Robbiebago Adventures

Easter at Nagambie

2012-01-11T14:29:00.001+11:00

Well I can't believe that I am writing this last installment some 9 months after the event. I can offer no excuse other than I just didn't feel inclined to do so once I got back home. There were so many things to catch up on and then bit by bit the rendering of this blog took a back seat, it was always in the deep recesses of my mind however it was easy to put it off 'for another time!'
So now is the time! I am biting the bullet and getting on with the last little bit. it is hard to write so much later. I hope I never leave it this late again but write within days of the event from now on!

Relaxing at Lake Boga

We planned to be with good friends, K and H near Nagambie for Easter. On the way across from South Australia, we had noticed intermittent 'noise' int the car. We stopped at Ouyen for a terrific chips and hamburger there and then camped at Nyah harness Club free campsite. What a great site this is. No wonder it is so popular and it's right on the Murray River too. We stopped at Swan Hill where the mechanics thought it might be the wheel bearings, but the temperature of the bearings did not support this theory. Another mechanic determined that the universal joint needed repairing, luckily we were able to find someone to get to it almost straight away however it still took most of the day and hence we didn't travel far out of Swan Hill before we decided to camp overnight at Lake Boga. Though overnight camping is generally not allowed, an exception was made for the sailing regatta which was going to be held over the weekend. We had a great time with one of the early arrivals and watched a marvelous moonrise over the lake with a little bonfire going.

Sun is just starting to come up on Easter Morning

The next morning we say goodbye to our new friends and moved on to K and H's place. We noticed the 'noise' was back and thus the problem prior to Swan Hill was not gone. We drove on very slowly to reduce any negative impact on the car. We arrived at K & H's beautiful lakeside home on the weir. After a leisurely sleep in we went and did the interdenominational Stations of the Cross covering several of the Nagambie churches. This is our second one ever, our first Stations of the Cross was back in Roxby Downs, SA back in 2010. Back 'home' we watch a DVD. "One night with the King". A very good presentation of the story of Esther.
On the Saturday we went to the old style village markets at Rushmore as well as we popped into a museum on the farming implements etc of that community which was very interesting. The afternoon was spent enjoying making cards together with H and her sister in law.

Glorious Easter Morn

On Easter Sunday we are up at 4.15am - well before the dawn on a cold and frosty morning to do Dawn service which was a take on the stations of the Cross where we walked up a long hillstopping at intervals to read a passage and sing a chorus. Our friend H lead us by playing the keyboard for us. We arrived at the top to see 3 crosses which had been erected some years earlier for this express purpose. The timing was terrific. We finished within in minutes before the sun rose. It is a marvelous sight to behold and to feel to see the sun rise up behind the crosses. We all breakfasted royally at K & H's church amidst warm fellowship. I was tired (and a bit grumpy) and elected not to go with the guys to the Anzac March at Stanthorpe in the afternoon. K plays in the brass band at local Anzac marches. He is 2nd from the left!

Sadly our short stay concluded on the Monday when we headed off to Junee to Bob's cousin's for a couple of quiet days to officially conclude our holiday at the same place we started some 13 months earlier.

Big event birthdays

2011-10-30T07:19:00.000+11:00

This week on the Less is More Blog, the challenge is "STARS".

I hand cut the big numbers from double sided jac paper (like Double sided sticky tape only in sheet size formats). I peeled the backing off one side and stuck it onto some layers first. The card layer having already been stamped and embossed. Then I peeled off the top layer of the jac paper and stuck down some star sequins in a random fashion and then filled the rest of the sticky surface with glitter. I also glued some sequins in a scattered fashion off to the right of the card, extending the 'explosion'
The gold and silver backing papers are from a dear friend who used to make cake bases and has all these yummy gold and sliver embossed papers left over that she shared with me. I am very stingy in using up these yummy papers. (Thanks Lesley)

Hope you enjoyed these cards. I have some ideas for variations. I am going to make & post a few more, now that I have them in mind! Come back soon.

Michelle

Wirraway Homestead

2011-09-26T11:43:00.000+10:00

We had the wonderful opportunity to assist a Christian ministry, MMM (Mobile Maintenance Ministry) by installing a kit kitchen in one of the staff houses on site at Wirraway Homestead near Strathalbyn, just south east of Adelaide, South Australia.

We rolled up in the Robbiebago to this marvelous campground. The setting is absolutely a dream. I just love it. Much of it comes literally out of a old western movie set that shot on location in the nearby town. More importantly than the surrounds is to the ministry that goes on here where they host horse based camps and musters here for the schools and the community of SA.

We camped with the Robbiebago right outside the house where the kitchen needed work. We could use the house bathroom & shower as the occupant (the bride) was at her parent's home doing last minute things for her wedding which was to be the weekend after we were to leave.

We like to turn up for our volunteer work on the Friday or Saturday so that we can spend the weekend familiarizing ourselves with the people, location and the ministry. It is a great opportunity to go to the local church and we nearly always feel welcomed and right at home despite the many varieties of church services we encounter. This time we went with the founding director, Peter & his wife to their large church some 40 minutes away. It was called Coromandel Uniting Church. It surprised us to travel so far but it was a beautiful drive through some awe inspiring hill countryside and the church family service was fantastic and God glorifying. Peter and his wife also invited us back to a baked dinner at their lovely house and garden near Strathalbyn.

However we were there to work and on the Monday morning we started to unpack the flat boxes and see how to put the kitchen together. First off the walls needed a bit of cement rendering. Over the next week there were all kinds of jobs that needed work in the kitchen. Obviously this was Rob's department. I had a lot of time to selfishly indulge in my explosion box crafts and to explore the campsite and the nearby town of Strathalbyn where there were some delightful craft shops including a marvelous little quilting shop with a cafe within the shop.

Each day we had lunch and dinner with the campers. This was a highlight of our days there. I don't know the name of the school that was visiting at the time, but they were noisy as kids will be but very well behaved, so much so, that we were pleasantly surprised to discover that this was not a private school but a public school up for their yearly year 6 camp. The teachers have such a great rapport with the kids that respect is evident on both sides. Even the ex principal came back from retirement to do the camp with them, he loves them so.

Peter (left) wanted to 'encourage' Rob to get back to work

Back to the kitchen, work continued along at a steady pace. Peter popped by often to see if Rob needed supplies or additional tools. Some parts of the job went easily and others so so easily. as jobs often do. Bit by bit it all came together and by Friday the kitchen was finished; drain pipes re routed and connected, tiling fixed and grouting done etc. It wasn't all work all week.We could set our own timetables. It was still very cold in the mornings and Rob likes his sleep, so many mornings he didn't start working until something like 9 o'clock. We even took a few hours off on Thursday when our ex pastor, Fred and his wife Helen, came by for a visit and lunched with us up at the camp dining hall. (Did I mention the food was great and so much of it!)

Rob in the finished kitchen

By the Friday the kitchen was all finsihed and then it was up to me to clean up after Rob. (Gee, that sounds familiar: I think all my married life has been spent cleaning up after him and the kids!)

Yet another of the wonderful building around the place

We decide to leave on Monday as per our normal custom of having church at the beginning and at the end of each ministry stay. This freed us on Saturday to go for another drive around the countryside and this is when we went to Murray River Bridge and surrounds which were covered in the last post.

Sunday was back to Coromandel Church with Peter & Nina again. We headed east on Monday after a delicious morning tea with Nina. Peter was unable to free himself from Wirraway just at that time which was a pity. But we will certainly be back next time we come through South Australia.

Strathalbyn

2011-09-01T07:54:00.034+10:00

As part of MMM (Mobile Maintenance Ministry), we were asked to consider helping at a campsite near Strathalbyn which is just a tad more than half an hour north east of Adelaide. (More on the campsite work in the next blog entry!)

It is a lovely drive through the northern hinterlands of Adelaide anytime but especially through the bright autumn colouring of the magnificent trees in the area. Whispering Wall at the Barossa Reservoir was a great place to try out the unique acoustic capacity of the dam wall. I expected to be able to hear Bob, but I did not expect the clarity of actually understanding clearly what he said on the opposite of the wall. With me being 80% deaf and relying on lip reading, I was blown away.

Strathalbyn would have to be one of the prettiest, old world, unspoilt towns in SA. It is large enough to have all facilities you need locally and it is less than 45 minutes into Adelaide proper. It boasts one of the loveliest town parks anywhere with a bridge that my husband & I found aesthetically pleasing and my husband in particular found structurally interesting.

Whilst staying here for 8 days , we took a day off to go sight seeing up to the Murray Bridge area. We went on a loop up to Mannum and the across the ferry at Murray River and back home a different way. I think we were there about a month after the huge damaging floods of 2010 and it was still very evident in the areas surrounding the river.

The wet grounds at Murray Bridge.

Overlooking the Murray River. The bulk of the foreground body of water is not usually there.

The river generally stops at the trees with just a creek running this side - see the little boat wharf in the foreground.

Here you see the two ferries passing each other.

They would be about 1/4 the way from the right of the photo above this one.

The above are just 2 photos of the many wind powered sculptures that are alongside a private driveway on the road somewhere between Mt Barker and Strathalbyn. All the sculptures are actually working and turning. You can actually see the legs of the 'boy' turning round and round.

This is one place I can heartily recommend so don't visit Adelaide when you go to South Australia. Do make sure to tour the surrounding areas outside of Adelaide if you have a car. Strathalbyn, Harndorf and Murray Bridge and the Murray River are all well worth the effort. I would love to come back and explore more especially around the river... a house boat holiday sounds ideal to me.

Parham

2011-08-31T10:18:00.000+10:00

I reckon Parham is one of the secret hidden pleasures of SA. It is within a short hopping from Adelaide. It is right on the coast in a tiny small village that truly unspoilt. The people are very friendly and the campspot is FREE. You are encouraged to go to the social club around the corner which offers basic club fares and we can recommend it. We liked to sit out in the 'beer' garden. It was a bit quieter, easier for the kids to run around and we had a couple who were smokers!
In fact we were so taken with this place we decided to stay an entra night.
The tide here goes out (& in) a long way and boy it comes in fast something like 10m in 30seconds... actually I can't remember now ...one of the problems of writing this a long time after the holidays have concluded. Another thing is the seaweed bed is very thick and this prompts some unusual boat craft!

This is the only photo we have of our time in Parham and we didn't have the camera working when this amphibious vehicle was coming out of the water. Sorry!

South Australia's beautiful Yorke Peninsula

2011-08-11T20:27:00.000+10:00

We well well on our way down Yorke Peninsula after stopping at the lovely Black Point where some shacks are truly waterside with the tide coming right up to the foundations. So on we go south along some lovely coastline and we stop at Port Vincent for lunch and then on through Stansbury and then onto Edithburgh where the huge wind farms are. We stopped and looked at them just from the road since we already saw them in great detail at Snowtown.

Now we start to go inland to Yorketown and Warooka Dam and straight onto Innes National Park. After such long distances in the west between points of interests or even just towns, it is amazing to us how quickly we are at the southern most peak of Yorke Peninsula in just a few hours driving.

Another we are noticing as we travel Australia, is that national parks are NOT really national. You still have to pay per state at least to visit national parks. There is no national park fee that covers all national parks. Innes is actually an expensive park to visit considering there is very little conveniences and such available for your buck.We paid $24.50 entry and 1 nights accommodation which only included a dump toilet - no water, no shower, no anything else! very disappointing. After settling the Robbiebago into its spot, we went walking to the nearest beach but first we have to walk through what is basically a private dump. Actually if you were a tourist brochure writer you would describe it as a quaint old fishing village.

These old shacks are in poor condition and the yards surrounding them are dumps with rusty old cars and water tanks and stuff strewn around the place. on top of all this, these places are privately owned... since when do people own prime beach side property inside a National park. Surely the government should buy them out and revert the land to nature and allow everyone to enjoy this area, not just a few 'privileged fisher folk'! There is a sign on the beach proclaiming it to be the nesting area of a rare bird... but the locals are allowed to drive for nearly a kilometre along the beach! I just don't understand the national parks thinking!

As we were only staying here the one night and there was only one other camper at our camp spot, we decided to unhitch the Robbiebago and go driving and exploring the other beaches of Innes asap the next morning. The many beaches are lovely though and some with great lookouts.

The shipwreck part is fascinating and one can still clearly see 2 shipwrecks without having to even go right down to Ethel Beach. Soon it is time to hitch the van back to the car and head out. Dunns Point and Warooka are stopping points. We didn't hug much of the west coast at all. We decided to camp at the Maitland Showgrounds. The trip is often smokey as many farmers still burn the stubble in preparation for the next part of farming. All that smoke must be bad for the environment and the carbon release in the area. I have no idea how this method compares to the alternatives. I leave that to someone else who is more knowledgeable in this area! So onto the little copper town of Moonta with its potholed roads for a wonderful pub lunch and then a visit to the delightful and very interesting Wallaroo Museum and the Moonta Pier which is basically our last stop in Yorke Peninsula.

We are glad we went and we truly loved our stay in Black Point, but it is not a place I would aspire to visit a second time.

Yoo Hoo I am back!

2011-08-11T14:15:00.001+10:00

Not only did I have the 'flu for a whole month, our eldest daughter had to borrow our laptop with all the trip photos on it as JetStar were foolish enough to move her cabin luggage further back out of her sight and hence gave the opportunity for it to be stolen along with all her stuff and they wont pay more than $150 compensation. Grrr bad dog - JetStar. Enough of the whinge.
So along with everything including setting up my very own online craft shop, see my sister blog Inkspirational Designs for more info, I have bee procrastinating finishing these entries. It is hard to garner enthusiasm to write after the event, no matter how terrific the events were...at least it is for me. However I made a commitment and I intend to follow it through!
So let's move on!
And just 'cause I hate to have a blog entry with no picture, here is a lovely one of one of my Explosion Boxes that are in my online craft shop! Click on the photo to go straight to the shop!

My apology

2011-06-02T08:16:00.000+10:00

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth just yet. I have been unable to add the last few entries as the photos and files are on my laptop which my daughter has borrowed as her laptop was stolen along with her cabin luggage upon arrival back in Sydney after a marvelous week spent in Palm Cove near Cairns.

We capped off the time away with a week with the family in Palm Cove up near Cairns. We flew up there rather than take the Robbiebago there for just 1 week. All the kids were able to join us except our youngest, Dean, who had just returned from 2 weeks mission work in Fiji and couldn't afford any ore time off uni. We were joined there with my sister and her family arriving to add to the merry atmosphere. having my baby niece and grand daughter was a huge delight for all of us.

Now we are finally back home and having been away from home for 14 months, there is, as you can imagine, a lot of things to catch up on; housework, gardening, friends and family.

I expect to see my daughter this weekend, and though I wont get my laptop back just yet, I will download the files and photos get them uploaded soon as we had some more marvelous times that I just have to tell you all about soon!

Port Augusta to Black Point.

2011-04-15T09:16:00.000+10:00

We left Pildappa Rock and headed to Port Augusta for Sunday service. We went to the Presbyterian Church here and had a wonderful morning of fellowship around the traditional morning tea before heading off to the Yorke Peninsula. We had planned to stay overnight at a free camp, but we missed the first one and the second was no go as it was on a highway junction and would have been a very noisy location. We drove on and found that our 3rd choice at Red Hill. We stopped by the pub there to ask directions only to find that the free council campground no longer existed. The very friendly pub owner suggested that we camp up the road 200 metres alongside the river. She said it is such a safe and friendly town that we wouldn’t have any problems. Which is what we did and she was right, it was nice and quiet.

