Travels and adventures we have enjoyed over the years. (Posts with down arrows after mean they have sub-posts that relate to them). Just select the one you want and schroll to the bottom of the list.
Australia Outback – Darwin to Adelaide in a Camper
ABOUT THIS TRIP: Our Son, daughter-in-law, and their three children live South of Brisbane in Coomera, Australia. As such we have good reasons to travel there as often as we can. Several years ago, as a Christmas stocking stuffer for Nancy, I bought SPIRITS OF THE GHAN, written by an Australian lady named Judy Nunn. We both enjoyed the book immensely and have since wanted to explore the Outback and the Ghan. Our initial intent was to book a passage on The Ghan (a railroad that runs from Adelaide to Darwin) but decided against it as we wanted to spend more time exploring the Outback which the train trip did not allow for. A while back, while we were visiting our family, we made a road trip from Gold Coast, North along the Eastern shores of Australia to Rockhampton, then due West out to an interesting town called Longreach. As it is beyond the Black Stump in Queensland, we were in the Outback. We liked it and decided we wanted to see more. About a year ago we decided to travel from Darwin to Adelaide via the Stuart Highway. The highway is paved all the way and hosts sufficient life support along the way to allow for a comfortable journey. We checked hotels and road houses along tour route and decided we would try a small camper van instead. The camper is a van that includes a small shower, toilet, fridge, stove, micro, and a table that converts into a full-sized bed.
We decided to travel from Darwin to Adelaide thinking things would get more interesting as we traveled South and our interest would stay peaked. Actually, it really makes no difference which way you travel … North to South was just our choice. We read a bunch of blogs, travel books, and internet articles regarding the trip and decide we could do it in two weeks. We like to see a lot of things but don’t usually dwell too long in any one place or thing. Spending a couple of days exploring a small town or hiking out into the boonies is not our routine so we felt we could cover the roughly 3600 Kilometers in two weeks. It’s only about 3000 Kms from Darwin to Adelaide but Ayers Rock (Uluru) is about 300 Km west of the Stuart Highway and is a “MUST SEE” if you travel the outback. We selected the small camper van rather than a larger one because it is easier to drive, uses less gas, and pretty well provides everything we need. For those who have not used Australian campgrounds they are well equipped with showers and cooking facilities so we didn’t feel the need to have a large camper. We stopped using tents a few years back.
We are flying to Darwin from Tampa via Los Angeles and Sydney so we are taking a day in Darwin to rest a bit, get some provisions, and see a few local sights before picking up the camper and heading out. I’m using my Garmin NUVI GPS with an Australian chip, buying a local phone service SIM card for my iPhone in Darwin, and relying on either local WiFi or using my iPhone as a hotspot. Of course, we also have paper maps, books, and references. So our trip starts in a few weeks and I will make daily entries regarding how we are doing and what we have seen and done. Please feel free to comment or question and I will try to reply as soon as I am able.
Our Trip … Red is Camper Route, Blue lines are flights
OUTBACK ITINERARY
As I mentioned, we develop a time line and a “soft” schedule so here it is. Nothing is locked in other than the rental contract, our hotels in Darwin and Adelaide which brackets our trip.
Sunday, 10 June Depart Tampa – Depart LA
We are on our way … checked in at Tampa getting ready to fly to LA, then to Sydney, then to Darwin. It will be Tuesday afternoon when we get to Darwin … my butt hurts just thinking about it. I added the map of Australia above for reference. By the way … please feel free to share this blog with anyone that is interested. Thanks … Enjoy.
Tuesday, 12 Jun- Depart Sydney – Arrive Darwin ~ 14:00- Check into Hotel
While in Darwin, in addition to doing some touring we will be getting Comms, provisions, cash, etc.
Okay … we made it to Darwin at 2:30 P.M. Tuesday afternoon. Really tired but knew better than go to bed at three. Picked up our luggage, picked up the rental car, set up the GPS, and drove down town to find our hotel.
