Our amazing adventure summary!

 Here’s some of our stats for those of you interested!

We travelled 27,073 kilometres through Victoria, South Australia, Northern Territory & Western Australia. Our main focus was NT (6weeks+2 days), WA (15 weeks), SA (3 weeks + 5 days).

Our highlights in NT were: Uluru, Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), Litchfield National Park, Mindel Markets, Alice Spring Desert Zoo, McDonnel Ranges & Douglas Hot Springs.

Highlights in WA: Coral Bay, Ningaloo Reef, Cape Leveque, Esperance, Karijini, Bungle Bungles & Kalbarri.

Highlights in SA: Barossa Valley, Naracoorte Caves, Coober Pedy & Flinders Ranges.

One of the highlights of travelling has been meeting so many different people that we would never have come across in our day-to-day life in suburban Melbourne. Our thanks go to the following families & couples that have made our trip so much more memorable by your friendship, assistance & hospitality: The Lynch Family, Derossfield Family, Lawrence Family, Rutland Family, Cosway Family, Don Philips and our travelling adopted grandparents – Richard & Sharon, Pam & Pete!  We look forward to meeting again somewhere on the road!

In just under 6 months we set up & packed up our caravan 76 times. Our kids became excellent assistants and we often had this job done well within an hour! It was fantastic to see them pitching in without even asking towards the last few months and working so well together as a team!

Our breakdown of stays were: 26 caravan parks, 5 National Parks, 17 Freecamps, 20 Lowcost camps & 8 Station stays. We were fairly happy with this breakdown as we often required power at caravan parks to complete work on the road. We were disappointed in the south of WA & SA we couldn’t use the National Parks as much due to maintenance/school holidays booking out.

We also have some nominations for the places we’ve stayed:

Nicest National park – can’t decide! All of them!

Best Freecamp – Longreach Waterhole, Elliot NT

Best Station Stay – Bullara Homestead, Exmouth WA

Best Caravan Park – Wintersun, Carnarvon WA & Adelaide River NT

Best Low Cost Camp – Gnylmarung, Cape Leveque WA

Best Tour – Coral Bay Glass bottom Boat WA & Mimbi Caves, Fitzroy Crossing WA, Yellow Water Cruise, Kakadu NT

Best Hikes – King’s Canyon Rim Walk NT & Karijini National Park, WA

Best National Park Activity – Turquiose Bay snorkelling, Ningaloo Reef, WA;  Buley Rockhole/Florence Falls, Litchfield NP NT; Ubirr Rock art walk, Kakadu NP NT.

Best Beaches – Coral Bay, WA; Hellfire Bay, WA; Turquoise Bay, WA.

Dodgiest caravan park – North Bank Park, Katherine NT

Worst Hike – Butterfly Gorge, NT. (Just ask the kids!!!)

Funny Stats:

We went through 9 hats & 8 drink bottles. Jesse lost 3 pairs of thongs. Kieren broke 3 pairs of sunglasses. The girls went through 1000 sheets of paper & numerous exercise books. We ate through approx. 1 kg of apples per day. We only got burnt once but went through copious amounts of sunscreen. There was one case of septicaemia, one broken arm, one broken toe, one fall over an empty firepit, a couple of bike stacks, & plenty of grazed knees!

What we won’t miss about travelling: drop toilets, cramped in wet caravan days, no showers, our tour of WA hospitals(!), billions of flies & mosquitos!!

What we WILL miss about travelling: adventuring to really cool places every day, hiking & meeting different people & fellow travellers.

I also want to publicly thank some people back home who have supported us through this time: Beth - for your fantastic assistance with mail, Ben – who has done a fantastic job managing our business in Kieren’s place, our parents & families for all your support (& cash while waiting for our tax :-O), Blair – for looking after our house & dog, The Mugamu family for looking after our chooks, and the Atkinson & Leech Families for giving us lots of inspiration J We are very appreciative that we’ve been able to complete such a mammoth adventure! I better also thank my husband who has worked tirelessly as a driver, mechanic, homeschool teacher, chef & portaloo-emptier to keep us going on the road J  And with that, our adventure is complete…..until next time!

3, 2, 1 .....HOME!

Victor Harbour

This is one of the places we missed on the start of our journey due to the terribly drizzly weather. So we fitted in a night here at the showgrounds and spent the afternoon at Granite Island. The causeway across to the island has a Clydesdale horse-drawn tram which the kids really enjoyed. We then walked the circumference of the island before catching the last tram home. We saw dolphins in the bay but couldn't sight any fur seals or penguins.  That night we celebrated our last night with Dad & Beth AND with curry & cake for my Dad’s 65^th birthday!

