In June & July of 2008 we packed our 1975 Kombi and headed to Uluru.
Day 1 Lithgow – Cobar
Our plan was to wake up at 6am and get away as soon as we could – this ended up being around 9am, but it didn’t matter, we were on holidays and time was no longer a factor. After an uneventful and leisurely drive we arrived in Cobar around 4.30pm with just enough sunlight to set-up camp and get dinner before heading to bed.
Days 2-4 Cobar – Broken Hill
Again our plan was to wake up at 6am get away soon after but it was till close to 9am before we left. Shirl travelled well again and without any problems we arrived in Broken Hill around 5pm. Some friends we hadn’t seen in a while where picking us up for dinner at 6pm so we had just enough time to set up camp and get changed.
Broken Hill turned out to be more interesting than we anticipated and we certainly could have spent more time there. One of the high lights was our trip to the Day Dream Mine, coming back from the mine was the most glorious sunset, it was so good we had to stop and take some pictures.
The Big Chair
Broken Hill is full of art galleries and a trip out to Silvertown is a must.
Day 5 – Broken Hill – Port Augusta
Instead of getting up at 6am we decided to wake up at 7am, as it turned out we still got away around 9am – I think we are getting better at packing up.
The trip to Port Augusta was uneventful and we made camp around 4pm – again just enough time time to setup the tent and get dinner ready before going to bed. Travelling has a way of making you tired.
Day 6 – Port Augusta to Cober Pedy
Today we got up at 7am and we were ready to leave by 8.40am – our best effort yet. Shirl continues to goes well and we made Cober Pedy around 4.15pm, and we where all set up by 5pm. So far we have travelled some 2100km. Carolyn and I have been sharing the driving and taking turns to sit in the back with one of the kids watching a DVD on the roof mounted player I installed before leaving. This has been one of the best things we could have thought of, it has kept the kids occupied and it certainly makes the time goes by when you are sitting in the back.
Another thing we have been really impressed with is our 55L fridge/freezer. Carolyn packed a tub of Ice Ceam and a box of Heaven Creams and they are still frozen solid after almost a week.
All-in-all we are having a ball and can’t wait to start exploring Cober Pedy.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 27th, 2008 · 1 Comment
After I checked and adjusted the valves on Shirl we spent the rest of today walking around Coober Pedy and noodling (looking for opals), and yes we found some! Just little ones without much colour – but they are opals.
Our biggest surprise was a trip out to The Breakaways, The Dog Fence and Moon Scape. If you are ever in Coober Pedy then you must take the 70km drive – you won’t be disappointed, we were pleasantly surprised.
Shirl & The Moon Scape – This is where Mad Max 3 was filmed.
Carolyn & Bryce on the Moon
The Dog Fence – The longest fence in the world
Our first glimpse of the Breakaways
Simply Spectacular
We are having a great time, we certainly live in a vast and beautiful country and there is no better way to see it than in a Kombi.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 29th, 2008 · No Comments
We spent today walking around Coober Pedy and meeting up with some family who are also travelling around this big brown land of ours. There is really a lot more to Coober Pedy than we first thought.
Our first port of call was to The Old Timers Mine which was one of the first Opal Mines in Coober Pedy, it’s well worth a look and only cost $29 for a family ticket – although it did turn out more expensive than expected because Mrs Rev decided to buy herself a pair of Opal earrings.
Also at The Old Timers Mine they have an underground house display and a noodling pit
Looking out over Coober Pedy doesn’t really do it justice – it’s kind of desolate looking – but it isn’t
We also visited one of the underground churches – St Peter & Paul Catholic Church – 80% of people live underground in Coober Pedy
We had our first dinner out tonight at John’s Pizza, excellent restaurant and you get 10% off if you stay at the Big4, we then went to the Outback Open Air Theatre or Coober Pedy’s drive in, it only shows movies every 2nd saturday and we were lucky enough for it to be tonight, they were showing the latest Indiana Jones movie – at $15 a car you couldn’t have more fun as a family.
Ian.
Coober Pedy – Day 9
July 5th, 2008 · No Comments
Seeing that our last day in Coober Pedy was a Sunday we thought we would visit one of the underground Churches and attend a service. One of the closest and later morning services was the Coober Pedy Revival Church at 10.15am – so we went there. The service was a little different to what we were used to and a lot longer in two hours – but the people were nice and it was good to be in church as a family without having anything to do.
In the afternoon we headed back to the camp site for a rest before packing up and moving onto Riba’s Underground Campsite & Mine Tour – where we would take a night mine tour and spend the night underground.
Our tour guide – Rick
Carolyn learning the finer art of defining – it really worked!
Staying underground – it was soooooo good to sleep in a real bed.
Staying underground proved to be a great idea for it allowed us to get an early start for our 750km trip to Uluru.
As we left Coober Pedy behind we must say that Coober Pedy turned out to be quite a surprising place and well worth taking the time to spend a few days exploring and experiencing this dusty, but delightful part of Australia.
Uluru Day 10
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 10
The night underground allowed us an early start on what turned out to be a 10 hour trip (including stops) from Coober Pedy to Uluru, crossing over from South Australia into Northern Territory – our third Australian State. The trip to Uluru was almost uneventful, we clocked up 3000km since leaving home, paid $1.99 per liter for petrol and managed to break the door handle on Shirl’s sliding door – we can only open the door from the inside now. Hopefully this will be fixed in Alice Springs. Again, the roof mounted DVD really makes long trips easy, Carolyn I would take turns driving while the other sat in the back and watched DVD’s with the kids – in reality I think it’s taking turns watching DVD’s while the other one drives.
We arrived around 5.15pm and like everyone else we got so excited on the final leg seeing what we thought was Uluru which turned out to be MT Conner – I have lots of pictures of Mt Conner!
Arriving at the camp ground we were a little overwhelmed and disappointed, the Uluru camping resort is so commercialised and crowded! Not the outback experience we were expecting. By the time we set up camp and got everything it was dark and we only had time to get dinner and go to bed – we were certainly tired after a long day of travelling.
Ian
Uluru Day 11
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
We woke kind of early to go out to Uluru and we must say that the ‘Rock’ is truly impressive, and certainly a spiritual and awe inspiring experience. There is just something very special about Uluru and I don’t think you could ever get tired of looking at it or standing in it’s presence.
Uluru was closed for climbing which was a little disappointing so we decided to do the walk around the base of the Rock which turned out to be an 11km walk! Every turn there is a different aspect of the rock or something different to see or experience – if you ever get to Uluru be sure to do the walk.
After walking around Uluru for four hours we returned to the car park to find that the Rock was open for climbing – so with no guarantee that it would be open again we decided to do the climb and see how far we could get. Carolyn made it to the start of the chain, I made it to the end of the chain and a little bit further and Bryce, along with Uncle Darren and his cousin Olivier, went all the way to the top.
After the walk and climbing we went to sunset strip and watched the sun set over Uluru – this is an experience we will never forget.
With all the walking and climbing we were all very tired and no one was willing to cook, so went to one of the hotel’s for an Aussie Smorgasbord where we got to taste Kangaroo, Emu, Camel and Crocodile. It was a great way to end a very long, but enjoyable day.
Ian
Uluru Day 12
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 12
Well it was up early today at 5.45am to head out to see the Sun rise over Uluru, it was cold and dark and the viewing area wasn’t as good as the sunset, apparently they are building a new 20 million dollar viewing area but this not open yet. The colours are certainly different and worth seeing but if you have to choose either the sunset or sunrise, the sunset is by far the best. We topped off the sunrise with a cooked breakfast and hot coffee.
The Sunrise
Breakfast
Following our early start we headed to the Olgas which are about a 45km drive. The Olgas are absolutely awesome and a must to see. We did the walk to the 2nd lookout and you need to do at least that. The Olgas are different but none the less impressive. We really enjoyed our time at there.
Ian
Uluru Day 13
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
Day 13
Today we had a rest day which meant sleeping in a little and doing a few house keeping things like washing and a tune up on the kombi. We also hit the souvenir shops and brought some t-shirts and hats.
We finished the night by hiring a fire bin for $5, toasting marshmallows and thanks to our friend Lana, we made s’mores – they very very nice.
Tomorrow we get up early and head to Kings Canyon and I am sure we will have lots more to say and lots more photo’s to share.
Ian.
Uluru – Kings Canyon Day 14
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We are certainly getting better at packing up for it didn’t take long to get everything ready, trying to get onto the Internet turned out to be a waist of 30 minutes, despite paying for an hour access ($10) the phones lines were down and so no Internet. By the time we filled up at the only petrol station at $2.01 a litre it was around 9.30am, but we only had a four trip at a leisurely 80km to Kings Canyon, a distance of 305km.
In the end the trip from Uluru to Kings Canyon took 3hr 50min which gave us enough time to set up the tent and do the 1.5hr short walk. The walk was quite easy and very pretty, but it was enough to tire us out. After dinner the girls read and relaxed while Bryce and I watched the Transformers in the Kombi.
As it got dark the Dingo’s turned up and after we went to bed there seemed like a pack of them around the kombi and at one point we woke up sure they where trying to get into the tent.
After our first night in Kings Canyon, Carolyn and I both believe that a Dingo could taken the baby!
The Short Walk
Ian
Kings Canyon – Day 15
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
Today marks the start of our third week, we cannot believe that two weeks have passed or what we have fitted in and there is still so much more to see and do.
The Rim Walk was on the agenda today, so it was up at 7.30am to start the walk before the heat of the day. Despite it being the middle of winter the temperature is still reaching 25-30 degrees.
The Kings Canyon Rim walk is 6km long with a suggested time of 3.5 hours. We took it a little slower with lots of stops to soak in the views and experience another unique beautiful place is this great country of ours. The walk was a little taxing, straight up to start with and straight down to finish with great views in the middle – I’ll let the photo’s tell the story.
Following the walk we had a leisurely afternoon to conserve our energy for our Smorgasbord ‘Taste of Australia’ dinner at the resort in Kings Canyon. Then it’s one more night with the Dingo’s before heading to Alice Springs, which is another four hour drive.
As we reflect on Kings Canyon I must say that we were not over the moon about the place, while it was nice and the views where great, for us it didn’t hold a candle to Uluru or the Olgas. Whether we had to high an expectation (based on what others and the advertising said) or the constant buzzing of helicopters overhead, Kings Canyon was nice, but it wouldn’t be high on our list of places to revisit.
Some Photo’s
The Climb Up
The Canyon
Garden Of Eden
Ian
Kings Canyon – Alice Springs Day 16
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
It was up early again to pack up the Kombi and head to Alice Springs. According to Google Maps we only had around 300km to travel, of which 100km was a dirt road. We gave the dirt road a try and after 500 meters we decided we would stick to the sealed roads and do the extra 200km. We eventually arrived in Alice around 4pm, which was still enough time to set up camp and cook dinner.
The Big4 park we are staying it is fantastic with big sites and it is well set up for families and it is especially great for kids. It was also nice to find that Rick & Sue, a couple who are also travelling in a Kombi (2002 version) where staying behind us again, they camp behind us at Uluru – best of all they have a coffee machine in their kombi!
Ian
Alice Springs Day 17
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We got up today to go and check out the East McDonald Ranges with a visit Stanley Chasm. This was a short drive of just under 50km and even a shorter walk of just 15 minutes to the Chasm which is only about 20 – 30 meters long. Like everyone else in Alice Springs we timed our visit to be there around noon when the sun would hit the chasm floor turning the walls a golden brown. If you were able to be at Stanley Chasm on your own it would certainly be quite an awe inspiring experience watching the sun creep along the chasm floor turning the walls their golden brown, but there were so many people and no solitude to be had.
Despite the short walk we were quite tired with the long trip the day before and the several days of walking at Uluru, The Olgas and Kings Canyon, so we decided to head back to camp and rest up.
Just an aside, I must make an mention of Mrs Rev’s (Carolyn’s) cooking on our travels. So far she has managed to cook everything but the BBQ’s and the meals have included, Spaghetti, Fettuccine, Chicken Kebabs & Ceaser Salad, Hamburgers, Tacos, Burritoes, Sausages in brown onion gravy with mash-potatoes, peas and corn (my favourite), and for Bryce – Brinner (breakfast for dinner), pancakes from scratch with Icecream & maple syrup, and best of all – golden syrup dumplings with Icecream, we have eaten very well and all cooked on a three burner gas stove!
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 18
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We decided we needed a sleep in and rest today so we had no real plans till 4pm when we would be picked up and taken to ride some Camels along the Todd river.
Melina (our budding artist) went off and did a four hour course in painting with water colors (she came back with an amazing painting), and I went with my brother-in-law to visit a Truck Museum which houses the Kenworth Hall of Fame which turned out to be quite interesting.
At 4pm we were picked up by Frontier Camel Tours and taken to a nearby Camel Farm for a ride along the Todd River, which as you know is dry most of the time.
It was two to a camel, I teamed up with Melina while Carolyn & Bryce went together. The Camels are tied together in a train and it was lightest to the front heaviest to the rear – I sat in back.
Camels are one loud and tall animal, we couldn’t believe how high we were off the ground once we had climbed on. Ridding Camels is quite an experience and there was something special about ridding along the Todd River amongst the river gums with the sun setting behind us. If you ever get to Alice Springs be sure to go for a ride on a Camel, you wont be disappointed.
After the Camel ride we were provided dinner which was included in the price. The meal consisted of Corned Camel (like corned beef) & Kangaroo sausages for entrée, your choice of either Barramundi or Steak along with a choice of salads, and Sticky Date Pudding for dessert. It was a very nice meal, excellent service and a great day all around. We can certainly recommend Camel Ridding with Frontier Camel Tours.
More camel Photo’s
The Todd River – Dry As
Having a great time
Ian
Trouble In Alice
July 11th, 2008 · No Comments
Greetings everyone
We have had some trouble with Shirl – strong indication that it’s a result of opal fuel we had use coming from Uluru.
Yesterday I spent all day trying to sort out the problem, checked the vales first thing – they were ok with plenty of adjustment, did a compression check – everything was ok, compression was good, replaced the spark plugs, points, and distributor cap, coil, set the timing (after setting the points) – no improvement – Rang NRMA, cannot praise them enough.
The earliest someone could look at Shirl was Monday. So NRMA has paid for five nights, accommodation at the Big4 in Alice, which we knew was booked out due to the Camel Cup, but thankfully someone cancelled just prior to us asking about any kind of accommodation – a real answer to prayer.
NRMA also said they would provide us with a car, but yesterday they said that everything was booked out till the end of next week, again due to the Camel Cup, but the rang this morning and had a brand new Ford Falcon waiting for us and had organised it for us five days! Another answer to prayer.
So we are spending a few more days in Alice, having a rest, going to the pictures and to the camel cup! I’ll have pictures of that after tomorrow.
As for Shirl, it appears that the right-hand carby is blocked and after speaking to the mechanic yesterday it will need to be removed and cleaned, the petrol drained and fuel system overhauled.
once we get Shirl back we will make a decission as to our options regarding the rest of the trip. Till then we are in Alice Springs, which is not a bad place to be.
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 19
July 14th, 2008 · No Comments
Today we said good bye to Sharon & Darren who had been travelling with us since Coober Pedy, we also said good bye to our new friends Rick & Sue who we meet at Uluru. After saying goodbye to everyone it was time to see a few more of the sights.
First on our list was a visit to Simpson Gap which was really nice and quite pleasant, there was water and not as many people, it also very close to Alice Springs.
On the drive back to Alice the kombi started to play up a little, but we decided to stop off at the Reptile Park in the centre of Alice which we all enjoyed very much. There were all sorts of reptiles including snakes, thorny devils and a crocodile. They also had a live reptile demonstration and talk where you got to hold some lizards and a snake! It was well worth the visit.
As we drove back to our camp site it was obvious that the kombi was getting worse which only increased our stress levels. Seeing that the fuel gauge was pretty low and hoping that this was the cause I filled Shirl up but it didn’t make any difference. Not much else we could do except turn in for a stressful night sleep.
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 20
July 14th, 2008 · No Comments
Alice Springs – Day 20
Today we focused mostly on the kombi. I tested everything I could think of and changed almost all of the electric’s (plugs, points, coil, etc) but it didn’t make any difference. There was no way we could drive onto to Tennent Creek the way Shirl was so in the end we decided to call NRMA. They arrived in around 30 minutes and suspected that it was a fuel problem most likely caused by Opal fuel. The kombi had to be looked at by a mechanic, the only problem was the earliest we could get into see a mechanic was Monday, some where a two week wait. So we are spending a bit longer in Alice
Seeing that the kids had been so good throughout the day we decided we would take them to Hungry Jacks for dinner and to the Movies to see ‘Get Smart’, which was quite funny. It was a good way to end a stressful day.
