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.

2023 & 2019 – K’Gari – 4 Wheeling Australia’s Fraser Island

22 August 2023 – This is the new update from our August 2023 trip to Fraser. I’m adding pictures from this trip to the trip posted below that we took in 2019, four years ago.

This trip was just a nothing special, low key, relaxing three days off to do some touring and relaxing. We did a sunset cruise, a 4-wheeling adventure, and a whale watching cruise. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

Getting there:

Our first day there we did a sunset cruise. It was the first of three events we had scheduled. Tomorrow is a 4 wheel drive and Thursday is the Whale watching cruise.

Boats we saw along the way up and down the west coast of the island

The 4 Wheeling was again a lot of fun. Saw mostly the same places but had a good time.

Our last day there we did a whale watching tour. Saw a great deal of activity and had a great morning. We sailed up along the west side of the island all the way to the top and Platypus bay. Humpback whales come here in the winter, which is quite warm, for the Mom’s to fatten up their new calves. By spring they migrate down to Antarctica to enjoy the cool waters down there. We saw males, females and babies. Great show.

That was our whale watching cruise … great fun, lots a whales. …. was also the end of our week in K’Gari. Great time, great place. 2019 Visit below.

19 Feb 2019 – Nancy and I are in Australia visiting the family and staying at “The Folly” once more. The 21st is our Anniversary so we have decided to motor North from the Gold Coast to the Sun Coast and take a ferry over to Fraser Island. Just a little back ground: Fraser Island is the biggest sand Island in the world. It has miles of beaches, fresh water lakes, a rain forest, and a bunch of interesting wildlife. Just Google it if you want to learn more about it. It’s about a four hour drive for us to get to the ferry, a 45 minute ride across and we are staying at The Kings Bay Resort on Fraser Island. The plan is to rent a 4Wheel Drive vehicle on the 21st and explore the Island, bottom to top and side to side.

20 Feb 2019 – Ok … So we took the M1 from the Gold Coast, through Brisbane, up past the Sun Coastand made it to Hervey Bay. Hervey Bay is a quaint, older town across from Fraser Island, right where the mainland takes a skip to the West. A fairly big town that features a beautiful beach the runs across the Northern edge of the town. The beach is long and narrow and features sandy areas, natural areas with walkways and hiking trails, restaurants, tennis courts, camp grounds, and sundry other facilities. Across the street are many apartment houses, hotels, motels, bars, and restaurants. Bike rentals, jeep rentals, souvenier shops and many other beach associated commercial venrures. All that seemed to be missing was the hustle and bustle of the chaotic beach scene like Surfers Paradise. Everyone seems relaxed and not in a big hurry. Kinda nice!! Leaving Hervey Bay we drove a little ways South to River Leads where the mainland reception center for Kingfish Bay Resorts is located. They checked us in, booked us on the bus and ferry, and I parked the car in their secure parking facility. Soon we boarded the bus and were taken to the Kingfish Bay resort ferry.

Kingfish Bay Resort Bus

Kingfish Bay Resort Ferry

A short 45 minutes later we were docking at Fraser Island’s west side. A Disney type shuttle was waiting to take us to the reception desk, our rooms, and our vacation. Following is a number of pictures from our adventure … summary at the end.

The Dock from the Ferry to the Island

It’s Good to be Welcomed

Nancy with our Rental Jimney (Great fun!)

Places to Go and Things to See (It’s a BIG Place!)

Crystal Clear Fresh Water Lakes – Fed Only by Rainwater

Miles of Beaches to Drive or Walk

The Rain Forest – Note the “Air Ferns” that live in the trees

4WD trails all about the Island
(Don’t Bring Your wife’s Subaru! … It will get scratched!))

Historic Logging Company Headquarters

Where we used to Live in Colorado
(Not on Fraser Island … Just checking to see if you are paying attention!)

Trails to Hike on … as far as you like

The Walkway to Our Room at the KingFish Bay Resort

We had a great time. Getting there was as easy as stopping at the mainland registration site and walking up to the two pleasant ladies at the reception counter. From there on everything was taken care of. The ferry ride over was interesting and not too long. A Shuttle took us from the Ferry to the Hotel. We had an excellent Anniversary Dinner at the SeaBelles restaurant in the resort. Gracious Service, delicious food, friendly setting. The Jimney we rented on the Island was a Hoot. Easy to drive, easy on the gas, fit on all the trails, and was fun to drive … and I didn’t have to worry about getting it scratched on some of the trails. The resort was a bit pricey but offered a great deal of comfort, relaxation, several restaurants, a bar by the dock that was a great place to stop for a cold one. There are other, less formal places to eat so there is something for whatever your taste or preference is. As you could see from the map, there are a great many things to do on Fraser Island, many places to stay, and endless things to do. If you don’t want to go it alone, there are a number of “Safari” type 4WD outfitters that lead adventures around the island. We did not use one so I cannot speak to the value of them … I just know some people are less adventurous and would prefer to have a guide. Nancy and I went it alone, there are ample signs pointing the way, cell service does not exist but GPS does work. We thoroughly enjoyed our day in the Little Jimney, saw much of the island, and had a fun time.

