G'day everyone, guess what I haven't done for a couple of months! We have slowly settled back into our "normal" lives that it kind of made me avoid jumping on the laptop for any decent amount of time outside of work. You see I work in the computer industry, spend most of my days in the office on a computer, so the last thing on my mind when I come home is firing up the laptop. But don't worry, the trip and our experience is never far from our minds, we have just finished chatting about where we were this time last year, ah the memories. Bringing you up to speed on our life in one sentence, only two and half weeks until the arrival of the hitchhiker, ck's doing great and looks amazing, our lives will never be the same. Lots of other stuff has happened, but anyone who has had kids will understand, it all seems to be focussed towards the baby now. Congrats to Suz and Dave who just gave birth to their first bub (Toby) and to Geoff and Jackie on their recent wedding in Canada, been a big year for that family! Anyway here's the latest update from our last few weeks in Tassie, I'm pretty confident that I will finish this story before christmas...

Staying at: Wynyard, TAS, Beach Retreat Tourist Park

Stopped for: 3 nights, 19^th – 22^nd December

            Picture yourself driving through the English country side, with dairy cows staring blankly at you from the side of the road, lush green fields' litter the valley as you drive through them and little old cars go hand in hand with the rusted old tractor sitting in the paddock. This my friends is what driving through Tasmania can be like, none more so than the area between Penguin (it's a town, not the little bird that swims and dresses like a waiter) and Leven Canyon, better known as Gunns Plains. We have a rule on the CK Oz Trip when you're the designated driver, no looking at the scenery; don't tell ck but occasionally I sneak a peak out the corner of my eye, especially when driving around this area. I don't really care what you go see in Tasmania, just make sure you make an effort to drop into the Gunns Plains caves and you will get to see the country side that I'm raving about. As mentioned in the last sentence, we popped past Gunns Plains caves for a spot of lunch where we were entertained by Max the goat, followed by a cheap as chips tour of the cave. A little family run business and probably the best cave we have ever been into. There were only another young couple and us along for the ride so we got stacks of time to check the place out with the very informative guide. Even got to see some glow worms inside which were pretty cool, a little more common in Tassie than I thought. From here we made our way back out of Gunns Plains…wait, stop, just a second, nearly forgot our first little stop on the way out of Leven Canyon on the way too here. A brilliant little waterfall was just on the side of the road; we pulled over and waltzed our way down to the little lookout over the waterfall and the valley below. It's covered in one of the 60 great short walks in Tasmania. I've decided to withhold the name of the waterfall, it's a little gem and you can only really find it by stumbling upon it (that and the fact that I have no bloody idea what the thing was called, it was um before lunch so we weren't paying attention). Moving on, we made tracks for Penguin, a little coastal town in northern Tasmania, you'll never guess what they have for their giant tourist attraction. Scoped out the caravan park in town, and was very surprised to find they added 10 bucks a night for the ocean view powered sites. Thankfully we decided to take a look before coughing up the big ones and found the whole park was under renovation and looked more like an industrial waste site rather than a caravan park. We didn't hang around…Max (the goat and our little puppy back home) would have backed up our decision on this one. So we cruised along the coastal road until we ran into Wynyard, another quiet little coastal town. Magnificent little park, dead quiet and sites right on the edge of the beach, same price as the other sites too! We quickly got word (picked up a brochure) of a private little penguin tour, some dude who does it during the summer holidays for anybody who wants to have a squiz at the little waiters. After getting in touch with him he was around at our camp site in a jiffy to give us a run down of what to expect that night, talk about service! We wolfed down dinner and waited out the front for our trusty guide to take us onto our personal little tour. On dusk we were picked up in his ever reliable 86 Corolla and found a spot just out of town where all the action happens. So here we were, the sun was setting and on a penguin tour for two. Not long after it started to get dark we had penguins popping up everywhere, and walking right past our bench seat. Thinking it couldn't get any better, we were offered a stroll down the beach to check out (think he used the words "research") the penguins nests and the little chicks. We got to see everything from chicks being fed from their parents, to one penguin that had clearly got the wrong nest and was given a bit of a pounding from the female and sent on his way (ck enjoyed that one!). After spending a few hours with the penguins our guide led us back along the beach and back to the car, it would be wrong of me to mention how he moved a couple of the penguins that were on the path just lazing about, ck and I are sworn to secrecy. The tour guide dropped us back at the park and I emptied the wallet (tour was based on donation and nothing else), out came the moths and about $15 bucks, he deserved more for the tour but it was our life savings at the time.

            Right next to the park was the river entrance that looked like a ripping spot for a bit of fishing, close enough to take a couple of beers and snag dinner for the good wife. Well I managed to complete the beer side of the equation; the little fish's got the better of me this time. The park was also littered with Rabbits, a nice little surprise when you're going for that midnight run to the dunny! So we had a bit of spare time to check out a few things around the area, first stop was out to the Lighthouse and Table Cape overlooking Wynyard. A nice view but I think we spent more time trying to work whether the fields of flowers were poppies, tulips or magnolias. I have no idea what a magnolia looks like but it was the first one that came to my mind when I was thinking of a third flower. We popped into the local town market, picked up some new reading material and checked out the rest of the towns worldly goods on offer.

            Last stop on the list of things to do was into the local shopping district to pick up the all important Christmas decorations. Look no further than the Tassie favourite, Chicken Feed shop n save! Picked up some snazzy Santa hats, a whole bunch of tinsel and the pista de resistance, CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!! I love setting up the lights at home, last year Brian & Erica helped out to produce some of our best results yet, well Erica mentioned that she had to redo the stuff that Brian had done but I'm sure no one remembers that by now. So here we are, travelling around Australia (believe it or not but Tassie is part of Oz) and I still have a chance to setup the lights for the big fella to help find us.

Weather: Nice for Tasmania really, from 19-24 during the days down to about 7-11 overnight.

Staying at: Montagu, TAS, Montagu Park

Stopped for: 4 nights, 22^nd – 26^th December

            And so this is Christmas…and what have we done? It's another year over, oh man how much have you drunk? Well now I think of it, how much have we done, this year is something we will never forget but this is no time for reflection and new years resolutions, this is Christmas, time to eat yourself stupid! We made the trip from Wynyard driving our way along the coast through Smithton onto Montagu Park and the stop for Christmas, we figured it was a good idea to get here before the crowds arrive (they never really did!). Montagu park was a huge camp area on the side of the ocean with plenty of different spots to choose from and the option to setup a outdoor fireplace if that took your fancy. We setup camp a mile away from everyone else, put the fireplace near the kitchen and cracked open the first beer for the day before you could say what's for lunch. In the arvo I headed out for a bit of a fish while ck kicked back for a bit of reading with her eyes closed, I have no idea how she does that but she seems happy so best not to ask. Met a few of the local ferals while I sat there warming up the ocean with my fishing line, well it wasn't doing anything to attract the fish so I'd like to think it was doing something useful. Didn't catch anything but one of the lads who went out with a spear gun (cheat!) donated his catch to us, great stuff. The camp area had very basic facilities, actually just one toilet and all the pro campers with the mesh screens around their campsite. No showers in site but a tap was all we needed, just wish it wasn't a five minute walk away, great weights training carrying two 9lt buckets for the missus. We had a fire every night thanks to ck's handy spotting of some firewood and the kind donations from the camp caretakers. Now generators have a purpose as we all know, generate power when your supplies are low, not run all day everyday. I think I have covered this topic before, even complemented some people on their generator etiquette. Unfortunately this place was the land of pain in the butt generator user/abusers. Including CHRISTMAS DAY these people ran their generators non stop, up to midnight and then back on at 7am, gotta keep that TV running. Seriously people, just give it a break sometimes, you might enjoy the peace and quiet. Oh, before I forget, we had plenty of time to relax while we were staying here, we read stacks of books including my all time best, one Steven King novel in a day.

Ck was forced to give into my begging and we took off the next morning for a place called Dismal Swamp, despite the name this is one awesome place. The attraction, one sick 110 metre slide from the café (don't have a milkshake or it could turn into a waterslide, blurrrggghhh) down to the swamp down below. You can actually walk down but then again, you can eat brussel sprouts too, who in their right mind would choose either. Ck failed about 6 of the ten requirements for the slide but seemed to be suffering from some reading disorder and grabbed a helmet and sack before anyone could check on her pregnantness (it's a word now!). And the ride, it was sensational, takes about 10-12 seconds and makes even the manliest man (even ones with plenty of notches on the belt) squeal like a girl, no shame in us admitting that we both did. I ran up the hill, being overtaken by kid's way too energetic for my liking, trying to break my record. I could have kept going all day but that hill back up to the top is a killer, and ck was starting to get pretty bored sitting there waiting for me. We strolled around the path through the swamp, not overly exciting but nice for a bit of a chat and to rest after all that sliding. Went back up the top for a bit of lunch and I returned for my final ride, last chance at the record. Third time I got one of the quickest of the day, clever me did it on a full stomach to help the weight/speed ratio a little, and yet ck still didn't think I was the coolest husband in the world. Popped into Smithton on the way home to pick up the all important food for Christmas lunch.

            Next day we took a drive to the nearby town of Stanley to see the nut, a nice big hill with a flat top overlooking the ocean. You have two options upon arriving, jump on the chairlift or walk up one of the steepest paths you are likely to see in your life. Our current financial arrangement (don't spend any money unless you have to) meant we hiked up the mountain, plus mum & dad had done it a while back so there is no way we were going up the easy way (Pete & Liana you big girls!). The walk around up the top provide some pretty spectacular views of the area, takes a little bit longer than you'd think but well worth the effort. Rolled back down to the bottom and headed straight to the local seafood shop for lunch. Grabbed the seafood basket and drove down for a nice spot of lunch on the beach, with the sun on our backs it was a nice change to the chilly weather we have been through recently. We drove out to some tourist attraction but you had to pay and we just don't get that excited at looking at old buildings of a farm.

Christmas Day was an absolute cracker, woke to a crystal clear sky and the air was still, perfect for a quiet Christmas morning. Spent an hour or so meandering along the waters edge, the sun was warm and we actually put the legs into the water. A magic and peaceful morning. Started the roast early as we got into the champagne and snacks, no Christmas presents that I can tell you about, we had nowhere to store anything. Cooked with the coals for the first time ever, great stuff with the old camp oven roasting along all day. After a gazillion SMS messages to the family, a poor attempt at making them jealous, we settled in for a slow and lazy Christmas lunch. A cracking roast chook and veges washed down with some wine from mum, just lovely. We spent the arvo playing cards, Carcassonne & trivial pursuit and me drinking enough for all four of us. The hitchhikers first Christmas, didn't really get involved but I'm sure it was excited. Kept the coals hot and spent over six hours cooking CK's now famous Apple crumble, we ate nearly all of it until we burst. The Santa hat never left the noggin all day, we finished off the day with a shower, 8 litres each, it was Christmas after all! Happy Christmas everyone.

A lovely stop, but time to move on, we left on Boxing Day listening to the cricket, man I love Boxing Day.

Weather: Let's go with average to good, cool at night, but this is Tasmania. Christmas morning was magnificent and sunny but overcast and cool in the afternoon. Around 18 to 21 every day.

Staying at: Arthur River, TAS, Manuka Campground

Stopped for: 2 nights, 26^th – 28^th December

Another typically winding drive down to Arthur River, finding ourself on the wild west coast of Tassie for the first time. Over here you can catch a 15 ft wave after breakfast, but you have to paddle past icebergs and some very "big fish with fins", we gave it a miss. Arthur River is a very popular little town for 4wd campers, anyone who enjoys throwing the line in the water, or motor bike enthusiasts. There are a few different campgrounds available, we opted for the Manuka campground, set in typical beach shrub terrain, plenty of spots available but it was filling up pretty fast. We got a great private spot with our own little pademelon visiting us on a regular basis. The only toilets in the entire campground were a short stroll away and we were much protected from the winds. No showers but we figured that we could forego that for a couple of days, adds interests to the debate in the car when you play "what's that smell?".

            I think I've said it before but driving between camp spots in Tassie is like popping down to the shops for some milk compared to driving between towns in WA and NT. Invariably you find yourself at your spot before morning tea, kind of get an insight as to what it must be like for the oldies that get on the road by 7am at the latest. After a bite to eat CK needed a bit of a rest from all the travelling (apparently one of the early symptoms caused by the hitchhiker). I headed out for a run through the town, along the estuary and out to the mighty oceans of Western Tasmania. Copped a fair sledging from the local fisherman who were still digesting Christmas dinners and the amber ale for good company. Returned for an afternoon by the wireless listening to the aussies battle it out, actually had my own little battle with CK, she was on a gaming hot streak, me thinks someone may have been helping her out (two heads are better than one are they not?).

Next morning we headed out for a walk down along the same path as my run yesterday, took a couple of pictures and decided that we were definitely destined to catch some fish here. We headed back after lunch with the car, deck chairs, fishing rods, radio and snacks. Driving down onto the beach, we setup shop along the side of the river along with about 20 other hopeful fisher people. With the cricket on in the background we spent a couple of hours chatting to passing cars and motor bikes, our reclining camp chairs were the talk of the town. Obviously this meant we caught nothing, but it was a great spot to kick back and relax with a fishing rod in the water and a beer in the other hand.