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 21
July 14th, 2008 · No Comments
Alice Springs – Day 21
This morning we were woken by NRMA with the news that they had found us a car and had booked it for us for five days – a brand new Ford Falcon, it had to picked up at 10am.
We also had to move sites today as well, lucky for us that someone cancelled just as we were asking about extending our stay in Alice – this was areal answer to prayer. Getting the car and moving sites took up all of the morning and a little of the afternoon. Our new site was larger again and undercover, plus we had our own sink with hot & cold water. After we had settled in we decided to take our new form of transportation out for a spin and we hit the shops, the Ford goes a lot faster that the Kombi.
To our great delight we discovered that Alice Springs had a Gloia Jeans Café, so we made sure to visit that. The girls did some clothes shopping and we stocked up a little on food seeing that we were going to be in Alice Springs a few days longer than we expected. Since we had a great time at the movies yesterday we decided to see another – this time it was ‘Meet Dave’ with Eddie Murphy.
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 22
July 14th, 2008 · No Comments
Alice Springs – Day 22
Alice Springs is a great place to break down for there is so much to do and see. One of the reasons it was so hard to find accommodation or rent a car here is because of the Camel Cup which as been running annually now for 31 years. Seeing that the Camel Cup was on and that a few of the Camels we rode earlier would be running we just had to go.
The Camel Cup turned out to be a great day with a carnival atmosphere, stalls and food stands. It was a great event and a really unique and fun day that was totally unexpected. We are really starting to like Camels and they don’t taste to bad either – seriously they taste good. They not only ride them here in Alice Springs they eat them too.
Ian
Alice Springs Day 23
July 14th, 2008 · No Comments
Seeing that today was Sunday we thought we would Attend the morning service at Alice Springs Baptist Church. Following the service we decided to head out to see a bit more of the West McDonald Ranges and we drove out to Glen Helen Gorge which we liked very much, it had a permanent water hole, camping ground and even a restaurant. We thought this would make a great place to stay one day.
After Glen Helen Gorge we then stopped in on Ormiston Gorge, another pretty spot with a permanent water hole. Orministin Gorge had great views with spectacular cliffs that were turning a beautiful shades of browns and reds with the sun hitting them.
Alice Springs and the West McDonald Ranges are a great place to see and we haven’t minded spending the few extra days here, in fact we have quite enjoyed them.
Ian
In June & July of 2008 we packed our 1975 Kombi and headed to Uluru.
Day 1 Lithgow – Cobar
Our plan was to wake up at 6am and get away as soon as we could – this ended up being around 9am, but it didn’t matter, we were on holidays and time was no longer a factor. After an uneventful and leisurely drive we arrived in Cobar around 4.30pm with just enough sunlight to set-up camp and get dinner before heading to bed.
Days 2-4 Cobar – Broken Hill
Again our plan was to wake up at 6am get away soon after but it was till close to 9am before we left. Shirl travelled well again and without any problems we arrived in Broken Hill around 5pm. Some friends we hadn’t seen in a while where picking us up for dinner at 6pm so we had just enough time to set up camp and get changed.
Broken Hill turned out to be more interesting than we anticipated and we certainly could have spent more time there. One of the high lights was our trip to the Day Dream Mine, coming back from the mine was the most glorious sunset, it was so good we had to stop and take some pictures.
The Big Chair
Broken Hill is full of art galleries and a trip out to Silvertown is a must.
Day 5 – Broken Hill – Port Augusta
Instead of getting up at 6am we decided to wake up at 7am, as it turned out we still got away around 9am – I think we are getting better at packing up.
The trip to Port Augusta was uneventful and we made camp around 4pm – again just enough time time to setup the tent and get dinner ready before going to bed. Travelling has a way of making you tired.
Day 6 – Port Augusta to Cober Pedy
Today we got up at 7am and we were ready to leave by 8.40am – our best effort yet. Shirl continues to goes well and we made Cober Pedy around 4.15pm, and we where all set up by 5pm. So far we have travelled some 2100km. Carolyn and I have been sharing the driving and taking turns to sit in the back with one of the kids watching a DVD on the roof mounted player I installed before leaving. This has been one of the best things we could have thought of, it has kept the kids occupied and it certainly makes the time goes by when you are sitting in the back.
Another thing we have been really impressed with is our 55L fridge/freezer. Carolyn packed a tub of Ice Ceam and a box of Heaven Creams and they are still frozen solid after almost a week.
All-in-all we are having a ball and can’t wait to start exploring Cober Pedy.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 27th, 2008 · 1 Comment
After I checked and adjusted the valves on Shirl we spent the rest of today walking around Coober Pedy and noodling (looking for opals), and yes we found some! Just little ones without much colour – but they are opals.
Our biggest surprise was a trip out to The Breakaways, The Dog Fence and Moon Scape. If you are ever in Coober Pedy then you must take the 70km drive – you won’t be disappointed, we were pleasantly surprised.
Shirl & The Moon Scape – This is where Mad Max 3 was filmed.
Carolyn & Bryce on the Moon
The Dog Fence – The longest fence in the world
Our first glimpse of the Breakaways
Simply Spectacular
We are having a great time, we certainly live in a vast and beautiful country and there is no better way to see it than in a Kombi.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 29th, 2008 · No Comments
We spent today walking around Coober Pedy and meeting up with some family who are also travelling around this big brown land of ours. There is really a lot more to Coober Pedy than we first thought.
Our first port of call was to The Old Timers Mine which was one of the first Opal Mines in Coober Pedy, it’s well worth a look and only cost $29 for a family ticket – although it did turn out more expensive than expected because Mrs Rev decided to buy herself a pair of Opal earrings.
Also at The Old Timers Mine they have an underground house display and a noodling pit
Looking out over Coober Pedy doesn’t really do it justice – it’s kind of desolate looking – but it isn’t
We also visited one of the underground churches – St Peter & Paul Catholic Church – 80% of people live underground in Coober Pedy
We had our first dinner out tonight at John’s Pizza, excellent restaurant and you get 10% off if you stay at the Big4, we then went to the Outback Open Air Theatre or Coober Pedy’s drive in, it only shows movies every 2nd saturday and we were lucky enough for it to be tonight, they were showing the latest Indiana Jones movie – at $15 a car you couldn’t have more fun as a family.
Ian.
Coober Pedy – Day 9
July 5th, 2008 · No Comments
Seeing that our last day in Coober Pedy was a Sunday we thought we would visit one of the underground Churches and attend a service. One of the closest and later morning services was the Coober Pedy Revival Church at 10.15am – so we went there. The service was a little different to what we were used to and a lot longer in two hours – but the people were nice and it was good to be in church as a family without having anything to do.
In the afternoon we headed back to the camp site for a rest before packing up and moving onto Riba’s Underground Campsite & Mine Tour – where we would take a night mine tour and spend the night underground.
Our tour guide – Rick
Carolyn learning the finer art of defining – it really worked!
Staying underground – it was soooooo good to sleep in a real bed.
Staying underground proved to be a great idea for it allowed us to get an early start for our 750km trip to Uluru.
As we left Coober Pedy behind we must say that Coober Pedy turned out to be quite a surprising place and well worth taking the time to spend a few days exploring and experiencing this dusty, but delightful part of Australia.
Uluru Day 10
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 10
The night underground allowed us an early start on what turned out to be a 10 hour trip (including stops) from Coober Pedy to Uluru, crossing over from South Australia into Northern Territory – our third Australian State. The trip to Uluru was almost uneventful, we clocked up 3000km since leaving home, paid $1.99 per liter for petrol and managed to break the door handle on Shirl’s sliding door – we can only open the door from the inside now. Hopefully this will be fixed in Alice Springs. Again, the roof mounted DVD really makes long trips easy, Carolyn I would take turns driving while the other sat in the back and watched DVD’s with the kids – in reality I think it’s taking turns watching DVD’s while the other one drives.
We arrived around 5.15pm and like everyone else we got so excited on the final leg seeing what we thought was Uluru which turned out to be MT Conner – I have lots of pictures of Mt Conner!
Arriving at the camp ground we were a little overwhelmed and disappointed, the Uluru camping resort is so commercialised and crowded! Not the outback experience we were expecting. By the time we set up camp and got everything it was dark and we only had time to get dinner and go to bed – we were certainly tired after a long day of travelling.
Ian
Uluru Day 11
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
We woke kind of early to go out to Uluru and we must say that the ‘Rock’ is truly impressive, and certainly a spiritual and awe inspiring experience. There is just something very special about Uluru and I don’t think you could ever get tired of looking at it or standing in it’s presence.
Uluru was closed for climbing which was a little disappointing so we decided to do the walk around the base of the Rock which turned out to be an 11km walk! Every turn there is a different aspect of the rock or something different to see or experience – if you ever get to Uluru be sure to do the walk.
After walking around Uluru for four hours we returned to the car park to find that the Rock was open for climbing – so with no guarantee that it would be open again we decided to do the climb and see how far we could get. Carolyn made it to the start of the chain, I made it to the end of the chain and a little bit further and Bryce, along with Uncle Darren and his cousin Olivier, went all the way to the top.
After the walk and climbing we went to sunset strip and watched the sun set over Uluru – this is an experience we will never forget.
With all the walking and climbing we were all very tired and no one was willing to cook, so went to one of the hotel’s for an Aussie Smorgasbord where we got to taste Kangaroo, Emu, Camel and Crocodile. It was a great way to end a very long, but enjoyable day.
Ian
Uluru Day 12
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 12
Well it was up early today at 5.45am to head out to see the Sun rise over Uluru, it was cold and dark and the viewing area wasn’t as good as the sunset, apparently they are building a new 20 million dollar viewing area but this not open yet. The colours are certainly different and worth seeing but if you have to choose either the sunset or sunrise, the sunset is by far the best. We topped off the sunrise with a cooked breakfast and hot coffee.
The Sunrise
Breakfast
Following our early start we headed to the Olgas which are about a 45km drive. The Olgas are absolutely awesome and a must to see. We did the walk to the 2nd lookout and you need to do at least that. The Olgas are different but none the less impressive. We really enjoyed our time at there.
Ian
Uluru Day 13
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
Day 13
Today we had a rest day which meant sleeping in a little and doing a few house keeping things like washing and a tune up on the kombi. We also hit the souvenir shops and brought some t-shirts and hats.
We finished the night by hiring a fire bin for $5, toasting marshmallows and thanks to our friend Lana, we made s’mores – they very very nice.
Tomorrow we get up early and head to Kings Canyon and I am sure we will have lots more to say and lots more photo’s to share.
Ian.
Uluru – Kings Canyon Day 14
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We are certainly getting better at packing up for it didn’t take long to get everything ready, trying to get onto the Internet turned out to be a waist of 30 minutes, despite paying for an hour access ($10) the phones lines were down and so no Internet. By the time we filled up at the only petrol station at $2.01 a litre it was around 9.30am, but we only had a four trip at a leisurely 80km to Kings Canyon, a distance of 305km.
In the end the trip from Uluru to Kings Canyon took 3hr 50min which gave us enough time to set up the tent and do the 1.5hr short walk. The walk was quite easy and very pretty, but it was enough to tire us out. After dinner the girls read and relaxed while Bryce and I watched the Transformers in the Kombi.
As it got dark the Dingo’s turned up and after we went to bed there seemed like a pack of them around the kombi and at one point we woke up sure they where trying to get into the tent.
After our first night in Kings Canyon, Carolyn and I both believe that a Dingo could taken the baby!
The Short Walk
Ian
Kings Canyon – Day 15
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
Today marks the start of our third week, we cannot believe that two weeks have passed or what we have fitted in and there is still so much more to see and do.
The Rim Walk was on the agenda today, so it was up at 7.30am to start the walk before the heat of the day. Despite it being the middle of winter the temperature is still reaching 25-30 degrees.
The Kings Canyon Rim walk is 6km long with a suggested time of 3.5 hours. We took it a little slower with lots of stops to soak in the views and experience another unique beautiful place is this great country of ours. The walk was a little taxing, straight up to start with and straight down to finish with great views in the middle – I’ll let the photo’s tell the story.
Following the walk we had a leisurely afternoon to conserve our energy for our Smorgasbord ‘Taste of Australia’ dinner at the resort in Kings Canyon. Then it’s one more night with the Dingo’s before heading to Alice Springs, which is another four hour drive.
As we reflect on Kings Canyon I must say that we were not over the moon about the place, while it was nice and the views where great, for us it didn’t hold a candle to Uluru or the Olgas. Whether we had to high an expectation (based on what others and the advertising said) or the constant buzzing of helicopters overhead, Kings Canyon was nice, but it wouldn’t be high on our list of places to revisit.
Some Photo’s
The Climb Up
The Canyon
Garden Of Eden
Ian
Kings Canyon – Alice Springs Day 16
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
It was up early again to pack up the Kombi and head to Alice Springs. According to Google Maps we only had around 300km to travel, of which 100km was a dirt road. We gave the dirt road a try and after 500 meters we decided we would stick to the sealed roads and do the extra 200km. We eventually arrived in Alice around 4pm, which was still enough time to set up camp and cook dinner.
The Big4 park we are staying it is fantastic with big sites and it is well set up for families and it is especially great for kids. It was also nice to find that Rick & Sue, a couple who are also travelling in a Kombi (2002 version) where staying behind us again, they camp behind us at Uluru – best of all they have a coffee machine in their kombi!
Ian
Alice Springs Day 17
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We got up today to go and check out the East McDonald Ranges with a visit Stanley Chasm. This was a short drive of just under 50km and even a shorter walk of just 15 minutes to the Chasm which is only about 20 – 30 meters long. Like everyone else in Alice Springs we timed our visit to be there around noon when the sun would hit the chasm floor turning the walls a golden brown. If you were able to be at Stanley Chasm on your own it would certainly be quite an awe inspiring experience watching the sun creep along the chasm floor turning the walls their golden brown, but there were so many people and no solitude to be had.
Despite the short walk we were quite tired with the long trip the day before and the several days of walking at Uluru, The Olgas and Kings Canyon, so we decided to head back to camp and rest up.
Just an aside, I must make an mention of Mrs Rev’s (Carolyn’s) cooking on our travels. So far she has managed to cook everything but the BBQ’s and the meals have included, Spaghetti, Fettuccine, Chicken Kebabs & Ceaser Salad, Hamburgers, Tacos, Burritoes, Sausages in brown onion gravy with mash-potatoes, peas and corn (my favourite), and for Bryce – Brinner (breakfast for dinner), pancakes from scratch with Icecream & maple syrup, and best of all – golden syrup dumplings with Icecream, we have eaten very well and all cooked on a three burner gas stove!
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 18
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We decided we needed a sleep in and rest today so we had no real plans till 4pm when we would be picked up and taken to ride some Camels along the Todd river.
Melina (our budding artist) went off and did a four hour course in painting with water colors (she came back with an amazing painting), and I went with my brother-in-law to visit a Truck Museum which houses the Kenworth Hall of Fame which turned out to be quite interesting.
At 4pm we were picked up by Frontier Camel Tours and taken to a nearby Camel Farm for a ride along the Todd River, which as you know is dry most of the time.
It was two to a camel, I teamed up with Melina while Carolyn & Bryce went together. The Camels are tied together in a train and it was lightest to the front heaviest to the rear – I sat in back.
Camels are one loud and tall animal, we couldn’t believe how high we were off the ground once we had climbed on. Ridding Camels is quite an experience and there was something special about ridding along the Todd River amongst the river gums with the sun setting behind us. If you ever get to Alice Springs be sure to go for a ride on a Camel, you wont be disappointed.
After the Camel ride we were provided dinner which was included in the price. The meal consisted of Corned Camel (like corned beef) & Kangaroo sausages for entrée, your choice of either Barramundi or Steak along with a choice of salads, and Sticky Date Pudding for dessert. It was a very nice meal, excellent service and a great day all around. We can certainly recommend Camel Ridding with Frontier Camel Tours.
More camel Photo’s
The Todd River – Dry As
Having a great time
Ian
Trouble In Alice
July 11th, 2008 · No Comments
Greetings everyone
We have had some trouble with Shirl – strong indication that it’s a result of opal fuel we had use coming from Uluru.
Yesterday I spent all day trying to sort out the problem, checked the vales first thing – they were ok with plenty of adjustment, did a compression check – everything was ok, compression was good, replaced the spark plugs, points, and distributor cap, coil, set the timing (after setting the points) – no improvement – Rang NRMA, cannot praise them enough.
The earliest someone could look at Shirl was Monday. So NRMA has paid for five nights, accommodation at the Big4 in Alice, which we knew was booked out due to the Camel Cup, but thankfully someone cancelled just prior to us asking about any kind of accommodation – a real answer to prayer.