A Revisit to Germany – September 2018

I am posting this Blog from Germany. We are on our way to visit the family in Australia and decided to travel Westward for a change and spend a week or so in Germany. We picked this time because of the Wine Fest, Beer Fest, and village Fall celebrations called Kerwe (sounds like KAVA when pronounced in the Phalz). It is also a great time to visit friends from our past. Nancy and I lived in Germany for a total of 14 years over our adult working life. The last six years I worked was in Germany. Consequently we were able to discover much of Germany that the casual visitor never gets time to do. This Blog shares some of our favorite times or activities during our time in Europe. They include just a few events, some of which we enjoyed annually. We are here for about ten days and our plan was to arrive on Friday, rent a car and drive to the village of Mehlingen where we lived many of our years in Germany. We spent the afternoon with our dearest friends who have shared much of their life, both family and personal, with us. It was great to see them again after some catch-up talk, a couple beers, and a quick Schnapps. they gave us time to check into our hotel, freshen up a bit, then meet for dinner at their favorite Gastehaus. One of our favorite things about Germany is the food … and the wine … and the beer. Lovely evening, got to bed early after a VERY LONG day and got a good night’s sleep.

Saturday we traveled to St Martin on the German Wine Strasse. This lovely little village is a popular place on weekends for the city folks from Mannheim, Ludwighaven, Heidelberg, and even Frankfurt. They walk a little, have a coffee or wine, visit, walk a little more, or perhaps, eat. A long leisurly weekend. We go there because our favorite Vintor is there. Schneider Alte Schlosschen, is a small vineyard that is family owned and operated. They have excellent wines to buy or are fun just to stop by at and do some wine probing. From St Martin we drove to Diedesheim and checked into our hotel. The Bad Durkheim WurstFest is most commonly known as the Bad Durkheim Wine Fest … it is the Wurstfest but everyone goes there for the wine. Some call it the “Octoberfest of Wine” and the crowds, rides, food, and wine stands make that pretty accurate. We stay in Deidesheim and take a short train ride into Bad Durkheim. Parking, traffic, and enjoying wine while driving are all nearly impossible during this fest. We have a short walk to the train, at both ends and no worries about traffic, parking or the politzei. We spent late afternoon and the early evening stopping at the different wine tents where local growers sell their best wines. Had many familiar foods that we miss in The U.S., met many great people, and had a super time.

The Ferris Wheel

Sunday we were invited back to Mehlingen to enjoy a Church Social following services. The social turned out to be a turnout for the entire Village and people sat around all afternoon soaking upon the sun, enjoying wursts, cakes donated by the ladies, and beer. We were surprised by a close group of friends from the village whom we had spent many special occasions with. They all showed up at the social and it was a wonderful time. I mentioned Kerwes earlier. Mehlingen had just had theirs a couple of weeks ago so we missed it. Kerwes are Fall Celebrations that each of the local communities have to celebrate Fall. I guess it relates back to the finishing of harvest and the Fall crops. Even though there are few small farmers left, the tradition remains and is always enjoyed by all. Beer tents, food stands, bands, and entertainment for the children. Over the years, we have been to many in many nearby small towns and we never had a bad time. Day to Day, Germans are considered to be stoic and standoffish. However, when they decide to celebrate they are warm welcoming people who will talk, laugh, dance, and party with anyone … and once you establish a friendship with them, you have a good friend forever.

We are leaving the Mehlingen area and driving over to the Mosel River at BernKastel-Keus. A lovely City to start our trip up the Mosel to a small village called Senheim. We have good friends that live there and own a Gastehaus … we will stay with them a couple days to enjoy the area. A few years back we were invited to join them at their annual grape harvest … we accepted and truly enjoyed the adventure. Hard work but loads of fun … and all the grapes you could eat. One evening while we were there they had their annual village Bonfire. Starts with a parade and ends in a big fire … just enough reason to celebrate.

Goes Back a Long Time!

High Water Marks on Old Buildings along the Mosel

Early Morning Grape Picking (It was Chilly!)

Little Tractor on a Track that hauls grapes and equipment up and down hill

While at Senheim we took a day a drove down the Mosel to a City named Cocheim. A very old city, established in 892 as a stable to stay at before crossing the river. Now it is one of the biggest attractions on the Mosel. A large Castle stands over the city. We were lucky enough to be invited and attend a wedding at this Castle … Very impressive.

After leaving Senheim we traveled cross-country to reach the Rhine River. Another scenic river in Germany … much bigger and more industrial but surrounded by castles, villages, vineyards and fun people. We are spending the night in Saint Goar, then slowly making our way upriver (Yes, the Rhine flows North) to Rudesheim for a little shopping, then on to Frankfurt. We having Dinner in a “Very German” restaurant with some good friends that live in the Frankfurt area. They chose the place to eat and “Very German” was their description. We both look forward to that experience. Saturday we will spend in Frankfurt at their weekly Market. Loads of interesting foods, beers, wines, and people. Something we try never to miss if we are in the area.

Riding Bikes Along The Rhine (Once a year they close the highway all day and you can ride for miles right along the river)

That’s Not the House Number … It is the Year This Building was Erected

Then Sunday we turn in the car and we are off to see the family in Australia. So many good memories from our time in Germany. I will post more pictures of other good times later. Hope you enjoyed Germany as much as we have.

Iceland For Four – In A Car – May 2016

The Fearless Four Peaking Through An IceBerg

Going to Iceland was not our idea. Actually, we had never considered going there. Then, some friends of our’s, Zack and Sharol Wittke from Wisconsin, asked us if we would like to travel somewhere with them. Zack was a classmate of Nancy and mine and we have known him and Sharol for many years so … of course we would like to travel somewhere with you!! We discussed places that might be interesting and they proposed Iceland … Really … Iceland? So off we go getting ready to go to Iceland. We were a little constrained for time as they only had a week off so we decided to drive the road that goes all the way around Iceland … they call it “Ring Road” … how original is that? We read a great deal about what there is to see along the way and decided to give it a go.