In this sunrise photo you can just make out one of the water side shack

We continued on the very bumpy & wavy roads towards Buta which has a delightful fauna park right next to the highway and a picnic area. The fauna park included the customary red & grey kangaroos, emus and some parma wallabies. It also had some black swans, Cape Barron Geese, white bantam chooks and some other animals. Though it wasn’t big, it was a delightful unexpected interlude.
Anyway on we go down the east coast of Yorke Peninsula. After the long distances we had become used to, it was surprising to come across towns every 30 – 50km. Yorke is so small! Our overnight stop was at Black Point which literally has shacks right up to the waters’ edge. We enjoyed a long leisurely walk along the water edge though our walk was cut short by meeting and chatting to a couple who were renting a shack. They have been renting the same shack for nearly 20 years. We enjoyed a couple of hours chatting with them. They informed us that these same dilapidated shacks are going for $1.5 million. The council here wants all the shacks pulled down but do not have the right to demand it so they have put severe restrictions on building and renovating. You cannot renovate or add to the shack at all, if you build a house further back on your block, you must demolish the shack, etc etc etc. Whilst we were with them we saw dolphins playing just in shore and then a manta ray swam past. By the time we stopped talking and walked back it was high tide and we literally had to walk right up against some of the shacks to get back.

The next morning was a glorious morning & I was up early to catch the sunrise on camera. I also caught up with the washing here - I just had to wrestle with a twin tub, which I have never used before. I was doing well until I suddenly remembered that I had not rinsed the soapy water out of the clothes, so I had to do that & spin dry all over again. Oh well it is all part of the experience! We left close to lunch time to allow the sheets and clothes time to dry on the line.

Haslam, Streaky Bay & Pildappa Rock

2011-04-15T08:37:00.000+10:00

One of the beautifully cute baby Hairy Nosed Wombats that I managed to nurse back in Ceduna

From Haslam we went and had a long leisurely pie lunch in a bakery in Streaky Bay where we also met up with some of the campers from Haslam. After a couple of hours in Streaky Bay we went on north to Pildappa Rock which is a smaller Wave rock which in my opinion nicer if smaller than The Wave Rock in WA if for no other reason than it is unspoilt!

We were able to park with the rock as a backdrop. There are free gas BBQ’s here and picnic tables & seats here too. It was such a nice quiet place to stop and rest for a couple of days, plus we weren’t in a hurry to hit the rough corrugated dirt road coming in here too soon, even though it was only about 15km – it seemed much longer when you are going so slow so as not to shake the guts of the van around anymore than you have to! We enjoyed the climb and the fabulous views from the top of the rock.

Oops – I got some places back to front

2011-04-15T08:28:00.000+10:00

Oops, I ha ve done it again!
I made a mistake in the last entry “Ceduna” in stating that we stayed at Smokey Bay before we arrived in Ceduna...I was wrong it was after Ceduna that we stopped by Smokey Bay. Then we actually stayed 1 night in Haslam which is where we got the super fresh oysters!

Relaxing Days at Smokey Bay & Ceduna

2011-04-07T08:36:00.000+10:00

The wharf at Smokey Bay

Before arriving at Ceduna we stopped at Smokey Bay which is beautiful though with a mightly cold breeze straight off the Antarctica I think!. The Oysters here are cheap and fresh each day. Bob tried them raw and didn’t take to them at all. He did buy a dozen & cook them up with Worcestershire sauce and bacon which I thought were lovely but once again bob is not keen. I guess oysters are not going to be a regular inclusion to our diet!

The sunset at the Ceduna Wharf

Arriving in Ceduna the next day, the major caravan parks were full and we ended up at the A1 Cabins & park which is a very low cost park $18 pn. It is not the best looking park but it is quiet and we later learnt that the manager is a person with a great heart who assists the Anglican minister with emergency accommodation etc. We ended up staying here for 4 nights. Many of the residents are permanent but are courteous and keep to themselves.
We made sure to arrive here in Ceduna for a Sunday Service. We had greetings from Harry & Pam to pass on to long term members. This is the first church Harry & Pam served in and they have many fond memories of their time here. Bob & I too, enjoyed our fellowship here. There was a children’s section within the service and of course the fellowship over tea & coffee after the church. Most people said hello & welcomed us. We made arrangement to meet up with the minister, Brian the next day. We had a quiet lazy afternoon and went to the wharf to get some lovely sunset photos to cap off the day just nicely. We had the most amazing fresh fish and calamari at Bill’s Fish & Chip joint just across the road almost from Foodland. I heartily recommend this. It is the best calamari I have ever had.

Same wharf, same sunset - just a different angle

After Bob getting a mechanic to assess the worrying ‘noise’ the engine / clutch had started making on the Nullarbor and changing the oil and a few bits & pieces, we set off to meet the minister, first picking up a cake for morning tea. They decided to drive out to Penong in the afternoon so Bob could advise Brian on repairs to some white ant damage to the church building there. Brian took the opportunity to introduce Bob to many locals along the way. Since Monday is Brian’s regular day off and he had been looking forward to working in the garden, I offered to stay behind and weed & prune it for him, so that he doesn’t get further behind. Who knows when he might get the time again? A minister’s time off is rarely ever cut & dry. We also invited Brian and Heather to a baked dinner at the Robbiebago on the following night. All in all it was lovely to take a few days in one place again and feel like we were contributing to society again, even in a very small way.

The famous Nullarbor

2011-04-07T07:15:00.000+10:00

All of us have heard of the famous Nullarbor or the more correctly named Eyre Highway which crosses the Nullarbor. We decided not to stay at Norseman after leaving Kalgoorlie as it just didn’t appeal to us on the trip up so we decided to tackle the beginning of the Nullarbor straight away and make use of one of the many free camp sites along the way, the first one being the Fraser Range Rest Area. (#25 in the Camps 5 book). Second night stop was at Moonini Bluff (#10 in the Camps 5 book). The third night across the Nullarbor plains sees us stop at Bunba Cliff Lookout which was just east of the WA/SA border. This has a superb view of the water and cliff erosion on the coast of the Great Australian Bight. Many of the camp sites earlier are closed due to the unstable cliff faces from the forces of nature on our land. Even if you don’t intend to stay at any of these camp sites I do recommend that you stop and take a look at the cliffs – they are so beautiful in their ruggedness. As for the drive across the Nullarbor, it varies from low shrubby area, to rocky plains, treeless vistas (Nullarbor means no trees). The wind can be rather strong at times cutting across the road from the coast. The long stretches of road including many straight sections as well as the famous longest straight stretch in the world. The long drive can rather dull the senses at times, but if you look for it you can see interesting shapes in the trees or whatever.

At the edge of the Great Australian Bight

We stopped at the head of the Great Australian Bight even though it is not Whale watching season. This is a place where apparently it is common to see as many as 50 whales in a single day! Wow! But not surprisingly there wasn’t any on our day. However the walkway is easy to take and the scene on the western fork is amazing. It is well worth the small $5 pp charge.

Fuel gets rather expensive

2011-04-07T07:09:00.000+10:00

Just a note aside here.

Fuel (diesel) prices lately have been around the $1.54 mark in most of the lower towns of WA. We were warned that fuel going across the Nullarbor was going to be expensive, so we tanked up in Kalgoorlie including a spare jerry can at $1.46 (4c discount included) and then again in Norseman at $1.64. Some places along the road were $1.92 & $1.96 but we made it nearly all the way, to Eucla, just before the SA border, where it was $1.82. Penong just east of Ceduna is our next fuel stop where we purchased some for the more reasonable price of $1.58.

Kalgoorlie

2011-04-05T12:24:00.000+10:00

The gi-normous Super Pit

This is 40 times zoom on the middle of the photo above

Just a little 220 ton truck like what they use down in the Super Pit

Finally we move onto Kalgoorlie which is a town that has legendary proportions for me from my school days and stories of the gold rush and streets lines with gold.
We made the long drive and arrived early enough to take in the views over the Super Pit. It is so enormous, apparently it can be seen from the moon. We wanted to go to the Miner’s hall of Fame but the tour was another hour or so away so we took off to get some lunch first and then came back for a later tour. It was well worth the tour.

Poring a gold bar

We went underground and even get to have a go hammering into the hard rock as it would have been done by hand in the early days...too much hard work for me no matter how much gold I’d get! We also saw a gold melting/pour demonstration and we took a electric car drive around the place, which is well worth the $5 for all the info the guide gives you. You can walk it all but you just don’t get the history or explanation of the various equipment that an experienced miner can give you. It was so good we came back for a second look the next day and some of the exhibits which we missed the day before.

Esperence and Cape Le Grande National Park

2011-04-01T15:28:00.000+11:00

We stayed in Esperance for 3 nights, the weather became overcast with light spitting type of rain mostly. Yet it was still warm, in fact it is warmer here than in Albany & Pemberton. Esperance is surrounded by beautiful bays of super fine white beaches, none we found were really surfing beaches but lovely quiet coves that are perfect for picnics. I had a real hankering for a pizza and the one & only pizza joint was closed. Then we tried a kebab shop, it didn’t have chicken. Then we tried a couple of restaurants, but they were $55pp & we weren’t really dressed for that, being in shorts and thongs and anyway we didn’t want a fancy meal. Then we tried a noodle house but no seating, only take away. There is a Subway but we tried to avoid that this time. We eventually found a Chinese. Boy it was hard work to buy dinner that night!

One of the beaches at Cape Le Grande NP

Another one of the beaches at Cape Le Grande NP. You can't believe just how fine the white sand is.

Frenchman's Peak at Cape Le Grande NP

During the day we went into Cape Le Grande National Park and thoroughly enjoyed more beaches and coves in the area.

Rob still thinks I am worth photographing from time to time!

We saw a few prostrate, almost white flowering banksias which I haven’t seen before.

Bremmer Bay, Ravensthorpe, Hyden & Wave Rock.

2011-04-01T15:01:00.000+11:00

We moved on to Bremer Bay & stayed at Beaches Caravan Park which is a terrific little shady haven though not within coo-ee of a beach with the nearest one being 1.6km walk away but 8-10km drive. It is a very undeveloped and unspoilt town with nice beaches.

Next we stayed at Ravensthorpe, mainly so we could leave the van and drive up to Hyden and Wave Rock. Wave Rock is smaller than expected and spoilt by a long concrete barrier on top of the rock. One could only get a photo of the rock without the concrete barrier showing if you stood under the wave itself. It even put us off climbing to the top.

I virtually had to stand under the wave to get a photo without the ugly concrete barrier on top

It is pretty obvious why they have named it Hippo's Yawn!

Nearby is a rock formation called Hippo’s Yawn, (right) and yes it does look like a hippo with his big mouth open (no teeth lol). The flies were pretty bad here. We stopped in Hyden itself and we loved that. There is a park with a metal sculpture of recycled materials depicting old days. Just on of them is a truck with a old water tank place sideways on the back as the ‘bus body’ with ‘windows’ cut out and then a profile of kids and people sitting on the bus, etc

We took a dirt road back for most of the return country trip via Newdegate and it was worth it. It was much more pleasant scenery and the dirt road surface was not bad.

That is not snow: Lake Varley is a dried salt lake (wonky photograher!)

It's our Anniversary: 30 years - where have they all gone?.

2011-04-01T13:19:00.000+11:00

Last Monday on the 28th March, it was our 30th Wedding Anniversary. 30 years of living with my very best friend. This man of God who has stood by me in the good times and in the hard times. There were some terrible times especially when I suffered depression for 4 years. Looking back I know that God held on to me and Rob held on to God.This hard working, praying, wonderfully supportive husband just happens to make my life complete.

We even had the table number 30 to mark the occassion!

This marriage has brought forth 4 wonderful children who each have their own personality and bring both us much pride and joy. We love each of them dearly. We also have a marvellous daughter in law who obviously loves our son and together with him has given us a delightful granddaughter with another baby on the way.
The years have also seen many people come into our lives and have richly added another dimension to them. We thank God for each and every one of you.

The girls & I - unfortunately I don't have a recent photo of Bob & the boys on the laptop!

We can truly say we have been wonderfully blessed by God. Where did the years go? and more to the point, "who stole my figure"?

Would I do it all again? With great exuberance I can say yep, every second of it.

We great enthusiasm I thank God and thank you Rob. I love you and hope we have many more years together. Our life together just gets better and better all the time.

Albany

2011-03-16T19:35:00.000+11:00

The beach at Cozy Corner

Robbiebago in the campsite at Cozy Corner. The beach is just behind that hedge you can see behind the van

The beautiful coastline of Albany and surrounds started for us with a couple of days at a wonderful beach side free camp spot called Cozy Corner just about 15 km east of Shelly Beach and 30 km west of Albany. It is a very popular place for camping and we were lucky to get such a spot.

Looking down on Shelly Beach

We enjoyed some quiet walks and time out in general and of course a swim and as mentioned in the previous blog entry it included the drive to Shelly Beach with its clear blue waters in 2 distinct colours, azure blue and turquoise. Of course the young hunks hang gliding off the top didn’t detract from the scenery at all.

The Robbibago surrounded by roos at Kalgan River, Albany

Bob petting the 2 White faced Kangaroos

After a few days in a semi paradise we moved onto Albany to the Kalgan River Campsite which boasts a 9 hole golf course, direct river access for boats and dozens of kangaroos including some unusual white faced kangaroos. We came here to meet up with friends, Helen & Tony whom we had met back in Bunbury. Lo and behold their next door neighbour at the park are Sandra and Laurie whom we had met back at the Big Brook Arboretum near Pemberton. Tony offered to teach Bob how to fish. So when the guys went off for a day of fishing in Tony’s boat, us girls went shopping as most of us needing warmer clothes for the approaching winter. Well Bob caught the first fish and then the last one , which was a poisonous blow fish, and nothing in between. He is very good at feeding the bait to the fish rather than hooking them. Still Tony & Laurie shared their spoils with us at dinner at night that Helen and Sandra cooked up for us all.

We attended the Church of Living Water in nearby Oyster Bay with another couple from the caravan park whom we had befriended. It was a very friendly contemporary Anglican Church though they still follow a modern Prayer Book service and the minister dressed up in the robes. We were made to feel very welcome there and were invited to stay for coffee afterwards. They have a very healthy attendance though there is still a bit of a gap of youth age kids but not completely absent. They have a very talented worship leader who led on acoustic guitar and a keyboard and a bass player too! (There is a drum kit in the background but no player this morning!)

The waves pounding at The Gap

Almost next door to The Gap is the Natural Bridge

We also did some sightseeing trips around Albany including the Gap and the Natural Bridge and some beaches in the vicinity. The blowhole was a disappointment; it was a lot of noise but no spray. Tthe rocks surrounding it were not even damp. I kindly called it Puff, however Bob had a more impolite name for it that I can’t mention here. The Dog Rock is visible anytime you go into town. We finished with a visit to the War Memorial on top of a hill which is also a great place as a lookout over the town.

One of the many beaches around Albany

Another one of the many beaches around Albany

Sandra taught me how to crochet. I am starting a lap rug for my first project. I can’t make any more explosion boxes as I have no more room to store them in the Robbiebago. So this is what I will be doing whilst Bob does the driving from now on.

View from the Albany War Memorial over Albany's Port

View from the Albany War Memorial over Albany's beach

This is the life

2011-03-15T14:12:00.001+11:00

Hang Glider over Shelly Beach

I am so fortunate. I am sitting out on a sand dune top lookout, about 20 km from Albany, while I catch up on the internet. (There is no internet reception at our campsite on the beach.) It is amazing here. Bob is watching the hang gliders who are about 15m away while I type away. There are 5 guys hang gliding down to the lovely azure blue waters and sandy beach below called Shelly Beach. The sun is nice & warm but it is not hot as there is a lovely gentle breeze and we are both healthy, relaxed and as happy as Larry!

