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  • TravelerDarwin 2022
    Day 52

    Arrival Darwin

    July 23, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    We are in Darwin and have been here 5 days! The time has flown we have been getting about a bit mostly getting massages, chiro treatment etc ready to play Bowls! Only some of us are fit! The weather forecasters are telling us the Top End is experiencing a very unusual cold spell that may last another week. How unlucky are we again! Temps are down to 15 overnight and we are ‘only’ getting to A sunny 29 during the day. It is not ideal but BB is coping really well, sleeping in most days until the temp gets to around a more comfortable 20.
    Just to bring our trip up to speed I will go back to what has happened since we left the ‘free truck stop’ on top of a hill in the middle of nowhere.
    It was 8.00am and everyone else ‘EXCEPT BB and yours truly’ had packed up, their motors running ready to travel the 50km to Dunmarra Roadhouse. BB and I told them “what is the rush” ?#? It was raining, the Kotz’s were our pilots and the distance was made in record time. :-) Ha ha when we got there they all jumped out the cars to get to the loo ‘busting” following our roadside camp experience with no toilet facilities! :-) ha ha so much for their ‘bravo “ of well we dig a hole” it had rained non stop all night and was still raining as we left so the ground red, soft and muddy, so getting wet must have been the problem! Unfortunately it did not go as well for me, I ended up being constipated for days and traumatised after our next camp :-) Will explain a bit more later. The Dunmarra Roadhouse not only had toilets they had coffee, egg and bacon rolls and they are ‘renown’ for their homemade Vanilla Slices. Needless to say, when we left the Vanilla Slice cabinet was totally empty!
    Daly Waters just another 60 km up the road we arrived there around lunch time. Quirky place Caravan Park, hotel, fuel pumps and a few friendly farm animals floating around. A gold mine for it’s owner as distances meant most had to stop to buy fuel it was buzzing with people, and yet it was in the middle of nowhere. Lots and lots of random junk creates a unique atmosphere so people like us visit from all over the country. We managed to get sites in one of their three ‘Caravan Park’ come paddocks, it was impossible to estimate how many caravans, motorhomes, buses and tents were there and they kept coming for the rest of the day.
    Apart from the car and motor bike display which were awesome, as for everything else if it belongs at the ‘Dump’ you will find it here at Daly Waters. Broken machinery, bits of helicoptors outside and in the bar and outdoor areas thousands of business cards, stickers and signs and every size and colour of bra’s for interest of the men waiting on a Beer. The Men’s toilet urinals were handcrafted beer kegs so I am told, picture attached. BB found the Crocodile enclosure which had a very’ low’ fence he insisted I sit on the edge for a photo near “snappy Kevin” the Croc. We all spent the afternoon drinking and listening to live music until the old bloke singing started to lose his voice it was then we decided, we had had enough! Queues were almost out the door to order meals and none of the others were keen to stay so back to the van in the paddock and I prepared a gourmet meal of egg and baked beans on toast for BB. Only one tin left now, and BB thought I had bought too many, luckily we still have a few tins of Aldi Spaghetti in the cupboard for the one nighters.
    All night it rained, and next morning the paddock we were in was now a muddy lake. Kotzy was up early and led the way anxious to get us all to Katherine for Territory Day keen to shop for a ‘few’ very essential items not available anywhere else. All Caravan Parks in Katherine itself were booked, we ended up staying at a Farm style Caravan Park 10kms out of town with way too many vans for the facilities they had available. The Toilet Shower facilities were very ordinary again! An old transportable Unisex facility with four toilets and four showers in one corridor. The walls were short and so were the doors, basically the toilets were made for short people. BB had the first experience he came back to the van horrified, as despite my advice to always carry toilet paper he reckons he did check?# mmmm I am thinking maybe? but on pulling the roll there was only 6inches of tissue left no second roll!! He had to do a crab walk out of one toilet into the next one to get more paper ha ha and they were unisex!! I laughed my head off, so I went to the loo very prepared and armed with paper however just as I was checking the loo I hear heavy footsteps the door opens to my right and I look down and see a very hairy shin with knarly feet in thongs, I sat down hoping he was only going to do a number one. Within seconds the door on my left side opens and same thing big feet and then the grunts and groans and sounds begin it came from both sides. Call me precious but I could not stay there and lost it ha ha Jo had the opposite problem whilst having a Shower being taller than me she reckons it was disconcerting seeing a ‘tall’ mans heading bobbing about in the next shower to her ha ha Apart from all that the Park did set off a few Fireworks which we watched from the road whilst having a beer. We travelled onto Adelaide River the following morning and stayed at the Showgrounds. Great little Park with an outdoor Bar and Eating area so we had tea together.Next stop Darwin!    Read more

