WE'RE HOME !!!!

After 9100km, we arrived home on Wednesday 22/7 at 3pm.

It was a fantastic trip which we all enjoyed enormously - the trip of our life really.

Looking forward to normal life again and catching up with you all. Thanks so much for sharing our holiday with us with your reading of our posts, comments and prayers.

Dubbo

 
 
 

Today we travelled to Dubbo and did a bit of shopping for clothes and other necessary ‘life’ items. It’s the biggest place we have been to for a few thousand kilometres. By the end of this trip we will have done more than 9000 kms.

DAY 2:
Dubbo (Taronga Western Plains) Zoo is very different form all the other zoos we have been too. There are no high fences to block your view of the animals, only trenches beneath with an electric fence to stop people from entering. They also have a “hands off” handling of the animals policy which is in stark contrast to what we say at Australia Zoo. We decided to walk around the 6 ½ kms which allowed us to set our own pace and spend ample time seeing all the animals.

As part of our day we decided to treat ourselves to a Safari Tour where we were able to go behind the scenes of the park and also feed the animals. The best part was feeding the Black Rhinoceros – they eat branches from Casuarina trees and live alone. The one we fed was 8 years old.

On the tour we also had the opportunity to see a cheetah up close and personal, as well as giraffes, zebras and white rhinos. Helen, our guide, was full of great information and willingly took questions from all of us. She was especially keen to talk with the children and impart her knowledge of the animals and their conservation.

We had a fantastic day, which concluded with a final dinner out together – full of reminiscing about the holiday and our memories. As we head home we are looking forward to sharing our memories, returning to ‘normal life’ including our own shower and toilet!

NYNGAN

 
 
 
 

Another 7 hours in the car today with a quick break at a truck stop where we found a playground and toilet (two important things when travelling with kids).

When we arrived at Nyngan we had a choice of many sites. We chose on right on the bank of the river, close to power and water and near a fire pit – a short walk to the toilets was a sacrifice well made.

We had enough time to scrounge around for some fire wood before sunset and the cool of the evening set in. The kids enjoyed the fire and sitting around on our camping chairs simply chatting.

DAY 2:
A large frost greeted us this morning – this is the coldest we have been at night. Ben even wore a shirt to bed – mind you, Estelle wore her pjs, a jumper and bed socks!

We started the morning by canoeing down a peaceful and calm river. It was even peaceful with Lauren singing Row, row, row your boat! We searched for animals such as Water Monitors but without success.

The caravan park has been under new management for the past year and he and his son have built many new cabins facing the river, a huge meals/bar area right on the river and have made some changes (such as free canoeing).

After a quick trip into town to buy our final supplies, we headed back to the van park. We found a large mound of logs and sticks, so we loaded up the back of the car and drove it back to our fire pit. We spent the rest of the afternoon building our fire and enjoying some ‘down time’ chatting. In fact, Ben and Estelle spent until 10 p.m. enjoying the star lit evening and the serenity. (Ahh, Bonny Doon)

BROKEN HILL

 
 
 
 

On our travels to Broken Hill we stopped at Petersborough – known for its old steam trains. We had a quick stop here – just enough time for a coffee, scroll and finger buns! The kids had some time playing on the old Steam Train before we bundled back in car and headed into Broken Hill.

A movie of ‘The Wild’ helped us get through the next 5 ½ hours until we reached our destination. Broken Hill (even though it is in NSW) still runs on SA time, so after this port of call we will change our clocks again. We haven’t seen much road kill for the past few weeks. The earth is still red with plenty of Spinifex.

Broken Hill is known as the Silver City and was given it’s name by Charles Sturt, who was trying to find an inland sea and referred to a ‘Broken Hill’ in his diary. Within this region there are many museums, exhibitions, underground mines and notable buildings.

We had a quiet first afternoon – playing Scrabble and computer games while Ben went for a run (in preparation for the City to Surf coming up in a few weeks time).

Day 2:
We decided to firstly head into the information centre to work out what we would do for the day (and yes, we got a coffee!) Our first stop was the Silver City Mint and Art Centre.

There was an extensive range of painting from Australian artists, minerals on display, smelting, casting and manufacturing of silver jewellery, the world’s largest acrylic painting on canvas (12 m x 100m) and of course the children’s favourite – the Broken Hill Chocolate Factory (fudge for all!)

We then proceeded to the Living Desert Sculpture Site where in 1993, 12 sculptures went to a reserve on the edge of the desert where each worked on a sandstone boulder up to 3m high. The raw rock has been transformed into various shapes and figures. Entry is by car and a key from the information centre is required to open gates on the way to see the Sculpture.

