Reset search
Top End TreadingTop End Treading
SatelliteEdit route
Our ambition is to circumnavigate Australia...one piece at a time. Read more Melrose Park, Australia
  • TravelerOff to the sun with GMcG and F
    Day 135

    Addit

    October 30, 2022 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    Much of our journey criss crossed that taken by the Burke and Wills expedition.
    So just a little bit of information regarding there tragic journey..

    The Burke and Wills expedition was organised by the Royal Scoiety of Victoria 1860-61. It consisted of 19 men led by Robert O''Hara Burke and William John Wills, with the objective of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south, to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3,200 kilommetres. At the time most of the inland of Australia had not been explored by non-indigenous people and was largely unknown to the European settlers

    The expedition left Melbourne in winter. and made slow progress at first. The party divided at Menindee on the Darling River. Burke made good progress, reaching Cooper Creek at the beginning of summer. The expedition established a depot camp at the Cooper, and Burke, Wills and two other men pushed on to the north coast (although swampland stopped them from reaching the northern coastline).

    The return Journey was plagued by delays and monsoon rains, and when they reached the depot at Cooper Creek, they found it had been abandoned just hours earlier. Burke and Wills died on or about 30 June 1861. Several relief expeditions were sent out, all contributing new geographical findings. Altogether, seven relief expeditions were sent out. Altogether, seven men died, and only one man, the Irish soldier John King, crossed the continent with the expedition and returned alive to Melbourne    Read more

  • TravelerOff to the sun with GMcG and F
    Day 43

    Bowman Park Crystal Brook

    July 30, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Penultimate day prior to getting home. Ian is still feeling pretty ordinary with his cold. Frankie is wooing the ladies parked beside us at Spuds, and I am ready to get home and pack for Northern Ireland.
    Our destination today is Crystal Brook - or rather Bowman Park...a free camp about 5km outside of town.
    When we arrived, there were 3 other caravans, and dozens of cars. There was a 60th birthday in the the hall - hence the number of cars. This is just the loveliest of areas to stay. Over the years of coming here, the park has improved no end. There is a native walled garden, A childrens park made from carved wood...Castles, a moat, toy wooden kitchen, carved lizards, two headed serpants. All carved from local wood. I took Frankie for a wander to look for fire wood, and he fell through the wooden draw bridge!
    We all took the path through the woodland and walked around the park for the first time, and it is such a great place. We saw a walkers hut and realised that Bowman Park is on the Heysen Trail. Two peacocks are resident campers... but they wouldn't come near us because of Frankie. Tonight we had a great fire, and a good nights sleep.    Read more

  • TravelerOff to the sun with GMcG and F
    Day 42

    Spuds Pimba

    July 29, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    We drove until almost 4pm today. Spuds charge $5 to stay in what is essentially a large carpark, but with flushing clean toilets!! The place is run by the Pimba community here. There is a huge enclosed area to park the van, a petrol station, and restaurant. Meals are said to be huge, but unfortunately we have Frankie. can't go in!.
    We hoped they did take away food , and yes, they did! We had burgers and chips....no surprise there. The meals were enormous, and we had enough chips left to have for tea tomorrow. Not expensive either..$32 for the two meals. Well worth it. And great toilets into the bargain.    Read more

  • TravelerOff to the sun with GMcG and F
    Day 41

    Coober Pedy

    July 28, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We stayed at a Caravan Park in Coober Pedy, princibly to do another wash. We arrived around 3pm, and I got change for the washing machines, then headed over to the laundry. I was met with a queue...only one machine was working, and it seemed that every new arrival had the same plan as me. It was around 5pm before I managed to complete my wash. However, there was also one working dryer. and so I put my towels, and sheets in to be dried. The other clothes were strung from a make shift line, tied between a tree and a fence. We had about another hour or so of sunshine. Didn't see anything of Coober Pedy except the outside fence of the CP when the dog was walked. There was a pie shop....but it was shut!Read more

  • TravelerOff to the sun with GMcG and F
    Day 40

    Heading for the SA border

    July 27, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Getting out of bed was hard this morning! It was so cold...-1 degree overnight!
    Yes we are heading away from any heat.
    Today we are aiming for the SA/WA border, which is also a 24hr rest area. We left Alice just after 10am and we drove until 3pm. One other 4WD lorry was parked, and we parked behind them...with plenty of room between. The driver and his wife were french, and from Hervey Bay. They were worried about Quarantine laws in SA. ?No fruit, ?No veg. His wife seemed to be cooking up a storm, as I had been. I had cooked roast veggies,and slow cooked ragu then vaccumn sealed them. Enough for 3 dinners at least. A very satisfying experience all round.
    As it turned out, there were no inspections, and we could have brought in anything we wanted...strange!
    Now that we are over the border I am itching to get home, as much for the dogs sake as anything else. Driving all day is tiring, and Ian still has his cold - now with a dry cough.
    Frankie is great in the car, and just lies across the back seat. I dont think he really sleeps, just rests. He is not getting much exercise though. Still, he settles around 6.30, and sleeps all night. We gave him one of the bones we bought from this great butcher in Richmond, which I had divided up and vacumne sealed! Next thing we saw a little mouse eating Frankies bone too. There is a mouse plague here at the moment, and we heard from some other campers who had arrived that several mice were seen running around the toilets....Thankfully, I didn't see them.    Read more