Mount Gambier

We stayed at show grounds again where we met a family with 6 kids that our kids had played with back in May at Port Augusta. We’re all at the end of our journeys which is a little sad…

We quickly visited Blue Lake (a crater lake) and Valley Lake and also the Umpherston Sinkhole the next morning before continuing home. I'm not sure I’d like to live in Mt Gambier knowing that sinkholes are still forming!

Ballarat

We crossed the border into Victoria fairly early and made it to Ballarat by mid-afternoon. Friends that we met at Douglas Hot Springs in NT have acreage here so we were able to pull into their place instead of freecamping. The kids had a wonderful night catching up and we really enjoyed hearing about the rest of their Qld trip. Thanks so much Theresa – was a wonderful way to complete our trip!

The next morning we left really early to head home. I’m so glad we didn’t attempt it the night before as towing a caravan through the city in Melb Cup weekend traffic would have been terrible. So. We are home. 

Barossa Valley

We took the RM William’s Way from the Flinders Ranges to Clare through a massive wheat farming area. We briefly stopped in Clare for lunch and a quick visit to the toy shop (kids were SO excited) to buy them a little animal figurine to remember their trip by. Jesse bought a bucket of snakes :-O

We’d been planning to freecamp but needed power to process payroll so back into a caravan park – one of the nicest & GREENEST we’d seen in a long time! That afternoon we went to the Whistling Wall Dam south of Lyndoch. The dam wall is curved perfectly so you can hear people whispering on the other side. I whispered secrets to all the kids and we had a lot of fun!

We also visited Kellermeister Winery where Kieren was able to spend the last of his birthday money to buy some chocolate port (he’d been itching to get to the cellar door since friends introduced him to this port some 12 years ago!).

Playing with the bucket of snakes at Kellermeister Winery

The next day we toured with Dad & Beth to some of the oldest wineries in the valley. The architecture is amazing! Seppeltsfield was first with its amazing palm-lined roads, then Chateau Yaldara where we were able to visit their cellars underground. Then we stopped off for a picnic lunch at Peter Lehman (ok & Kieren had a taste :P) and a walk to see the 173 year old vines at Langmeil Winery next door. After a quick visit to Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop we returned home for some rest (apparently that involves a full on soccer game on the oval for the 2 youngest!).  

Seppeltsfield

a Chateau Yaldara lioness!

173 year old vines

That evening at dusk we went kangaroo spotting at the Kaiser Stuhl Conservation Park -  it was so cool to see mothers & joeys up so close – although we wouldn’t have liked to get near the head male kangaroo!

Our last day saw us pack up and head to Victor Harbour via Yalumba Winery to view the cooperage. This is one of the few places that still make oak barrels for its own wine. We got to see a few barrels being made using steam & heat to bend and treat the oak. 

The Flinders Ranges, SA

We headed through Port Augusta inland towards the Flinders Ranges. Having Dad & Beth still with us, we stayed at a tiny little town called Hawker about 50km south of the National Park. I had assumed, because it had 2 Big4 caravan parks, that it would also have a supermarket – how wrong was I! This one-horse town didn’t even have a general store! So the next day Kieren had to do a quick dash back to Quorn 65km away to stock up! The caravan park was a lovely bush camp style (with the bonus of power) but we were sick of the copious amounts of flies after about half an hour.

The next day we drove out to the Flinders Ranges National Park where we saw an amazing amount of emus, kangaroos, wallabys and other species (Wallaroos?). We hiked up the beautiful Rivergum-lined walk into Wilpena Pound where an old homestead has been preserved. From there we followed the trail to the Pound lookout which was spectacular! The kids loved pointing out all the lizards sunbaking on the rocks on our way back down. We lunched on the verandah of the homestead before returning. All-in-all a good 8km hike (especially in the heat!)

Sunrise

Wilpena Pound Lookout

Homestead

Majestic Rivergums

My resilient boy on a resilient tree!

The next 2 days were REALLY hot – between 35-37 with hot gusty winds. There were a fair amount of fire danger warnings out so we didn’t want to plan any long walks. (we can’t carry a huge amount of water either for 6 of us.) So instead we did some 4 wheel driving (much to my Dad’s delight J).

The first track we took was part of the Heyson Trail and was very open & hot. We went up to Aroona Ruins where we inspected a homestead built in “pug & slab” style – basically tree trunks surrounded by chicken wire which they then ‘mud up’. A famous artist, Sir Hans Heyson used this as his base when painting the Flinders Ranges. In fact, the trail & mountain range are named after him. His description of the ranges as ‘the bones of nature laid bare’ is so apt. The flies & heat at this point were horrid so the kids chose to sit in the car whilst Nan & Pa went to the Heyson lookout. Wish we’d bought flynets this time! We did have a quick look around the farmhouse ruins & still-operating spring.

