Since we got back from our lovely holiday it has been GO, GO, GO! I have no idea how I ever found time to go to work. I haven't had any time to do any craft and very little reading but I am sure that will improve in due course.
We have been really busy turning the whole house upside down so that we can comfortably cater to the needs of 4 adults and one soon-to-be baby. I have had to re-arrange almost every room in the house, but it is finally starting to look a bit more organised and I think the new arrangements will work OK. I knew I had a lot of 'stuff' but hadn't realised how much until I had to pack it all up and then find somewhere to put it. Consequently I have a lot of 'stuff' still in boxes but I have packed the boxes up very neatly in out of the way spots and will gradually work through them and hopefully cull a lot more things. I am thinking of having a garage sale but that will have to wait because I am trying to organise a baby shower for Emma. Only 10 weeks to go - if the baby doesn't have his own ideas about arriving early. We haven't even started setting up the baby's room properly but we will get to that soon.
We ordered in a mini skip and have filled that and very likely we will need another one as well. Unbelievable how much accumulates around you when you are not paying attention!!!!
Our last night of our holiday was spent at the Baroota Rodeo and Camp Ground and we noticed the place is for sale so we went for a drive yesterday and met the owner and the land agent. We are giving some thought to whether we might sell up and move out there, but there is an awful lot we would have to work out so it may not come to fruition at all. It is 278 acres and that includes the campgrounds, rodeo ground, 3 bedroom house, airstrip and aeroplane hangar! No - the plane doesn't come with it.
We had a good look around and got information on council rates, how the place is powered (solar and diesel generator), the water supply (rainwater for drinking and bore water operated by windmills) etc and now need to sit down and work through the pros and cons and consider if the 4 of us really want to make that sort of change. I will keep you posted.
I am thinking of having a Bling party to sell some of my products - possibly in mid November. I will probably do it as an open house on a weekend (probably a Sunday afternoon). It will be good timing for those looking at Christmas presents (for themselves or others). I will post another entry once I know the details.
Keep safe and well and I will keep you all informed of happenings in the near future.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
THE LAST LEG
On Tuesday 14/9/10 we left Alice Springs and headed towards the Marryatt Camp Site. We stopped on the way at Stuart’s Well and were entertained by Dinky the singing dingo. He stands on the piano and sings along while someone plays the piano. He also walks on the keys to make his own music if he is so inclined! Dinky’s owner explained that Dinky is fed pretty much what a dingo would eat in the wild but Dinky was a bit overweight, mainly because he doesn’t have to catch his own food (although he has been known to occasionally snatch and eat a bird that strays too close to him). We saw a kangaroo and some emus in an enclosure at Stuart’s Well and across the road there were a large number of camels (there is a camel farm there).
We crossed over the Finke River and noticed the water levels were quite high. The area where we had been walking on our way to Alice Springs was now under water and the river was flowing well. The next river crossing was the Palmer River and where that was bone dry on our way up, it was now flowing as well.
We arrived at the Marryatt Camp Site and set up camp – probably not in the best spot because it was the dry river bed, but it was a lovely spot nonetheless. We hoped there was no water coming our way and hummed and hah-ed about whether we should take the chance or not. In the end we stayed there and I worried all night about flash floods and big branches falling down onto the caravan (we were parked under one very big – and quite lovely – tree).
We were visited by a rather interesting bird. It was very similar in appearance to a magpie but was a bit smaller and its head was completely black. Unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough to take a photo. Just before going to bed I heard some noises outside and when Royce went to check he saw a dog (dingo?) scavenging in the rubbish and at the barbecue. It took off pretty quickly but Royce didn’t think it was a dingo because it was a bit on the fat side and its legs didn’t look long enough.
The next morning it started to rain and we had a bit of rain on and off for most of the day. While we were packing up camp a chap who was camped up on the actual camp site came down and said his ‘bus’ wouldn’t start and the starter motor was broken and could we help push start. Once we were packed up we drove up there and with a tyre between the bus and Raymond’s car, Raymond had several attempts at push starting him. It was quite comical – a broken bus, a landcruiser and a caravan – all driving along nose to tail! Eventually Raymond was successful (after Royce advised the bloke to put his bus in third gear) and he headed off to Coober Pedy to try to get the starter motor fixed.
