Reset search
Making TraxxMaking Traxx
SatelliteEdit route

Making Traxx

May - September 2024
We are finally leaving, so excited and stressed...haha Read more
Currently traveling
  • 38footprints
  • 1countries
  • 39days
  • 294photos
  • 0videos
  • 6.2kkilometers
  • 5.3kkilometers
  • 128kilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerMaking Traxx
    Day 1

    Day 1 - Yeppoon to Carnarvon - Wednesday

    May 1 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    After a failed first attempt we have departed. We left on Saturday 27th, Wayne checked the Ball weight which was good and decided to trim some of the Rubber off the new Mudflap on the car, unfortunately his leg was in the way when he slipped with the Stanley Knife and stabbed himself in the leg. Result being 6 hours at the Hospital with 12 internal stiches in the Muscle and 9 external stitches - I did tell him to be careful !!!!

    Anyway we had to wait 72 hrs to make sure there was no infection etc. Now Wednesday and we have successfully left Yeppoon. Yah us. The temp was running a little high on the Torque Convertor so we stopped at the Oakes, couldn't see anything wrong so continued.(Obviously I was - here we go again).

    Thought we had made a rookie error going the shortest way - Rocky...Westwood...Duaringa...Woorabinda (past)...Bauhinia, Roleston and Carnavon. 25km of (good) dirt road and narrow one lane sealed road then back onto the Dawson Highway. Should have been 4.5 hr drive - took 5.5 hrs. Anyway once we got on the Dawson Hwy we realised that it was a really bad road and we had made the right choice. Trailer hitch alarm went off every time we hit a bump (which it was a lot) - not connected to the car, in the draw in back of car - battery will be removed tomorrow haha.

    Arrived at Sandstone Park, lovely Reception staff and clean and tidy camp ground, only has toilets but thats a bonus. Sat and watched the Sunset, had a couple a drinks and relaxed. Dinner already precooked so easy night. Good end to the first day.    Read more

  • TravelerMaking Traxx
    Day 2

    Day 2 - Thursday, 2nd May 2024 Carnarvon

    May 2 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Cool morning to start the day but a beautiful day, went for a drive into Carnarvon Gorge which is about 5mins from where we are staying at Sandstone Park.

    Picnic areas and park in general are lovely, well maintained, we checked out the Information Centre, very informative. Looked at all the walks and unfortunately we can't do any with Wayne's injury.

    Went back to camp and played with our 'toys' Go Pro, Mini Drone and Sky Link. All working fine, couldn't hotspot my phone due to very weak internet.

    Planned the next couple of days and had an early night.    Read more

  • TravelerMaking Traxx
    1
    Day 3

    Day 3 - Friday, Carnarvon to St George

    May 3 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Got into trouble last night - washed my hair (shock horror) used some water. haha Easy start, took our time to make sure we got everything safely packed up. Had a quick chat to the Park Manager who comes from Gracemere - small world. Had a cute visitor at our camp before we left Carnarvon. Not the same as cuddles from Harley and Nina.

    Drove through Injune and stopped at Roma for lunch and fuel stop...$1.953 for Diesel. Nice little town seems to have everything you need.

    Some of the roads are a bit rough but it is so nice not having to drive through road works with change of speed limits and traffic lights. Hardly any other cars/vans/boats/trucks going this way. Winning !!!

    Decided to stay in a Caravan Park with power and internet - just outside St George, Pelican Rest Tourist Park, really nice, clean amenities, well organised, easy drive through site. And no there are no Pelicans.

    Wayne about to watch Bronco's footy, happy days.    Read more

  • TravelerMaking Traxx
    Day 4

    Day 4 - St George to Lightning Ridge

    May 4 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Woke to a rainy day - lucky it was an easy pack up, just the water hose and power cord.
    Wayne wasn't feeling so good yesterday, blurry vision, headache, light headed so we tested his Blood Pressure - not good. 160/90 which is too high. Did some research and found our new diet (Carnivore) is bad for anyone with High Blood Pressure.
    A lot of Cheese & Salt add stress and no exercise (Leg injury) and that's the result.

    Off to the IGA to buy some normal food for Wayne. Left St.George and drove to Lightning Ridge, easy drive, not much traffic and surprisingly not much wildlife....few goats, couple of emu's and cows. Heard some alarms going off at 80 ft intervals as we drove past them on the highway, apparently they are to scare off the wildlife from going onto the roads plus they have fences to keep them off the road. There were no dead roos which was very unusual so they must be working.

