Well we have arrived at Ayers Rock or Uluru as it is now known but let's start at the beginning.

Up earlier this morning, I won't tell you when and were still just about the last to leave the camp. I did have time for a walk but there was nothing special to see. So at 9am we headed south, the scenery was low scrub, I guess it would be desert scrub as we are now in the Simpson Desert, at least I think we are as the maps are not too clear made interesting by the ranges that populate the area. About 30 km South of the camp we turned onto the Lassiter Highway after fuelling up at the roadhouse that must be a magnificent business handling all the traffic to Australia's premier tourist attraction plus traffic between Adelaide and Darwin. They also have a caravan park, bar and restaurant along with an emu farm and yes we did check them out and take photos. Then 112 kms out from Yulara we got our first sight of the rock. We stopped along the road for various photo opportunities and at one, the Connor Lookout, were rewarded with a bonus in that we could photograph from the other side of the road Lake Armadeus (which is a salt lake currently dry) and shared the lookout with tourist buses and their passengers. We also noted that the rock does change colour as the sunlight moves across the sky.

Then we arrived at Yulara the gateway to the rock and I should add the Olgas only 30 kms further on and included in the park. I mention that because the park charges $25 per head for a 3 day pass. The town is pure commercialism of a standard that I am not comfortable with, there are cafes, bars, restaurants and of course a visitor centre. The visitor centre is set up like an airport with booths for hire cars and the various tours, all of which are fairly pricey. The whole place very upmarket using the rocks as centrepiece for getting lots of money out of tourists. An example is Tali Wiru which is 'open air dining set atop a remote desert sand dune with magical views of Uluru' and costs $325 per person sounds lovely and the menu looks good, but!

Sunday August 30

Well up we were at first light, or almost first light and to the amazement of all concerned the very first to leave the camp. When we got to the park gate we could see that it was closed and locked, but closer examination revealed that the chain and padlock were just draped over the gate. So we removed it, opened the gate and drove through then replaced it all. On this subject the Standley Chasm park is owned by the Angkerle Aboriginal Corporation and we were told by one of our overnight neighbours that when they last visited it was staffed by aborigines and run efficiently. However it is now staffed by backpackers and run very inefficiently. Anyway back to this morning, I had forgotten how nice the world is early in the day and have made a resolution to repeat this performance every day.....we shall see. 

The reason for the early start was that today, as part of the 2015 Transport Reunion, there was to be a parade of trucks old and new. According to local gossip there would be 700 participants, trucks and including a few buses and tractors which we felt would be quite a spectacle. Seeing that we were in Alice it would have been silly to miss it. So we got a good spot with what must have been thousands of other vehicles lining Stuart Highway and waited. It was worth the wait but we took off after about 300 trucks etc. Trucks are not really my thing but a show like this including vintage and veteran vehicles is something else. 

So off we went heading south then Elaine decided that she was tired and I had to drive. We stopped at the Canonball Memorial for a photo opportunity, you may remember some 20 years ago there was a race down the Stuart Highway and a team (Japanese dentists if I recall correctly) left the road in an extremely expensive car at extremely high speed wiping out 2 officials as well as themselves. 

The scenery is the scrubland and ranges as we have become used to the last few days and is really quite beautiful. So we are camped tonight at a rest area within range of Uluru. 

Saturday August 29

Today we got organised and headed out to Standley Chasm. It is only about 53kms from Alice but the reason for getting going was that the best time for viewing here is between 11am and 1pm. 

Standley Chasm is a cleft that has been carved into the rock leaving a narrow space with 80 mtr high walls, so read the brochure.  One arrives at the entrance to the site via a gate announcing the aborigine name, pays fees at the kiosk and proceeds to walk. The walk is 1.2kms long over and along a dry creek bed, actually not dry but also not much water in it. It is an interesting walk with lots of ferns and very interesting tree shapes. At the end there is this narrow space, it almost looks like a fissure with rock walls reaching upwards, it seems like almost forever. We were lucky enough to be there when the sun was directly overhead and the colours and shadows were fantastic (there goes that overused word again). After lunch we did another walk this time to the lookout which turned out to be more difficult than we expected, a climb up a big hill on a narrow rocky track. Elaine covered about 3/4 of it, I managed the full walk but it took a longer than the specified 15 minutes. 

