived up to it's name!)

Headed back to camp with soaking wet shoes and clothes and had sushi. We were soon back out again though, heading to the Cultural Centre. Was interesting learning about the importance of Uluru to the Anungu Aboriginals. The Anungu's encourage you to not climb The Rock as it is seen as being disrespectful (not that we had the option because of the wind and rain!) We walked part of the Mala Walk, seeing some of the waterfalls and caves with Aboriginal artwork.

Due to the amount of rain, which still wasn't stopping, we fort our way into the Laundry room and laid out our swags in there. There was another tour group who were trying to claim the whole room but we soon came to a compromise! Must have been just over 20 people in this small space - very snug! But was cold over night.

Monday 21st

What with it still raining and everyone being cold and wet, we skipped the Uluru base walk. So we jumped on the bus and headed for Alice Springs. Arrived around 3pm, booked into the hostel and then went and did a quick food shop for our return trip. Everything of ours was wet so we unpacked all our bags and got the hair dryer out - an hour later most things had been dried off!

Went to Toddys (a bar/restuarant) and met up with the rest of the group for one final evening. Have met some really nice people on the tour (and a couple of odd bins!)

If you fancy doing this, check out www.groovygrape.com.au - comes HIGHLY recommended!

Tuesday 22nd

We got picked up from the hostel at 7am in an extended 4x4. Have been travelling back down South along the Stuart Highway, stopping every now and then for a break. Slept at Coober Pedy again, and went to Johns Pizza bar again. Their food is good! We had the Coat of Arms pizza - roo and emu!

Wednesday 23rd

Finally made it to Adelaide - very tired and bored! It has been a long couple of days. But looking forward to the next few days coming - hiring a car for the Great Ocean Road into Melbourne.

 

Perth to Adelaide on the Indian Pacific

Wednesday 9th Nov 11:55 departure from East Perth train station, arriving at Adelaide for 07:20 on Friday 11th November.

Has taken us over 38 hours to get here - but feels like longer! Seats were pretty comfortable but I'm not used to sleeping upright.

Wednesday night we stopped at a town called Kalgoorlie - the Golden City - known for it's Gold mining. Did a quick tour around and then got back on the train. Was really interesting and got to see the working mines.

Thursday we were able to get off the train in Cook - the Ghost town of the Nullabur. Only has a population of 5 people - and that's a family. Have no idea how they survive out there. There used to be a whole town there but when the Australian train lines privatised, the town closed literally over night

Train journey in all hasn't been too bad though, I fell asleep on the floor one night as it seemed a bit more comfortable. There were some screaming kids in our carriage but once you stuck your iPod in and started reading a book it soon blanked them out.

Ended up spending $100 on food on the train but it was good food. Now, to explore Adelaide! Been to the Zoo today (Sunday 13th) and off to Chocolate Factory tomorrow along with Mount Lofty. Booked a 9 day tour up to Alice Springs and Ayres Rock from Tuesday.

Who said camping isn't fun...

So it has been a little while since we blogged - what with touring the South West for 10 days and then spending 38 hours on a train to get to Adelaide, time has been rather sparce.


Where to begin.....31st October we picked up our campervan. We had a couple of errands to do before so we were up early and got to Travellers Auto Bahn (TAB) for 10am, our agreed pick up time. We didn't need to check out the hostel until 11 so left our bags at the hostel to save carrying everything. TAB was so busy - it got to 10.45 and we still hadn't been seen so we briskly walked back to the hostel, checked out and put our main cases into storage and carried the rest of our bags. In the heat. Half way to TAB we vowed that we would get a taxi next time! Good way to extend your arms though :D


Anyway, managed to finally get our camper....Flowrider. Made sure that the tyres were not bald and all was ok! We headed out of Perth at 12:30 with smiles on our faces.....the adventure begins!

We drove down the Mitchell Freeway, heading South. Our first stop was Mandurah where we stocked up on groceries and had lunch by the Estuary, making friends with the local seagulls!

As it was only a quick lunch stop, we headed off and carried on to Bunbury.