Yellow Line is the “Ring Road” around Iceland … The Route We Followed.

We divided the days up based on how far we wanted to travel each day (determined by how much we wanted to see in that area). We started in Reykjavik, went counter clockwise across the South, up the East side, then West across the top and South back to Reykjavik along the Western side … 1333 Kilometers or 828 miles. We actually ended up going much farther than that as we often took deviations to sites that were along the way either on the coast or up into the mountains.

There are not many roads that go inland because most of the inland is either mountain, glacier, or volcano. There are roads but open only parts of the year and not real automobile friendly … so we just stuck to the main roads. We drove a Hyundai I30 Combi that proved to be quite sufficient in space, power, efficiency, and comfort.

So now we had the things we wanted to see, our route, proposed stopping points, and all we needed were airplane tickets and hotel reservations.

Icelandic Air had some great deals from New York to Iceland and connected to Tampa and Minneapolis so we went with them. Hotels were another matter. More on that in a bit.

We got to Reykjavik, got the car, our luggage, and found our way to our hotel. We checked in and were all ready to go exploring … so off we went. We were a short walk from down town and the harbor so we walked around taking in the sites.

Of particular interest was a fish market we found by the harbor … actually what was interesting was the fish they had on display that had been caught in the local waters.

Once you leave Reykjavik, none of the towns or cities along the route have a great choice of accommodations. Most are old, few offer private baths, and all were expensive. We did find a few but what really saved us were campgrounds and private enterprises that set up small, completely furnished cabins that were mostly all new. Apparently someone saw the need for lodging tourists so many people put up, what appeared to be kits, that included a kitchen, small living room, one or two bedrooms, and a bath. All were neat and clean, very comfortable, and well furnished … and available at reasonable rates. So, we stayed at two different hotels in Reykjavik (one when we arrived and one when we were leaving)

and the rest of the time stayed in the little cabins. We found them all on Booking.com. I can’t say there were no hotels available but for the price, these cabins could not be beat … and the were all conveniently located. They were also mostly located on the outskirts of the towns they were by so you could take walks from them without city traffic, two were by rivers.

One night, we could not find a place to eat that we liked so we went to a local grocery store and bought “Dinner”. All the foods were labeled in Icelandic so we kinda had to go by the pictures on the packages and what we could get from other shoppers who spoke english. We went home and prepared a very nice dinner that included wine and desert. …. Never Go Hungry!!

Speaking of hunger … Many ships carrying U.S. Soldiers to and from WWII in Europe stopped in Iceland for refueling and resupply. The Americans left their mark in the form of Hot Dogs. Made famous during the the U.S. Soldiers visits, the Hot Dog can be found everywhere and is a favorite lunchtime staple. Zack was determined to have a different one each day and he succeeded … Who would’ve thought!

Back to our arrival: We found a little restaurant in the early evening and had some dinner, walked back to the hotel, and hit the sack!!! It was a long but interesting day.

Okay … So I mentioned I was going to write about the geological features of Iceland … I am … in a minute. But first, something not Geologic but both interesting and cute. The Icelandic Pony. You see these little guys most places you go. They are in pastures, farm yards, even some more generous residential areas. The pony is unique to Iceland and is a product of having been the only breed of horse on the Island for the past two centuries. They are unique in that they are the only breed of horse in the world that has five different gaits. Most horses have three gaits; walk, trot, gallop. Some add a fourth gait known as a canter. The Icelandic pony has five; Walk, trot, Canter, Tolt, and Flying Pace. The Tolt and Flying Pace are a gait only these ponies have. The Tolt is special in that one hoof is always on the ground and is exceptionally smooth … even at high speeds. The Flying Pace, as the name implies, is the fastest where both feet on one side are on the ground at one time and is likened to a fast gallop, and at one part of the gait, all four legs are in the air at the same time. If you are into horses or gaits, there is ample info on the internet. It’s just what makes these ponies special. I think it’s their extra long and bushy bangs that makes them special, but that’s just me.

Enough about horses!

The next morning we had a nice breakfast that came with the room (we love European breakfasts), loaded up the car, and headed out of town. In this Post, rather than describe our trip day by day, I am going to describe areas or features. I’ve shown you where we drove, and told you where we stayed so now I will just focus on the things in Iceland that we found most interesting. They will not be listed by preference, just as they come to mind.

Here are some photos of the terrain in SouthEastern Iceland as we drove from Reykjavik East then North along the coast. One of the photos is a sign that describes the area. Most of the terrain along the coast has to do with Lava Flows. Some old and grown over with a spongy moss, others washed out by water, some look like they just cooled yesterday. There was a huge volcanic eruption in Iceland in 2010 that put so much ash in the air it shut down transoceanic air routes.

This photo is of a farm that is nestled against the mountains on the East side of Iceland. The people that live there documented the volcano I just described with films, narratives, and anecdotes regarding their experience as they lived through it. Right aside of the road, across from this farm, they have set up a little museum that has pictures of the volcano and features a movie they show that captures the entire event … from them motorbiking up next to it to their having to evacuate as it erupts. An incredibly interesting story, well worth the few dollars it costs to see. They ended up hauling tons of ash away as they cleaned up their farm buildings and roads leading to it. Some of the actual family members work in the museum and you see them in the film! That eruption placed layers of ash over many of the glaciers which now appears as a layer of dirt on the ice. Some of it is thin, other areas very thick … all nasty and black. You will see it when I post the pictures of the glaciers and icebergs.