Darwin is an isolated kind of city located in the far Northern, nearly tropical part of Australia. The temps have been getting into the 90’s and is quite humid due to being right on the ocean. Many people don’t know this but Darwin was attacked by the Japanese from four aircraft carriers and sustained heavy damage to the city. The city recovered from that only to be nearly totally demolished in 1975 by a fierce hurricane that destroyed all but 400 of the 11,000 homes that were there at the time. Needless to say, the town does not have many really old structures. Nancy and I walked down to the waterfront from our hotel, had dinner, came back to the hotel and seven PM found us sound asleep.
View Towards the Ocean
City Skyline
Wave Pool and Sport StadiumWaterfront Park
Mural of Herons in Darwin
13 Jun – Exploring Darwin
Spent the day looking around Darwin (named after Charles Darwin), got a Telstra (phone service provider in Australia) SIM card for my iphone, bought some groceries to provision the camper, went out to the Camper rental place to check out how much space we would have, get some instructions on setting it up etc, and walked around taking some pictures of the city.
14 Jun- Check Out of Hotel- Pick up camper
We got the rental back to the airport, and checked out the camper, were on the road by 9:45. The Camper is quite comfy. sho wer, toilet, stove, micro, and a full-sized bed.
The Camper … A Winnebago Camper on a Mercedes Sprinter Chassis
Drove South to Litchfield National Park. Four very impressive waterfalls and some mind-boggling Termite mounds. The Falls were in good flow as we are just leaving the rainy season so they were quite spectacular … just wait till you see the pictures. The Termite mounds were everywhere and some were 12 – 15 feet tall and 5-8 feet across the bottom. Lots of work for all those little fellers! We have returned back, part ways to the North and are camping just South of Humpy Doo in a Town call Noonama. Really its just a truck stop with a campground behind it. Mostly what we expect to find most of the way South. Tomorrow we head east into Kakadu National Park. Looking forward to seeing a lot of wildlife. So, after our first day on the road everything is looking good. The camper is easy to handle, gets around pretty good and is quite comfortable with a shower, toilet, and stove.
One of Three tall WaterfallsA Tall Skinny WaterfallAn Enjoyable Series of RapidsNancy by A VERY BIG Termite MoundTermite Field
Day 1 … 350 Kilometers … Total to date 350 Km
15 Jun- Kakadu NP- Katherine
Early up … That’s what happens when you are 14 hours out of sync … good thing though cuz it gave Nancy and I time to have a couple of cups of Joe and discuss the plan of attack for the day.
Northern Territory is not one of Australia’s six states. Australia has six states and two territories. Northern Territory is one of them and the Capitol Territory (Australia’s National Capitol like Washington D.C.) is the other. Northern Territory (NT) encompasses a large area of North Central Australia. Darwin is the capital. Enough Social Studies!
We launched out of Noonama just after day break, around 7 AM. You must recall Australia is just going into Winter so we are approaching the shortest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere … June 21st, the beginning of Winter. It is much too hot in Summer to travel in the Outback. However, as I mentioned earlier, Darwin is as close to the equator from the South as Venezuela is North, which makes it quite tropical. Palm trees, hot weather, etc. Today was our 4th day of 90 degree weather.
Kakadu National Park is huge. I think the largest in Australia. It has huge Billabong’s (swamps) teaming with birds and other wildlife. Long granite mountain ranges that host Aboriginal drawing from long ago, and vast forests of trees of every type. We saw many Wallaby’s (small Kangaroos), thousands of birds, and many other exciting features of the park. It took us all day to go across it from Noonama to Jabiru, then South to Pine Creek. We made it to Katherine where we will be spending the night and getting ready to go on a boat tour of the Katherine Gorges.
Large Billabong
Bird in the Billabong
Bird with a Chick in a Bird Billabong
Ancient Aboriginal Art
Massive Fissure in Granite
Stone Face
Bill Pointing the way
So far all has gone well.