            The only other thing that we did was go and check out the most westerly point in Tassie, just on the other side of the estuary. Not super exciting but thought I better put it in here in case it comes up in a "minor disagreement" in years to come.

            A nice little spot here but we were pretty keen to get into some of the rainforest regions of Tasmania.

Weather: Around 20 during the day and actually pretty good at night. You could hear the surf from this camp spot when the wind blew from your left if you were facing to the right with a drink in your left hand and it was a Tuesday.

Welcome back everyone, sorry about the delay but I switched off for the last week or so of the trip and then didn't want to touch the laptop before I went back to work, I'm sure you understand. Now I wasn't sure if ck reading the previous blog entries, so I deliberately left out her b'day celebrations from last blog. Just testing my love, Happy Birthday for the 2nd of December!

Wecome to Tasmania, land of the mysterious Tassie Tiger, the cute little tassie devil, and more pademelons on the road than cars. We all grew up knowing for a fact that growing up in Tassie guaranteed you the bonus of a second brain to call on, your second cousin was fair game, and the fine Axe swinging folk from Adelaide were your better off relatives. No one cared to tell us of the existence of the most breathtaking rainforest, beautiful coastlines, and unspoilt rivers in possibly the world were just a quick paddle across Bass Straight. A clever marketing ploy must have been devised a long time ago to help keep this area pretty much hidden from the rest of us, the game is up, we found it, and it was brilliant. Oh don't worry, there were plenty of ferals in our path, you could tell a native tasmanian by the rats tail hairdo and the random placement of teeth, but this didn't stop us from exploring this beautiful state. If you ask me, make this state about 15 degrees warmer all year round and it would be right up there as a top destination in Australia. Apologies of course go out to all Tasmanians that read this, just having some fun at your expense, probably just jealous of what you have right out your backyard, seriously take a look, nice view isn't it! Hope you all enjoy the last 6 weeks of the CK Oz Trip, thanks for coming back. 

Staying at: Tasman Sea, VIC – TAS, Spewit of Tasmania I

Stopped for: 1 nights, 13^th December

CK Oz Trip is back on the road for the end of the trip, only 6 weeks left and all of them in Tassie if you don't mind. Max was dropped off at my folk's place, sad to be leaving us, but over the moon at staying at Oma & Opa's! Late on a very ordinary Saturday afternoon we hooked up the camper, dodging the wind and rain and made tracks for the Spewit of Tasmania. There was a shocking storm blowing across the state, but even more importantly, across the Bass Straight. This is not the news you want to hear when you're about to board the giant bathtub. After breaking just about every law getting onto the boat, including a nice little reminder (after I had done it!) that putting fuel into the car in the line-up is worth about $5000 smackaroonies, we left the mainland of Australia. We'd booked a very luxurious ocean view recliner each, and as a mild form of punishment they set the recline position to half way. We had a brilliant idea of watching a movie in the cinema on board before tucking in for the night. Bad idea let me tell you; firstly it was the new Hulk movie, why oh why do they make us watch this stuff? Not long into the movie we discovered mistake number two, the crossing out into open water, makes the stomach churn just thinking about it. With the cinema located at the front of the boat, and the swells ranging from 5-10 metres, we were in for a bumpy ride. Unfortunately the little hitchhiker didn't take too kindly to the movement and troubled ck for the whole trip. Wish I could say I had the same problem, popped in a couple of those sleeping tablets and whammo, I was dreaming about making a ton on the G before sunrise. Thankfully we weren't thrown out with the bath water and made it safely (ck very happy to see solid ground) into Devonport. After a little disagreement with the customs guys in Tassie we were on our way, lets just say if he asks you if you have any fruit or vegies on board just say "yes", instead of "I'm not sure, maybe", apparently they don't like that.

Weather: Storms, wind, rain, don't make for the ideal crossing through the heads and out into open water.

Staying at: Devonport, Tasmania, Cosy Cabins

Stopped for: 2 nights, 14^th November – 16^th December

Of course we had plenty of time back home to plan our trip around Tassie, but do you think we did it? Our first stop wasn't that far from the Spewit's terminal, a little caravan park just around the corner. Plan for day number one, Sleep! And that we did, ck fell asleep in the camper, I nodded off outside and woke up nicely sunburnt. It didn't take long to work out that it might be bloody cold in Tassie, but that sun will fry you in about ten minutes if you're not careful. We didn't get super excited about doing too much in Devonport, bit of rest and relaxation before strutting our stuff around some of the national parks and beach's of the apple isle. We stretched the legs the second morning and made it all the way to a café in town (oh no, don't worry, we drove) for some coffee and cake. Later on I picked up a new fishing rod, with grand plans of depleting the fishing stocks around the island. Other than finishing off a book on how to be the perfect dad we didn't do much else.

Weather: Around 20 and overcast both days we were here, perfect for sunburn.

Staying at: Cradle Mountain, TAS, Cradle Valley Camp Ground

Stopped for: 2 nights, 16^th – 18^th November

Now we're talking, destination – Cradle Mountain! We both bounced out of bed in anticipation of a trip through the country side into our first national park. On the way we stopped off into the little quaint town of Sheffield, their claim to fame being murals painted on most of the walls and billboards in town by local budding artists, pretty cool stuff. Brilliant drive into cradle mountain, this was to be our first look at the winding roads of Tasmania, little did we know at the time but every road is like that, we did not see one straight road for the whole trip. The Cradle Mountain campground is pretty big and plenty of sites available, the showers are based on a five minute timer, and seemed to have a random heat exchange with the washing machines, at stages I was doing a delightful little shower dance as the temperature changed. We got ourselves a nice cold non powered site real close to the best camp kitchen in Australia, if not damn close. This camp kitchen had it all, two roaring open fires, full cooking facilites, more wood than you can poke a stick at, and plenty of room for a family reunion. We made the most of these facilities thanks to the icy weather that greeted us every day, and we weren't alone. Not long after setting up we set about finding out what walks were available to us, there was plenty, just depends on how far you're willing to go from the fire. Without waiting any longer we checked out the little pencil pine and Knyvet falls walk next to the visitors centre, nice but nothing to stop you wearing socks with sandals. Not done yet, and energy to burn, we found the very picturesque enchanted stroll, well worth the expedition. With the drizzle starting to settle in, the warmth of the fire lured us back to camp, and that's where we stayed until we had to go to bed. That sucked big time, it was in the very low single digits outside and we even considered sleeping in the camp kitchen.

            We woke the next morning to a very chilly, but promising skyline and the chance of a good days walking. With no time to spare we downed breakfast in under our standard two hour timeframe and packed the back full of goodies to keep us going all day. Walked down to the bus stop and caught the free shuttle bus all the way into Dove Lake, a brilliant idea that help keeps the traffic down. We jumped off, signed our life away on the walker registration and set off on the Dove Lake circuit. This remarkable walk does a complete circuit around Dove Lave, all under the watchful eye of Cradle Mountain. The whole time we kept questioning the sanity of Andy & Jane who completed this circuit a few years ago, crutches and all. No wonder why the tale ends with him bandaged and bruised receiving a standing ovation when they finally returned to the resort. Mate, your nuts, still have no idea how you made it around this track but next beer is on me! We ran into a few people along the trek that were just starting off on the overlander trek, a nice little stroll for about 6-8 days along the mountain ridges all the way to Lake St Clair. It all sounds good till you see what the weather does down here; freezing to insanity is one of the first things that come to mind. And to give you a nice little reminder, there was snow just under the tip of Cradle Mountain, a spectacular sight. After trudging the whole way round we were more than pleased to see the bus for the trip back, on the way back to camp a decent sized wombat was dancing on one of the grassy plains on the side of the road. Rumour has it that a wombat under full steam running at you can actually break your leg, incredible I know! A moment of stupidity had us stop the bus driver and we hopped off for more walking through the valley all the way back to the information centre. On the way we were lucky enough to bump into a little wombat protecting its baby, got a couple of cool shots but the whole time I suspected ck was worried about the wombat charging us and doing some damage to her very frail husband. After successfully making it back to the information centre for another trip on the bus, and whinging for the last 30 minutes, there was no foolish thoughts to get off again, we stayed on all the way back to the camp ground for a hot coffee, or beer, lets go with beer and some relaxing in front of the fire. There were plenty of tables in the camp kitchen but only one offered seating right in front of the fireplace. We pretty much owned that table the whole time we were here, you just need to get there before everyone arrives for dinner and you become the envy of the whole campground.

Weather: Arrived in light misty rain that didn't stop for the afternoon, that was ok, it was the single digit temperature that was the killer. Icy at night, but a cracking day for the walk at the base of Cradle mountain, low teens and plenty of sunburn thanks to us ignoring the sun.

Staying at: Leven Canyon, TAS, Leven Canyon Reserve

Stopped for: 1 night, 18^th – 19^th November

            Today we got out first real taste of what it was going to be like driving around the country side of Tasmania, before you warm up the car you're already at your destination. Quick as it takes for you to put on a load of washing we had covered the distance between Cradle Valley and Leven Canyon. If you have a huge caravan I would probably avoid the roads we took as they are very steep, we had to engage our low gears and put ck out the back of the camper to push a couple of times just to make sure we made it. Some might shake their heads that the pregnant wife shouldn't be doing stuff like that, but I reasoned that she had the strength of two people on her side, Max would have agreed with me. To our surprise, we pulled into a completely free camp spot set in the rainforest, with pretty much new toilets, free bbq/fireplaces and wood provided, we've been to caravan parks that would have to hold their head in shame. After whipping up a quick lunch we set sail on the Leven Canyon walk, choosing what turned out to be the smart way to go around the loop walk. A gradual climb for about 20 minutes opened up to an amazing lookout over the canyon and the thrashing rapids below. We have spent a few hours in the past trying to get views like this, and for us is was just a leisurely stroll from our free camp. Continuing on the loop we discovered the wrong way to go, about 697 steps from the bottom to the top, thankfully we were going down! At the time we thought that no one would be crazy enough to choose the other way, we ended up meeting them later on that day. By the time we reached the bottom our legs were shaking and the arthritis was starting to play up a little bit. The walk back to camp was another gradual climb through very dense rainforest and rounded out the walk just nicely.

            Back at camp we were joined by two young German girls, not that long out of school and trekking around Oz in a little beaten up 4wd. These young ladies are the ones who went the wrong way to the lookout, much to our amusement. They spent the night by our fire, chatting about life on the road and all things that they didn't like about Australia. Actually that's probably being a little unfair, they had a lot of nice things to say but a couple of the obscure ones sticks in the memory. Namely their complete disgust with our Christmas lights, apparently to much colour, and our completely disorganised Christmas trees, something that hurt us deeply. Who doesn't remember throwing all the different decorations on the tree, some half cracked from when the cat thought the tree was laughing at it and attacked it like something out of a Jackie Chan movie? Or launching from halfway across the room the candy canes and wrestling the family dog who thought…well all his christmas' has come at once when they fell on the ground. Jumping on the roof and spending hours in the blazing summer sun, pinning Christmas lights to the roof line and thinking 'just one more set, that's all I need for perfection, just one more set'. Good times hey, good times. And then they finished it off with calling our Christmas dinner bland and boring. This coming from Germans! We tried hopelessly to explain that Christmas in Australia can't be captured by something you see in the supermarket, ours is a feast of national and international delicacies that leave you begging for someone to put the sweets away for fear of exploding. If someone sees these two young girls around Christmas, please take them in and show them what life in Australia is really like. None of the ladies would believe my story about a wombat's ability to break legs, might need to do some more research on that one. After a few drinks and plenty of laughs (after we got over the conversation above!) we called it a night and reluctantly headed to a bed and another chilly night away from the fire.

            After a huge sleep in, no checkout time here baby, we spent a few hours gorging over breakfast and reading in the morning sunlight. Around midday we figured that we should push on to our next destination, said goodbye to the girls (who were moving even slower than us) and looked towards our next stop. This was and will probably remain one of the best free camp spots we have been to, a gorgeous setting right in the heart of the rainforest and brilliant facilities, bravo Tassie, love your work.

Weather: After driving through some drizzle, it cleared to a fine but cool afternoon, around 12 degrees. At night the temperature plummeted again and we went close to freezing our eyebrows off, especially when the wind came roaring through the canyon.

Staying at: Bright, VIC, Bright Caravan & Camping Park

Stopped for: 7 nights, 20^th – 27^th November

            We were only home for a couple of days before the crew was back in the car and our destination this time was around the ski area of Victoria and the little town of Bright. From our place to the turnoff to Bright are just about all freeways now, and probably one of the best roads in Australia. It was an easy drive the whole way and great to know that we are away for nearly 2 weeks this time. Arrived mid afternoon and found the tiny little tourist information centre to get the low down on camping in the area. We planned to get a powered site for a few nights as there was a promise of snow and rough weather on its way. For one of the only times on the trip the info centre turned out to almost be completely useless. After standing behind an older couple who were looking for 5 star accommodations in the area, and watching them receive excellent service, I presumed the same would be afforded to me. Well, like a slap in the face with a nice juicy cow patty, she could barely raise her eyes above the glasses hanging half way down her nose. Just the shear mention of the word camping made her face contort like someone had let a beauty go behind the counter. They had no information on any of the caravan parks in the area, let alone which ones allowed dogs, she did however manage to raise an arm and point in the general direction of one nearby. I thanked her profusely for all of her help and left before her life was made any more miserable by my presence. A very surprising incident, I still wonder whether it was not showering or lack of deodorant that did it.