  • TravelerDarwin 2022
    Day 29

    Left 3 Ways

    June 30, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Left muddy Barkly behind and set off for 3 Ways NT, where we said 'Adios' and parted ways with Denise and Michael. An overnight stop for them as they will start making their way home to Robertstown. They are lucky and have a deadline to get back to work, whereas we have no set purpose in life and will continue to tag along with the other 4 Amigo's. Quick decision not to stay overnight at 3 Ways yesterday, so off we went with the Kotz's as our Pilots. They took us a lot further than planned! It was getting dark and there are not many places to stop, so we followed them off the Stuart Highway onto a Truck Stop in the middle of nowhere in-between Elliott and Daly Waters. The stop itself is on a rise and is basically the 'old' Stuart Highway, no long drops here! Took just a few minutes for Guru (no. 2 a-la-kotzy) with a bit of help from David (BB was busy having a cuppa in our van) to find enough wood to get a huge fire blazing that you could see for miles and miles, next few minutes we were joined by another nomadic caravan and four Road Trains. The young married couple in the van told us "they were travelling around Australia whilst trying for a baby " that pretty much left our 3 boys confused! So last night was the real outback free camping experience so Polly tells us. Road Trains hammering past on the Highway all night whilst trying to sleep, crack of dawn engine warm up from the Road Trains up OUR END of the track and to top it off apparently 'we' have to get our shovels to dig a hole and crap in the Bush. This is the Australian way ha ha so glad I am an Aussie with a licence to prove it! Something is not quite right as here we are retired ineligible for a pension yet we are camped on the side of the road to free camp and crapping in the bush like Hoboes! Well our shovel is in our Shed at home so I have 'discussed' this with BB and we are now both mentally prepared to hang onto we get to Daly Waters.Read more