Day 2 … 550 kilometers … Total so far 900 km
16 Jun- Daly Waters
WOW !!! What a day!!! Up early, couple cups of coffee … made a few reservations for the upcoming days, and drove up Katherine Gorge for our Katherine Gorge, Two Gorge, two hour cultural Boat ride. Katherine Gorge is actually 13 different lakes or gorges that extend down through the Katherine Gorge. Each is at a slightly higher elevation than the one before and each separated by rocks or narrows other than during flood time. During flood time its one big bad river that rushes down to the Katherine River, sometimes 40 feet higher than normal. At the end of the dry season, there is hardly any water left. We are there at mid-season so we have 13 gorges. But as the old saying goes .. “Once you’ve seen one gorge, you’ve seen them all”!! Regardless, just to make sure we did two gorges. We went up the first and largest (they get smaller as they go up) to the head where we disembarked and climbed over a rocky path to the landing and boat for the second gorge … about a half mile, and boarded the second boat. We heard the second gorge was the best and, as far as we could see it was. The gorges are gorgeous. Massive rock walls that were created by huge granite separations that created the gorges. We saw five Crocodiles and a bunch of awesome sites. Definitely worth the time and trip to see.
Katherine Gorge Tour Boat
Katherine Gorge at Sunrise
Crock on a Bank
OUCH!!! I got in a fight and the other guy bit my nose off!!
Sailing up Katherine Gorge
Second Gorge
Rapids separating 1st and 2nd Gorge
Crock on a Rock
From Katherine we headed South towards Daly Waters … a little spot that time has passed by. Daly waters was the first international airport in the Northern Territory. It was used as a delivery point for mail and other cargo going North in the 1930’s and early 40’s. The field was taken over by the military during WWII and never reopened as a civilian field. That has not stopped the 9 residents of Daly Waters from trying and keep it alive.
Along the way we stopped at a small area that had thermal waters flowing through it. They advertised it as Hot Springs but they were really just warm. However, they were incredibly clear and had a lot of people swimming in them. Very nice.
Thermal Pool
We finally got to Daly Waters and checked into the “Daly Waters Historic Tavern” that seems to be the only thing left. It’s a tavern, camp ground, filling station, restaurant, and general store. This place is an Icon in this part of Australia and people come from all over just to spend a night here. We had dinner and an entertaining evening at the tavern. Nice folks. Saw a couple of very interesting shows with our dinner. The Pitts Family were the highlight. An Acrobatic family that does near slapstick acrobatics … truly entertaining.
The Pitts
The Pitts “Family Tree”
The ICONIC Daly Waters Historic Tavern
Now we are tucked into our camper and settled in for the night.
Day 3 … 350 kilometers … Total so far 1250 km
17 Jun- Devils Marbles
Not much other than driving today. Drove the 510 Kilometers from Daly Waters to The Devil’s Marbles Reserve Area. An interesting Granite formation left after a bazillion years. Just walked through and enjoyed them. Then went to our campsite where the tavern has a wifi so I could upload all these pictures!!!
Rocks is Rocks … no matter where you find them. The temperature has dropped substantially as we drove South. Only got to the very low 70’s today. Looking for increasingly cooler weather as we drive South.
Day 4 … 310 Kilometers …Total so far .. 1560 km
18/19 Jun- Alice Springs
Wow … Here we are in Alice Springs … (looking for Alice’s restaurant but haven’t found it … yet) Woke up this morning to a refreshing 35 degrees … quite the change from two days ago. Good thing I read the instruction book and found the Air Conditioner unit also works as a heat pump. So … Nancy had me jump out of bed and run the heat up before we both got up and had coffee. The drive down to Alice Springs was a whole lot of interesting nothing … just like driving across West Texas. There were numerous signs cautioning drivers there were livestock and Kangaroos on the road … and sure enough we saw probably ten cows that had been hit by trucks and a couple of Kangaroos. The trucks here travel far and fast at night with as many as four trailers on one truck. They can’t and don’t stop for anything. They have these cow catchers (really Kangaroo catchers) on the front to protect the vehicle from damage. We didn’t see any live Kangaroos today … just dead ones. Did see one small herd of cows ambling down the road.
Road Train
Cow Catcher
The Way Ahead
Cows & Sheep On Road!!
