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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 – [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The first thing we do each morning is to peer out from behind the blinds to see what sort of weather may confront us for the day. Today, we didn’t need to. Raindrops continued to pelt the top of the van and I could just feel that the sun was not going to shine down [...]
To be honest we weren’t real sure where we would wind up at the end of today. Our plans had been to reach Mackay but with it being less than 200kms, and no let up from the weather, we really wanted to go further north – but how far, we weren’t sure. So, with rainclouds [...]
After grabbing early showers we drove over to the caretakers to find out if they’d heard any news about the roads. Fortunately they had and it seemed that the creek had started dropping late yesterday afternoon and they were letting cars through about midnight. Grasping the opportunity we hitched the van back on and sped [...]
Considering the amount of water we had received overnight the ground had returned to its normal state and soaked up most of it. We went to check the nets again and found a lone red claw in the net which had garnered the most the day before. The other one was brimming with another twenty [...]
As soon as we awoke we headed over to our nets to check our haul and were inspired by the 35, of varying sizes, red claw we had caught. Some were obviously missing their mothers but apparently it’s illegal in Queensland to throw red claw back. Unfortunately, they were too small and they raced back [...]
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