When we paid our visitor fees we also paid to camp here for the night. Just before 5pm we and 2 hikers were the only campers but then another 5 vehicles arrived. 

Today was fairly simple we walked up a hill, drove back to Alice, shopped and resumed our position at the racecourse overflow.
The walk up the hill was a moderately difficult climb up a 100 mtr high hill to be rewarded by an absolutely magnificent panoramic view. It was actually called the Panorama Walk and was slated for 90 minutes. Elaine did the walk with me which was quite a feat for her and we made it in not much more than the scheduled time. The climb up was a series of rock stairs of various natural shapes and sizes and required quite a bit of energy, down was sloping paths and in actual walking distance much longer. Three cheers Elaine and congrats to the Rangers who designed the walk and placed pointers so that we would not get lost. I have remarked before that a lot of effort goes into preparing these walks that I have now encountered in lots of  places. I should also comment that the campground was also well prepared with built in bbq's, gazebos and marked out more or less level camp sites.
The drive back to town was just that and the shopping a pain like shopping always is and on this occasion we had to stock up for a few weeks until we next get to the major supermarkets. Now we are back at the racecourse and their race meeting is winding up, so hopefully we will have a quiet night.

Thursday August 27

Now I can't remember if I published a blog yesterday and will have wait until we next have coverage to check. 

Last nights camp was in the overflow which happened to be at the local race track and was temporary home to a large number of people. We left this morning to start our exploration of the Alice Springs area, and a lot of other vans left today some to dodge the influx for tomorrow's race meeting. 

We headed east along the Ross Highway noticing that the town is surrounded by ranges, in other words it is in a hollow. The first stop was Emily Gap which is quite spectacular. It is also home to the 3 caterpillars who the aborigines believe created the Alice Springs area. There are rock paintings attesting to this belief and to further amaze us trees growing out of the rocks. The next stop was Jessie Gap and Creek also well worth the look. The rock structure here in both places is great slabs separated by cracks and looking like a row of dominoes falling on each other. Then to Corroboree Rock which was a slight detour off the road. Again an imposing large, tall rock with a walking trail around it giving one a varied view of the rock. 

At last after 76 kms we arrived at Trephina Gorge to look for our camp spot. There are 3 campgrounds here totalling about 20 campsites, the first is tents only and we found a spot in the last campground which is now full. Incidentally it is very expensive at $6.60 per night. After we settled in I did one of the shorter walks just 40 minutes or so climbing to the gorge rim,about 150 mtrs high and back. Then after dinner we went to a campfire talk given by one of the local rangers. 

I forgot to mention that yesterday we passed another cyclist, this one just going from Darwin to Port Lincoln, and as usual we gave him water and ice. Lucky is the cyclist who meets Elaine on the track, she can be guaranteed to feed and water him or her. We also met this one at our nightly camp and found out that he has done all sorts of trips here and in Canada.

This morning after last nights sky light show we were, once again, last out of the camp and continued our southward journey. Before we left a motorbike rider came in and informed me that all the bikes that we have been seeing have been on the 'Black Dog Ride' to Ayers Rock. I don't know what that is but it abviously attracts a goodly number of motorcyclists. Incidentally he was riding a very classy looking Harley and his wife was also riding a bike, albeit a much smaller one. It was a dull day but the scenery was quite nice in a NT kind if way. Then we came to the marker for the highest point on the road from Adelaide to Darwin and took photographs. Then we came to the Tropic of Capricorn and took more photos.
At last we reached Alice Springs and spent 45 minutes looking for somewhere to park the van. Eventually we found a spot set aside for the purpose, but no one was able to direct us there! Shopping done we fueled and dumped then decided to stay here in the overflow park.

Tuesday August 25

Another morning after blog and what a night it was, we were treated to a huge spectacular light show. Actually it was in the early hours of this morning but the whole horizon was continually lit up by sheet lightning. It woke me up and after turning off our phones etc I watched for ages before going back to sleep listening to the rain washing our van. 