This is what interesting nothing looks like
Interesting Picture
Barrow Creek Telegraph Station
Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn
This is the other side of Nothing
Welcome to Alice Springs (In the middle of nothing)
Day 5 …. 400 Kilometers …Total so far .. 1960 km
19 Jun – Alice Springs ….
Here we are … Traveled 380 kilometers today and we are still in Alice Springs … Nope, we are not lost. We woke up to a 30 degree morning and gave the ole heat pump a work out. Then, we took the day and drove out to the McDonnel Range. It is interesting as Nancy and I see these places … many of them remind us of other places on earth that are nearly identical. The McDonnel Range looks just like the western US, especially Big Bend National Park in South Texas .. The land, the rocks, the plants, everything but the animals … very similar. When we first talked about coming out here to the Outback we kinda expected vast areas of nothing but red dirt or rock. Not true! .. There are trees, grass, and shrubs everywhere. Only place where the land is bare is where they have burned off all the grass and underbrush. This is done every so many years … not sure why, but it takes the desert maybe 10 to fifteen years to grow back. Don’t take me wrong … The McDonnel Range was interesting with it’s protruding ridges of rock, the pronounced divide between the ridges that man where the plates collided, it’s water ways or rivers (mostly dried up now till rainy season), and it’s gorges. We went to Standley Gorge near Alice Springs and were surprised by an incredibly impressive cut between two vast mountains of granite. We walked out to Glen Helen Resort to see where the Finke River had cut through a ridge of rock, and finally out to Tyler’s Pass that took you out of the Range and onto the plains that lead to Ayers Rock some 500 kilometers away. All Good stuff … interesting and unforgettable. Of particular interest was the Ochre Pits. Here, native Aboriginals mined minerals of different shades to color weapons, pottery, and themselves. An interesting variety of colors caused by layers of sediment settling then being pushed up into mountains.
Glen Helen “Resort”
Grass that grows n the desert, looks like tumble weed
Walls of the Range
Ochre Pitts
The View Towards Ayers Rock
Standley Gorge
Train Station for the Ghan Railroad
Downtown Alice Springs
Glen Helen Cut
So, it was a good day. Did some touring, Nancy got to do some shopping, had a pizza at a local tavern … getting ready to head out tomorrow morning for Ayers Rock.
Day 6 … 380 Kilometers … Total so far …. 2340 km
20/21 Jun- Uluru (Ayers Rock)
Long drive today but we made it to Uluru as the Aboriginals call it. Terrain still has a lot of vegetation, much more than we expected, but very dry … It is so dry the Kangaroos carry canteens! We didn’t see many animals today, one kangaroo tried to commit suicide by jumping in front of us … we missed him. Saw a wild camel in the park when we got to Uluru National Park … They do have wild camels here … the English brought them long ago to pack goods over the long barren streets of the outback. Naturally, some got loose and one thing let to another and Wa La … wild Camels. Saw a few small herds of cattle … domestic. Bunches of birds. Came across a Camel Farm so Nancy got some pictures. They cater to tourists who want to ride a Camel. Also came across an Emu farm … don’t know what they do with them, my guess is they are food … but we took some pictures of them anyhow.
Tourist Camel
Mystery Emu
Nancy Making Lunch
120 Miles straight South of Alice Springs, then turn right for a 150 miles and you are at Ayers Rock. Pretty cool resort here … several hotels (one to suit each budget, a campground, and many activities, including a Blimp ride. Kinda like Yellowstone National Park. Odd thing … about 3/4 of the way to Uluru we saw what we thought was Ayers Rock … looks a lot like it … especially if you haven’t seen Ayers Rock in the Rock before. Turns out many people make that mistake and the mountain we saw was Mt Conner, billed as the most photographed Red Herring along this road. Anyhow, once we got here we drove out to another big set of rocks called The Olga’s. Instead of one big rock like Uluru, the Olgas are made up of a number of big rocks right next to each other (most likely one rock that broke up) … the biggest is higher than Uluru but not as big. We hiked around the Olgas, took some pictures and came back to the camp.
Mt Conner and arid Desert
Blimp
Desert Grass
The Olgas
The Olgas Close Up
Uluru (Ayres Rock)
Tomorrow we plan to watch the sun rise over Ayers Rock and then have rented bicycles and we are going to cycle all the way around it … bout 7 miles … thank goodness its flat! More about that tomorrow.