Just south of Cadney Park Royce spotted something fairly large on the side of the road ahead. On slowing we discovered a wedge tail eagle feeding on a dead kangaroo. It flew into a tree right by the side of the road but by the time we had stopped and I got the camera out it flew off to another tree some distance away and was clearly determined to stay there until we left! It was a very large bird!!
We arrived at the Pootnoura camp site and again camped a bit away from the rest. It seemed like a really nice spot until the mossies attacked! Unfortunately for me I seemed to have the sweetest blood. A large number of them landed on Royce’s back and he did get a few bites but I was almost eaten alive! I was wearing long pants, socks and shoes and they bit through the clothing. I ended up with another really bad lot of mossie bites and I seem to be reacting badly to them. Many of the bites came up very red and swollen with a lot of them about the size of a 10c piece. Luckily I had calamine lotion and I thought (mistakenly) that would stop the itching problem.
On Thursday 16th we headed into Coober Pedy. After emptying the toilet and filling the water tanks we checked into the caravan park then went for a bit of a walk. We bumped into Trevor McLeod (Royce’s cousin’s husband) and organised to meet Trevor and Katrina for tea that night. We went to the pizza bar, had a nice pizza and coffee, met up with Trevor & Kate’s son Simon (born on the same day as Rory and at the same hospital!), then went to have a look at Trevor & Kate’s dugout. It was pretty amazing!
My mossie bites were becoming unbearable and I had tried everything – calamine lotion, stop itch, tea tree oil and even toothpaste! Friday morning we went to the chemist and I was given some ointment and tablets and advised if it didn’t improve in a couple of days I needed to see a doctor.
We left Coober Pedy on Friday morning and headed to a roadside camp near Lake Hart. We made our own camp site about 10km north of Lake Hart – it isn’t a designated camping spot – made up a camp fire and chilled out for the night. I mean ‘chilled out’ literally! It was very cold.
An uneventful night except for my mossie bites! I had even resorted to sitting on the edge of the shower and washing my legs with cold water. It did give some relief but it was bloody freezing! I couldn’t wear long pants shoes or socks because they would irritate the bites so was walking around in shorts and sandals!
We left the camp site this morning and drove to Woomera where we had a look around the town, including the museum. We drove to the local park where there are a number of birds in cages, including one very impressive peacock and several cheeky cockies. In one cage there was a sulphur crest and a major Mitchell who were very happy grooming each other. A light pink galah in another cage was really wanting to bite Royce. It started at the back of the cage but when Royce stopped to talk to it, it came to the front of the cage and was raising its crest, fanning out its wings and screeching at him! Another sulphur crest came to the front of the cage saying “hello cocky” and wanted us to stay and chat with it for a while.
Just south of Pimba there were 4 emus on the side of the road and we managed to get some photos.
We stopped briefly at Port Augusta and had intended to camp the night at Mambray Creek but we changed our minds and have ended up at the Baroota Rodeo and Camp Grounds. Seems like a reasonable place and only cost $10 per vehicle for the night. We have started up the generator so we could transfer photos and get the blog written up.
Home tomorrow afternoon. What a wonderful time it has been. We cannot wait for our next one!
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Camels at Stuart's Well
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Our camp site at Marryatt
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Sturt's Desert Pea at Glendambo
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Woomera
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The two cockies grooming each other
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Royce's 'friend'!!!!
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The very handsome peacock
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Emus just south of Pimba
We crossed over the Finke River and noticed the water levels were quite high. The area where we had been walking on our way to Alice Springs was now under water and the river was flowing well. The next river crossing was the Palmer River and where that was bone dry on our way up, it was now flowing as well.
We arrived at the Marryatt Camp Site and set up camp – probably not in the best spot because it was the dry river bed, but it was a lovely spot nonetheless. We hoped there was no water coming our way and hummed and hah-ed about whether we should take the chance or not. In the end we stayed there and I worried all night about flash floods and big branches falling down onto the caravan (we were parked under one very big – and quite lovely – tree).