  • TravelerDarwin 2022
    Day 20

    Left Blackall

    June 21, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We left the Blackall Caravan Park last Saturday within a few minutes of the others. Kotzy was first off, he had to fuel up. We had all agreed to meet by the Blackall EXIT SIGN northern end of town, before continuing our little convoy a km or so apart the 200 kms to Longreach.
    We were 2nd to leave, as I am finally getting the hang of packing and unpacking the van. A few minutes to spare I asked BB to drive in the ‘opposite direction’ to the Southern entrance 3 kms out of town, so I could take a picture of the Blackall Town Sign which is quite unique. Little did I know it was not going to be one of my better ideas.
    As we neared the sign I told BB to ‘keep driving’ I needed distance from the sign to take a good shot.. At that very moment, there was no other option as a Road Train had decided to overtake us!
    So we kept going, and going and going the kms ticked past, there was absolutely nowhere on that narrow road to do a U-Turn with a van on the back. It seemed like forever but it was around 5km before we could turn back. I did take a photo, BB was not as happy as when we started out so I was quick to jump back in the just in case, then my mobile rings, and it is Polly.
    “Car 54 Where are You” ??
    “We are all waiting for you at the town exit” (we are no longer Big Bear and Honey Bear on the 2 Way, we were ‘renamed car 54’ in Cunnamulla due to misread of a map or short cut that went wrong). Our 2 Way has a range of 5km and we were at least 10-15 kms in the opposite direction hence the phone call. “We are stuck behind a slow caravan and were now on our way ” I replied! I stayed quiet in our car for the next 45 minutes or so, looking out the window and I unwrapped more lollies than usual. Next message from Polly was very sympathetic Mad Dog, Silverfox and Goatee were slowing up to give us time to catch up, even then they were all still 2 or 3 kms ahead of us, okey dokey! The 2 way was charged up and on, then we overheard caravanners heading in the opposite direction talking about a big mob of cattle over the next rise. So over the hill we went and true to their word there was Cattle everywhere on both sides of the road. So what do you do if you are not a farmer? you stop the car and Maureen jumps out and starts taking pictures. The cattle now have right of way and suddenly they are ALL moving across the road in front of us. We were not going anywhere Just in case the others thought we were lost we quickly get on the 2 Way hoping they would hear (no mobile service) we are now at a complete standstill and waiting for the 600 or 700 head of cattle, 6 horses and Stockmen to cross the road (those numbers were confirmed to Kotzy later in Barcaldine).
    We were happily sitting there no other caravan in sight, watching as it was an awesome sight then Kotzy gets on the Radio and tells us “no no you shouldn’t have stopped, get the car going drive slowly, move through the Cattle they will give way to you” so though unsure, we drove through the big White Brahma’s and we were on our way again. We are now at Longreach and apparently ‘lucky’ to get 4 sites in the Tourist Park. Caravan Parks in Qld are hit and miss with a lot of miss. You may get toilet paper, but then you might end up with a cold shower, or you score a bit of grass but the water stinks, or you get uneven and muddy sites but then bonus the water is hot, but your shower head leaks. This Park looked good driving in, apart from the big pot holes at the entrance, and we had a cement slab to park up next to! Woopydoo! My broom gets a rest, no red dirt for a few days. But hey the word lucky kept coming up during our happy hour, wow 283 sites and we got such a ‘great location within the park’ and it is peak tourist season!
    At 6.00am the next morning we were all woken by a really loud jet noise, we were in the direct flight path of the Longreach Airport. Just 500m away.
    So here we are 2000km in the middle of Australia, and all the planes leaving and landing at that airport have to fly over our vans on the edge of the park closest to the Airport.
    This morning it was a 5.00am flight roaring overhead, then 6.00am, only 2 more early mornings left now. Apart from that we have been up and down their Main Street numerous times, had coffee’s, visited the RSL, tourist office, checked out the Bowling Club, went to the Longreach Races for 3 hrs on Sunday arvo. I have washed everyday BB has set up a nice line for me, and we have had a happy hour each day one happy hour was a ‘very happy one’ Yesterday we went on the Cobb & Co. StageCoach experience. When they called for volunteers to ride up top, my arm went up and I grabbed BB’s as well. I did not realise how hard we would have to hang on when the horses were put into a gallop! It was a really fun and enjoyable day. We are going down the street in the morning to take photo’s as it was near impossible to take shots while they were galloping. In the Caravan Pk the ‘boys’ seem to get a lot of enjoyment watching caravans pulling in and then backing onto their site, commenting Oooh thats a nice looking van, he shouldn’t be towing with that, that has to be overweight, they are good mirrors all that stuff that men gossip about. Yesterday theyning we were all standing about admiring a ‘neighbors’ brand new, Range Rover as it was being backed onto the tow ball. It was more about such a short man with such a big van, the boys of course got talking to the owner, who was on his way to Townsville. . Subject came up where was his wife and he replied he was on his own as his 1st wife had died and his 2nd wife would not die you get to meet such characters on the road ha ha. I hope everyone likes the pictures, especially the one of the Blackall Sign although I wish BB had agreed to wait for the car to move out the way as it did spoil my picture! It took a lot of effort to take that shot and one I won’t forget on this trip.    Read more

