What We Did Today!

Day 154: Ellendale to Broome

It was another hot, hot morning and with the orientation of the van door facing east it meant that we were sweltering the moment we awoke. With nowhere to shower or bathe and the toilet being so festy we decided that moving early was our best option. Yet it wasn’t far down the road that [...]

Day 153: Kununurra to Ellendale

Today was supposed to be an early start followed by a day trip into the Bungle Bungles (Purnululu National Park). However, it didn’t start off as planned and it certainly didn’t finish as planned. I had been keeping an eye on one of the car tyres for a few days as it seemed to have [...]

Day 152: Lake Argyle Daytrip

Like the day before, today was best spent in the comfortable confines of an air-conditioned vehicle. So, after lunch we took to the road again and headed east towards the famed Lake Argyle. It’s about a 150km round trip from Kununurra but the scenery is delightful and the lake itself is of mammoth proportions. We [...]

Day 151: Wyndham Daytrip

Today was a planned whirlwind tour of everything north of Kununurra – everything that is, that’s accessible in one day and interesting enough to keep the kids amused for a few solid hours. We had one factor on our side, the boys had been sick overnight – vomiting sick – so it kept them a [...]

Day 150: Saddle Creek to Kununurra

The clouds had rolled away overnight and the sun had returned in all its glory bathing us with its warm rays. We couldn’t pack up too early because we only had an hour’s drive to Kununurra and once we crossed the border we would have to adjust our clocks back an hour and a half. [...]

Day 149: Litchfield NP to Saddle Creek

As much as we would have loved to stay another day we are now also keen to continue moving toward home. The heat, isolation and deprivation of modern comforts (ie TV, a couch to lounge on and a garden to find solace in) are starting to take effect. So, in a whimsy we decided that [...]

Week 21 Highlights

bored especially after a long day. Usually in the car we take turns to play on the lap tops, we read books and mum bought us some look and find books. If I get really bored I play games with Miriam, or I just sleep. I liked Barkley Homestead, it was a nice place in [...]

Day 148: Florence Falls

We had planned to continue moving on today but with the weather being so fine and the waterholes in such close proximity it felt like a crime to leave early. However we did have to move the van in order to garner some solar power as we had parked it without taking in to consideration [...]

Day 147: Darwin to Litchfield NP

The time had come to leave the “Top-End” so we did it in style by trying to cram as much as we could into the packing up regime. At 8:30, I headed off to the shops to pick up some foam from Clark Rubber (to stop the side mirror belts from flapping against the car [...]

Day 146: Darwin Water Playground

There were no pre-cursing rains for this morning but we had made plans that weren’t going to be bothered even if it did – we were off to the movies to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. We had been lent some CD’s of the whole CS Lewis collection to listen to in the [...]

Day 145: Darwin Waterfront

This morning was epitomised by a torrential downpour that kept us under cover until lunch time. The dust covered streets were soon turned into small creeks and the mud made a journey to the ablutions seem like an ironman challenge. Yet, as always happens in the wet season, the rain soon stopped and the humidity [...]

Day 144: Edith Falls to Darwin

Due to the limited caravan sites available within the Edith Falls park we were forced to park our van with the door-side facing east. Wherever we can afford it we opt to position it west, at worst, but prefer the van to run to run east-west with a northern aspect. I know it sounds a [...]

Day 143: Daly Waters to Edith Falls

With the sun boring down on us again and the scrubby trees offering little protection from it we quickly saddled up and continued our drive north. A short distance ahead we drove through the side town of Larrimah stopping to quickly check out the Pink Panther Pub and the termite mounds that littered their cricket [...]

Week 20 Highlights

Wonga Beach was the highest we would be travelling in Queensland and we came to stay here so we could go and visit the Daintree Rainforest. To get to the Daintree we had to drive our car onto a ferry and travel across the river that way. It was fun and an interesting way to [...]

Week 20 Highlights

We arrived at Wonga Beach and set up our caravan. Some of the local people told us there was a big salt water croc on the beach. I wanted to go and have a look for it, but mum and dad wouldn’t take me. It was a nice camping area on the beach, but we [...]

Day 142: Barclay Homestead to Daly Waters

Today was another long day of driving and the scenery between Barclay Homestead and Renner Springs was very dry and monotonous, even for me. The mileage signs that separated towns and roadhouses were the only indication that we were gaining any distance as the landscape blurred together into one very arid picture. It was at [...]

