Caravan and Motorhome Magazine story published on NT Outback leg

Caravan and Motorhome Magazine has published in its September 163 Issue our story on the NT Outback leg of our 23,000km six-month journey around Oz. By Stuart Snell.

Here is the story on Google docs. When the webpage opens, click on the "download original" button top right corner for best viewing.

Slide show "finale"

In this, the final post to our caravan around Australia travel blog, we have gone through the 1,900 plus photos we didn't delete, and selected 300 favourites to make a 20-minute slide show feature. We have put it to a few of the favourite country songs we listened to during our travels.

NSW home leg - the final journey

After over five months and 23,000km we are back home living a city life again (the beard is gone!). It’s been just over a week since we backed the van down the driveway and already Tabitha is back at (her new) school (with just two weeks to go before breakup), I am looking for work (at the worst time of year), Charlie is back with his beloved toys (all like new again) and Liz is, um, socializing and running the house (actually, she is thinking of getting back into the workforce next year for a couple of days a week or so).

Before I write my best and worst of aspects of the trip, I will briefly detail the final leg of our sojourn to complete this blog journal. Our first destination in NSW after passing through the Victorian Alps was good old Wagga Wagga.
We dropped in to cousin John Mid’s who kindly put us up in a bed, along with his unique (and excellent) version of a potato bake to go with a BBQ. Charlie devoured Beau’s toys. We visited Aunty Marie as well as cousin Sam and Woody and some of their clan, too.


It was then up the road along the rail line to Junee, the town of my christening, where we parked the van at the back of Lizzie Logan’s place and camped. Thanks to Kym, Joe and Darcy for pushing the old Magna out of the driveway for our poor old van.

Charlie and Ruby got on like a house on fire. We had a couple of fun nights there, and visited a bunch of the Junee Logan’s at Aunty Betty’s home, and went to Jill’s Old Junee property where the kids found a dead chook among the marauding, wild flock.

We then dragged the van to Forfar at Illabo where we again were able to put our heads down on solid beds thanks to Tim and Chrissy.

Charlie had been asking after Harry for some time and was overjoyed to see his country cousin again. Don and Jeanie were hard at it on the farm, Don gritting in posts and Jeanie preparing mulberries for making jam. After shaking the mulberries off the tree in the afternoon she had converted a whole bucket of the delicious fruit into jam by the morning, spending most of the night snipping the stems off the thousands of berries while we yarned over dinner.

Just as Tim and I were about to turn in around midnight, Joe Blake the seven foot plus python was about to shed his skin. For the next hour or two we watched in fascination as the snake managed to roll off its outer layer to reveal a smooth and much more colourful exterior.

While Tim was at work the next morning and after Don gave the kids a tour of the farm, we all talked in and around the parked van while a perfectly good house (make that two) stood nearby. I think expecting Chrissy actually fell asleep while we were sitting in the van.

Further up the road and we turned off the Olympic Highway at the Frampton siding to the Ryan’s of Gundaline. The Ryan kids and the young Snell wipper-snappers seemed to enjoy each other’s company and after another impressive evening meal, we climbed into our van parked out front of the house only to freeze half the night in what was one of the coldest nights since we left our house in the dead of winter back in June.

Of all the places we visited, somehow this was the only one we forgot to take a photo as a memory, although we have one of Brian and Martin who are currently staying with us while Marty does work experience at a pathology lab (see above pic taken today). After we thawed out we made our way to Canberra to see more relos over yet another top nosh at Gerard and Bernadette’s Amaroo pad. Lucky for us Emm and Lachly were in attendance as were Tanya and the one and only Leigh. All I can say about Leigh is check his pockets for beers, you might be surprised.

Back at the caravan park, we were planning to stay in the national capital for another night or two, so that we could (for once in our lives) actually visit some of the national sites despite all our visits there (ie, museums etc), and bump into another one or two relos as well. But with home beckoning only four hours away, and the amenities block in the van park being in such poor condition, we decided to cut the trip a little short and head for Sydney town after just one night there.

It was a little weird driving back to the northern beaches and finally walking into our home (which was in the capable hands of Karen Cooper during our absence). We made it!!!!!!