Sunset Over Ayers Rock
Day 7 …. 540 kilometers …. Total so far … 2880 km.
21 Jun … Happy Summer … or Winter …
Just finished up with Uluru … Watched the Sun Rise behind it, rode a bike around it, walked into several of its chasms, drove around it, took a bunch of pictures. A true fascinating piece of rock… and it is really BIG!
Sunrise behind Uluru
Uluru from the South
People Climbing Uluru .. we did not
A Pocket in the side of Ayers Rock
Vegetation around Ayers Rock
A Large slab of rock pealing off
(Left Side)
Uluru from the back … He eats people!
Nancy on her bike .. it was chilly!
A Croc in Rock?
North east side
A Brain
Front of Pealing Slab
Run Off (The Black streak)
An Overhang (Outside)
Inside the overhang
Nancy in the Overhang
This is Uluru .. Ayers Rock
Info
Bike Route
Another view from the back
Taking the rest of the day off … only drove 55 Kilometers today. Tomorrow we leave heading east to the Start Highway, then South to Marlay.
Day 8 …. 55 Kilometers …. Total so far … 2935 km.
P.S. If you click or double click on the pictures they will come up full screen … or at least bigger.
22 Jun- Marlay
Ok … We went right past Marlay and ended up in Coober Pedy … why? … cuz we got an early start, traffic was light and driving good, there is absolutely nothing at Marlay but an old filling station and a tavern, and we figured getting all day tomorrow to explore Coober Pedy is better than a half day after staying at Marlay … see, I told you we adjust as we find convenient.
Coober Pedy is a “one of A Kind of Place”. Most of it is underground, there are holes and mounds for miles all around it, and people from all over the world live here. The life of Coober Pedy is Opals … they were formed by volcanic action, sea rise, steam, and pressure a long, long time ago … now everyone comes here to mine them. The story of the town is pretty cool so I would recommend Googling it and getting the entire story from someone who knows what they are talking about. It has an interesting story and is an interesting place. More about it tomorrow after we spend a day there.
Close Up
Red Earth
Opal Mining Mounds
Meanwhile, the day was long and boring but, that’s what the outback is like. Saw several kangaroos and three Emus running around. The terrain has become more sparse with fewer trees and just grass and brush. It is still an exciting place to travel through and a wonderful place to see.
Lots of Nothing on a Red Road
Kangaroo Crossing
Interesting note. When we left Darwin there were thousands of termite mounds along the way … everywhere. Not as big as in Litchfield but maybe 3 to 5 feet all and a foot across. The landscape looked like a graveyard in many places. Once we left Alice Springs the quit. Haven’t seen any since.
More Mounds
Day 9 …. 725 Kilometers …. Total so far … 3660 km.
23 Jun- Coober Pedy
OMG!! … What a place! Boring and plain on the surface, this town is an endless wonder. Churches, homes, hotels, campgrounds … underground. Vast complex tunnels of excavations hunting the elusive Opal.
Nancy and I went into town around 10 hoping to visit some of the exciting places. This weekend is the Coober Pedy opal Festival. We watched the fireworks from our camper last night and today, at noon, there was a parade. Ever been to a real small town parade? Well, that’s what this one was like … lots of local flavor and very involved citizens. Nice but brief. We were about to give up on seeing anything exciting until we walked into this Opal Shop that also advertised tours. A gentleman who emigrated here from the Ukraine 18 years ago told us about the tour he would give us. Four hours and we would see everything of interest in and around Coober Pedy … and we did. He was right … we saw mines, underground homes, churches, bores, the Dog fence (Which is a 5000 Km fence that runs from Surfers Paradise on the west side of Australia, East all the way into Western Australia. The Breakaway and an old Mad Max movie set. I cannot begin to tell you all about it and encourage you once again to Google Coober Pedy.
Oh, did I mention yesterday we passed from The Northern Territory into one of Australia’s six states, South Australia. Not much change .. just a different state.
Here are some of my favorite pictures of what we saw today. Enjoy.