One of the hang gliders at Shelly Beach near Albany

The days are getting cooler now about 24-26 (The perfect temperature in my opinion!) and nights actually starting to get cooler. It was just 7 degrees the other morning but usually it is about 18 in the mornings...

I like to get up early to sit and read or do crafts. Sometimes I even go for a walk and take my sunrise photos. When it is a bit too cool then I rug up and sit in my track suit with Bob's quilted flannel shirt over it. On the really cold mornings I even have Bob's big wool coat over all that too. I might even have soxs on my feet tucked inside ugg boots and a hat on to keep my head warm. I know I look ridiculous but no one can see me hidden away in my Robbiebago and anyway who cares. At least I am warm and happy! I hope you are all warm, happy and healthy too! Do drop a comment to let me know someone at least is reading my blog!

The morning mist rising over Cozy Beach near Albany

The Valley of the Giants

2011-03-14T21:39:00.000+11:00

This place is so wonderful that it deserves a blog entry all of its own. It is certainly the biggest highlight of our time here. It is the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk. It would rate in my top 10 places of interest on this trip so far! The walk is not for those scared of heights, but it is oh so exciting and it is absolutely fantastic to be up at tree top height. Don't be alarmed as the whole bridge sways as you walk, it is meant to help you be aware that you are at tree top height!

If you or your partner want to take the walk but the other can’t handle it, then go for a lovely stroll through the Tingle Forest walk at the same place. It is great too! The Tingle Trees are a type of Eucalypt that are indigenous to this very small area where they are susceptible to having a hollow interior mainly through bush fires but still growing healthily to extreme heights.

Go there. I promise it is well worth the visit.

Big Brook Arboretum, Pemberton & the tall Karri & Tingle trees

2011-03-14T21:21:00.000+11:00

The view from the front of the car as we drive through the forest trails - just gorgeous

The Gloucester Tree

We stayed at the camp grounds at Big Brook Arboretum just outside Pemberton in amongst many trees. From here we were able to visit the tall Karri trees. A drive through the forest trails is a beaut way to see the beauty of the area. We also visited the Gloucester Tree and the Bicentennial Tree, both of which one can climb. I did climb a bit of the Gloucester Tree just enough to get a photo. At least with the Gloucester Tree you climb almost upright. I didn't get far with the Bicentennial Tree – the gaps between the rungs are too wide and forward so you have to climb leaning forward and using your hands. It leaves you in a position where you are looking down constantly and it feels like you are going to fall through the rungs, and I don't generally get too scared of heights, so imagine how it would be for some people who do!

the lovely gentle Cascades

The mouth of a sucking lamprey fish - the middle is like a borer - urgh!

We also visited the Circular Pools, the Warren River and the Cascades which were still running even though it is quite low at present. This is one of the breeding places for the lamprey fish which is a sucking fish that bores and devours the flesh of other bigger fish... is this Australia’s answer to the piranhas??? We could see the baby lamprey fish but no way am I going in these waters....Scary!


The quiet reflections in the Warren River - can you see the dinosaur head?

The Western Rosella

A trip down memory lane

2011-03-14T05:32:00.002+11:00

All of us have times occassionlly when we get the opportunity to revisit something from the past. For us it happened on a day trip whilst we were still based at Gracetown. We went on longer drive to down the the south eastern most point of Australia to the quaint little town of Augusta. Here we took in a visit to a few places that we had visited shortly after we were married with our good friends, Henry & Liz, when we all came to Perth for a youth camp. Yes kids, we were young once and did spur of the moment things too! After camp we hired a campervan together with Henry & Liz and took a week or so to visit some places together. The Augusta Lighthouse and the water wheel were 2 such places.

Something new we did on this day trip was that we took a tour of the Lakes Caves nearby. We had visited a cave or 2 with Henry & Liz all those years ago but I doubt it was the Lakes Caves. We chose the Lakes Cave today as it was the only one with water in the caves at this time of the year. It was a lovely day all up and Bob and I thoroughly enjoyed rehashing our youth days. Oh to be young again!...but then I would have to start all over again... nah... this is a good time of life to be living... I just wish my body was as young as my mind!

Just a early taste of the tall Karri tree forests

Food and wine heaven: the Margaret River Area

2011-03-13T22:31:00.000+11:00

We headed towards Margaret River region via the lighthouse at Dunsborough, where we also took a short trail walk. We stayed at Gracetown Caravan Park which is only 12km from Margaret River itself and just 4km from the beach. Being the long weekend coming up, we took it when we found it was available. The areas is so dry, even though there is water in the river, it is not flowing into the ocean as we discovered in one of our drives.

Another day was spent touring the food places such as the cheese factory, the chocolate factory and a nut factory and checking out various local beaches such as the one at Yallingup as pictured above. On yet another day we did a tour of 3 wineries that specialize in fortified wines since both Bob and I prefer Port to regular wines.

On our way out of the Margaret River region we just had to stop at Blackwood Meadery. We had tasted Mead some 25 years ago and loved it. It is so hard to come across a bottle. Of course at these places we just had to buy some of the produce... we just couldn’t resist it. All through our holiday I love to note different birds and flowers that I may not have seen before. Sometimes one of us is lucky enough to get a decent photo. Above is a photo of a beautiful White eyed Honeyeater feeding on a colourful & I guess yummy grevillea.

Busselton

2011-03-13T22:19:00.000+11:00

We stayed at Amblin Caravan Park, which is right on the beach. It is a small park, about 8km from town. We went into town for groceries and some sightseeing. The weather is hot here too and far too hot to walk the famous 1.8 long jetty at this time. We came back another day.

On day 2 we went for a drive via Donnybrook, which has this amazing public playground for kids. It is the biggest and best one I have seen full stop. We stop here for lunch under a lovely shady tree, sitting on the grass as it was much cooler there. We had planned to stop at a waterfall (which was dry) but there was no shade and the heat reflected back off the exposed rocks so we moved on. We had a marvellous couple of hours catching up with fellow caravaners, Kathy & John at a delightful cafe/quilting shop that was thankfully fully air conditioned, where surpruse, surprise I didn't buy anything, though I was sorely tempted!. On the Sunday I tried my luck at the local markets, but unfortunately did not sell much stuff this time. I think it was too ot for casual strolling and being tempted by all the marvellous crafts and items available for sale. Other regular market stall holders report it being a very slow day.

We had a lazy afternoon finishing off with a sunset walk along the wharf/jetty where we took some marvellous photos.

Bunbury

2011-03-09T15:06:00.000+11:00

We spent 4 days at Bunbury in a caravan park just across the road from a beautiful sandy Koombana Beach. We took a day trip around the place, but other than beaches there is not a lot around here. We had a BBQ by the beach one evening and invited the caravan neighbours to join us and then went swimming in the bay.

I was hoping to see and swim with the dolphins we saw in the same bay the evening before whilst walking but it was not to be. Still it was lovely to cap the day with a night swim and with new friends.

By the way the camp ground is just behind the big tall building in this photo, right between the 2 bodies of water. You can just see the beach on the left. The next photo below shows it more close up with the water channel in the foreground. In the background you can see the mounds of sand that has been mined ready for shipping out. The beach photo above is the Koombana Beach at sunset where we swam

Camp Wattle Grove

2011-02-24T19:42:00.000+11:00

After our lovely stay in Cardup, we went back towards Perth to do our first job with MMM (Mobile Maintenance Ministry) at a quiet Christian campsite called Camp Wattle Grove formerly known as Keswick Campsite. We were wonderfully welcomed by Don & Jody & their 4 kids. Don is one of the caretakers here. Being a well treed campsite there are lots of beautiful bird life. Seeing the red tailed Black Cockatoos is a daily delight.

Jody insisted on making our lunches every day and they also had us over for dinner twice in that week. Bob was to assist another carpenter there for a week in replacing 9 old wooden windows with larger aluminium windows in one of the demountables that are used for camp accommodation, plus the relining etc that is needed to finish off the job. The job was made all the more difficult due to the extreme heat with some days recording 39 degrees Celsius in the shade. That is well over the 100 degrees in the old Fahrenheit gauge. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the job but I do have one of the Robbiebago camped on site where you can see how we are surrounded by lots of trees and the much appreciated shade they cast is very welcome.

Eventually after a few days “off” I was sucked into assisting with the caulking around the windows even though I had no previous experience. I surprised myself in that I actually liked caulking. It is quick & easy once you have a decent flow going on the gun. Earlier in the week when I had more ‘me’ time, I planted myself right next the air con and made a new Explosion Box. This time I made it a photo album style with 3 layers for a baby with lots of animals as decorations. Here is one picture. I hope you like it. If you want to see more or find out more details then please go to my craft blog and take a gander. By the way, this box is for sale if you like it or would like a custom order, just send me an email. I will be taking all my boxes to the Bunswick markets this weekend. Wish me luck???!

The Invasion of the birds

2011-02-15T12:03:00.000+11:00

Michelle at the beach at Rockingham

Windsurfers at Safety Bay (Rockingham)

Whilst based at Cardup (southern tip of Armadale/Perth) we went for a day trip and visited the coastal areas of Rockingham down to Mandurah

One of 2 streetscape sculptures at Mundurah

The beach at Mundurah

Then we headed back inland finishing off with a fantastic afternoon tea in the park at the Serpentine Dam shared with dozens of rather tame birds especially the Twenty Eight Parrots. They would go as far as pinch the food from your mouth.

At first they were timid but soon they were quiet comfortable with us and made themselves at home which I guess they really are – we are the ones invading and visiting their home!

The Adventure continues

2011-02-09T10:06:00.000+11:00

Well here we are back in Western Australia at last after a 3 months break. We loved it so much that we couldn’t just leave & rush home for Bob’s big 60 and Christmas soon after, so we left the Robbiebago in Perth at some very hospitable people (thanks Donna & Colin), we borrowed a couple of suitcases, (thanks Nikki & Alison) and flew home so that we could come back in February and continue on with our journey. And so here we are again. We took 3 days to check everything out and attend church just one more time and to thank our marvellous hosts.

We attended a fantastic fireworks show celebrating the Chinese New Year. We forgot to take a camera with us and so we took some wonderful photos with Bob's new phhone, but I can't figure out how to down load the photos... oh well another learning curve coming up.

2 days later we took to the road and moved just 50km south to meet and stay with another family, John and Patricia, who have graciously allowed us to camp on their property. I have met some large families but this is the largest, they have 11 truly delightful kids who are still all living at home. We met them all except the eldest who is a nurse, at a BBQ dinner they invited us to last night along with another couple who are also camping on their property. We plan to stay here for a week and attend church with them on Sunday before moving on. We have a job lined up at a campsite for MMM (Mobile Maintenance Ministry) for next week!

Back Home (for just a little while )

2010-12-31T16:55:00.000+11:00

Now we are back home for a couple of months. We flew home just in time for Bob’s 60th birthday party. What a terrific turn out it was with many friends and family coming to help us celebrate.

Having been absent from many meetings etc, we are not swamped with lots of pre-Christmas parties and such and that was very nice not to be frazzled. I had time to finish all my Christmas cards which I had started back in Perth and most of the gift shopping was done without duress. (Those that know me know that I do not like shopping unless it involves crafts).

Oh it is so good to be home but now that Christmas is over I am hankering for the simple life of caravanning. So here’s to the new year and hanging out with friends and family over the next few weeks before we head back to the Robbiebago and continue with the adventures God has in store for us.
I really like one of the quote I saw back in a Perth mall: it is a great reminder not to waste time in the new year.


No minute gone ever comes back again. Take heed and see ye nothing do in vain.

Perth

2010-12-31T16:38:00.000+11:00

With the kindness of friends of friends, (Thank you Colin & Donna), we have a place to stop for 2 weeks and then store the Robbiebago whilst we run back home for Rob’s birthday and Christmas. It is right on the Swan River in Bassendean, Perth. Whilst in Perth we get to catch up with friends and family often taking in a meal with many of them, including Nikki & Neil, Bill & Hillary, Tina, Mrs S, Ben & Kate, Frank & Teena. We were also able to follow up on new friends made on the road including Joan & Bill as well as Peter & Alison.

A view of Perth

Bob beside the Percy Button Statue in Perth Mall

Day outings included a train trip into Perth where amongst various activities including watching a solar powered slot car inter school competition, a 2 hour guided walking tour around town which was very interesting, shopping and of course a meal.

Freemantle

Another day we travelled into Freemantle and just walked around the shops before having a fish and chips lunch on the wharf. One of the little treasured nuggets was several hours spent at the Aviation heritage Museum in Bull Creek. including a semi private viewing of a magnificent historical lace panel depicting London during the Blitz. I really do recommend a minimum 2-3 hours to see this museum.

A small part of the magnificent lace panel that is long than floor to ceiling

Another night was a romantic date in town including dinner & an overnight stay in a classy hotel. (Thanks Manna House). On awaking the next morning after a lazy sleep in & breakfast we finally made our way into the fabulous Kings Park where we spent a couple of hours walking on some of the many trails there. The bridge walk was spectacular with its views over the Swan River and all the sailing boats out on the water. The wildflowers especially the kangaroo paws and the banksias were superb.

A late lunch in the park followed by a stroll through the gallery shop there finished our time in town. New friends Peter and Alison, whom we had met back at Barn Hill, graciously took us an all day trip around the Perth Hills camp site. Whilst in Perth I also got to spend some time in various stamping & scrapbooking shops and bought some lovely tools. A girl’s gotta have her tools!

An original sculpture available for sale at Kings Park inspires Bob.

Then there were also the quieter days bike riding and walks along the river, days reading and playing games and the sort of relaxing things one does on holidays. Whilst in Perth we enjoyed christian services & fellowship mostly at various Reformed Services as well as the local Bassendean Church of Christ on a few occasions.

Gin Gin & New Norcia

2010-11-01T17:38:00.000+11:00

As we were passing through Gin Gin on our way to New Norcia, we noticed a lovely park with a creek, ducks and even a paddlewheel in it, so we stopped and had a delightful walk through the park, discovered a lily pond as well as a historic cemetery and church. One family lost 3 little kids within 6 days back in 1865 – I am guessing from some disease –shows how tough it was back in the pioneer days! We also went on a board walk through a forested swamp is just across the road. All in all it is a very pretty little town.

Moving on, we stopped for lunch at Wannamal (400 in the Camps 5 book). This is a good place to free camp. It is on a quiet road – not many trucks at all. It has flushing toilets that are cleaned daily, a good gas BBQ with a delightful tiled mosaic concrete table under cover. We will come back this way and stay.

We finally arrived in New Norcia where the camp fees are just $7 per night for self sufficient vans. We stayed for 2 nights. We took in the 2 hour walking tour as well as the museum. Our guide was very informative with a slight off beat sense of humour. We enjoyed the tour. There are 7 chapels and we went into 5 of them plus other buildings etc. There are a lots of statues, altars, artwork etc depicting Mary, Joseph or one of the many saints as can be expected in a Catholic Church. Neither of us is big into art but the museum was still very interesting and also has a lot of historical artefact too. The next morning, I went along to a prayer session with the monks which I found very good. The songs and prayers are sing song chanted and easy to follow (with a paper printed of such) and I was grateful that there is no reference to Mary, Joseph or any of the saints in the prayer meeting. It is all directed to God and our Lord Jesus. (The monks pray 6 times a day, and the public is invited to join if desired.) We also stopped by the hotel which has a big grand staircase.

The Pinnacles

2010-11-01T17:30:00.000+11:00

What a wonderful place! It is truly wonderfully different. There are acres upon acres of sandy desert dunes interspersed with hundreds of pillars of limestone. You can walk it or drive through it with lots of places to pull over for hopping out to take a closer look or to take photographs. Though it was very interesting, we were in and out of there within 2 hours. So we took a few detours on the way home, stopping past coast vistas, a lake with stromatolites. (We saw different types near Shark Bay) and then a drive around the small town of Cervantes.