Anyway we stumbled our way to the Bright Caravan Park, a beautiful setting right along the banks of the river and only a two minute stroll into the centre of town. It was right in the middle of the quiet season, there was no one around and the park had plenty of sites on offer. On the plus side, we chose a spot a mile away from anybody, with plenty of shade and views of the river. On the negative, it was a fair hike to the toilet facilities, something that ck and the hitchhiker were not thrilled about, but they never complained. We'd setup everything including the annexe and was just settling down for the afternoon beer when we were mauled by blow flies. Quicker than it takes to tie your dads shoelaces together under the dinner table we had thrown on the fly walls and sprayed like mad to get some peace. After that it was brilliant, our spot caught the afternoon sun everyday and before you knew it we were nodding off for a quick nanna nap. At night in the first few days the temperature dropped to what I'd like to be known as just pure ridiculous, we had that little blower heater going like the clappers just so we could defrost the zip to go outside. The main ski mountains around us received snow at night, not sleet, and not hail storms, snow! Yep, the kind of fluffy stuff those Demons "members" go nuts over after round 5 and spend the winter drinking cognac in front of the fireplace in their chalets. Unbelievable when you think that summer is only just around the corner.

Alright so here's some the stuff we got up to while we were hanging out in the area. Almost the first stop on the list was the Bright Brewery, I've been planning on going to one since we left Melbourne ten months ago and finally there was one within walking distance, we drove. Now wait, before you jump up and down and scream "you lazy buggers", let me explain our rationale behind this decision. It was freezing, the kind of cold that you ask the beer wench (guy behind the counter this day) to serve the drinks in a thermal mug. Added to that, there was slight drizzle/sleet hitting the streets and walking can be dangerous in those conditions. And let's not forget, we have a dedicated driver in our camp! That's right ladies and gentleman, thanks to the addition of the hitchhiker guess who has to take on the heavy burden of drinking for the rest of the trip. So, with all that in mind, driving was the only decision, I'm sure you would all agree by now. Naturally I went along with the chefs suggestion and tried on the six sampler paddle, worth its weight in gold those puppies are. Ck was a trooper as I sat rambling on about the subtle differences in each, and why salt is better than pepper on chicken. We called it an afternoon shortly afterwards and decided to find a wine bar (my suggestions of course) with the promise of a nice hot chocolate for her. After wondering the streets and coming up short we "somehow" ended up back at the brewery for me to carry on that heavy burden. I went with a pint this time of their ridiculously strong pale ale (actually I have no idea what it was, but bugger me it went down well), and left ck sitting out in the artic conditions while I got chatting to the barman about surfing over in WA. Please feel free to forward all letters addressed to ck with "you poor thing" and "horrible husband" as the opening title, I'm sure she could use some support. After the pint I definitely called it quits and we talked each other into going out to the pub for dinner, I was in no state to cook and we weren't sure the gas would come out of the pipes in this weather. Now let me put a question to you, you've had a few strong drinks, it's a dinner at a country pub, and what would you order? No doubt you all selected the chicken parma, excellent decision, goes great with a glass of red from the local region let me tell you. Before I could check the desert menu we were back at camp and ck was flicking a movie on the laptop. Where do the hours go sometimes? Lasted about three minutes into the chick flick and that was all my amazingly heavy eyes could take. I think ck personally enjoyed the peace and quiet from my yabbering for a while.

Surprisingly I woke pretty well the next morning, only then did I realise how strong the beers at that brewery really were. Made tracks over to a nearby town named Beechworth, something we heard about over and over in our house from Brian and Erica before they left. Probably best known for the Beechworth Bakery, it was mad to go anywhere else in town so we gave it a go. The place was packed and we managed to find a little spot on stools with our face up against the glass watching the world go by (also checking out the latest in hitchhiker pushers, they really do make them fancy these days). We both went with a pie and a desert, for ck she couldn't go past her favourite, the good old snot log, and for me nothing says desert like death by chocolate. Man did we stuff ourselves, rolling out of the bakery, agreeing that it was as good as the kids kept saying, and decided to walk it off. Found the huge lolly shop nearby and as a form of punishment we walked through there ogling everything from Dutch liquorice to giant lolly pops. Brought back some good memories from our younger days, got out of there as fast as possible because it also nearly brought back lunch from fifteen minutes ago. Great idea to go there after lunch, we saved a fortune. We continued to look in and out of all of the shops along the streets as the band upstairs in the bakery cracked out a country version of Waltzing Matilda, can't just help but sing along to that tune. Some really cool shops with plenty of antiques but I think they tend to target the market making their way up from Brighton, some very expensive nick knacks on offer, but no one ever charges to look. Wouldn't you know it, as we were just about done we found the Beechworth Brewery down one of the little hidden alleys. Now if you ask me it would have been some sort of discrimination on my part if we didn't at least go in for a look. At least this time I could get ck a nice cup of tea while I decided who had the better beers between the neighbouring towns. It seemed to be more of a punishment than I expected, after giving up our spot in front of the fireplace for a family, I struggled through three samplers, apparently not backing up as well from the day before as I first thought. Still we sat there and read a paper that was three weeks old and soaked up the atmosphere inside the little brewery; it is a pretty nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. There was one young guy near us who clearly had his share for the day (disgraceful behaviour that I would never condone) as he did everything to impress the three young ladies he was dining with from burping and farting his way through the nachos, to the final beauty of picking up a few of the bits he's dropped on the floor about thirty minutes earlier and proudly declaring how delicious it still was, gritty but good. Ck drove us home again, man this is going to bite me back when I least expect it! ;-)

            First off the list of mountains nearby was Mount Buffalo, probably only 30 minutes drive from Bright with some amazing views. We stopped off at the chalet but found it closed, no red and blue scarves to be seen anywhere. The lookout here is brilliant, just the sheer drop from where you stand makes your legs feel like lead and you start to get that weird feeling that you could topple over the edge at any stage. Not one for those of you that suffer from a fear of heights, guess you probably wouldn't be up here in the first place but. And then you notice off to the side of the lookout what looks to be a walk track that just goes right over the edge of the cliff, in my stupidity I mentioned this to ck, she still laughs at me. Upon further investigation we found this to be the takeoff site for hang gliders, certainly made more sense than that silly walk track idea! Looked like it would take some guts to take the leap over that edge, think we might come back here one day and give it a go. The further up the mountain we went, the further the temperature gauged plunged into single digits, 4 was probably the worst it got, but this is the middle of the day, just before summer. Up past the little ski slopes and along the dirt road to the walk track for "The Horn". We trudged our way to the top for some amazing views, and just about lost our toes and fingers in the process, it was freezing. Well worth the effort, but so was the invention of a heater in the car, we gave thanks once we were back inside and counting ten fingers and seven toes. On the way back down I had the privilege of driving, and of course Subaru is one of the leading cars in rally driving all around the world. Weaving in and out of corners, sliding the rear of the car, albeit a station wagon, around the corners I was having a blast. Not as impressive to the other passenger in the car who thought it was a scene from driving Miss Daisy and nodded off, sometimes I have that effect on her.

Took Max for a nice big walk along the river from town up to the swing bridge and back the other side. Along the way marvelling at the old gold rush water races and throwing Max in for a bit of a dip in the water that was moving a little faster than all of us expected. He loved every minute of it, not sure he actually realised how close he got to the rapids and a long swim home. It was a pretty warm day and on the way back there were locals swimming in the river, not good considering the source of that water. Snow melts into water and that my friend is where this water was coming from, seriously sections of Antarctica were floating by it was that cold. Max gave me a little look to suggest that maybe we shouldn't have thrown him in a little earlier but then he found some leftover bread from 1998 and he was back in paradise.

One of our favourite things to do on a weekend back home is to head to the local cafes near our house and have a coffee or two while reading a bit of the weekend paper. Even little Max gets to join in the fun, although his patience last about as long as it takes to get someone to take your order. So what better thing to do on a nice sunny morning than strolling into the shops of Bright and completing one of the old home rituals. It was a magnificent way to spend a morning, it was plenty quiet but that didn't seem to bother us, nice to feel the sun on the face and catch up on all the latest news from the big smoke.

Next mountain to conquer, Falls Creek, up through the sleepy little town of Mt Beauty and about seven millions bends and turns. The lookout prior to coming into Mt Beauty, while very picturesque, was occupied by a lady trying to sell some postcards that she had made herself. Everyone has to make a dollar or two these days but I could think of better places to try to sell stuff, I haven't yet taken money to a lookout just in case. We stopped on the way to Falls Creek for a bite to eat at the tiny little village of Bogong. There appears to be a fair bit of work going on there at the moment for the Hydro Electricity thingamajig, we snuck through all of the construction workers to have a nice picnic on the side of the river. Now if you're not a skier this would be the time of the year to go have a look, it is completely dead up at the Falls Creek. We drove around the entire area unimpeded and had a grand old time imagining people breaking legs coming down those double black diamond runs (just sounds impressive!). Lucky for us (despite having to suffer through the freezing nights) there was some snow still sitting around from what fell on the weekend, not enough to drag out the trusty toboggan but it certainly made a decent snowball. We had a quick hot chocolate on the balcony of a very empty café over looking the ski fields and decided to head back home, not that much to do here in the off season.

Last on the list of mountains to check out was Mt Hotham, unbelievably there was still snow up here too, even more than Falls Creek next door. And the drive up here, hoolie doolie, it has some of the best views of any road we have ever been on, the sheer drop on each side is enough to make you check your pants when you get out. There were a few other people up here taking pictures of the late season snow, one nob even walked into the snow with his thongs on. When we left Bright it was actually pretty warm so I was still in shorts and t-shirt, not the best gear for traipsing round in calf deep snow. At least ck made me put the thongs away (I was not that nob) and chuck on the hiking boots. We got some great pics, we have just about seen it all on this trip, it seems such a long time ago that we hit 45 degrees in Esperance. On the way back to camp it bucketed down, hail was hammering the car until I couldn't see two metres in front of the me, and then in the blink of an eye, whacko, perfectly clear skies and a cracking afternoon. 

We spent plenty of time just lazing about the place reading a few novels and catching up on some much needed rest in the 'fresh' air. One afternoon when we were kicking back in the sun we had a surprise guest join the CK Oz Trip party. My cousin Geoff and his new fiancée Jackie had just about driven straight from Queensland to Bright, just to waltz into our little camp site for a beer or two. No need to twist my arm, after ducking down to the local supermarket for some supplies we grabbed a six pack and settled down by the river to catch up. I hadn't seen Geoff in years (another lucky son of a … who has been busy over in the ski slopes of Canada picking himself up a young lady), so great to finally catch up on his stories, also a good chance for us to get to know Jackie. Jackie had been living with Brian & Erica a fair bit during the year so nice to find out how much damage those guys have done to the house. Congrats goes out to Geoff and Jackie who got engaged on their trip to the Great Barrier Reef, not a bad spot to pop the question, lucky you didn't get sea sick, which would have put a dampener on things. Will you blurgggghhhhhhh… yep, can't see that ever working. The next night we had a kick arse BBQ over in their camp ground, nice juicy big chops, snags, a little onion and plenty of potatoes to finish it off. Actually I think we even had a salad, but you know what I say about salad (read early blog entries or become a simpson's nut). We called it a night when the bugs started to bite and the rain started to fall, always seems to bring a BBQ to a sudden end that one.

So a couple of planned days staying at Bright turned into a week, probably a good idea for us to spend some time staying put, someone is supposed to be resting! Our next stop has always been on the trip radar; from the day we left we intended to be travelling to Bendigo for the wedding of our long time friends in Michelle & Dan. Bendigo, here we come!

Weather: Freezing and then it came good with some beautiful sunshine and warm weather, enough to shake the cobwebs off the shorts and work on the tan. Overnight it got down to around 2 one or two nights, then I think we even got close to 30 on one of the days later in the week, it's great to be back in Victoria again!

Staying at: Bendigo, VIC, Central City Caravan Park

Stopped for: 3 nights, 27^th – 30^th November

            Across to Bendigo we went, stopping in at the birthplace of Killing Heidi for lunch in the park, better known as Violet Town, a sleepy little place just off the Hume Freeway. We made our way to Bendigo by mid afternoon, only after adding a nice fresh crack to our windscreen thanks to a truck towing a house in front of us. Seriously, if we didn't have a window it would have clocked me fair and square on the noggin, looks like we will definitely be replacing that at the end of the trip. The window that is, the noggin is just fine thanks. Down the main street of Bendigo we dodged the talking tram and jumped into the info centre for the usual run down. This place couldn't be more helpful, I think in total about 8 of their volunteers came to my aid, no cow patties in sight. Luck was also on our side when the closest park to town allowed pets, would have been tough to leave him at the botanical gardens for three days. The park was nothing special, we got our own bit of dirt right next to a primary school, man kids are loud at lunchtime, not sure how my sister does it every day. It's not my practice to describe the toilets at each place, but these guys deserve a mention, this setup was huge and there was more room in this bathroom than our whole house back in Melbourne. And they kept it spotless, some other parks we stayed in could learn a little bit from this place. So after arriving and setting up I ducked into the bathroom to shave the noggin, gotta look our best for the wedding. Here I was half way through the shave when out of the blue my Uncle Gerry waltzes in. He took one glance and kept walking; admittedly I do look a little different since I last saw him. Before you knew it we were sitting down with our Uncle Gerry and Auntie Maria (laying claim to favourite at the moment) having a beer and catching up. Mind you, these guys were only passing through from a trip up to Mildura and decided to crash in Bendigo for the night. We got a chance to check out his new Pajero, looking way too clean for our liking, I have a couple of roads in mind that would help him out with that problem. Anyway there ya go, small world isn't it, wouldn't have been surprised if we hadn't seen them at all, good stuff. Every chance we got Max was taken for a walk along a path that follows along the river, good chance for him to stretch the legs because we weren't going to be around much and he had to stay at camp.