NRMA also said they would provide us with a car, but yesterday they said that everything was booked out till the end of next week, again due to the Camel Cup, but the rang this morning and had a brand new Ford Falcon waiting for us and had organised it for us five days! Another answer to prayer.
So we are spending a few more days in Alice, having a rest, going to the pictures and to the camel cup! I’ll have pictures of that after tomorrow.
As for Shirl, it appears that the right-hand carby is blocked and after speaking to the mechanic yesterday it will need to be removed and cleaned, the petrol drained and fuel system overhauled.
once we get Shirl back we will make a decission as to our options regarding the rest of the trip. Till then we are in Alice Springs, which is not a bad place to be.
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 19
July 14th, 2008 · No Comments
Today we said good bye to Sharon & Darren who had been travelling with us since Coober Pedy, we also said good bye to our new friends Rick & Sue who we meet at Uluru. After saying goodbye to everyone it was time to see a few more of the sights.
First on our list was a visit to Simpson Gap which was really nice and quite pleasant, there was water and not as many people, it also very close to Alice Springs.
On the drive back to Alice the kombi started to play up a little, but we decided to stop off at the Reptile Park in the centre of Alice which we all enjoyed very much. There were all sorts of reptiles including snakes, thorny devils and a crocodile. They also had a live reptile demonstration and talk where you got to hold some lizards and a snake! It was well worth the visit.
As we drove back to our camp site it was obvious that the kombi was getting worse which only increased our stress levels. Seeing that the fuel gauge was pretty low and hoping that this was the cause I filled Shirl up but it didn’t make any difference. Not much else we could do except turn in for a stressful night sleep.
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 20
July 14th, 2008 · No Comments
Alice Springs – Day 20
Today we focused mostly on the kombi. I tested everything I could think of and changed almost all of the electric’s (plugs, points, coil, etc) but it didn’t make any difference. There was no way we could drive onto to Tennent Creek the way Shirl was so in the end we decided to call NRMA. They arrived in around 30 minutes and suspected that it was a fuel problem most likely caused by Opal fuel. The kombi had to be looked at by a mechanic, the only problem was the earliest we could get into see a mechanic was Monday, some where a two week wait. So we are spending a bit longer in Alice
Seeing that the kids had been so good throughout the day we decided we would take them to Hungry Jacks for dinner and to the Movies to see ‘Get Smart’, which was quite funny. It was a good way to end a stressful day.
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 21
July 14th, 2008 · No Comments
Alice Springs – Day 21
This morning we were woken by NRMA with the news that they had found us a car and had booked it for us for five days – a brand new Ford Falcon, it had to picked up at 10am.
We also had to move sites today as well, lucky for us that someone cancelled just as we were asking about extending our stay in Alice – this was areal answer to prayer. Getting the car and moving sites took up all of the morning and a little of the afternoon. Our new site was larger again and undercover, plus we had our own sink with hot & cold water. After we had settled in we decided to take our new form of transportation out for a spin and we hit the shops, the Ford goes a lot faster that the Kombi.
To our great delight we discovered that Alice Springs had a Gloia Jeans Café, so we made sure to visit that. The girls did some clothes shopping and we stocked up a little on food seeing that we were going to be in Alice Springs a few days longer than we expected. Since we had a great time at the movies yesterday we decided to see another – this time it was ‘Meet Dave’ with Eddie Murphy.
Ian
In June & July of 2008 we packed our 1975 Kombi and headed to Uluru.
Day 1 Lithgow – Cobar
Our plan was to wake up at 6am and get away as soon as we could – this ended up being around 9am, but it didn’t matter, we were on holidays and time was no longer a factor. After an uneventful and leisurely drive we arrived in Cobar around 4.30pm with just enough sunlight to set-up camp and get dinner before heading to bed.
Days 2-4 Cobar – Broken Hill
Again our plan was to wake up at 6am get away soon after but it was till close to 9am before we left. Shirl travelled well again and without any problems we arrived in Broken Hill around 5pm. Some friends we hadn’t seen in a while where picking us up for dinner at 6pm so we had just enough time to set up camp and get changed.
Broken Hill turned out to be more interesting than we anticipated and we certainly could have spent more time there. One of the high lights was our trip to the Day Dream Mine, coming back from the mine was the most glorious sunset, it was so good we had to stop and take some pictures.
The Big Chair
Broken Hill is full of art galleries and a trip out to Silvertown is a must.
Day 5 – Broken Hill – Port Augusta
Instead of getting up at 6am we decided to wake up at 7am, as it turned out we still got away around 9am – I think we are getting better at packing up.
The trip to Port Augusta was uneventful and we made camp around 4pm – again just enough time time to setup the tent and get dinner ready before going to bed. Travelling has a way of making you tired.
Day 6 – Port Augusta to Cober Pedy
Today we got up at 7am and we were ready to leave by 8.40am – our best effort yet. Shirl continues to goes well and we made Cober Pedy around 4.15pm, and we where all set up by 5pm. So far we have travelled some 2100km. Carolyn and I have been sharing the driving and taking turns to sit in the back with one of the kids watching a DVD on the roof mounted player I installed before leaving. This has been one of the best things we could have thought of, it has kept the kids occupied and it certainly makes the time goes by when you are sitting in the back.
Another thing we have been really impressed with is our 55L fridge/freezer. Carolyn packed a tub of Ice Ceam and a box of Heaven Creams and they are still frozen solid after almost a week.
All-in-all we are having a ball and can’t wait to start exploring Cober Pedy.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 27th, 2008 · 1 Comment
After I checked and adjusted the valves on Shirl we spent the rest of today walking around Coober Pedy and noodling (looking for opals), and yes we found some! Just little ones without much colour – but they are opals.
Our biggest surprise was a trip out to The Breakaways, The Dog Fence and Moon Scape. If you are ever in Coober Pedy then you must take the 70km drive – you won’t be disappointed, we were pleasantly surprised.
Shirl & The Moon Scape – This is where Mad Max 3 was filmed.
Carolyn & Bryce on the Moon
The Dog Fence – The longest fence in the world
Our first glimpse of the Breakaways
Simply Spectacular
We are having a great time, we certainly live in a vast and beautiful country and there is no better way to see it than in a Kombi.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 29th, 2008 · No Comments
We spent today walking around Coober Pedy and meeting up with some family who are also travelling around this big brown land of ours. There is really a lot more to Coober Pedy than we first thought.
Our first port of call was to The Old Timers Mine which was one of the first Opal Mines in Coober Pedy, it’s well worth a look and only cost $29 for a family ticket – although it did turn out more expensive than expected because Mrs Rev decided to buy herself a pair of Opal earrings.
Also at The Old Timers Mine they have an underground house display and a noodling pit
Looking out over Coober Pedy doesn’t really do it justice – it’s kind of desolate looking – but it isn’t
We also visited one of the underground churches – St Peter & Paul Catholic Church – 80% of people live underground in Coober Pedy
We had our first dinner out tonight at John’s Pizza, excellent restaurant and you get 10% off if you stay at the Big4, we then went to the Outback Open Air Theatre or Coober Pedy’s drive in, it only shows movies every 2nd saturday and we were lucky enough for it to be tonight, they were showing the latest Indiana Jones movie – at $15 a car you couldn’t have more fun as a family.
Ian.
Coober Pedy – Day 9
July 5th, 2008 · No Comments
Seeing that our last day in Coober Pedy was a Sunday we thought we would visit one of the underground Churches and attend a service. One of the closest and later morning services was the Coober Pedy Revival Church at 10.15am – so we went there. The service was a little different to what we were used to and a lot longer in two hours – but the people were nice and it was good to be in church as a family without having anything to do.
In the afternoon we headed back to the camp site for a rest before packing up and moving onto Riba’s Underground Campsite & Mine Tour – where we would take a night mine tour and spend the night underground.
Our tour guide – Rick
Carolyn learning the finer art of defining – it really worked!
Staying underground – it was soooooo good to sleep in a real bed.
Staying underground proved to be a great idea for it allowed us to get an early start for our 750km trip to Uluru.
As we left Coober Pedy behind we must say that Coober Pedy turned out to be quite a surprising place and well worth taking the time to spend a few days exploring and experiencing this dusty, but delightful part of Australia.
Uluru Day 10
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 10
The night underground allowed us an early start on what turned out to be a 10 hour trip (including stops) from Coober Pedy to Uluru, crossing over from South Australia into Northern Territory – our third Australian State. The trip to Uluru was almost uneventful, we clocked up 3000km since leaving home, paid $1.99 per liter for petrol and managed to break the door handle on Shirl’s sliding door – we can only open the door from the inside now. Hopefully this will be fixed in Alice Springs. Again, the roof mounted DVD really makes long trips easy, Carolyn I would take turns driving while the other sat in the back and watched DVD’s with the kids – in reality I think it’s taking turns watching DVD’s while the other one drives.
We arrived around 5.15pm and like everyone else we got so excited on the final leg seeing what we thought was Uluru which turned out to be MT Conner – I have lots of pictures of Mt Conner!
Arriving at the camp ground we were a little overwhelmed and disappointed, the Uluru camping resort is so commercialised and crowded! Not the outback experience we were expecting. By the time we set up camp and got everything it was dark and we only had time to get dinner and go to bed – we were certainly tired after a long day of travelling.
Ian
Uluru Day 11
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
We woke kind of early to go out to Uluru and we must say that the ‘Rock’ is truly impressive, and certainly a spiritual and awe inspiring experience. There is just something very special about Uluru and I don’t think you could ever get tired of looking at it or standing in it’s presence.
Uluru was closed for climbing which was a little disappointing so we decided to do the walk around the base of the Rock which turned out to be an 11km walk! Every turn there is a different aspect of the rock or something different to see or experience – if you ever get to Uluru be sure to do the walk.
After walking around Uluru for four hours we returned to the car park to find that the Rock was open for climbing – so with no guarantee that it would be open again we decided to do the climb and see how far we could get. Carolyn made it to the start of the chain, I made it to the end of the chain and a little bit further and Bryce, along with Uncle Darren and his cousin Olivier, went all the way to the top.
After the walk and climbing we went to sunset strip and watched the sun set over Uluru – this is an experience we will never forget.
With all the walking and climbing we were all very tired and no one was willing to cook, so went to one of the hotel’s for an Aussie Smorgasbord where we got to taste Kangaroo, Emu, Camel and Crocodile. It was a great way to end a very long, but enjoyable day.
Ian
Uluru Day 12
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 12
Well it was up early today at 5.45am to head out to see the Sun rise over Uluru, it was cold and dark and the viewing area wasn’t as good as the sunset, apparently they are building a new 20 million dollar viewing area but this not open yet. The colours are certainly different and worth seeing but if you have to choose either the sunset or sunrise, the sunset is by far the best. We topped off the sunrise with a cooked breakfast and hot coffee.
The Sunrise
Breakfast
Following our early start we headed to the Olgas which are about a 45km drive. The Olgas are absolutely awesome and a must to see. We did the walk to the 2nd lookout and you need to do at least that. The Olgas are different but none the less impressive. We really enjoyed our time at there.
Ian
Uluru Day 13
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
Day 13
Today we had a rest day which meant sleeping in a little and doing a few house keeping things like washing and a tune up on the kombi. We also hit the souvenir shops and brought some t-shirts and hats.
We finished the night by hiring a fire bin for $5, toasting marshmallows and thanks to our friend Lana, we made s’mores – they very very nice.
Tomorrow we get up early and head to Kings Canyon and I am sure we will have lots more to say and lots more photo’s to share.
Ian.
Uluru – Kings Canyon Day 14
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We are certainly getting better at packing up for it didn’t take long to get everything ready, trying to get onto the Internet turned out to be a waist of 30 minutes, despite paying for an hour access ($10) the phones lines were down and so no Internet. By the time we filled up at the only petrol station at $2.01 a litre it was around 9.30am, but we only had a four trip at a leisurely 80km to Kings Canyon, a distance of 305km.
In the end the trip from Uluru to Kings Canyon took 3hr 50min which gave us enough time to set up the tent and do the 1.5hr short walk. The walk was quite easy and very pretty, but it was enough to tire us out. After dinner the girls read and relaxed while Bryce and I watched the Transformers in the Kombi.
As it got dark the Dingo’s turned up and after we went to bed there seemed like a pack of them around the kombi and at one point we woke up sure they where trying to get into the tent.
After our first night in Kings Canyon, Carolyn and I both believe that a Dingo could taken the baby!
The Short Walk
Ian
Kings Canyon – Day 15
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
Today marks the start of our third week, we cannot believe that two weeks have passed or what we have fitted in and there is still so much more to see and do.
The Rim Walk was on the agenda today, so it was up at 7.30am to start the walk before the heat of the day. Despite it being the middle of winter the temperature is still reaching 25-30 degrees.
The Kings Canyon Rim walk is 6km long with a suggested time of 3.5 hours. We took it a little slower with lots of stops to soak in the views and experience another unique beautiful place is this great country of ours. The walk was a little taxing, straight up to start with and straight down to finish with great views in the middle – I’ll let the photo’s tell the story.
Following the walk we had a leisurely afternoon to conserve our energy for our Smorgasbord ‘Taste of Australia’ dinner at the resort in Kings Canyon. Then it’s one more night with the Dingo’s before heading to Alice Springs, which is another four hour drive.
As we reflect on Kings Canyon I must say that we were not over the moon about the place, while it was nice and the views where great, for us it didn’t hold a candle to Uluru or the Olgas. Whether we had to high an expectation (based on what others and the advertising said) or the constant buzzing of helicopters overhead, Kings Canyon was nice, but it wouldn’t be high on our list of places to revisit.
Some Photo’s
The Climb Up
The Canyon
Garden Of Eden
Ian
Kings Canyon – Alice Springs Day 16
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
It was up early again to pack up the Kombi and head to Alice Springs. According to Google Maps we only had around 300km to travel, of which 100km was a dirt road. We gave the dirt road a try and after 500 meters we decided we would stick to the sealed roads and do the extra 200km. We eventually arrived in Alice around 4pm, which was still enough time to set up camp and cook dinner.
The Big4 park we are staying it is fantastic with big sites and it is well set up for families and it is especially great for kids. It was also nice to find that Rick & Sue, a couple who are also travelling in a Kombi (2002 version) where staying behind us again, they camp behind us at Uluru – best of all they have a coffee machine in their kombi!
Ian
Alice Springs Day 17
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We got up today to go and check out the East McDonald Ranges with a visit Stanley Chasm. This was a short drive of just under 50km and even a shorter walk of just 15 minutes to the Chasm which is only about 20 – 30 meters long. Like everyone else in Alice Springs we timed our visit to be there around noon when the sun would hit the chasm floor turning the walls a golden brown. If you were able to be at Stanley Chasm on your own it would certainly be quite an awe inspiring experience watching the sun creep along the chasm floor turning the walls their golden brown, but there were so many people and no solitude to be had.
Despite the short walk we were quite tired with the long trip the day before and the several days of walking at Uluru, The Olgas and Kings Canyon, so we decided to head back to camp and rest up.
Just an aside, I must make an mention of Mrs Rev’s (Carolyn’s) cooking on our travels. So far she has managed to cook everything but the BBQ’s and the meals have included, Spaghetti, Fettuccine, Chicken Kebabs & Ceaser Salad, Hamburgers, Tacos, Burritoes, Sausages in brown onion gravy with mash-potatoes, peas and corn (my favourite), and for Bryce – Brinner (breakfast for dinner), pancakes from scratch with Icecream & maple syrup, and best of all – golden syrup dumplings with Icecream, we have eaten very well and all cooked on a three burner gas stove!
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 18
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We decided we needed a sleep in and rest today so we had no real plans till 4pm when we would be picked up and taken to ride some Camels along the Todd river.
Melina (our budding artist) went off and did a four hour course in painting with water colors (she came back with an amazing painting), and I went with my brother-in-law to visit a Truck Museum which houses the Kenworth Hall of Fame which turned out to be quite interesting.
At 4pm we were picked up by Frontier Camel Tours and taken to a nearby Camel Farm for a ride along the Todd River, which as you know is dry most of the time.
It was two to a camel, I teamed up with Melina while Carolyn & Bryce went together. The Camels are tied together in a train and it was lightest to the front heaviest to the rear – I sat in back.
Camels are one loud and tall animal, we couldn’t believe how high we were off the ground once we had climbed on. Ridding Camels is quite an experience and there was something special about ridding along the Todd River amongst the river gums with the sun setting behind us. If you ever get to Alice Springs be sure to go for a ride on a Camel, you wont be disappointed.