Tuesday started with a walk around the Devils Marbles taking a large number of photographs as the early morning sun created shadows and light changes on the marbles. It is a serious display of natures skill in creating marvels for us humans to see, quite beyond imagination. I seem to be running out of words to describe all the wonders that we are seeing on our travels, well you will just have put up with the repetition. 

The camp emptied fairly quickly with RVs heading either north or south. We joined the southward group aware that Alice Springs is getting fuller and fuller, but at this stage we will just have to create plans b,c,d,etc in case we can't get accommodation. Having said that we know that the caravan parks will be very expensive so we will use free parks if we can. So far it the NT has had very poor phone coverage, worse than WA and TV has been even worse so that Elaine has watched all her movies a number of times which means that we will have to get as part of our shopping in Alice. 

We passed through open speed zones which means we were able to take the van up to 250 kmh, just kidding. We did note however that the traffic passing us was not being silly and driving at speeds that were over the top. As we passed each of the open speed zone signs there were special sign boards 'Drive to conditions' with advice on how to be safe, unfortunately they were difficult to read whilst driving, however  these signs were also planted at intersections and on the exit roads of rest areas. We also passed a town called Aileron  which had a small hill behind it and on that hill was a statue of a giant aboriginal hunter complete with spear. At the door of the hill was a matching statue of a female, quite something to see!  

Then there was our first clouds for some time and a bit of lightning foreshadowing last nights storm. 

Monday August 24

Another lovely day on the road, but no telstra cover tonight so this blog will get published when we next get cover. 

My morning walk confirmed the wide open spaces campsite, I walked across the grassland to the tree line and back a good half hours walk but it was a nice campsite. Then after a bit of cleaning up we got back on the road heading west. The scenery was the now usual scrub with low trees and today not many hills. The first excitement of the day was Peter an Austrian cyclist who is 13 months into cycling around 100 kms per day and as yet has no definite plans to go home. We gave him a bottle of frozen water and a can of Pepsi which was much appreciated and made us feel good! Next we stopped at the restored telegraph building about 12 km north of Tennant Creek which was very interesting. We learnt that they kept their food cool by building a cellar which in this case is a small separate building. Then at the edge of the town The Mary Ann dam and recreational lake where there were ducks, swans, chooks and a family of peacocks (ie: peacocks, peahens and babies). Today was usual in the relatively large number of motorbikes on the road, I don't know why but we probably saw 20-30 of them. We fueled up at Tennant Creek after a slight delay due to a suspected gas leak, also at this time Tom reported that he was almost home. 

Tonight we are camped at a place called the Devils Marbles which amongst other things is a aboriginal sacred sight. It is quite spectacular with huge granite rocks balanced on each other quite precariously and they change colour as the sun shifts, obviously the effect of shadows etc. The camp is one of these super expensive, $6.60 per night, places run by the local shire and it is packed out with vans parked parallel to each other about 3 metres apart. 

 

Sunday August 23

Once again we are without phone cover so this will be published when we get into range, tomorrow morning as we pass 3ways, provided of course that I remember. 

Yesterday's detour to make sure that Tom was safely on his way had us in the caravan park at Camooweal which is just over the Queensland border. There is a great free camp there along the river but we wanted to be close by staying in the caravan park next to his motel and we then enjoyed a nice dinner cooked by Elaine using the barramundi that he caught in Derby. This morning he was gone when Elaine went to check at about 6am so we took advantage of being in a caravan park and did washing, had showers, filled water tanks, washed the van etc. 

Then we took off to get back to 3ways and continue our journey south. We were and still are travelling on the Barkly Highway today covering about 320kms and camping in a free park just west of the Barkly Homestead (When  we got to Barkly Homestead we stopped and confirmed that Tom was ok). Just a bit of bare ground at the side of the highway but an official campsite, we have driven down a road at the back of it and are about 200 mtrs from the road. There is a fair bit of traffic on this highway, trucks some road trains some normal size, lots of RVs mostly caravans and not many camper trailers plus a few cyclists and motorcyclists. The scenery is wide open spaces again but quite nice. Today we passed the Avon Downs police station which is all by itself, about 40 kms from the border and with no nearby town, strange but I guess there is a reason for it. It is quite a large building with what appears to be accompanying accomodation. Cattle grids are fairly common in northern Australia, they are rows of old railway lines set into the road to stop the cattle from straying off the properties which straddle to road. Yesterday and today we passed one which is simple white lines painted on the road.......and I am assured that it works!