            So on the first night here we were invited along to the family dinner, prior to the wedding, at the best chicken parma pub in Australia. These guys have at least 15 different parma's on offer, kind of like a pizza menu. You know we have actually been here before and someone in our little party didn't order a parma, never lives it down either! Caught up with all the crazy Quinn family over dinner and headed back to Dan & Michelle's for some more drinks and laughs. This was going to be one long weekend, and one damn long blog, this has got out of hand. Right let's cut out some of the crap and just get the important stuff in so you can all get on with your lives. The next day ck went out and about for a bit of a trim, looking much spiffier upon return than the last time she had some work done. That was of course back in Kafwin when yours truly did some of my handy work with the shaver. We went about shopping in town for some gifts and a little present for our anniversary, our 5^th was to fall on the same day as M & D's wedding. Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but at least Dan and I can remind each other in the future so we don't forget. There was a big family BBQ on the night before the wedding but we gave it a miss, ck needed some rest before the fun and frivolity of the wedding. Instead we settled for a pizza and a movie in the camper, while we sat in the pub waiting for the food to arrive our entertainment was provided in the form of a bunch of young guys downing skittle bombs and having a grand old time, these guys looked like they had been at it all day.

            The wedding day was upon us and I don't mind saying we came up looking a million dollars, I dusted off the suit from the attic and ck put on a new dress that looked amazing. Of course there was the last minute panic when I realized I didn't have any decent black socks and ran down to the local supermarket in a panic, never fear they were in the gardening section, it took me about 20 minutes and a fair bit of cursing to find out this. Surprisingly we still got away on time and snuck into the wedding out in the bush with little fuss. Check out the blog pictures, I think I might post one of us looking clean and respectable. The wedding went off without a hitch, a few tears from the ladies and a lot of happy family members when they finally signed that piece of paper that you never look at again. Spent the night catching up with a few of our long time friends and dancing the night away, funny enough we also happened to know the band. Our brother in law Aaron was playing in a duet with another bloke (Colin), carved up a great night on the dance floor too. I told you my family was big! The food was sensational, not to mention the dessert, oh man, it was individually wrapped white chocolate iced wedding cake. Think we both had to pop the top button on the pants before the night was through, really should remember to bring stretchy pants to these parties. They had some of the best speeches we have heard at a wedding, never expected any less from a classic Irish family. The end of the night finished with one of the longest goodbye circles we have ever seen, even Dan sat down on the couch with us after 20 minutes as Michelle said goodbye to everyone. A brilliant wedding, lucky ducks were heading over to Lang Cowie for their honeymoon. We wish them well for their future, they deserve it.

So that's it, their married, and we celebrate one more year as a married couple, it's been one hell of a year but!

Weather: Overcast and a little drizzly on the Friday, and then it came out to a perfect day for the wedding, probably 24 and the sun was out all afternoon, brilliant.

The Hitchhiker

Staying at: Wilsons Promontory, VIC, Shallow Inlet Campground

Stopped for: 4 nights, 9^th – 13^th November

You wouldn't believe it; we were hooking up the camper to the car for our first big trip when a bloke driving down the street found our car hanging halfway out on the road. He sat there for a couple of minutes mumbling and grumbling then realised he could sneak through, as he drove off he gave us a piece of his mind, sometimes you just miss the kindness of strangers on the road. With nothing holding us back we took off, gave Karen the instructions and let her guide us all the way to Wilsons Prom, astute readers will remember Karen is our much loved GPS. Max once again resumed his sleeping position next to the beer in the back, always looks comfy lying up against those bottles. Thanks to Max's attendance on this trip, we couldn't camp inside Wilsons Prom so had to look for options close by, found a great spot too. Shallow Inlet Campground is just on the outskirts of the National Park, featuring pit toilets and sites covered in plenty of trees and fernery. We setup camp for a few days and planned to take it pretty easy, ck still learning to fly if you know what I mean. The campground is right on the edge of the inlet, kind of like a calm bay with plenty of walks on the beach available along with fishing if you can cast over 100 metres at low tide, we can't and didn't.

The aim of this trip was a fair bit of rest and relaxation, fresh air is often the best tonic to make you feel better. With that in mind we set about reading some novels and soaking up whatever sunshine came our way. Our site was at the end of the camp area and no through traffic, this encouraged a fair bit of wildlife to dance around the site, mostly to irk Max we think. He did manage to pin a decent blue tongue lizard as it was crossing the road, of course didn't know what to do afterwards and just stood there barking at it. The crew went for a nice stroll up the inlet along the sandy bank, and then Max found a really cool surprise for us. A little echidna was building a sandcastle right along the foreshore, something I didn't know that they did. Then again I saw the other day that a kangaroo has been filmed catching some waves along the surf coast of Geelong. A strange world we live in indeed. Max had no idea what the hell to do with that let me tell you, he packed himself every time it moved. We left it in peace and gave Max a good pat for not trying to eat it.

First trip out was to a little place on the other side of the inlet known as Sandy Point. We could see a stack of cars on the other side so curiosity had got the better of us, sure enough we could drive around to the point on the beach for a bit of a look. Over the hill and down into town we skipped onto the magnificent beach by foot, a beautiful surf beach with sand breaks, finally no more reef! With a little bit of encouragement from the good wife, I jogged back to the car to grab the board and the rest of the gear to enter the cooler waters of Victoria. It took me about fifteen minutes to get the board out of its cover, the wax had melted to the board cover at some stage between WA, then across all of NT, up to QLD and then back down to VIC. Keen as a cucumber I was in the water and splashing about like a coin lost in a washing machine. No matter how many times you check the pants it's either money or the dreaded tissue that makes you curse at the end of a cycle. After catching a few waves and starting to feel the body respond to the total lack of exercise in the last month I returned to hear rapturous applause and complete idolisation from ck. Actually I found her dozing with an open book lying on her chest, she mumbled something about forgetting where I was, luckily she offered to shout us a couple of ice-creams. Upon return to camp I went about paying for a couple of extra nights with the caretaker and found myself right in the middle of a little happy hour. My arm was easily twisted to accept the offer of some home made sambuca that put hairs on your chest, not too many caravan parks do I recall getting that kind of service at reception.

Next day we planned to head into Wilsons Prom National Park so I took Max for a jog up the inlet and back to help him sleep the rest of the day. It was a cracking morning, by the end of the run we were both panting heavily and looking for the shade of a tree to fall asleep under. No chance as ck was up and about, ready to go out for a day of sightseeing, after a quick shower in the portable tent I was right behind her. A quick drive into the park and we wound our way to the end of the park, the Tidal River campground, of course stopping at a couple of the lookouts on the way for some quick pics. A short stroll and just about the best beach in Australia was in front of us, Normans Beach. Anyone who has been here is probably nodding their head right now; otherwise they came here during winter of when the weather was pretty ordinary. Set in almost a bay type setting, there was plenty on offer for the whole family. From super waves at the surfing section, to light swell the closer you got to the river and the of course the weaving Tidal River, a great spot to do a bit of wading of build the dream sandcastle. With nice soft sand and mountains on either side of the beach, it is one of the most unspoilt locations that I can recall. After having a bite to eat for lunch and wading up and down the river we got up the courage to have a dip in the surf, no wetsuit in sight! It was around 30 degrees that day; the water didn't get even near half that temperature and it had you jumping over every wave, squealing like a man whose wife has just asked him to watch a chick flick. Not sure "the boys" have ever forgiven me for going in that water, not sure I want to say anything more about that. After quite a few hours of soaking up the sun and trying to defrost we packed up the picnic and checked out a few of the other attractions. Decided to skip the walk up Mt Oberon, figured it didn't fall into our "Rest & Relaxation" rule for ck for this particular trip, not to worry, it's not going anywhere. The main attraction on the way back out was the very popular squeaky beach, it didn't disappoint and despite the looks of the others at the beach we squeaked it up with a bit of twisting and jiving. The Prom is a damn nice national park, not that far from Melbourne, you can see why you have to go into a ballot to camp here over the school holidays, a spot we will definitely be coming back too. Returned to camp to find Max over the moon upon our opening the zip, found out why a couple of minutes later. Our neighbour a couple of trees down called in to let us know that he'd checked out inside our camper in case snakes had managed to get in. Apparently Max had barked at him when he approached the camper, I'm no genius but I'm guessing that most dogs would do that, much to his concern. After reassuring him that a snake hadn't managed to climb up the wall and open our closed zip, he buggered off, much to the amusement of us; some people just astound us for stupidity. Later on we found out he was from Canberra, um how can I be nice about this, sometimes it's better not to say anything at all. G'day to everyone in our nations capital, look out, he's coming back some day!

            It's funny, even though we sort of planned to stay put and relax, before you knew it we were packing up the camper and looking for the next destination, it's hard to get rid of the travel bug once you've caught it. Something a little closer to home but with surfing still on offer…

Weather: The weather just got better and better, started off around 24 and then made its way right up to 30 for the last couple of days; think we got the best of Melbourne's weather for this time of the year.

Staying at: Phillip Island, VIC, Cowes Caravan Park

Stopped for: 3 nights, 13^th – 16^th November

A nice trip between the Prom and the Island, along the back road that follows the coast most of the way, never been that way before and it looks like they have actually had some rain down that way, very green.  The wind picked up while we were driving and didn't real stop the whole time we were at Phillip Island, no comparison to the great winds of SA but still enough to just to be a nuisance. Got a nice grassy site at a dog friendly park in Cowes, the park is situated right along the beach but unfortunately all the beach side spots were full and no one was moving. At least our site was sheltered from most of the wind and was pretty quiet while we were in town. Nothing was really on the plans for our stay here, we have been here a few times before, it gave ck a good chance to catch up on some reading and I could hopefully catch a wave or two. So I spent the next couple of days running around in the car between Cape Woolamai and Smiths Beach trying to find a decent wave. The first day found Smiths Beach packed with school groups learning to surf the non existent waves, and Woolamai was pumping. I'm talking some massive tubes that are best left to the experts, if anyone has been here before you know how unkind this area can be to the hacks (yours truly). It was sweet just sitting there watching a few guys take on some decent surf. On the second day in my quest for a wave it was pretty much washed out right around the island, and then the migraine hit, a big nasty one that wiped me out for a few days. So here I was being looked after by my ever loving wife when she should have been resting. Ck took on walking Max duties down the beach and picking up takeout the night when neither of us was up to cooking, sometimes it's a good excuse. It wasn't the best way to finish off our first full week on the road, but not to worry, we could be at work!

            On the way home we paid a surprise visit to Pam & Glenn's place, remember they welcomed young Aragon to their family not that long ago. It was great to see all the kids again, and made for a great afternoon of kicking around the footy, throwing kids around the backyard and a bit of off road driving through their property. They put on lunch to feed the army and take care of us too, we really missed these guys on our trip, and they are growing up way too fast. Eventually we had to leave and make our way back home, declared the week a success and started short listing our options for the next trip.

Weather: Windy, overcast and cooling down. Started off mid 20's but dropped below 20 without really trying and stayed there for the last couple of days.

Staying at: Melbourne, VIC, Lots of Different Places

Stopped for: 6 weeks, 22^nd September – 31^st October

            While I'm sure you guys would enjoy nothing more than reading about our six weeks back home, I think I might skip most of the details to save you drilling through your toes out of boredom. No really, think about it, drilling through your toes would really hurt and it doesn't seem fair to do that to you. As you all know by now, we are back home for ck to go to hospital for a little bit, and then recover as quickly as possible so we can get back on the road, no pressure my love! Before I give a QUICK summary (I hear 10 pages coming up!) of our time back home, we have a few people to thank for looking after us during what was a pretty tough time. In no particular order of course…

            Andy & Jane – These guys once again put us up in their house in Fitzroy at a moments notice without even batting an eyelid. They have pretty much been there for us every time we have needed their assistance with hospital visits and must surely be getting sick of me by now. Thanks for all the late night cups of tea and chats when I needed someone to talk to guys, and an even bigger thanks to Gary, Nathan & Selwood for letting us into their domain. Anyone interested, its two cats and a dog, you may also detect a slight favouring for one particular football team there too. Also thanks for the wake after the game that we are not going to talk about, the beers helped dull the pain! Not sure that we can ever repay them for the hospitality and friendship over the years, thanks guys. Enjoy your trip over to New York, can't wait to catch up when you return.