Bunbury was a nice town....well it's classed as a city (no idea why!) - we parked the camper up in the Harbour and set off to explore. We expected it to be quite a big town, but as we found with alot of places, it was smaller than the map made out. We walked through a housing estate to get to the viewing point tower - WOW, what a view

After walking around the town we headed back to our camper - we parked it within walking distance of a BBQ area and the toilets - spot on! We made the most of the free facilities, cooking dinner on the Barbie - it looked straight out over the harbour so was a beautiful setting for dinner. There was a dolphin right in the bay too - what a perfect first night!

In the morning, breakfast was Egg and Bacon, done on the BBQ again. Could get used to this life! Was Becky's turn to drive and she took us through to Busselton. Here we walked down the Jetty - it is known to be the longest timber piled Jetty in the Southern Hemisphere, extending out into the sea by 2kms. The first stage was built in 1865 with the idea of being able to get post and essential supplies from Perth delivered easier. There is a little train that you can take to the end for $2.50, but we were happy to walk. Shirt off, sun beaming, us smiling. Alllllll good!

After lunch we headed to Cape Naturliste, via Dunsborough. We figured we might as well make the most of the hot weather and stop at the Simmo ice cream factory! Scoops of the Orange chocolate chip, Malteser Caramel, Raspberry Sorbet and Passionfruit. Too good!

Cape Naturliste was very scenic - we walked to a look out and saw another Lighthouse. You can actually walk the 'Cape to Cape' track - it takes you all the way down to Augusta (135kms) but we didn't venture on that one! After driving into many bays and finding 'No Camping' signs, we drove back to the top of the Cape and hid the camper in the bush for a sound nights sleep.

Couldn't believe the amount of moths that were about - it was literally like a storm, what with them being attracted to the lights. It sounded just like rain.


We were up early in the morning (5.45am) as to not be caught by the National Park warden. We walked to the whale watch point and, lo and behold, saw some whales in the far distance. You couldn't make out what kind of whales but they were there! We did, however, come across a snake! It was only a small one, just over 30cms, but it made us keep a watchful eye open! Some of the snake trails in the sand were massive.


We walked back to the camper and headed to one of the scenic bays, Meelup Beach, to have breakfast - they also had toilets with showers there. Another cooked brekkie on the BBQ, and a bloody FREEZING shower, we packed up and got ready to leave. Out in the bay we could see some random waves - whales! These were a lot closer so we actually got to see them! We sat on the beach front for a while, taking a few pictures.


Next stop was Yallingup - a town with a beautiful reef beach and home to the Ngilgi Caves. The caves were pretty epic - basically they exist due to the limestone not being affected by gravity and as water in the ground seaps down, it collects the minerals etc and kind of moulds itself under ground. The caves are 11 storeys deep - you need to be careful of the Co2 levels if its a hot day - difficult to keep your breath.

We headed onto Margaret River, choosing to use the Coastal Cave Road rather than the highway. On the way we visited the Chocolate Factory (where temptation defeated us and we ended up with a slice of Chocolate Mud Cake and a Chocolate Brownie!), the Cheese factory, and a Fudge Factory. All with free samples!

Margaret River was not what we expected. The map showed it as being quite a big city with a few places of interest. However, when we rolled in, it was more of a surfers town with not a lot to do. We had a walk around the shops, bought some more ice for our esky, and then made tracks to Augusta. As the sun was soon to set, we parked the camper by Augusta Lighthouse (yes, another one!) and cooked dinner. There were plenty of flies about which was aggravating me more and more!


We watched the sunset and then parked the van 500 metres down the road in a layby off the main 'road'. It was overlooking the whole of the coastline, lighthouse in view. Absolutely beautiful.

 
It would have been alot nicer if there weren't a thousand and one mosquitos. We weren't able to have the sliding door open for fear of all the mossies coming in.....so it was a very hot night! 

Come the morning, we both had a fair few bites - Becky more than me, having 20 on just one leg. Not impressed! What with needing a shower, being pretty tired and waking up to rain, the mood was....a little negative :D Think Becky would have happily ditched 'The damned Campervan' there and then. But we persued.


Next planned stop, Pemberton. In reality, it was Nannup! The Campers fuel economy was, well, Crap! We would only get about 300 K's out of a tank of fuel. We wouldn't have made it to Pemberton so had to take a detour to Nannup (I thought we would have made it!!) But we made the most of it and stopped to use the local BBQ and had yet another cooked breakfast! Even had hash browns with this one!