After the Camel ride we were provided dinner which was included in the price. The meal consisted of Corned Camel (like corned beef) & Kangaroo sausages for entrée, your choice of either Barramundi or Steak along with a choice of salads, and Sticky Date Pudding for dessert. It was a very nice meal, excellent service and a great day all around. We can certainly recommend Camel Ridding with Frontier Camel Tours.
More camel Photo’s
The Todd River – Dry As
Having a great time
Ian
Trouble In Alice
July 11th, 2008 · No Comments
Greetings everyone
We have had some trouble with Shirl – strong indication that it’s a result of opal fuel we had use coming from Uluru.
Yesterday I spent all day trying to sort out the problem, checked the vales first thing – they were ok with plenty of adjustment, did a compression check – everything was ok, compression was good, replaced the spark plugs, points, and distributor cap, coil, set the timing (after setting the points) – no improvement – Rang NRMA, cannot praise them enough.
The earliest someone could look at Shirl was Monday. So NRMA has paid for five nights, accommodation at the Big4 in Alice, which we knew was booked out due to the Camel Cup, but thankfully someone cancelled just prior to us asking about any kind of accommodation – a real answer to prayer.
NRMA also said they would provide us with a car, but yesterday they said that everything was booked out till the end of next week, again due to the Camel Cup, but the rang this morning and had a brand new Ford Falcon waiting for us and had organised it for us five days! Another answer to prayer.
So we are spending a few more days in Alice, having a rest, going to the pictures and to the camel cup! I’ll have pictures of that after tomorrow.
As for Shirl, it appears that the right-hand carby is blocked and after speaking to the mechanic yesterday it will need to be removed and cleaned, the petrol drained and fuel system overhauled.
once we get Shirl back we will make a decission as to our options regarding the rest of the trip. Till then we are in Alice Springs, which is not a bad place to be.
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 19
July 14th, 2008 · No Comments
Today we said good bye to Sharon & Darren who had been travelling with us since Coober Pedy, we also said good bye to our new friends Rick & Sue who we meet at Uluru. After saying goodbye to everyone it was time to see a few more of the sights.
First on our list was a visit to Simpson Gap which was really nice and quite pleasant, there was water and not as many people, it also very close to Alice Springs.
On the drive back to Alice the kombi started to play up a little, but we decided to stop off at the Reptile Park in the centre of Alice which we all enjoyed very much. There were all sorts of reptiles including snakes, thorny devils and a crocodile. They also had a live reptile demonstration and talk where you got to hold some lizards and a snake! It was well worth the visit.
As we drove back to our camp site it was obvious that the kombi was getting worse which only increased our stress levels. Seeing that the fuel gauge was pretty low and hoping that this was the cause I filled Shirl up but it didn’t make any difference. Not much else we could do except turn in for a stressful night sleep.
Ian
In June & July of 2008 we packed our 1975 Kombi and headed to Uluru.
Day 1 Lithgow – Cobar
Our plan was to wake up at 6am and get away as soon as we could – this ended up being around 9am, but it didn’t matter, we were on holidays and time was no longer a factor. After an uneventful and leisurely drive we arrived in Cobar around 4.30pm with just enough sunlight to set-up camp and get dinner before heading to bed.
Days 2-4 Cobar – Broken Hill
Again our plan was to wake up at 6am get away soon after but it was till close to 9am before we left. Shirl travelled well again and without any problems we arrived in Broken Hill around 5pm. Some friends we hadn’t seen in a while where picking us up for dinner at 6pm so we had just enough time to set up camp and get changed.
Broken Hill turned out to be more interesting than we anticipated and we certainly could have spent more time there. One of the high lights was our trip to the Day Dream Mine, coming back from the mine was the most glorious sunset, it was so good we had to stop and take some pictures.
The Big Chair
Broken Hill is full of art galleries and a trip out to Silvertown is a must.
Day 5 – Broken Hill – Port Augusta
Instead of getting up at 6am we decided to wake up at 7am, as it turned out we still got away around 9am – I think we are getting better at packing up.
The trip to Port Augusta was uneventful and we made camp around 4pm – again just enough time time to setup the tent and get dinner ready before going to bed. Travelling has a way of making you tired.
Day 6 – Port Augusta to Cober Pedy
Today we got up at 7am and we were ready to leave by 8.40am – our best effort yet. Shirl continues to goes well and we made Cober Pedy around 4.15pm, and we where all set up by 5pm. So far we have travelled some 2100km. Carolyn and I have been sharing the driving and taking turns to sit in the back with one of the kids watching a DVD on the roof mounted player I installed before leaving. This has been one of the best things we could have thought of, it has kept the kids occupied and it certainly makes the time goes by when you are sitting in the back.
Another thing we have been really impressed with is our 55L fridge/freezer. Carolyn packed a tub of Ice Ceam and a box of Heaven Creams and they are still frozen solid after almost a week.
All-in-all we are having a ball and can’t wait to start exploring Cober Pedy.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 27th, 2008 · 1 Comment
After I checked and adjusted the valves on Shirl we spent the rest of today walking around Coober Pedy and noodling (looking for opals), and yes we found some! Just little ones without much colour – but they are opals.
Our biggest surprise was a trip out to The Breakaways, The Dog Fence and Moon Scape. If you are ever in Coober Pedy then you must take the 70km drive – you won’t be disappointed, we were pleasantly surprised.
Shirl & The Moon Scape – This is where Mad Max 3 was filmed.
Carolyn & Bryce on the Moon
The Dog Fence – The longest fence in the world
Our first glimpse of the Breakaways
Simply Spectacular
We are having a great time, we certainly live in a vast and beautiful country and there is no better way to see it than in a Kombi.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 29th, 2008 · No Comments
We spent today walking around Coober Pedy and meeting up with some family who are also travelling around this big brown land of ours. There is really a lot more to Coober Pedy than we first thought.
Our first port of call was to The Old Timers Mine which was one of the first Opal Mines in Coober Pedy, it’s well worth a look and only cost $29 for a family ticket – although it did turn out more expensive than expected because Mrs Rev decided to buy herself a pair of Opal earrings.
Also at The Old Timers Mine they have an underground house display and a noodling pit
Looking out over Coober Pedy doesn’t really do it justice – it’s kind of desolate looking – but it isn’t
We also visited one of the underground churches – St Peter & Paul Catholic Church – 80% of people live underground in Coober Pedy
We had our first dinner out tonight at John’s Pizza, excellent restaurant and you get 10% off if you stay at the Big4, we then went to the Outback Open Air Theatre or Coober Pedy’s drive in, it only shows movies every 2nd saturday and we were lucky enough for it to be tonight, they were showing the latest Indiana Jones movie – at $15 a car you couldn’t have more fun as a family.
Ian.
Coober Pedy – Day 9
July 5th, 2008 · No Comments
Seeing that our last day in Coober Pedy was a Sunday we thought we would visit one of the underground Churches and attend a service. One of the closest and later morning services was the Coober Pedy Revival Church at 10.15am – so we went there. The service was a little different to what we were used to and a lot longer in two hours – but the people were nice and it was good to be in church as a family without having anything to do.
In the afternoon we headed back to the camp site for a rest before packing up and moving onto Riba’s Underground Campsite & Mine Tour – where we would take a night mine tour and spend the night underground.
Our tour guide – Rick
Carolyn learning the finer art of defining – it really worked!
Staying underground – it was soooooo good to sleep in a real bed.
Staying underground proved to be a great idea for it allowed us to get an early start for our 750km trip to Uluru.
As we left Coober Pedy behind we must say that Coober Pedy turned out to be quite a surprising place and well worth taking the time to spend a few days exploring and experiencing this dusty, but delightful part of Australia.
Uluru Day 10
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 10
The night underground allowed us an early start on what turned out to be a 10 hour trip (including stops) from Coober Pedy to Uluru, crossing over from South Australia into Northern Territory – our third Australian State. The trip to Uluru was almost uneventful, we clocked up 3000km since leaving home, paid $1.99 per liter for petrol and managed to break the door handle on Shirl’s sliding door – we can only open the door from the inside now. Hopefully this will be fixed in Alice Springs. Again, the roof mounted DVD really makes long trips easy, Carolyn I would take turns driving while the other sat in the back and watched DVD’s with the kids – in reality I think it’s taking turns watching DVD’s while the other one drives.
We arrived around 5.15pm and like everyone else we got so excited on the final leg seeing what we thought was Uluru which turned out to be MT Conner – I have lots of pictures of Mt Conner!
Arriving at the camp ground we were a little overwhelmed and disappointed, the Uluru camping resort is so commercialised and crowded! Not the outback experience we were expecting. By the time we set up camp and got everything it was dark and we only had time to get dinner and go to bed – we were certainly tired after a long day of travelling.
Ian
Uluru Day 11
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
We woke kind of early to go out to Uluru and we must say that the ‘Rock’ is truly impressive, and certainly a spiritual and awe inspiring experience. There is just something very special about Uluru and I don’t think you could ever get tired of looking at it or standing in it’s presence.
Uluru was closed for climbing which was a little disappointing so we decided to do the walk around the base of the Rock which turned out to be an 11km walk! Every turn there is a different aspect of the rock or something different to see or experience – if you ever get to Uluru be sure to do the walk.
After walking around Uluru for four hours we returned to the car park to find that the Rock was open for climbing – so with no guarantee that it would be open again we decided to do the climb and see how far we could get. Carolyn made it to the start of the chain, I made it to the end of the chain and a little bit further and Bryce, along with Uncle Darren and his cousin Olivier, went all the way to the top.
After the walk and climbing we went to sunset strip and watched the sun set over Uluru – this is an experience we will never forget.
With all the walking and climbing we were all very tired and no one was willing to cook, so went to one of the hotel’s for an Aussie Smorgasbord where we got to taste Kangaroo, Emu, Camel and Crocodile. It was a great way to end a very long, but enjoyable day.
Ian
Uluru Day 12
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 12
Well it was up early today at 5.45am to head out to see the Sun rise over Uluru, it was cold and dark and the viewing area wasn’t as good as the sunset, apparently they are building a new 20 million dollar viewing area but this not open yet. The colours are certainly different and worth seeing but if you have to choose either the sunset or sunrise, the sunset is by far the best. We topped off the sunrise with a cooked breakfast and hot coffee.
The Sunrise
Breakfast
Following our early start we headed to the Olgas which are about a 45km drive. The Olgas are absolutely awesome and a must to see. We did the walk to the 2nd lookout and you need to do at least that. The Olgas are different but none the less impressive. We really enjoyed our time at there.
Ian
Uluru Day 13
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
Day 13
Today we had a rest day which meant sleeping in a little and doing a few house keeping things like washing and a tune up on the kombi. We also hit the souvenir shops and brought some t-shirts and hats.
We finished the night by hiring a fire bin for $5, toasting marshmallows and thanks to our friend Lana, we made s’mores – they very very nice.
Tomorrow we get up early and head to Kings Canyon and I am sure we will have lots more to say and lots more photo’s to share.
Ian.
Uluru – Kings Canyon Day 14
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We are certainly getting better at packing up for it didn’t take long to get everything ready, trying to get onto the Internet turned out to be a waist of 30 minutes, despite paying for an hour access ($10) the phones lines were down and so no Internet. By the time we filled up at the only petrol station at $2.01 a litre it was around 9.30am, but we only had a four trip at a leisurely 80km to Kings Canyon, a distance of 305km.
In the end the trip from Uluru to Kings Canyon took 3hr 50min which gave us enough time to set up the tent and do the 1.5hr short walk. The walk was quite easy and very pretty, but it was enough to tire us out. After dinner the girls read and relaxed while Bryce and I watched the Transformers in the Kombi.
As it got dark the Dingo’s turned up and after we went to bed there seemed like a pack of them around the kombi and at one point we woke up sure they where trying to get into the tent.
After our first night in Kings Canyon, Carolyn and I both believe that a Dingo could taken the baby!
The Short Walk
Ian
Kings Canyon – Day 15
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
Today marks the start of our third week, we cannot believe that two weeks have passed or what we have fitted in and there is still so much more to see and do.
The Rim Walk was on the agenda today, so it was up at 7.30am to start the walk before the heat of the day. Despite it being the middle of winter the temperature is still reaching 25-30 degrees.
The Kings Canyon Rim walk is 6km long with a suggested time of 3.5 hours. We took it a little slower with lots of stops to soak in the views and experience another unique beautiful place is this great country of ours. The walk was a little taxing, straight up to start with and straight down to finish with great views in the middle – I’ll let the photo’s tell the story.
Following the walk we had a leisurely afternoon to conserve our energy for our Smorgasbord ‘Taste of Australia’ dinner at the resort in Kings Canyon. Then it’s one more night with the Dingo’s before heading to Alice Springs, which is another four hour drive.
As we reflect on Kings Canyon I must say that we were not over the moon about the place, while it was nice and the views where great, for us it didn’t hold a candle to Uluru or the Olgas. Whether we had to high an expectation (based on what others and the advertising said) or the constant buzzing of helicopters overhead, Kings Canyon was nice, but it wouldn’t be high on our list of places to revisit.
Some Photo’s
The Climb Up
The Canyon
Garden Of Eden
Ian
Kings Canyon – Alice Springs Day 16
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
It was up early again to pack up the Kombi and head to Alice Springs. According to Google Maps we only had around 300km to travel, of which 100km was a dirt road. We gave the dirt road a try and after 500 meters we decided we would stick to the sealed roads and do the extra 200km. We eventually arrived in Alice around 4pm, which was still enough time to set up camp and cook dinner.
The Big4 park we are staying it is fantastic with big sites and it is well set up for families and it is especially great for kids. It was also nice to find that Rick & Sue, a couple who are also travelling in a Kombi (2002 version) where staying behind us again, they camp behind us at Uluru – best of all they have a coffee machine in their kombi!
Ian
Alice Springs Day 17
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We got up today to go and check out the East McDonald Ranges with a visit Stanley Chasm. This was a short drive of just under 50km and even a shorter walk of just 15 minutes to the Chasm which is only about 20 – 30 meters long. Like everyone else in Alice Springs we timed our visit to be there around noon when the sun would hit the chasm floor turning the walls a golden brown. If you were able to be at Stanley Chasm on your own it would certainly be quite an awe inspiring experience watching the sun creep along the chasm floor turning the walls their golden brown, but there were so many people and no solitude to be had.
Despite the short walk we were quite tired with the long trip the day before and the several days of walking at Uluru, The Olgas and Kings Canyon, so we decided to head back to camp and rest up.
Just an aside, I must make an mention of Mrs Rev’s (Carolyn’s) cooking on our travels. So far she has managed to cook everything but the BBQ’s and the meals have included, Spaghetti, Fettuccine, Chicken Kebabs & Ceaser Salad, Hamburgers, Tacos, Burritoes, Sausages in brown onion gravy with mash-potatoes, peas and corn (my favourite), and for Bryce – Brinner (breakfast for dinner), pancakes from scratch with Icecream & maple syrup, and best of all – golden syrup dumplings with Icecream, we have eaten very well and all cooked on a three burner gas stove!
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 18
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We decided we needed a sleep in and rest today so we had no real plans till 4pm when we would be picked up and taken to ride some Camels along the Todd river.
Melina (our budding artist) went off and did a four hour course in painting with water colors (she came back with an amazing painting), and I went with my brother-in-law to visit a Truck Museum which houses the Kenworth Hall of Fame which turned out to be quite interesting.
At 4pm we were picked up by Frontier Camel Tours and taken to a nearby Camel Farm for a ride along the Todd River, which as you know is dry most of the time.
It was two to a camel, I teamed up with Melina while Carolyn & Bryce went together. The Camels are tied together in a train and it was lightest to the front heaviest to the rear – I sat in back.
Camels are one loud and tall animal, we couldn’t believe how high we were off the ground once we had climbed on. Ridding Camels is quite an experience and there was something special about ridding along the Todd River amongst the river gums with the sun setting behind us. If you ever get to Alice Springs be sure to go for a ride on a Camel, you wont be disappointed.
After the Camel ride we were provided dinner which was included in the price. The meal consisted of Corned Camel (like corned beef) & Kangaroo sausages for entrée, your choice of either Barramundi or Steak along with a choice of salads, and Sticky Date Pudding for dessert. It was a very nice meal, excellent service and a great day all around. We can certainly recommend Camel Ridding with Frontier Camel Tours.
More camel Photo’s
The Todd River – Dry As
Having a great time
Ian
In June & July of 2008 we packed our 1975 Kombi and headed to Uluru.
Day 1 Lithgow – Cobar
Our plan was to wake up at 6am and get away as soon as we could – this ended up being around 9am, but it didn’t matter, we were on holidays and time was no longer a factor. After an uneventful and leisurely drive we arrived in Cobar around 4.30pm with just enough sunlight to set-up camp and get dinner before heading to bed.