            Jeanette & Aaron & Elliotte & Bump 2 & Humphrey – Ahh, Net and Aaron, what can we say, thanks heaps for the use of mum and dads house which you were custodians of while your reno's are in progress. There was no better site than Aaron and I sitting on the sofa like two grumpy old men with the flu of death hanging over us. Didn't take long for me to be back in Melbourne and hooking up with a cold again, DOH! Who will ever forget the memories of the little discoveries in each bedroom during our stay, although why you had glow in the dark handcuffs under your pillow is beyond young and innocent people like us. Special thanks to Elliotte for playing with us for a few days, your dancing to AC/DC is an inspiration for all 2 year olds. Oh yeah, thanks mum and dad, perfect timing you still being on your trip! For those who don't know, Humphrey is the cat and Bump 2 is Net's second baby due on the fabulous date of 8^th January 2009 (Better known as my birthday, until bump 2 takes all the attention away). And lastly, it's was a sad sign when Brian & Erica visited and we couldn't make it to the end of a game of pictionary, I'm sure it was past 9:30, shock, horror! It was still kind of cool being back home after moving out all those years ago, nice and relaxing and old enough to raid the drinks cabinet finally… mmmm port!!!

            Tim & Fiona & Alice – During ck's hospital visit Tim & Fi kindly gave up their living room (and huge tv!) for me to crash on so I could be close to hospital, again in Fitzroy. Not to mention the fact that they have a six month old gorgeous baby to take care of (little Alice), even though I didn't even really get to see them it didn't seem to be a problem. The highlight was Tim's famed espressos in the morning to kick start the day reminded me of why I love Melbourne. Thanks heaps for putting me up at such short notice guys, it was a tough time and your hospitality was much appreciated. I'm sure we will find our way into a situation where we can repay you when we finally return home.

             Brian & Erica – Huge, massive, super thanks to Fang and Ms Ford, these two kids were renting our place while we were away and jumped at the chance to give up their privacy to welcome us back home.. Brian, as mentioned before is my brother who has been skiing over in Canada for a couple of years (lucky b*$!@rd), where he met his lovely girlfriend Erica and dragged her kicking and screaming over to Australia. The day that ck checked out of hospital we checked into the spare room at our place, and there we stayed until they left. Thanks for not only giving up your freedom, but entertaining me for endless hours with games of squatter, and finally Carcassonne when our gear arrived back home. While I'm on it, the CK Oz Trip crew dropped into "The Games Shop" in Melbourne (the home of the Carcassonne game) for a surprise visit but unfortunately Lucas & Barb were hidden in the office, maybe next time! They'd be happy to know we have now added an expansion pack (The princess & the dragon), jeez that sounds so nerdy doesn't it. Special thanks to Erica for giving me someone to "drag" around the shops while Brian was working (hehehehe, hahahaha) and the good wife was trying to recover in peace. Max was the big winner really, thanks for looking after him the whole time while we were back in Melbourne, not sure he has really ever gotten over you guys leaving him behind when you left for Canada again. Oh and Brian, just so you know I had you covered on the table tennis, sometimes it was just plain embarrassing having to use my left hand to keep you in it! Travel safe guys, the family all miss you already. Can't believe you're not going to be here for you know what…

            Ok, apologies to everyone else who I forgot to thank, you know that we really appreciated all of the messages and support, hugs and kisses to you all. P.S. Next time I would like some flowers too, no one ever thinks of the poor old husband. ;-) Speaking of which, I probably should cover off the trip to the hospital for the good wife and the pain and suffering she went through, although I might dodge a bit of the gruesome stuff in case the kids are reading this. An unfortunate situation for us to be back here again, the docs still don't know why it happened but sometimes life can tend to be a little unfair. It just seems sometimes that Caroline has had more than her fair share of it over the last few years, guess that means it can only be good from here right? So, after finding out that things were not quite as they should be the good doctors booked her in for surgery, even introduced us to a new dude who could perform some magic stuff with a tiny camera through the belly button, amazing stuff. After waving her off I realised I was packing myself this time, not sure why I was on edge but it must have been ten times worse for her. Let me tell you sitting around waiting several hours after she is supposed to be back is no fun, even the nurses starting doing some investigation for me. I finally got the call from the doc to confirm everything went to according to plan, brain still where it should be, left leg confirmed as still attached and ck giving some lip as soon as she woke up. Of course she returned to her room stoned off her nut and in great spirits, who wouldn't be when they pump you full of morphine and having you dreaming of fairies taking over the taxi service in the Melbourne CBD. In total she had three cuts in the front, and one in the back, all of which she was very proud of while the drugs were still in play. While it was hard to watch her suffer in hospital, it is made even worse by watching the meals come out, hospital food surely does more harm than good to a human being. I'm sure I've mentioned it in another blog so I won't crap on about it, but it certainly helps patients to fells much better and get the hell out of there. Over a few days she received a few visitors (if you have ever been in hospital you know how good this is!) and I got to spend a ridiculous amount of hours sitting in a very uncomfortable chair watching movies, again no complaints considering I didn't have surgery in the last couple of days. The docs knew it was coming, I think ck was ready to leave about an hour after surgery but they made her stay put for a few days, eventually they gave in and let her go home after about 10 hospital meals. Back home she went about her recovery, put sit-ups on hold for the time being and starting making plans for our next destination once the docs gave into her pleading. Considerable personal thanks goes to Anne and all the nurses at the Mercy Private hospital, one for looking after my wife, but more for looking after me and letting me stay there till the very late hours of the night. Anne organised dinner for me and cups of tea when I'd clearly forgotten to eat all day, vegemite toast never tasted so good! It wouldn't be right not to finish off by thanking the brilliant work of ck's doctors, Richard Gerraty, Peter McNeil and the new dude, Peter Grant, super stuff fellas, we are eternally grateful for your handy work. Caroline is back to where she was six months ago, scaling mountains, annoying me and walking around with a smile on her face, not a day goes by that I'm not thankful for that.

            Right then, so what else do I have to say for our time in Melbourne…

Um, well there was a game of football that we went too upon our return to Melbourne, last one of the year and to be honest, not really that interesting, think I might skip over that and bury it once and for all. There, no need to ever speak of it again.

            We went through the process of putting our house on the market, including interviewing prospective agents with Erica towing along for the ride. While it needs to be done, it seemed like we were slipping back into our normal busy lives all too easily again, what I'd give to be fishing or lying on a beach somewhere that's warm right now.

            Donk, better known by birth as Peter (my youngest brother) had his birthday while we were in town. And what better than a game of ten pin bowling to kick off proceedings, magnificent. Despite their best efforts my youngest brothers couldn't take out yours truly, they have been trying for years; just sometimes your oldest brother has to show you how it is done. From memory I think even ck made their scores look a little embarrassing; I think they should probably practice a bit while we continue our trip, beaten by a girl, hah, stop it, my sides still hurt. It turned into a guy v's girl's comp by the end of the day and I'm pretty confident we came out on top. Of course we returned to Donk and Liana's (his beautiful girlfriend of a gazillion years) place to have a crack at the Wii and Liana showed the rest of us up with a ridiculous performance on the ten pin bowling track, great stuff. Happy Birthday Donk!

            My little godson, and Pam (my sister, man my family is huge) & Glenn's eldest, Tristan had his first communion out in the east of Melbourne. Pete & Liana were huge in driving out of their way to pick me up and listening to me crap on about who knows what at about 8am on a Sunday morning. Massive day for the godfather (yours truly), I don't have to do anything but my little buddy is growing up super fast and it seemed like yesterday (you know what I mean) that I was doing the same thing. Before you know it he will be nominating for the AFL draft and playing for the boys down at Geelong, surely that gives me some access to box seats or something?

             As mentioned in previous entries, we finally had to give up on returning to Queensland and get the gear shipped back to Melbourne. It was an exciting and sad day when it finally arrived back home, sad because we knew that there was no going back up to the warmth and beauty of North Queensland, exciting coz we can now take off as soon as we're ready to go again. RACV did a great job of getting everything back home to us, getting the RACV Total Care was close to the smartest thing we have ever done. Probably saved us about $6000 in transportation so you can see why we were so grateful that they covered that expense.

            So we got to spend stacks of time with Brian & Erica, living in the same place will do that, I'm sure they were sick and tired of playing games till endless hours of the morning but it was great to have some company while we were bored out of our mind. I'm sure everyone who got to see us during our time back home understood that we were happy to be catching up…but not thrilled. It was hard to be home again and the itch to get back on the road was never far from our mind. And so the first chance we got, we took it, a small trial run for a weekend at the end of October with the family. But I'll save that for the next blog entry!

We have some super exciting news, but more on that later… guess you will have to wait for the next blog entry.

Weather: Don't think I will give you a six week breakdown of the weather, while it was generally pretty good, it certainly never got into mid thirties, and swimming at the beach was the last thing on our minds. Now when I say good, I'm talking about Melbourne here, high teens to low 20's was the norm. Note to self, next time tie sun and warm weather to back of the plane when leaving Hamilton island.

Staying at: Tamoula Beach, QLD,

Stopped for: 2 nights, 10^th – 12^th September

At the first sign of semi clear skies we managed to pack up our camp at Bingil Bay, and then take on the mad, mad roads of QLD back down towards the Whitsunday's. It still seems wrong to me that a B-Double (for those in the know it's a bloody big truck) is the fastest vehicle on these roads. Just be careful if your driving up here, this is one of the only times I haven't felt safe enough to nap while driving, back in NT it was almost mandatory. We were pretty excited to be travelling towards Airlie Beach; we were going to be catching up with ck's brother, wife, kids and extended family. Our original grand plans had us driving the whole way in a day, we actually did this on our honeymoon but it appears we were so much younger back then ;-). We pulled the pin on that idea after a few hours and decided to check out one of the free camps along the QLD north coast. Tamoula beach was one we hadn't heard about so we thought it might be worth having a sneaky peek, for a free camp you couldn't really complain, it had toilets and a huge shaded area that you picked a spot and setup for a maximum of 48 hours. Me thinks there were a few people who spent a fair bit longer there, given they were there when we arrived, didn't look like they were packing up when we left and you could have cut the grass around their site with a slasher.

Tamoula Beach is a seaside town with no shops and no contact with the outside world, I'm sure they have power and water but when I went looking for a shop on the bike I found nothing but some damn big hills and a couple of small issues with the brakes on the bike. On return to the campsite we had some excitement when a tree that had apparently been burning for a couple of years fell down, you could see every camper checking out the trees around their sites pretty soon afterwards!

            Ran into our next door neighbours from Cooktown, found out his dog can actually say hello! No really, not too much beer on the trip, this dog could say "hello". Apparently the dog also had an opinion on the current financial crisis gripping the nation but I had to start making dinner so I missed out. Max ran over and showed him how a real dog should act by giving himself a bit of self indulgence (he refers to it as 'maintenance'), followed up by a sniff of the other dogs butt and he was done. Nice work little fella. Think he really enjoyed this spot, we took him out for a couple of huge walks out along the low tide mark of the river entrance and up along the beach front. Pretty quiet on these beaches so plenty of time for him to run around off the chain and drink some salt water.

The last thing I'm going to mention for this stop is quite a painful memory for someone in our little travel party. Ck if you're reading this you should skip to the next stop; it might give you some itchy and scratchy nightmares again. Let's call this day, Mad Midgee Monday Mayhem, now you can sing along if you like (to the tune of "If you happy and you know it, clap your hands!")… "If you're a Midgee and you know it, bite my wife!". You can almost guess where this is going. We picked up the fishing rods before sunset as the tide started to turn back in and headed to the swampy mouth of the river. It looked like a great spot with the water moving quick enough to keep away the crocs (guessing here people!) and everyone else heading further up towards the beach. It was probably that point that was our first mistake; little did we know that the river was infested with mozzies and midgee's from hell. Despite lathering up with a heavy layer of the industrial strength bushman, ck started to notice a couple of small bites. The problem with Midgee's is you can barely see them, sneaky little buggers. Well after not even getting a bite on the line after about an hour we pulled the pin and noticed that ck was started to scratch a little bit. Not to worry too much we repeated the same stupid process the following night, again no fish, but ck had taken on another layer of bites. By the end of that night she had started to scratch like mad and was even starting to do it in her sleep, poor thing probably had between 60 to 100 bites all over her arms and legs. I think I had a couple of bites on my hands but not really anything to worry about. By the time we got into Townsville ck was out of control, the bites were driving her nuts. Popped past the chemist and they loaded us up with every cream and drug known to mankind, personally I think she might have even tried an African tribal rain dance in the nude if she thought it was going to work. While I was cheering for the naked rain dance, thankfully for her one of the creams gave a bit of instant relief and one of the little magic pills knocked her out for a while so I could drive down to Airlie Beach and sing my lungs out.

Weather: It thought about raining but stayed around 28 degrees and magnificent.