Here are some of the Waterfalls we saw. They are in no particular order and I won’t try to replicate the names. Just enjoy them and if you really like them a great deal and want to see or have more to do with them, have a go to Iceland. Some of these groups of pictures include signs or names of the site we were at … you can Google that name and get more info if you are curious. Following is one of the grandest. It is a long dusty drive out to it but very well worth it.

Following the Grand Ones are a series of tall ones. This tall one is unique in that you can hike to the top of it from the side, or you can walk behind it … which we did. Some of the end photos are from behind the falls or coming out on the other end. The noise is deafening!

Enough waterfalls for now … How about some Glaciers? … Glaciers Calving, and Ice Bergs? As I mentioned, volcanic ash covers most of the glaciers and snowy areas giving them a black look. However, when they split or change the white and blue of the ice is exposed. One early morning we walked out to a large glacier and hiked around on it. Here are some of what we saw.

Driving North along the East side we came across a large lake that had a glacier running down into it. As nature has it, the glacier was calving icebergs into the lake. The lake is several miles long and at the end runs through a narrow channel that runs under a bridge and into the sea. The Icebergs follow that flow and can be seen floating along the lake, rushing down the narrow flow, and drifting out to sea. Some wash ashore after the bridge and slowly melt creating beautiful ice sculptures.

There were people all around the lake watching the Bergs float by. There was even a Couple Taking Wedding Pictures along the shore with the Ice Bergs as background.

Iceland is known as “The Land of Fire and Ice” … you have seen some of the ice, and I’ve mentioned the fire … so, as you know, when you have fire and ice, you get a lot of hot water!! There are thermal pools, vents, geysers, and hot mud fields all around Iceland. Most municipalities have a community pool that is heated by underground water sources that are hot. Many of the ares reminded us of Yellowstone and the thermal activity there.

One place even had a volcano you could climb to the top of and peek into the center. Long dormant the center is cool and a little filled in, there is a worn path to the top … however, the view from the top is great, there are little flowers growing on the volcanic rock, and its a cool experience.

Another area that we found to be very interesting was near the volcano we climbed and was a huge area of lava that apparently had flowed from the volcano at one time … there are now roads through it and vegetation growing but it is clear what come first.

The first settlers of Iceland came from the Scandinavian countries. As such they were accustomed to building with wood as there are a lot of trees in Eastern Europe. Consequently, they built their early structures using the trees they found in Iceland. Whether due to neglect, forgetfulness, or naivety they used up all the trees and didn’t have any growing to replace them. As a result of the lack of wood and the critical need for shelter they turned to using sod. In Northwestern Iceland is a restored village where the sod homes are able to be toured. They are very well presented and in addition to the structures, all of the furnishings, tools, storage facilities, and personal items are there for the visitor to see. Very impressive. In the village, there is a very old church … made of wood. Of interest was the organ that had pipes made of wood.

In the Northern part of Iceland were rolling pastures that were punctuated with crater like holes. There is a picture of the explanation. This are was populated with sheep and infested with flies. Note on the pictures from inside the car all the black spots on the window … they were flies. So first the Lava flow:

Then the craters, sheep, and flies!

To follow the Ring Road around Iceland is experiencing nearly every kind of terrain, environment, and feature of the country. The Sea is always on one side and the mountains on the other. Regardless of which way you travel you will pass over the mountains in the North.

As you can imagine, fishing is a big industry in Iceland. It follows that fish farming would also be a big deal. Here are a couple of Photos of a ship with food lines running back to “Fish Corrals where the fish are raised and harvested. We saw many of these in the various protected inlets.

Then we got to the very top of Iceland. Just South of the Arctic Circle. Couldn’t get real close but we were there!

Following is a collection of photos taken by myself and Sharol. Some more water falls, some mountains, some lakes, a little of everything. All of us found the country very interesting. The only thing we did not do, and will if we go back, is to spend more time with the locals. The bars, coffee houses, markets, etc all offer anyone a chance to rub elbows with someone interesting and, as we find nearly anywhere, people, for the most part, are kind, friendly, and helpful. They love to talk about their families, their country, and their lives, as well hear about yours. Enjoy the rest of the photos.

Middle East Adventure …….. Jordan & Israel by Car

ABOUT THIS TRIP: 13 – 28 October, 2017 –
Nancy had Petra near the top of her “Must See” list so it was kind of the cornerstone for our trip. We felt as long as we were so close by, we should go and visit Israel and the Holy Land. We checked a number of tours and found they went some of the places we wanted to go and many more we had no interest in. I did some research on driving in Jordan and Israel, VISA requirements, and traveling alone and found it was not all that difficult to do. We could rent cars in both countries but could not take one across the border so we rented one in each country. Both Jordan and Israel allowed us, as U.S. citizens, to buy visitor’s Visa’s at the entry point to the country. There is an exception to that at the Allenby bridge but we didn’t go that way so it was not a problem. We made our plane reservations, worked out a travel plan, booked hotels where we planned to stay, rented cars in each country and we were set.

– Air Travel: We did not want to backtrack so we booked a Multiple city ticket flying into Amman, and departing Tel Aviv to go back to the states. There were a number of selections available so we just picked out the times we wanted to arrive and depart. We usually use an on-line search and booking system like KAYAK to find and buy our tickets, or will book directly with the airline we want to use.