    Don't remember anything about LR from when I was here as a kid except the Bottle House and Artesian Water baths. Town has obviously grown as there are plenty of shops now.

    Staying at Big4 which is lovely, bit muddy from all the rain they had yesterday. I had a swim in the 'Pool' whew is was warm- loved it.

    Planning the next few days here to check out a mine etc.    Read more

  • TravelerMaking Traxx
    11
    Day 5

    Day 5 - 5th May - Lightning Ridge

    May 5 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Foggy morning, went to the Tourist Information Centre and bought a map to do the 'Car Door' tours around town. 5 different coloured Car Doors for varying places. We went to a 'Walk In Mine' $20 ea which was really interesting, put on our Hard Hats and only had to go 30 steps down with stories, videos and photos throughout, then back up to a free coffee and video on the workings after they got the dirt above ground for mining Opals. Well done exhibit, small shop at the entrance selling uncut rocks (mixed bag $520) and polished pieces some over $3000 - lucky I don't love Opals.

    Then off to Amigo's Castle - took a bit to find as someone had stolen the Red Car Door. Amigo built the whole place by himself with rocks he picked up along the roads, no plan, no council approvals, just kept adding as he went. Had a couple of shafts for mining out the back to get an income, he doesn't live there now but the last piece he built he was 73 which was a 60ft well. He obviously had a great sense on humour judging by the plaques around the property and was a hoarder of old equipment.

    Then went to Bowls Club for Lunch, became Members (mandatory) which gave us discounts. Meals were beautiful - too big...doggy bag for dinner, had a couple of James Squires....can't drink during the day. Back to Van for nanna nap.

    While we were at lunch we did some planning for the next week. Need to chat to Alex about some of places he went to. Will go for another swim in the Artisan Baths later.    Read more

  • TravelerMaking Traxx
    11
    Day 6

    Day 6 - 6th May -Lightning Ridge

    May 6 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Decided to do the Yellow Car Door drive today, didn't get lost today (not many street signs around) drove through 'The Suburbs' which is the active mines, they certainly live rough some of these people. Glad we are here in Autumn, I think the 50+ degrees in summer would be hard to take.

    Drove out to Lunatic Hill which has a lookout into an open cut mine, named by the locals that they were lunatics to dig there, they had to dig 3 times deeper than on the flat. Paid off though, found Halley's Comet in 1986, biggest Black Opal found worth $6 million.

    Went into 'Big Opal Mine' which is a machine dug mine, sign said Spiral Staircase - didn't mention the 112 stairs haha. God we are unfit, took us both a few minutes to be able to speak once we got back up top. May have been easier going up the air shaft.
    Not sure what the Dinosaur out the front has do with anything out here - no mention of finding them.

    Back to the Hardware store (which has everything) and fueled up $2.179/L....ouch

    Wayne had a Poppy Nap while I went for another swim at the Artesian Bore - just beautiful. Did our last Car Door drive late today for the sunset. Lovely setting at the Lookout, there is an old cottage made from Beer Cans, someone certainly had a drinking problem and not just with beer.

    Had my first steak in many years for dinner - had it rare of course, was ok.    Read more

  • TravelerMaking Traxx
    Day 7

    Day 7 - Lightning Ridge to Dubbo

    May 7 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    I have wanted to go to Dubbo to see the Zoo for so many years...can't wait but I will have to - going tomorrow! Had a good start to the day - on the road by 7.40am at 14deg.

    Just outside Lightning Ridge is a monument called 'Stanley the Emu' made from VW cars and scrap metal, all built by volunteers, was supposed to be going to Birdsville but transport too expensive. My photo doesn't show much detail so borrowed from magazine.

    The last few days driving have been noticeably void of wildlife - today we hit jackpot. Cows, Plain Turkeys, Sheep, Foxes, Horses, Goats, Kangaroos and best of all 35 Emus....all alive and well.

    Just drove into Coonamble and saw a beautifully painted Silo - see photos. Another town was Gulargambone and there were heaps of cut outs along the road of Galah's - took me awhile...der

    Into the big smoke of Dubbo, Wow. Traffic lights, road works, saw our first Police Car since leaving home. Not all that happy with the Caravan Park - no room for our car to park next to van and be able to cook or open the back up. Never mind only be here for a couple of days. Amenities are clean.