We were visited by a rather interesting bird. It was very similar in appearance to a magpie but was a bit smaller and its head was completely black. Unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough to take a photo. Just before going to bed I heard some noises outside and when Royce went to check he saw a dog (dingo?) scavenging in the rubbish and at the barbecue. It took off pretty quickly but Royce didn’t think it was a dingo because it was a bit on the fat side and its legs didn’t look long enough.
The next morning it started to rain and we had a bit of rain on and off for most of the day. While we were packing up camp a chap who was camped up on the actual camp site came down and said his ‘bus’ wouldn’t start and the starter motor was broken and could we help push start. Once we were packed up we drove up there and with a tyre between the bus and Raymond’s car, Raymond had several attempts at push starting him. It was quite comical – a broken bus, a landcruiser and a caravan – all driving along nose to tail! Eventually Raymond was successful (after Royce advised the bloke to put his bus in third gear) and he headed off to Coober Pedy to try to get the starter motor fixed.
Just south of Cadney Park Royce spotted something fairly large on the side of the road ahead. On slowing we discovered a wedge tail eagle feeding on a dead kangaroo. It flew into a tree right by the side of the road but by the time we had stopped and I got the camera out it flew off to another tree some distance away and was clearly determined to stay there until we left! It was a very large bird!!
We arrived at the Pootnoura camp site and again camped a bit away from the rest. It seemed like a really nice spot until the mossies attacked! Unfortunately for me I seemed to have the sweetest blood. A large number of them landed on Royce’s back and he did get a few bites but I was almost eaten alive! I was wearing long pants, socks and shoes and they bit through the clothing. I ended up with another really bad lot of mossie bites and I seem to be reacting badly to them. Many of the bites came up very red and swollen with a lot of them about the size of a 10c piece. Luckily I had calamine lotion and I thought (mistakenly) that would stop the itching problem.
On Thursday 16th we headed into Coober Pedy. After emptying the toilet and filling the water tanks we checked into the caravan park then went for a bit of a walk. We bumped into Trevor McLeod (Royce’s cousin’s husband) and organised to meet Trevor and Katrina for tea that night. We went to the pizza bar, had a nice pizza and coffee, met up with Trevor & Kate’s son Simon (born on the same day as Rory and at the same hospital!), then went to have a look at Trevor & Kate’s dugout. It was pretty amazing!
My mossie bites were becoming unbearable and I had tried everything – calamine lotion, stop itch, tea tree oil and even toothpaste! Friday morning we went to the chemist and I was given some ointment and tablets and advised if it didn’t improve in a couple of days I needed to see a doctor.
We left Coober Pedy on Friday morning and headed to a roadside camp near Lake Hart. We made our own camp site about 10km north of Lake Hart – it isn’t a designated camping spot – made up a camp fire and chilled out for the night. I mean ‘chilled out’ literally! It was very cold.
An uneventful night except for my mossie bites! I had even resorted to sitting on the edge of the shower and washing my legs with cold water. It did give some relief but it was bloody freezing! I couldn’t wear long pants shoes or socks because they would irritate the bites so was walking around in shorts and sandals!
We left the camp site this morning and drove to Woomera where we had a look around the town, including the museum. We drove to the local park where there are a number of birds in cages, including one very impressive peacock and several cheeky cockies. In one cage there was a sulphur crest and a major Mitchell who were very happy grooming each other. A light pink galah in another cage was really wanting to bite Royce. It started at the back of the cage but when Royce stopped to talk to it, it came to the front of the cage and was raising its crest, fanning out its wings and screeching at him! Another sulphur crest came to the front of the cage saying “hello cocky” and wanted us to stay and chat with it for a while.
Just south of Pimba there were 4 emus on the side of the road and we managed to get some photos.
We stopped briefly at Port Augusta and had intended to camp the night at Mambray Creek but we changed our minds and have ended up at the Baroota Rodeo and Camp Grounds. Seems like a reasonable place and only cost $10 per vehicle for the night. We have started up the generator so we could transfer photos and get the blog written up.
Home tomorrow afternoon. What a wonderful time it has been. We cannot wait for our next one!