– Visa’s: We flew into Amman and purchased Visitor’s Visa’s at the airport Immigration site. They accept only Jordanian currency or Credit cards so be prepared to either exchange some money right as you get there or use a credit card.

– CARS, Guidance, and Communications: We had booked a rental car through a U.S. rental company. **If you are making a long trip make sure you get unlimited mileage. As we could not take our Jordanian rental across the border we planned to turn it in at our last destination in Jordan, Aqaba. There were rental car counters in both Aqaba and Eilat, Israel so we dropped off the Jordanian car, took a taxi to the border, walked across at the Wadi Araba Border Crossing, brought our Israeli Visa’s at the Israeli immigration point, caught a taxi into Eilat and our rental car company. We picked up our rental in Eilat and drove it for the rest of the trip, leaving it at the airport in Tel Aviv. Be aware there is not a great deal of GPS maps available in Israel so we used a WiFi Hotspot and our iPads for guidance. We were able to purchase a Garman map for our NUVI for Jordan and it worked fine. As always with maps, there is a mix of languages so don’t get confused. We did download a generic map for our NUVI that did work in the GPS for Israel but it was spotty so we backed everything up with the hotspot and google maps. We did not have a telephone during this trip. We relied on WiFi signals along the way in restaurants, coffee shops, malls, and hotels as well as using our rental car Hotspotfor updating our email, making adjustments to reservations, etc. … worked well.

**A note about driving. When we rent cars they are usually small compacts that are maneuverable, fuel efficient, and don’t stand out. We very seldom have troubles with local people. On this trip, in Jordan, there were groups of single males, mostly young, that would hang out on corners and watch, or make comments. Once they attempted to stop us by stepping out in front of us. I tried my best but was unable to run any of them over … they are quick little buggers. Bottom line, stay alert, avoid crowds, don’t draw attention to yourself.

Hotels: We try to stay in 4 star type hotels. When we can’t find chains brand hotels we know and like we use Booking.com to find the rest of them. We prefer booking.com as you do not pay until you are eye to eye with the hotel management and you can negotiate problems directly. We seldom have significant problems with hotels as English is spoken in nearly every hotel in the world and by staying with the better brands have avoided unpleasantness.

THE TRIP: This was our initial itinerary:

13 & 14 October, 2017 – We departed Tampa enroute to Amman, Jordan via Frankfurt, Germany. We picked an 8 hour layover in Frankfurt and took a train from the airport downtown to the city center. Saturday is market day in Frankfurt and the down town area is delightful to visit. Having lived in Germany for many years we enjoyed rediscovering the firsts, wine, beer and atmosphere. We took the train back to the airport and caught a late night flight to Amman. The stop also broke up the many hours spent in an airplane making the trip.

15 Oct – We arrived in Amman at 2 A.M., got our Visa’s, picked up our luggage, cleared customs, and picked up our car. We got to our Hotel in downtown Amman in an hour or so, checked in and bagged five or six hours of much needed sleep.h

We got up in late morning, had some coffee and set off for our first destination; Jerash. Jerash is located about 30 miles north of Amman. We drove there experiencing the local traffic, scenery, and environment … WOW, we were in Jordan. Jerash is a very well presented ruin of an ancient civilization established around 100 BCE and destroyed around 800 CE by several earthquakes. Most of the ruins are left from the Roman culture that lived there last. There still is a Jerash, Jordan but it is a regular city, the remain or ruins is what you want to see … very interesting and a great deal of visible history. Back to Amman late in the day, dinner, and a good night’s sleep.

16 Oct: – Checked out of our hotel in Amman and started South, destination Petra. Before getting seriously on our way to Petra we did a side trip to Mt Nebo where Moses is buried and is the sight of the location where Moses and the Israelites first saw the promised land. There were a couple interesting churches and museums in nearby Madaba that we stopped in at. If you want to know more details about these places I recommend Googling them and reading about them. That has to be more interesting and much more accurate than what I can write about. If we didn’t find them interesting, I usually don’t mention them.

**There are two major ways to get from Amman to Petra. The Kings Highway and Highway 15. Highway 15 is fast and cuts through the desert, has many trucks, passes a number of towns and cities. The Kings Highway passes through many small towns, meanders through market places, residential areas, and city centers. The Kings Highway is definitely more interesting but also more frustrating to drive but, in my opinion, worth the effort. Along the way you will encounter the Grand canyon of Jordan (quite impressive).

The Grand Canyon

Many medieval fortresses left from the Crusades, numerous towns, and lots of people and local color. In spite of all the activity and things to see we still made it to Petra by late afternoon. Whew!! Driving is okay but requires close attention as the locals do not hesitate to walk into the rode, right of way rules are loosely interpreted, and road signs are sometimes obscure and often in a foreign language. I should clear up that it is safe and a little patience and a good GPS coupled with an expert navigator will get you where ever you want to go. Nancy is awesome with maps and frequently argues with the GPS. 😋 … and she is usually right! We arrived early enough in the afternoon to do some reconnoitering around Petra and found they had a special lighting ceremony in Petra that evening. We bought tickets, then went to our hotel, had dinner, and caught a taxi back to Petra (I wasn’t ready to do nighttime navigation yet!) If you get a chance to see the lighting ceremony I would recommend it. Any time you go into Petra you can walk or hire a horse, horse cart, or camel to ride in on. We walked … got the kinks out of our legs from driving all day. Great walk, wonderful show.

