We're still camped on Doubtful Bay, which is east of Bremer Bay.
Took a drive with Don and Marg up to the blowholes which we visited last time we were here. We also drove around to Triglo Beach all the way to the Gairdner River. The new skinny tyres are working well in the sand, I was a bit worried. I've let the front down to 35psi from 50psi and the rear down to 50psi from 85psi. Beach driving thru soft sand and I've not had to let them down anymore as we keep rolling along ok.
Les and Iris have left us heading back to work in Perth and Don and Marg who came and stayed with us for 2 weeks have also just left. Another couple Ric and Mary also stayed for a while, we had only communicated by email with them before this meeting. It's nice to catch up with people we know. We will be meeting Don and Marg in Laverton sometime in May before convoying across to Alice Springs.
The fishing is great as these photos prove. My fish is a groper of 75cms and Sandy's is a Queen Snapper of 76cms. We have also caught Harlequin fish and Breaksea Cods. No squid to mention at the moment, even a pro spent all day down here with only 10 squid caught off 50 lures. Tried a bit of snorkeling with Sandy and Les, the visibility was around 50 feet with plenty of fish to see. Sandy lasted an hour in the cold water, well done Sandy. A pod of dolphins live in the bay and pass by our campsite up to 10 times a day, around 30 or more dolphins. I was snorkeling at one time when they went 10 foot under me. Mothers and babies swam on their sides watching me as I watched them. Sandy has decided to snorkel more as she missed out on this wonderful experience.
The fishermen's camps have been here for quite a while as have the wildlife, snakes, mice, pygmy possums, rabbits, wallabys and emus. Sandy has had a close encounter with a black snake, she believes it was around 8 feet long. Luckily it wasn't too close and it headed away in the opposite direction from our camp.
We're back in Perth as my Dad passed away this month almost 2 years after Mom went.
We will be here a while as we have to sort out the estate.
We got the sad news a few days before we left for Esperance so packed up the van the next morning and headed back to Perth stopping overnight at a nice new council caravan park at Broomhill.
Perth
Perth
Perth
Were back on the road again. Arrived at Sandy's favourite spot, Bundera on Ningaloo Reef, near Exmouth.
We have added some new toys to our home.
The first is a Christies Engineering, Honda powered 50amp battery charger. I sold the Honda EU10i Generator and if all goes well this new charger will allow us to run the motor for less hours per overcast day and still keep the battery charged. Saving on wear and tear, petrol and noise.
I bought a satellite dish so that we can now receive TV at remote locations such as Ningaloo, Bremer Bay and further afield. We are receiving digital quality TV with ABC, SBS, GWN and Win stations available. Sometimes you just need a TV fix as you can read books only so much before you need a break. It's good for Dr Who, Mythbusters and Weather reports.
I also updated my camera so you should be seeing some difference in the photos on these pages as I get used to it. It is a Panasonic LZ2, 5 megapixel camera with 6 times optical zoom.
Sandy has found a new hobby, jewellery making, so she has bought a book and numerous tools to give it a go.
It took us 3 days to drive to this camping spot and as I write this it is blowing a gale outside with strong wind warnings. The other campers tell us there are plenty of squid to be caught but only a few fish. I have unloaded the boat but as yet have not launched it, maybe in a few days. The campers have been struck by heavy storms every 2 weeks for the last couple of months with annexes being torn off and torrential downpours flooding everything in sight. Yardie Creek is flowing and can only be crossed at low tide, normally a sand bar stops the water but that has been washed away.
Bundera on Ningaloo Reef, near Exmouth.