After lunch we went through Brachina Gorge – you literally drive along the dry riverbed through the ABC Quartzite range and then on through the Heyson Range. It is such a surreal feeling driving over riverstones with mountains towering on either side. The huge rivergums make you feel so little! It was one of the most amazing bush drives we have done on our trip. In fact so good we even went back and did it the next day via the more southerly Bunyeroo Gorge.

Kieren & I had the luxury of going out for dinner that night thanks to Dad & Beth and some birthday money J. We selected the local ‘Ghan Railway Restaurant’ as it was the only choice in town & sounded pretty historic. What followed made us feel like we were on the Oz version of the Faulty Towers set. Picture a bushie chef (who’s worked there since 1969), a clumsy young waiter,  a very staid 14 person bird-watching tour group from the UK, a grey nomad couple & us. Kieren & I had to retreat to the Pool room cos we were in stitches.

The last night of our stay, Nan & Pa planned a bush poetry night. We had an early BBQ dinner and then sat around the camp kitchen listening to renditions of Banjo Patterson’s “Saltbush Bill”, “Mulga Bill’s Bicycle” and Dorothy McKellar’s “My Country”. The sunset was spectacular as a huge lightning storm blew through. What a great end to our bush trip!

The Eyre Peninsula, South Australia

What can we say? After the stunning Esperance, South Australia was hard-pressed to compete. We spent a few days outside Port Lincoln catching up on food shopping, laundry and caravan repairs. The kids spied the library in town and had a great morning lounging around reading their great collection of books.

Mikkira Station – we camped at Bett’s Farm in their “Koala Paddock” – her family have owned this station since 1923. It was amazing seeing Koalas up so close (literally a metre away!) although the flies here were horrid. It was a hot day and a cool change came through at dusk which caused a few massive gum branches (as big as trees) to fall. The sound was unbelievable and scared the English tourists who were camped near the trees! In the morning we did a quick walk to the original station cottage. A fantastic look into pioneer living as it was still furnished with some original furniture.

We then attempted to camp at the caravan-friendly campsite in Lincoln National Park. However, it was one of their first really hot days for the season and the bees started swarming really badly so that the other campers were all packing down and advised us to move somewhere else…quickly! The bees were trying to find any fresh water possible including the camp toilets, drink bottles and even attempting to get into water tanks under caravans! The flies & march flies were just as bad so we ended up moving up the north west coast to the lovely little town of Coffin Bay. We were going to try the campground at the National Park here too except they had a burn off planned (it was cancelled later due to the hot weather!) so we ended up at the lovely caravan park opposite the bay.

Coffin Bay is named after Matthew Flinder’s friend Isaac Coffin we were relieved to find out – and the town is famous for oysters. We chilled here for a couple of days – it was one of the friendliest parks we’ve been in for quite a while. The locals were great - recommending fishing spots to Ellie so we had a try at fishing in the channel & off the pier. A fellow fisherman donated a Snook Fish for our dinner as he preferred others he’d caught! We drove out to Coffin Bay National Park the next day and had a walk along Point Avoid and Almonta Beach – definitely wild and windy. A mother Emu with 6 emu chicks ducked around our car at one point which was an amazing sight!

The next day we drove through other sleepy little fishing villages such as Venus Bay and Port Kenny to Perlubie Beach – a $5 a night beach camp that the locals upkeep. There were beach shelters & swings for the kids and LOTS AND LOTS OF FLIES. So. Many. Flies. The only relief was to walk right out in the shallow water and they wouldn’t bother you….as much! The next morning we left early to meet some very special people at Streaky Bay….GRANDPARENTS!

Murphy's Haystacks

Perlubie Beach

My parents drove from Melbourne to meet us for 4 lovely days. The first day we took a picnic down to Point Labatt to see the largest mainland Sealion colony, then a tour of the Westall Loop including High Cliffs (sandstone cliffs),  various lookouts and Smooth Pools (granite swimming hole). Low & behold our adopted travelling grandies turned up on the beach here too! So we were able to introduce them to the kids’ real grandparents!

The next day, after a scrumptious pancake birthday breakfast for Kieren, we drove around the northern loop out of Streaky Bay and tried our hand fishing on the back beach. Unfortunately it was rainy, gusty and altogether a bad day for fishing! It was, however, a great day to listen to the Whistling rocks (the tide didn’t seem to be high enough for the blowholes). The whistling sound is from the force of the air pushed up through little holes in the rocks when waves pound the cliffs. That night we celebrated Kieren’s birthday with a delicious pork roast (yay!! ovens!!) and cake. It was great fun having such a lovley family dinner!

We rounded off our stay at Streaky Bay with a lazy day – a spot of fishing (only Abbey caught a little stripey), walking along the pier and a visit to the craft shop.  

My Milo Mermaid!