Wild flowers and some drama

2010-10-26T13:51:00.000+11:00

After leaving Geraldton, we free camped right alongside a seaweed covered beach at Cliff Head North where there were a million flies per person. It was so bad that no one wanted to sit outside until Happy Hour and even then it was a battle with the flies though thankfully with the cooling temperatures they mostly disappeared.

The next stop was the Western Flora Park near Eneabba which is owned by an amateur botanist and his guided wildflower walk came highly recommended. However we were unlucky in our timing as there was a bushfire burning nearby to which our guide was fire fighting and thus unavailable for the guided walk. So instead I went off and walked myself. At first, I thought there wasn’t much there but when I really looked there were heaps and I took 2 hours walking and taking photos. So if you aren’t interested in flowers, then you had better skip to the end to find out about our mini drama. The wildflower photos are mostly from the Western Flora Campsite. I tried not to give you too many wildflower photos but it is so hard to leave some out...yet I did leave out many!

The wild man amongst the wildflowers

And our little drama???
Packing up to leave we noticed we had a bad burning smell. As there was a bush fire burning nearby and roads were closed off around us, it took a while to find the source which was inside the Robbiebago. A light wire near the fans cooling the fridge was burning almost to the point of catching alight. Thankfully it happened whilst we were still stationary and inside the van so that we were able to notice the burning smell – it could have just as easily happened whilst we were driving and thus gone un-noticed until there were flames. Bob isolated the current and removed the wire to be replaced at the next place with a larger wire and a smaller fuse put in place to prevent it happening again.

Geraldton

2010-10-26T11:09:00.000+11:00

We arrive at Marjorie & Barton’s place which is a small sheep property just 20km out of town and they also run a Pet Cemetery there as a service for the community. We did some sightseeing and saw the HMS Sydney Memorial which is beautiful. It has a huge metallic dome made of some 642 seagulls, one for each sailor who lost his life on the Sydney which was damaged & was lost at sea during the war. (Actually the resting place was only just recently discovered in the last year or two.)

On Sunday we went to the 10am service at the Cathedral and then after the coffee after church we went onto a Quilt & Craft Show which is where I found a lovely necklace for Bob's Mum’s birthday. They have a good selection of quality crafts at the show - not just quilts. We were staying in Gero to help at the Seafarer’s Mission but as they don’t open until noon, we had lazy mornings. We were working alongside the Chaplain Bill & his wife Jocelyn who runs the shop there. For once I worked more than Bob. We were to do some gardening tidying up but someone surprised Bill by doing it for him over the weekend, hence Bob did a few odd jobs whilst I worked with Jocelyn doing the stock take and recording it on the computer. We were surprised at one tiny shopping centre to run into Kathy and John, the couple we did a few camps sites together some time ago most notably the Cape Range National Park and Ningaloo. We all had so much to catch up on that we invited them to dinner where we had a grand time together.

A leaning tree right in town - that is how windy it can get here!

On our last night in Geraldton, we invited bart & Marjorie for a thank you dinner, and were given the opportunity to meet Richard, the minister from Wickham whom we had missed when we were passing through. It was great to meet him and hear about his work there and his life in and amongst aborigines there. Then on the morning we were to leave we had a quick reunion with the Kununarra ministry team, Garry, Glendon and Andrew. (There was a Synod being held in Geraldton over the next few days and many ministers and others were in town for the series of meetings.)

Driving back to Geraldton

2010-10-19T10:02:00.000+11:00

Bob sitting on top of London Bridge

First stop was Mt Magnet where we left the van for a trip to Sandstone to see a natural land feature called London Bridge. Sandstone is delightful. It is a small, friendly, lovely, clean and tidy town with lots of public garden filled with flowers in which we stopped for a picnic lunch. We then went on the heritage trail drive seeing the old brewery site, London Bridge, a gold battery, and a water pump before heading back home. (Home is wherever the Robbiebago is.)

The elusive Wreath flower (taken off a photo)

The next day we moved down to Gold Mining country which is also known as Wildflower Country, where we told we would also get a chance to see the elusive wreath flower. Our first night stop was at Perenjori (pronounced per injury). As it turns out there is very little wildflowers to see. The countryside is very dry and there has not been the rain that brings out the wildflowers in profusion. Coupled with the extremely hot days just preceding our visit, many of the flowers especially the wreath flowers had died out. We had to contend ourselves with a bought photo of a wreath flower. At one point we were told we had come too late to view wildflowers, which was annoying as the wildflower tourist brochures say August to November and we had been told Sept & October were the best times to see them. I know that they can’t help the weather but other than that who do you believe? Oh well, we keep on driving in the hope of seeing some lovely flowers.

Beautiful White plume Grevillea

I think this is an Hakea - a white flowering with holly shaped leaves

We kept on going to Ellendale Pool which had been recommended to us. Just at the turn off to the pool is a gigantic wind farm. I reckon there are 50 or so wind thingys. It would be our last stop before entering Geraldton again. Ellendale is a lovely spot that is a natural pooled area of the Ellendale River that is a great picnic and camping spot. It is a great spot for families with access to swimming and canoeing.

Ellendale Pool

A time to reflect on God's glory


Lush fields of purple wildflowers near Ellendale Pools

Meekatharra Festival (Part 3) The Grand Ball

2010-10-05T21:14:00.000+11:00

Belle of the Ball

Two friends from Covenant Players

Back home around 4.30 to freshen up and rest before the grand ball that night. Ellen wore her beautiful bright pink Thai silk suit, at least I think it is Thai silk. I wore my black & white long skirt with a lacy black sleeveless top. The hall was beautifully decked out in burgundy and white, with the colours carried through with balloons, tablecloths etc. The ceiling was draped in streamers and the subdued lightening with accent lighting and the whole effect was electric and a credit to all the people who gave up their time to set it up. The live band was playing a mix of music though mostly dance music of course. Oh and the supper was a large assortment and of enormous quantities. To find out it was all done by a non professional was amazing credit to her and her helpers.

Alistair and Leslie

Ellen and Erik

Sadly all things must come to an end. But first E & E took us on a drive around Meeka showing us some of the highlights such as the lookout and a gold mine site. We parted ways with the new friends we had made in Meeka and of course our dear friends, Erik & Ellen. May God bring us all back together again in the future.

One of the spectacular dawns at Mt Seabrook

Part of the fabulous iron art work at the Meeka lookout

Meekatharra Festival (Part 2) The Rodeo

2010-10-05T21:06:00.000+11:00

On the Sunday we attended church which 3 members of the Covenant Players were playing a major portion of the service. These are talented actors creating scenarios without props etc and making it seem very real. After coffee at the church, and then lunch, we left for the rodeo.

This is my first time at a rodeo and I was thrilled with the actuality. The weather has really warmed up the last few days to the point of it being hot now. We had a great spot sitting in the shade of a truck with a beach umbrella for additional shade. I took hundreds of photos. Cowboys (& some cowgirls) on horses bareback and in the saddle, riding bucking horse or bulls, whip cracking, lassoing calves, falling, prancing and dust galore. It was all part of the whole experience and one terrific afternoon. I loved it dust and all! Actually now that I think of it, there weren’t any flies, so that is great too!

Meekatharra Festival (Part 1)

2010-10-05T20:54:00.000+11:00

Ellen as Master of Ceremony

Michelle & Erik at the craft market

Working hard to cut all the lollies for the Kids Icing the biscuits activity

Our friends, Ellen & Erik are heavily involved in community affairs and the last weekend we were lucky enough to be there for the Meekatharra Festival. E & E were busy with various roles during the festival and so we packed the van and moved to Meeka on the Friday. We camped in the grounds of the Uniting Church whilst E & E stayed in the rectory with the minister, Lesley and her husband, Alistair. It seems as though we brought half of the dusty road back with us. It was unbelievable how much dust we had inside the Robbiebago, the floors, walls and drawers were full of the red dust. We borrowed a vacuum cleaner and took a good 90 minutes for Both Rob & I to clean up and still we found more dust later on.
Later that day we helped E & E set up the hall at the showground for the kids activities. Ellen had face mask/hats for the kids to make from paper plates along with feathers, glitter, sequins, and all manner of things to add to them. Erik had the kids painting didgeridoos made from long rolls they had been given from Spotlight. The last but certainly not least craft was icing biscuits and decorating them with all manner of cut lollies. The best fireworks display I have seen outside of Sydney was a terrific finale to the evening.
Saturday morning is the fun street parade and the important event of 2 unveilings one being the time capsule which Ellen proposed and coordinated. Ellen was the MC of the street parade as well as the unveilings introducing the mayor and the State Member of Parliament for this area. Ellen & I also had a craft stall going where I sold just 2 of my explosion boxes and Ellen sold her cards and jewellery and a few odds & ends. We should have attended the races that were going that afternoon, however we had a lovely quiet and lazy afternoon concluding with a quiet drink at the local Commercial Pub (where they make the best burgers). The evening concluded with a BBQ dinner with Lesley & Alistair and of course E & E too .

Just 2 of the colourful entrants in the street parade

Visiting friends out past Meekatharra

2010-10-05T20:42:00.000+11:00

One of the lovely sunsets at mt Seabrook

Cue Police Station

Rocky landscape around Mt Seabrook

We travelled to Meeka via a brief stop in Geraldton (more on Gero later) and passed through the beautiful little town of Cue with the wonderfully restored Police Station, with an overnight stop at Mt Magnet. We then passed right through Meeka on our way to visit our very good friends Erik & Ellen. It was so good to catch up with them again. They are Mine Managers some 160km way past Meeka on a dry dusty road. We spent just under 2 weeks with them with a couple of outings out, including a day trip into town (Meeka) and a day traipsing around sadly abandoned station, as well as a interesting 4WD trip for a picnic lunch away from the mine. For the first week and half the weather is much cooler than I expected. In and amongst crafting and fellowship time we helped them where we could with meals, gardening, pulling out dead saplings etc. I don’t think I have seen such dramatic colouring in a dawn before as what I saw at the mine! Rob had some ‘playtime’ operating this huge loader at the mine. (I reckon it is more like playing with boy’s toys) Erik & Bob also took some time out to test out the Bog Assist on a nearby sand creek bed. It got them out of a bog when they deliberately got themselves bogged. (More play time for the boys!)


Old truck found on the abandoned station

Our land abound in Nature's gifts

2010-10-04T12:16:00.000+11:00

As we came into Kalbarri we were to start to see our first fields of the famous WA wildflowers. Oh boy! God has created so much beauty, he is to be praised. They are beautiful here. Sometimes we see fields and fields of flowers, so much so that I am tempted to wonder if they have been sown. The sides of the roads are lined with pockets of colours, yellow, purple and white being the most common colours though the species vary. I can’t begin to name the flowers. My sister in law loaned me three field guide books which I admittedly have rarely referred to so far, though my intentions have been to do so. I am just going to post just some of the hundreds of photos that I have taken. I have been assured that we haven’t really reached the wildflower areas yet. The mind boggles. You can click on any of the pictures to get a larger view if you wish. I kept it small to fit so many on this entry.

Later, we travelled inland on the way back to Geraldton from Meekatharra (which I have yet to post about!), we ventured through 'The wildflower country' which sadly is not very prolific this year as they just haven't had the rains that would bring out the magnificance of the wildflowers. We searched particularly in this area for the elusive Wreath Flower, which we did finf but only in the dead stage. Just days before we arrived, the temperature was in the mid 30's for about 4 or 5 days and this killed off many flowers here that had managed to poke their heads up depsite the lack of rains. Oh well, here are just a tiny portion of the photos we did take, but most of these are from around the Kalbarri to Northampton (just north of Geraldton areas).

Kalbarri

2010-09-28T19:37:00.001+10:00

The drive south to Kalbarri, is our first real glimpse of the promise of the famous wild flowers of WA. Again we only spend 2 nights here though another night would have been good and include another walk and a bit more sightseeing around the place. First off we went for a drive around town and stopped at Chinaman’s Rock, the point where the river meets the ocean. It is a wild section of the coast. Breakers were huge but with the rock shelf all along the coast it is far too dangerous for surfers to take advantage of the tubes there.

Bob at the Nature's Window

The next day we tackled some of the trails including the steepest trail we have encountered so far on this trip with some of the ‘steps’ 700mm deep. My legs were still protesting a week later in some positions. This was down to the river at the Z Gorge, however before that we went to see Nature’s Window, a natural hole in the rock that looks down over parts of the nearly dry river gorge.

Part of the steep descent at Z gorge

At the bottom of Z gorge

Shark Bay, Monkey Mia and Denham

2010-09-28T19:28:00.000+10:00

One of the dlophin at Monkey Mia

We stayed at Hamelin Homestead for 2 nights. On the first day there we went to the old telegraph station nearby an saw the Stromatolites which look just like rocks only they are one of the earliest forms of life in the world. We also saw the quarry from whnce these blocks of compressed shells are mined however today this is basically just for the continual restoration of heritage buildings in Denham that were originally made from these quarried shell blocks. From here we will drive the 100km to Monkey Mia and Denham. We are so glad we decided to go straight to Monkey Mia first as we only just made it there in time for the last dolphin feeding. It should be advertised more that the 3 morning only feedings only at variable times that is basically determined by the dolphins’ arrival with the mostly likely times being from as early as 7am and the last generally around 10-10.30am. We had 5 dolphins come in including 2 young ones. I was fortunate enough to be one of the lucky ones chosen to hand feed a fish to a dolphin. We don’t have a photo to record the event as my back was to the camera and it happened so fast it was sort of disappointing that the buzz didn’t last longer.

The sea hare

We received the greatest kick out of patting a sea hare. This is like a huge snail wider than the palm of your hand and it has a small shell on its back like a snail. When you pat it, it releases this bright purple inky liquid that colours the waters surrounding the animal. This is a defence mechanism. We also got some good photos of pelicans there too. We ran into Kevin of Stuart Coaches there once again. After leaving Monkey Mia we went driving around the area visiting such places as Shell Beach a beautiful wide white beach of millions of the tiniest cockle shells; Denham and Nangi.

2 birds?

Tiny cockle shells of Shell Beach

Carnarvon

2010-09-28T19:21:00.000+10:00

1 mile wharf at Carnarvon

We left super early the next morning at 6.15am for the 170km trip to Carnarvon so that we could attend church there. (It is one of the few times Bob has seen the dawn on this trip!) We arrived and quickly found the Church of Christ. We had a good 45 minutes spare to relax and have a cuppa before church started. We met 2 Aboriginals there as well as James & his wife. James is the Principal of the Carnarvon Christian School. One of his daughters goes to SMBC (Same college as our daughter Camille). He invited us to come and look at the school after 3pm on Monday. After lunch and a bit of a lounge around we decided to hop on the bikes and go for a ride around the bay and town which was less than 1km away. Being Father’s Day we eagerly awaited the anticipated calls from the kids.

Our friend, Richard “Dad”, rang just for the fun of it and started the conversation with “Son, this is your father calling”. It set the tone for a fun conversation. Basically Richard called to let us know their plans to meet us in Perth have changed yet again. We also received the call from our friend, Erik, recovering from an operation on his arm, encouraging us to come sooner if at all possible. The next day we had a sleep-in and thus a late start to go sight seeing upto Point Quobba and the nearby blowholes which are smaller, shoot higher in calmer weather and are totally different to Kiama Blowholes.

Quobba Blowholes

all 4 holes blowing at once!