Days 2-4 Cobar – Broken Hill
Again our plan was to wake up at 6am get away soon after but it was till close to 9am before we left. Shirl travelled well again and without any problems we arrived in Broken Hill around 5pm. Some friends we hadn’t seen in a while where picking us up for dinner at 6pm so we had just enough time to set up camp and get changed.
Broken Hill turned out to be more interesting than we anticipated and we certainly could have spent more time there. One of the high lights was our trip to the Day Dream Mine, coming back from the mine was the most glorious sunset, it was so good we had to stop and take some pictures.
The Big Chair
Broken Hill is full of art galleries and a trip out to Silvertown is a must.
Day 5 – Broken Hill – Port Augusta
Instead of getting up at 6am we decided to wake up at 7am, as it turned out we still got away around 9am – I think we are getting better at packing up.
The trip to Port Augusta was uneventful and we made camp around 4pm – again just enough time time to setup the tent and get dinner ready before going to bed. Travelling has a way of making you tired.
Day 6 – Port Augusta to Cober Pedy
Today we got up at 7am and we were ready to leave by 8.40am – our best effort yet. Shirl continues to goes well and we made Cober Pedy around 4.15pm, and we where all set up by 5pm. So far we have travelled some 2100km. Carolyn and I have been sharing the driving and taking turns to sit in the back with one of the kids watching a DVD on the roof mounted player I installed before leaving. This has been one of the best things we could have thought of, it has kept the kids occupied and it certainly makes the time goes by when you are sitting in the back.
Another thing we have been really impressed with is our 55L fridge/freezer. Carolyn packed a tub of Ice Ceam and a box of Heaven Creams and they are still frozen solid after almost a week.
All-in-all we are having a ball and can’t wait to start exploring Cober Pedy.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 27th, 2008 · 1 Comment
After I checked and adjusted the valves on Shirl we spent the rest of today walking around Coober Pedy and noodling (looking for opals), and yes we found some! Just little ones without much colour – but they are opals.
Our biggest surprise was a trip out to The Breakaways, The Dog Fence and Moon Scape. If you are ever in Coober Pedy then you must take the 70km drive – you won’t be disappointed, we were pleasantly surprised.
Shirl & The Moon Scape – This is where Mad Max 3 was filmed.
Carolyn & Bryce on the Moon
The Dog Fence – The longest fence in the world
Our first glimpse of the Breakaways
Simply Spectacular
We are having a great time, we certainly live in a vast and beautiful country and there is no better way to see it than in a Kombi.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 29th, 2008 · No Comments
We spent today walking around Coober Pedy and meeting up with some family who are also travelling around this big brown land of ours. There is really a lot more to Coober Pedy than we first thought.
Our first port of call was to The Old Timers Mine which was one of the first Opal Mines in Coober Pedy, it’s well worth a look and only cost $29 for a family ticket – although it did turn out more expensive than expected because Mrs Rev decided to buy herself a pair of Opal earrings.
Also at The Old Timers Mine they have an underground house display and a noodling pit
Looking out over Coober Pedy doesn’t really do it justice – it’s kind of desolate looking – but it isn’t
We also visited one of the underground churches – St Peter & Paul Catholic Church – 80% of people live underground in Coober Pedy
We had our first dinner out tonight at John’s Pizza, excellent restaurant and you get 10% off if you stay at the Big4, we then went to the Outback Open Air Theatre or Coober Pedy’s drive in, it only shows movies every 2nd saturday and we were lucky enough for it to be tonight, they were showing the latest Indiana Jones movie – at $15 a car you couldn’t have more fun as a family.
Ian.
Coober Pedy – Day 9
July 5th, 2008 · No Comments
Seeing that our last day in Coober Pedy was a Sunday we thought we would visit one of the underground Churches and attend a service. One of the closest and later morning services was the Coober Pedy Revival Church at 10.15am – so we went there. The service was a little different to what we were used to and a lot longer in two hours – but the people were nice and it was good to be in church as a family without having anything to do.
In the afternoon we headed back to the camp site for a rest before packing up and moving onto Riba’s Underground Campsite & Mine Tour – where we would take a night mine tour and spend the night underground.
Our tour guide – Rick
Carolyn learning the finer art of defining – it really worked!
Staying underground – it was soooooo good to sleep in a real bed.
Staying underground proved to be a great idea for it allowed us to get an early start for our 750km trip to Uluru.
As we left Coober Pedy behind we must say that Coober Pedy turned out to be quite a surprising place and well worth taking the time to spend a few days exploring and experiencing this dusty, but delightful part of Australia.
Uluru Day 10
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 10
The night underground allowed us an early start on what turned out to be a 10 hour trip (including stops) from Coober Pedy to Uluru, crossing over from South Australia into Northern Territory – our third Australian State. The trip to Uluru was almost uneventful, we clocked up 3000km since leaving home, paid $1.99 per liter for petrol and managed to break the door handle on Shirl’s sliding door – we can only open the door from the inside now. Hopefully this will be fixed in Alice Springs. Again, the roof mounted DVD really makes long trips easy, Carolyn I would take turns driving while the other sat in the back and watched DVD’s with the kids – in reality I think it’s taking turns watching DVD’s while the other one drives.
We arrived around 5.15pm and like everyone else we got so excited on the final leg seeing what we thought was Uluru which turned out to be MT Conner – I have lots of pictures of Mt Conner!
Arriving at the camp ground we were a little overwhelmed and disappointed, the Uluru camping resort is so commercialised and crowded! Not the outback experience we were expecting. By the time we set up camp and got everything it was dark and we only had time to get dinner and go to bed – we were certainly tired after a long day of travelling.
Ian
Uluru Day 11
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
We woke kind of early to go out to Uluru and we must say that the ‘Rock’ is truly impressive, and certainly a spiritual and awe inspiring experience. There is just something very special about Uluru and I don’t think you could ever get tired of looking at it or standing in it’s presence.
Uluru was closed for climbing which was a little disappointing so we decided to do the walk around the base of the Rock which turned out to be an 11km walk! Every turn there is a different aspect of the rock or something different to see or experience – if you ever get to Uluru be sure to do the walk.
After walking around Uluru for four hours we returned to the car park to find that the Rock was open for climbing – so with no guarantee that it would be open again we decided to do the climb and see how far we could get. Carolyn made it to the start of the chain, I made it to the end of the chain and a little bit further and Bryce, along with Uncle Darren and his cousin Olivier, went all the way to the top.
After the walk and climbing we went to sunset strip and watched the sun set over Uluru – this is an experience we will never forget.
With all the walking and climbing we were all very tired and no one was willing to cook, so went to one of the hotel’s for an Aussie Smorgasbord where we got to taste Kangaroo, Emu, Camel and Crocodile. It was a great way to end a very long, but enjoyable day.
Ian
Uluru Day 12
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 12
Well it was up early today at 5.45am to head out to see the Sun rise over Uluru, it was cold and dark and the viewing area wasn’t as good as the sunset, apparently they are building a new 20 million dollar viewing area but this not open yet. The colours are certainly different and worth seeing but if you have to choose either the sunset or sunrise, the sunset is by far the best. We topped off the sunrise with a cooked breakfast and hot coffee.
The Sunrise
Breakfast
Following our early start we headed to the Olgas which are about a 45km drive. The Olgas are absolutely awesome and a must to see. We did the walk to the 2nd lookout and you need to do at least that. The Olgas are different but none the less impressive. We really enjoyed our time at there.
Ian
Uluru Day 13
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
Day 13
Today we had a rest day which meant sleeping in a little and doing a few house keeping things like washing and a tune up on the kombi. We also hit the souvenir shops and brought some t-shirts and hats.
We finished the night by hiring a fire bin for $5, toasting marshmallows and thanks to our friend Lana, we made s’mores – they very very nice.
Tomorrow we get up early and head to Kings Canyon and I am sure we will have lots more to say and lots more photo’s to share.
Ian.
Uluru – Kings Canyon Day 14
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We are certainly getting better at packing up for it didn’t take long to get everything ready, trying to get onto the Internet turned out to be a waist of 30 minutes, despite paying for an hour access ($10) the phones lines were down and so no Internet. By the time we filled up at the only petrol station at $2.01 a litre it was around 9.30am, but we only had a four trip at a leisurely 80km to Kings Canyon, a distance of 305km.
In the end the trip from Uluru to Kings Canyon took 3hr 50min which gave us enough time to set up the tent and do the 1.5hr short walk. The walk was quite easy and very pretty, but it was enough to tire us out. After dinner the girls read and relaxed while Bryce and I watched the Transformers in the Kombi.
As it got dark the Dingo’s turned up and after we went to bed there seemed like a pack of them around the kombi and at one point we woke up sure they where trying to get into the tent.
After our first night in Kings Canyon, Carolyn and I both believe that a Dingo could taken the baby!
The Short Walk
Ian
Kings Canyon – Day 15
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
Today marks the start of our third week, we cannot believe that two weeks have passed or what we have fitted in and there is still so much more to see and do.
The Rim Walk was on the agenda today, so it was up at 7.30am to start the walk before the heat of the day. Despite it being the middle of winter the temperature is still reaching 25-30 degrees.
The Kings Canyon Rim walk is 6km long with a suggested time of 3.5 hours. We took it a little slower with lots of stops to soak in the views and experience another unique beautiful place is this great country of ours. The walk was a little taxing, straight up to start with and straight down to finish with great views in the middle – I’ll let the photo’s tell the story.
Following the walk we had a leisurely afternoon to conserve our energy for our Smorgasbord ‘Taste of Australia’ dinner at the resort in Kings Canyon. Then it’s one more night with the Dingo’s before heading to Alice Springs, which is another four hour drive.
As we reflect on Kings Canyon I must say that we were not over the moon about the place, while it was nice and the views where great, for us it didn’t hold a candle to Uluru or the Olgas. Whether we had to high an expectation (based on what others and the advertising said) or the constant buzzing of helicopters overhead, Kings Canyon was nice, but it wouldn’t be high on our list of places to revisit.
Some Photo’s
The Climb Up
The Canyon
Garden Of Eden
Ian
Kings Canyon – Alice Springs Day 16
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
It was up early again to pack up the Kombi and head to Alice Springs. According to Google Maps we only had around 300km to travel, of which 100km was a dirt road. We gave the dirt road a try and after 500 meters we decided we would stick to the sealed roads and do the extra 200km. We eventually arrived in Alice around 4pm, which was still enough time to set up camp and cook dinner.
The Big4 park we are staying it is fantastic with big sites and it is well set up for families and it is especially great for kids. It was also nice to find that Rick & Sue, a couple who are also travelling in a Kombi (2002 version) where staying behind us again, they camp behind us at Uluru – best of all they have a coffee machine in their kombi!
Ian
In June & July of 2008 we packed our 1975 Kombi and headed to Uluru.
Day 1 Lithgow – Cobar
Our plan was to wake up at 6am and get away as soon as we could – this ended up being around 9am, but it didn’t matter, we were on holidays and time was no longer a factor. After an uneventful and leisurely drive we arrived in Cobar around 4.30pm with just enough sunlight to set-up camp and get dinner before heading to bed.
Days 2-4 Cobar – Broken Hill
Again our plan was to wake up at 6am get away soon after but it was till close to 9am before we left. Shirl travelled well again and without any problems we arrived in Broken Hill around 5pm. Some friends we hadn’t seen in a while where picking us up for dinner at 6pm so we had just enough time to set up camp and get changed.
Broken Hill turned out to be more interesting than we anticipated and we certainly could have spent more time there. One of the high lights was our trip to the Day Dream Mine, coming back from the mine was the most glorious sunset, it was so good we had to stop and take some pictures.
The Big Chair
Broken Hill is full of art galleries and a trip out to Silvertown is a must.
Day 5 – Broken Hill – Port Augusta
Instead of getting up at 6am we decided to wake up at 7am, as it turned out we still got away around 9am – I think we are getting better at packing up.
The trip to Port Augusta was uneventful and we made camp around 4pm – again just enough time time to setup the tent and get dinner ready before going to bed. Travelling has a way of making you tired.
Day 6 – Port Augusta to Cober Pedy
Today we got up at 7am and we were ready to leave by 8.40am – our best effort yet. Shirl continues to goes well and we made Cober Pedy around 4.15pm, and we where all set up by 5pm. So far we have travelled some 2100km. Carolyn and I have been sharing the driving and taking turns to sit in the back with one of the kids watching a DVD on the roof mounted player I installed before leaving. This has been one of the best things we could have thought of, it has kept the kids occupied and it certainly makes the time goes by when you are sitting in the back.
Another thing we have been really impressed with is our 55L fridge/freezer. Carolyn packed a tub of Ice Ceam and a box of Heaven Creams and they are still frozen solid after almost a week.
All-in-all we are having a ball and can’t wait to start exploring Cober Pedy.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 27th, 2008 · 1 Comment
After I checked and adjusted the valves on Shirl we spent the rest of today walking around Coober Pedy and noodling (looking for opals), and yes we found some! Just little ones without much colour – but they are opals.
Our biggest surprise was a trip out to The Breakaways, The Dog Fence and Moon Scape. If you are ever in Coober Pedy then you must take the 70km drive – you won’t be disappointed, we were pleasantly surprised.
Shirl & The Moon Scape – This is where Mad Max 3 was filmed.
Carolyn & Bryce on the Moon
The Dog Fence – The longest fence in the world
Our first glimpse of the Breakaways
Simply Spectacular
We are having a great time, we certainly live in a vast and beautiful country and there is no better way to see it than in a Kombi.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 29th, 2008 · No Comments
We spent today walking around Coober Pedy and meeting up with some family who are also travelling around this big brown land of ours. There is really a lot more to Coober Pedy than we first thought.
Our first port of call was to The Old Timers Mine which was one of the first Opal Mines in Coober Pedy, it’s well worth a look and only cost $29 for a family ticket – although it did turn out more expensive than expected because Mrs Rev decided to buy herself a pair of Opal earrings.
Also at The Old Timers Mine they have an underground house display and a noodling pit
Looking out over Coober Pedy doesn’t really do it justice – it’s kind of desolate looking – but it isn’t
We also visited one of the underground churches – St Peter & Paul Catholic Church – 80% of people live underground in Coober Pedy
We had our first dinner out tonight at John’s Pizza, excellent restaurant and you get 10% off if you stay at the Big4, we then went to the Outback Open Air Theatre or Coober Pedy’s drive in, it only shows movies every 2nd saturday and we were lucky enough for it to be tonight, they were showing the latest Indiana Jones movie – at $15 a car you couldn’t have more fun as a family.
Ian.
Coober Pedy – Day 9
July 5th, 2008 · No Comments
Seeing that our last day in Coober Pedy was a Sunday we thought we would visit one of the underground Churches and attend a service. One of the closest and later morning services was the Coober Pedy Revival Church at 10.15am – so we went there. The service was a little different to what we were used to and a lot longer in two hours – but the people were nice and it was good to be in church as a family without having anything to do.
In the afternoon we headed back to the camp site for a rest before packing up and moving onto Riba’s Underground Campsite & Mine Tour – where we would take a night mine tour and spend the night underground.
Our tour guide – Rick
Carolyn learning the finer art of defining – it really worked!
Staying underground – it was soooooo good to sleep in a real bed.
Staying underground proved to be a great idea for it allowed us to get an early start for our 750km trip to Uluru.
As we left Coober Pedy behind we must say that Coober Pedy turned out to be quite a surprising place and well worth taking the time to spend a few days exploring and experiencing this dusty, but delightful part of Australia.
Uluru Day 10
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 10
The night underground allowed us an early start on what turned out to be a 10 hour trip (including stops) from Coober Pedy to Uluru, crossing over from South Australia into Northern Territory – our third Australian State. The trip to Uluru was almost uneventful, we clocked up 3000km since leaving home, paid $1.99 per liter for petrol and managed to break the door handle on Shirl’s sliding door – we can only open the door from the inside now. Hopefully this will be fixed in Alice Springs. Again, the roof mounted DVD really makes long trips easy, Carolyn I would take turns driving while the other sat in the back and watched DVD’s with the kids – in reality I think it’s taking turns watching DVD’s while the other one drives.
We arrived around 5.15pm and like everyone else we got so excited on the final leg seeing what we thought was Uluru which turned out to be MT Conner – I have lots of pictures of Mt Conner!
Arriving at the camp ground we were a little overwhelmed and disappointed, the Uluru camping resort is so commercialised and crowded! Not the outback experience we were expecting. By the time we set up camp and got everything it was dark and we only had time to get dinner and go to bed – we were certainly tired after a long day of travelling.
Ian
Uluru Day 11
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
We woke kind of early to go out to Uluru and we must say that the ‘Rock’ is truly impressive, and certainly a spiritual and awe inspiring experience. There is just something very special about Uluru and I don’t think you could ever get tired of looking at it or standing in it’s presence.