  • TravelerOff to the sun with GMcG and F
    Day 39

    Alice

    July 26, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Today was the last day we would have power, so a clothes wash was first on the list. The machines were supposed to be $5 a wash, my machine said $3. Another woman came in and asked if the price of washing had changed, because her machine said $3 dollars too. Other machines said $4. However when my machine had finished the wash, it reverted to the expected $5.
    We headed into the town to restock. Plenty of Aboriginals lying around our shopping area. Many appeared intoxicated, either with alcohol or drugs, sad to see.
    Unfortunatley my lovely burger appeared to be the culprit for Ians reflux over night... but he was still keen to find a pie shop in Alice. We found one in an out of way corner. The pie came in a cardboard box....and must have been the worst pie I have ever had. It certainly wasn't freshly made...Dry, with little filling, tasteless, and lukewarm. Ian had a pie and sausage rolls....the rolls were a little better. At least Ian's sausage roll had a decent amount of mince in it.    Read more

  • TravelerOff to the sun with GMcG and F
    Day 38

    Alice Springs

    July 25, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    A long drive today to stay two nights in Alice Springs. We booked into the G'Day CP which was $53 with discount. However it was a great camp, very well organised and absolutly massive. We parked the van around 2.30pm, and we were back in the city by 3.30pm. No problem getting wine here! I made burgers with cheese and coleslaw. Perfect comfort food for a man weary after a long day driving, and who also has a terrible cold. I took Frankie up the hill beside us, to listen to a singer. She was very good, and it turns out she was from Woodside in the Adelaide Hills. I also got talking to a woman from Western Australia, who had been on the road for 6 months. She also had a ball mad dog with her.Read more

  • TravelerOff to the sun with GMcG and F
    Day 37

    Barrow Creek

    July 24, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Back to free camping tonight - we are going to Barrow Creek WW11 site. Got some Diesel at the road house/CP at Davonport on the Stuart Highway. This place promotes the sightings of Aliens along this road. We last stayed at Barrow Creek 3 years ago, so knew of all the fallen wood in the drive in. Its not an easy entrance to find, and we missed the turn off first time past....however all ended well. We picked up a few pieces to put on the fire tonight. There was yet another spectacular sunset followed by the amazing aussie outback night sky. Our fire was superb, and we slept well. The camp had been built to house the American army on their way up to Brisbane, so they had left a lot of concrete slabs - presumably the floor of Nissan Huts. These were perfect for giving us nice level sites to park our van.Read more

  • TravelerOff to the sun with GMcG and F
    Day 36

    Three Ways

    July 23, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    So we came to the end of our journey along the Barkly Highway to Three ways.
    It was a bit of an anticlimax as we turned left towards SA, and home.
    We were headed for Tennent Creek , and managed to secure a spot in the Tennant Creek CP. It was a nice quiet little park, a bit faded, but right on the main street. I guess the occupancy of the town was mostly aboriginal, as the fence surrounding the park was topped by razor wire and spikes. The main gate closed by 8pm and required a code to enter after this time. The park was managed by a couple from Reynella SA. They originally were just passing through when the axle of their car broke. An expensive job to repair - so when the previous managers offered them a job, they jumped at it. We wandered into town looking for a pie shop! - it has sort of become our 'thing' wherever we stop. A lot of aboriginals were also wandering the streets. We had also heard of a great IGA, so were also looking for that. We saw a cafe on the other side of the road to us, but kept walking - hoping to come across the IGA. It proved to be too far so we returned to the cafe. I had a barramundy burger, and Ian had a steak sandwich. Very expensive lunch, but tasty.
    It appeared that there was a local AFL match taking place, and Ian was keen to see it. So for $3 dollars each, we stood, and watched the end of one match and the very slow start to another. Stray dogs roamed around looking for scraps to eat, and people to love, or perhaps even soft fluffy dogs like Frankie to attack. Apart from about 3 other people, all the crowd were very black.
    On return to the CP, we met a couple from Venice Bay. Veronica and Bronte - They had a very solid square dog (can't place the breed). He was as strong as all buggery, but friendly. Frankie wasn't too taken with him. Bronte had a larengectomy so Veronica did all the talking. Ian drove into town to the Drive Thru at the pub, he bought some beer - but wasn't allowed to buy anything else. It's to restrict the Aboriginal population from buying too much alcohol. So I had to return to the drive through for a bottle of Vodka for us both. A very attractive blond and young police woman checked my ID, and asked how long we were stayng. I replied 'just one night'...and she replied 'ýeah, one night is enought! We finally drove to the IGA...and it really was fantastic!..it was like walking into another world....Fresh food, clean, cool, and unbelievable.    Read more

  • TravelerOff to the sun with GMcG and F
    Day 35

    Free Camp along the Barkly Highway NT

    July 22, 2022 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    We left Coomoweal, and joined a queue for Diesel...just unlucky in that everyone arrived at the petrol station at the same time. Today we were heading into the Northern Territory. To our great surprise, the roads were great! No bumps or holes...just fresh black tarmac, white lines, and deep red dirt. I love it!. The roads were straight, with little traffic., although what traffic there was, was mostly caravans. I behave like a lunatic every time we pass by a NewAge caravan. It makes me smile, and sometimes the passengers return the gestures. Today we are going to another 24hr stop along the Barkley highway. Pretty much in the middle of nowhere! However, there were sufficient caravans there to make everyone feel safe. And there he was again, the singing guitar player. He sang all night, around the campfire of a group who had combined their wood and made a great fire.. Pity about the singing!
    The sunsets we get everynight are just incredable, I have to force myself to stop photographing them as another fanastic sky shows its glory.
    There is a stray dog here at this camp. Apparently there used to be two...but now just one is here. She appears to be a very friendly dog...surviving by scrounging food of the free campers. Dear love her.    Read more

Join us:

FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android

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