We saw a whale off in the middle distance and his flute for a good time as he travelled up the coast towards Ningaloo or further. Off we go further up the coast to Quobba Station. They take campers too almost right on the beach. Soon it is time to head back to town. We noticed that since there are no trees in the area, the birds had nests at the top of the power poles. Bob reckons he saw at least 25 bird’s nests up on the poles. Some poles even had old wheel rims attached to the side of the poles below the wires for the birds to nest in. We stopped at a road side fruit & vege farm for fresh produce. We had a short rest before heading off to the school to meet up with James at his school. The school has been blessed by God abundantly. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with James.

quabba coast lighthouse

From here we were due to meet up with another BCA supporter couple, Joan & Michael, but first we took a quick trip to see the 1 mile jetty which is only 3 km past the school. Lo & behold we see a Stuart’s Coach there and knew the driver, Kevin, back from our days working with Crossroads, more than 15 years ago. Bob & Kevin recognized each other immediately. (This was helped by Bob having grown his beard again whilst on holidays). Finally we went on to meet Joan & Michael. They are the ones who started up Christ for Campers (which is a breakfast & fellowship/God spot done in the caravan parks in various locations as many southerners travel north for the winter and spend 3-6 months often in the one or 2 places and are quite bored /aimless). We had such a great time listening and talking to them that they kindly invited us to stay for dinner and we ended up staying with them for 5 and half hours before we left them alone. I hope we didn’t out stay our welcome as I will love to keep in touch with these wonderful people.

Cape Range National Park and adjacent Ningaloo Reef

2010-09-28T19:08:00.000+10:00

The 1904 wreck off the point near Exmouth

Winter is popping its head in. Mornings are cold & chilly usually between 12 and 15 degrees. The temperature is bad enough but the wind is strong. It has been that way since the afternoon we arrived here at Cape Range National Park just near Exmouth. It is a lovely spot as far as the beaches go. It is adjacent to Ningaloo Marine Park which as coral reefs close enough for you to snorkel along. Unfortunately we don’t have our snorkels with us. (We have asked around and found that there are more snorkelling areas south of Perth so when we go back home in November, we will bring it back with us.) These are the nicest beaches we have seen since we have left the east coast. The fishing is supposed to be good just north of here where it is allowed but we are not fishermen. I am not even sure how to tie a hook on let alone throw out a line or what bait to use. I certainly won’t gut a fish – I probably wouldn’t do that properly either since I have never done that before either.

The beach at Exmouth

We have met up with another couple, John & Kathy, back at Robe River (Barradale free camp) and have since camped together first at the lighthouse campground just outside of the Cape Range NP and now at Cape Range. We relaxed here with walks along the beaches, reading in the sand dunes, drives along the National Park and watching brave souls snorkelling. After three nights we parted ways and moved south stopping along the way at Pebble Beach which lives up to its name being only pebbles. Just south of Exmouth we couldn’t by pass the Fishermen’s co-op and we just had to buy 1.5kg of cooked fresh prawns. Yummy!

Lighthouse at Exmouth

Next we called into Coral Bay. The bay itself is nice though it is very much a caravan park town. I don’t think I saw one residence there at all 3 or 4 caravan parks line up next to each other facing the bay. The only grassed picnic area is insufficient and crowded as anything. We decided not to stop there but stopped on the side of the road just out of town to have our lunch in the van before moving off further south to a free camp site at Lyndon River where we met up with another couple in particular that gave us lots of recommendations of as they have travelled this area many times over the years.


This was John & Barb's church???

Karratha, Dampier & Millstream National Park

2010-09-28T18:57:00.000+10:00

Another beautiful sunset on the way to Karratha

Try counting all the Correllas in just this one tree and nearly every tree had similar numbers

Weird moonscape approaching Pythin Pool - not a tree or bush to be seen anywhere

Not much water in the Python Pool

Michelle beside the Fortescue River at Millstream National Park

We arrived in Karratha back on Thursday 26th. We were made welcome & invited in for a cuppa with the Anglican minister, Ian. Though there was no work to be done there they were willing to let us park next to the church and use the facilities here. We went for a sightseeing trip to Dampier the next day and also took in a visit to the Gas plant nearby which we found fascinating. From here we went on to see the aboriginal rock carving area. This whole area looks like God dumped piles of rocks in large clumps to form rocky hills. I even thought at first on the way into the Gas Plant that the rock piles were literally dumped from the installation of the facilities for the gas plant. The rocky hills support virtually no vegetation on the slopes though you will find plenty of spinifix grass clumps at the bases and the odd small stunted tree – mostly dead trees at that! Though we didn’t see any Euros, there was plenty of evidence (poo scats and lots of road kill on the approach) to let you know the rock wallaby is plentiful in that area. We did see some crested rock pigeons. Of course there was the rock carvings which ‘they’ reckon could be as old as 6,000 years old. There were a lot of carvings , many were indecipherable mainly due to natural erosion, but there were also quite a few that you could make out. If one climbed the rocks, you could see even more rock carvings. Bob climbed one bit but I declined as I was in thongs that day. Yet I still managed to see well over 30 carvings, some as big as 2 metres, but that was only about 4 of them as most were about 30-80cm that I saw anyway. After clambering amongst the rocks we went into the small town of Dampier itself with its very busy port. On the way back we stopped at the lookout over the Karratha Salt Pans and saw the huge trains taking iron ore to the port. I counted well over 200 cars before I lost count. I reckon there was 250 carriages behind 3 engines and a some other carriage size engine/machine which I have no idea what it was but a type of engine but not a train engine!

On Saturday we travelled to Millstream/Chischester National Park. It is a small NP on part of the Fortescue River. It is a little oasis in an otherwise very rocky barren landscape. The road is basically a loop around the river. There are 2 good swimming spots with adjacent camp spots. The unmanned visitors centre is housed in the old homestead and there is quite a historic display of the region that is quite interesting. There is still plenty of water in the Fortescue River even though it is quite low for this time of the season. The associated wetlands are an important part of the ecosystem here supporting a range of fauna many of which are indigenous to the region and some are even rare. We had lunch by one of the swimming holes with literally hundreds of corellas sleeping up in the trees all around us. It was hard to see them at first as they blend so well into the white paperbark. I counted over 33 in just one tree. We considered ourselves lucky not to have been pooped on, yet later in the day I did notice that Bob had some bird poop on his shoulder. On the return to Karratha we decided to go a little (19km each way) out of the way to the Python Pool. We are so glad we did. If we had thought the landscape barren before, now we were to see what a totally barren land is. The whole vista is just mountain size piles of rock. It is so fascinating. Bob even refers to it as being a moonscape. The pool is at the base of 2 huge sheer rock faces. It must look marvellous when the waterfall is going. You used to be able to swim there but algal bloom has been discovered and swimming is discouraged. We recognized that we must have seen at least 10 trains on our trip that were in excess of 200 carriages long. I tried counting one of them and got as far as 234.

Absolutley lovely Sturt's Desert Pea - not all have the black 'belly'

On Sunday we went to the host Anglican Church. A great sermon with a decent size congregation for the outback towns of about 30 people with a lovely morning tea spread afterwards. After lunch and some craft time we went for a drive to Cossack and Point Samson to the north east of Karratha. Basically it is the beachside escape for the people of Karratha. We found sat in the shady lee of the rock face watching the people at one of the beach coves. It must have been cold in the water as we saw people shivering, even though the outside temperature was probably in the low 30’s. Jolly hot! Cossack is an abandoned town that has been restored and has several buildings registered with the National Trust. Great for history buffs!

The absolutely marvellous Karijini National Park

2010-08-24T17:20:00.000+10:00

Part of the walk along the bottom of the Dale Gorge

Looking down on the pool at the bottom of Fortescue Falls

It is not all work and no play. We took a couple of days off and went to Karijini National Park for an overnight camping trip. Robert and Dawn lent us their pop up tent . After a long trip on mostly bitumen roads we arrive and promptly met up with a couple we had met back at Barn Hill, Sheryl and Robert and they advised us to secure a campsite before we go sightseeing. It was good advice as there were only 8 sites left even at lunch time. So after setting up the tent - a lot of pegs and very red dusty soil, we went off on a 3 hour trek up the centre of Dale Gorge. This a very beautiful gorge with the wonderful Fortescue Falls and Fern Pool at one end and the Circular Pool at the other end. It is rather steep in and out of the gorge and very rough natural walking track but we thoroughly enjoyed it and were glad we had made the effort. The pools were suitable for swimming but it has to be a lot warmer to tempt me to swim, though I would have loved to sit by with my feet in the water and read if we had the luxury of time on our side. Back at the campsite to finish setting up the beds etc and lo and behold, Rob & Sheryl were only 2 campsites away from us, so we went over and joined them for happy hour (or 2). It quickly cooled down when the sun went down. Bob & I stayed up reading at first and then playing cards outside at the table until it was just too cold to stay outdoors anymore. It was only 9.30pm but off to bed we go. As Sheryl had mentioned that the mornings were down to 4 or 5 degrees we just hopped into bed in our clothes for added warmth. It was very cold in the morning outdoors but we were as warm as toast in bed. Bob doesn’t like to go to bed so early, no wonder he was up with the birds then next morning too- I think it was the first time he has seen dawn in a heck of a long time! I made bacon & eggs as compensation and to warm us both up. We were also a bit stiff and sore from all the climbing the day before. We packed up and headed off to Weano Gorge. We heard that this and some other gorges had to be accessed partly by wading through thigh deep water and neither of us were interested in doing this, so the lookout was enough for now. We then went to Tom Price. It is a nice enough for a mining town with plenty of green grassed areas but there is nothing of interest for us there. We picked up some extra food as the visitors centre warned us that the road past Hammersely Gorge and Wittenoom is rough and rarely travelled and we could be stranded there with little chance of passerbys for assistance, so we prepared for the possibility of camping overnight on our way back to Port Hedland as we didn’t want to back track and travel over the same road we came in on. Well we off and went first to Hammersely Gorge which hardly gets a mention in the paper works and yet it is truly marvellous. The water pools and the folded rock (layers of rock that have shifted and look like they have been folded together when the land was soft and malleable) and just the whole package. The photos can only show you what is meant by this description.

Just a aprt of the Hammersley Gorge

Bob in front a part of the Folded Rock

We thought Dale Gorge lovely but this beats it hands down. We couldn’t stay there too long either as we wanted to get onto the rough road and get most of it covered whilst still daylight. This so called rough road was well graded, plenty of traffic (not busy- but certainly enough traffic that if caught out or broken down you were not on your own!) We were able to travel at speeds of 90-100km along most of this road no problems, we did have to watch out for all the dips/floodways that slowed you down in between but the woman back at the visitor centre had no idea what she was talking about when advising us about the condition of the road. I suppose it has to do with Wittenoom. This is a deserted mining town that has been officially closed down and withdrawn off the maps due to the blue asbestos in the area, the mines, landfill, road base etc are all from blue asbestos and was declared unsafe and forcibly abandoned years ago. We were back on Port Hedland around 7.30pm tired and more than a little dusty.


Michelle in a natural rock pillar on the Hammersley Gorge

There are so many photos I could have added here but I didn't want to bore you with them all.

Port Hedland Anglican Church & The Mission to Seafarers

2010-08-24T17:14:00.000+10:00

When we arrived we went straight to the shopping centre to stock up on some groceries and lo and behold we run into Daryl & Pam, the minister from the Broome Baptist Church whom we had met the weekend before. We invited them to sit with us for lunch and had a good old yarn and time of fellowship with them. I was almost sorry that we wouldn’t see them at the Baptist Church here where he was guest preaching the next day. Gosh lunch was expensive there. A pie and a hamburger with a cappuccino and an iced chocolate came to $26. Port Hedland Church is only a short distance away and so we went to set up the caravan Robert & Dawn Allen are the co-workers here. Robert is the Project Manager for the building of a block of units here and is doubling up as caretaker etc whilst here. They are easy to talk to and very welcoming. (The minister, Phil lives in South Hedland, which is about 20 minutes away.) Phil comes by later in preparation for the morning’s service. Church on Sunday is early, 9am. It is a great sermon. Coffee after church is friendly though I didn’t meet any locals as I introduced myself to 2 women and they happen to be visitors too. One of them, Janine and her husband, Peter, are from Tasmania; end up staying here at the church for part of the week too in their slide on ute thingy. Though they weren’t actually BCA volunteers, they did help now and then. They are early retirees seeking to work out where God wants them next. We had a great time of fellowship & a BBQ here with Peter and Robert and their wives later that night.
Monday we started work, or rather Bob started work, pruning the front garden, a trip to the rubbish tip at South Hedland. Pulled down shade mesh, awnings & timber (they will recycle some of the timber to make a frame work for the partition wall to go up inside the church building later). Monday night the 6 of us went to the Mission to Seafarers. This is basically an old house that has been set aside as a refuge, or somewhere to hang out on land for them. There is a shop, souveniers as well as groceries, and other essentials such as toiletries etc. There are internet facilities, a bar, a couple of pool tables, and some table and chairs for rest and conversation. It is really just somewhere different for them to take some time out away from the ship.
The rest of the week Robert and my Bob both worked on the church, mainly making a partition utilising the framework from the recycled timbers they pulled down on the back awning/verandah as well as pulling down hedges at the manse in South Hedland, etc. I spent a lot of time reading, catching up with emails and some more craftwork. I did spend Wednesday mornings helping Dawn with the crèche for the Women’s Bible study in the church. I also gave Dawn some assistance with computer work and some craft ideas for future Sunday school and crèche.

The Asian Lily box I made for Camille's birthday

Barn Hill

2010-08-24T17:06:00.000+10:00

Sunset over the beach at Barn Hill

Barn Hill had been recommended to us a few times and so we thought we would check it out. It is about 150km south of Broome and 10 along rough corrugated dirt road. It is quite rustic. Even with a powered site, the power is only for lights & a fridge as each site is limited to 4amps and there is a flip switch set to go off as powered is generated on site. There is plenty of shade and we were only 200m from the marvellous beach. The beach is croc free so you can go in though takes forever to wade out deep enough for swimming. It is also a good spot for fishing. We walked both days for hours along the beach, collecting a few interesting pieces of rock that we thought might look good cut and polished. On the first night there was a happy hour and communal BBQ (BYO meat and all) on the common green grassed area. We especially befriended 2 couples, Bob & Sheryl and Peter & Alison. It is a lovely spot for total relaxation and I could have enjoyed another 2 or 3 days there however we had a time commitment to be in Port Hedland for church on Sunday. So off we go back up that long dusty dirt road and one more stop to do at De Grey River, another lovely free camping spot.

Sunset over the De Grey River

A touch of winter in Broome

2010-08-24T17:00:00.000+10:00

The justly famed Cable Beach

Rocky landscape at another Broome beachscape

Setset over the De Grey River - just south of Broome

We timed our arrival in Broome to go to church first thing in the morning. We were made welcome at Broome Baptist Church. Daryl, the minister, has been here only for about 6 months. He is offering his experience and stability to them as they are a struggling church as are many in the outback towns. I feel sad for him and admire that he is spending his last few years before retirement, doing such a hard ministry. He hopes to encourage them to build each other up and be more community minded. As for Broome itself, there really isn’t much to see or do there. The weather is great and Cable Beach is beautiful. It is a great town if you want to sit back and relax. We drove around the town and peninsula and covered everything there within 2 -3 hours and that was at a leisurely pace. The tides were wrong to see the dinosaur prints so we were going to go back another time but in the end we forgot about it and didn’t get to see them after all. Bob fiddled with some repair work & I made 2 explosion boxes of a new design, drawing a frog and making it as a pop up on a lily pad. I also started on designing Asiatic lilies for one of my daughters’ birthday box. Winter here is great. The days are warm to slightly hot but cools down very quickly when the sun disappears. It is starting to get down to 14 degrees overnight. I pulled the doona out of storage a few nights ago. Bob just got his doona out the night before last.... Camille tells me that it hardly gets to 14 in the day down home....Boy I am so NOT missing the cold winter back home.