Uluru was closed for climbing which was a little disappointing so we decided to do the walk around the base of the Rock which turned out to be an 11km walk! Every turn there is a different aspect of the rock or something different to see or experience – if you ever get to Uluru be sure to do the walk.
After walking around Uluru for four hours we returned to the car park to find that the Rock was open for climbing – so with no guarantee that it would be open again we decided to do the climb and see how far we could get. Carolyn made it to the start of the chain, I made it to the end of the chain and a little bit further and Bryce, along with Uncle Darren and his cousin Olivier, went all the way to the top.
After the walk and climbing we went to sunset strip and watched the sun set over Uluru – this is an experience we will never forget.
With all the walking and climbing we were all very tired and no one was willing to cook, so went to one of the hotel’s for an Aussie Smorgasbord where we got to taste Kangaroo, Emu, Camel and Crocodile. It was a great way to end a very long, but enjoyable day.
Ian
Uluru Day 12
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 12
Well it was up early today at 5.45am to head out to see the Sun rise over Uluru, it was cold and dark and the viewing area wasn’t as good as the sunset, apparently they are building a new 20 million dollar viewing area but this not open yet. The colours are certainly different and worth seeing but if you have to choose either the sunset or sunrise, the sunset is by far the best. We topped off the sunrise with a cooked breakfast and hot coffee.
The Sunrise
Breakfast
Following our early start we headed to the Olgas which are about a 45km drive. The Olgas are absolutely awesome and a must to see. We did the walk to the 2nd lookout and you need to do at least that. The Olgas are different but none the less impressive. We really enjoyed our time at there.
Ian
Uluru Day 13
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
Day 13
Today we had a rest day which meant sleeping in a little and doing a few house keeping things like washing and a tune up on the kombi. We also hit the souvenir shops and brought some t-shirts and hats.
We finished the night by hiring a fire bin for $5, toasting marshmallows and thanks to our friend Lana, we made s’mores – they very very nice.
Tomorrow we get up early and head to Kings Canyon and I am sure we will have lots more to say and lots more photo’s to share.
Ian.
Uluru – Kings Canyon Day 14
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We are certainly getting better at packing up for it didn’t take long to get everything ready, trying to get onto the Internet turned out to be a waist of 30 minutes, despite paying for an hour access ($10) the phones lines were down and so no Internet. By the time we filled up at the only petrol station at $2.01 a litre it was around 9.30am, but we only had a four trip at a leisurely 80km to Kings Canyon, a distance of 305km.
In the end the trip from Uluru to Kings Canyon took 3hr 50min which gave us enough time to set up the tent and do the 1.5hr short walk. The walk was quite easy and very pretty, but it was enough to tire us out. After dinner the girls read and relaxed while Bryce and I watched the Transformers in the Kombi.
As it got dark the Dingo’s turned up and after we went to bed there seemed like a pack of them around the kombi and at one point we woke up sure they where trying to get into the tent.
After our first night in Kings Canyon, Carolyn and I both believe that a Dingo could taken the baby!
The Short Walk
Ian
In June & July of 2008 we packed our 1975 Kombi and headed to Uluru.
Day 1 Lithgow – Cobar
Our plan was to wake up at 6am and get away as soon as we could – this ended up being around 9am, but it didn’t matter, we were on holidays and time was no longer a factor. After an uneventful and leisurely drive we arrived in Cobar around 4.30pm with just enough sunlight to set-up camp and get dinner before heading to bed.
Days 2-4 Cobar – Broken Hill
Again our plan was to wake up at 6am get away soon after but it was till close to 9am before we left. Shirl travelled well again and without any problems we arrived in Broken Hill around 5pm. Some friends we hadn’t seen in a while where picking us up for dinner at 6pm so we had just enough time to set up camp and get changed.
Broken Hill turned out to be more interesting than we anticipated and we certainly could have spent more time there. One of the high lights was our trip to the Day Dream Mine, coming back from the mine was the most glorious sunset, it was so good we had to stop and take some pictures.
The Big Chair
Broken Hill is full of art galleries and a trip out to Silvertown is a must.
Day 5 – Broken Hill – Port Augusta
Instead of getting up at 6am we decided to wake up at 7am, as it turned out we still got away around 9am – I think we are getting better at packing up.
The trip to Port Augusta was uneventful and we made camp around 4pm – again just enough time time to setup the tent and get dinner ready before going to bed. Travelling has a way of making you tired.
Day 6 – Port Augusta to Cober Pedy
Today we got up at 7am and we were ready to leave by 8.40am – our best effort yet. Shirl continues to goes well and we made Cober Pedy around 4.15pm, and we where all set up by 5pm. So far we have travelled some 2100km. Carolyn and I have been sharing the driving and taking turns to sit in the back with one of the kids watching a DVD on the roof mounted player I installed before leaving. This has been one of the best things we could have thought of, it has kept the kids occupied and it certainly makes the time goes by when you are sitting in the back.
Another thing we have been really impressed with is our 55L fridge/freezer. Carolyn packed a tub of Ice Ceam and a box of Heaven Creams and they are still frozen solid after almost a week.
All-in-all we are having a ball and can’t wait to start exploring Cober Pedy.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 27th, 2008 · 1 Comment
After I checked and adjusted the valves on Shirl we spent the rest of today walking around Coober Pedy and noodling (looking for opals), and yes we found some! Just little ones without much colour – but they are opals.
Our biggest surprise was a trip out to The Breakaways, The Dog Fence and Moon Scape. If you are ever in Coober Pedy then you must take the 70km drive – you won’t be disappointed, we were pleasantly surprised.
Shirl & The Moon Scape – This is where Mad Max 3 was filmed.
Carolyn & Bryce on the Moon
The Dog Fence – The longest fence in the world
Our first glimpse of the Breakaways
Simply Spectacular
We are having a great time, we certainly live in a vast and beautiful country and there is no better way to see it than in a Kombi.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 29th, 2008 · No Comments
We spent today walking around Coober Pedy and meeting up with some family who are also travelling around this big brown land of ours. There is really a lot more to Coober Pedy than we first thought.
Our first port of call was to The Old Timers Mine which was one of the first Opal Mines in Coober Pedy, it’s well worth a look and only cost $29 for a family ticket – although it did turn out more expensive than expected because Mrs Rev decided to buy herself a pair of Opal earrings.
Also at The Old Timers Mine they have an underground house display and a noodling pit
Looking out over Coober Pedy doesn’t really do it justice – it’s kind of desolate looking – but it isn’t
We also visited one of the underground churches – St Peter & Paul Catholic Church – 80% of people live underground in Coober Pedy
We had our first dinner out tonight at John’s Pizza, excellent restaurant and you get 10% off if you stay at the Big4, we then went to the Outback Open Air Theatre or Coober Pedy’s drive in, it only shows movies every 2nd saturday and we were lucky enough for it to be tonight, they were showing the latest Indiana Jones movie – at $15 a car you couldn’t have more fun as a family.
Ian.
Coober Pedy – Day 9
July 5th, 2008 · No Comments
Seeing that our last day in Coober Pedy was a Sunday we thought we would visit one of the underground Churches and attend a service. One of the closest and later morning services was the Coober Pedy Revival Church at 10.15am – so we went there. The service was a little different to what we were used to and a lot longer in two hours – but the people were nice and it was good to be in church as a family without having anything to do.
In the afternoon we headed back to the camp site for a rest before packing up and moving onto Riba’s Underground Campsite & Mine Tour – where we would take a night mine tour and spend the night underground.
Our tour guide – Rick
Carolyn learning the finer art of defining – it really worked!
Staying underground – it was soooooo good to sleep in a real bed.
Staying underground proved to be a great idea for it allowed us to get an early start for our 750km trip to Uluru.
As we left Coober Pedy behind we must say that Coober Pedy turned out to be quite a surprising place and well worth taking the time to spend a few days exploring and experiencing this dusty, but delightful part of Australia.
Uluru Day 10
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 10
The night underground allowed us an early start on what turned out to be a 10 hour trip (including stops) from Coober Pedy to Uluru, crossing over from South Australia into Northern Territory – our third Australian State. The trip to Uluru was almost uneventful, we clocked up 3000km since leaving home, paid $1.99 per liter for petrol and managed to break the door handle on Shirl’s sliding door – we can only open the door from the inside now. Hopefully this will be fixed in Alice Springs. Again, the roof mounted DVD really makes long trips easy, Carolyn I would take turns driving while the other sat in the back and watched DVD’s with the kids – in reality I think it’s taking turns watching DVD’s while the other one drives.
We arrived around 5.15pm and like everyone else we got so excited on the final leg seeing what we thought was Uluru which turned out to be MT Conner – I have lots of pictures of Mt Conner!
Arriving at the camp ground we were a little overwhelmed and disappointed, the Uluru camping resort is so commercialised and crowded! Not the outback experience we were expecting. By the time we set up camp and got everything it was dark and we only had time to get dinner and go to bed – we were certainly tired after a long day of travelling.
Ian
Uluru Day 11
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
We woke kind of early to go out to Uluru and we must say that the ‘Rock’ is truly impressive, and certainly a spiritual and awe inspiring experience. There is just something very special about Uluru and I don’t think you could ever get tired of looking at it or standing in it’s presence.
Uluru was closed for climbing which was a little disappointing so we decided to do the walk around the base of the Rock which turned out to be an 11km walk! Every turn there is a different aspect of the rock or something different to see or experience – if you ever get to Uluru be sure to do the walk.
After walking around Uluru for four hours we returned to the car park to find that the Rock was open for climbing – so with no guarantee that it would be open again we decided to do the climb and see how far we could get. Carolyn made it to the start of the chain, I made it to the end of the chain and a little bit further and Bryce, along with Uncle Darren and his cousin Olivier, went all the way to the top.
After the walk and climbing we went to sunset strip and watched the sun set over Uluru – this is an experience we will never forget.
With all the walking and climbing we were all very tired and no one was willing to cook, so went to one of the hotel’s for an Aussie Smorgasbord where we got to taste Kangaroo, Emu, Camel and Crocodile. It was a great way to end a very long, but enjoyable day.
Ian
Uluru Day 12
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 12
Well it was up early today at 5.45am to head out to see the Sun rise over Uluru, it was cold and dark and the viewing area wasn’t as good as the sunset, apparently they are building a new 20 million dollar viewing area but this not open yet. The colours are certainly different and worth seeing but if you have to choose either the sunset or sunrise, the sunset is by far the best. We topped off the sunrise with a cooked breakfast and hot coffee.
The Sunrise
Breakfast
Following our early start we headed to the Olgas which are about a 45km drive. The Olgas are absolutely awesome and a must to see. We did the walk to the 2nd lookout and you need to do at least that. The Olgas are different but none the less impressive. We really enjoyed our time at there.
Ian
In June & July of 2008 we packed our 1975 Kombi and headed to Uluru.
Day 1 Lithgow – Cobar
Our plan was to wake up at 6am and get away as soon as we could – this ended up being around 9am, but it didn’t matter, we were on holidays and time was no longer a factor. After an uneventful and leisurely drive we arrived in Cobar around 4.30pm with just enough sunlight to set-up camp and get dinner before heading to bed.
Days 2-4 Cobar – Broken Hill
Again our plan was to wake up at 6am get away soon after but it was till close to 9am before we left. Shirl travelled well again and without any problems we arrived in Broken Hill around 5pm. Some friends we hadn’t seen in a while where picking us up for dinner at 6pm so we had just enough time to set up camp and get changed.
Broken Hill turned out to be more interesting than we anticipated and we certainly could have spent more time there. One of the high lights was our trip to the Day Dream Mine, coming back from the mine was the most glorious sunset, it was so good we had to stop and take some pictures.
The Big Chair
Broken Hill is full of art galleries and a trip out to Silvertown is a must.
Day 5 – Broken Hill – Port Augusta
Instead of getting up at 6am we decided to wake up at 7am, as it turned out we still got away around 9am – I think we are getting better at packing up.
The trip to Port Augusta was uneventful and we made camp around 4pm – again just enough time time to setup the tent and get dinner ready before going to bed. Travelling has a way of making you tired.
Day 6 – Port Augusta to Cober Pedy
Today we got up at 7am and we were ready to leave by 8.40am – our best effort yet. Shirl continues to goes well and we made Cober Pedy around 4.15pm, and we where all set up by 5pm. So far we have travelled some 2100km. Carolyn and I have been sharing the driving and taking turns to sit in the back with one of the kids watching a DVD on the roof mounted player I installed before leaving. This has been one of the best things we could have thought of, it has kept the kids occupied and it certainly makes the time goes by when you are sitting in the back.
Another thing we have been really impressed with is our 55L fridge/freezer. Carolyn packed a tub of Ice Ceam and a box of Heaven Creams and they are still frozen solid after almost a week.
All-in-all we are having a ball and can’t wait to start exploring Cober Pedy.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 27th, 2008 · 1 Comment
After I checked and adjusted the valves on Shirl we spent the rest of today walking around Coober Pedy and noodling (looking for opals), and yes we found some! Just little ones without much colour – but they are opals.
Our biggest surprise was a trip out to The Breakaways, The Dog Fence and Moon Scape. If you are ever in Coober Pedy then you must take the 70km drive – you won’t be disappointed, we were pleasantly surprised.
Shirl & The Moon Scape – This is where Mad Max 3 was filmed.
Carolyn & Bryce on the Moon
The Dog Fence – The longest fence in the world
Our first glimpse of the Breakaways
Simply Spectacular
We are having a great time, we certainly live in a vast and beautiful country and there is no better way to see it than in a Kombi.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 29th, 2008 · No Comments
We spent today walking around Coober Pedy and meeting up with some family who are also travelling around this big brown land of ours. There is really a lot more to Coober Pedy than we first thought.
Our first port of call was to The Old Timers Mine which was one of the first Opal Mines in Coober Pedy, it’s well worth a look and only cost $29 for a family ticket – although it did turn out more expensive than expected because Mrs Rev decided to buy herself a pair of Opal earrings.
Also at The Old Timers Mine they have an underground house display and a noodling pit
Looking out over Coober Pedy doesn’t really do it justice – it’s kind of desolate looking – but it isn’t
We also visited one of the underground churches – St Peter & Paul Catholic Church – 80% of people live underground in Coober Pedy
We had our first dinner out tonight at John’s Pizza, excellent restaurant and you get 10% off if you stay at the Big4, we then went to the Outback Open Air Theatre or Coober Pedy’s drive in, it only shows movies every 2nd saturday and we were lucky enough for it to be tonight, they were showing the latest Indiana Jones movie – at $15 a car you couldn’t have more fun as a family.
Ian.
Coober Pedy – Day 9
July 5th, 2008 · No Comments
Seeing that our last day in Coober Pedy was a Sunday we thought we would visit one of the underground Churches and attend a service. One of the closest and later morning services was the Coober Pedy Revival Church at 10.15am – so we went there. The service was a little different to what we were used to and a lot longer in two hours – but the people were nice and it was good to be in church as a family without having anything to do.
In the afternoon we headed back to the camp site for a rest before packing up and moving onto Riba’s Underground Campsite & Mine Tour – where we would take a night mine tour and spend the night underground.
Our tour guide – Rick
Carolyn learning the finer art of defining – it really worked!
Staying underground – it was soooooo good to sleep in a real bed.
Staying underground proved to be a great idea for it allowed us to get an early start for our 750km trip to Uluru.
As we left Coober Pedy behind we must say that Coober Pedy turned out to be quite a surprising place and well worth taking the time to spend a few days exploring and experiencing this dusty, but delightful part of Australia.
Uluru Day 10
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
Uluru – Day 10
The night underground allowed us an early start on what turned out to be a 10 hour trip (including stops) from Coober Pedy to Uluru, crossing over from South Australia into Northern Territory – our third Australian State. The trip to Uluru was almost uneventful, we clocked up 3000km since leaving home, paid $1.99 per liter for petrol and managed to break the door handle on Shirl’s sliding door – we can only open the door from the inside now. Hopefully this will be fixed in Alice Springs. Again, the roof mounted DVD really makes long trips easy, Carolyn I would take turns driving while the other sat in the back and watched DVD’s with the kids – in reality I think it’s taking turns watching DVD’s while the other one drives.
We arrived around 5.15pm and like everyone else we got so excited on the final leg seeing what we thought was Uluru which turned out to be MT Conner – I have lots of pictures of Mt Conner!
Arriving at the camp ground we were a little overwhelmed and disappointed, the Uluru camping resort is so commercialised and crowded! Not the outback experience we were expecting. By the time we set up camp and got everything it was dark and we only had time to get dinner and go to bed – we were certainly tired after a long day of travelling.