We pulled into Pemberton around 11am, visited the Information Centre (there was a man....I mean woman (i think) who had a very manly voice, huge hands and was just, well, manly). We bought a National Park pass and went to the Beedelup Falls, just as a storm was brewing. As we got out the van, the thunder was rolling around but nothing materialised.

We spent the afternoon on the Pemberton Tram, taking us through the Gloucester National Park to the Cascades. Was something different to do and only $24.


We spent our first night in a caravan site - Pemberton Caravan Park. We had problems getting the power connected to the van so ended up sticking the cable through the window rather than the conventional power plug on the outside! Turns out we just missed flicking a switch under some boards. But we did manage to get a hot shower - first one in 4 days!
I cooked dinner tonight too - Kangaroo! Was actually pretty good!!


At this point we were finding that the camper was pretty sparce on space. When you are trying to move stuff around, set the bed up, with 2 people in it - it gets a tad stressful! We could hardly sit up in it, let alone stand. We didn't get to the killing stage of our relationship though -but close lol. When we do the camper thing again, we vowed we would get a bigger camper - even if it does cost a tad more!

 

Another 5.45am start - were told that Pemberton water board were turning the water off between 6 and 9am! So up early for a shower! Through all the excitement of actually getting a hot shower, I manage to cut my finger on my razor - half an hour later and the bleeding slows down.


On our way to Denmark, we drove through Northcliffe (everything was shut as it was so early) so moved onto Walpole - again, not alot to do there so carried on! We ventured onto an unsealed tourist drive (dirt road to you and me!) where we viewed the Giant Tingle Trees - huge trees that were hollow. Apparently, they have been burnt out by bushfires and eaten away by insects and fungi but manage to survive on a mere 1200mm of water per annum. Pretty cool though - you can walk straight through the middle of them!

Visited the Circular Pools - looks like a cappucino machine! Brown water with alot of froth! Was nice walking around the area though.


We stopped at the Tree Top Walk - you walk along a mesh walkway that is 40 metres up in the trees. It's pretty cool - kept thinking that Meg would have loved it. However, if you're afraid of heights then I wouldn't recommend it - you can actually feel the whole lot swaying, and see all the trees swaying even more!

Onward to Denmark, just making it with bated breath, only having a trickle of fuel left - and a Toffee factory catches our eye. They had a baby lamb there who had a purple bum! Was very sweet though, must have only been a few days old but had been abandoned by its Mother. Vistited another Chocolate shop, the Chocolate Lounge - this one was a bit more upmarket. Felt obliged to purchase a sample - $6 for 2 chocolates. Was worth it though!


Looked at the 'Green Hole' and 'Elephant Cove'. These are actually part of the coastal structure - built in, as such! Just as we got out the camper, the sun decided to beam upon us! Good timing.
Walked around the beach and through the paths, got loads of pictures. As we were walking down Greens Hole, my awesomely gripped trainers (NOT!) helped me fall flat on my side! Luckily I had my camera bag over my shoulder but the camera itself was in my hand - and it went down with quite a thud...just like me! What a tit.

Have some awesome bruises to show for it though!


Becky found us a nice spot to camp - a scenic viewpoint about 7kms out of Denmark. We had dinner and settled down for the night. It was quite a cold night though - Becky woke me up half way during the night saying her feet were freezing, and me being the ever so caring boyfriend, told her to put some socks on. Then she woke me later asking for a cuddle to warm her up....my response....No. I don't remember this! (that's what i'm sticking to anyway!!)

Saturday 5th we headed along another dirt track to West Cape Howe National Park. We aimed for Torbay, the most Southerly point of Australia in WA. We reached the top and, WOW, what an amazing view. Simon Taylor would have been in his pictorial element!! The coastline was spectacular, with waters stretching out as far as the eye could see and what with being so so blue....out of this world! We layed down on a ramp, looked all around listening to the water, birds and nothingless and realised this is what travelling is all about.

Driving on we head towards Albany and see 'The Gap' and 'The Blowholes' - more natural wonders. However, the Blowholes weren't blowing today - suppose you can't have decent weather and stormy seas all at the same time!