Sunset over the beach at Barn Hill. A camp spot between Derby & Broome

Derby & the Horizontal Waterfalls

2010-08-24T16:54:00.000+10:00

Mary's Pool - a lovely camp spot on the way to Derby

A boab tree used as a prison in the 'good old days'

We felt very welcomed at the Baptist Church in Derby especially by Mary & Tom, the hospitality/caretaker people here. They have this long shed that started out as an Australian Inland Mission medical centre (hospital) and then was converted to be used as a training and live in centre for Aboriginals and now is being converted into a manse on one 1/3rd and a church on the other side with a large breezeway in between. The minister, Paul and his wife are also heavy into training Aborigines but fly into the Aboriginal communities to facilitate the training as they found that this way they were able to train more people by taking the class and teachers to them. This part of their ministry is called Kingdom Aviation.

Sunset over the Derby Wharf

Bob has been changing doorways, basically closing off a doorway in the manse kitchen so that it can be re designed with cupboards later. He also has been lining a room with insulation, both walls and the ceiling. I haven’t done much here though I did clean up after Bob and I pruned a huge tree that had branches way too low. So instead I have made quite a few more of my explosion boxes and I also had a couple of market stall here on Saturday mornings where I was fortunate to sell some of them. The church has fish and chips fellowship on the wharf every Friday night watching the sun set over the sea. I caught a lovely snapshot on the camera. We have met quite a few volunteers here and some missionaries too that are also staying here at the church. All are very friendly and easy to get along with. Joan & Bill Gossman who are the National Directors of Growing Families International, an organizational and education program that teaches and encourages families to take back control of their families and to have a biblically based family values. Joan & Bill know Peter Abetz, who is a WA State Member of Parliament. We knew Peter a long way back from the Reformed Church. Paul, the local minister here, is also a member of the local council, and knows Peter. They speak very highly of him, stating that he is having a great Christian influence on the state government.

Whilst in Derby we took a day off to see the marvellous Horizontal Waterfalls. First we flew there in a float plane and then changed over onto a jet boat for a trip to and through the falls themselves. We also spent time on a floating boat that was anchored for lunch, a swim in the shark free cage and opportunities to feed the lemon sharks, balloon fish, sucker fish and other little fish. We also got an opportunity to walk on a reef and view a lot of the coral up close and it is amazing the colours within the coral. It was a terrific day and well recommended though costly – our big splurge.


Bob walking on the coral reef


Up close and personal with a lemon shark

The Bungle Bungles

2010-08-07T13:01:00.001+10:00

Part of the rough road in

We left the van in Turkey Creek and drove into the Bungle Bungles. What a challenging rough road in from the highway. Some 70km to the campsite that took about 2½ hours to get there. It made Central Arnhem Road look good. We had lunch at the campsite and then went into the Piccaninny Gorge area.

Catherdral Gorge - watch out the rock is falling

We walked to the Cathedral Gorge and then around the domes. It is truly lovely. We then walked onto the lookout which was a beautiful vista over parts of the beehive striped domes and the ranges here. All up this took us some 3 ½ hours of walking over dry water beds, eroded rock formations and sand. A lot of exercise before heading back to the campsite last night where we slept in the car for the 2nd time on this trip (The other was back in Arnhem Land). The next day we went to the other end of the park. We made it to the Echidna Chasm around 11.45am which was perfect timing as you need the midday sun coming through the narrow gorge to get the best light effect on the chasm walls. There were maybe 20 people in the main part of the chasm waiting for the sun to get their photos. The chasm goes further though way less than half the people went the rest of the way into the chasm. Yet this next bit is by far the most interesting part. You scramble over big rocks and boulders and there are even a couple of small ladders to assist you but the play of light on the walls, the rocks stuck up the chasm as the fall down, all made it extremely interesting and very photogenic though we had low batteries and had to conserve battery power a bit. There are tall palms growing (starting) some 50 metres up the walls that must have been seed dropped by birds. It is amazing that they take root and grow in such inhospitable places.

The Domes

Here are Bob’s words in his journal...and he is not very eloquent in his words very often!

“Took to 10.15 to packup. Travelled to Echidna Chasm 27km 20km rough slow driving. To walk in following creek bed. Rough stoney path into chasm parts lined with tall palms. We arrived just in time 12pm for sun to shine into chasm. What beauty, Full colours then found small entry to end of chasm around large fallen rocks up 2 x 8 ft ladders to end. Sun shining in to show colours see photos. (Narrow 1m wide track in) Look back and saw 2 boulders jammed 7 metres above bottom. Travelled back along dirt road stopped ½ way for lunch at area between 2 rough creek crossings. NO DUST. Travelled on. Picked up van 5pm and finished hook up. Free camp at Leylesters Rest. Big camp area. Poor toilets. No seats or lid cover! Pee Wees (Birds) used front windscreen as slippery dip. Fun to see.

The bit about the pee wees was fantastic. We sat back as did some of the other campers nearby, to watch their antics on our windscreen for ages. This was back at the campsite in the Bungles..early in the morning before we took off for the day. The Bungle Bungles are well worth a visit – I just hope they upgrade the road before you get there – though I would doubt it.

Kununurra

2010-08-06T00:51:00.001+10:00

We got off to a disappointing start to our BCA time in Kununarra. There was not much work ready for us to do. We started work there pulling down a chain link fence and Bob did some odds and ends. Later in the week they had a room they wanted converted into an office that required a bit of renovation, which Bob started with Chris (another volunteer that arrived soon after we did) but we decided to keep to our week commitment and left a week after arriving. We did do some sight-seeing whilst there. We did a day trip to the Ord River Dam which is supposed to hold 3 times the Sydney Harbour. Another day saw an enjoyable trip to Wyndham. On the way we stopped at the Grotto, which has a wonderful little pool at the base of a cliff to which we climbed down into. We saw this delightful goanna catching fish there and stopped and watched his antics for a bit. There is not a lot to offer in the town in self nor the port area. It is a tiny little decrepit village. We stopped at this dingy little cafe which was recommended, the barra and chips were delicious though very small and pricy being $15 per serve.

2,000yr boab tree - imagine: this was just a sapling in Jesus's day

We found the oldest known boab tree (in a caravan park) that is not well advertised for some silly reason. It is huge and still alive. It is believed to be 2,000 years old. We also found Warriu Park statues where there are 5 huge wooden statues of aborigines. That is all there is to see of the town.

The mudflats view from 5 Rivers Lookout

The nearby 5 Rivers Lookout though is fantastic, it gives a terrific 360o view of the town and the tidal mudflats and such which certainly looks more interesting from the mountain than they do down on the ground level. We stopped at Parry Lagoon which is only about 8km from Wyndham. Now this is absolutely a bird lovers paradise. There’s a billabong board walk and a hide where you can stop a view many of the birds without disturbing them. Many of the varieties included ones we had seen in Kakadu such as the Whistling ducks, Jabiru, Magpie Geese, Jacanas etc. It was here that we saw huge flights of the Whistling ducks take off and land several times and you really understand why they are called Whistling Ducks. No one could tell me if the birds were making the whistling sound or if it was the flight of their wings that caused the whistling sound. Now this is one time I am glad I have a hearing aid or was it the cochlear that made me hear these sounds. WOW!

Ord River Dam

All too soon, Bob is pushing me to get back in the car to get back to Kununurra as it is still a good couple of hours drive. We decided to find the back dirt road back to Kununurra for something different. We saw boab forests, wallabies and semi-wild cattle though no actual buffalo on this trip. We enjoyed this well graded back road and it was much more interesting than the highway out. We eventually came to Ivanhoe Crossing which is a water crossing. It is a big long sweep of river crossing probably 100-150m wide. It is in 2 parts with very fast flowing water running over the road. The causeway is concreted but still it was both scary and exciting at the same time. There were quite a few people stopped on the far side of the crossing watching and ‘admiring’ the drivers as they cross the river, even to the point of offering a thumbs up as we crossed. It would have been nice and friendly to stop I think, but we decided to keep on going due to the lateness of the day and we still had some shopping to do when we get back before dinner. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole day.

Part 2 of the Ivanhoe Crossing

Leaving Nhulunbuy for Kununurra

2010-08-05T12:39:00.000+10:00

Picnic at Turtle Beach

We left Nhulunbuy following Allan’s car for our trip to Gurrumuru which is about 140km down the Central Arnhem Road and then 25km off on a side road that is as rough as guts to visit his Yolgnu family. When we arrived, we found out that Allan’s family were still in town even though they knew we were coming, however Trevor, the tribal elder, welcomed us and said that we may stay, that maybe Susan and her family would turn up later. So we set up camp, Bob & I were going to sleep in the car and Allan had a tent for his family. The town part of the community is nothing much, maybe 3-5 acres with a dozen houses we could see set out far apart, with a school, a community phone booth as the local landline phone for the whole community: people can ring in and someone will answer it and get the relevant person. Trevor came and invited us to go to the (tidal) river and meet up with the others that were already there fishing. He asked Allan if he had some lures with him and with his negative reply then asked him for some steak to use as bait. Allan gave him a Scotch fillet steak. To me it was hard to see a scotch fillet being used as bait. I was half expecting or rather hoping that they were using spears to fish but it was just a line and hook like boys do, not even a rod. They didn’t catch any fish whilst we were there (waste of good steak!) though they did catch a catfish before we arrived. Finally we go back and cook up our remaining steaks and baked some potatoes on the camp fire. Trevor came back and socialised with us for quite a while after dinner. Hospitality is a very strong tradition and he felt that he was responsible since Susan’s family were not there. He is very nice. We had the company of 5 dogs nearly all night too. We slept reasonably well in the car, considering it was the first time we tried it. I am so glad that I had made a flyscreen cover for the windows as it would have been too hot to leave the windows up and there were heaps of mosquitoes.

Camp at first light. (Swiped photo off Hol's blog)

It was still early when we woke up, (rather Bob slept on but the rest of us were up and about!) Allan got a fire going again and made coffee (he even has a camp coffee percolator which Benita gave them one time and they love it!) Toast and honey was the order for breakfast and soon it was time to pack up. We had all been invited to go fishing again this time to a fresh water river, though Bob & I declined as we had a long drive back to Katherine and we wanted to get there before dark.
Aaah... It was so good to hit the highway again. Bob and I seem to have this ritual thing where we are so happy to finally be back on the road again that we grin like mad at each other and then we whoop for joy. It sounds silly and it probably looks ridiculous but we enjoy the silliness of it all. Well the drive was a long 8 hour trip. A lot of the road had been graded since we were on it last but this didn’t necessarily make it better as they didn’t compact the road and thus there was a lot of dust corrugations. We stopped for lunch at the Goyder River and were pleasantly surprised to meet up with 2 couples that we had met back at Kakadu. The river had gone down a fair bit and now was only bumper height deep (instead of the top of the bulbar).

Entering the Goyder River on the way back

See the water only goes up to the bumper this time!!!

We arrived in Katherine just around 6pm with just enough light to hook up the van and relocate it to the park proper and reverse it into place. We decided to buy dinner at the caravan park since we were so tired. We decided to take it slow and easy. We were on our way to Kununurra but we decided to just travel 180 or so kilometres each day and free camp until we got there. We started to see Boab trees for the first time. Each morning we enjoyed a lazy morning start and left late as usual if and when we can get away with it. We still arrived in Kununarra before lunchtime and that’s without the 90 minute time difference.

Nhulunbuy at long jolly last

2010-08-05T12:30:00.000+10:00

Hollay, Miriam and Allan

Allan & Holly started moving house the day after we arrived, so we were kept busy packing, cleaning etc. There’s not alot we can do with unpacking so in the meantime I tackled the overgrown garden and cleared what might have been a vegie garden. Fruit & veges here is very expensive and worst that that is that it is either frozen or a week old by the time they get it. I also did my share of the cooking and baking. Of course I had my arm twisted to look after darling Miriam.

What a delight she is and I have forgotten how much of our time babies consume. She is 9 months old now. She is walking around furniture now and it seems as though she will be walking unaided in no time at all. She makes a lot of noise though no real words as yet. She prefers noisy toys, whether they be fancy expensive toys or bottles filled with rice. She has an el cheapo keyboard to play on esp when her Mum is practising on the piano. Miriam loves music and especially loves to ‘dance’. Enough of my granddaughter though you are all forewarned that you will be subjected to photos of Miriam when we pop in for a cuppa.
One Sunday. after church we went for a picnic to Turtle Beach which is a good 30km away through aver rough 4WD dirt track. There we met some of Al & Hol’s friends who were there too. The beach is nice but crocs are known in the area. Some of us went in a bit as the seas were very rough and the crocs generally don’t like rough seas So I was brave (or is it stupid?), I went in a bit – just upto my thighs. Miriam loves the surf though not being dumped though.

Miriam loves the water, whether it be bath time or surfing

Allan starts work at CareFlight as a medical pilot ferrying patients to hospitals etc for treatment. (Similar to Royal Flying Doctor Service). Holly works for Rio Tinto Alcan as some sort of publicity/communications officer 3 days a week.

Crossing Arnhem Land

2010-08-05T12:24:00.000+10:00

Crossing the little Goyder River (much shallower thankfully)

After delays of nearly 3 weeks (where we went to Darwin and Kakadu) we still couldn’t get permission to travel across Arnhem Land as the road is classified as “impassable” due to the Goyder River being flooded. We decided to take a chance and travel anyway. The 2 worst things that can happen is that a) if we haven’t arrived by nightfall then Allan would have to come out to the Goyder River the next morning. (We would just sleep in the back of the car by the river side). And/or b) we could get fined for travelling without a permit. Even a $1,000 fine would be cheaper than going back to Darwin and flying across.
Now the fun & games started, 300km of rough dirt road. Some sightings of wild buffalo and wandering stock, some back burning in patches and then we reach the Goyder River. It was a metre under water. Bob was a little concerned as he had never driven in water that deep and it was flowing faster than expected too! I was too busy praying and watching anxiously to think of taking any photos of the crossing. The water came up to the top of the bull bar near the bonnet, none got inside the car though the door interiors were pouring water out when we opened them up on the far bank. We had a few more smaller crossing to go through but they were no problems. Bob soon noticed that the motor sounded rough but couldn’t work out what was going on so he proceeded with one ear on the motor and an eye on the gauges. We arrived at Allan’s around 5.30pm – 10 hours from when we left Katherine. It is a LONG time to be on the road. By the way I didn’t take any crafts with me at all so no crafts on the road.

Selective backburing off and on all along the road

Local animals on the road - we also saw a single dingo and horses

The extraordinary Yellow Water of Kakadu

2010-07-08T18:02:00.000+10:00

The Love me lots bird.

Day 2 was basically a quieter day. Richard and Julie had more bad luck with their car and couldn't get it going so we went to call up road service for them and then we went on knowing that they will catch up when they can. We were on a tight time schedule and had to be in Katherine by lunch time on day 4 no matter what. It took a while to travel down to the next campsite and we stopped on the way at the township of Jabiru mainly to apply for the permit to cross Arnhem Land which they said it would be ready to pick up in Katherine. Our friends were serviced very quickly and soon caught up with us.

