Devil's Marbles - Mataranka - Katherine
Northern territory

After Alice we decided a shorter day on the road would be in order. James was especially sick of being in the car and had to be coaxed in, so our next planned overnight was at Devils Marbles only 400k up the Stuart.

We passed through Barrow Creek, the area where Peter Falconio was supposedly murdered. That felt a bit spooky. A few km before the Marbles we called into the Wycliffe Well Roadhouse which is painted up (not very well) with an alien theme. Their claim to fame is that they have seen more UFO's than anywhere else in the world. Very strange! We sat in the beer garden and for beer and wine ...... mmm.... nice.

Mid afternoon we arrived at the Devils Marbles. What a beautiful spot. A stark and harsh landscape, predominantly flat with amazing geographical rock formations.It has a free camp area with toilets and fire pits about one km off the highway with stunning views, walks and photo opportunities.

We used the last of the fire wood that we had collected back on the Murray and had a fire even though it was high 20's and blowing an absolute gale which intensified through the wee hours. There were times we thought the van would have been airborne if it hadn't been attached to the Beast.

The following morning (Good Friday) we were up early and on the road by 7.45 heading to Mataranka almost 700k up the Stuart. I was keen to check out the hot springs.

Our first stop was Tennant Creek for fuel and surprisingly we got a great cappy there. A much milder day, the wind dropped as we move north but an ominous darkening sky loomed closer. Our lunch stop at Dunmarra was when we hit the rain. At $1.95/ltr for fuel there we got just enough to get us through to Katherine and we got a couple of very yummy chunky beef pies too.

It was obvoius as we got closer to Mataranka that there had been a lot of rain and our concerns started to rise about accessibility to the Mataranka Homestead campground as there was a bridge that needed to be crossed. Once in phone range we called and sure enough it wasn't passable - so no hot spring dip tonight! We ended up at Territory Manor caravan park just on the north side of Mataranka, quite a nice treed park with a great al-fresco restaurant so we enjoyed a bit of a night out before settling into our vans for a very rainy, humid and restless night.

On Saturday, with only 100k to get to Katherine we decided to take is easy. It was still raining but James really needed a good walk and so did we so headed off down the road toward Bitter Springs. We got soaked but it was still and warm so not uncomfortable. We turned around before the springs as we knew they were flooded and went back to the caravan park to watch the Barra Feeding which was cool. The barra are quite tame and can be petted and hand fed.

We left around 10.30 for the very wet trip to Katherine. There were lots of small wallabies on the way - both dead and alive - and we even saw two dingoes cavorting in the middle of the highway.
Katherine was wet, wet, wet and sooo busy in the shopping area. We opted for the Riverview Caravan Park for our two-night stay before the last stage of our trip to the Daly River on Monday. Nice park - tropical and very quiet and backing onto the Katherine River and hot springs (which, disappointingly, were flooded). We set up camp in the pouring rain, had lunch and then went shopping for food, grog and fuel to get us through our fortnight at Daly. $721 and two hours later we had it all sorted and I spent the next hour fitting our provisions in the fridge and cupboards.

It is still absolutely pouring down as I write this sitting in the van Sunday afternoon. Brian just checked the river level at the Daly and it has gone from 8 meters yesterday to 14 metres today. The BOM says Katherine has had 244mm of rain in 24 hours and it is just getting heavier and heavier. The Katherine River right behind our park has risen to 11 metres. We've just been to the local museum looking at photos of the last time Katherine flooded.....mmm.

Hope we can get into Daly tomorrow!

Renmark - Berri - Morgan - Burra - Melrose - Woomera - Coober Pedy
South Australia

We are on the move now on our way up to Daly River in the Northern Territory.

After Mildura we set up camp, yet again by the Mighty Murray, at a place called Lyrup Flats between Renmark and Berri. Both Renmark and Berri are beautiful river towns. They are quite pristine, so clean and green with well kept town gardens, delightful foreshore areas and friendly locals. The river here is really wide with low banks and with great weather we did lots of walking and exploring.

From there we moved on to Morgan where we spent our first night in a caravan park. Its not fun looking out of every window and seeing the side of another caravan, nor did we enjoy listening to everyone else's conversations. We have really been spoilt by by bush living! It did give us time however to do our first loads of washing, top up our water with a hose rather than lugging 20litre water bags from foreshore picnic reserves, charge up batteries, give the dunny a good clean out and spruce up the van. As far as caravan parks go this one wasn't bad. At least we had really long showers and there was plenty of space for each van and it was beside the river...and as the afternoon wore on it filled up with grey nomads just like us! Chores done we walked around town and ended up at the Terminus Hotel, one of the two lovely old pubs on top of the hill, had a well-deserved drink and watched the ferry carry its loads of cars across the river.

Next morning (Monday) we headed off to the quaint town of Burra to meet up with Blackie and Phil to travel in convoy for the rest of the trip to Daly. Burra is as delightful at ground level as it is from the air. The historic old open cut mining town with its turquoise lake is very quaint with lots of lovely old buildings. We had a good walk around, bought locally grown lamb racks from the butcher, picked rosemary from the town garden beside the old bridge and had a cappy. We drove up the hill separating the north and south sections of the town and had a look at the lake and mining ruins and down over the town.

From Burra we travelled through interesting cropped farm country to Melrose via Spalding, Gulnane and Gladstone arriving around 3. At Melrose we camped at the showgrounds at the base of Mount Remarkable. There were and only a handful of campers over acres of ground so more to our liking than Morgan. I had a good bike ride and James played ball with Phil. He really enjoyed the extra company and attention. We all had a few drinks and BBQ dinner together.