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Camels at Stuart's Well.JPG)
Our camp site at Marryatt.JPG)
Sturt's Desert Pea at Glendambo.JPG)
Woomera.JPG)
The two cockies grooming each other.JPG)
Royce's 'friend'!!!!.JPG)
The very handsome peacock.JPG)
Emus just south of PimbaMonday, September 13, 2010
HOMEWARD BOUND
This is our last night in Alice Springs. We are starting our homeward bound journey tomorrow morning. We plan on stopping at free camps Tuesday night and Wednesday night and then stay at a caravan park at Coober Pedy on the Thursday night. If all goes according to plan we will make Coober Pedy Thursday morning and it will give us a full day to recharge our batteries (not to mention the caravan batteries and water tanks).
Friday night and Saturday night will again be at free camps with our possible last one being 34km north of Port Augusta. We may then make one last dash home on the Sunday.
This is the plan at this stage but it is always subject to change. We may decide we like the camp tomorrow night and want to stay an extra day, in which case we won’t hit Coober Pedy until the Friday morning. We may make the last leg stretch over 2 days instead of one long run home on the Sunday. We will play it all by ear.
I won’t have phone or internet connections after tonight until we get to Coober Pedy and will only do a blog then if time and energy permits. If I don’t do one then I will do a catch up blog on our arrival back in Adelaide.
We have had a wonderful time on this trip and although it is not yet over we know we are now heading home rather than off to some other adventure and that is a bit sad because we have confirmed we love doing this whole Grey Nomad thing!
Whilst we have seen a huge number of budgies, finches and - to a lesser extent - cockatiels and smaller predator birds, the absence of wildlife is notable. We have seen 1 wedgetail eagle sitting on the side of the road, one hovering in the distance, one kangaroo, one emu, two camels, some brumbies and a few lizards. Apparrently with the rains this area has been having there is plenty of feed for all the wildlife and they don't need to come within cooee of humans! We did see some hoof prints in one area and what looked like dingo paw prints but that is about all. It is disappointing because we had hoped to see a lot more wildlife. The trip is not over yet and we may see some on the way home (hopefully not on the road).
Friday night and Saturday night will again be at free camps with our possible last one being 34km north of Port Augusta. We may then make one last dash home on the Sunday.
This is the plan at this stage but it is always subject to change. We may decide we like the camp tomorrow night and want to stay an extra day, in which case we won’t hit Coober Pedy until the Friday morning. We may make the last leg stretch over 2 days instead of one long run home on the Sunday. We will play it all by ear.
I won’t have phone or internet connections after tonight until we get to Coober Pedy and will only do a blog then if time and energy permits. If I don’t do one then I will do a catch up blog on our arrival back in Adelaide.
We have had a wonderful time on this trip and although it is not yet over we know we are now heading home rather than off to some other adventure and that is a bit sad because we have confirmed we love doing this whole Grey Nomad thing!
Whilst we have seen a huge number of budgies, finches and - to a lesser extent - cockatiels and smaller predator birds, the absence of wildlife is notable. We have seen 1 wedgetail eagle sitting on the side of the road, one hovering in the distance, one kangaroo, one emu, two camels, some brumbies and a few lizards. Apparrently with the rains this area has been having there is plenty of feed for all the wildlife and they don't need to come within cooee of humans! We did see some hoof prints in one area and what looked like dingo paw prints but that is about all. It is disappointing because we had hoped to see a lot more wildlife. The trip is not over yet and we may see some on the way home (hopefully not on the road).
Sunday, September 12, 2010
EAST MACDONNELL RANGES
We decided to take the annexe down this morning before heading off on our day’s adventure. We had seen a forecast for rain in AS tomorrow and as we expected to be out all day today we thought it would be best to take it down before-hand. We didn’t want to pack the annexe away if it was wet or damp. Our timing was good – it started to rain about 10 minutes after we had packed it away!
The original forecast for today was mainly fine with a bit of cloud. As it turned out the ‘mainly fine’ parts were few and far between. A large part of the day was cold and wet!
We decided to do some more exploring of the East Macdonnell Ranges and our first stop was Emily Gap. This is a truly beautiful place and we could have stayed a lot longer – if the weather had been kinder.
Our next stop was Jessie Gap which was also very nice and quite different to Emily Gap. We explored there for a while as well.
We cannot get over the number of wild budgies and finches we have seen. There must be thousands and there were certainly quite a few at Jessie Gap.
There are aboriginal rock paintings at both Emily & Jessie Gap.