Inside an underground Catholic Church
Stained Glass window looking out from underground church
Festival Activities in Coober Pedy
Huge piling mound used for observation
Living Room in Underground Home
Bedroom
Coober Pedy .. above ground
Left over movie set from “Mad Max”
A Blower .. used to separate aggregate
Inside home of “Crocodile Harry”
An Opal Dig
Holes along the drillings (people fall in them frequently)
Salt & Pepper along the “Break Away”
The Dog Fence … runs 5000+ Kilometers
Bill & Nancy by the Dog Fence
A Drilling Rig
Inside The Lobby of an Underground Hotel
The “Green” on the fifth hole of the Coober Pety Golf Course that brags .. “Not a Blade of Grass” The Green is oiled sand
There is so much more to Coober Pedy. Our Guide was very knowledgeable and helpful. As a miner he knew a lot of inside info regarding finding Opals and life in Coober Pedy. A thoroughly enjoyable day. Met several sets of traveling couples from Australia. They have “Snow Birds” too but they travel North to escape the cold in the South!
Tomorrow we travel to Port Augusta on the Southern Ocean. Never heard of it? Check your geography!!
Day 10 …. 5 Kilometers …. Total so far … 3665 km.
24 Jun- Port Augusta
Port Augusta … End of the Stuart Highway … Southern edge of the Outback … beginning of the end. Today we finished the last long leg of our journey and now we will spend the next three days going Northeast into the Flinders Range and then South to the Barossa Valley, then to Adelaide. The Stuart Highway is 2834 kilometers long reaching from Darwin to Port Augusta. A long, lonesome highway. Although, Nancy and I were both surprised by how much traffic there is on it. This time of the year its mostly Northbound carrying people from the cold South to the warm North. Anyhow, this highway was one of the objectives of our trip and we made it. The trip today from Coober Pedy was long and very unexciting. The variation in the terrain was from some bushes to no bushes, to some bushes with a few trees, and back again. We saw at least 30 Kangaroos that were killed along the road, Five or six Wallaby’s that were dead, a couple dead cows, about fifty herds of live sheep, and five or six live Emus. As the sign at one roadhouse along the way said … Welcome to Pom Pom, Population; 25,00 sheep, 2,000,000,000 flies (approx), and 30 humans. The flies in Australia are really bothersome, especially when it gets warm. They swam all over you, won’t fly away when you wave at them, and are a general pain to live with. Most of the dead Kangaroos, Wallaby’s, and cows are from the Truck Trains that run at night. They only go about 60 miles per hour but don’t stop for anything and couldn’t avoid hitting an animal that jumps out in front of it.
Anyhow, here we are in Port Augusta, getting ready for bed after a long day of road travel. No pictures today .. nothing particularly unique to photograph. Port Augusta a scenic small city located on a Bay that protrudes up into the mainland from the Southern Ocean. A very nice port town with boats and fishing etc.
Day 11 …. 560 Kilometers …. Total so far … 4225 km.
25 Jun- Flinders Range National Park
Ok … It’s the 25th of June but we are not in the Barossa Valley. We have decided to change our last few days and more or less skip Adelaide and spend more time in the Flinders and the Barossa Valley. We do want to see Adelaide but not in the Winter and not in a camper so we are going to save Adelaide for a future trip and only drive into town to turn in the camper, spend the night in the Airport Hotel, and fly out the morning of the 29th to Brisbane.
Today we slept in a little … till 7, had a couple of cups of coffee, and headed out for the Flinders Range and Flinders National Park and Wilpena Pound Campground in the park. Wilpena Pound is a large bowl like area surrounded by mountains. While it looks like a huge crater, it isn’t. I think it looks more like a caldera from a volcano but they say it is not that either … it is just a very large natural bowl up in the mountains … and we are camping in it. It is good to be out of the outback amongst trees, green, and mountains … but the outback is interesting as well.