Staying at: Airlie Beach, QLD,

Stopped for: 10 nights, 12^th – 22^nd September

With the good wife suffering like a kid with chicken pox, we thankfully made our way to one of our favourite spots in oz, Airlie Beach. Recently nominated (by us) as one of the best towns in the world for a budget pub crawl in your thongs. Last time we tried it we ended up meeting a bloke walking the streets with a snake, hilarious stuff after about ten ice cocktails. Then again, the lines that mark the middle of road can keep you entertained for hours if drink your way ups the hill and back… "oh look, here's another one, I wonder where it goes…". So here's a question out of the blue, who invented lines in the middle of the road? Where was I, ah yes, Airlie Beach, every time we come here it seems to be twice the size as last time. This time the developers seem to have been on steroids, the town has gone bananas on new houses, holiday accommodation and the brand new marina being built where there once used to be a nice muddy swamp. Two dog friendly camping options for us were at either end of Airlie beach, the first checked out as a pretty old caravan park in need of some serious TLC and thankfully we found out afterwards is known by some of the locals as Sleaze Breeze (I won't tell you the real name coz that's not fair to them but you don't have to be a genius to work it out). The other, Flametree CV Park, only faired slightly better, mainly due to the upkeep, set in the rainforest and a pretty nice pool. They were however a fair way out of town but this compared nothing to the location, right next to the airport. Now when you think right next to the airport you envisage something a couple of hundred metres away at least right? Not this bad boy, we were so close you could see the passengers in the joy flights holding down their Christmas dinner when they came into land. Thankfully it's not an international airport so flights taking off and landing were pretty spasmodic. After getting the tour of the park in the golf buggy from one of the owners we had a go at trying to setup in our site next to the camp kitchen. After about thirty minutes of coming up with different combinations including getting out of bed through the window onto the roof of the camp kitchen and abseiling down the rain gutter we decided it was probably best to look for another site. The end result was a beautiful site next to a very small creek with plenty of shade and room to use the doors that came with the camper. It was damn hot work setting up and we pretty much melted into the pool afterwards. Unfortunately the midgee's still seemed to be attracted to the female species in our camp spot; the mozzie coils were going 24/7 the whole time we were here. Poor ck still gets the shakes when we mention the little buggers. Next time you see a midgee, light a candle for my wife, just to let her know you care.

Our first stop in town was the local souvlaki shop that we fell in love with many a moon ago when we first came up here for ck's brothers wedding. Not only is it decent hangover food, it serves well for a pretty cheap lunch for a couple of travellers. Thankfully they were still there and served up the usual, hadn't missed a beat since our last time. I think it may have changed hands from Con to Mula to Sula & Gupi (joint partnership) and finally landed into the very safe hands of Bob. Of course you couldn't call him that, it just wouldn't be right, so we went with Franco. He didn't think we were funny!

After a little bit of co-ordination (something not known in our lives for the last 8 months) we were invited out to lunch at John & Sophie's (Nicole's parents, who is Adam's wife, who is ck's brother) place to finally catch up with ck's nephews. Surely I could have explained that whole relationship better but time is money, and money buys beer so you'll just have to live with it. Guess I better include the centre of our attention for the next week and a bit, the nephews, William and Little James. Aged about 4 and 2, these two little dudes had the energy of a football team and once you pulled the cord on their backs at the crack of dawn they went non stop until they were stapled to bed after dinner. Clearly I'm not a parent yet, you probably wouldn't use staples to put your kid to bed would you? I'd probably suggest a nail gun or some sort of industrial adhesive. And finally I was known as Big James for probably the first time in my life, not that Little James paid attention, he persisted with calling my Uncle Petee, and I can still see the cheeky grin as he said it. Lunch was a treat for us, huge salad sandwiches that left us bursting at the seams, a nice change from a salami and cheese toasty. John and Sophie's place was huge, their backyard looked like a little tropical oasis and the pool was a winner in the heat, the boys dragged us all in and they started to warm to these weird people (us of course) by shooting us with water pistols. After running around for a few hours playing on the trampoline, slide and balance beam we went and caught up with Adam at his work for a quiet beer and then back to his place, clearly we're suckers for punishment and spent more time running around with the boys. Try as you like it's pretty hard to hold a full conversation with someone when there are two little monkeys pulling your arms to come and play in the sand castle. Hat's off too anyone who has kids, it looks to be the hardest job in the world, how my parents managed five of us little monsters is beyond me.

Unfortunately for Max there wasn't a lot on offer in Airlie Beach in terms of running around, most of his activity in the first few days was just some lousy walks around the tropical gardens in the caravan park. Lucky for him Nicole & Adam gave him the nod to come around and go nuts in the house with little Benji, poor old bugger didn't know what had hit him when lump of lard (Max not me!) came bounding into the house thinking he owned the place. Benji is struggling with sight and hearing these days but it didn't stop Max playing with him. Of course Max is one of those dogs that eats pretty much anything he can get his hands onto, and once the boys worked this out they took great pleasure in feeding him anything they could find. I'm sure he had about 12 smacko's in one session (his all time personal best, although he assures me he still had room!), rounded that out with a slice or two of pizza and he finished his stay a couple of kilo's heavier then when we arrived. He claimed that he was just trying to soak up the tropics!

During one of our numerous swims in the pool at the caravan park we met a couple of the family that run the park. After clearly showing my complete lack of knowledge for the game I was invited along to the weekly Yacht Club poker tournament. Let's just say after two illegal deals from my hand it wasn't going to be my night, I managed to make it to the break but was out shortly after, never really got the cards, isn't that what they all say! While "the losers" were waiting for everyone else to finish up we decided after a few drinks to form up a poker syndicate and take on the machines in a joint attack. A worthy investment, after a lot of high fiving and getting told to keep it down by security we apparently collected enough to cover our drinks and a taxi ride home each for the night. To this day I still don't know exactly how we won all the money but it was still in my wallet the next morning so winners are grinners. 

            One of the best things that Airlie Beach ever did was to build an outdoor lagoon just on the edge of town; there isn't much of a beach (despite its name) so swimming options used to be limited to the islands. The lagoon is huge, kind of like five olympic swimming pools all whacked together in a beach style, you know, curved edges and a slow walk in. What the hell am I saying, curved edges? Since when has a beach had edges? Never mind, it's good stuff anyway. So while we were frolicking (which is the done thing in this pool) our attention was drawn to a couple of the tourists expressing their freedom, ck's dad used to refer to these as white pointers if you know what I mean. It appeared to us that if you were a backpacker and at the pool, then off with the top, of which I was completely disgusted with of course! Not sure what else to say about that… gotta see it for yourself to believe it.

We had a day out of Airlie to check out a couple of the other attractions, one being a waterfall that we swum at on our honeymoon, ah sweet memories. Unfortunately this time round it wasn't flowing, still it was pretty peaceful there and heaps of turtles popping up to see what was going on. Ck took some very artistic photos of my floppy joes, we even debated whether or not you'd be able to walk on water with these puppies. A bit further down the road we came to the only local beach nearby, and while it was warm enough for a swim, the millions of dead jellyfish along the shore line kind of put us off. Bit of a shame but gave us a nice spot for lunch and a stroll along the beach.

Most of our time in Airlie was spent catching up with Nicole, Adam and the boys. It was great to spend some time playing with the kids and handing them back at the end of the day, every uncle & auntie seems to understand the benefits of that. Ck took on the story time before bed service like a pro; the kids didn't want to know about old Uncle Petee when it came to story time. Jeez before I forget I have to tell you about Adam & Nicoles place, this is a real life in the tropics luxury pad. They have this huge indoor/outdoor room which is pretty much owned by the boys and their toys. Outside is the magnificent outdoor pool next to the enormous Bali hut. We spent many an hour (over beers just to keep us cool) discussing the construction of this, the pool and of course the new project, an outdoor pergola with luxury day bed. These guys were living in style, it was tough to head back to our camper at the end of the day but thankfully they didn't mind us coming back regularly. While we were in town Geelong were playing the doggies in a huge preliminary final, it kept us up way too late thanks to the delayed telecast (nice work AFL!). Thankfully the boys snuck over the line and booked their place into the grand final the next week, but I'm not sure I want to talk about that in the next blog entry. We crashed at their place that night, even Max got to have a slumber party, not sure Benji was too thrilled about it though.

A couple of classic things happened while we hanging out with the boys, one's I just couldn't leave out of the blog. I'm sure this happens with most kids actually, any spare chance they get the pants are off and their running around the house. Unfortunately for William he took the opportunity to try on the old undies on the head trick, with some slick timing between Adam and I we managed to snag a couple of classic photos for his 21^st!!! Now we were lazing by the pool when ck (not nude in case you were wondering) was joined by a very naked little James (and to all those smart arses out there, not me!). In what seemed like slow motion, the little dude decided it looked like a great spot to go to the toilet, on top of ck's head. In a dive that would have taken one of the best catches in Australian cricket history (at least someone's catching them for us at the moment!), she managed to dive for cover across the pool and avoid the new water feature just installed. Seriously, I wet myself laughing for about 15 minutes, James had no idea what was wrong, it surely would have taken out funniest home videos had he hit. Don't worry revenge was just around the corner, while I was kicking back on one of those little double swing chairs William decided to climb onto my shoulders and give me a quick turkey slap! Yep, you guessed it, naked again! Ck and Nicole couldn't stop laughing about that one; I didn't seem to see the funny side. Oh yeah if you don't know what a turkey slap is, either use your imagination or Google it.

Sadly as you would have already read in previous entries ck's health had not improved and we finally got the orders to fly back home, we were coming back for the GF anyway but had to bring it forward a few days. Adam & Nicole were kind enough to offer up their front yard for all of our gear and the boys promised to keep an eye on it until we could return and pick it all up (sadly this never eventuated and RACV helped out with the transportation to Melbourne). Thankfully Nicole dropped us off at the shute harbour ferry terminal with William and sadly said goodbye. Max got his first real taste of a dog carrier, not sure he was thrilled about it but we got to sit with him on the ferry across to Hamilton Island so he can't complain too much. He had a bit of a swim outside the airport and after a bit of stuffing around with the Virgin Blue staff we managed to put him on board. We left in 30 degree heat, beautiful tropical weather; it still brings a little tear to the eye when I think about it. After watching Max getting taken off from the plane in Brisbane and a couple of hours of waiting around we flew home to Melbourne to be greeted with 8 degrees and icy winds, stupid me was still in my shorts. Picked up a tiny little hire car and Max from the freight terminal (after a freezing hour of waiting outside) we found our way to home, dropped Max off at Brian and Erica's, which is actually our house and headed over to Andy & Jane's, our hosts for the next few days. Back home, not overly thrilled about it but sometimes life doesn't always work out they way you would like.

Weather: Magnificent, seemed to hover just around 30 and the humidity increased as the week went on. Perfect for lounging by the pool or drinking a couple of quiet ones in the Bali hut! And then we arrived in Melbourne...

Oh, you probably don't care but I got pretty excited about it. After 8 months on the road we ticked over 30,000 kms in the Subaru for the trip. Now that's a lot of singing in the car, poor Max!

G'day everyone, well some good news, we are kind of back on the road. Our gear arrived back home a few weeks ago and we have actually gone out a couple of times now in Victoria for a couple of trial runs. Ck is going great guns, looking much better everyday and Max is doing laps in the house everytime we start packing all of our gear, I think he loves camping. Our plans to head over to Tasmania for christmas have now been confirmed, just finished booking our car and camper onto the Spirit of Tasmania, sweet! I just realised that I hadn't finished updating the blog to when we returned home, it's funny how busy I seemed to be (insert procrastination in here somewhere) while we were back home. Anyway we are currently surviving the weather in the Alpine country of VIC at the beautiful town of Bright and when I find a bit of spare time I'm trying to bring the blog up to date (no chance!). I can't believe how fast christmas is coming this year...

Now let me take you back to the last few weeks in queensland... 

Staying at: Daintree National Park (Cape Tribulation), QLD, Rainforest Village

Stopped for: 5 nights, 26^th – 31^st August

With ominous clouds hovering over the nearby rainforest, we packed up our site in Mossman, thankful that the camper was relatively dry and made tracks for Cape Tribulation. It was a nice short trip to the ferry crossing that is the only way to get into Cape Tribulation from the south, unless you have a 007 car that magically turns into a boat, not sure it would be good to tow with but! Apparently we hit rush hour and had to sit in line for about 20 minutes while they shipped cars back and forth across the Daintree River. We were "lucky" enough to get stuck behind two huge caravans and had the pleasure of watching them just about ripping the back end off their caravans as they departed the ferry on the far side. They were good enough to let all the traffic pass them on the steep and winding roads on the way into Cape Tribulation. We had a perfect start to our trip into the Daintree, the weather was overcast, muggy and light mist was falling around us through the rainforest, magic.

So here we were in the middle of a world heritage rainforest and we found a little deserted caravan park where pets were allowed, Max was over the moon. The park was surrounded by rainforest and we found ourselves a huge site with mountain views. About a minute or two after unhooking the trailer those two big caravans from the ferry pulled up, now there is space for probably 50 vans in the park, but you guessed it, they wanted to camp right next to us. It got even worse when one of the old buggers wanted to share our site so he could be right next to his mate. After having a minor disagreement (he didn't believe that we would be using our whole site) he begrudgingly moved to a nearby spot. Despite me trying me best to say g'day to them everyday, they didn't become our best friends. By the way I comfortably took up the whole site!

We were lucky enough to have another older couple pull up who had a more positive attitude towards camping. They had a super energetic dog that took to Max like flies to a backpacker on the west coast. Cliff and his wife (for the life of me can't remember her name) had decked out their own mini van, pretty flash and he gave me the full tour which provided me with a few ideas for the camper. These guys provided us with hours of entertainment including a regular happy hour or two, even max got in on the act (not the drinking bit of course), Cliff was a dog lover and spoilt him with rosettes (ck informs me this is some sort of lamb) and doggy treats. Think he came away from this camp spot a little heavier around the hips if you know what I mean. This place turned out to be heaven for Max, not only was he spoiled rotten, right next to the camper was a small shrubbery loaded with lizards, and he spent all day in there jumping around trying to catch one. He just stands there barking at them once he finds one, I'm sure he'd come yelping back if one went at him. The campground is situated at the bottom of a couple of mountains, once of which is part of the camp area, you can walk straight up a few hundred metres which turned out to be great exercise for Max (and us), but I think he enjoyed the run down a hell of a lot more.