See NSW home leg photos here.

Worst things of the trip

• Not being able to make tea after waking in the morning following an overnight of minus 10 degrees at Gunnedah where the water hoses/taps were frozen solid. It was some time later that we learned to fill the jug the night before.

• Not having a door on a bedroom.

• Not having a bedroom.

• Having a domestic without a room to have it in.

• Cleaning dust out of the car only to find more dust mysteriously appearing immediately afterwards.

• The above point over and over ... until you gave up in despair.

• Getting the wrong directions from the navigator and then having to both navigate and drive the van, at the same time, yourself.

• Going on walks and having to carry a child most of the way.

• Wondering why your fridge was not working only to be told by an electrician that it was not switched on at the plug.

• Having to pay the electrician.

• Admitting the above two points.

• Wondering if the next road train is going to turn your car and van into scrap while travelling on the most scary roads you’ve ever seen.

• Praying the next road train will turn your car and van into scrap just to stop the incessant “are we there yet” queries from the back seats.

• Having to constantly stop for wee wees.

• Having two kids vomit in succession while in a very small light and bumpy plane.

• Trying not to vomit yourself due to the smell from the aforementioned episode.

• Cleaning out a portable toilet from an emergency “number two” from a four year old (it was never used again).

• Wondering if there was enough fuel in the tank to get you to the next servo.

• Redrawing the loan after the budget ran out.

Best aspects of the trip

• The amazing landscapes and locations all over the country, particularly in the Outback.

• The faces and excitement of the kids at seeing just about every species of native animal in the wild.

• Seeing acres of wildflowers across the desert of the Red Centre following record rainfalls at spring time (more rain in Alice Springs in the first nine months of the year than the entire last century).

• Wondering what to do each day.

• Spending so much time with the kids (see also “worst things of the trip”).

• Living in thongs for five months.

• Not having to work while wishing we could be travelling around Australia.

• Cracking the first can after completing the journey for the day and setting up the van.

• Cracking the second can, etc.

• Free camping on a river bed in the middle of bloody nowhere.

• Having fires at night and watching shooting stars.

• Cooking marshmallows on those fires.

Tips

• Don’t use a Vodaphone mobile for a round Australia trip.

• Do use a Telstra mobile for a round Australia trip.

• Only take a few changes of clothes. You can wear them for days and even weeks before you need to use a van park’s laundry (everybody does it, they just don't admit it).

• Make sure you have heaps of one dollar coins for the laundries.

• When planning a big trip, if you think you might need something for the trip, you don’t need it.

• When planning to write tips for such a trip, write them down as you go, not at the very end when you’ve forgotten them all.

Victoria

The past month touring Victoria has been just as we expected: cold, windy and picturesque. Nice place to visit, but the weather… We are currently coming back through NSW and will be home soon; well in time for some Christmas shopping for the kids. I think I signed off last time by saying the kids had not once mentioned home. That all changed a few days after penning those fateful words. Home is on our collective mind as we visit some relos and inch our way closer to Sydney.

The Great Ocean Road

Taking up from our last blog post a month ago, after Kangaroo Island we followed the SA coast eastwards, crossing the Murray River at Wellington on a punt before skirting the very large Lake Alexandria (or the mouth of the Murray) and staying at Robe on the Limestone Coast. Our first destination on the Victorian coast was Warrnambool, where its Flagstaff Hill provides a wonderful historical tour and multimedia/laser light show re-enacting the sinking of the Loch Ard on that treacherous coast in 1858.

From there the Great Ocean Road meanders about 200km along very windy and beautiful coastal terrain. It took us over eight hours to complete the journey, stopping at most of the lookouts and lingering at the Loch Arch Gorge dreaming about what it would be like to be ship-wrecked on a stormy night in such inhospitable waters. Just two of 58 people survived, somehow.

We camped at Anglesea for a few days and toured around, visiting Tourquay and Bells Beach, which conjured some wonderful surf but looked far too tricky for me to test my novice skills. For more than 22,000km my second-hand, soft surf board has been tied to the under-carriage of the van and not once has it been used (until reaching the coast of SA and Victoria there hasn’t been any opportunity but when there, the water was too bloody cold or the surf was too big for my inexperience).