We stocked up on food, fuel and water and then decided we had seen everything Albany had to offer and trundled up the Freeway to the Stirling Ranges. Ended up stopping just short of them at a National Park campsite 'Moingup Spring Campsite' as it was bucketing it down with rain. The roads were beginning to flood and you could feel the camper attempting to ski across the tarmac! Every time a road train (a lorry with atleast 3 trailers) went past, all you could see was spray and nothing else. Good job Becky had experience of this from her last Oz trip.

It finally stopped raining so I did dinner from the rear of the camper - Chicken curry and rice.

Got woken up on Sunday from the National Park Warden demanding his $7 each. 8am....cheek! After having our ever expanding cooked breakfast (egg, bacon, hash browns, mushrooms and beans - although mine minus an egg as I dropped it!)

We drove to Gnowangerup so I could see where Bex had spent alot of her time last time. Was bigger than I thought, although still a small town! Headed on to Hyden to see Wave Rock but didn't arrive until 5pm so only had a little wander around, seeing the Dam too. Again, so many flies - I got well and truelly pissed off with them.

Stayed in another campsite - really nice one, showers were amazing. Managed to do our laundry (first time since we left home), spoke to our rents on Skype along with Simon, Anthony and Adam and even managed to do Lauren a birthday message (thanks Simon!!) Whilst talking to Brian, I stupidly managed to fall out the camper, hitting the corner of the table as I go. Another brilliant bruise - plum coloured. Luckily I managed to hide the fact of doing this and carried on with the conversation - although Becky then exposed my secret later....damn her!! Drove over 300k that day so was definitely ready for bed.

Monday morning we got up a little later than normal - and most of the campsite had cleared off. We went for a long walk around Hyden, seeing the wave rock again. Wave rock is a 15 metre high granite cliff with its shape being caused by weathering and water erosion which have under cut the base and left a rounded overhang Water running down the rock during wetter months dissolve minerals adding to the colour of the rock.


We continued around to Hippos Yawn and headed on for another 4kms seeing a Kangaroo and the local Airport - see picture!

Drove another 300k's plus, driving through Brookton, up to Beverley and onward to York. Had a quick wander around York but didn't stay long. We stopped for the night in Perth Hills right by the Mundarig Weir. Had a walk around the Weir and a pack of Roos came bounding out the bushes - 8 in total. By 6.30pm it started raining again - pretty heavy. Could hardly hear anything in the camper. When it died down, I sorted us dinner and we set ourselves up for the night. As we got out to clean our teeth, the rain started pelting again - we took cover in the toilet block waiting for it to die down a bit. I ran to the camper to open the door (pointless us both getting soaked) but as I tried to open it, the door wasn't budging. The key to the van, money, passports, clothes and everything (apart from tooth brushes and tooth paste) were in the bloody thing!!) Bearing in mind this was at 10pm - we headed into the Shack of a hostel and, luckily, got some help from a couple of construction guys that were still awake who were staying in the hostel for the night. They managed to find some strapping in a shed and slip it through the door seal, hooking it over the passenger door lock, pulling it up. Hey presto! It is definitely a skill that I need to learn.


Still have no idea exactly how the sliding door locked - just one of those things I suppose.


On Tuesday we had a day to relax and get things sorted - we went and saw Christine, Beckys friend from Gnowangerup. Such a nice lady! (Helped that she called me 'Handsome' and 'Corporate Material') (BIG SMILE)


Stayed in another campsite so we could tidy the camper before returning it the next day. As we rolled up late, around 8pm, went to plug in the power to the van and could hear a couple in a tiny tent next to us......couldn't help but laugh. Tent was moving left to right, up and down!


Up early on Wednesday as had to clean the camper (remove all the dead bugs on the front), fill the gas cylinder, fill up with fuel (AGAIN!) and then return it. Dropped Becky off at the bank to get her Pin and she met me at Travellers Auto Bahn so we could get a taxi to East Perth station so we could start our next leg of our Adventure to Adelaide.


All in all, the camper experience was good - if not a bit cramped! The South West of Western Australia was pretty idyllic - lots of beautiful sights! Even if we did cover over 2,000 Km's!!