            I took the opportunity when we were just lazing around one day to get the bike out for a bit of a spin, the nearby lookout was an enticing proposition. Ck held down the fort while I took off with the weather closing in, of course about 1km from camp it started to rain, but unlike good old Melbourne, this was perfect. It was a light misty rain and it was still warm, probably about 26-28 and muggy. It was only about 10 to 15kms from camp but the last 2.5kms were straight up, it was an awesome ride with the rainforest canopy hanging over the top of the road. Successfully made it to the top and got chatting to a few travellers who all agreed that I was mad, the rain was falling pretty consistently now. The view was completely washed out as a cloud had engulfed the mountain range, thankfully I hung around for a little while and it eventually cleared. You could see over the top of the rainforest to a view of some of the beaches and nearby islands. The trek down was a little tricky, the road bike tyres look like ice skates when it's raining and you're going down hill. It was a steep windy road and it was hard to keep the bike under 30 without locking up the brakes, couple of close calls but navigated my way down successfully and flew home. Ck and I went back to the lookout on another day, this time took the car, a little easier but if you ask me not as much fun.  

            Ck still wasn't 100% better so we booked her into a spa resort for a bit of a massage, she deserved a bit of a treat. I had the option to go too but I couldn't knock back the opportunity to take on the jungle surfing safari on offer in Cape Trib. My adventure was first as ck's massage wasn't until tomorrow. Now this is not a regular surfing safari, it actually doesn't involve water at all; it's all about swinging from rope to rope in the middle of the rainforest canopy. I know, pretty sweet hey? They picked a few of us up from the local Cape Trib pharmacy and took us in a beaten up van along a rough track into the heart of the rainforest, they drove this thing like it wasn't theirs. Introductions and briefings aside, we were kitted out with a named helmet and the ever popular wedgie harness. Naturally I was given the "Rambo" helmet; clearly they had noticed that I had done my push-ups that morning and was looking massive. There were a total of 6 different sections that we got to fly through the tree tops on controlled flying foxes. The view was pretty cool and I took a few snaps of my feet dangling about 30 metres above the ground, riveting photos let me tell you. The last of the sections was more to my liking, they swung you upside down, and then let the rope go and you hammered down the rope with your face starting to look like a squished tomato. All in all a good couple of hours hanging out in the trees, despite one of the tour guides from NZ trying out his humour on all of us. He even claimed that NZ has beaten the Aussies in a game of AFL once; well at least he got a laugh out of us.

            Ck's trip to the spa resort was a success, we drove there together and I sat in the bar while she spent a couple of hours getting pampered. While waiting for ck (apparently very relaxed) I plugged away on the laptop with a bit of blogging and of course sampling some of their local produce. Well not exactly local but it was on tap, it was cold and it hit the spot. As I chilled out a wedding party took over the reception area for pre dinner drinks as I slowly retreated to the back of the room. Ck came out looking like she had been to heaven and back, a little sleepy but feeling much better.

            We spent some time checking out cape tribulation of course, a couple of times we strolled along the beautiful long sandy beaches with the small waves lapping against the shore. Two or three times we had prepacked lunches on different beach's and a bit of snooze afterwards just soaking up the good life. It was cool how the rainforest literally hangs over the beach with old coconuts lying around everywhere. We drove to the end of the made road that leads north through the rainforest and down to the first river crossing. We will definitely be taking on this trek next time we come this way. Surprisingly we managed to find some time to go to the local ice-cream factory for a selection of three delicious tropical treats, the place was packed and didn't disappoint. Stopped past one of the cheaper camp grounds (for future trips) that didn't allow dogs, pretty cool setup right next to the beach, even had toilets which is pretty special.

            One of the most popular attractions in town was the canopy forest walk tourist complex. After stepping into the foyer and discovering that it was going to cost us a small fortune to walk around for an hour or so, we gave it a miss and went for the free options right back in Cape Tribulation. There are a couple of sensational walks through the rainforest along some neatly laid out boardwalks that give you a close up view of every plant that makes up this amazing place. I'm sure that the big canopy complex is good, but considering I got to see the same thing hanging upside like a monkey on my jungle surfing and these free ones are available, it's hard to justify spending the cash.

            Back at camp we got a chance to chill out and listen in to the footy via a very dodgy reception being streamed down from the internet. In the end if I held one hand onto the kitchen cooker and one on the second pole of the annex we could get enough reception to hear most of the game. It made it kind of hard trying to play monopoly and have a beer but in the end we won and ck gave me a fair old spanking in monopoly. You know it's one of the only games that you really crush the other person when you win, monopoly never ends up with one person just beating the other person. You actually have to be bankrupt, all of your property's mortgaged and your left arm sold to your opponent before the game is over. Guess it prepares you for life?

            Before I finish off on the Daintree I have to share something that happened on one of our first nights here. It never really cooled down at night here, nothing below 22 and it was always muggy. So at night we slept with the windows open to let in what fresh air was available and listen to the endless chatter of the nocturnal wildlife. After drifting off one night I was woken to the sound of a woman screaming, what I thought was a really high pitched call for help. With no time to spare I jumped out of bed, grabbed a torch and bolted off into the jungle in my boxer shorts and my thongs (lucky it wasn't they other way round…you know, a thong and a pair of boxer shoes!) and nothing else. The sound was sending a chill down my spine and I couldn't work out what the hell was going on. After trudging around for about 10 minutes looking for the source of the noises I noticed that they were starting to come from a couple of locations and moving around. Some bloody monkey or bird had a night call that sounded just like a woman screaming. I returned back to camp a little embarrassed and ck did her best not to wet herself laughing. The real worry would have been what the hell I would have done if I found someone, all I had was a torch, although sometimes it hurts your eyes if someone shines it straight at you I'm sure it wouldn't do much good, note to self: Next time bring cricket bat to scare away bird!

Last quick note, if you ever come here you should spend some time at the creek crossings, if you ask me they are probably the most spectacular and tranquil thing about the area.

Weather: Overcast, warm and muggy. Between 26-28 during the day and down to about 22 at night.

Staying at: Mt Molloy, QLD, River Rest Area

Stopped for: 2 nights, 31^st August – 2^nd September

Sadly we packed up our camp in the Daintree and moved back out into reality, we just missed the returning ferry but this turned out to be a bonus. There was a roadside vendor with fresh bananas for sale for a bargain. Ck picked up a bunch and we sat on the bonnet of the car munching away waiting for the ferry to return, it was a great way to finish off our trip to Cape Tribulation. We made our way to Mt Molloy river rest area for what was originally planned as a nice spot for a bit of lunch, after sitting down under the shade of a couple of huge trees it quickly became our accommodation for the next couple of days. Unexpectedly this place was a beauty, it was packed full of fellow cheapskates spending a few days camping in the bush for free (gold coin donation). Rumour has it that this spot has more species of birds than Kakadu, we were over the moon for them, and hopefully they don't have as many mozzies! Of course so many birds can only mean one thing, that's right crazy campers, bird crap… and lots of it. The bravest thing you can do here is sit outside with an open coffee cup, was that one dollop of cream or two?

A couple of km's away from the camp spot there is actually a town, amazingly named Mt Molloy. As we'd left the camper attached to the car, I grabbed the bike off the back of the camper and rode into town to pick up some supplies from the local supermarket/fish & chip shop. On the way back I tried my best but couldn't knock back the opportunity to stop in at the local pub and have a couple of ales with some of the locals. Of course they had the good old lucky ticket machine that cost 25c a ticket, none of which helped us retire for good unfortunately. One of the old blokes having a drink tried to explain how it was very important that he had a police radio scanner to keep in touch with any problems in the area, the local version of neighbourhood watch. The beer was cold, it was a nice warm and sunny afternoon, and the ride home was downhill the whole way, not sure it gets much better than this.

We spent most of our time here just sitting outside reading a couple of good novels and watching a few movies on the laptop at night. A pretty relaxing stay and a nice little spot to save a couple of dollars. The place surprisingly had cold showers available and some toilets, pretty flash for a place that you don't have to pay for. I took on the shower (very quick let me tell you) but couldn't talk ck into jumping in. Packing up had us dancing with a couple of nice big huntsmen spiders trying to get a free ride, let's just say ck made sure they wouldn't be around to sing Christmas carols this year!

Weather: About 26 during the day, down to 20-22 at night and muggy.

Staying at: Melbourne...AAaaahhhhh

Stopped for: Way too long...

Staying at: Hughenden, QLD,

Stopped for: 1 night, 12^th – 13^th August

Just the lazy 519kms today across some shocking roads, this is clearly a section of QLD that is used heavily by road trains. There are sink holes everywhere and the road has natural speed jumps at regular intervals, not great when you doing 100 but what can you do about it? The Porcupine National Park is nearby and looked like a good spot to drop by but we were so keen to get to the coast that it was shelved pretty quickly. So we found a cheap c.v. park with some power so I didn't have to lug the fridge out of the back of the car (ck's back still no good), backed it in and set it up still hooked up to the car. I whipped up a quick dinner with some faithful cask wine and headed to an early bed. Another day on the road planned so nothing exciting to report for Hughenden, good night!

Weather: About 20 during the day and driving straight into a howling easterly. The nights are getting warmer, yippee!

Staying at: Reid River, QLD, Roadside Rest Area

Stopped for: 1 night, 13^th – 14^th August

We only drove about 400kms today but it was enough, I think the endless days of driving was starting to take its toll. Ck's back was starting to suffer from the conditions of the Flinders Hwy, and I was starting to see kangaroos doing the Pride of Erin. We found a roadside stop set on top of the cliffs about 60kms from Townsville and pulled up mid afternoon for a well earned rest. Met a nice couple who were fighting fit at the ripe old age of 87 and still travelling around oz, they were even making plans to travel across Europe again in the coming year. He shared a couple of stories of his time on the Kakoda trail which left me entranced, I couldn't get a word in but you should never disturb a digger when he's got a story to tell. To our excitement this is the first roadside stop that we have stayed at that was equipped with toilets! I know, I know, how can you sleep when a flushing toilet is so close by!

Before heading to bed for the night we ran into a young group who were just setting out for the journey to Yulara. They had one very full car, no bumper bar, and at 10pm were just about to set off down the road to Mt Isa (900kms) during the night. They were having a great time, considering all of the road kill on the side of the road we wished them well and hoped not to read about them in the local news. Oh yeah, they didn't have anything to sleep in, one guy, two girls, a full 2wd wagon and no bedding, in their excitement to leave they overlooked this, still they never stopped laughing.

            Our dreams that night were continually entwined with the roar of a road train heading past on the highway, and even better than that was the freight trains on the other side. They were huge and made a perfectly timed shunting sound, as each carriage clunked together I leaped over a hurdle successfully to eventually win Gold for Australia. At least someone was winning a medal in track and field for us!

            We woke to our warmest morning in a month or so, the sun was shining and we had a beautiful view of the surrounding mountain ranges, believe it or not the Great Dividing Range! Our destination today, the Beach!

Weather: Damn easterly still blowing for the entire drive and the temperature up to about 24.

Staying at: Bramston Beach, QLD, Bramston Beach Campground

Stopped for: 5 nights, 14^th – 19^th August

We drove from Kings Canyon in the middle of Australia to the east coast of north Queensland all in search of a beach and some warmer weather. Our destination after 7 days of driving was a little coastal town in the tropics of Queensland called Bramston Beach, right next to Babinda. The drive through Townsville & Innisfail had us fearing for our lives for most of the journey. Not only are the roads in the worst condition in Australia, there is thousands of morons or maroons (those rugby loving nuts) driving on them. I thought we drove pretty aggressive in Melbourne, boy was I wrong, and these guys didn't seem to be able to read the speed signs or see the white lines in the middle of the road. We were left scarred by the end of the trip; we still don't know how someone overtaking us and a caravan in front of us around a blind corner missed the car coming the other way. Needless to say our hearts skipped a few beats and we may have expressed our thoughts rather colourfully to the driver, you know something that your grandmother shouldn't hear. In the end we made it safely, turned off the highway and wound our way down to the campground, through some lush rainforest which took us back to a previous trip to the region. CK Oz Trip fact: Did you know our honeymoon was spent between Mossman (just north of Port Douglas) right down to Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays back in 2003 (I think!)? Except back then we were living it up with cocktails and spa treatments! Ah, the good old days…

The campground we settled for had a perfect setup, right on the edge of the beach with full facilities expect for no power. We got a great spot with ocean views and a big tree between us and the next site, this turned out to be even better once we got to know our neighbours (more on that in a sec). After driving for so many days, we needed the break to give ck a chance to get her back up and running, and me a chance to take it easy for a while. This was the perfect spot, a quiet lazy little town with no through traffic and nothing on the agenda for us to go see (there probably was but we didn't dig too deep). Our days consisted on getting up and digesting our well rehearsed slow morning breakfasts, followed by a lazy stroll on the beach. I was in the middle of a good Wilbur Smith novel that ck put me onto that I couldn't put down and this took up much of my time. Max took to the beach like a beach ball in Bay 13, we both agreed that he was happy to be back in the sand. One of the days we planned a hike along the beach to the far tip that could be seen at the curling end of the beach. Fully equipped with runners and a back pack full of water we all took off with relish, a nice tail wind helped us along and the team was happy. After about an hour of walking we decided to debate over whether or not we were closer than when we started, it had looked like we were halfway for the last 30 minutes. Every step you took the end of the beach kept moving away, it was agreed it was a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow and we left it for a keener couple. With Max still going at full pace up and down the beach with the enthusiasm of a teenager (not on of holiday with their parents!) we headed back home into a very strong head wind. The team made it back successfully after dodging some piles of horse manure, which of course Max thought was a great game to play with us. The beer was earned that night, every other night we had to come up with excuses, don't worry we drink to a car going past if that's all on offer.