See Great Ocean Road pics here.

The Goldfields

From the coast we headed due north to Ballarat, that famous gold rush town of the 1850s in central Victoria where the Eureka Stockade uprising took place. There are some nice old buildings there but the town itself seems a bit tired and in need of a makeover. I don’t know when I last saw so many teenage mums pushing prams around. The kids loved the Sovereign Hill gold rush theme park. I travelled by bus to Melbourne on a Saturday and flew back to Sydney for the night to see my mate Memsie off to live in Japan (temporarily) with his expecting wife (who has since given birth to a healthy boy).

From there we travelled north east to Bendigo, a much prettier town, via some very lush countryside and cute towns (such as Castlemaine, which the Victorians pronounce “casle…” as opposed to the more common “carsle…”). Recent rains this year have apparently turned the hills green again. The “talking tram” in Bendigo is a popular tourist attraction and having a son mad on trains/trams meant that we had to ride on the little circuit several times (at least Liz and Tabitha got to go shopping).

See Goldfields pics here.



Melbourne

From there we travelled through the wine regions north of Melbourne to that state capital, destination the Big 4 caravan park of Coburg. It was funny being back in a big smoke after being on the road for so long. The kids loved the city and Charlie couldn’t believe his eyes: there were trams and trains everywhere. He and I rode trams for many hours, to the point that he decided he only wanted to go on short rides in future.

Liz also flew back to Sydney for one night (with Tabi), to join in her mum Kaye’s 70th birthday party, which nearly didn’t happen because Kaye didn’t want one. If Liz’s dad Ray didn’t reveal to Kay that Liz was flying back for the occasion it probably wouldn’t have happened. By all accounts, it was a very successful event. You can’t let a big milestone pass without a party!

See Melbourne pics here.

Phillip Island and the Gippsland

We continued south on the South Gippsland Highway to Phillip Island, home of the Aussie Moto Grand Prix. It is a lot like a smaller version of SA’s Kangaroo Island, but just a lot more touristy. The “penguin parade” was a fantastic experience, witnessing hundreds of little penguins emerge from the surf on dusk and walk across the beach to their burrows in the sandhills and nests in and around the nearby car park. We were asked to check under our cars before leaving. The only disappointment was that you were not allowed to take any photos.

But that didn’t seem to matter at another location called The Nobbies where the little penguins wander around in the day time. The island itself is a serene place and while we were there “out of season” you could tell it was a very touristy destination. There are various sites and activities to do but they all cost plenty of mula.

From the island we made our way to Wilson’s Promontory, an amazing outcrop that is Australian mainland’s most southern point. This national park seems so completely different from the rest of the southern coast. It was like being on a tropical island: beautiful beaches, creeks, dune regions and mountains.

Next stop was Omeo in the Victorian alpine region, a quaint mountain town with trout infested creeks and rivers. At least we were told the waterways were brimming with trout but despite our best efforts all we caught were snags and colds. From there we headed straight up, and I mean up, all the way to an elevation of 1950m via Mount Hotham on a cold, wet and foggy day. It took us over six hours to travel the remaining 300km to the NSW boarder where we crossed the Murray River again.

We are now travelling from the Riverina through the South Western Slopes and will soon be home, from where we will pen our final blog post along with some tips and “best of” and “worst of” things experienced from our five month sojourn. Amazingly, we family of four are all still talking to each other having lived almost on top of each other for so long!

See Gippsland pics here

Red Centre to Kangaroo Island

It seemed like forever, but we’ve just completed travelling the vast stretch of the Stuart Hwy from Mataranka in the mid-Northern Territory to the coast of South Australia. We have just finished looking around Adelaide and surrounds as well as Kangaroo Island. We are now heading towards Melbourne via the coastal road. It’s a relief to see the sea again.



Mataranka to Alice

Taking up from our last blog of about four weeks ago, we were very keen to stay at Mataranka after having read “We of the Never Never” by Jeanne Gunn in 1908 which was based on a cattle station in the area. We visited the site of the original station/homestead and various other historical sites related to the book, which was essentially a biography of just one year in the scrub.