We then headed off to Trephina Gorge but took an off road detour on the way. Raymond wanted to do some four-wheel driving and found a bit of a track which we followed for quite some time. We did a second off-road drive a bit later and stopped for coffee and cake.
At the entrance to Trephina Gorge we detoured to the John Hayes Rockhole. This is a 4km 4WD track and it took a long time for us to navigate it mainly because we stopped so often to take photos. The rockhole is a lovely spot and we had lunch and did a bit of a walk around. We climbed up to the ‘lookout’ but since it wasn’t signposted we aren’t sure we actually found it. Nonetheless the view was good from where we decided to stop.
We then drove into Trephina Gorge and as it was getting a bit late in the afternoon we decided to do the 20 minute Gorge Stroll. We walked for less than 5 minutes and discovered our path was blocked by water so we walked up and down but didn’t get into the Gorge itself. What we did see was pretty spectacular and the number of budgies, finches and other small birds was amazing!
This adventure took us about 9 hours and the total mileage (return trip) was only about 160km!
On the way back to Alice Springs the rain started in quite heavy in some spots and the clouds were covering the peaks of the Ranges. If you didn’t know better you would swear you were in the Grampians or similar – certainly not in the middle of the Australian desert!
A great day.
PS: We have a squillion more photos but we are only uploading a small handfull onto the blog because they take so long to upload! Anyone interested in seeing all the rest, let me know and we can arrange a get together on our return to Adelaide.
Royce did ask me to mention, if you want to comment on any of the blogs and you don't have a Yahoo or Google account, you can post a comment using "anonymous", but please make sure you put your name so we know who "anonymous" is.
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Emily Gap
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Our first off road drive - looking back towards Emily Gap and watching the rain coming in
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Jessie Gap
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Wild budgies at Jessie Gap
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John Hayes Rockhole
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Part of Trephina Gorge
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Clouds over the East Macdonnell Ranges - yes everyone - this is the red centre of Australia!
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More of the same
The original forecast for today was mainly fine with a bit of cloud. As it turned out the ‘mainly fine’ parts were few and far between. A large part of the day was cold and wet!
We decided to do some more exploring of the East Macdonnell Ranges and our first stop was Emily Gap. This is a truly beautiful place and we could have stayed a lot longer – if the weather had been kinder.
Our next stop was Jessie Gap which was also very nice and quite different to Emily Gap. We explored there for a while as well.
We cannot get over the number of wild budgies and finches we have seen. There must be thousands and there were certainly quite a few at Jessie Gap.
There are aboriginal rock paintings at both Emily & Jessie Gap.
We then headed off to Trephina Gorge but took an off road detour on the way. Raymond wanted to do some four-wheel driving and found a bit of a track which we followed for quite some time. We did a second off-road drive a bit later and stopped for coffee and cake.
At the entrance to Trephina Gorge we detoured to the John Hayes Rockhole. This is a 4km 4WD track and it took a long time for us to navigate it mainly because we stopped so often to take photos. The rockhole is a lovely spot and we had lunch and did a bit of a walk around. We climbed up to the ‘lookout’ but since it wasn’t signposted we aren’t sure we actually found it. Nonetheless the view was good from where we decided to stop.
We then drove into Trephina Gorge and as it was getting a bit late in the afternoon we decided to do the 20 minute Gorge Stroll. We walked for less than 5 minutes and discovered our path was blocked by water so we walked up and down but didn’t get into the Gorge itself. What we did see was pretty spectacular and the number of budgies, finches and other small birds was amazing!
This adventure took us about 9 hours and the total mileage (return trip) was only about 160km!
On the way back to Alice Springs the rain started in quite heavy in some spots and the clouds were covering the peaks of the Ranges. If you didn’t know better you would swear you were in the Grampians or similar – certainly not in the middle of the Australian desert!
A great day.
PS: We have a squillion more photos but we are only uploading a small handfull onto the blog because they take so long to upload! Anyone interested in seeing all the rest, let me know and we can arrange a get together on our return to Adelaide.
Royce did ask me to mention, if you want to comment on any of the blogs and you don't have a Yahoo or Google account, you can post a comment using "anonymous", but please make sure you put your name so we know who "anonymous" is.
