But the time has come, so I’ll do a bit of an update for you all.
The first day (March 19th) we did end up leaving home well before I thought we actually would but a bit later than planned (I think we drove out the gate at about 8.45am). This day was pretty much spent in the car travelling to Adelaide, where we stayed out the north side of the city so we had a jump on the next day’s driving. Distance travelled today: 730kms
Day 2 was another big travelling day as we are trying to get as much distance between us and the farm as possible! No, seriously, if we don’t put in some big days then we are simply going to leave our time in either Darwin or the trip home a bit short. The outback pretty much starts after Port Augusta as there is nothing much to see from here on out. We stopped at a place called Pimba for a refuel (just out of Woomera) and I could not believe the flies. I thought they were bad at home, but my god.....these were just unbelievable. As soon as you got out of the ute, they just attacked you. And they were no better 200km or so up the road at Glendambo where we pulled in for the night. The temperature today was up around the 38◦C. Distance travelled today: 605kms
Day 3 was a short run to Coober Pedy. The kids need a break out of the car and frankly, so do we. We are finding that they still have all their energy reserves for the day when we pull up at night and they are not getting to sleep until 11pm....not great when we need to be on the road early the next day. Coober Pedy on a Sunday is just a bit of a ghost town. Much like Sundays were when we were growing up....nothing much open, no-one around.... But it is as hot as hell here! The pool at the caravan park is inside a sort of water tank – completely out of the sun. Freezing cold..or maybe it just feels that way because we are so hot! Distance travelled today: 250kms
Day 4 was spent being tourists around Coober Pedy. We visited the dog fence and the Breakaways which are located about 15 – 20kms out of town towards Oodnadatta. The dog fence is an amazing structure as it extends 5,600kms from almost Surfers Paradise down to the Great Australian Bight near Ceduna. The longest continuous man made structure in the world. The landscape around Coober Pedy is just barren, and a number of movies have been shot around here that play on this rocky, red, hot environment (Mad Max, Pricilla Queen of the Desert, Red Planet). Later in the day we took the kids on a tour of an example of an opal mine, an underground house and one of the underground churches. It really is not that cool underground...quite muggy in fact. It struck us that Coober Pedy feels like it has fallen a bit on hard times, tourist wise, as there were a lot of things closed and obviously big ventures now not operating. Sort of feels a bit sad. Didn’t buy any opals here as they are not any cheaper here than anywhere else in Australia. Distance travelled today: 50kms
Biddy near the dog fence just out of Coober Pedy (can you see her? Right in the middle of the pic)
Tom and Biddy in the Old Timers Mine, Coober Pedy
Day 5 was an early start out of Coober Pedy headed for Alice Springs. Another big day of travelling broken up really only by a photo opportunity at the SA/NT border. Both Mark and I had not long been to Ularu, Kings Canyon and the Olgas, so we didn’t bother taking the 400km round trip to go there this time. The kids at their age would not be that interested and it is a bloody long way to go. So we pushed on past the turn off at Erldunda and kept going. It was amazing how green it is up here. The last time we were up this way (about 8 years ago), it was like a dust bowl. But this time, there is greenery everywhere. There have been some extensive rains in recent weeks – in fact enough to get the Todd River in Alice flowing which actually drowned someone! We pulled into Alice at about 5pm and headed straight for the caravan park. This park is one of the Big 4 chains and it is really well appointed. There are 3 pools here and the kids were in heaven! Distance travelled today: 692kms
Mark and the kids at the SA/NT border
Day 6 was another tourist day. We took the kids to the Alice Springs Desert Park in the morning where they got to walk around and view different desert habitats. It is simple enough to walk around (in fact, we took Biddy’s pram for the inevitable slow periods) but it was so hot. You are out in the heat for pretty much the whole time, although there are water stops along the way (which we made good use of). Tom did so well walking around the park, but by the end he was buggered – so was I. I think I was bringing up the rear! (give me a break, I’m nearly 7 months pregnant). After lunch we headed for the Reptile Centre in town. This is a bit run down and institutional looking, but there are heaps of exhibits to view and even a “pet” goanna that meanders about the place on its own that you can pat (but don’t touch its head or tail unless you want a nip!). Tom was hugely impressed by the snakes and geckos.
