Sorry about the lack of a post this morning but we stayed in the outback last night with no Internet!!! I know!!! Horrible, how did we survive????
Anyway, will begin where we left off in Bachelor. Woke to a messy pack up… how did we manage to spread ourselves so much??
Paused the packup just long enough to wish Mark a Happy Birthday and give him his presents.
Afterwards, I learnt an important lesson about being careful around the caravan. Mark and I had just moved the awning legs from vertical to 45 degrees, and I spun around straight into it!! Caught my nose and lip… man did it hurt!!! Split my lip and got a fat lip, but nothing a cold icy pole won’t fix!
While in Bachelor, Zac and Mattie had caught pet skinks. They weren’t too happy when I informed them that they are not coming in the car… Zac had grown very fond of his pet and was planning on taking him home until I said “How would you like it if a giant came along and took you away from your home and family?”
Reluctantly he returned the skink to the garden.
Anyway, left Bachelor and made it in good time to Katherine where we stopped at Red Rooster for lunch (Mark’s choice for his Birthday).
Was almost like coming home being in Katherine again, seems like we had only just left! After lunch, at Kate’s suggestion, I visited the coffee club across the road from Red Rooster and managed to get a really good coffee for the road. Hard to find a good coffee in the outback! Then we breezed by Coles Express for a refuel then hit the road.
Oh, coming into Katherine, we were having a really good run, but as we left Katherine to the south we encountered strong cross winds that pushed the car and caravan around the road. Strange how it can be so good on one side of town and crap on the other!!! I said to Mark on the CB “Who knows, with the temperature and the wind outside we might see a whirly whirly or two!”
…and didn’t we!!
We arrived in Mataranka around 2pm and were planning to stop for the day to spend some more time in the hot springs, but it was too early with so many kilometres in front of us, we decided to push on.
Pulled up in Larrimah for a pee across from the Pink Panther Pub by an abandoned petrol station. While waiting outside the vans for the kids to pee, I heard a sound in the bush. Suddenly I saw it… a massive whirly whirly coming our way. As it burst from the trees, I yelled at Fi for the camera (I had left my phone in the car) and said to Mark “It is either going to hit my caravan or yours!!!”
We were lucky as it drifted to the side of us breaking up through the remains of the abandoned petrol station (I wonder if a big one was the reason it was abandoned??) before dissipating and re-appearing on the the side of the road making its way through the Pink Panther caravan park. Looked awesome, and Fi managed to get a short video.
With visions of the movie twister we continued down the road… luckily there were no flying cows crossing our path!
Anyway, as the day was getting on, we decided to try to make it to Elliot, pulling in about 5pm. Unfortunately Elliot turned out to be a run down town and the only caravan park a plot of land behind the BP. The entire town was filled with Aboriginals, and did not look like a place we wanted to stay. After a quick family meeting we decided to push on an hour further south to Renner Springs and stay the night. Unfortunately as I said before, there was no Internet in Renner Springs… in fact there was nothing in Renner Springs but the Roadhouse, the Pub and the caravan park… everything we needed to celebrate Mark’s Birthday!!
Had a good birthday feed for Mark at the roadhouse before putting the kids to bed and sitting outside enjoying a lovely warm evening with the temperature staying about 30 degrees, but was wonderful without the humidity of the north (Just had to get that in for all the people suffering the cold miserable weather in Melbourne at the moment).
As the girls retired for the night, Mark and I wandered over to the pub for a nightcap where we met the chef, an interesting bloke who had only been the chef there for 2 days! He was ex-army and was telling us about being a chef in Afghanistan, Iraq, Timor etc. Very interesting, especially the bits about how in the Middle East he was able to make steak for the troops out of just about anything… what they didn’t know was they were eating camel, dog, cat, horse etc!
So, that was day one. Today, woke bright and early to see the outback sunrise.
As I had pulled into the caravan park the night before, a guy walked over and pointed out that one of my bash plates was hanging down 🙁 Haven’t had a lot of luck with these bash plates! About 50km before Renner Springs, Fi and I heard a tink tink under the car… as it turned out it was one of the bolts holding the bash plates in place falling off… grr!
So at 6am, I moved the car onto some grass, climbed under and using a strap, tied it back up so it will make it back to Melbourne. As I did, I managed to put my arm in some poop on the grass left by one of the local birds…
I washed off just as Jess woke, so we went for a walk around the park to keep the noise down for the others.
Anyway, wasn’t long before everyone else was up, and we were packed and on the road by 8:49am!! I think that might almost be a record!! Heading south again, we soon passed a town called Banka Banka. Having a Banker in the convoy, we had to stop for a quick photo before pushing on.
Next major stop was The Devils Marbles. Huge round rocks that had been cut from a massive piece of granite over thousands of years by the wind and rain. Took a few photos and did a few wee’s before hitting the road again… was simply too hot outside being 38 degrees!! (Yes that was another dig at Melbourne!)
The boys were in their element here clambering and climbing over the rocks. We liked it so much we loaded one onto the roof rack of the car….
Unfortunately it must have fallen off cause it is no longer there??
After the Devil’s Marbles, we stopped in Wyecliff Well, the Alien sighting capital of Australia, for lunch. I didn’t take any photos on my phone, so hopefully Mark or Fiona upload some (Hint Hint).
After lunch, we hit the road again and had a pretty uneventful trip the rest of the way into Alice Springs where we are staying at the Big 4. A lot cooler here tonight being only 29 degrees by the time we arrived!! Might have to break out the jumpers tonight….hehe…
We will stay here for two nights before pushing on to Uluru.
So that is it, you are now up to date on our busy couple of days as we left the tropics and headed south. Was a good couple of days drive covering about 1400kms, but will be good to rest for a day now. Hopefully the miserable weather down south passes before we get back into it. People behind me in the caravan park, fellow Victorian’s, mentioned that South Australia is expecting Hurricane Winds!! not something to look forward too!!!