"Fields" of water lilies

On day 3 the four of us went on a wetlands cruise of Yellow Water. A leisurely cruise in these wetlands is something you really must do when you come to Kakadu. There are so many birds and absolute fields of wild water lilies. Of course viewing crocodiles was a big part of the cruise. Sometimes we were less that metre from a crocodile though most of them were near the banks. We saw spoonbills, whistling ducks by the hundreds, jabirus, sea eagles, darters, magpie geese, rainbow bee-eaters, ibis, ‘love me lots birds commonly named such as they have the curious habit of standing still for hours with the appearance of staring at their reflection in the waters. We also saw these beautiful Jacanas, they’re the ones that walk on water, we also saw some 3 week old baby jacanas, they are so small and delicate they look like big insects. You will be hard pressed to see them on one of the photos. I also loved the wild lilies and was amazed at some junctions to see just acres of lily fields in bloom. We were told that is it a good time for the lilies but not the best time to see the birds... so if there is more birds than this then it would be mind blowing.

Banks were covered by Whistling Ducks. They didn't seem to take to swimming...maybe they are afraid of being a croc's meal???

That is a Magpie goose in the background.

Magnificent Sea Eagle at rest on a tree stump

Jabiru in nest

Try to find the baby jacanas here. Below is a close up of the same photo where you can see 2 of them.

After our wonderful cruise we were invited to lunch with Richard and Julie’s friends who were staying at the Cooinda Caravan Park right next to Yellow Water.
In the afternoon we back tracked a bit and went to see more rock art at Nourlangie. These are totally different and appear to be much more ancient and probably more sacred. I was surprised we were privileged to see them if they are so old. By the way we were within ½ metre of the Vice President of China whilst here. (Not that we knew who he was or even which one he was.) His circus almost took over the whole foot track going in the opposite direction to us. We just thought at the time that they were arrogant tourists that think they have the right of way. We wondered why the Customs people were in the carpark.... oops.
Next day we went on our merry way to get the permit for crossing Arnhem Land to visit our son Allan nad his family in Nhulunbuy.

Kakadu & a near miss with a croc

2010-07-08T17:30:00.000+10:00

After 2 weeks in Nungalinya, it was time to move on. Kakadu was our next destination. We stayed in there for 3 nights. Our friends, Richard and Julie were going there too but needed to get some mechanical things seen to first thing before meeting up with us later. First off we went to the Window on the Wetlands display centre wish was very informative and has some wonderful views looking down over the wetlands. From there went right to the eastern most point of Kakadu, to go and see the Aboriginal Rock Art at Ubirr.

It took a short leisurely walk to see all the artwork. It is hard to understand some of the images and the meaning behind them and then others such as the fish and animals have so much anatomical details that it is difficult to believe that an ancient culture could come up with such accuracy and understanding. The walks and such were a delight though the heat was building up. I think the Top End doesn’t know what winter is!

We drove back to East Alligator River to a nearby picnic area and Cahill’s Crossing to have lunch and were fortunate to be spotted & joined by Richard & Julie on their way in. After lunch we went for a short walk to the river crossing and foolishly I enjoyed just standing in the edge of the water to cool my hot feet, only to be admonished by Bob. Others up on a platform that advised us that they could see that there was a crocodile in the water only some 15 metres away from me... duh...Though it was on the other side of the river crossing, they do move quite fast if they want to. We then went up on the viewing platform and saw the crocodile for ourselves and found a second one sunbaking a bit further away and yet a baby crocodile that was only about 30-45 cm long...I guess you would say cute, but these are still meat eaters too! Oh by the way on the photo above, see the sand above the upturned car, well there is a croc there sunbaking and the croc that was nearest to my toosties is just near the other side of the water but same side as us. You may see a faint smudge of dark in the water.

This is the close up of the sunbaking crocodile on that far sand bank.

And that car... it overturned just the week before. The water may have been a bit deeper but certainly it was flowing fast and thus the driver was over confident and overturned. It still has four new tyres on it. I wonder why no one has knocked them off.. Ha... ha... crocs gulp. Good anti theft devices???

From here we finally went onto set up our campsite at Merl, the campsite nearest the eastern border of Kakadu. Our friends went onto to Ubirr to catch up on the rock art.

Sightseeing & time out

2010-07-08T04:25:00.001+10:00

It is not all work and no play. We did some sightseeing in Darwin proper including the historical aspects esp in relation to the Darwin bombings of 1942+ and1972’s Cyclone Tracey, the harbour, the shopping mall and finishing off with a light dinner at the wharf. Another outing saw us visit the Anglican Church out at Fred’s Pass which has no side walls followed by a picnic lunch at Howard’s Springs accompanied by many mosquitoes. The coastline between Darwin and Fanny Bay is lovely and would be good for a bike ride which we never got around to, pity. Lunches in the park and strolls around the place were more in keepig with relaxing this time around. At one stage I inquired about having a stall at the famous Mindil Markets but it is just too big and professinal for me plus there wasn't much room for casual marketers. Sunsets up here at the top end are out of this world.

The Anglican Church at Fred's Pass (No side walls)

The interior of Christ Cathedral (Anglican Church ) Darwin

We also attended the Casuarina Baptist Church in the mornings and the local Anglican Church in Nightcliff. The latter is one of the few churches in Darwin that have an afternoon or evening service. The Youth Minister here, Bruce Chapman is supported by BCA as is Tom Slockee who is the Cannon Missioner (lives and works from Nungalinya). The Nightfliff church also have a fellowship meal after every service which is a great way to meet the people. I love how you can generally feel at home in just about any church one attends when travelling. Sure there are different worship styles especially in the music and the liturgy, but you can feel at home amongst other Christian brethren.

Bruce & family

Tom & Muriel with 2 of their grandkids

Howard Springs

Helping out at Nungalinya

2010-07-07T16:16:00.001+10:00

We are truly loving this BCA Nomad work. Not only are we being useful to the various bush churches that just don’t have the resources esp manpower available to them but we are meeting and experiencing communities that we would not otherwise connect with.
Our friends and fellow BCA Nomad workers, Richard & Julie are here too. Between the four if us, we have partly renovated a unit (nothing structural) but lots of cleaning, painting, repairs and gardening; getting it ready for the newly appointed cook to move into. Then there was lots more painting and some gardening. Their local maintenance guy, Keith, made good use of Bob’s skills and had him repair all manner of things. I was put to good use making curtains for the unit as well as some book binding. (I also made good use of the borrowed sewing machine and made curtains and pelmets for the Robbiebago in my time off! ) As one of the photos below show, I made our curtians outside the van. Actually this was terrific, I wish I had done all the sewing out of doors. I caught the breezes and never felt that I was working too hard. I could listen to the birds as I worked and greet people as they went past.

I love Nungalinya College

2010-07-07T04:02:00.001+10:00

Nungalinya (sounds like Noon-a-lin-ya) is an Indigenous Theological College run by 3 churches working together: The Anglican Church, The Catholic Church and the Uniting Church. Isn’t it great to know and see that these three major denominations can and are working together for the body of Christ. I wish it could happen more often. The students (all adults) I met came from various Arnhem Land tribes eg Roper Valley, Bathurst Island, Tiwi island and Groote Island. One lady came from a clan near Lightening Ridge who wants to know how to share the gospel with the street people that she deals with in her social welfare work in Outer Sydney. It is so good to meet Aborigines that are here to learn more of the Bible so that they can take it back to their people especially the children through various programs such as a Sunday School or Bible study. Some go on to become ministers in their communities.
They have Chapel (a informal church worship time) every morning and it is marvellous to see and hear them sing and do the actions to the songs. One of the most treasured memories that I will take away with me is being invited to an impromptu dance & praise session that some the ladies had one evening under the stars. It was so beautiful to dance & mime the songs , often times in Kriol (a common Aboriginal language), sometimes in English. Many of the songs were known Hillsong type of songs that we are familiar with. Some are worship songs in their own language written by some of their people.

Actually most Indigenous people are very clever in knowing several languages in addition to their own language. They also have a huge capacity for love and are more than willing to include you in their lives. The college and its people were heavily involved in the creation of the first full bible in an Aboriginal language (Kriol) which was published and launched just last year. They are so excited to have the Bible in their own language. There are some other partial translations avail such as Yolnu (Allan’s adopted family are Yolnu which is most of North East Arnhem land) There is another language from east Arnhem land that will have the New Testament by the end of the year. Having a Bible avail is well and good but not much use if they can’t read it. The biggest problem is the literacy and numeracy level of the majority is very poor but it is improving esp amongst the younger generation. A couple of Allan’s ‘brothers’ are at boarding school in Darwin and doing very well. Anyway back on track... We didn’t get to many of the Chapel services as they are at 8.30 in the morning which is part of the best time for working here as it gets too hot to work in the afternoons. Even now in winter, 30 degrees is common in the afternoons with an overnight minimum not less than 18 whilst we’ve been here. We do stop and have morning teas and some meals with the students here in the Dining Room, which helps us to get to know them. Some are here for the first time, others have been here several times. Some courses run from 2 weeks to 6 weeks generally speaking with some courses needing a second or third session of stays (Most need to stay onsite as they are more often than not from remote areas even islands so daily transport is impossible. Some are here once and others come back several times for further education. Some also need literacy help too. Some go on to do a full theological certificate, some even to a full theological degree. I have met quite a few Deacons and Ministers that have trained here. It is such a vital ministry. Money and resources is extremely limited even after they have trained, they can’t always be as useful as they otherwise could as they don’t have the resources to follow through with back on land, in their tribes etc. The college here would also like to introduce more courses esp in vocational skills such as Hospitality (which is starting next semester) and Child Care training is being considered.
Do take at look at their website and gain more of an understanding of what Nungalinya is all about. There are some exciting photos there too. http://www.nungalinya.edu.au/index.html

More waterfalls and water holes

2010-07-06T02:54:00.001+10:00

Next stop is Litchfield National Park where we camped at Wangi Falls and did more walks and visits to waterfalls and water holes. There was no swimming allowed due to the presence of crocodiles at Wangi so walks is what we contented ourselves with at this campsite and just visited the other places for swimming such as Buleys Waterholes which is by far my fave. It is a series of 5 or 6 water holes next to one another. It has a very easy access from the car park – maybe 100m from the car to the pools. I love sitting under or against the water falls if I could. It feels just like a powerful spa.

The Florence Waterfall is spectacular and long. You don’t have to go far or down any steps to view the falls, however access to the pool at the base of the falls is a lot more difficult with some 134 wooden stairs down and that doesn’t count the natural rock stones as steps either. Once again I like to swim up & under the actual waterfalls but these ones were too strong to stay under it for long.

You must also stop by the Magnetic Termite Mounds whilst at Lithchfield. These ant hills are not as interesting to photograph as the cathedral style nor as high but they are fascinating because they are basically a thin rectangular shape not unlike a tombstone which are aligned to the sun on north south orientation for temperature control. Quite curious.

Thermal Pools, Waterfalls and National Parks

2010-07-05T14:53:00.000+10:00

Elsey Homestead of We of the Never, Never fame

We continued onto Mataranka Resort which is truly beautiful. There is a 32 degree thermal pool in which we hopped to cool down – that’s how hot it was out of the pool. Mataranka is also the place where “We of the never never”, was written and recorded on film which is shown daily here. We enjoyed a few quiet relaxing days here.

Next stop is at Katherine. We were hoping to visit Allan however the road to Nhulunbuy will remain closed until at least the end of June due to a very late wet season and some of the rivers are flooded in the area. So we will visit & work in Darwin and see how the river fares in the meantime. Whilst in Katherine, we went for some short drives around and found the thermal pools here where we went in clothes and all since we hadn’t planned on swimming and it was just too tempting. We loved it. It is narrower and closer to the spring source.

We spoilt ourselves and took a helicopter ride & cruise up the Katherine Gorge. After a night of rain, the sun came through in perfectly lovely patches which lit up the rocks and gorges but not too much that was stinking hot. We saw 3 long waterfalls and 13 gorges. A 30 minute flight really disappears quickly and it seemed like no time at all and we were back on the ground and rushing off to the cruise wharf. We thoroughly enjoyed the laid back cruise and the breeze created by the movement of the boat whilst viewing everything the gorges had to offer. It was hard to limit our photos to show you of our flight & cruise, it was all so beautiful. More photos are at the end of this entry.

Leaving Katherine we went onto Edith Falls which is an absolutely terrific place and cheap too! It is certainly not overcrowded even though there are no powered sites. Each site has it’s ‘own’ private grassed backyard. I played a joke on Bob. I went back to our van and told him that people we had met previously were there too and that we were invited to go around later to chat and such. Bob didn’t ask any questions about them. I think he assumed that I couldn’t remember their name, I did deliberately put him off by saying that these people were on their way back to Katherine. It was our fellow BCA Nomads. Richard’s car had broken down and had to be towed back, so I was telling Bob the truth... I just didn’t tell him the whole story. It was worth the fun and games. No swimming at the fall’s pool due to crocs, so we went for a 2.5km walk to the top pool.

All is not smooth on the trip north

2010-07-05T14:26:00.000+10:00

Once we left Alice we took time out to visit some of the beautiful locations on our way up to Darwin. I was pretty crook with the tail end of a flu and so was glad to leave the near freezing morning temperatures of Alice. First stop was an overnight stay at the fascinating Devil’s Marbles then onto Tennant Creek and their 2 very good museums; one is an excellent rock & gemstone museum worthy of a capital city. Then our overnight stay was at Bunka Bunka Station where there is a interesting slide night of the history of Bunka Bunka.. The following night saw us at Daly Waters, where we had to take an unpowered site which was a problem as earlier that day Bob noticed that the regulator was not working and thus the spare batteries were not being charged up thus no 12 volt power, lights etc. On top of this the last of 3 gas burners on the caravan kitchen hot plates stopped working too. (The first 2 blocked up earlier for some obscure reason). Thankfully Richard, Julie and Judy were still with us and thus we had just enough power from them to run one light and to keep my CPAP machine working that night. Oh to make a bad afternoon worst, Bob had offered to cook a baked dinner for the five of us on the gas hooded BBQ which went well enough except we dropped the vegies on the way to the outdoor table. We had no choice but to rescue the vegies and pick off the grass and present the food as best as we could. Thankfully it wasn’t too bad and our friends were too polite to make any comments about the unexpected ‘herbs’ added. After dinner Bob & I went to the Daly Waters Pub where there was a nightly country singer. Judy came with us as she hadn’t been to a country night at an Aussie pub before. Being a New Zealander, she loved the whole experience. A new day dawns leaving all the problems of the day before. Most problems were soon sorted out and life goes on pleasantly again.

Clarity of date

2010-06-29T12:17:00.000+10:00

The last blog entry should have gone in a month ago when it was written. Sorry for the mishap. I am sure it is my mistake but I thought I had it scheduled to be posted the day after the entry before.... but it didn't go in.

We have had some sightseeing time and then work in Darwin and are currently in Nhulunbuy so I have quite a bit of catching up to do which I hope to address over the next week or so while we are here on 'holidays' with nothing more strenuous to do that play with our 9mth old grand daughter.

Christian Fellowship & work so often go hand in hand

2010-06-29T11:02:00.000+10:00

Still here in Alice Springs, once again we were to experience the fellowship and hospitality that is so common to Christians, the first was an invitation to dinner at Gill’s who is the Community worker here, there we also met Dr Joy Sandefur who is the Dean of Anglican students at Nungalinya College in Darwin which principally trains aborigines for ministry positions in their local communities. We started to do the work that the Ascension church here needed, mostly it is of building maintenance: painting, fixing door locks, erecting curtain tracks, replacing old guttering on one side of the church, fixing & installing a reticulating watering systems in the garden, pruning trees, mending fences, etc. Thankfully Richard and Julie (together with Richard’s sister Judy all the way from Wellington, NZ) arrived within a few days to gives us a much needed hand. It was great to have their company again. We had missed them since Coober Pedy. More fellowship dinners included a marvellous BBQ at Deb’s unique permanent site caravan home with this wonderful South African Ox tail casserole as an added bonus made by her friend, George. Another evening we invited Gill for dinner too, once we stopped asking her questions about her work in the community long enough to let her actually eat her dinner!