We continued down the Stuart Hwy to Banka Banka, Ti Tree and then on to the Devil’s Marbles via Tennant Creek (which you could drive straight through and not miss anything) before arriving at “The Alice”. See the Mataranka pics here.

Alice and the Macdonnell Ranges


Alice Springs has improved a lot since I was last there in 1980 with a high school excursion. There were none of the ugly disturbing scenes I remembered. Clearly the policies introduced initially by the Howard Government through Mal Brough and then subsequent governments have had a positive impact on reducing social problems in the Aboriginal communities.

Some of the indigenous art work sold on the streets is of very high quality. We couldn’t resist. A lot of the stuff in the galleries is exceptional. Outside town, there are some great flora and fauna parks to visit, and, of course, the Macdonnell Ranges, both the Western and Eastern Ranges, are spectacular sites protruding from this stark Outback landscape.

It has rained more in Alice this year than it did last century. Consequently, the landscape has vast tracts of greenery comprising various grasses and shrubs as well as an abundant array of spring-time wildflowers. We felt lucky to have seen central Australia in this way. See the Alice and ranges pics here.

Uluru, The Olgas and Kings Canyon

They don’t call this part of the Outback “The Red Centre” for nothing. There is more red sand in this part of the world than there are blowflies in a pit dunny. We saw wild horses and camels and so many lizards and birds it seems as if the Outback is itself a wildlife park. Dingoes are harder to spot though (they prefer to come out at night).


The Rock is as impressive as ever and, even though I have seen it before, I marveled at it as much as the family did. Same for the Olgas. There are some enjoyable walks in and around these sites.

Kings Canyon is unassuming as you drive towards it, but it is only by walking along Kings Creek into the canyon that you are able to fully grasp its beauty. However, having to carry Charlie atop my shoulders for most of our walks takes the edge off the serenity. It was usually bloody hot on these walks and carrying an extra 20kg makes it hard going. I have no idea how the early explorers managed what they were up against. See Red Centre pics here.

Stuart Hwy to Adelaide

After leaving Kings Canyon it was a six hour drive of over 450km to Marla, just inside the South Australian boarder. Back to a time zone much closer to home. And from there it was back down the highway to Coober Pedy, that strange town that lives underground. From here the temperature started to decrease sharply, to the point that occasionally we had to dig out our parkas to escape the chill. It is amazing how within only a few hundred kilometers in the Outback the daily temp can drop so much.

At first I wondered where the town was, but there it was, right in front of me, and underneath. It basically looks like a massive pile of dirt, really. It takes on its charm after you’ve had time to absorb the meaning of the place. But you’d have to be mad to dig up countless tonnes of dirt and rock for an essentially semi-precious stone. It’s just like being addicted to gambling, but with much more manual labour involved. I think I’d rather do two-up. But all the locals we met were really friendly and interesting, in a slightly weird sort of way.

It was then “on the road” again via a 550km stretch to Port Augusta, via Woomera, the rocket range place. There are a few old rockets on display in the local park and not much else to see. In this part of the country, the landscape keeps changing every few hundred kilometers. The NT and SA landscapes seem cosmic, as if traveling on Mercury, Pluto, and then Mars. You pass numerous “lakes” (salt pans) and then about 120km from Port Augusta the vast and impressive Flinders Ranges come clearly into view. At first they reminded me of the Blue Mountains. There is none of that gradual incline you get with the Snowy”s, just a rugged protrusion from the harsh flatness.

Adelaide

We spent two nights in Port Augusta, which was twice as long as was needed, then went to Adelaide, our first proper city for nearly four months. Wow, Adelaide is an attractive town – spacious, historic-looking stone buildings everywhere and a picturesque landscape. The place seems to revel in its history yet pulses with a modern vibe. We stayed at a van park on Semaphore beach.

We fell in love with Adelaide and stayed for a week, touring around and doing day trips to the equally impressive Barrossa region and the Adelaide Hills. These areas are only a short drive from the city. The numerous wineries are a joy to visit, and it’s almost impossible to resist buying wine wherever you go. Buying and drinking Barrossa wine in situ has been one of my favourite experiences so far (it seems to taste better that way). Even the kids loved the cellars. We went to Maggie Beer’s farm/café for lunch and found the food selection limited and unsuited for lunch (pate was the main “ingredient”).