This is long after my normal bedtime of 'as the sun goes down' but it has been a long day.
Our good friend from Queensland was on his way home yesterday (his wife had already flown home to attend to family issues) when he stopped, just outside katherine , to have lunch. After putting the kettle on he stepped out of his van to get something from his car, as he went back to to van it burst into flames and was completely destroyed. Fortunately his vehicle was undamaged. We were camped a little south of him and arranged to meet before he turned left for the Queensland border. We then had breakfast with him, he had already driven some distance without eating, then accompanied him to the border. I went in Toms car to keep him company and Elaine drove the van behind us. The distance from 3ways where we met and Camooweal where are for the night is 440 kms, lots more than we normally drive. Tom seems ok now so we will drive back to 3ways to continue our travels and Tom will finish his drive home.

Now we have really shifted address to Kunjarra (The Pebbles) just south of 3 Ways which is the corner of Stuart Hwy and Barkly Hwy. So we are definitely on our way south. There is not much to see here but it is an aboriginal cultural site.
We or Elaine drove up the unsealed road to the town of Elliott which consists of 1 shop and the shire office. We got fuel and water but didn't get anything else which is a pity because they have done a great job of providing a magnificent free camping spot at Longreach Waterhole. We also got our mail via Toni who is an invaluable aid to us at all times but particularly when we are travelling.
The next stop was BankaBanka about  which we have heard lots, but visually it was nothing special so we moved on finishing up here about 85kms further south.
The scenery on the way here was rather nice, we were back to rolling hills and green shrubbery. You could say wide open spaces and I do realise that we are about as far from the ocean as one can get in Australia. The other thing is traffic, it is almost like driving on a suburban road.

Thursday August 20

Day 3 at Longreach waterhole and all is quiet at the front. The bird front that is. We shifted camp today and are now parked in absolute waterfront, if we were any closer our wheels would be in the water. As a reward we have witnessed all sorts of bird activities from the large number of bird species that are here. We have Pelicans, cormorants (shags to those who no know better) 2 or 3 different species, jabiru, kites, little black water birds, duck and lots of others. I know all these things because people who know a lot more about birds have told me so, to me they are just a lot of birds flying, fishing and fighting over fish. These same people told me the there is normally a bird population 10 times what we are seeing. I don't know why it is different, maybe the water is low, although there is still plenty of it, maybe the season?

Unfortunately we will be leaving in the morning as we are starting to run short of time. I have attached a few photos to show what we are seeing. 

Wednesday August 19

Day 2 at Longreach Waterhole. 

Spent relaxing in beautiful surrounds as one would expect. My morning walk is along the shore past lots of other campers, today as far as a couple of interesting looking trees a goal walk of about 4 kms.  Then back to the van and breakfast following which Elaine did a bit of cleaning and I lmade bread in the camp oven. For the first time I did not use a bread mix and it was ok but a little heavy. Elaine then upstaged me by making soup in the camp oven. This meant that we kept the fire going until mid afternoon and in fact it is still dealing with the last of the coals. 

Yesterday Elaine set up the rubbish bins with signs saying to take your rubbish with you if the bins are full, which they were. This morning first the shire supervisor turned up and we explained the graffiti on the water tank near the bins, of which he approved. Then the workers turned up and emptied the bins with a bit of encouragement from Elaine. 

Late this afternoon we sent for a walk and had a chat with some people, from Traralgon on the Murray River, who have been here many times over the past several years. 

Tuesday August 18

Ok today we stayed where we are at the Longreach Waterhole. 

Basically we took it easy a little bit of cleaning by Elaine and a little bit of sewing to reinforce our wood bag. I should add it is a Country Road bag ideally suited to our upmarket wood. 

I had my usual morning walk and found campers spread over about 4-5 kms of shoreline. I also came across a cane toad, not sure of what it was I sort help from a nearby van, confirmed its identitly and wacked it over the head with a steel pipe that I had found. Actually I think that it was already dead because it didn't move while this was happening! I then got a plastic bag and put it in a rubbish bin. I found out later that you don't hit them on the head as they can squirt a rather poisonous fluid at you that can cause serious drama. So next time I will squirt the horrible creature with Dettol which I am informed does the job very well. 