Anyhow, we had a great day here in the Flinders. Took a hike out into the “Pound” following a stream then up a long climb to an overlook … about 8 kilometers all together. Very interesting, very good exercise, and very beautiful. Call a lot of huge Gum trees, lots of birds, and tonight, right by our campsite we had a couple of Kangaroos hanging out having supper. Cool way to end the day. The trail we walked had some pictures of wildlife that talked about them so I took pictures of them as well and will include them below.
Saw many Emus … some domestic, some wild. They raise them for food.
Flinders Range
Didn’t see these .. they are nocturnal
Here we Are!!
Happy Hikers
Nancy’s favorite Gum tree … she is standing in front of it.
Some artists idea of what the Aboriginals looked like
Trail up to the upper viewing level
Bill’s favorite Gum Tree .. He is standing beside it!
A real Live kookaburra we saw sitting “In the Old Gum Tree”
Picture from a poster of a small marsupial called a Dunnart
Dead trees washed in by floods
Picture from a poster of a “yellow Footed, ring tailed Wallaby”
Very Old Gum Tree
Picture from a Poster of a Galah Bird
Nancy Bonding with a different Kangaroo
Another Kangaroo
Picture from a poster of a “Golden Orb Weaver Spider” … Glad I never saw one!!
Day 12 …. 160 Kilometers today …. Total so far … 4385 km.
26 Jun – Barossa Valley
We awoke very early this morning to our little heat pump/Air Conditioner working overtime to heat the camper. It was 25 degrees and the morning frost was upon us. So we got up a little earlier than normal, had a couple of cups of coffee, cleaned up, dressed, and hit the road. We were surprised to see groups of Kangaroos standing in fields along the road. They had come out of the bush and the shade to stand in the open and be warmed by the sun. An amazing sight as we saw more live Kangaroos this morning than all the rest of the trip to this point There were also big groups of Emus. I think it was partly because we were just a little earlier and the sun was nice and warm on such a chilly morning. Anyway, we drove from Flinders Range National Park, Wilpina Campground and drove South to the Barossa Valley in South Australia. The Barossa Valley is the states top wine producing region and one of the best in all of Australia. Next time you look at wines thank S.A. is really South Australia, not South Africa. Anyhow, the trip down was fairly uneventful but we did travel through some very impressive farmland. Huge fields (500 – 1000 acres of Winter wheat now sprouting up. Looked like huge lawns … much better than most of the golf courses we have seen. Huge flocks of sheep and a few cattle. The sheep are the Merino breed which produces the Merino wool that is sooo nice. We got to the valley and found our campsite, took long hot showers, straightened up our gear, and relaxed for a while. Tonight we had dinner downtown and are getting ready to tour the wine country tomorrow. The vineyards are a familiar site after living in Germany and seeing all the vineyards there.
A Large truck hauling Sheep – four decks of sheep (puweee)
Kangaroos standing out in the field
A Kangaroo in the sun
A Bunch of Emu
A Green road with mountains on the horizon
A Herd of Sheep
Farm land with windmills in on the ridges
Day 13 …. 430 Kilometers today …. Total so far … 4815 km
27 Jun- Barossa Valley
We had a wonderful day exploring the Barossa Vally, visiting Open Cellars (Places where Vintors sell wine and provide sampling) out amongst all the vineyards and small towns. Beautiful place with rolling hills, pastures, vineyards, and quaint old towns that have been here since 1840 or so and were settled by British and German immigrants trying to escape religious persecution. Of course they brought their grape twigs and fruit tree seeds with them and that’s how all this got here. Stopped a several Open Cellars. Some are very impressively restored from the old “Grand” times and other new and modern. We met a gentleman at dinner last night who turned out to be the owner of one of the more impressive vineyards. He told us to stop by for lunch today so we did. We shared a Cheeseboard with a couple glasses of his wine that we preferred. Very pleasant. Later went to Jacobs Creek Winery (one of our favorite wines in the U.S.). They have a very large, modern “Cellar” where you can sample, eat, or just stroll around. Finished the day at a German bakery and had a Poppy Seed Strudel and a couple Lattes.
This was our last “Vacation” day of our adventure. Tomorrow we will drive into Adelaide, turn in the camper, and take a taxi to our hotel to catch an early Friday morning flight from Adelaide to Brisbane. There we will rent a car and drive South to Coomera to spend the next three weeks with our family. We are staying at a nice little place in the country that we found on Airbnb. I will add a couple pictures of it to the end of this blog when we get there.