The fishing here is great. Sandy's biggest fish she has caught in her lifetime, a Golden Trevally at 86cm long. We have had quite a few days of wind so when we can we would go fishing. The new fishing zones will restrict our fishing next time we come here so we have tried fishing at the 50m depth, which is outside the zone. I caught a 60cm Spangled Emperor and we saw a whale jump three quarters of its body length out of the water. It was only 200 metres away from us, I can't describe this magic moment. Unfortunately Sandy wasn't with us but later on she saw a Manta Ray jump clear of the water behind me which I missed, so we both have unique memories from this visit. Squid were caught when it was too windy for snapper so we have enjoyed our time here yet again. No diving this year as the temperature is a bit cool and the wind doesn't help. Lots more sharks this year, mainly reef and bull sharks. We lost a few fish as we were pulling them in with the sharks getting an easy feed.
Using the zoom on my new camera, I caught our local Bush Turkey coming in for a landing. Each year we visit, a pair of Turkeys are in the area.
We packed up camp, said goodbye to everyone and headed off to Karratha for shopping and to meet up with Sandy's Uncle Ross. Set up camp at Cleaverville for 2 nights and if we weren't heading for the goldfields we would have stayed longer, maybe next time. It looks a nice camping, fishing spot and only $6 a night. One of my tyres had started losing pressure so we took the tube out and I went swimming to find the hole. Not sure how it was punctured but I think it was a manufacturing fault.
The next stage took us via Port Hedland to Coongan Pool, just out from Marble Bar. Tried detecting over the next 3 days but no luck. We drove to Marble Bar to find out where the gold is and found a fellow detectorist, Mike, who told us that Tambourah is the place to go.
Visited the Marble Bar, which is composed of Jasper and then Chinaman Pool. We intended doing a bit more sightseeing around the town when we leave the goldfields but found a different route to Port Hedland so they will have to wait until next time we visit.
On the way we passed the Comet Tourist mine then another 100 plus kilometers to where we set up camp. 3 days of detecting until finally on the last day of July I found a 10 gram nugget, hopefully more to come next month.
At Tambourah Goldfields each of the ridges may have contained gold and the gold sheds down onto the flats and into the creek beds. It's hard to know where to start and what to look for but a few other detectorists have shown us spots they have found gold and they keep telling us "Gold is where you find it". Sandy's Uncle Ross and myself have walked and detected many of the creeks in the area with very few nuggets to show for it. So frustrating. It appears that a mono coil would be the way to go but I only have Double D's. Ross eventually found 7 nuggets, the first time ever for him, and I found 3 nuggets.
The largest nugget I have found to date, just under 20 grammes. The caretaker at Western Shaw Lease "Peter" told us of the nugget he recently found at just under 400 grammes, doesn't it make you drool !!!!
When I was changing the oil on my new Honda Alternator I noticed that the rubber coupling was breaking up and a couple of segments in the LCD ammeter display weren't working. Later on in Port Hedland I rang the company in Sydney and they are sending me replacements to Broome, no hassles. I pulled out my standby GMC $99 special generator and started it up. Put the bread machine on and started charging the batteries. The 2 stroke generator was smoking and running a bit rough so I revved it up to blow the smoke away. Immediately after doing this Sandy came out of the caravan in a great rate of knots saying she can smell something burning and I suddenly remembered that by revving the engine up I also increase the voltage coming out of the generator. I just destroyed the bread machine!!!!! Thankfully that was all the damage I did. It was time for a new machine anyway, way over 10 years old. (Thinking that way makes me feel better anyway)
Well we finally decided to move on and head back to the coast. First stop Port Hedland where I had to order in some new bushings for my rear springs as one had disintegrated. We also met up with an old workfriend of Sandys and we had a very enjoyable day at Leanne and Johnno's place.
Our Porta Potti was cracking up so we looked around Port Hedland for a new one. What a shock $239 so I have ordered one from Perth and it will be waiting for me in Broome and only $150 delivered! Thank goodness for mail order catalogues.