Day 141: Mt Isa to Barclay Homestead

Fortunately the heat had dissipated throughout the night and it had even come over a little chilly – cool enough to pull the blankets over ourselves, anyway. Yet the cool night was no precursor to the day ahead and by 8:30, once we were set to travel again, we were back on the road and [...]

Day 140: Karumba to Mt Isa

With no-one else around it didn’t seem to matter what time we checked out this morning but with the sun baring down on us it made logical sense to get moving as quick as we could. We didn’t get much sleep throughout the night – if the heat wasn’t enough to contend with it seemed [...]

Day 139: Undara to Karumba

Today was special for two very important reasons; firstly it was the start of our trek west and a series of very long drives before us until we reach Darwin; and secondly, it was the first day for who knows how long that we didn’t encounter rain – not even a drop. There were still [...]

Day 138: Undara Lava Tubes

The previous day, when we booked in, we scheduled our tour of the lava tubes for 1:00pm in the afternoon. This meant that the morning was our own and noticing that the pool was somewhat lonely we took advantage of the space and ventured in for another swim. The rest of the morning was fairly [...]

Day 137: Nandroya Falls to Undara

Our sleepy start had us back on the road by about 10:30 this morning. While it may sound decadent taking so long to get ready we really had no great distance to travel today and the undulating hills meant that we weren’t going to be speeding anytime soon. Our first stop was a lookout that [...]

Day 136: Lake Eacham to Nandroya Falls

Being a Sunday morning our normal holiday ritual usually followed the pattern of; copious cups of coffee, the slow unravelling of the local Sunday paper and brunch sometime near noon. However, we were keener to search out Lake Eacham this morning and a swim was certainly high on the agenda. So, after packing up – [...]

Week 19 Highlights

Oh no when we were 50km out of town we heard a pop and stopped to look at the car. Our caravan tyre was gone. Lots of guys drove past and offered to stop and help us. Three of them did stop and one guy called Russel stayed with us all day and helped a [...]

Week 19 Highlights

Oh no disaster struck! Our caravan tyre fell off. We were driving along and we heard a bang coming from the van. Dad stopped the car and we got out to have a look. The caravan wall was mangled and the wheel was missing. I was feeling a bit scared and I hid in the [...]

Day 135: Wonga Beach to Lake Eacham

We were a little late out this morning but not too late that it was worth charging us another night’s fees. Our sluggish start was possibly due to our northern trip coming to an end as we began our descent back home. Back on the road we drove a short distance back into Mossman and [...]

Day 134: The Daintree Rainforest

After getting an electric shock from one of the park’s power-points last night and having to change our lead to another, this morning was helping the council rep understand the problem. He advised me to visit a doctor to get a check-up but this was more about not getting sued than any reasonable advice. Not [...]

Day 133: Paronella Park to Wonga Beach

While we planned to leave Paronella Park today and head north again we still hadn’t availed ourselves of the day tour of this park. So, after packing the van up and performing our morning chores we joined the 10am tour around this incredible attraction. Once the tour had finished and we were left to our [...]

Day 132: Saunders Beach to Paronella Park

This morning had all the promise of the world. There were no r___ c____s in the sky and the sun was shining down on us in all its blazing glory. So, we sauntered through our pack up regime and finally hit the road by about 10:30. We planned to make Cairns by nightfall but really [...]

Day 131: Airlie Beach to Saunders Beach

Surprisingly the rain had stopped in time for us to pack up this morning yet the mud had now become our nemesis. Slipping around and squelching through the lawn veneer made operations a little tricky but we did manage to meet the 10am STRICT departure time – by 4 minutes. As we made our way [...]

Day 130: Airlie Beach (Cedar Creek Falls)

Airlie Beach is best known for the islands that lie of its coast – the Whitsundays. In all their marketing propaganda all you see is crystal clear waters and blue skies that seem to go on for ever. I’m not sure when those photos were taken but had the PR photographer been sent at the [...]

Bakery Of The Week

Each week we're going to nominate the best bakery that we visited. Check out who's worth visiting for that little piece of hip-augmentation.

Week 1: Fortune French Hot Bread, Narrogin WA
Week 2: Elliott's Bakery & Cafe, Streaky Bay SA
Week 3: Mac's Oven Bake, Broken Hill NSW
Week 4: Lovell's Bakery, Birdwood SA
Week 5: Surfside Patisserie, Torquay, VIC
Week 6: No Contenders
Week 7: Thresherman's Bakehouse, Carlton, VIC
Week 8: No Contenders
Week 9: No Contenders
Week 10: No Contenders
Week 11: No Contenders

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