Then after lunch we fired up the fire pit and Elaine made a very nice roast chicken for dinner. 

Monday August 17

Out of telstra phone range again so this is being written in 'notes' for later publication. 

Last nights camp was a surprise packet, actually it is van park behind the Daly Waters Highway Inn which is on the corner of Stuart Highway (Darwin to Port Augusta) and the Carpenteria Highway which goes across to Cape Crawford. The inn consists of a pub, a cafe type restaurant, the van park, a horse race track of sorts and a few dongas. During the afternoon. Elaine spied a huge pig in the horse enclosure, I didn't see that but the enclosure had a very interesting collection of visiting animals. Ther were of course horses, black and red cockatoos, green and red and green finches, kites and some long legged birds. In addition we saw wallabies, at one stage standing up and boxing. All in all the best collection of animals this trip, definitely not expected at this place. Incidentally they had close to 30 RVs parked all contributing to the sites income, even the price was very friendly. 

Still heading south aimed at place called Longreach Waterhole supposedly a nice camp spot that I had come across before we left home and Elaine had been told about. It is near a town called Elliott and is an official camp area complete with toilets, water and of course the waterhole it also has what I think is a very corrugated 12 km road in and Elaine thought was not too bad.  Anyway we are here camped in a good spot overlooking the cream coloured water amidst trees along with a number of other people in RVs spread around the shore. It is very nice and we plan to spend a few days here. 

We have been told that we will arrive in Alice Springs during a truckers convention which will limit our accomodation possibilities, we will see what happens. 

This is another morning after blog due to a visit last night from a girl,  lady in mid thirties, who is undertaking a bicycle ride from Darwin to Cairns over less than 3 weeks and then to hitchhike to Sydney to fly home to Utercht. This will be the end of  a nine month journey starting in Hong Kong and South East Asia covering around 15,000 kms. Big ride!
Next an explanation ......when we don't have coverage I do the blog in 'notes on my iPad' then when I get coverage I copy and paste it into the blog. The issue there is that on the blog the latest post is on top and in notes it is on the bottom and I have only just registered that fact.......brains trust! In future I will sort that and have it all in the correct order.
Now a comment about the Northern Territory. I have always pictured, in my mind, the NT as a semi barren place and it is not. So far we have been passing through green forest, not the tropical sort that you see in Qld or the tall trees that one sees in SW WA but rather nice green countryside which may change a bit as we proceed southto Central Australia.
My morning walk confirmed a pretty river but no other features. The river however has algae which does spoil it a bit. There a quite a lot of trees on the ground all full of termites, in fact they sort of look like the termites caused the fall. Our first stop was at the historical Mataranka homestead and for me dip in the thermal pool and a walk in the tropical forest there. This part of the Roper River is very attractive and surrounded the forest. During the night we heard wild donkeys but saw no sign of them during the day.
Heading south to Daly Waters for the night we passed a number of the WWII sites, of which there are a large number in the NT. We did stop at a couple. Only problem is that most were hard to find, despite the signage, and poorly maintained. More about Daly Waters tonight.

Friday August 14

Now today was a day was a day!

It started well enough, I went for my walk unsuccessfully looking for the Limestone Creek that the camp ground was named after. Then we cleaned up showered and headed for Katherine. Now when we got to Katherine Elaine had to pick up her pain patches and thereby lies a tale, she had arranged to have her doctor fax the scripts,but here in the illustrious NT it is necessary to get the script for a local doctor. There are 3 in town, one had no appointments for 2 weeks, the other sometime next week maybe but the Aborigine Medical Service takes walk ins! So Elaine walked in waited 1 hour to see the triage nurse then another hour to see the doctor who took another hour to give her the script. The doctor had to phone our GP then Charlie's pain clinic, then Canberra to get permission to do the script. Does this or does this not sound like a well organised and efficient system?