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Emily Gap.JPG)
Our first off road drive - looking back towards Emily Gap and watching the rain coming in.JPG)
Jessie Gap.JPG)
Wild budgies at Jessie Gap.JPG)
John Hayes Rockhole.JPG)
Part of Trephina Gorge.JPG)
Clouds over the East Macdonnell Ranges - yes everyone - this is the red centre of Australia!.JPG)
More of the sameFriday, September 10, 2010
ALICE SPRINGS / EAST MACDONNEL RANGES
Woke during the wee hours of the morning with my legs on fire from the bites. I got up and slathered on the Stop Itch which gave some relief and had just started dozing off again when I was woken by the lightning, thunder and rain. That eventually died down and I dozed off again and woke about 6.30am.
These bites on my leg are very, very itchy so we went in and bought some calamine lotion this morning. I put that on all the bites while we were still in the carpark – what a relief!
We saw something this morning we didn’t expect to see –the Todd River was flowing! So much so we could only get to our caravan park the long way around. The causeway we would normally cross was under water.
We headed out to the East Macdonnell Ranges with the plan to drive to N’dhala Gorge (90km), have a look around there then stop at a few places on the way back, mainly Corroboree Rock, Jessie Gap and Emily Gap. We headed along the Ross Highway and ended up stopping at Corroboree Rock for lunch. We explored a bit then continued on. The N’dhala Gorge is only 11km from the Ross Highway but it is 4x4 only. Because of the rains there were quite a few water crossings and the track was pretty rough in some parts. This was Royce’s first attempt at 4 wheel driving and he did really well. There was a stretch of the road we nicknamed Budgie Alley because there were so many of them flying around. We finally arrived at N’dhala Gorge and set ourselves up for the 1km return walk to look at the Aboriginal petroglyphs and paintings. We got about 200m along the path, found one lot of petroglyphs and were then cut off by water so we had to turn around and head back. A bit disappointing but the drive and the scenery was great so it was worthwhile anyway.
On the way back we spotted a small herd of brumbies. There were 3 foals and a couple of the mares appeared to be heavily pregnant. We took some photos from the car but when we got out to see if we could get some better shots they took off like lightning!
I waded across two water crossings so I could photograph and video Royce coming across in the car. The water in the first one was a bit cold but it was amazing how much better my legs felt afterwards. That water seemed to really soothe the bites (at least for a short while)!
We turned onto the Ross Highway and about 800m up the road we came across a small brown mare on the side of the road. She was wearing a rope halter and was hobbled. She was a bit skittish but Raymond got hold of the halter rope and he and Hazel stayed with the horse while Royce and I drove back to see if we could find someone who may be able to do something about her. We drove back the way we had come (2 water crossings) and looked for someone in the campgrounds but whilst there seemed to be quite a few campers we couldn’t find anyone of ‘authority’. We turned back and when we got to the Ross Highway we went on to the Ross River Resort. We found two people just pulling out in their vehicle and when we told them about the horse they said they had been looking for it for about a week and were just heading out again to have another look! We all drove back to where Raymond, Hazel and the horse were waiting. The hobbles were removed and we were thanked and we took off again.
On the way home there were some small water crossings and Royce took great pleasure in splashing through them (in the hope of removing some of the mud caked on the car from the Ndhala Gorge Road). We encountered quite a few cows on the edge of the road in a number of different places, we saw a flock of red tailed black cockatoos (tried to get some photos but not much success), and we spotted a small eagle (or large hawk or similar) grab something off the road and fly off with it.
All in all a really lovely day but we didn’t get to Jessie Gap or Emily Gap. We may have to do that another day.
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The Todd River flowing across the causeway to our caravan park
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Corroboree Rock
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On the way to Ndhala Gorge
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On the Ross Highway
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Some of the brumbies. We counted 9 in all. the middle one is a foal with mum on the right
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One of Royce's water crossings
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The little mare we found on the side of the road
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One of the red tail black cockatoos. if you look closely you can see a little bit of the red underside of its tail
These bites on my leg are very, very itchy so we went in and bought some calamine lotion this morning. I put that on all the bites while we were still in the carpark – what a relief!
We saw something this morning we didn’t expect to see –the Todd River was flowing! So much so we could only get to our caravan park the long way around. The causeway we would normally cross was under water.