  • TravelerDarwin 2022
    Day 20

    Enjoyed Longreach

    June 21, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    We all enjoyed our visit to Longreach, although Kotzy is still wondering why the train driver on the Spirit of Queensland has to ‘beep the horn’ so loud and so many times before leaving the station early in the mornings. Not only that, on a number of occasions helicopters were doing donuts and circle work straight above their van waking Jo and himself, not sure they appreciated our location. So handy to catch a flight, or a train out of Longreach or what if we had needed the Flying Doctor? There were sounds and sights you don’t get TO experience on a farm in Robertstown. We all did lots of touristy things, in the main street we drank lots of coffees and soon worked out if we all shopped ‘locally’ for clothes we could all look pretty much the same.
    Checks and flanellette with western style boots seem to be the big sellers. We all went along to the Cobb & Co Starlight Dinner Cruise which was awesome really, with lots and lots of laughs mostly provided by ‘Lane’ who was our Captain who told jokes whilst manoevering the boat up the river with great skill and commentary. A lot of the time he drove us around in circles as the river is not very long.Dinner was good, and we finished the night with tea and damper and then we jumped back on the Bus for the ride back to the CPark. in Winton. It was a short distance, with only one stop along the way as this time we managed to find a ‘long drop’ for Polly. Needless to say, on checking into this Park again it has fullfilled ALL our expectations! We are not on a flightpath, or anywhere near a train station, but an apology was offered on check-in at the distance we have to walk to the toilet and shower block as the park is being extended and is still a work in progress. Naturally we scored sites in the ‘work in progress bit’ the newest section, this ensures we get the ‘best overall Queensland Caravan Park experience’! Handy for BB and the Mansells that walk every morning to keep fit, they can now walk to the toilet and back together. The boys were so entertained with the Bobcats, rubble being dumped and cement trucks coming and going this morning that Polly suggested the ‘workers’ deserved morning tea, so we gave them our left over Scones with jam and cream!. Last night following an early arvo Happy Hour where we did not stick to the rule of Twisties only (cheese and biscuits making us all too fat) we made our way to the camp bonfire along with lots of other campers to watch the sun go down. It did not take long before BB and Kotzy took over the fire and made sure it was blazing hot and no one could get near it. Today we have all noticed there are way too many flies in Winton diesel is more expensive $2.49.9 but the temperature was 25 and beautiful. There are (4) hotels, (1) tiny Supermarket and (6) Opal Shops and a handful of other shops. The boys left to drop off their Yabby Nets late in the morning to Pelican Point on the Thompson River and managed to trap a few. Not sure why it is called Thompson River, as to me it looked more like a waterhole. We girls had washing to do, but once on the line we went into town to browse the Opal shops, Polly was intrigued with a resident ginger cat in one of the shops. . All very nice and relaxing then we all found our way to ‘Gregory’s’ Hotel where we joined the boys for a drink. Quick turnaround taking a few ‘budgie’ pictures in the Bush (which have not been edited so the colours are true as taken) with the girls then back to town to watch the ‘first screening’ of Lee Kernaghan’s documentary “Boy from the bush” the story of his life and music (Winton featured in the film hence first screening) we watched the film in an open air theatre in the heart of the town. . It was great, although it would have been even better had I been told it was ‘open air’ by the ‘others’ #!! as I only wore my shorts and a thin top and the temperature drops down to minus in the evenings, no amount of alcohol keeps you warm in those circumstances. Pictures are from Longreach and here in Winton..    Read more

