Reset search
Darwin 2022Darwin 2022
SatelliteEdit route

Darwin 2022

June - August 2022
A 81-day adventure by Maureen Read more
  • 25footprints
  • 1countries
  • 81days
  • 174photos
  • 0videos
  • 19.1kkilometers
  • 6.9kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerDarwin 2022
    Day 1

    Broken hill

    June 2, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    5 Days gone already! Saturday and Sunday we checked into Broken Hill, lots of rain and quite cold but we managed to find a few warm spots to socialise and have tea. Now we are in Whitecliffs NSW together with Polly & David, Jo and Greg, Denise and Michael. So far Brenton and I have have learnt that we must pay attention or we will take a wrong turn and get lost on a dirt road, our new smart TV is smarter than us, you quickly run out of tank water when yours truly keeps doing the washing, we are being trained on how to use the CB radio correctly and have designated nicknames of Silverfox, Joker Jo, Mad Dog, Polly Waffle, Goatey, DeNephew, Big Bear and Honey Bear ha ha. Bonfire and Roast dinner planned for tonight.
    Broken Hill to Wilcannia different to what I expected, thought it would be dry and barren but it is very green and quite lush after all the rain. So far no disagreements in our Caravan so life is good. 😂    Read more

  • TravelerDarwin 2022
    Day 2

    Whitecliffs

    June 3, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    We have now moved on after 2 nights in Whitecliffs opal spot with a population of not very many in summer cos apparently it gets very hot. I became unpopular there, as the others woke to find the clay sites we were all on, flooded and muddy due to 2 loads of washing and yours truly showering at pm and am. Big (grizzly🤣) Bear had not thought it would be necessary to put sullage in the drain hole.
    Apart from that, even in a caravan I am still losing socks and Big Bear has not had any phone coverage for much of our travels so far as he has (optus) ! Travelled here off the bitumen to Tilpa on roads we would never normally travel on, countless wild goats and not much else but we have found our 1st free camping spot right in front of the Pub, which apparently is very convenient. Met an interesting character by the name of Matt a "ringer" who frequents the pub he swags in his camp close by with 3 horses and 3 dogs. Jo took to the kelpie pup, Matt might have had a soft spot for our Jo too. Great tea last night at the Pub and we will be moving on today (more dirt roads) and dust to Trilby Station. Never been on a Station before so not sure what to expect but hoping we find power as I will need to do some washing and use a hair-dryer real soon. Not missing 'Aldi' very much at this stage.    Read more

  • TravelerDarwin 2022
    Day 14

    Cunnamulla

    June 15, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    BB and I packed up first for once, so we all met at our own pace at the Cunnamulla Bakery for coffee, before setting off. Nice bakery and before I could blink there was BB tucking into his 1st Vanilla Slice for the trip, his breakfast 😊We were following Mad Dog & Polly Waffle and 1 hr into 2.5hr drive to Charleville, they ducked off the Mitchell Highway for a pit stop, we all followed. It was apparently more of an emergency stop, as Polly flew out of their car sprinted at full speed across the road and almost ran through the door of the Wyandra Caravan Park-Café, she was amazing. 😊We all followed her in and out the back of the Cafe to the Pk and toilets. . Glen ‘the owner’ was most pleased that there were (4) vans parked out the front $$$. We told him we were all enroute to Charleville he quickly convinced us all to book into ‘his’ caravan park and not go straight thru. His deal could not be matched just $20 a night and there were sites available that were privately fenced for our dogs. (None of us have dogs with us but that did not seem to matter to the others) ha ha . Not only that, he tells us about the Happy Hour each night, a communal bonfire, Movie later that night for ‘free’ in his Theatre, a private bar selling wine and Beers for just $5 each. Yes, winning again!!
    ( well after all BB’s 4 cartons in the van will keep). I was a bit dubious about the ‘ Movie Theatre as the surroundings indicated it might be a small room with a big Telly playing a re run of ‘Lassie” or movies of him as a baby but, you know it was free and the others were keen. (The movie ended up being a black and white film). We were told cash was good, so out came the wallets set up he said then come back into the Cafe his ’ ladies’ had seen us pull up and had freshly made Scones and Coffee ready for us. How good is this!! . Everyone else went to the Cafe, I had to clean up all the stuff in our van that had come out of cupboards but I joined them later. BB went as he can not resist a Scone. he later said he got “s- conned” for $10 for 1 x Scone and a Coffee. Whilst our group were eating Glen brought out a Menu for dinner, next thing all had ordered a meal and paid up front in cash “to make things easy” (and maybe not change our minds as he was doing the cooking#!! . Now that was really funny as everyone had been talking about how much food and meat they still had in their vans!! I was proud of BB as he only ordered Chips @ a cost of $6 as we had planned to eat leftovers, so he was not s-conned again but so far we had spent $36.00. The others were already up for near $80. This was no ordinary Caravan Park this guy had thought up every means to fleece money from unsuspecting Caravaners ha ha :-) This was a Post Office/Cafe/Caravan Park/Private Bar/ Second hand shop/some hardware and camping items/ $15 car or van wash, it was your one stop shop and we all reckon by the end of the stay it had cost each couple about $120 maybe more depending on how much you drank! I am sure he was happy when ‘we left’. We are now in Charleville on our 2nd night. We shopped, checked out the Bowling Club, had lunch at the RSL another great day. Tomorrow we travel to Blackall for 2 nights. It is getting warmer, loving the blue skies. I ‘almost’ put shorts on today, I wore thongs (on my feet that is) and there are flies about.    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

  • 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 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 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

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English