Cape Keraudren Coastal Reserve, a couple of hundred kms North of Port Hedland provided us with fish, camping and these wonderful sunrises. While we were in Port Hedland the full moon was giving a display called "The Stairway to Heaven". This was when the full moon rising coincides with low tide giving the impression of steps. We were going to drive to Cooke Point to see this phenomenon but some friends, Lynn and Trevor, turned up at the caravan park and we spent 2 days catching up with lots of chatting. But no matter, as it turned out Cape Keraudren gave us this display of a stairway, I'm not sure if it goes to heaven of hell, as it was the sunrise not moonrise.
Cape Keraudren Coastal Reserve is run by the Shire of East Pilbara, providing toilets and bins but no fresh water, which is available at Pardoo Roadhouse 13 kms away. It only costs $45 a week to camp here up to a maximum of 3 months. A concrete boat ramp is provided and Threadfin Salmon are caught along the beach.
Stopped in at 80 mile beach for a day but during the neap tides the salmon had gone off the bite. This is a 300 site Caravan Park and all the campers spend their day spread out along the beach fishing for Salmon. What a sight, we were told that when they were biting they were standing only 10 foot apart. We met Sandy's cousins from Kalamunda, what a small world it is.
Sandy went out for her walk along the beach early in the morning. She was about 5 kms down the beach all by herself and the sea mist was just rolling in. Over the music of her Walkman she thought she heard a cow moo. She quickly looked around the beach trying to see where it was when it mooed again and she found it standing amongst the rocks in the dunes at the edge of the beach staring intently at her. She smartly about-faced and walked back home with many looks over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being chased.
Dropped in to look at Port Smith but the park is situated well away from the lagoon (700m) and the ocean so we carried on to camp at Barn Hill which has a park 200 metres from the ocean. No fish being caught and few boats being put in the water so we have been catching up on emails, learning how to play lawn bowls and just relaxing. Sandy's been on the beach and had a few swims.
Next stop Broome.
The coastline near Barn Hill has terrific rock formations. "Sculptures by Nature"
Sunday night saw the three of us enjoying Barn Hill's 3 course Sunday night roast (lamb and pork) meal for $12.50 a head courtesy of Ross. Almost all you can eat as there was plenty for everyone including seconds.
Welcome back, we have left Barn Hill and headed 130 kms North to Broome. After stocking up on food we left Broome and travelled to Barred Creek but 2 nights later with numerous sandfly bites we headed back to Broome. Meanwhile, Sandy and Uncle Ross drove to Quondong to check out the camping but decided that the road was too rough for comfort.
Broome's Cable Beach was clothing optional and a great swimming beach. The council is soon going to charge a fee to drive on the beach so they can afford a ranger to patrol it. The easy access to the beach is one reason we stayed so long in Broome. I suppose everything changes in time but bureaucrats sure can spoil the good feelings you get from an area.
4 more days in Broome then we headed towards Cape Leveque stopping at Middle Lagoon for camping. While in Broome we checked out the Saturday morning markets at the old Broome Courthouse. Lots of pearl jewellery but we only bought some fresh veggies.
Here Ross met up with another single male camper (John) and they are getting on well. The two of them did a quick trip further North up to Lombadina, Kooljaman (Cape Leveque) and One Arm Point. After paying $5 entry fees at each place they decided that Middle Lagoon was the place to stay. Lombadina did not have camp grounds, Kooljamen's camping did not have ocean views and One Arm Point was very run down. Kooljamen also did not allow caravans ???????? only tents and camper trailers. They say they don't have a permit for caravans?????
Middle Lagoon's high tide rises over 8 metres. Campsites, unpowered and $26 a night, not cheap but we did stay 2 weeks. Powered was $32 a night. The camp area and facilities were not clean or maintained. One elderly camper, Henry, looked after the office and cleaned? the toilets every few days for a remuneration he would receive at the end of the camping season. The three aboriginal owners Peter, Traci and Tamara were rarely seen.
Henry told us that the second newer facility block that we were using was planned 7 years ago, building started 4 years ago and would one day be finished. 2 showers and 2 toilets each in a steel framed building. No basins supplied yet and the tiling and others still to be completed.