Anyway while that was happening I fueled, watered and made some phone calls and waited and waited. Eventually it was all over and we shopped which included showing our ID to be able to buy grog. Heading south we have stopped for the night at the King River rest area which is literally next to the highway and nowhere near a river, but is quite a nice spot

Saturday August 15

Today was better after we made a leisurely start heading south, it feels good to say that because it means that we are entering virgin territory. After a short drive of about 70 kms we reached Mataranka and turned left to go to Bitter Springs, so named by an early explorer for the taste of the water. This is a thermal pool and we enjoyed our first swim in ages. There were a lot of people there and it is a well set up area. Then on to, wait for it, the Julmurak campground which is quite large, well set up and organised in a very nice setting on the banks of the Roper River. After setting up and having a rest we headed down to the river. A sign on the way said no swimming due to the possibility of crocs but it is a rather pretty river and for those who enjoy fishing is supposed to be full of barramundi. Unfortunately the walk tracks are soft sand so we didn't go far before retuning to our van. Pity about the crocs, a swim in the river would have been nice. 

Monday August 10

I have just come inside after photographing a beautiful sunset with trees in the foreground. Just like it is at sea the sunsets outside the city are a magnificent sight, obviously they are different to those at sea but no less beautiful. 

Today we got going at our usual reasonable hour heading towards Kunnunnura. The scenery was similar to yesterday with lots of hills and low trees etc really very interesting as there is a never ending variety of hill shapes. Reaching Kunnunnura we shopped at Coles noting that not only was the shop well set up and stocked much 

like the city Coles, the prices were also quite good considering how far away from supply depots we are. This is something that we have noticed in other towns with both Coles and Woolworths.

We then moved on crossing the border into the Northern Territory where the scenery changed just a little bit and are now camped at the Saddle Creek rest area with 20 other vans and, unusually for these rest stops, a huge amount of garbage. 

Tuesday August 11

As usual we were the last to leave Saddle Creek and before we left some bikers dropped in for morning tea along with a few vans. The scenery is once again small mountains all around us including some tabletops and lots of other shapes. The speed limit here is 130kph, naturally we don't travel at that speed, but we were passed by 3 caravans that were almost tail gating. This is something that we see a lot of, tail gating that is, and we can never understand why as it has to be quite dangerous, particularly when towing a van. Then the mountains turned into flat country and we continued on to the Big Horse Creek Campground. This is a nice spot run be NT national parks and on the banks of the rather magnificent Victoria River. 

Wednesday August 12

Another day at Big Horse Creek taking it very easy which is another way of saying that we did nothing just veged out. Actually Elaine did things like washing and cleaning and I veged out mainly because I have a kidney stone trying to get out. We spent a bit of time talking to some people who came in just a little time out of Border Town on their way to a birthday party in Kunnunnura. Then we cooked again on out fire pit which Elaine thinks might be just a fraction too small, we shall see as we proceed. 

Thursday August 13

On our way east again, as usual last out of the camp, but not before our new friends presented us with fruit that they couldn't take over the border....very nice. This campground always has some people spending a few days there due to its nice location and it's nice set up. So off we went and just a few kms down the road detoured to climb the hill, in the van, to visit the Nackeroo's memorial. Now there is a new word so I shall explain. They were a special unit formed to make sure that we were not invaded from the north during the last war. One of there members was acquitted of an awol charge because he came from 'the most undisciplined unit in the army' ! This was of course necessary because they patrolled an enormous expanse of territory with the essential help of the local aborigines. The view was fantastic! We then proceed further up the hill to the town lookout which an even better view encompassing the Victoria River, the town of Timber Creek and the surrounding valleys and hills. Then off through the town and onto the road to Katherine. But before we left we stopped at the rubbish dump, at the foot of the hill and got chimney for our fire pit, we also got a good hammer and a pair of secaturs!

Onwards through plains finishing at hills, choppers looking for cattle, birds and all sorts of nice scenery. We are now camped at Limestone Creek rest area. 

Another morning after blog.....shame on me!
We set out at a reasonable time today.....about 10am. The road heads north east and is reasonably good, just not very wide (but wide enough) and wriggles around a bit, make that a lot. The twisty part is to allow for the hills that cover this area making for a varied and rather nice vista as they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The ground is lots of dry grass and small trees with the occasional larger tree.
We passed through the aboriginal community of Warmun which is reasonably large and appears to be well run. One is not allowed to take in grog and no photographs. This is also the beginning of the fruit fly free zone so we stopped on the side of the road to eat the last of our oranges, good healthy morning tea! Then we went on to Doon Doon, nicknamed by me as 'up & doon up & doon Doon Doon' silly eh! Then on to the Dunham River rear area where we spent the night.