We headed out to the East Macdonnell Ranges with the plan to drive to N’dhala Gorge (90km), have a look around there then stop at a few places on the way back, mainly Corroboree Rock, Jessie Gap and Emily Gap. We headed along the Ross Highway and ended up stopping at Corroboree Rock for lunch. We explored a bit then continued on. The N’dhala Gorge is only 11km from the Ross Highway but it is 4x4 only. Because of the rains there were quite a few water crossings and the track was pretty rough in some parts. This was Royce’s first attempt at 4 wheel driving and he did really well. There was a stretch of the road we nicknamed Budgie Alley because there were so many of them flying around. We finally arrived at N’dhala Gorge and set ourselves up for the 1km return walk to look at the Aboriginal petroglyphs and paintings. We got about 200m along the path, found one lot of petroglyphs and were then cut off by water so we had to turn around and head back. A bit disappointing but the drive and the scenery was great so it was worthwhile anyway.
On the way back we spotted a small herd of brumbies. There were 3 foals and a couple of the mares appeared to be heavily pregnant. We took some photos from the car but when we got out to see if we could get some better shots they took off like lightning!
I waded across two water crossings so I could photograph and video Royce coming across in the car. The water in the first one was a bit cold but it was amazing how much better my legs felt afterwards. That water seemed to really soothe the bites (at least for a short while)!
We turned onto the Ross Highway and about 800m up the road we came across a small brown mare on the side of the road. She was wearing a rope halter and was hobbled. She was a bit skittish but Raymond got hold of the halter rope and he and Hazel stayed with the horse while Royce and I drove back to see if we could find someone who may be able to do something about her. We drove back the way we had come (2 water crossings) and looked for someone in the campgrounds but whilst there seemed to be quite a few campers we couldn’t find anyone of ‘authority’. We turned back and when we got to the Ross Highway we went on to the Ross River Resort. We found two people just pulling out in their vehicle and when we told them about the horse they said they had been looking for it for about a week and were just heading out again to have another look! We all drove back to where Raymond, Hazel and the horse were waiting. The hobbles were removed and we were thanked and we took off again.
On the way home there were some small water crossings and Royce took great pleasure in splashing through them (in the hope of removing some of the mud caked on the car from the Ndhala Gorge Road). We encountered quite a few cows on the edge of the road in a number of different places, we saw a flock of red tailed black cockatoos (tried to get some photos but not much success), and we spotted a small eagle (or large hawk or similar) grab something off the road and fly off with it.
All in all a really lovely day but we didn’t get to Jessie Gap or Emily Gap. We may have to do that another day.
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The Todd River flowing across the causeway to our caravan park.JPG)
Corroboree Rock.jpg)
On the way to Ndhala Gorge.JPG)
On the Ross Highway.JPG)
Some of the brumbies. We counted 9 in all. the middle one is a foal with mum on the right.JPG)
One of Royce's water crossings.JPG)
The little mare we found on the side of the road.jpg)
One of the red tail black cockatoos. if you look closely you can see a little bit of the red underside of its tailThursday, September 9, 2010
ALICE SPRINGS
We arrived in AS on Tuesday afternoon and set up camp then did some shopping. We spent a fairly quiet day yesterday although Royce did fix up the mirror that had come down. There are a couple of ring necked parrots hanging around the caravans - one caravan in particular (probably because they feed them most nights). They also attract a large number of top knot pigeons and galahs.
We woke to light rain early this morning and the rain gradually increased in intensity for some of the morning, eased up a bit and then we had rain off and on for the rest of the day.
When the rain first started this morning we noticed several of the pigeons deciding to take a bath. They lay down on the road, rolled to the side and lifted their wings! It was quite comical but if you didn't know better and just stumbled across them you would have thought they were all dead!
We had heard a forecast of strong winds and heavy rain in AS today so we put up our annexe this morning - just to be on the safe side! As it turned out there was not much wind, spasmodic rain but very high humidity.
We indulged in a bakery lunch then headed to the Reptile Centre where we all got to hold a snake and a couple of the lizards. A juvenile Spencer Goanna has the run of one of the rooms in the Centre and you can pat him. There is a large display of snakes and lizards and also a salt water crocodile, a frog and freshwater turtles. We then went to the Pioneer Women Hall of Fame and that was very interesting. There were some very tough women in the early days of the outback settlements! I am very glad I didn't have to be one of them - what a hard life they led.