We put the boat in a number of times and caught a giant trevally, many sharks, cod, northwest snappers and 1 x Red Emperor (42cm) which we hadn't caught before. While fishing we were entertained by many whales and calves that floated and played near us. From our campsite we watched numerous whales travel along the coast with many flying leaps for their enjoyment and ours. Each day you could see up to 30 whales go past some only a few hundred metres off shore.
Met up with Don and Cynthia who brought out a large telescope on 2 nights and showed us some nebulas, galaxies, planets and the moon. We have decided that were not that interested so we will be selling our telescope and possibly buying a powerful binocular so that we can see more terrestrial objects such as whales and birds etc.
Checking my solar panels, I found one that wasn't working which explains the low amps going into the batteries. Checking the warranties it advises me to contact the supplier that sold me the panels. I rang George Day Caravans and after 4 people I found a person who promised to find out how I can have it repaired. I left Broome 2 days later and still no return call from George Day. Hopefully when I ring him from Broome he will have an answer for me. I spoke to a solar supplier in Broome and they say they can do warranty exchanges on BP solar panels but not Unisolar, which have to go back to the distributor for testing. Not the easiest when you're travelling on the road.
On the way out I noticed a tyre and rim complete with an "A Van" cover lying on the side of the road. We had met Jim and Chris (with an "A Van") at Middle Lagoon and they had left for Broome that morning. They had mentioned to us that they would be staying in the same park as us in Broome. Sure enough, we found their van without a spare on the back and left theirs at their front door, as they were not home. They had gone into town and purchased a new spare tyre and rim, not expecting to see theirs again. They were surprised when they got home, now they have two spares for the van.
We travelled back to Broome again for a couple of days and then headed to Telegraph Pool on the Fitzroy River where we are now as the month closes.
On the move again, at Telegraph Pool we watched 5 boats troll for Barramundi over the weekend with only a few being caught. They appeared to be locals but when they went swimming (adults, kids and dogs), netting, fishing and camping on the river sandbanks we thought they would soon be croc food. A 3m Saltie and a 2m shark inhabited this small pool of water measuring about 400m by 100m and 3m deep.
Arrived at Derby and met up with Uncle Ross again. We had a swim in the caravan park pool then a drive around the wharf at high tide to see the light chocolate coloured waters swirling amongst the piers and mangroves on the shore. A few small boats were heading back to the boat ramp and having a hard, wet time as the chop on the water was quite heavy.
Heading east we stopped at Geike Gorge and had a swim amongst the freshwater crocodiles, or at least I did, Sandy was in and out that quick she hardly got wet. The Ranger told us where there was a beach on the river to swim from and that it was safe. As it was over 44 degrees today we had to cool down but Sandy didn't like the croc tracks leading from this sandy beach into the water hence the quick dip.
We stopped at Mary River Crossing for morning tea, lunch and some washing. With this heat the clothes were washed, dried and back in the van in less than 2 hours. Not a lot of water, mainly small mud holes but plenty of birds to keep us company with numerous cattle wandering thru the camping area.
At Halls Creek I pulled the solar panel off the roof, as it wasn't working again. Still couldn't find anything wrong but it appears to be working again. Later on at Alice I found a faulty Blocking Diode in the solar panel which I have replaced and all is working well now.
On the way to Alice via the Tanami Track we stopped off at the Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater. There was a lot of ash on the ground from previous bush fires and the dust devils were impressive, though a bit scary. I'm not sure how strong they are but we gave way to them when we saw them.
Wolfe Creek Crater is the 2nd largest meteorite crater in the world and is about 900m across and 50m deep.
Halls Creek to Alice on the Tanami Track was 1056Kms with many corrugated sections traversed in 1st gear. The whole route was littered with hundreds of tyres and rims but thankfully not ours. Were not likely to do this route again, as the following is an excerpt from Sandy's diary for the 2nd of 4 days travelling.