  • TravelerDarwin 2022
    Day 19

    Day 21

    June 20, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Day 21 and Polly, David, Michael and Denise opted to stay at Winton the extra night as they were happy catching red claw yabbies. We chose to move on with Jo & Greg and stay a night in Cloncurry, instead of just driving through the town. The 1st stop en route was the Kyuna Roadhouse for coffee. Being swamped with flies the minute we got out the car should have been an omen, but warmer weather none of us gave it much thought, we soon realized this Cafe had never been visited by a Food & Health Inspector. I am learning you take what you get in ‘Outback Queensland’ as you don’t get much choice. The 2nd stop was Crocodile Dundee’s ‘Walkabout Creek Hotel’ at McKinley, a nice little pub with lots of tourists so we had a drink and moved onto Cloncurry.
    Jo booked the Caravan Park this time and it was really lovely, her main criteria was location as in ‘not’ near an airport, it was great, it was in Town. It ticked so many boxes I initially gave this Park (5) stars, unfortunately I was forced to deduct (4) of those stars the following day.
    I will explain why a bit later.. Not only did we have free WiFi at the Park , we also could use their washing machines and dryers at no cost with unlimited washing powder!. I managed to find (4) loads of washing although BB later had to dry himself after a shower with a flannel as I accidentally washed all three towels (we left home with four I discovered too late ‘someone’ left one behind at Winton). We all slept in, no planes overhead, check out was smack on 10 as we had to wait for my early morning washing to dry. The Camp Kitchen was the best we have come across, but Saturday night we took the easy option and went to the Central Hotel, our meals were awesome. Before we left the Park, Jo and I said goodbye to the ‘knowledgeable and nice’ brunette lady (not blonde) in the office whilst complimenting her and the Park on our enjoyable stay.
    We were told that on the way to Mt Isa was the Cockatoo Lake and the Mary Kathleen Mine Site, easily accessible as it was only 7km off the Overlanders Way on a sealed road (suitable for most caravans) so of course Jo and I put this on the itinerary. We took off for Mt Isa and the scenery along the way was so unexpected. Stuff of postcards, stunningly beautiful, big red rocky mountains, wattle, so very green 120km of wine -dee road (probably chewed up lots of fuel) with lots of ‘Kites’ flying overhead. Somehow the Pilot Car the Kotz’s missed the turn off for Cockatoo Lake but that was ok we never reminded them very much, but unfortunately they did find the Mary Kathleen turn off.
    If anyone reading this ever contemplates visiting the Mary Kathleen Mine and I believe there is a nice Lake there too DON’T DO IT whilst towing a caravan. In fact just don’t do it full stop!
    We followed the signs and crossed over a Cattle Grid on a red dirt road, to one side we saw a cleared piece of dirt where there were two Tractors covered in travel stickers each one had an off road caravan attached and a couple of blokes were leaning on them chatting away. We had been told this entry part was often used by ‘free campers’ so apart from myself remarking on the 2 Way to the Kotz’s “how unusual to see tractors towing vans and that they must be Farmers that like to travel with their tractors” ha ha ha ha maybe they were on some sort of Rally!
    BB and I and Jo and Greg thought no more of it as we had been told it was a good bitumen road, right!. So these fellas watched as our vans continued on dirt 200 metres or so towards what ‘looked like’ a bitumen road. Soon we found out the only bitumen remaining on that ‘road’ were remnants around 6 inch potholes. Holes everywhere you could not miss them and there was nowhere to turn back. We inched along so slowly, we had to it was 1km further on that the nightmare ended. I stopped cursing ‘that lady in the office at the Caravan Park’ ’ as we found a spot to turn back. The bloody so called bitumen must have been laid when they first discovered Mary Kathleen! As we made our way back very very slowly to the corrugated dirt the two old fellas with the Tractors came on the 2 Way and were very friendly then they told us “ now you know why, we tow with Tractors'' :-) ha ha I will never believe a brunette again. This is the reason the Discovery Park at Cloncurry has only been rated a *1* Star by me!
    Onto Mt Isa and a new Caravan Park where we met up with the rest of the Crew. All I am prepared to say about that Park is David himself only rated it -2 out of 5 stars and he booked it. Another flight path, and other issues end of story as .I believe we are getting a truly unique outback caravan park experience in Queensland. Today we have driven 449.9 km to Barkley Station NT we are resting for the night. The Caravan Park sites are all on the reddest of dirt. It never rains out here in the Northern Territory, but we have the luck of the Irish with us as it is raining right now in Barkley! And it has been raining steadily for quite some time BB reckons we should buy a XLotto ticket tomorrow, not sure he has got that right.. The red dirt will a probably turn into a slippery red mud very quickly so we are not going outside the van to find out. No problems at all with our Viscount Caravan and surprisingly there is an almost identical one in the Park here tonight. Our Colorado is running like a dream and she has been fueled up again for tomorrow. The cost of Diesel is getting up there, $2.76 per litre here today. At this rate we may have to get ourselves a job in Darwin to get home! We travel on 3 Ways tomorrow, just 7 more days and we should be in Darwin.We are hoping that the Coolalinga CPk is nowhere near Darwin Airport.    Read more