Meanwhile, here are some pictures from the Barossa Valley … But before that. Several people have asked if we ever see Koala. Koalas are very hard to see and live only where there are Eucalyptus trees. That is all they eat. As we have been around mostly desert and Gum trees, no Koalas. We have seen them on other trips and they are every bit as cute as you would think. There is an Island on The Brisbane River that is a Koala refuge. You can take a boat there and walk around amongst them, Kangaroos, Wallaby’s, and many other Australian animals. Then of course there is the Australian Zoo located North of Brisbane. It was made famous by Steve Irwin, the wild animal guy who tragically died of a string ray strike. Crackie!!! Bet that Hurt.
Ancient Grape Vines
Inscription on a Memorial to the early Settlers
Green pastures, Old Trees, Green Grass
An Impressive Cellar
The Front
Nancy and Our Cheese Board
Jacobs Creek Cellar
Jacobs Creek … All dried up this time of year
Grapes as far as you can see
Another Old/Modern Cellar
Day 14 …. 85 Kilometers today …. Total so far … 4900 km
28/29 Jun- Depart Adelaide
Day 15 … Got up to a frosty morning, repacked all our clothes, cleaned up the camper, made sure everything was where it was supposed to be, and left The Barossa Valley going to Adelaide. In Adelaide we first went to the hotel we would spend the night at and dropped off our baggage, then back to where we turned in the camper, then a taxi ride back to the hotel where we spent the rest of the day and evening. We had a pleasant dinner at the hotel and reminisced about the past two weeks; what our favorite events were, would we do something like this again, etc, etc. Our flight was scheduled to depart Adelaide for Brisbane at 6:10 A.M. so we had to get up again at O’Dark thirty to catch the shuttle to the airport. As Murphy would have it, Brisbane was fogged in so we didn’t leave Adelaide until 9:00 A.M. Consequently, we had a very long day for no good reason. We made it to Brisbane, checked out our rental car and drove to Coomera on the Gold Coast where our family lives. We checked into our rental home for the next three weeks … a very pleasant place out of the city. Quiet, nice host and hostess, friendly dogs, and a wonderful view. (pictures below)
The Galley
Rest of the Galley
The Bedroom
The View
Patio/Entrance
Living Room
Our resident Kookaburra
That’s the rest of the story. Thanks for traveling with us for these past couple weeks and I hope you enjoyed the blog.
Day 14 …. 208 Kilometers today …. Total … 5108 km
Some final thoughts about the trip. Using the camper we did cost us a little more than renting a car and staying in Hotels etc. However, we always had a comfortable place to stay, we could fix lunch or cook dinner whenever we wished, we had the convenience of our own toilet and shower if we wanted it, and did not need to worry about reservations. If we couldn’t get a spot in a campground there were many other palces we could just park … and many people did. We found having the store, showers, toilets, and power at the campsites to be very handy and having them enhanced our experience. Camping can be fun without being rugged or spartan … it depends what you are looking for. I don’t think the cost of the camper greatly exceeded other ways of doing this trip, it did make it a unique experience. I didn’t find the camper to be a bother due to its size and while I was not supposed to take it off road, we really didn’t need to … we saw most everything we wanted. Like I stated on my cover page, this is the way we like to travel.
A Post Script on this Blog … we have decided “To do it again” and this time we will be camping from Darwin to Perth via Broome and other Northern points along Australia’s Northeast coast in May or June 2019. Keep and eye out for it and we will see you then.
Related
Author: Bill
Bill Rumpel served America as an Air Traffic Controller, a Commander of forces, and as an advisor to our country's senior leadership in peacetime and combat in the US Air Force for nearly, forty years of his adult life. Raised on a Wisconsin dairy farm and living most of his early years working hard or enjoying the outdoors, he has devoted his retirement years to telling stories based on true events with an intriguing mix of fiction and adventure. His books are published in 14 countries and in 9 different languages.
View all posts by Bill