"WHAT A SHITTY DAY! The road got rougher. Milk leaked through the fridge onto the floor. Freezer stopped working so our icecream was thrown out onto the verge. The Inverter fell off its mounting and dust in the caravan everywhere, cupboards in an absolute mess. We stopped at Rabbit Flats Roadhouse for diesel at $2.06 a litre. We found a rest area about 170kms from Yuendumu. Who wants tea tonight! Not I. I don't think it was as hot today, only 37degrees. We are now in the Northern Territory."
and this taken from her letter home to family
"We decided not to continue north as the weather was around 40 every day and what we wanted to do was not suitable for the hot weather. There are a few gorges around Halls creek on the first part of the Gibb River Road but with the heat we wouldn't be able to walk through many of them. Also the Tourist Bureau said that most of the gorges didn't have water in them. One was so dried up that about 40 salt water crocs were sitting in what water and mud that was left. We decided to head to Alice Springs. We had been umming and arring about doing the Tanami track as we had heard all different reports about the condition of the road. After checking with the Tourist Bureau in Halls Creek we decided to give it a go. Plus it saved about 1000 ks. The first 100 ks were okay, a lot of creek crossings but the gravel road itself seemed okay. This was just a tease. We turned off to have a look at Wolfe Creek Meteorite crater and the 20kms in were rough. We saw some amazing Willy Willys, huge ones that were black. In one place we counted 6 together. The reason they were black is a lot of the land around us had been burnt at some stage and nothing had grown back. The crater was okay, Pete was impressed with it so that's all that matters. That's okay back onto the Tanami and now the road starts getting corrugated and then it gets even more corrugated, and very dusty. The corrugations are that bad that we were down to first gear a lot of the time and I could have got out and walked faster. The first day we did roughly 300kms. When we stopped for lunch at the crater my cupboards were a mess, so I re organised them. What a mistake. By the time we stopped that night the bread machine met me at the door, the fridge was a mess and so was my cupboards. Okay so I clean them up as they need to be packed properly for tomorrows driving and maybe the road won't be so bad. Boy was I in for a surprise. The only good part about today is I knew that I had a good walking track for tomorrow morning away from the main track. It is still 40 degrees and I am having problems getting water cold as the caravan is around 42 inside and all the water in the tanks are hot. Even the floor of the van is quite hot to walk on. Another day and it got worse. The track was even more corrugated and when I say corrugated, the corrugations were huge bumps in the road. So it is first gear all the time with the occasional speed up which would last about 5 minutes. Every hour or so we stop to check the van. Cupboards all over the place, bread machine at the front door and the start of the fridge not keeping cold. We stopped at the most remotest roadhouse in Australia called Rabbit Flats and paid $2-06 for diesel. It's lunch time and I am ready to cry. It did not help that I just got the start of a migraine. Mid afternoon we stopped to check the caravan and opened the door to see milk pouring out of the fridge and running down the cupboards. Once the fridge was opened we realised that my soy milk container had got a hole in the bottom from bouncing and the freezer had finally stopped working. Fortunately we had decided that morning to put all the frozen meat and chicken into the Waeco and the ice cream and icy poles into our freezer. I must tell you that in Derby we decided that while the freezer was going we might as well buy some ice cream as a treat. Pete had eaten some of his icy poles but I had only had a bite of my tub of ice cream, as it was still a bit too soft for me. Well any way the ice cream and icy poles went onto the side of the road all melted, with the remaining soy milk. We cleaned the caravan up and headed off again for another hour or so and again we were lucky that we found another good camp site off the road and no one else around. Again it was clean the cupboards and try to put the caravan back to some form of order ready for the next day. I must say at this time that I am not complaining it was just the worst road or track that we have been down, but in all honesty we have driven through the middle of Australia and through one of it's deserts. It was an experience. Next day I have finally decided that what happens happens and tonight we just fix the mess. Before we can head off we have discovered that the front water tank has started to fall out so that has to fixed first. Also I have to clean the fridge and freezer, as we couldn't do it last night, as the caravan was still 40 odd degrees, so too hot to start leaving the food out and cleaning a fridge. Back on the road and things are starting to improve. By this time we are around 400 ks out of Alice and we do know that the last 200 are on bitumen. Today was much the same and we arrived at Tilmouth Bore by 5pm and this roadhouse has a caravan park attached."