There’s no town like Alice

2010-05-30T10:00:00.001+10:00

I really don’t know where to start when I want to tell you of my impressions of Alice. First off there is the terrific entry into Alice by driving through The Gap which is literally a gap in the rocky MacDonnell Ranges to see Alice Springs spread out beyond this. Next I notice that there are so many Aboriginals walking around, one wonders what they are doing or going in the middle of the day. A lot of the aborigines are congregating in small groups all around town as though waiting for something. Another thing I noticed that many of the women esp the older ones around the shopping centres have bad scarring around their faces. It saddens and shocks me to learn later that aborigine women are 24 times more likely to be beaten up in Alice due to the combination of alcohol and violence. Alice also has the sad distinction of having the highest renal failure per population in the world. However we are informed that what we see is only about 20% of the Aboriginal population. The majority of the Aboriginals are working and have a worthwhile lifestyle, whether it be in their communities or in town as is their choice. Regardless, or maybe in spite of this, the people here are very friendly. The white people I met are sympathetic to the problems of the indigenous population, though may feel frustrated for various reasons in their limitations of what and how to approach and tackle the problems here. Most of the people we met here love Alice. It is quite common to here that someone came for a week’s visit and ended up living here. There seems to be something that draws people here, maybe it is the relaxed pace of life, maybe it is multitude days of sunshine, or the magnificence of the evening stars and the sunsets and sunrises over the ranges that surround Alice.

The marvelous Kings Canyon

2010-05-29T22:52:00.000+10:00

We went for the big walk around the top of Kings Canyon today. This is truly a magnificent chasm. It took us a good 4 or so hours. It is harder but oh so worth it. We did take our time and we had a picnic lunch by the Garden of Eden rock pool which is lovely. Not a whole lot to say about this wonderful walk but I will let you see some of the many photos we took and they do not do justice to the magnificence of the whole canyon. I think that this canyon beats going to Ayers Rock, but really you have to go to both they are just so different and both are fantastic in their own regards.

After the walk we decided to relax and cool off in the pool back at the resort, except that the pool was so jolly cold that the most I could do was jump in and get back out very quickly then lay down on a towel in the sun to warm up again.

The next day saw us doing the much smaller creek walk in the Canyon. There were lots of birds & the variety of flora was amazing in the Canyon. Later we did the resort rim walk which was a disappointing waste of time.

Hamming it up

2010-05-29T22:45:00.000+10:00

In Kings Canyon Resort, we set up camp; quickly befriended our neighbours, in particular, Wayne & Diane, whom we had met at other caravan parks a few times, even as far back as Coober Pedy where they pulled in at auto electrician behind us. The four of us went to the local Roadies Show after dinner. These are a couple of musios who sing out some rock n roll & country songs, getting audience participation for bits and pieces. For example, Bob was called up to don a koala ears on, along with others. And then they had to sing and act their parts to the song “there’s a home among the gums trees, with lots of plum trees...” Later Diane & I were called up along with about 4 other ladies, we had to put on these ‘orrible colourful costume wigs and hold those cheap plastic kids microphones that echo when you talk or sing into them. Our song that we had to perform was the old 60’s song “Singing diddy diddy do run run”. Well Diane & I chose to act up real show-offish and had ourselves a ball. Later the 4 of us were called up again to waltz as lovers as they couldn’t find enough honeymooners to do the bridal waltz. It was a great fun night and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. (especially as we could really let our hair down as no one we knew were there to see us make a fool of ourselves!)

Uluru and Kata Tjuta

2010-05-19T07:20:00.000+10:00

I am way behind with my blog but hoping to catch up a bit here. We arrived in Yalara on the 1st May; quickly set up the Robbiebago & then off to Uluru. It is absolutely massive. You see it for about 20km before you get there. We went for a short walk first and then we noticed a pair of bike riders and decided to come back tomorrow with the bikes and do the 11km trek around the base. So instead we decided to go to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) now and did a 3 hr walk up one of the gorges. The aborigines won’t tell any of their legends of the Olgas due to their secret men’s business and you are not allowed to walk a lot of the rocks there either, probably about 2/3rds of it, just the 2 sections we did go to. I think this makes it less interesting, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. The next day we rode the bike around Ayers Rock and finished off the day with sandwiches & champagne (compliments of the German tour guide parked next to us at the sunset viewing park! He had left over champers and we just had to help him out of his dilemma) We do try to be helpful when we can! Big cheesy grin!!!

The underground church at Coober Pedy

2010-05-18T09:20:00.000+10:00

I have been really looking forward to visiting Coober Pedy and I am not disappointed. It is like being in an alien land with various sized ant hills all over the place. It is very hot, dry and dusty. We stayed in the grounds of the famous Catacomb Church which is fascinating and well worth visiting. We work in the mornings as it is much too hot to work the afternoons. So after a leisurely lunch, we tend to indulge in a bit of sightseeing such as the Breakaways- a luna /alien landscape that have featured in many movies including Mad Max. Faye’s underground house (dug out entirely by ladies by hand! And complete with an indoor swimming pool and games room) and the Old Timer’s mine. Quiet times are spent chatting, playing games or in my case making some explosion boxes for craft. On Anzac Day, Bob &Julie stayed in their respective beds while Richard & I went to the Dawn Service which started with coffee or tea with a shot of Whiskey was available for all comers along with wonderful homemade Anzac Biscuits. After the short but emotionally charged 20 minute service we were all invited to stay for breakfast of bacon & eggs, and they did a fantastic job of it too! Way to Go Coober Pedy RSL. We stayed and had breakfast with 4 others that we had met previously. Then back to get ready for church at the Catacomb Church. They sing songs for 15-20 minutes then they break for coffee and fellowship for about 15 minutes then back into the church for the bible readings, prayers & sermon plus another song in conclusion. I also go me some more lovely sunsets and a sunrise here. I love the colours that occur at these times of the day.

Though it was an interesting experience, it is not my sort of town.

Serving others

2010-05-18T09:11:00.000+10:00

As we are serving others via the various churches from time to time, I am aware that they are serving us too. Not only in fellowship and opening their homes to us, some of these wonderful people are offering to serve us in other ways too. It can be hard to let others serve you but I remember a line in a old prayer/song by St Francis of Assisi, “Brother let me be your servant...pray that I might have the grace to let them be my servant too!” So thank you Sari for doing all our washing & ironing. To Mary, Sue, Alison, Carmen & Quentin, Colin & June and to Gill for your wonderful hospitality and to others that have offered and shared something of themselves and to those that are yet to come. We all serve a wonderful God in different ways with the gifts & personalities that God has bestowed on us. It truly is a case that we get more out of it than we put in. We are so loving this BCA Nomad life, no wonder Richard and Julie have been doing it for 3 years and still going. It makes our planned 6 months look tame. Bring it on.

Jolly Hard Graft

2010-04-15T12:29:00.001+10:00

Arrr.....urgh.... ooohhh... I am sooooo sore. Lifting lino is jolly hard work. Today there was a working bee arranged to remove the lino at the manse in Roxby Downs. I said to Richard and Julie (fellow volunteer BCA Nomads) “If this is what to expect from being a Nomad then I quit!” They quickly assured me that it is rarely as hard as this. As Bob had a bad night’s sleep due to his cold and having very noisy neighbours didn’t help, we decided to attend the working bee around mid morning. Unfortunately only three locals turned up for the working bee plus the four of us nomads. The lino which has been down for at least 10 years was laminated and glued to concrete. It took the 7 of us 8-10 hours hard graft to get it all up. Still it was great comradeship. Though it was school holidays and also some would have working, I was surprised that there were not more locals at the working bee. It would have been great to work alongside others and get to know them too. I don’t think the locals appreciate the benefit that working together in such working bees does to help build the community within the church. It appears that many people would much rather hire a contractor to do whatever job needs doing - not that they would think to necessarily increase their financial commitments to cover such expenses. Oh well, though we are sore and tired, we are satisfied and happy with a job finished and have cemented relationships with each other. Now we look forward to not just a day off tomorrow being Sunday, but we Nomads have made an executive decision to have the day off on Monday too! And boy, do I need it! Oooohhhh. Where is my masseuse?

Easter at Roxby Downs & BCA Nomads

2010-04-15T05:21:00.005+10:00

Somehow this email didn't send at the right time. so it is out of sequence. It really comes before the Hard Graft entry. So here goes. Lets hope this works this time.
Roxby Downs is the venue of our first stint at volunteer BCA Nomad ministry work. I half expected it to be similar to Woomera but it is so different. There are lots of trees in spite of the dry sandy soil and this make such a difference and thus makes Roxby is an oasis in comparison. It is a modern good looking town. Shortly after our arrival at the RD Community Church, the minister, Mary Lewis welcomed us and we soon set up the Robbiebago in its new temporary home and relaxed. On Easter Friday there was a combined churches ‘Stations of the Cross’. We had first heard of the Stations just last year for the Catholic World Youth Day in Sydney. We started at the Catholic Church with a short bible reading and a song before walking behind a hand held crude cross on to 8 more sites where there was a reading and song at each location, concluding at the Community church where we concluded with fellowship over Hot Cross buns. It was also covered by the local paper with a front page story about the unity of the churches and “it’s all about Jesus’-a quote from a 5 year old. It is great to get Jesus mentioned favourably in the media. However Bob decided that he had enough of my cooking and decided to visit the local hospital which is just 300m down the road and get himself admitted with possible Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT). He reports that the hospital meal was good and huge, he had ribs and mounds of chips and vegetables, followed by a gigantic apple pie. Apparently the meals are cooked by the Worker’s (miners) restaurant and they are really good... no such thing as boring bland hospital food here! He is discharged the next morning as his leg has gone down and he is allowed home with very little restrictions, though he has to report every 24 hours for further injections and to await the results of blood test.

After church on Sunday morning we decided to visit Andamooka, a opal mining town just 30 km away. Dusty, old for the most part and seeing all those mounds around the holes is quite ugly really. The people that attended the afternoon church were very friendly. One guy, Con, offered to take us into the historic cottages and show and tell us the history of the town. This guy has a interesting history all his own. He has basically lived here since his teens, with a few breaks such as army service etc. He has been the Mayor of Andamooka. Con. The history tied up in the 3 cottages are very interesting on their own and doubly so when related to the personal history of Con and the way he tells of these characters really brings them to life. It was a tough life but one that he or ‘they’ would never have swapped for anything else. The rooms are basically made of local stone with a dab and wattle roof. They are dug into the side of the hill and very tiny. Often not much more than a cot (narrow bed) , a chair , maybe a table which more often than not is a recycled packing case. There is a small window and it is surprisingly cool in the cottages.

On Monday, Bob was told that he has to go back to Port Augusta as soon as possible for further tests. That is a bit of a worry. We managed to get an appointment at 12.30 on Tuesday. The tester was able to tell us that it is NOT a blood clot....so now what is it??? Bob went straight to the hospital on our return. He has Bakers Cyst. We don’t know much about it. Apparently if it gets bad enough the only treatment is to have a knee replacement. In the meantime it appears it is just a waiting game. We thank God that it is not potentially fatal.

Starting up the centre

2010-04-14T17:17:00.001+10:00

After Port Lincoln we travelled up the centre of Eyre Peninsula. Now we are really starting up the centre of Australia. First stop was Woomera. It is the largest test and evaluation range in the world. Tracking, observation, measurement and record of performance of missiles bombs etc was vitally important as well as dangerous and this combine with national security is mainly why Woomera was out of bounds for many years and a ‘mystery’. Outer atmospheric research as well as hypersonic research is vitally important today looking towards future aviation and space missions and satellites. A fascinating place but outside the museums though there is nothing to recommend the town to visitors. We couldn't wait to start our BCA work TA Roxby Downs. We had no idea of just what to expect here.

Coffin Bay Photos

2010-04-13T17:17:00.000+10:00

Dawn at Port Gibbon

2010-03-27T12:34:00.002+11:00

A picture paints a thousand words.

Ports, bays and beaches galore

2010-03-27T12:32:00.000+11:00

After our lovely rest stop in Port Augusta we moseyed on down the coast road of the Spencer Gulf. First stops were Lowly Point with its lighthouse and Stinky Bay just north of Whyalla. It was low tide and the area is so flat that you can see lots of low lying flat areas in False Bay and other areas further south of Whyalla. In Whyalla, we expected to do some sightseeing but were disappointed on several levels: the proposed bike trip around the wetlands doesn’t work out as the wetlands are still being developed and are incomplete. The shipyard/museum didn’t look much so we passed on by and so forth. So we continued down to Cowell where the caravan parks were booked out . We found a site at what appears to be in a showground, but you had to be fully self sufficient which was OK except for that we still had to pay for the privilege of parking there. Blow me down, I don’t mind paying for something if I get something in return for it but there was no toilet or shower facilities. There wasn’t even any shade or grassy area to park in. So what was the charge for??? So we just kept going down the highway until we came onto the next campsite which was on the beautiful Port Gibbon. The sunrises here are spectacular, not that many people were up at 6.30am to witness them first hand.
One thing that surprised me here was the depth of the seaweed on the beach; it was up to 5 feet high in some places and for miles along in one direction. Also the march flies are bad here, though Tony M’s homemade insect repellent works wonders. There was lovely fresh water on tap. We stayed here for 2 nights and we used our solar shower water bags for the first time - not bad, it is certainly hot enough! There is a ‘beer garden’ area set up under some trees where a lot of the guests come in the afternoon to chat and mingle. Once again we made some wonderful friends esp in Bill & Dawn who we hope to meet up with again in about 4 weeks when we both realized we will be heading up the Centre at roughly the same time. We also received many suggestions in what to see and where to stay at various places along the way. I am starting to take a notebook with me everywhere as you never know when someone has a gem to pass on. Soon it was time to head further south to more bays and such, Arno Bay & Tumby Bay are 2 more worth mentioning.

Go Go Go .... at long last

2010-03-25T21:57:00.000+11:00

After a false start on Saturday 13th March 2010, we were finally off and away just after lunch on Monday 15th March. The faslse start was due to one of the trailer brakes locking on. Thankfully we were less than 20 km from home. So after trying to repair it on the road unsuccessfully we turned around and carefully came home to buy a new unit which Bob had to go to Sydney to pick up first thing on Monday morning. (Thanks Mark for your help). We spent the first 3 nights in Junee (near Wagga) with Bob's cousin, Evert and his darling wife. Willie even intorduced me to Line Dancing. What a blast! From Junee we went west through Narranderra to Hay. We stayed at Sandy Point Reserve which is a beautiful free campsite right on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. This is a great spot for families with BBQs, easy walking tracks, swimming and canoeing at this spot. It had rained heavily just weeks beforehand and the mosquitoes were out in force once the sun starting setting. I really didn't want to know just how many bites I had but it was well over 23 before I gave up counting. After a quick visit to the local shearing shed, we went straight onto Mildura. An early morning start the next morning saw us climbing the Perry Sand Hills just outside Wentworth and then a quick peek at the Darling River and Murray River junction, however we missed the turnoff and decided not to backtrack with the Robbiebago on the back. So

onwards ever westwards, this time to spend the night in Burra which is a great little town with a rich Copper mining history. We atttended the local Anglican Church in Burra, which was our first experience in a high church, They sang a few familiar hymns and the sermon was great. Before moving on, we visited the old copper mine and gobbled up some history as well as the town lookout. Finally we reached Port Augusta via Jamestown and Port Pirie late on Sunday afternoon. We'll stay here and rest for a few days before moving on south towards Port Lincoln.