Kangaroo Island

About 100km south of Adelaide via a slow, winding country road is Cape Jervis whose only claim to fame is to provide a good ferry service to Kangaroo Island. We left the caravan in the car park and drove on to the ferry for a smooth crossing to the first settlement place in South Australia (SA). Kangaroo Island is like stepping back in time. It reminds me more of country NSW than country SA, which while historic is somehow more modern and chic (or maybe it is just more arty and "food cultured"). There is some great wildlife on this southern, windswept outpost, such as seals on the beach and penguins around the bay. Staying in an apartment for a few nights where you can walk to the toilet without having to go outside made for a comfy break from living in the van. See Coober Pedy to Kangaroo Island pics here.

All in all, we have been very impressed with SA. Now we are travelling east along the coast towards Robe and Mt Gambier. After that we will be in Victoria. See our website blog homepage here and for our photos see our photo website here for all of our albums so far from this trip.

The kids are still really enjoying the trip and have not asked once to go home. To them (and us) this is a great adventure. But for Lizzie and me, knowing we are on our final leg of the journey makes us feel a little more in a hurry than we've been. We've clocked almost 19,000km and expect a few more thousand yet.

The Top End and East Kimberley

We’ve just been into Western Australia to see the East Kimberley region. After Kakadu and the surrounding areas of Darwin and Katherine in the ‘Top End’ of the Northern Territory, we thought the natural beauties of this country couldn’t possibly get any more spectacular. But the Kimberley is just amazing – and we only saw a relatively small portion of it and none of the northern coast line of WA and none of the Pilbera region.

Currently we are about to travel back through the NT to make our way to Central Australia over the next two or three weeks. But for now, and the sakes of the chronology of this blog journal, I’ll go back a few weeks to when we arrived in the Top End.

Katherine

Katherine contained some beautiful springs and swimming holes around and within the Katherine River – you need them because it is so hot up here (ranging from 34-38 degrees). The Katherine Hot Springs are absolutely pristine, which is pretty amazing considering they have been a refuge from the heat for many thousands of years. The town itself wasn’t much, but there was a Woolies there so we could do some decent shopping after the small, essentials-only Outback road stops. You can’t buy grog (take-away) before 2.15pm in the Top End.

The Katherine Gorge is some way out of town and is well worth the visit. There is ancient rock art and the river/gorge system is vast and impressive. There only seems to be fresh water crocs inhabiting these waterways, which is ok because from what I can tell there haven’t been any freshie attacks for yonks (although dogs don’t seem to count). And they don’t have the orthodontic equipment to maim in the way that the salties do. It is only a ‘no go’ for swimming if salt water crocs are known to have inhabited the waterway in recent times.

Some of the locals don’t seem to worry too much at all, while others don’t go near the water. To help get a better understanding of this area, I bought the book ‘We of the Never Never’ which was based on life at a cattle station in this region over 100 years ago. It was one of the best reads I’ve ever done, giving an insightful feel for this land, its raw, harsh beauty and those who inhabit it.

Darwin and surrounding regions

We then continued on up to Darwin where we stayed for a couple of weeks to explore and spent a week with mum, Liz’s mum Kay and sister Sally and Sally’s daughter Sophia. Over several days we drove around the various natural springs and waterways in the region, and in and around town itself. Berry Springs and the many spectacular falls and plunge pools in Litchfield National Park (Buley Rocks, Tolmer Falls, Florence Falls and Wangi Falls) afforded much needed respite from the heat. Darwin itself is fairly modern with good infrastructure. Nice place, but the f$#@ing heat… The ‘blow ins’ did a coach tour to Kakadu one day while we did some domestic stuff (we would be taking our van there soon).

Another day the kids went to a croc park in Darwin and handled snakes etc, and we found an out of town Aboriginal cultural centre (run by a really nice white bloke who thought he was one of them) where there were more snakes and birds to handle, along with paintings and other stuff that cost up to $15,000 a piece. We bought a small didgeridoo for two hundred bucks. (See Katherine and Darwin region pics here.)