OK this morning plan A was to get up early, as in about 7.30, and get on the road before the wind came up. Plan B was the one we used as we didn't get up early and were a taken aback a bit by some sad family news. We then used the morning to attend to a few minor jobs. One of these was to inflate the spare tyre to the required pressure, now on these vans the spare is under the van just behind the the rear axle making the job rather difficult. But we got it done along with the other jobs and got on the road about 11 just as the wind was starting to drop and stopped for morning tea just a few kms down the road. Continuing after that the wind kept reducing which was great.

The scenery today was scrubland with small trees and grasses and a backdrop of a low mountain range, actually very nice and constantly changing during the day. We stopped at Halls Creek to fuel up, they charge for water there but we were lucky enough to find an untended tap and fill up our water tank too. We then headed off further east to stop at a place called Leycester Rest Area, just your basic place to park with ablutions.

Just to note the effect of the wind on our fuel consumption we are getting about half a km less driving in to the headwind.

This is known as a morning after blog.

Yesterday started with a walk down, being in the general direction of the river mouth, the dry river bed. As usual I was quite amazed by the amount, the size and the height above ground level of the debris obviously brought down the last time the river had water. There are lots of rivers through this part of WA but nearly all are dry at this time of year, maybe more than that as there is not a lot of rain up here. Correction I just looked it up and found out that they get more rainfall than Perth!, that will take further investigation.

Anyway back to the van and straight after breakfast Elaine is doing the washing using water that I have brought up from the little bit of the river that has survived. The bird life here has the usual noisy corellas and crows along with a small flock of Pelicans and some long legged egrets and various small birds. There is also, allegedly a couple of freshwater crocs, but I haven't seen them. I am going to have to get myself a bird book or app for the iPad so that I can identify the large number of bird species that we see. I also cleaned the van with the water from the same source. Interestingling there is green slime on the river bed but the water I collect is beautiful and clean.

Later in the day we got the fire going and were rather put out by a hire van like ours parking very close, something that doesn't usually happens at these camps as normal consideration has everybody parked with plenty of clearance, unless of course it is really packed out. They are not often packed out so we get used to having plenty of room.

Thursday August 6

Today was an interesting and trying day. First we woke up to a howling easterly wind that made our beautiful perch high above the surrounding world a little uncomfortable. So we shifted the van to lower section to get shelter from the wind and got the van filled with red dust, sort of out of the frying pan into the fire! So we took off to find a dust free roadside park and clean up our van. Before that I walked down the cliff into the valley which features multicoloured rocks, very nice and very energetic. 

About 30 kms down the road we found a spot and did a pretty basic clean up before heading off to one of our favourite spots, Mary Pool. As we left we spoke to another van who turned out to be friends of my sailing companion Brian Williamson and they decided to join us for the night. We or rather I also left behind our doormat and the new wood bag that Elaine made and it was full of wood cut to size for our fire pit.....silly boy. 

So having arrived at Mary Pool we found a spot and undertook a major cleanup, as usual Elaine was the driving force and did most of it. But we did get to relax and enjoy a sundowner with our new friends and another couple who we met at Ellendale Lake. 

Mary Pool is an official rest area with toilets and dump spot reached by turning off the main road and crossing the river on a very old bridge. The bridge is actually better described as a causeway and the river has very little water in it. It is a very popular place and tonight has 50-60 RVs parked around the trees. However I note that the sign now says 24 hr parking and wonder if this will be policed, as a lot of people spend a few days here, and that would be a pity and spoil things a little. 

Wednesday August 5

Well yesterday's camp spot was very very nice, a large grove of trees spread around a small clean looking lake. Last night one of the couples organised a sundowner which was attended by about 30 people but on my morning walk I reckon that there was at least 30 RVs parked there. We were surrounded by birds, willy wagtails, swallows, kites, very noisy corellas, pink and grey galahs and others that I could not identify. Add to that cows and you have one great camp site which we made the mistake of leaving this morning. 