We arrived at Alice and booked the fridge in for repairs (10 days delay) and the Waeco for maintenance as it wasn't switching on and off like it used to. They quoted me $1140 for a new compressor for the fridge. $250 to freight it up overnight plus installation. I checked the price of the compressor with another firm in Alice who told me that over the last 2 years Danfoss have doubled the compressor price. I will be getting an Engel next time, only $600 for their compressor. Lots of phone calls and checking when we finally found a new fridge in a camping store that was exactly the same as ours but made by Waeco. Only $1300 with 12 months warranty! The next day out with the old in with the new. The Waeco freezer had a new filter/drier installed and is working much better now.
While waiting for the fridge appointment we toured around Alice and later watched the Todd River flow as it had rained for 5 days while we were stuck in Alice.
After 2 weeks we were finally back on the road again heading for the West MacDonnell Ranges. First stop Standley Chasm for lunch and a walk through the gap. $7 a head for entrance fees.
After a few more stops we set up camp at Ormiston Gorge but if it gets overcast we may have to leave, as the Northern Territory Parks don't appear to allow generators. With all the rain we recently had the gorges were full of fresh, running water. Ormiston's 4 hour pound walk would have included a fair bit of wading/swimming if we had done it. We had a few swims and a couple of smaller walks. I've started a new painting and Sandy is making a brass bracelet, her first venture into jewellery.
One night Sandy found a big hairy huntsman spider in her shower and the first I knew of it was Sandy wrapped only in a small towel crying hysterically at the caravan door. Boy were the other campers entertained. The Alice Springs Nymph runs again.
Travelling south we were surprised by the dense vegetation and hills expecting to see a flat, dry landscape in central Australia. Everything is green with water everywhere from the recent rains. Even the Tanami Desert had much vegetation and many hills with only around 50kms of flat grounds with low vegetation.
Still hot but expecting showers any day now.
Arrived at the opal town of Mintabie and stopped at the IT Centre who arranged for a local "Jack" to give us a small tour and show us where we could noodle for opal. We camped at the hotel caravan park, only $10 a night for a powered site! That afternoon we followed Jack back to his place for a coffee and talk with his brother Steve before heading out into the opal fields. We found a few small pieces of opal then back to the hotel for the Melbourne Cup night. Horses were drawn and auctioned off with first prize the next day at $8,500 unfortunately we didn't win.
I found out that my radiator was leaking (Tanamied) where a plastic standoff had rubbed thru the radiator core with the vibration caused by the rough road. I ordered a new one from Port Augusta to be delivered to Coober Pedy later. Had a terrific storm with dust, wind and torrential rain which closed the road out to the highway. Lucky we weren't leaving for another day. Our chairs, which were covered in dust, soon became mud as the rain set in. A bit of cleaning was done the next morning.
Next stop Coober Pedy where I installed the new radiator. The town has changed so much from what it was like 20 years ago. It is just a tourist town now, your not even allowed on the opal fields anymore. We took the road out to William Creek and stopped at Lake Cadibarrawirracanni. The lake is possibly famous because it has the most letters of any place name in Australia. Plenty of water in all the lakes around here as over the previous few weeks they have been receiving the same rain as we have. On via William Creek on the Oodnadatta Track following the old Ghan railway line to overnight at Beresford Ruins. The old stone building had been restored so that you could camp inside if you wanted to. One room even had flywire on the windows. A capped artesian bore was next to the old desalination tower. Turning the tap on sent a plume of slightly smelly water 20 metres into the air. Further on down the track we dropped into Coward Springs which had a lovely camping area and a railway sleeper enclosed swimming area on the spring itself. This area of Australia has many artesian springs and a more popular one was the Blanche Cup in the Mound Springs Conservation Park.