17 Oct: Had a good breakfast and went to Petra. Petra is a very interesting place. An ancient civilization came out of the desert and carved many very impressive stone fronts to rooms, tops, temps, and government buildings into the face of sheer rock cliffs that formed a narrow canyon. The red rock, the depth and width of the canyon, and the size of the buildings are incredible.

We spent the entire day at Petra and walked our tootsies off but had a great time. If you can, I recommend walking (make sure you have good hiking shoes) but anytime you get tired there is a dude near by ready to sell you a ride on a camel, cart, donkey, or horse. We made it all the way up to the Monastery which is a healthy climb, lots of steps and great views. Recommend the Philadelphia Beer at the rest center in the middle of Petra. Petra is a truly amazing place to see and spend some time at. If you are ever passing through Jordan, don’t pass it by. Get more details and pictures on Google.

18 OCT: Left Petra and headed Southeast toward Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is a large National Park in the desert that features huge rock outcrops, long stretches of desert, blowing sand dunes, camels, sheep, and history. It is quite large and you cannot drive around in it. We stopped at the entrance visitors center and book a 2 to 3 hour guided tour in a four wheel drive pick-up truck driven by a local guide. Our guide was friendly, knowledgeable, and spoke very good English. We even got him to display a little sense of humor before we finished. Another “Don’t Miss’ and defiantly do a tour. We found the three hours was sufficiently long and had a great time. Longer, and shorter, tours are offered as well as groupies.

An exciting place to see. Caravans used to stop here on the way to Petra hundreds and hundreds of years ago. The colors, sand, rocks, and cliffs are astounding to see.

We left Wadi Rum and continued South to Aquba where we checked into our hotel and turned in our rental. Our hotel was on the Red Sea so we spent the evening at the hotel having dinner and enjoying the evening watch the people on the beach, the sun setting, and people enjoying themselves.

19 OCT: This was a big day for us. I had studied this maneuver carefully and while I was sure it would work, you never know. So, we got up early, had breakfast, checked out of the hotel, and grabbed a cab to the Wadi Araba Border Crossing about 15 miles north of our Hotel. We got out of the cab and walked with our suitcases in tow to the Jordanian border where we were processed out. We then walked, by ourselves, about a 150 yards across an empty “No Man’s Land” to reach the Israeli border station. The signs were clear and we followed the directions they provided. We went through Israeli immigration and got our visitor’s VISA (Israel provides a little slip of paper to carry in your passport vice stamping it), went through Israeli customs and walked out to the exit gate. A pleasant young lady there checked our paperwork, said we were good to go, and asked if she could call a cab for us. We said “yes”, she did, and 5 minutes later we were in a cab heading to Eilat. Israel where our rental car was waiting for us. It went smooth as silk. No problems, no misunderstandings, both the Jordanian and Israeli officials were professional and courteous. … Whew!!

We got our car, Nancy got some Shekels from a bank ATM, we figured out how to navigate with a hotspot, phone, and iPad, and we were on our way North into Israel. Israel is a dramatic change from Jordan. Jordan is mostly desert with towns and cities. Israel is Farms, Co-ops, industries, towns, stops, cities, and a lot more. You don’t find anyone standing around, everyone is busy doing something, going somewhere, whatever … no loitering …. and the country shows it.

We went North to the Dead Sea. An amazing body of water that is the lowest spot on earth, 400 plus meters below sea level. It is so salty there are chunks of salt floating in it. There are a number of resorts on the Israeli side of the Dead Sea that are quite nice … we drove through them but did not spend any time there.

We left the Dead sea and drove South and West of Masada to a town named Arad. We stayed there overnight because we wanted to climb Masada from the West side where the Roman Ramp was built the next morning on the shady side of the mountain. (Google the very interesting story story of Masada). There is a lift and path on the East side but that’s where all the tourists go so we went to the west side. Masada is a story of Israeli heroes who stood off the Romans for years. The walk up the ramp is steep but not too difficult. Walking around on the top is extremely interesting. There are information points throughout the top identifying what you are looking at, showing pictures of what things would have looked like when Masada was there. A DO NOT MISS.

We spent the remainder of the day in Arad, found a place to have dinner, drove around a little. Interesting place.

**A caution when visiting Israel, especially in the country. Saturday is the Sabath (Holy Day, Day of Rest), they don’t play around … they shut down from sunset Friday night to sunset Saturday. Make sure you ask about this regarding your hotel and where you plan to eat.

After Dinner we met a very nice couple from Paris who were occupying the room next to ours. They were both Surgeons and on a holiday. We sat in the evening cool, looking out over the desert, talked about where we had been in Israel and where we were going, had some wine … a great way to end the big day.

20 Oct: Up and at’em again. Off we went heading East to Jerusalem. Many more people, more traffic, bigger roads but we got to Jerusalem in early afternoon, checked into our hotel, and walked to the Old Walled City of Jerusalem. We walked around a bit, found a place that had great pizza and cold beer, had dinner and went back to the hotel. We booked a tour to Bethlehem and Jericho in the Palestinian region before we went to bed through our hotel. We were not able to drive in the Palestinian region so tours were the only way to get there.