But we wanted to get going and make tracks east despite the headwind which has been dogging us for the last few days of driving. Headwinds are not our favourite because they cost us close to 1 km per litre of fuel consumption. 

Today the scenery was well spaced trees mostly under 5 mtrs, scrub, grassland and of course the ever present Boab trees. We were also treated to some good large rocks, actually small mountains. There were also a number of 1 lane bridges after Fitzroy Crossing. Talking about Fitzroy Crossing we had to pay for water, not bad seeing that the area is very dry at the moment, and there was no public dump point. Derby has the same issue which makes both towns unfriendly to RVs , not good. 

Tonight we are camped on Ngumban Cliff which offers a magnificent view of the roar below and the surrounding countryside along with more than 20 other happy campers. 

Well life at the campsite/paddock has settled down. Tom completed the camp fire oven for the owners and Monday night I made bread and Mike, the owner, made scones for the assembled multitude at sundowner time to test the new oven. Then yesterday all was routine as Tom made our campfire pit then Elaine made scones on our campfire in our camp oven. Then Tom made a camp oven stew in his big camp oven and we finished the night off with Baileys ice cream and milk before heading for bed. By the way a camp oven is a cast iron cooking pot which can be used in all sorts of ways to made roasts, stews, scones bread, etc and a campfire pit, in this instance, is an old gas bottle cut down and fitted with legs and a door.

This morning we all, our group of people not the whole camp site, started packing up which after a few days in the one spot takes a bit of time. Then we queued up to fill our water tanks, paid our bills and headed off. They headed west towards Broome and we headed to town to go shopping and fuelling. Then back on the road heading east towards the border. This is all a snapshot of life on the road and in a campsite. Other people there were following their plans, most heading west and doing some sightseeing before leaving Derby. We didn't do any sightseeing this time as we did that last year and the main reason for stopping in Derby was to spend some time with Laureen and Tom.

Back on the road again we soon got back into routine with Elaine driving and me studying the passing countryside. It is quite scenic up here with lots more growth than one would expect although most of it is fairly low there is also quite a bit of colour. The Boab trees are a feature some with and some without leaves, both look rather special. We also stopped today to collect a few Boab nuts and will look up how to prepare them for display. One of the other features are the thousands of anthills, or termite mounds, in all sorts of colours (depending I presume on the local soil colour) and shapes from large to small.

Tonight we have stopped at a place called Ellendale Lake, which is a very nice bush camping spot on private property. Obviously a very friendly owner! Here we will put the portable fire pit and camp oven to good use making roast chicken.

Blog for July 28
Relaxing day today Elaine doing her washing, we have completed the van clean up, I have stripped cleaned and sharpened the chain saw and am now sitting in the shade typing this blog. The area is slowly filling up as people come in for the night probably about 30 plus RVs for the night. Last night one of our friends from earlier this year was parked here last night the same as we were and neither of us noticed the other! Pity as we both wanted to catch up and it is only about 8 weeks since we parted company. They rang today announcing the they had just pulled into 80 mile beach which is just south of here, bummer but that happens sometimes. Hopefully there will still be in Perth when we get back. Our other friends from last year are just north of here so we will catch up on the weekend at a rest area east of Broome.  After that we will head East following our original plans to head down the middle of Australia with a view to being home mid October.

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Wow 3 days without doing a blog, not acceptable so tonight I will catch up, not much to catch up on though.

As I said this place is very basic just a paddock to park on without power or water. But you can get a shower $2 or do the laundry $2 both prices a lot less than other parks. Also this place has very friendly hosts and has a sundowner every day under the big roof, it really is big covering 3 dongas with community space in between. It has only been open since July 9 and our hosts are working hard to make it a viable proposition despite difficulties with the local shire. There have been about 20 people at the sundowner each night and it is very friendly At this stage we are staying here until Laureen and Tom are able to confirm their plans.

Today we made a trip to the local rubbish dump and hardware shop to get the necessary bits to make a portable fire pit. Basically these are old gas bottles cut down and modified slightly, we are getting one and Tom has helped make one for one of the other vans. He has also made a really nice camp oven with fire from a large gas bottle for our hosts  and tonight I made bread to test the new oven......big success.