Tom with the goanna at the Alice Reptile Centre
We are now at day 7 and the novelty of living in the caravan and travelling has worn off the kids and they are now settling into a routine much better. For the first couple of days, Tom was a bloody nightmare to deal with, mainly because he had so much pent up energy, but now he is getting a lot better. Biddy is also settling into it all as well, sleeping better at night. This day also sees us leaving Alice and heading for Tennant Creek. We passed through Aileron which has a huge statue of an Aileron man overlooking the town and another of an Aileron woman and child down in the town. I’m not sure how big they are (I’ll google it), but they are enormous (impressive!). Not much at Barrow Creek and we ate lunch in the van under the only tree in the roadside stop. Temperature is in the 40’s today and after lunch, both the kids and I fell asleep and missed Wycliffe Well and Wauchope. Wycliffe Well is reknown for being a UFO hot spot and is even marked on maps as being the UFO centre. Mark said that there was a tin cutout of a UFO and another of a green man at the entrance to the town. The “centre” was just the arse-end of the roadhouse! But the highlight of the trip for me so far was the next stop – the Devils Marbles. When I was a little girl, we used to have a big book at home that was all about travelling Australia. In it, was a picture of the marbles and I always thought they looked so cool. I remember knowing that I would visit them one day and now here I am! They are spectacular in real life! I made both kids and Mark get out and come for a walk with me. I really enjoyed this bit of the trip. Onto Tennant Creek afterwards. Distance travelled today: 529kms
Aileron woman and child statue
All of us at the Devil's Marbles
We were going to head to Katherine today (day 8) and spend a couple of days here, but that would mean that would put us in Darwin a day later, and we really wanted to get there. So we decided to go as far as Mataranka (100kms less) and then do a short jump to Darwin the following day. So onwards from Tennant Creek to Mataranka we went (Mark insisted on calling it Madagascar!). On the way, we turned off and stopped at Daly Waters Pub. This pub is famous the world over and heaps of international visitors come here. The bar is covered in stuff (no other word for it really) – from bras, undies, rugby tops, stubbie holders, cloth patches, money, hats etc... The kids had a good time wandering around and it was a good half hour break for the out of the car. Mataranka is reknown for 2 things: thermal pools and also the place that the book (and film) “We of the Never Never” was about. Never having read the book, I’m not sure what the story is about (although I could venture a guess). The thermal pool is located just near the Mataranka Homestead where we are camping for the night (and I mean camping...this is just about bush camping), and we all toodled off for a look and a dip. What we thought initially were noisy birds turned out to be red flying foxes – thousands of them! And you had to walk under them to get to the pool. I’m sure we were piddled and pooed on for the round trip! The pool was beautiful although I couldn’t help but think of it as one giant bat toilet! It is now quite muggy and we are feeling the tropical weather more and more. Distance travelled today: 575kms
Sam and Biddy enjoying a cold one at Daly Waters Pub
Mark at the Day Waters bar
Red flying foxes
Us in the thermal pool at Mataranka
Day 9 saw us wake to a beautiful morning, but very muggy. The kids spotted a hand reared kangaroo near our camp site and took off to give it something to eat and for a pat.
We packed up and left for Darwin today, although things seem to be a bit slower going as any exertion results in you swimming in your own sweat! We arrived in Darwin at about 3.30pm and the kids and I left Mark to set up the annex while we took off for the pool. Deb, Chris, Will and Laura Stevenson came over to the caravan park to meet and greet us – the friends who are main reason for coming up all this way! – and to stay for tea. It was great to catch up with them and find out all the goings on (from both sides). Will and Laura have grown so much since we saw them last. Just as we were finishing dinner, a HUGE storm hit us and held us all captive under shelter. There have been cyclone warnings for a number of days and whilst Darwin itself is not in line for it, we will receive the rain from it. But the rain was warm and the kids had a ball running around in it. I’m glad that we have finally arrived and am looking forward to staying put for a week or so. Distance travelled today: 421kms
Tom, Biddy, Laura and Will
Deb, Mark and Stevo
Today (day 10) we took off with the Stevos and Deb’s friend Caz to Litchfield National Park for a look about and a swim in some rockpools. We started at the furthest one (Wangi Falls) and then worked our way back towards home. Wangi was unfortunately closed for swimming (crocs) but it is a beautiful waterfall. There is also a walk around the base and up over the top of the falls. We all started the walk, but after getting to the first stop (300m up stairs), I was knackered and was not going further. Neither was Deb or Caz (who is also pregnant – 13wks). The young boys took off up more stairs with Biddy, so Mark followed them. When they didn’t come back within 5 minutes, we figured that they decided to keep going the whole circuit. So we headed back and waited for them at the bottom. When they got back, Tom was still going strong, Will was holding his own, but poor Biddy was being carried by Mark. And apparently, had been for most of the walk! So Mark was a pool of sweat and his arms and legs were killing him!! We stopped then at Tolmer Falls for a look before heading to a rockpool near Florence Falls for a swim and some lunch. The water was beautiful – clear, cool, although there were some murderous rocks! We even spotted a couple of water monitors that hopped in with us for a bit (freaked Deb out!). Afterwards we went to the Magnetic Termite Mounds which are enormous before a visit to the Batchelor Pub for a quick beer before heading back to the caravan and another swim. Distance travelled today: 240kms
Mark at Wangi Falls
Mark and kids at Florence Falls rockpool
Sam with the kids at the giant termite mounds
