Reset search
Graham n RosieGraham n Rosie
SatelliteEdit route
Living in: South Australia, Australia Read more South Australia, Australia
  • Graham n RosieBROKEN BY DESIGN ADVENTURES
    Day 59

    Mary Kathleen

    August 17, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    What an amazing place! Mary Kathleen was a purpose built town to house miners after the discovery of a Uranium deposit in 1954. It was named after the deceased wife of one of the founders. By all accounts, the town was a thriving community with a school, town square, lush gardens, oval, picture theatre etc etc. mine closed the buildings were auctioned off and all that is left are the foundations.

    Fascinating to wander through and picture the buildings that were once there. Nowadays it’s a popular camping spot - pick a slab, crank a fire and you’re all set! Jasper enjoyed his explorations and especially meeting a couple of curious calves who wandered over to check him out….Neither were too sure about getting too close though!    Read more

  • Graham n RosieBROKEN BY DESIGN ADVENTURES
    Day 51

    Mount Isa

    August 9, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Well, Mount Isa was a definite experience - and one we think we’d be happy to do again next year!
    The town itself is a hard little place - a mining town, it pulls no punches and makes no apologies for its tough, raw character. Pretty sure we’ve not experienced so much dust as that which sweeps through here, at least in the rodeo grounds anyway. Poor Jasper spent a week snorting, trying to clear his clogged doggie nose - but it also took a toll on us humans too (not to mention our ‘snowy white’ stall table covers!🙄)

    We definitely felt like we were in Bob Katter country, although it was pretty interesting to hear the crowd “Boo!” When he was announced as a distinguished guest at the rodeo opening! 😅

    We elected not to attend the rodeo itself - not something we wanted to support - but definitely enjoyed the Saturday night rock concert with Lee Kernighan! No such thing as social distancing though - not sure how it could ever have been otherwise without Chris for everyone! Apparently organisers got a rap on the knuckles from QLD health over this….

    We also enjoyed meeting a number of other QLD stallholders who shared their tips and experiences over a few happy hours which was awesome. Jasper enjoyed regular pats and playtime with nearby doggie neighbours so all was good for him too!

    Although we didn’t have a lot of time to be tourists here, we certainly appreciated the importance of amt Isa as a mining hub - copper, zinc, lead and silver and as part of the Dinosaur Trail…(an area that includes Richmond, Hughenden and down to Winton) one of the world’s most important area for mammal fossils.

    We enjoyed the town, the rodeo market and being on green grass for a while!    Read more

  • Graham n RosieBROKEN BY DESIGN ADVENTURES
    Day 44

    Daly Waters

    August 2, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Another visit to the iconic Daly Waters Hotel. The place hasn’t changed, the only difference for us is having Jasper join in the fun! Of course this meant we had to sit on the ‘outer’ limits but we still managed to enjoy Lou and Phil Bradley as the resident entertainers - they’ve been here the last three times we’ve visited and it isn’t a problem at all. Their brand of Mullumbimby hippy bluegrass is pretty sweet, very easy to follow their groove! The Main Street is awash with bizarre artefacts, including a helicopter with questionable seating options….
    The pub itself never seems to change much, and it goes without saying this is a MUST SEE at least once.    Read more

  • Graham n RosieBROKEN BY DESIGN ADVENTURES
    Day 43

    Lost in Larrimah

    August 1, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Larrimah is a quirky little community but there’s no chance of a “blink and you’ll miss it” moment here. The hot pink pub makes sure EVERYONE notices she is there! We spent the night camped out the back of the Pink Panther Hotel and sampled their homemade lasagne for dinner - lovely! It is currently being run by a young Czech couple who clearly have their work cut out for them! It is definitely run down but it is the outback, people! Can’t understand whingers who carry on about “old facilities” etc. Previous trips have seen us slow down for a quick look and then keep going, intent on getting to Daly Waters further up the road. This time however, was different. We had been listening to a fascinating podcast called “Lost in Larrimah” and knew we had to stop when we got here.

    A True Crime series, it explores the disappearance of Paddy Moriarty - a barfly local who vanished in 2017 along with his kelpie, Kellie. The thing about this is that there were only 11 people living in the town - and pretty much none of them got on with one another - so Paddy’s disappearance was a huge deal. Cue the town gossips, conspiracy theories etc etc. The interviews with the publican of the time (and Paddy’s friend) and other townsfolk were absolutely fascinating - such weird and wonderful outback characters you just couldn’t dream up. Everyone had a theory, from Paddy being abducted by angry truckies to perhaps ending up in a meat pie or two courtesy of a longtime feud with local baker Fran.

    If you get the opportunity to visit this wonderful spot, including the museum across the road, don’t miss it - and listen to that podcast before you go!    Read more

  • Graham n RosieBROKEN BY DESIGN ADVENTURES
    Day 32

    Mataranka - Capital of the Never Never

    July 21, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    A one week stay ended up being closer to two weeks - but no complaints here!