    Went to Dubbo Gaol which was surprisingly right in the centre of the Main Street. Well presented and really interesting, Wayne was a bit uneasy so we didn't stay too long. Glad I wasn't imprisoned there, some of the stories were horrendous.    Read more

  • TravelerMaking Traxx
    1
    Day 8

    Day 8 - Wednesday - Dubbo Zoo

    May 8 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Slept in until 7.30 omg.....unheard of. Probably as it was 11 deg. Off to the Zoo we go, lovely setting, great pens for the animals, obviously well cared for. One Black Rhino on show the other 7 were out the back. Zoo keeper gave a really interesting talk about the Black and White Rhinos.

    The Giraffes were plentiful and their enclosure like most of the others have the fences in a trench so they can't escape but great for photos, giving an uninterrupted view.

    Hippo's were hiding in their pond just saw their snouts sticking out of the water, Meerkats were very cute posing for a photo, 4 Asian Elephants were very active, apparently the Bull was going to mate with the little elephant, there were official photographers waiting to film the event.

    The White Rhinos, Cheetah, Otters, Platypus, African Lion and the Sumatran Tiger, didn't want to be seen today. The Ostriches were surprising huge compared to our Emus. There were 7 different varieties of 'Deer' like animals. Ring Tailed Lemurs were cute running around with their 2 ft long tails in the air. Finally the Galapagos Tortoise - he was big, not sure what he was trying to do but he certain wasn't succeeding climbing up from the side of the smaller Tortoise. Thank goodness we hired the buggy, we parked between 2 or 3 exhibits and walked in between, still limping by the end.

    Had lunch at the Cafe once we dropped off the Buggy. Did the Tourist Circuit which went past a Winery and Observatory. Did a quick top up at Woolworths, back to Big 4. Will have my shower before 5pm today, yesterday was cool water brrrr.
    Filled up the water tanks and we are good to leave in the morning.

    Wayne's leg is nearly healed, not sore now, not limping so the muscle is repairing, stitches look clean and dry, should be able to remove them tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerMaking Traxx
    Day 9

    Day 9 - Dubbo to Lilydale Rest Area

    May 9 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Almost finished packing up and our Cordless Drill decided to die, so off we go to Mitre 10 to buy a new one, Brushless Hammer Drill - $409

    Finally left Dubbo just after 9am. Whilst driving between Narromine and Trangie we went past a paddock with 1000's of Bails of Cotton - amazing to see, couldn't take a photo.

    Fuelled up at Nyngan on the way to Cobar - cheap $1.97.....winning. Currently getting 21.88 ltrs per 100 km

    Saw some Sheep, Cows, Emus, Echidna and Feral Cat - all alive. 1 Dead Bore - no Wayne didn't shoot it. And then there were the Goats....plague proportions, every conceivable size and colour, inside the fences and along the road. Not one had been hit, they must be 'smart ones'

    Decided to go through Cobar onto a free camp at Lilydale Rest Area - level site, picnic table and chairs plus toilet, bitumen parking so all good. Expecting some rain tonight so didn't want to park on the red dirt.

    Special hello to Taj and Kobi - apparently they are reading our notes as bedtime stories. Love and miss you guys.

    Note to selves: don't park in Truck Rest Areas, they leave their generators running all night whilst parked right next to you.    Read more

  • TravelerMaking Traxx
    Day 10

    Day 10 - Lilydale R/A to Broken Hill

    May 10 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Thunder Storms during the night and still raining when we left the Rest Area which continued for a few hours. Just past Wilcannia the sun came out to play. Still not much traffic going South/West, roads a good.

    Due to the rain the animals were all hiding so I had to count Caravans heading north....35 over 5 hours. Wayne keeps telling me we are going the wrong way. I think we saw 4 Vans going our direction.

    Arrived at Broken Hill Tourist Park, half the park is under construction but nice quiet area (no generators)haha. Went to the Telstra shop to get some advice on why I couldn't Hotspot Phone to Laptop, smart kid did it minutes !!!!

    Quick shop, Tomatoes are 11.50 pk - lucky we only bought one. Can't take into SA which will be on Sunday. Visit to the Tourist Information Office to find out where and what to see tomorrow. Yes I know...we sound like tourists. Dropped in the Chemist to fill out a Script, told it would be 1 .1/2 hrs wait.

    Quiet afternoon in the Van catching up with Penquins and planning our big day tomorrow to fit in all the sights. News alert - the stitches are out, he didn't trust me so he did himself, the knots on half of them came undone when poked at. Looks nice and clean but will certainly keep an eye on it.

    This caravan park has the BEST showers I have ever had. And the internet is unlimited and untimed....loving Broken Hill.    Read more

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