You can see other springs in the distance, the white is the minerals and salt from the water. As the water dries it leaves behind the impurities creating, over time, the mounds. This one, the Blanche Cup was about 10 metres high. I found one dead fish in the runoff water which turned out to be a desert goby. Further on, still following the old Ghan railway line, we passed many ruins, bridges and railway sleepers. We turned off the Oodnadatta Track towards Roxby Downs which is just a large mining town. Kept on going and stopped at Andamooka for a couple of days and ended up staying two weeks. Andamooka is, at the moment, like Coober Pedy was 20 years ago. Val and Arthur care take the Caravan Park and gave us as much information as we wanted. While here they took us for a look down their current mining lease but no opal yet. Next year they will be bringing in a bobcat to help dig.
Andamooka has preserved some early mining houses in the main street which gives you a glimpse into the past. Built of local stone with earth roof to keep cool.
We had to ask a local to show us to the old cemetery and found a grave there from 1930. It was an unknown person and they buried him where they found him and that was the start of the cemetery!
We went for a drive with Betty (a regular tourist to Andamooka) up near the rubbish tip where we found some opal, matrix and concrete. Arthur cut the matrix and treated it for me but it hasn't got a lot of colour.
Betty took me out noodling and on the way stopped at the bottle shop. Here she showed me a large piece of matrix for sale at $5,000. While Betty was talking to the locals in the shop we were invited out to a noodling machine to see how it works. They told us the directions and said we could go thru the buckets near the machine, as that is what they discard and keep for tourists. Needless to say it was a lot better than what we were finding so we both came home with quite a few good bits.
The next day we met Marie, one of the owners who fired up the noodler and we all had a go in the ultraviolet lighted darkroom looking for opal as it came thru on the conveyor belt. About a dozen pieces were found but were discarded as "Horseshit". A common term used in the opal mining industry as opal that is not even good enough for a tourist. All the dust, mud and small chips are screened off before the rest is dumped on the belt for viewing in the darkroom.
I took Sandy out to a place Betty had shown me called the Cross. Sandy found a good heap which had concrete opal in it. We returned to this spot a few times and I sifted thru the pile and ended up with a large bucket of concrete. Concrete is Opal formed in a cement like rock which, when heated and dipped in a sugar solution, turns black and makes the opal stand out. It can be used in jewellery or as specimens. Another hobby to keep us amused on the road. We both enjoyed ourselves here and look forward to visiting again one day.
Via Woomera we headed to Port Augusta where we picked up some food and our mail. On the way to Adelaide we camped at Port Parham which is OK if your after crabs as that would be the only attraction here with low water and tidal flats. At Adelaide we decided to camp in the hills at Hahndorf and this was a very pleasant but cold place to stay. Again things have changed so much, about 12 years ago the tourist trade stopped and most of the German style shops closed. Now all you have left are cafe's and souvenir shops, possibly the last time we will visit as the atmosphere has gone.
Did a lot of shopping including some fresh seafood for Sandy's birthday. Toured the town and the hills and we both enjoyed the ease at which the driving was able to be done and the many road signs telling us which way to go.
25th of November was Sandy's day when she received a few phone calls and cards for her birthday. Tea that night was fresh prawns, cheese, bread, wine, olives and chili mussels. Just the way Sandy likes it.
The markets in Adelaide are small and local with one we attended no more than a church bazaar. I picked up a box of caravan magazines for $2 which I perused for a few days before discarding them. I spent a day detecting for gold at Jupiter Creek but no luck. I had to buy a new laptop computer so once that was done we had a walk up Rundle Mall where we also picked up some tools and silver for Sandy's jewellery making.
I finally finished my painting of Ormiston Gorge and we both believe it is my best one yet.