** A personal note regarding the Old Walled City of Jerusalem. It is located in the near middle of Jerusalem (the modern city) and is surrounded by a large wall (duh) but is dramatically different from the modern city. Within the walls Jerusalem is a vast network of alleys, shops, streets, churches, places to eat and drink, steps, gates, and tunnels. It is divided into four quarters but has no boundaries within, just different gates for entry. It is crowded with people of many different faiths, ethnic backgrounds and races, as well as vendors and tour guides. If you go there looking for a religious experience you must really focus on what is motivating your search. The crowds, the vendors, the cars … all detract from the religious setting one might expect. I do not refute the religious events that have occurred in this city, only caution a traveler that it is easily seen as more commercial than religious.

21 Oct: We went back to spend the day in Old Jerusalem. We did all four quarters, the Holy Sepulcher, the Wailing Wall, a thousand gift shops, several restaurants, the Via Dolorosa (The Way of the Cross) and spent some time in New Jerusalem on the Israeli side … great train system, modern, great restaurants, busy people. We saw people praying and weeping on the Holy Sepulcher, eating nearly any type food you can name, people praying at the Wailing Wall, tour guides leading bus loads of people, churches from at least four different faiths, church groups, student groups, and a lot of worn out people. Definitely worth seeing, fighting the crowds, avoiding the vendors and leaving knowing you have been to Old Jerusalem.

A Corner of the Wall

The Wailing Wall (Far back side)

People Praying at the Wailing Wall

Dome of the Rock

Gethsemane (Where the Garden was)

The Way of The Cross

One of the Stations on the Way of the Cross

An Alley in the Old City

The Marble Slab Upon Which Jesus’ Body Was Prepared for Burial

People lined up entering the Tomb

Aahh .. A Well Earned Break!!

Part of The Wall … The Damascus Gate

The Light Rail in Jerusalem ( Great way to get around)

The City Market

Great Humus

There are countless things to see in Jerusalem. One thing not to miss is the Holocaust Museum … extremely well done, informative, and moving. Jerusalem itself is a Vibrant city with many interesting places and things to see. It is a great place to stay that is in the center of most of the things to see in Israel. We stayed at a small boutique hotel just a couple blocks from Old Jerusalem, a couple blocks from the light rail, and a block from a main street that had oodles of restaurants, souvenir shops, ethnic foods, art shops, … The Hotel Malka, Great place, nice people.

22 Oct: Having wore our legs off up to the knees yesterday, today is a good day to take a bus tour. As I mentioned, we could not drive into Palestine so the bus tour seemed to be a good option. When you book tours you must be aware that many tour operators combine their tour with others and essentially “Sell” you to a larger tour operator. Also when you book tours you should be aware that tours take you where they want to take you, on their schedule. So it was with this tour. What started out as a tour with “about a dozen people” we ended up on a large bus with maybe 40 or 50 people. We booked a tour to Bethlehem and Jericho and that is what we got. We were picked up at O’dark thirty in a small van that went to 4 or 5 other pick up points. Then we went to this area that had big buses, little buses, vans, and taxis. We were told to be at a certain station point at 9 O’clock, where we could get something to eat or drink, and where the bathrooms were. As it was still well before 8 we just hung out. Buses, vans, and taxis were dropping people off from all over the place. When we finally boarded the bus at 9 our reason for not taking bug tours was justified when one of the group on the bus asked where the bathroom was and would everyone please wait till they got back. … Then a dozen other people had to use the bathroom so waited an additional 30 minutes till that was all taken care of. Finally we were on our way to Bethlehem to see where Jesus was born and later to Jericho where some really bad horns torn down walls. First stop, was at a church that was out in the hills where shepherds tended their flocks. The church was built over a cave that was supposed to be like the one that the Shepard’s who saw the star were in while tending their sheep when Jesus was born. Interesting. Next stop, and most important to the tour operator, was at a large souvenir shop that offered “exceptional deals”. Hmmm. The goods sold at this store were the same goods you could buy nearly anywhere in the Jerusalem area. Consequently, everyone got off the bus, did a quick walk about, and got back on the bus. However, a handful of people continued to shop, chat with the owners, and generally waste every one’s time for the next 45 minutes … and everyone else just wanted to go see where Jesus was born. Finally we started again. We were on our way to the Church of the Nativity … The church was originally commissioned in 327 CE by Constantine the Great and his mother Helena on the site that was traditionally considered to be the birthplace of Jesus.

Chapel of the Shepard’s

Inside of the Church of the Nativity (Restoration
has been ongoing for a number of years.)

Fresco’s being restored on Pillars in the church

An Icon in the Church

Long line waiting to enter Tunnel

Entrance to the tunnel that goes under the Alter
and to the cave where Jesus was born

Actual place where Jesus was born .. A Silver Star on the Spot

The Road to Jericho

A Shepard tending his flocking the desert

Looking East to Jordan … Mt Nebo (Jordan) in the
background Dead Sea in the middle

Digs in Jericho

Jericho (No Walls … They all tumbled down a long time ago!)

This is the sycamore tree Zachaeus ran ahead and climbed along Jesus’ path … Really, It is!