We came home and Royce and Raymond had a cat nap then put up Raymond's annexe while Hazel and I visited KMart and did some shopping.
We went to Heavitree Gap Tavern for tea (it was lamb shank night so that was all you could get) then came home, pigged out on scones, jam and cream, had a cuppa then cleaned up and now doing the Blog.
We may head off to do some exploring of the East Macdonnell Ranges tomorrow - depending on weather.
Something (mosquito? ant?) bit me lots of times on the legs last night and they have come up in large red welts that are so itchy they were driving me crazy this morning, so I had to buy Stop Itch and I have been piling that on all day today. I will be so glad when they go away!
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We woke to light rain early this morning and the rain gradually increased in intensity for some of the morning, eased up a bit and then we had rain off and on for the rest of the day.
When the rain first started this morning we noticed several of the pigeons deciding to take a bath. They lay down on the road, rolled to the side and lifted their wings! It was quite comical but if you didn't know better and just stumbled across them you would have thought they were all dead!
We had heard a forecast of strong winds and heavy rain in AS today so we put up our annexe this morning - just to be on the safe side! As it turned out there was not much wind, spasmodic rain but very high humidity.
We indulged in a bakery lunch then headed to the Reptile Centre where we all got to hold a snake and a couple of the lizards. A juvenile Spencer Goanna has the run of one of the rooms in the Centre and you can pat him. There is a large display of snakes and lizards and also a salt water crocodile, a frog and freshwater turtles. We then went to the Pioneer Women Hall of Fame and that was very interesting. There were some very tough women in the early days of the outback settlements! I am very glad I didn't have to be one of them - what a hard life they led.
We came home and Royce and Raymond had a cat nap then put up Raymond's annexe while Hazel and I visited KMart and did some shopping.
We went to Heavitree Gap Tavern for tea (it was lamb shank night so that was all you could get) then came home, pigged out on scones, jam and cream, had a cuppa then cleaned up and now doing the Blog.
We may head off to do some exploring of the East Macdonnell Ranges tomorrow - depending on weather.
Something (mosquito? ant?) bit me lots of times on the legs last night and they have come up in large red welts that are so itchy they were driving me crazy this morning, so I had to buy Stop Itch and I have been piling that on all day today. I will be so glad when they go away!
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Wednesday, September 8, 2010
PHOTOGRAPHS
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This is the night sky about 10 to 15 minutes after the sun had set!.JPG)
See the earlier photo and compare the colours. This is taken on sunset while the earlier one was during the day(1).jpg)
The very cute little lizard at the Marla South Camp.JPG)
Our campsite at the Marla South Camp(1).jpg)
The rhino on a stick!!!.JPG)
Raymond and Hazel feeding the curious and hungry emu at Curtin Springs. We started calling it "E Mu" so Raymond gave it the name Edward.JPG)
Mount Connor
Both of us with Ayers Rock in the background. Taken at the Vehicle Sunset Viewing area
Ayers Rock / Uluru shortly before sunset
Unfortunately the quality isn't the best as it was taken on my iPhone but this is part of the way into the gorge at The Olgas. The trees you can see are full size trees so this will give an idea of the height of the walls of the gorge
The Olgas taken from the roadside on our way there
On our approach to The Olgas
This is the view of about the first third of the first leg of the Kings Canyon Rim Walk
This is taken from the bottom of the first leg of the walk - the tiny figures in the picture are Royce and Hazel and they are about 1/3rd the way up
Royce part way up the killer first leg!
Taken from about half way up - almost there!
This and the photos to follow are just some of the spectacular scenery we saw at Kings Canyon while doing the Rim Walk.
Can you see the frog?
The colours are amazing and it is incredible how resilient and strong some of the plants are!
Mereenie Sandstone cliffs that look like they have been cut off with a very sharp knife
On the home leg!
The 2 very cute baby camels recently captured - at the Kings Creek Station
Finke River.jpg)
Budgies in the tree at Finke River.jpg)
A cockatiel in the same tree
Sunrise at Finke River
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