We left Hahndorf and took the scenic road to Murray Bridge where we picked up our mail and some food. We stopped at the Long Island Caravan Park and found that there is no drinking water on tap. They use brown Murray River water which is not the best for drinking. As we travelled along the Murray we found that in the last 10 to 20 years SA has put in filtered river water to the larger towns, including Murray Bridge. Unfortunately this caravan park hasn't done the right thing yet, supplying only unfiltered river water to each site.
Our first free river camp was opposite Mannum, the town was only a short walk away over the river using the free car ferry. The same day we arrived they had the Christmas Parade with about 49 floats including the local Sewage (shit) Truck. Even an old caravan was a participant in the parade and two giant puppets amused and in some cases scared the wee folk.
That night we were treated to a fireworks display and the other campers gathered at our van for the show. It was held directly in front of us and we couldn't have asked for a better spot.
We did a scenic tour to Swan Reach and back dropping in to Houseboat Marinas and stopping at fantastic lookouts on top of the cliffs which are dotted along the river. Younghusband, Bowhill, Kroehns Landing, Nildotte, Greenways, Wongulla, Walker Flat, Pellaring Flats and many more. These were small settlements mainly catering for the houseboat industry with many properties having a mooring or jetty in front of their house.
Via Sinclair Landing we stayed at Morgan Conservation Park next and watched more Houseboats travel along the river. Onto Cadell, Hogwash Bend, Ramco Point and after shopping at Waikerie we camped free on the river just near the town boat ramp and the next day did the washing here. So many towns and campsites along the Murray it's hard to remember the names and what they looked like. Most of the Tourist Bureaus supply the free camping information for their area on brochures. Were into the stone fruit season now and are buying apricots, nectarines, peaches and plums for $2 a kilo, yum.
We set up camp at Moorook prior to Christmas just in case the camping gets full. A lovely grassed camping area in town on the river with toilets and only $7 a night. We have had a few skiers and a couple of houseboats go past but it was very quiet until Boxing Day when the crowds arrived.
Sandy's the only one who has caught an edible fish so far, a Callop at 38cm. Not as nice as we hoped but local information has told us to soak it in saltwater for 24 hours which will dramatically improve the qualities, all we need now is another fish. Plenty of Carp and they can be fun to catch on a light line. I bought a shrimp net to catch bait but have found the opera nets work better here.
A fellow camper arrived here, Brian (a sponsored fisherman) who taught me a few basics about trolling lures for Murray Cod when I took him out in my boat. Hopefully I will get a cod somewhere along the river. The lures go down 7.5 meters and burrow along in the mud hopefully not snagging on anything.
Took a trip to Berri for food shopping and dropped into Cobdogla for some drinking water as Moorook town site still hasn't got filtered water. The campground started filling up on Boxing day so the peace and quiet we had is now gone.
We took a drive into Loxton one night to see part of their Loxton Lights Festival. On the way we tested the car brakes and the boat rack as we made an emergency stop from 80kmh to 5kmh to avoid 2 kangaroos which jumped onto the road in front of us. I was just waiting for the boat to zoom off the roof and sail on down the road but my brackets worked well holding the boat tight.
At Loxton we drove around Santa's Walk which had over 350 Christmas scenes on display in resident's gardens. We then went to the Christmas Wonderland which has 30 displays over 250m along the property boundary, a stunning exhibition.
From Moorook we travelled on to Renmark and stayed the night at Lock 5 sandbar before heading to Custom's House in Chowilla Game Reserve. Here we met Paul, owner of the Custom's House Houseboats, who invited us to a New Years Eve Party.
I took the boat up stream about a kilometer and had a swim in Victoria, the border is that close to our camp.
At midnight on New Years Eve we had about a dozen people swimming off the back of Paul's 60 foot hire houseboat keeping cool. Our hottest day since we started travelling at just over 48 degrees for 2 days. At 12.30am on the 1/1/2006, when we got home, the van was still 37degrees!
Next month off to Victoria, this time with the caravan.