  • TravelerDarwin 2022
    Day 16

    Checked out of Charleville

    June 17, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Checked out of Charleville for the 3.5hr trip to Blackall around 9. We had all planned a Pit Stop for toilet and coffee at Tambo but our ‘Pilot’ car pulled up suddenly, on the edge of the very very narrow ‘Matilda Way’ ( no shoulder to pull into) used by road trains and lots of caravans 30km’s out of Blackall. Polly jumped out at great speed, again! disappearing off into the bushes and I thought to myself she is getting a thrill out of all this as it is becoming quite a habit. We only just spotted the top of her head in the bushes as we passed. Dave did a great job of ushering us on, luckily he has experience at waving cars on, and working in danger from his years of working with Formula One team.
    For once, when we got to Blackall we did ‘not’ score the worst Site. Goaty had the problems on his Site with his water connections bursting during the night! :-) Not sure if I will upset those at home with this information but I had to sleep with my legs out of the covers in our van last night, it was warm. , I have now packed away my hot water bottle. BB is still wearing’ that’ black fur lined jacket outside at night. I might not worry about washing it when he finally takes it off permanently, I have told him I am burying it. Someone nearby to us had the aircon going in their van today and it was ‘only’ 25 degrees. We are now in shorts and t’shirts (less washing) and plan on getting a tan up for Darwin. Everyone did different things today, we hung out with David and Polly. We walked all along the Main Street and had coffee and tea at the old Masonic Lodge tea gardens. Dave had coffee and requested ‘5’ shots I am now convinced he may not normal as BB only has (1). We met a local identity by the name of ‘Gloria’ in the cafe and the boys wandered off as us girls struck up a conversation. Gloria invited Polly and myself to her home for tea and a slice of her ‘special’ fruit cake at 3 that afternoon, we accepted.
    I wrote her address down, we did not want to disappoint her and we dragged Jo along with us! The fruit cake was definitely not suitable for ‘child consumption’ you needed to be of legal age to eat it. It was a Rum liqueured fruit cake, and we were told 1 Cup of Rum was added and fruit soaked in quarter cup of Muscat overnight. To be honest I had trouble ‘drinking the cake’ as I am not that fond of Rum. Gloria herself polished off her slice easily. Such an interesting lady and she told us about her life as a Registered Nurse. To finish the visit we were given a tour of her home and garden and we learnt that she visits the local dump EVERY Sunday and brings home lots of treasures, ornaments which she cleans and restores. Gloria’s home was bursting at the seams, very organised and tidy with not not an inch spare inside. There was no room on her kitchen table, lounge chairs, kitchen benches.
    I was so pleased we made the time to call in, she pulled a heart string for me when she said she has often invited ‘visitors’ and they don’t turn up. I took a photo of a beautiful Parrot in one of her tree’s out the back that was an extra highlight for me. Tomorrow we move onto Longreach for 5 nights. I only did (2) loads of washing here in Blackall so I will have but a lot of washing to do next stop I have not washed our sheets since we left home.    Read more

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