Ian
In June & July of 2008 we packed our 1975 Kombi and headed to Uluru.
Day 1 Lithgow – Cobar
Our plan was to wake up at 6am and get away as soon as we could – this ended up being around 9am, but it didn’t matter, we were on holidays and time was no longer a factor. After an uneventful and leisurely drive we arrived in Cobar around 4.30pm with just enough sunlight to set-up camp and get dinner before heading to bed.
Days 2-4 Cobar – Broken Hill
Again our plan was to wake up at 6am get away soon after but it was till close to 9am before we left. Shirl travelled well again and without any problems we arrived in Broken Hill around 5pm. Some friends we hadn’t seen in a while where picking us up for dinner at 6pm so we had just enough time to set up camp and get changed.
Broken Hill turned out to be more interesting than we anticipated and we certainly could have spent more time there. One of the high lights was our trip to the Day Dream Mine, coming back from the mine was the most glorious sunset, it was so good we had to stop and take some pictures.
The Big Chair
Broken Hill is full of art galleries and a trip out to Silvertown is a must.
Day 5 – Broken Hill – Port Augusta
Instead of getting up at 6am we decided to wake up at 7am, as it turned out we still got away around 9am – I think we are getting better at packing up.
The trip to Port Augusta was uneventful and we made camp around 4pm – again just enough time time to setup the tent and get dinner ready before going to bed. Travelling has a way of making you tired.
Day 6 – Port Augusta to Cober Pedy
Today we got up at 7am and we were ready to leave by 8.40am – our best effort yet. Shirl continues to goes well and we made Cober Pedy around 4.15pm, and we where all set up by 5pm. So far we have travelled some 2100km. Carolyn and I have been sharing the driving and taking turns to sit in the back with one of the kids watching a DVD on the roof mounted player I installed before leaving. This has been one of the best things we could have thought of, it has kept the kids occupied and it certainly makes the time goes by when you are sitting in the back.
Another thing we have been really impressed with is our 55L fridge/freezer. Carolyn packed a tub of Ice Ceam and a box of Heaven Creams and they are still frozen solid after almost a week.
All-in-all we are having a ball and can’t wait to start exploring Cober Pedy.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 27th, 2008 · 1 Comment
After I checked and adjusted the valves on Shirl we spent the rest of today walking around Coober Pedy and noodling (looking for opals), and yes we found some! Just little ones without much colour – but they are opals.
Our biggest surprise was a trip out to The Breakaways, The Dog Fence and Moon Scape. If you are ever in Coober Pedy then you must take the 70km drive – you won’t be disappointed, we were pleasantly surprised.
Shirl & The Moon Scape – This is where Mad Max 3 was filmed.
Carolyn & Bryce on the Moon
The Dog Fence – The longest fence in the world
Our first glimpse of the Breakaways
Simply Spectacular
We are having a great time, we certainly live in a vast and beautiful country and there is no better way to see it than in a Kombi.
Ian
Coober Pedy
June 29th, 2008 · No Comments
We spent today walking around Coober Pedy and meeting up with some family who are also travelling around this big brown land of ours. There is really a lot more to Coober Pedy than we first thought.
Our first port of call was to The Old Timers Mine which was one of the first Opal Mines in Coober Pedy, it’s well worth a look and only cost $29 for a family ticket – although it did turn out more expensive than expected because Mrs Rev decided to buy herself a pair of Opal earrings.
Also at The Old Timers Mine they have an underground house display and a noodling pit
Looking out over Coober Pedy doesn’t really do it justice – it’s kind of desolate looking – but it isn’t
We also visited one of the underground churches – St Peter & Paul Catholic Church – 80% of people live underground in Coober Pedy
We had our first dinner out tonight at John’s Pizza, excellent restaurant and you get 10% off if you stay at the Big4, we then went to the Outback Open Air Theatre or Coober Pedy’s drive in, it only shows movies every 2nd saturday and we were lucky enough for it to be tonight, they were showing the latest Indiana Jones movie – at $15 a car you couldn’t have more fun as a family.
Ian.
In June & July of 2008 we packed our 1975 Kombi and headed to Uluru.
Day 1 Lithgow – Cobar
Our plan was to wake up at 6am and get away as soon as we could – this ended up being around 9am, but it didn’t matter, we were on holidays and time was no longer a factor. After an uneventful and leisurely drive we arrived in Cobar around 4.30pm with just enough sunlight to set-up camp and get dinner before heading to bed.
Days 2-4 Cobar – Broken Hill
Again our plan was to wake up at 6am get away soon after but it was till close to 9am before we left. Shirl travelled well again and without any problems we arrived in Broken Hill around 5pm. Some friends we hadn’t seen in a while where picking us up for dinner at 6pm so we had just enough time to set up camp and get changed.
Broken Hill turned out to be more interesting than we anticipated and we certainly could have spent more time there. One of the high lights was our trip to the Day Dream Mine, coming back from the mine was the most glorious sunset, it was so good we had to stop and take some pictures.
The Big Chair
Broken Hill is full of art galleries and a trip out to Silvertown is a must.
Day 5 – Broken Hill – Port Augusta
Instead of getting up at 6am we decided to wake up at 7am, as it turned out we still got away around 9am – I think we are getting better at packing up.
The trip to Port Augusta was uneventful and we made camp around 4pm – again just enough time time to setup the tent and get dinner ready before going to bed. Travelling has a way of making you tired.
Day 6 – Port Augusta to Cober Pedy
Today we got up at 7am and we were ready to leave by 8.40am – our best effort yet. Shirl continues to goes well and we made Cober Pedy around 4.15pm, and we where all set up by 5pm. So far we have travelled some 2100km. Carolyn and I have been sharing the driving and taking turns to sit in the back with one of the kids watching a DVD on the roof mounted player I installed before leaving. This has been one of the best things we could have thought of, it has kept the kids occupied and it certainly makes the time goes by when you are sitting in the back.
Another thing we have been really impressed with is our 55L fridge/freezer. Carolyn packed a tub of Ice Ceam and a box of Heaven Creams and they are still frozen solid after almost a week.
All-in-all we are having a ball and can’t wait to start exploring Cober Pedy.
Ian
Days 2-4 Cobar – Broken Hill
Instead of getting up at 6am we decided to wake up at 7am, as it turned out we still got away around 9am – I think we are getting better at packing up.
Today we got up at 7am and we were ready to leave by 8.40am – our best effort yet. Shirl continues to goes well and we made Cober Pedy around 4.15pm, and we where all set up by 5pm. So far we have travelled some 2100km. Carolyn and I have been sharing the driving and taking turns to sit in the back with one of the kids watching a DVD on the roof mounted player I installed before leaving. This has been one of the best things we could have thought of, it has kept the kids occupied and it certainly makes the time goes by when you are sitting in the back.
Coober Pedy
June 27th, 2008 · 1 Comment
After I checked and adjusted the valves on Shirl we spent the rest of today walking around Coober Pedy and noodling (looking for opals), and yes we found some! Just little ones without much colour – but they are opals.
Our biggest surprise was a trip out to The Breakaways, The Dog Fence and Moon Scape. If you are ever in Coober Pedy then you must take the 70km drive – you won’t be disappointed, we were pleasantly surprised.
Shirl & The Moon Scape – This is where Mad Max 3 was filmed.
Carolyn & Bryce on the Moon
The Dog Fence – The longest fence in the world
Our first glimpse of the Breakaways
Simply Spectacular
We are having a great time, we certainly live in a vast and beautiful country and there is no better way to see it than in a Kombi.
Ian
We spent today walking around Coober Pedy and meeting up with some family who are also travelling around this big brown land of ours. There is really a lot more to Coober Pedy than we first thought.
Our first port of call was to The Old Timers Mine which was one of the first Opal Mines in Coober Pedy, it’s well worth a look and only cost $29 for a family ticket – although it did turn out more expensive than expected because Mrs Rev decided to buy herself a pair of Opal earrings.
Also at The Old Timers Mine they have an underground house display and a noodling pit
Looking out over Coober Pedy doesn’t really do it justice – it’s kind of desolate looking – but it isn’t
We also visited one of the underground churches – St Peter & Paul Catholic Church – 80% of people live underground in Coober Pedy
We had our first dinner out tonight at John’s Pizza, excellent restaurant and you get 10% off if you stay at the Big4, we then went to the Outback Open Air Theatre or Coober Pedy’s drive in, it only shows movies every 2nd saturday and we were lucky enough for it to be tonight, they were showing the latest Indiana Jones movie – at $15 a car you couldn’t have more fun as a family.
Ian.
Coober Pedy – Day 9
July 5th, 2008 · No Comments
Seeing that our last day in Coober Pedy was a Sunday we thought we would visit one of the underground Churches and attend a service. One of the closest and later morning services was the Coober Pedy Revival Church at 10.15am – so we went there. The service was a little different to what we were used to and a lot longer in two hours – but the people were nice and it was good to be in church as a family without having anything to do.
In the afternoon we headed back to the camp site for a rest before packing up and moving onto Riba’s Underground Campsite & Mine Tour – where we would take a night mine tour and spend the night underground.
Our tour guide – Rick
Carolyn learning the finer art of defining – it really worked!
Staying underground – it was soooooo good to sleep in a real bed.
Staying underground proved to be a great idea for it allowed us to get an early start for our 750km trip to Uluru.
As we left Coober Pedy behind we must say that Coober Pedy turned out to be quite a surprising place and well worth taking the time to spend a few days exploring and experiencing this dusty, but delightful part of Australia.
Uluru – Day 10
The night underground allowed us an early start on what turned out to be a 10 hour trip (including stops) from Coober Pedy to Uluru, crossing over from South Australia into Northern Territory – our third Australian State. The trip to Uluru was almost uneventful, we clocked up 3000km since leaving home, paid $1.99 per liter for petrol and managed to break the door handle on Shirl’s sliding door – we can only open the door from the inside now. Hopefully this will be fixed in Alice Springs. Again, the roof mounted DVD really makes long trips easy, Carolyn I would take turns driving while the other sat in the back and watched DVD’s with the kids – in reality I think it’s taking turns watching DVD’s while the other one drives.
We arrived around 5.15pm and like everyone else we got so excited on the final leg seeing what we thought was Uluru which turned out to be MT Conner – I have lots of pictures of Mt Conner!
Arriving at the camp ground we were a little overwhelmed and disappointed, the Uluru camping resort is so commercialised and crowded! Not the outback experience we were expecting. By the time we set up camp and got everything it was dark and we only had time to get dinner and go to bed – we were certainly tired after a long day of travelling.
Ian
Uluru Day 11
July 7th, 2008 · No Comments
We woke kind of early to go out to Uluru and we must say that the ‘Rock’ is truly impressive, and certainly a spiritual and awe inspiring experience. There is just something very special about Uluru and I don’t think you could ever get tired of looking at it or standing in it’s presence.
Uluru was closed for climbing which was a little disappointing so we decided to do the walk around the base of the Rock which turned out to be an 11km walk! Every turn there is a different aspect of the rock or something different to see or experience – if you ever get to Uluru be sure to do the walk.
After walking around Uluru for four hours we returned to the car park to find that the Rock was open for climbing – so with no guarantee that it would be open again we decided to do the climb and see how far we could get. Carolyn made it to the start of the chain, I made it to the end of the chain and a little bit further and Bryce, along with Uncle Darren and his cousin Olivier, went all the way to the top.
After the walk and climbing we went to sunset strip and watched the sun set over Uluru – this is an experience we will never forget.
With all the walking and climbing we were all very tired and no one was willing to cook, so went to one of the hotel’s for an Aussie Smorgasbord where we got to taste Kangaroo, Emu, Camel and Crocodile. It was a great way to end a very long, but enjoyable day.
Ian
Uluru – Day 12
Well it was up early today at 5.45am to head out to see the Sun rise over Uluru, it was cold and dark and the viewing area wasn’t as good as the sunset, apparently they are building a new 20 million dollar viewing area but this not open yet. The colours are certainly different and worth seeing but if you have to choose either the sunset or sunrise, the sunset is by far the best. We topped off the sunrise with a cooked breakfast and hot coffee.
The Sunrise
Breakfast
Following our early start we headed to the Olgas which are about a 45km drive. The Olgas are absolutely awesome and a must to see. We did the walk to the 2nd lookout and you need to do at least that. The Olgas are different but none the less impressive. We really enjoyed our time at there.
Ian
Uluru Day 13
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
Day 13
Today we had a rest day which meant sleeping in a little and doing a few house keeping things like washing and a tune up on the kombi. We also hit the souvenir shops and brought some t-shirts and hats.
We finished the night by hiring a fire bin for $5, toasting marshmallows and thanks to our friend Lana, we made s’mores – they very very nice.
Tomorrow we get up early and head to Kings Canyon and I am sure we will have lots more to say and lots more photo’s to share.
Ian.
We are certainly getting better at packing up for it didn’t take long to get everything ready, trying to get onto the Internet turned out to be a waist of 30 minutes, despite paying for an hour access ($10) the phones lines were down and so no Internet. By the time we filled up at the only petrol station at $2.01 a litre it was around 9.30am, but we only had a four trip at a leisurely 80km to Kings Canyon, a distance of 305km.
In the end the trip from Uluru to Kings Canyon took 3hr 50min which gave us enough time to set up the tent and do the 1.5hr short walk. The walk was quite easy and very pretty, but it was enough to tire us out. After dinner the girls read and relaxed while Bryce and I watched the Transformers in the Kombi.
As it got dark the Dingo’s turned up and after we went to bed there seemed like a pack of them around the kombi and at one point we woke up sure they where trying to get into the tent.
After our first night in Kings Canyon, Carolyn and I both believe that a Dingo could taken the baby!
The Short Walk
Ian
Kings Canyon – Day 15
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
Today marks the start of our third week, we cannot believe that two weeks have passed or what we have fitted in and there is still so much more to see and do.
The Rim Walk was on the agenda today, so it was up at 7.30am to start the walk before the heat of the day. Despite it being the middle of winter the temperature is still reaching 25-30 degrees.
The Kings Canyon Rim walk is 6km long with a suggested time of 3.5 hours. We took it a little slower with lots of stops to soak in the views and experience another unique beautiful place is this great country of ours. The walk was a little taxing, straight up to start with and straight down to finish with great views in the middle – I’ll let the photo’s tell the story.
Following the walk we had a leisurely afternoon to conserve our energy for our Smorgasbord ‘Taste of Australia’ dinner at the resort in Kings Canyon. Then it’s one more night with the Dingo’s before heading to Alice Springs, which is another four hour drive.
As we reflect on Kings Canyon I must say that we were not over the moon about the place, while it was nice and the views where great, for us it didn’t hold a candle to Uluru or the Olgas. Whether we had to high an expectation (based on what others and the advertising said) or the constant buzzing of helicopters overhead, Kings Canyon was nice, but it wouldn’t be high on our list of places to revisit.
Some Photo’s
The Climb Up
The Canyon
Garden Of Eden
Ian
Kings Canyon – Alice Springs Day 16
It was up early again to pack up the Kombi and head to Alice Springs. According to Google Maps we only had around 300km to travel, of which 100km was a dirt road. We gave the dirt road a try and after 500 meters we decided we would stick to the sealed roads and do the extra 200km. We eventually arrived in Alice around 4pm, which was still enough time to set up camp and cook dinner.
The Big4 park we are staying it is fantastic with big sites and it is well set up for families and it is especially great for kids. It was also nice to find that Rick & Sue, a couple who are also travelling in a Kombi (2002 version) where staying behind us again, they camp behind us at Uluru – best of all they have a coffee machine in their kombi!
Ian
Alice Springs Day 17
July 8th, 2008 · No Comments
We got up today to go and check out the East McDonald Ranges with a visit Stanley Chasm. This was a short drive of just under 50km and even a shorter walk of just 15 minutes to the Chasm which is only about 20 – 30 meters long. Like everyone else in Alice Springs we timed our visit to be there around noon when the sun would hit the chasm floor turning the walls a golden brown. If you were able to be at Stanley Chasm on your own it would certainly be quite an awe inspiring experience watching the sun creep along the chasm floor turning the walls their golden brown, but there were so many people and no solitude to be had.
Despite the short walk we were quite tired with the long trip the day before and the several days of walking at Uluru, The Olgas and Kings Canyon, so we decided to head back to camp and rest up.
Just an aside, I must make an mention of Mrs Rev’s (Carolyn’s) cooking on our travels. So far she has managed to cook everything but the BBQ’s and the meals have included, Spaghetti, Fettuccine, Chicken Kebabs & Ceaser Salad, Hamburgers, Tacos, Burritoes, Sausages in brown onion gravy with mash-potatoes, peas and corn (my favourite), and for Bryce – Brinner (breakfast for dinner), pancakes from scratch with Icecream & maple syrup, and best of all – golden syrup dumplings with Icecream, we have eaten very well and all cooked on a three burner gas stove!