    We absolutely love Mataranka - the hot springs are divine, especially when you are smart enough to avoid peak hour and get down there early in the morning. It’s interesting to note that here in Elsey National Park, there is no underground “hot spot” heating the water - it just occurs naturally as the reservoirs of water are heated to the temperature of the ground at depths of 30 -100 metres. Rainbow Spring releases 30.5 million litres of spring water every day, ending up in the Waterhouse and Roper Rivers. During the summer wet season, rains top up the underground reservoirs. (Also during the Wet, Mataranka homestead is completely flooded!)

    Watching the sun rise through the palms is so special, the light flickering through the leaves across the steamy water - brilliant! A super special way to start the day, and a routine that never got boring!

    We extended our stay to take advantage of the Mataranka Markets held each Sunday, managing to fit two markets in for some very welcome $$. (Check out the HUGE termite mound!) So, we were kept pretty busy making new jewellery every day and enjoying the resident entertainment of an evening. (No need to even be there - we could hear it all from our camp!)

    The homestead has a great little bar and regular entertainment from Nathan “Whippy” Griggs and The Repeat Offenders - both of which are here every year. Have to admit though, it did get a little repetitive listening to the same songs every night! 🤣

    Mataranka is also home to The Homestead - an authentic replica constructed for the movie, We of The Never Never. It’s quite something to walk through when you know that every detail was hand made using local pine. The bar at Mataranka plays the film daily which is also a nice touch.    Read more

  • Graham n RosieBROKEN BY DESIGN ADVENTURES
    Day 26

    Katherine

    July 15, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Katherine is such a busy place - it is the crossroad town for traffic in all directions, whether you’re heading to WA, Darwin, Down the middle or The Savannah Way into QLD. We have learnt to get to the supermarket early in the day before the grey nomads descend on the shopping precinct like swarms of hungry locusts! This year has been particularly busy on the road of course, creating headaches when lockdowns occur!

    The Katherine Show was thankfully COVID-free and we had a great time sharing our work with locals and tourists! They were long, dusty days and nights but definitely worth it! Unfortunately battery issues meant we had little to no power despite plenty of sun so THAT was interesting. Thankfully we were able to get new batteries fitted after the show finished and were even able to get our water pump fixed as well. (Also thankful we made some good $$ at the show to cover the costs.). Our last night in Katherine was spent by the fire with a tune or two. #someonehastodoit    Read more

  • Graham n RosieBROKEN BY DESIGN ADVENTURES
    Day 24

    Karlu Karlu

    July 13, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    We spent last night at the wonderful Devils Marbles Hotel, a little oasis on the Stuart Highway on the road toward Tennant Creek. Fabulous hot showers (OMG the water pressure!!!), icy cold beers in the beautiful beer garden and fantastic chef onsite- doesn’t get much better than this!
    This morning we left early to call into the ACTUAL Devils Marbles - or Karlu Karlu as it is actually called - for a quick photo shoot. The morning light was a little higher than I would have liked but the colours were still pretty special. This area is very sacred to the Warumungu, Kaytetye, Alywarra and Walpiri people. It’s quite an experience being able to see such amazing formations.    Read more

  • Graham n RosieBROKEN BY DESIGN ADVENTURES
    1
    Day 23

    Goodbye Alice Springs

    July 12, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    That’s a wrap, Alice Springs! Time to move on but we’ve had a ball! Having the camping grounds to ourselves for the last couple of weeks has been a bonus! We had a terrific time at the Alice Springs Fun Fair, thanks to the Showies allowing us to put up our stall alongside them. What a great outcome for them and for Alice Springs to be able to put on a mini - show for the community and recoup some costs after the show was shut down due to COVID.
    We had our last Todd Mall market the other day and are looking forward to coming back next year to do a few more - its such a well run market with a friendly vibe! We left lots of jewellery behind which is terrific, some of which is even being sent overseas to friends and families of our new customers. How cool is that???
    On the way out we saw a cool road sign that we thought was well worth a snap! We are headed off to our first stop, the awesome Devil’s Marbles Hotel - a favourite place that we always make sure to stop at. It’s great to get back on the road again!    Read more

  • Graham n RosieBROKEN BY DESIGN ADVENTURES
    Day 3

    Alice Springs arrival

    June 22, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    We decidedto push on from the border, arriving in Alice Springs 2 days earlier as we had been having trouble not only with our water pump, but our car battery as well. We had planned to spend a couple of nights at Stuart’s Well, an outback pub with free camping out the back, however overcast skies had set in, meaning no solar for our van batteries. So, we just kept driving til we reached Alice and headed straight for the great guys at Tyre Power where we grabbed a new battery AND a new van tyre whilst we were at it! Then on to Blatherskite Park, our home for the next 12 days! This is where the Alice Springs Show will be held so we’re really looking forward to setting our stall up next week. In the meantime, we still need to figure out the water pump issue and get ready for Todd Mall markets on Sunday!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