After our sight seeing, we drove to the Pro Hart gallery which was a very interesting place. It was a real insight into the man, and the reasons behind his artwork. It was wonderful to be able to share this experience with the children and to point out the techniques and see Australian history within his artwork. Yes, there was even the carpet with the dragon fly picture on it - remember the T.V. ad for a carpet cleaner and the cleaning lady who said ‘Mr Hart… what a mess!’

This afternoon we went to an old time soda bar – black and white chequered tiles on the floor, 20 flavours of soda to choose from, waffles and apple pie, old tables and chairs etc. We thoroughly enjoyed stepping back in time and drinking crème soda, ice cream and ice. Lauren wasn’t too keen on the drinks (not a real fan of sweet drinks or milk shakes) so she settled for a chocolate instead.

The evening was spent playing Skipbo then squirming down under the sleeping bag for a sleep. (This caravan park is still on the highway, so we have learned to look carefully at maps in the future to determine how close they are to a highway as the semi trailers at night don’t make for consistent sleep).

PORT AUGUSTA

 
 
 

Our day started out as usual with a quick breakfast and pack up (we are getting very efficient now) and hit the road.

Woomera was our first destination - a lunch stop on the way. Inside the Information Centre was a coffee shop, 10 pin bowling centre and a museum. We had a quick bite to eat and the paid our $8 to go inside the museum. The self guided tour started with a 10 minute video about Germany's use of missiles aimed at England. The kids had a lot of questions and were eager to see the rest of the museum to obtain their answers.

Further in the museum were models of various missiles which were designed by the English to be used at Woomera as well as other equipment such as parachutes and masks. The centre is still actively used as a research facility with an Australian/ Japanese group designing a supersonic passenger jet.

Once we had spent about an hour here we wer on the road again. We were not actually due to stop in Port Augusta - we were planning to travel on a further 40 km to Quorn, but as Ben was feeling tired from a lot of driving lately, we pulled into the Port Augusta Big 4 Caravan Park and asked if we could bunk down there for 2 nights. Ben booked an ensuite toilet facility - our first toilet and shower without having to share! The kids were very excited!

DAY 2:
It was decided early in the morning to have a quiet day as we were all tired from travelling, so we organised to go the the movies and see Ice Age 3 - far too many story lines involved for our liking, but the kids enjoyed their popcorn and chicken chips anyway!

After the movie we had a short trip (and coffee) to the visitors centre. They also had a museum attached, but we felt a little 'over museums' so we decided to give it a miss and simply have a look around.

More games of Uno, Skipbo and Strip Jack Naked saw the day come to a close as we prepare to go to Broken Hill.

COOBER PEDY DAY 2

 
 
 
 

The day commenced with a phone call to the local mechanic to see about our steering rack. We thought something may have occured on the way to Kings Canyon that has thrown the steering off. The guy said he was busy and couldn't help, but took our number in case some free time came up during the day.

So, into the Old Timers Mine we ventured for more hard hats and investigation of opal mines. We were able to see the types of tools they used, shafts they had dug and many opal seams in the walls. Of course, there was a lot of opal jewellery to be sold at the exit point of the self guided tour. The kids always enjoy noodling for gems, so once again we sat in a pit and noodled for opals - we actually found some great ones!

After noodling, we started to venture down the street, when Ben received a phone call from the mechanic saying that he could do the wheel alignment. A quick drop off saw us with two hours to spare and a lot of opal shops to visit. Every second shop in Coober Pedy is an opal shop - there is literally nothing else here except a couple of service stations, atwo grocery store and two food store. We also had lunch in town - a pizza joint which served beautiful pizzas (you would have thoroughly enjoyed it Simon and Tam - just like Big John's!)

Car fixed, tummys full of pizza and some opals in hand, we went back to the van.

Off to Coober Pedy

 
 

Today was a driving day. We weren’t too sure how far we would get and we’d work that out on the way. Started at 8:10 and after a refuel at Erlunda, we put our head down and drove towards Marla where we decided to stop for a late lunch (munchies in the car kept the hunger at bay). Great truck stop (even better than Coolomgalook) here – top hamburgers and steak sandwiches. We pushed on all the way and made Coober Pedy by 5:40 – 732km in the day !!! Everyone travelled really well and we are so thankful that this part of the holiday has been great (we are actually thinking about our next trips and more kms !!!).

Strange looking town this one. As you drive in all you can see are thousands of mounds of sand. We believe they are private opal mines which each have an owner/ Signs on the side of the road say not to walk in these areas as there are deep holes from which the sand came from. We will find out more in the morning.

Touristing tomorrow – opal mines and whatever else we can find at the Info Centre.