Ian
Melina (our budding artist) went off and did a four hour course in painting with water colors (she came back with an amazing painting), and I went with my brother-in-law to visit a Truck Museum which houses the Kenworth Hall of Fame which turned out to be quite interesting.
At 4pm we were picked up by Frontier Camel Tours and taken to a nearby Camel Farm for a ride along the Todd River, which as you know is dry most of the time.
It was two to a camel, I teamed up with Melina while Carolyn & Bryce went together. The Camels are tied together in a train and it was lightest to the front heaviest to the rear – I sat in back.
Camels are one loud and tall animal, we couldn’t believe how high we were off the ground once we had climbed on. Ridding Camels is quite an experience and there was something special about ridding along the Todd River amongst the river gums with the sun setting behind us. If you ever get to Alice Springs be sure to go for a ride on a Camel, you wont be disappointed.
After the Camel ride we were provided dinner which was included in the price. The meal consisted of Corned Camel (like corned beef) & Kangaroo sausages for entrée, your choice of either Barramundi or Steak along with a choice of salads, and Sticky Date Pudding for dessert. It was a very nice meal, excellent service and a great day all around. We can certainly recommend Camel Ridding with Frontier Camel Tours.
The Todd River – Dry As
Trouble In Alice
July 11th, 2008 · No Comments
Greetings everyone
We have had some trouble with Shirl – strong indication that it’s a result of opal fuel we had use coming from Uluru.
Yesterday I spent all day trying to sort out the problem, checked the vales first thing – they were ok with plenty of adjustment, did a compression check – everything was ok, compression was good, replaced the spark plugs, points, and distributor cap, coil, set the timing (after setting the points) – no improvement – Rang NRMA, cannot praise them enough.
The earliest someone could look at Shirl was Monday. So NRMA has paid for five nights, accommodation at the Big4 in Alice, which we knew was booked out due to the Camel Cup, but thankfully someone cancelled just prior to us asking about any kind of accommodation – a real answer to prayer.
NRMA also said they would provide us with a car, but yesterday they said that everything was booked out till the end of next week, again due to the Camel Cup, but the rang this morning and had a brand new Ford Falcon waiting for us and had organised it for us five days! Another answer to prayer.
So we are spending a few more days in Alice, having a rest, going to the pictures and to the camel cup! I’ll have pictures of that after tomorrow.
As for Shirl, it appears that the right-hand carby is blocked and after speaking to the mechanic yesterday it will need to be removed and cleaned, the petrol drained and fuel system overhauled.
once we get Shirl back we will make a decission as to our options regarding the rest of the trip. Till then we are in Alice Springs, which is not a bad place to be.
Ian
Today we said good bye to Sharon & Darren who had been travelling with us since Coober Pedy, we also said good bye to our new friends Rick & Sue who we meet at Uluru. After saying goodbye to everyone it was time to see a few more of the sights.
First on our list was a visit to Simpson Gap which was really nice and quite pleasant, there was water and not as many people, it also very close to Alice Springs.
On the drive back to Alice the kombi started to play up a little, but we decided to stop off at the Reptile Park in the centre of Alice which we all enjoyed very much. There were all sorts of reptiles including snakes, thorny devils and a crocodile. They also had a live reptile demonstration and talk where you got to hold some lizards and a snake! It was well worth the visit.
As we drove back to our camp site it was obvious that the kombi was getting worse which only increased our stress levels. Seeing that the fuel gauge was pretty low and hoping that this was the cause I filled Shirl up but it didn’t make any difference. Not much else we could do except turn in for a stressful night sleep.
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 20
July 14th, 2008 · No Comments
Alice Springs – Day 20
Today we focused mostly on the kombi. I tested everything I could think of and changed almost all of the electric’s (plugs, points, coil, etc) but it didn’t make any difference. There was no way we could drive onto to Tennent Creek the way Shirl was so in the end we decided to call NRMA. They arrived in around 30 minutes and suspected that it was a fuel problem most likely caused by Opal fuel. The kombi had to be looked at by a mechanic, the only problem was the earliest we could get into see a mechanic was Monday, some where a two week wait. So we are spending a bit longer in Alice
Seeing that the kids had been so good throughout the day we decided we would take them to Hungry Jacks for dinner and to the Movies to see ‘Get Smart’, which was quite funny. It was a good way to end a stressful day.
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 21
This morning we were woken by NRMA with the news that they had found us a car and had booked it for us for five days – a brand new Ford Falcon, it had to picked up at 10am.
We also had to move sites today as well, lucky for us that someone cancelled just as we were asking about extending our stay in Alice – this was areal answer to prayer. Getting the car and moving sites took up all of the morning and a little of the afternoon. Our new site was larger again and undercover, plus we had our own sink with hot & cold water. After we had settled in we decided to take our new form of transportation out for a spin and we hit the shops, the Ford goes a lot faster that the Kombi.
To our great delight we discovered that Alice Springs had a Gloia Jeans Café, so we made sure to visit that. The girls did some clothes shopping and we stocked up a little on food seeing that we were going to be in Alice Springs a few days longer than we expected. Since we had a great time at the movies yesterday we decided to see another – this time it was ‘Meet Dave’ with Eddie Murphy.
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 22
July 14th, 2008 · No Comments
Alice Springs – Day 22
Alice Springs is a great place to break down for there is so much to do and see. One of the reasons it was so hard to find accommodation or rent a car here is because of the Camel Cup which as been running annually now for 31 years. Seeing that the Camel Cup was on and that a few of the Camels we rode earlier would be running we just had to go.
The Camel Cup turned out to be a great day with a carnival atmosphere, stalls and food stands. It was a great event and a really unique and fun day that was totally unexpected. We are really starting to like Camels and they don’t taste to bad either – seriously they taste good. They not only ride them here in Alice Springs they eat them too.
Ian
Alice Springs Day 23
Seeing that today was Sunday we thought we would Attend the morning service at Alice Springs Baptist Church. Following the service we decided to head out to see a bit more of the West McDonald Ranges and we drove out to Glen Helen Gorge which we liked very much, it had a permanent water hole, camping ground and even a restaurant. We thought this would make a great place to stay one day.
After Glen Helen Gorge we then stopped in on Ormiston Gorge, another pretty spot with a permanent water hole. Orministin Gorge had great views with spectacular cliffs that were turning a beautiful shades of browns and reds with the sun hitting them.
Alice Springs and the West McDonald Ranges are a great place to see and we haven’t minded spending the few extra days here, in fact we have quite enjoyed them.
Ian
Alice Springs – Day 24
July 14th, 2008 · No Comments
We woke early today to put Shirl in at the VW dealer and seeing that we were up we decided to visit the Desert Park in Alice Springs. This turned out to be really quite enjoyable and it took a lot longer to see everything than we expected, it was well worth the visit. I haven’t downloaded the photo’s from the camera yet, but when I do I’ll post a few.
After the Desert Park we came back to the camp ground for a late lunch and to wait to here about Shirl. Around 4pm we got the call that she was ready to be picked up! We were so happy we went out to the movies one last time.
Tomorrow we pack up and start heading home the same way we came. Mt Isa and the other places will have to wait for another trip. First stop tomorrow – Coober Pedy.
Ian
Alice Springs – Coober Pedy Day 25
July 16th, 2008 · No Comments
We did get up early today, but by the time we packed up, took back the hire car, got petrol and went to the bank it was almost 11am. Everything was going fine until we were about 60km outside of Marla SA or about 400km south of Alice Springs when the points failed.
I put new points in while we were in Alice Springs and apparently they were faulty and the part that is moved by the cam on the distributor broke which meant that the points wouldn’t open. Again, thanks to NRMA we had a night paid for in Marla. Shirl was put onto a trailor and we had to wait till the morning before we found out about the points.
We have had a great time, it has been a real adventure and a special time as a family – tonight we are all sleeping in the kombi so we can get up and leave early in the morning. It’s also a test to see if we can cope with sleeping in the Kombi together because we going to have to do it so we can make it to Darwin via Mt Isa next year.
This may be the last time I get internet access before we get home so I will leave you with a few photo’s
Ian
Pictures from the Desert Park
The Trip Home
July 22nd, 2008 · No Comments
Well the trip home was quite an adventure. The Opal fuel has certainly caused a few issues with the Carby’s and they played most of the way home. At one point I could only get full throttle and shirl was screaming along at 110km.
As mentioned before we had some trouble about 60km outside of Marla SAhttp://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&h…,19.248047&z=6
The new points I picked up in Alice Springs broke!
I was rather stressed and I didn’t even think about replacing the points, we flagged down a car and asked them to send back a tow truck – in the end we only had to wait about 90 minutes before Shirl was picked up. At least we had an awesome sunset to watch as we waited for the tow truck.
At this point we were unsure of the problem, nothing we could do but wait till the morning. We were quite relieved to here that it was the points, no points in Marla so we put the old points back in and headed to Coober Pedy – a 220km trip down the road.
Once in Coober pedy we picked up three sets of points (just to be sure) and then looked around a little more – we really liked Coober Pedy.
Ian
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Coober Pedy – Day 26
July 16th, 2008 · No Comments
The Mechanic in Marla told us that the cause of the breakdown were the points, unfortunatly he didn’t have any, but luckly I still had the old set I took out in Alice. After a few phones calls we discovered that someone in Coober Pedy had some points in Stock so we decided to put the old ones in and head there.
By the time Shirl was ready it was almost lunch time and shirl made the 220km’s without any problems. As soon as I got to Coober Pedy I made sure to I got hold of the points, in fact I brought three sets just to be sure!
Seeing it was early afternoon we took some time to have another look around Coober Pedy (we really like the place) before heading to John’s Pizza for dinner – if you are ever in Coober Pedy be sure to have a meal at John’s.
Tonight we are all spending the night in the Kombi, kids up stairs and Carolyn and I down, this way we hope to get away early in the morning.
Here are some pictures of today
Mounds from Opal Minning
The Golf Course
The Coober Pedy Sign
We are on our way home
Ian
Coober Pedy – Peterborough – Broken Hill
July 22nd, 2008 · No Comments
From Coober Pedy Shirl really travelled well, despite buying new points I didn’t put them in because she was running so well. By 2pm we had reached Peterborough and decided to stay there the night.
In the morning (Friday 18th July – Day 28) Shirl started and ran well for the first hour and then started to play up and we ended up limping into Broken Hill. I have a friend in broken hill who is a mechanic and who use to own kombi’s – even had a samba at one point. I gave him a call and he was willing to look at Shirl.
I also had a look myself and found the choke on the right-hand carby was stuck open and the wire that runs to the coil had broken. I fixed those while Shirl ran better she could only get a maximum of 70km – which was enough to potter around town till my friend could check Shirl out.
We got to watch another awesome sunset
Watch the moon rise
And visit Bells Milk Bar – which is a must if you ever visit Broken Hill.
After dinner, my friend (Stephen) gave Shirl a real going over and fixed a few minor issues, like a loose vacum hose, adjusted the points and the timing, he also found that Shirl’s accelerator cable was stretched and a little dodgy.
After a few hours Shirl was running well but there was still a problem with the fuel delivery and maximum speed was only 85km – 90km which we decided was enough to get us home.
Ian
Alice Springs – Coober Pedy Day 25
July 16th, 2008 · No Comments
We did get up early today, but by the time we packed up, took back the hire car, got petrol and went to the bank it was almost 11am. Everything was going fine until we were about 60km outside of Marla SA or about 400km south of Alice Springs when the points failed.
I put new points in while we were in Alice Springs and apparently they were faulty and the part that is moved by the cam on the distributor broke which meant that the points wouldn’t open. Again, thanks to NRMA we had a night paid for in Marla. Shirl was put onto a trailor and we had to wait till the morning before we found out about the points.
We have had a great time, it has been a real adventure and a special time as a family – tonight we are all sleeping in the kombi so we can get up and leave early in the morning. It’s also a test to see if we can cope with sleeping in the Kombi together because we going to have to do it so we can make it to Darwin via Mt Isa next year.
This may be the last time I get internet access before we get home so I will leave you with a few photo’s
Ian
Pictures from the Desert Park
Alice Springs – Coober Pedy Day 25
We did get up early today, but by the time we packed up, took back the hire car, got petrol and went to the bank it was almost 11am. Everything was going fine until we were about 60km outside of Marla SA or about 400km south of Alice Springs when the points failed.
I put new points in while we were in Alice Springs and apparently they were faulty and the part that is moved by the cam on the distributor broke which meant that the points wouldn’t open. Again, thanks to NRMA we had a night paid for in Marla. Shirl was put onto a trailor and we had to wait till the morning before we found out about the points.
We have had a great time, it has been a real adventure and a special time as a family – tonight we are all sleeping in the kombi so we can get up and leave early in the morning. It’s also a test to see if we can cope with sleeping in the Kombi together because we going to have to do it so we can make it to Darwin via Mt Isa next year.
This may be the last time I get internet access before we get home so I will leave you with a few photo’s
Ian
Pictures from the Desert Park
The Trip Home
July 22nd, 2008 · No Comments
Well the trip home was quite an adventure. The Opal fuel has certainly caused a few issues with the Carby’s and they played most of the way home. At one point I could only get full throttle and shirl was screaming along at 110km.
As mentioned before we had some trouble about 60km outside of Marla SAhttp://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&h…,19.248047&z=6
The new points I picked up in Alice Springs broke!
I was rather stressed and I didn’t even think about replacing the points, we flagged down a car and asked them to send back a tow truck – in the end we only had to wait about 90 minutes before Shirl was picked up. At least we had an awesome sunset to watch as we waited for the tow truck.
At this point we were unsure of the problem, nothing we could do but wait till the morning. We were quite relieved to here that it was the points, no points in Marla so we put the old points back in and headed to Coober Pedy – a 220km trip down the road.
Once in Coober pedy we picked up three sets of points (just to be sure) and then looked around a little more – we really liked Coober Pedy.
Ian
? No CommentsTags: Uncategorized
Coober Pedy – Day 26
July 16th, 2008 · No Comments
The Mechanic in Marla told us that the cause of the breakdown were the points, unfortunatly he didn’t have any, but luckly I still had the old set I took out in Alice. After a few phones calls we discovered that someone in Coober Pedy had some points in Stock so we decided to put the old ones in and head there.
By the time Shirl was ready it was almost lunch time and shirl made the 220km’s without any problems. As soon as I got to Coober Pedy I made sure to I got hold of the points, in fact I brought three sets just to be sure!
Seeing it was early afternoon we took some time to have another look around Coober Pedy (we really like the place) before heading to John’s Pizza for dinner – if you are ever in Coober Pedy be sure to have a meal at John’s.
Tonight we are all spending the night in the Kombi, kids up stairs and Carolyn and I down, this way we hope to get away early in the morning.
Here are some pictures of today
Mounds from Opal Minning
The Golf Course
The Coober Pedy Sign
We are on our way home
Ian
Coober Pedy – Peterborough – Broken Hill
From Coober Pedy Shirl really travelled well, despite buying new points I didn’t put them in because she was running so well. By 2pm we had reached Peterborough and decided to stay there the night.
In the morning (Friday 18th July – Day 28) Shirl started and ran well for the first hour and then started to play up and we ended up limping into Broken Hill. I have a friend in broken hill who is a mechanic and who use to own kombi’s – even had a samba at one point. I gave him a call and he was willing to look at Shirl.
I also had a look myself and found the choke on the right-hand carby was stuck open and the wire that runs to the coil had broken. I fixed those while Shirl ran better she could only get a maximum of 70km – which was enough to potter around town till my friend could check Shirl out.
We got to watch another awesome sunset
Watch the moon rise
And visit Bells Milk Bar – which is a must if you ever visit Broken Hill.
After dinner, my friend (Stephen) gave Shirl a real going over and fixed a few minor issues, like a loose vacum hose, adjusted the points and the timing, he also found that Shirl’s accelerator cable was stretched and a little dodgy.
After a few hours Shirl was running well but there was still a problem with the fuel delivery and maximum speed was only 85km – 90km which we decided was enough to get us home.
Ian
Day 29 – Broken Hill – Lithgow (Home)
July 22nd, 2008 · No Comments
We left Broken Hill as early as we could not really sure how far we would get, but Shirl travelled well and would could sit on 80km, despite a strong head wind.
Carolyn & I took turns driving and sitting in the back watching movies with the kids or sleeping, the only stops we made were for fuel.
We reached Dubbo around 7pm which is normally around 3.5 hours from Lithgow, and decided to push on while shirl was running and we arrived home around 11.15pm.
Ian
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