Kakadu

After farewelling the relos, we headed into Kakadu and based ourselves at Cooinda. Many more kilometers were covered in a few days exploring this area, visiting rock arts sites and lookouts to some of the most exquisite and vast country we’ve seen. We did a scenic tour in a plane for an hour and it was only by doing this that we were able to fully grasp the scale and varied beauty of the Kakadu landscape. It really is an awesome place – massive escarpments, huge wetlands, incredible bird life, huge tidal rivers etc.

A boat trip on the Yellow Waters takes you into the heart of this place for close encounters with the wildlife. There are crocs everywhere, and they’re all salties (they eat all of the freshies). Returning from a day’s outing in the car one day we picked up an Abo guy who was hitching in the 37 degree heat half way between Ubirr and Jabiru. He got in behind me next to the kids and wanted to go to Jabiru (which was on our way). He smiled after I gave him some water and the teeth he did have were the same colour as his skin. We drove him right into his community and on the way out Charlie asked why ‘Abodijines don’t brush their teeth’, and Tabitha added ‘and use deoderant?’. Then she said ‘they only have enough money for beer’. To which Charlie concluded, ‘everyone needs money for beer’. There are so many ants in Kakadu that when camping you need several cans of insect and surface spray just to keep them at bay every few days. (See Kakadu pics here.)

East Kimberley

It was then ‘back on the road again’ (which we play each time we move on – even Charlie knows the words to the Willie Nelson classic) to make our way 800km west over two days to the Kimberley. We based ourselves in Kununurra, and to our amazement it is even hotter in this region than the Top End. When you cross the border, quarantine inspectors check your car and van, and we accidentally forgot to discard some veges that morning but the inspector was happy to take them off us. We later found some potatoes we all missed which are the most offending item.I was in the van park pool and noticed our inspector in there, too. I told him about the potatoes and he looked like he saw a ghost. Hed reckons we got away with paying a $250 fine. ‘Where were they,’ he asked desperately. I told him and I think he’ll be more vigilant next time. WA doesn’t allow any fresh fruit and veges into the State, the wowsers.

We drove the 200km round trip (including creek crossings) to the El Questro Wilderness Park which, naturally, contains various beautiful gorges and hot springs (but it’s not much relief going from 38 plus degree heat into 34 degree water, no matter how scenic it is). Yesterday was a huge day. In the morning we did a two and half hour scenic flight over the Kununurra region (which includes the irrigation area, the massive Lake Argyle, the huge Argyle Diamond Mine, and the Ord River which runs out from the Lake, and, confusingly, with a part of the river itself being dammed to form Lake Kununurra although it just looks like a wide section of the river) and then over 200km south to the Bungle Bungles.

All very awesome, including landing on the lake and having morning tea on a deserted island. While there the pilot had to clean up after both kids had vomitted. He cleaned while we sipped tea and looked for diamonds in the rocks on the beach. The lake is so big it is classified as an inland sea and gives off a horizon like the ocean. For the Pratts, there are some impressive power lines around the lake, which contains millions of very tasty (no joke) catfish.

That night we went to a rodeo (pronounced up here ‘row-dee-o’, not the American way ‘row-day-o’). Some of the cowboys (or stockmen) got absolutely smashed by their bucking broncos. One got hammered up against the fence right next to us and Tabitha had to cover up her ‘steak burger’ to stop the dust getting onto it. The people there were fairly wild. We left early because we were buggered but it looked like it was going to be a huge night of partying on. (See East Kimberley pics here.)

Currently we are preparing for our return to the NT. By the time we get back to Katherine we will have done over 3,500km since we were there nearly four weeks ago (and our last blog post). We’ve met some incredible people: locals, other travelers and those who started out travelling but became locals. All the guides are passionate about their jobs and are so knowledgeable. Surprisingly, there are many families doing what we are doing, only most are taking several years to do it (with most of those picking up work along the way to keep them going). One thing I’ve noticed as a VB drinker travelling around Oz is that every pub sells the stuff, AND in my favourite vessel, a tinnie. Otherwise you’ve got to drink what the locals drink (whatever that is). Got a love this country!

All our pics can be found here.