NOW: BEDOURIE AND MT ISA We made it to Bedourie before dark after travelling with a long procession of campers leaving The Big Red Bash. We’d heard about the Bedourie Camel and Pig Races so as we headed north we stopped off to go to the races and get out of the traffic. A lot…
NOW: THE BIG RED BASH Track owners from everywhere were converging on Birdsville for the Owners’ Gathering at The Big Red Bash and we were meeting the team from Track to get the site ready and welcome fellow owners. First we needed a hot shower, a kangaroo pie and a bun rush for a loaf…
NOW: FROM DAVENPORT RANGES NATIONAL PARK TO THE BIG RED BASH After a fresh-food top up in Katherine we headed down the Stuart Highway with a million grey nomads heading in both directions. When we stopped at Renner Springs we saw three mad people in amongst the nomads – two were on pushbikes and the…
NOW: NITMILUK NATIONAL PARK A stop in Jabiru identified our starting and auxiliary batteries in the car were on the way out. We replaced the starting battery but they didn’t have an auxiliary the right size in Jabiru. In Katherine we were able to replace the second battery, restock the larder and visit a butcher.…
NOW: COBOURG PENINSULA, GARIG GUNAK BARLU NATIONAL PARK – ARNHEM LAND An early start saw us over Cahills Crossing at 7.30am, two hours before high tide. This causeway crosses the East Alligator River and has a notorious reputation for eating cars and for its crocodiles that eat humans. We’d headed the warnings, crossed on the…
NOW: KAKADU NATIONAL PARK On our last visit to Kakadu 23 years ago in the Commodore, we couldn’t get into Gunlom because the road was too rough for our sedan. This time the road was still corrugated gravel but far more accessible in the 4 wheel drive than the poor old Commodore. We did see…
NOW: DALY RIVER AND LITCHFIELD NATIONAL PARK The top end had had a very long wet season so we’d headed up to Darwin hoping the roads and waterfalls would be open when we were ready to start travelling south and we were in luck. We couldn’t get to Douglas Hot Springs as the whole area…
NOW: ALICE SPRINGS TO DARWIN We commemorated ANZAC Day in Alice Springs, watching the parade as it travelled up Todd Mall. The mounted police and a group of young riders from Hermannsburg who donned historic Lighthorse uniforms rode proudly in the ANZAC March. We spent the afternoon in the Aussie bush of the West Macdonnell…
NOW: ULURU AND KATA TJUTA After a lunch stop at Curtin Springs our first glimpse of Ayers Rock happened in the rain! Yes! It’s raining on The Rock and we were glad to be off the dirt road and on the tar! Only 1% of visitors see rain at Uluru and we were in that…
NOW: THE OODNADATTA TRACK The Oodnadatta Track starts at Maree which was once the end of the railway line. It was the staging point for goods and stock which were herded or carried by camel trains or delivered by the famous Tom Kruse in his mail truck. Stockmen brought cattle down from the north, rested…