We left Melrose around 8.30 Tuesday for the beautiful drive to Port Augusta through the southern tip of the Flinders Ranges and then on to Woomera where we stopped for lunch and a look at the rocket displays. Another few hours on the road had us finally ending a long day in the car around 6pm at Coober Pedy where we stayed in a pretty rough old caravan park. They did however make a fantastic pizza there and we could plug into power and run the aircon which was fantastic given it was around 40 degrees and windy as buggery.




The Stuart Highway is a great road with lots of straight sections and long gentle bends and very slight undulations between PA and CP. We sat comfortably just under 100kph and the Beast felt as though it had no load on at all. The countryside was mostly scrubby trees and saltbush, red and desserty.







Yesterday we had another long day on the road covering around 700k departing Coober Pedy at 8.30 and arriving at Alice Springs around 6pm. The Beast had amazing fuel economy with a bit of a tail wind. We did have a hiccup with the aircon but it righted itself thank god as the temp outside was 37 degrees.

The further north we got the more interesting the countryside became with granite outcrops and hills. We started listening an audiobook "The Life of Pi" which I really enjoyed but Brian wasn't so into it. It certainly helped pass the time as did a bit of music but nevertheless it was a very long day in the car and James was quite over it by the time we stopped at Heritage caravan park about 6km south of Alice Springs. It is actually really nice here - natural bush setting with plenty of trees and grass and large drive through sites with heaps of space. We had a yummy dinner last night - roast rack of lamb, pumpkin, potatoes and peas with gravy. We love the Baby Q!

We really enjoyed sitting outside in the very warm evening last night chatting with Blackie & Phil over a few drinks. James was in his element - he loves the life of the camp dog!

Mildura 
Victoria

I can't believe it's 8.30 and I am still in bed - albeit on the laptop. I have stunning views of the Murray from one window and the bush from all the others and its pretty crisp outside so blogging is a great option right now.

We have spent the last two nights at Psyche Pumps about 10k upstream from Mildura. This is the same place we camped when we were up here in winter so we feel very at home as does James. He is taking well to life on the road and sticking closer to home following his bush excursion at Echuca.

The Beast travelled the 400 odd k's here beautifully and the airbag suspension is fantastic. We had strong headwinds so fuel consumption was up a bit, but man, do we love that car! You wouldn't know you had a boat on top and two and a half ton of van on behind. Heaps of power.

Yesterday was warm and windy as hell with the odd shower which mixed with a red dust storm to create an eerie red smog. We did a spot of fishing and I caught a trout cod (so BJ tells me) but threw him back. We met up with Steve and April and their two lovely girls (friends of Brian's who live here) for dinner last night at an Italian restaurant in town. Great night and my first off cooking duty. James didn't seem to mind being left alone in the dark to look after the van. He's getting used to the idea that this is home.

Today we'll move on to Renmark a hundred km or so downstream for a couple of nights. The Murray River Charts show quite a few areas where we can camp by the river. We might have a chance to park the Beast and van to explore the tracks on the electric bikes before we decide exactly where to prop. That will be fun!

Echuca
Victoria

Heading off to Mildura today. We would happily stay put but we are planning to meet up with Blackie and Phil on Sunday somewhere around Morgan to make the annual pilgrimage to Daly River to catch some Barra.

We launched the tinnie Monday and Brian is pretty happy with it. The car top loader works brilliantly. The boat came off and then back on with minimal effort and we even had an audience of  locals who wanted to have a bit of a chat about it all.

The last couple of days the weather has been perfect. High 20's and sunshine so we've spent a bit of time on the tinnie or at the water's edge with our lines in. Didn't manage to land anything but did have some good bites. The Beast had its airbags installed yesterday and now sits level with 40 psi. Hopefully will still do so once the van is on. We can pump it up to 100 psi if needs be.

We are having a fantastic time. Brian is getting plenty of work done in and around the walking, bike riding, reading, boating and just mooching around. This is the life!

Echuca
Victoria

It's a beautiful crisp, clear morning up here on the Murray after a cloudy and very windy weekend. The Beast is booked in at Echuca to have the suspension boosted tomorrow so we plan to move on to Mildura Wednesday.

Brian is heaps better and spent most of yesterday utilizing his mobile workshop to modify the tub on the front of the van. James is in disgrace following a disappearing act just before dark last night. Not like him at all but we figure he probably spotted a roo and went after it. I don't know who was in more of a panic - him or us - by the time we found him.

Some firewood gathering, bike riding and fishing on the agenda today. Might even do a maiden voyage in the tinnie!

Echuca

Victoria

Australia

Friday ... day 2. Our camp on a bend in the Murray. A day of R & R and no drinkies yet for BJ - still on antibiotics but improving.

Melbourne - Echuca

Victoria

Australia

Our Journey Commences

At last we are on the road! Left Melbourne yesterday (a bit later than planned cos Brian has a chest infection) and headed straight up to the Murray. The new BT, aka "The Beast", travels like a dream with amazing fuel economy. We are pretty loaded up on the back of the beast with boat, motor, genny, fridge,half of Brian's workshop plus a million other bits and pieces ... hence a bit bum heavy. So first on-the-road project while we are up at Echuca is installation of air suspension bags. Good thing BJ brought his workshop with him!