Entrance to Jericho

Okay … So we left Jericho and rode back to Jerusalem, mostly in the dark. A long day but interesting. I would not recommend a bus tour like this, if at all possible keep the group as small as you can and make sure you understand the itinerary and schedule BEFORE you buy it. But wait!! The trip was not over. Our bus driver started getting phone calls on the way back and our guide go off the bus before we got back to Jerusalem … said it was where he had parked his car. As we approached the city the driver pulled into a large parking lot and announced everyone would have to get off the bus and find their own way back to their hotels!! It seems there were some demonstrations in Jerusalem and the police had shut off all highways into the city. The driver was not able to help much as he spoke little English but pointed to a light rail station across the way and indicated we should catch that back to the city. Guess what??? Yup, when we got to the station, the rail too had been shut down. We know the light rail went near our hotel so we just started following the light rail tracks … we didn’t really know where we were or how far we had to go, just that walking was the only way we were going to get there. Turned out it was only a couple miles … in the dark … and ironically, through the area with the demonstrations … Hmmm. Anyhow, that was the end of a long day, a lousy tour, but we got to see what we wanted to see in Palestine. Had a great Pizza for dinner and got a good night’s sleep.

If I sound skeptical, it is not because I was not impressed with the opportunity to visit the Holy Land and to see the actual places where Christianity was born. The disappointing part of the entire place is how over commercialized it is. You really loose the opportunity to “feel” the region. However, it is the only place on earth where these sites are so ….

23 Oct: We spent the day exploring the Current City of Jerusalem. Beautiful place. Decorated streets, murals, busy pleasant people. Had a great time … Visited the Holocaust Museum by taking the light rail out to it, the city market, half way back to the hotel, and some restaurants. Great day to recover and enjoy ourselves.

24 Oct: Got up early, recovered our car, and left Jerusalem. We are off to the region of Galilee. Driving out of Jerusalem towards the Sea of Galilee is like going back in time. The roads narrow, the villages become more “Rural” and everything kind of slows down. We reached the Sea and drove south the very tip of it where the River Jordan flows from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. It is at the very start that John the Baptist baptized Jesus.

Entrance to Site on the Jordan River where Jesus was Baptized

A Church Group Doing Baptisms in The Jordan

We then drove north along the Sea, through Tiberius to the town of Caparnaum where the Apostle Peter came from. There is a lovely church there in a very pleasant setting. Traveling along the shore we went past the site where Jesus performed the miracle of the Fishes and Loaves, preached the beatitudes, and spent most of his ministry years. The West side of the Sea of Galilee is very picturesque, with trees, flowers, and sea side parks. A pleasant change from the crowded streets of Jerusalem.

St Peter

Looking Down onto The Sea of Galilee

We spent the night in a small boutique hotel, The Way Inn, in Tsfat. Tsfat is a artsy kind of town located in the mountains. The Way Inn was a pleasant place to stay with easy walking to restaurants, galleries, and shopping.

25 Oct: After an excellent breakfast at The Way Inn we continued our journey West … destination Acre, headquarters for a number of Christian Crusades. Acre is right on the Mediterranean Sea, and served a a harbor and port for sailing ships bringing Ccrusaders and supplies to the holy land. It hosts a very well cared for and interesting museum and an impressive fortress that has been there for centuries. For a small fee you can wander through the entire complex visualizing life must have been like in the 14th century

A Model of the Fortress

Inside the Museum

Steps Desending to a Secret Tunnel to the Sea

Inside The Fortress

A Map Showing the City, Fortress, and Harbor

From Acre we drove South along the Med to get to Haifa. Haifa is Israel’s biggest port and and is an impressive city set between the Mediterranean Sea and Mt Carmel. Haifa is great to look at but is just a big, busy city. I’m sure there are museums and other things to look at but we had not found anything in our research that we wanted to see. We stayed at a hotel in Mt Carmel and spend the afternoon walking around Mt Carmel. Many shops, restaurants, bars, etc. Not many pictures as it is just a nice city to see.

26 Oct: We left Mt Carmel and continued South. We were on our way to our final destination, Tel Aviv, but wanted to stop in Caesarea first. Caesarea was a small Roman resort town on the Mediterranean Sea. One can tell by the types of buildings that remain, their layout, and location that it was an enviable place to go. Definitely a good stop to see some history on the drive between Haifa and Tel Aviv.

From Caesarea we continued on our way to Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is a large metropolitan city bustling with commerce, tourism, government, and religion. We checked into our hotel and took the car out to the airport to turn it in. This was the end of our Automobile experience and looking back, it was quite successful with no serious problems either with the car or driving. If we were to go back to either Israel or Jordan, we would indeed again rent a car. Best way to get around, not hassles, no schedule, no sales pitch by guides and drivers. We took a cab back to our hotel and made arrangements for the same driver to return on the 28th to take us out to the airport for our return trip home.

27 Oct: Spent the day exploring Tel Aviv. Walked South along the beach to Old Jaffa. Old Jaffa was once the port city for Tel Aviv but now just sports a marina that supports local fishing and tourism. Walking around Old Jaffa was again a walk through history. Old churches, museums, restaurants, etc. It took the better part of the day to walk don and back and spend several hours exploring. It is not that far but it was Saturday (The Sabbath) so everyone was out relaxing and enjoying their day off. We did discover a wonderful Irish Pub in Tel Aviv, The Molly Bloom. We had dinner there and were treated to a local group of musicians who gather and play Irish music every week. According to a grade school teacher we met there, it is the best Irish Pub in Israel.

28 Oct: Up early, check out, and our cabby was back to take us to the airport. Uneventful trip home in spite of the airlines messing with everyone’s schedule and flights. We did make it back and we are happy we went.

** A repeated last note. I encourage you to google to do a web search on any of the places I have mentioned. There are many, many pictures and history of each … all better than mine and my descriptions. We just wanted to share our trip with you and our driving experience. Thanks for reading.

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.

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.

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

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.

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