            Now let me get back to our neighbours! Generators are the essential component to long term non-powered camping and the source of much frustration and arguments in camp grounds. We have come across a few along our travels, most are pretty quiet these days and most owners will do their best not to get on the nerves of those around them. Generally we haven't had a problem, which was until now; unfortunately our neighbours for the first few days had an obsession with their generator and ran it for every minute that is allocated during the day (8am-8.30pm). Not sure what they were running but we shouldn't have worried about it, the group who replaced them the next day had one that could have sent something to the moon and back, we were sure it was going to take off at one stage. Our game of trivia pursuit was cancelled after we couldn't hear the questions any more so we headed off to the supermarket before finding our way to a pub in Babinda. This pub was a cool little country pub right next to the cane fields; we sat there downing a pot or two while the cane trains ambled past the front door. It was heaven compared to back at the tent with Apollo 17 completing its final checks. I think it is kinda like dogs, most people are great with them, and it's always just the small few who spoil it for everyone else.

            The fishing line got used for the first time in a long time, after shaking off the cobwebs I snagged a small fish (no idea without a picture guide to tell me what it was) that got an early Christmas present and ended up going back to his family. Despite the size, it somehow managed to break the tip of the rod off, I put it down to the rod being over 20 years old and took solace in the idea of a new rod on the shopping list. Sunset was a beauty; we sat there with beers on the sand in front of camp with the sun setting behind us for the first time that we can remember. This is a beautiful spot to unwind, worth it if you have the time, luckily we do!

Oh yeah, before I finish off. We made our own home made chop chip cookies for the first time in the camp oven, magnificent!

Weather: About 26 during the days and around 17 at night. Roasty toasty compared to our last few weeks, I just feel relaxed thinking about it.

G'day subscribers, does it seem like ages since my last update? Hope you are all enjoying winter, thankfully for all of you it is almost over as Spring has hit and summer is just around the corner. Hang in there, you'll feel so much better once you get a bit of warm sun on your face. I have a couple of blog updates ready to roll which I'll send out today and then update the photos to the latest update. If you find yourself struggling to get through my stories, print them out, put them next your pillow and read them before you go to bed. It should help you fall asleep pretty quick and also provide you with some dreams of summer sun and lying on the beach every day. Sounds good to me...

Hey if anyone is having trouble signing up or getting these updates feel free to let me know and I'll see if I can sort it out.

Cheers,

Jim (and the rest of the CK Oz Trip crew)

Staying at: Kings Canyon, NT, Kings Creek Station

Stopped for: 3 nights, 4^th – 7^th August

Now my dad made a special mention before we left on our trip that it is very safe to travel at 90kms when towing, he always does it apparently. So we left Yulara slightly behind my folks and assumed that we would be overtaking them inside about 10-15 minutes. After nearly an hour I finally caught sight of the little A-Van going like the clappers up the freeway towards Kings Canyon. Guess he was either trying to beat us there or the wind was pushing him there. Some in the family may say that he always seems to have the wind behind him but that's another story. Despite dad's best efforts, we made it to Kings Creek Station before them and organised a massive site with a huge fire in the middle for all of us. We decided to stay at Kings Creek Station thanks to some handy advice that we received from other travellers, while it is about 30 minutes from the Canyon it's much quieter, cheaper and pretty laid back.

            Dad and I went about collecting some firewood from the side of the road, a battle with both spiders and some of the best prickles going round. Followed this up with a pretty lazy afternoon and evening by the fire as we prepared for a big walk in the morning. After taking our time over breakfast, we all jumped into the car and headed over to Kings Canyon for the loop walk. Everyone we had run into on the trip so far had raved about the canyon and made a big point about the stair climb at the start. It was a freezing start to the day, ck & I started out with beanies on, mum & dad were enjoying the warmth away from Melbourne. The climb up didn't let us down, plenty of stairs and complaining from dad, pretty fresh up top too. The view was spectacular; you could look right down the middle of the canyon. We continued around the top of the canyon, most of the walk was actually around the top, and yet it had the feeling that you were at the bottom thanks to the surroundings. I know that doesn't make any sense but trust me, you would agree with me if you were there. We had lunch at the top of the canyon above the waterhole about halfway. Plenty of photo opportunities, even dad couldn't keep up with the camera. The team reluctantly took up the opportunity to detour along the base of the canyon (which meant a bit more downhill and uphill) and found our way to the foot of the waterhole for a bit of a snack. Dad and I left the ladies behind for a few minutes and went in search of some more views beyond the "do not enter" signs. Not sure why they put that sign up, we found ourselves in the mouth of the canyon and the top of what would be a waterfall during the wet season. We had a great time taking shots, especially now dad had worked out the widescreen function. Mum & ck were relaxing in the sun upon our return, not sure they had even realised that we had left. Our trip back up the stairs and to the top of the canyon was hard work, think I complained most of the time with ck leading the way. The remainder of the trip covered the other side of the canyon, couple of great views lying on your stomach looking over the cliff edge. On the way down we ran into a few people enjoying the walk, one girl had fallen backwards down the stairs and proceeded to laugh about it for the next ten minutes, it was pretty spectacular. Mum and Dad met a young Dutch couple and went about chatting to them for the rest of the trip down, completely forgot about their favourite son and daughter in-law. Of course they spoke in Dutch the whole time like they used to do when we were kids and they didn't want us to hear what they were talking about, sneaky if you ask me.  Little did we know that mums knee was no good but never once bought it up on the walk, we're talking about a four hour hike here too! It was buggered the next day but I still can't believe she made it all the way round with little fuss, I probably would have been begging for piggy backs if it was me. After dad had gone about having his customary nap after the walk we launched into a few more games of bricks, no guessing who came away with the chocolates ;-). Dinner and a bit of relaxing with drinks by a roaring fire was a great way to round out a big day.

            This was to be our last full day with mum & dad so we went about staying at camp and just enjoying the company. Mum's knee had flared up pretty bad, so dad was set to work on everything; mum just sat back and gave him the orders. It was great fun watching him running around camp with mum running out a list of demands; think she loved every minute of it. Lunch was a fresh batch of scones cooked in their little electric oven, a mix of plain, sultana and savoury were whipped up in no time. We ate way too much but no surprise there. The afternoon was spent with the folks trying to exact some revenge in bricks, to their disappointment they failed miserably. For some reason the gods were smiling on me for this trip, undefeated by the time they left. Mum passed onto us one of my favourite Dutch recipes, Ayer cook, a type of cake bread that is essentially sugar and flour. Dad even whipped up a batch in the afternoon for some snacks, delicious. We started out by the fire for our last night but moved the party into our camper for some more games and a bit of port to round out a great trip.

            Sadly the next morning ended what had been a super week with my folks, it was great to catch up and see some of the sights of our amazing country with them. After all it was them that originally made me so interested in travelling all those years ago. Years of lugging the whole family in the blue Nissan urvan all over the country with the Jayco not far behind still holds many fond memories. Our plans were to head somewhere above Alice Springs with mum & dad only travelling a short distance and finding some free camp spots on the way to Alice. Hugs and kisses all rounds and we were off to see the rest of Australia…

Weather: Sunny but cool, probably always under 20, which actually translates to freezing for a couple that have spent their last 6 months in 30 degress..

Staying at: Connor Well, NT, Roadside Rest Area

Stopped for: 1 night, 7^th – 8^th August

Some of the roadside stops in NT are outstanding, we stopped in at one on the way to Alice Springs and found fireplaces with pre-cut wood reading and waiting for travellers, no one asked them to do it, they just do! The only downside with the roadside stops is Max, he goes off his tree and manages to find every bit of food scraps left behind, and most of these seem to be chicken bones. Cheeky little devil grabs them and runs off before we have a chance to get them off him, guess it's still better than horse manure. We had an option to take a shortcut between Kings Canyon and the Stuart Highway, a little 100km trip across a bit of rough road. Thanks to some handy advice from a bloke at the campground we opted to skip the track and take the main road. A few weeks later we actually ran into a couple who chanced it in a 4wd and it took them 4 hours and a couple of blown tyres, put that on the list of good advice for the trip. Stopped through Alice Springs to pick up a few supplies before continuing on our journey. After leaving Alice we received a call from a couple (the GinGin Gypsies) that we met back down the bottom of WA, unfortunately our timing was just out, they were just heading to Alice, and we were leaving. They filled us in with some sad news that their dog (Rosie), and good friend of Max's had passed away since we last saw them, we were devastated for them; a dog is one of the family and a perfect companion on the road. Still, it was great to hear from them, we passed on our best wishes and continued up the very long and straight Stuart Highway. After getting well over the 500km mark for the day and delirium starting to set in we pulled over into the Connor Well free roadside rest stop, right on the side of the highway. Met some of the other travellers stopped there for the night, made dinner, and then crashed into bed for the night. During the night you could occasionally hear a road train come roaring past (about 15 metres away from the camper), other than that we both had a good nights sleep.

Weather: Warming up, QLD here we come. As I've said before, the temperature matters little when you are in the car all day.

Staying at: 41 Mile Bore, NT, Roadside Rest Area

Stopped for: 1 night, 8^th – 9^th August

Another day of driving on the cards today so I'll keep this one pretty short. We stopped into Tennant Creek and picked up some fuel. I met a bloke travelling in the same direction at the fuel pump and agreed that we should stop at the same rest area, safety in numbers and all. Turned right at Three Ways and for the first time started heading directly towards Queensland, sweet. Before we dropped out of reception I managed to submit my dream team updates, its finals time! Covered about another 70kms down the road when we pulled the pin and stopped at the 41 mile bore rest area, it was huge and there was probably about 10-15 people camped there for the night. Thankfully it was off the freeway and a pretty quiet spot, we parked about 50 metres away from the bloke we met in Tennant Creek and setup for the night. After finishing setting up in a howling gale, ck started to feel a bit sore in the back, 10 minutes later she was gone, back muscle strained - not good news. A couple of thousand km's of driving to go and she was in pain, we decided to see how it went overnight and re-evaluate our plans in the morning. Thankfully we had a very rough reception to pick up the Geelong v's Melbourne, not very enthralling but a wins a win. I waltzed over to the couple previously mentioned and shared a beer or two before whipping up a bbq dinner. Fingers crossed for some better news on ck in the morning.

Weather: About 25 during the day but we were driving for most of it so it doesn't really matter. Unfortunately we had to drive into a strong easterly when we started heading for QLD, not good news for the fuel.

Staying at: Camooweal, QLD,

Stopped for: 1 night, 9^th – 10^th August

Woke up to terrible news, the good wife's back was still no good, me thinks someone is trying to get out of packing up? We agreed that backs don't tend to come good over night so our plans were to take it easy and try to get to a town where she could rest up a bit. I took over all driving and singing duties, poor ck had to sit there and listen to me all day. We pulled into a roadside stop for a toilet break, put some fuel into the tank from the jerry cans and grab a free coffee across the road. I was obviously starting to get tired when I forgot to put the jerry can back into the trailer and drove over it in my haste to get over to the free coffee. Surprisingly we found this rather humorous, thankfully there was no fuel in it, guess we have been on the road for too long. Over at the free coffee stop we had some company, one of the local lawn movers (a big billy goat) decided to pay us a visit. Once he started getting a bit friendly with ck I took over and showed her how to wrestle away a big goat, I could tell she was impressed, it's not every day you find out your husband knows how to handle a goat. That last bit just doesn't sound right does it? We crossed the border, jumped out for some photos before making our way to the first town over the border, Camooweal. It was only around 400kms covered today but it was enough, I was buggered and ck needed to get out of the car. The pub was the first option once we were setup, just to unwind from a long day on the road and to soak up a bit of the local country atmosphere. Thankfully the pub backed onto the caravan park so we didn't have far to travel, it also meant that we could get a power site so I didn't have to pull the fridge out the back of the car by myself.

Weather: Every day and every night getting warmer, like a chicken after rain, we were starting to get excited, not about worms, the weather of course.

Staying at: Mount Isa, QLD,

Stopped for: 2 nights, 10^th – 12^th August

Our original plans had us going north from here, up to a place known as Lawn Hill, another national park and apparently an oasis in the middle of nowhere. We decided to put this on hold until next time, with ck's back still troubling her and the idea of a beach not far away it was hard to go in another direction. Mt Isa was only a couple of hundred km's away and gave us an opportunity to take a break for a couple of days. We got lucky finding one of the last available camp sites in town, there were even people camped at the information centre. The Rodeo was on in town and the place was packed, cowboys and cowgirls were everywhere. We felt a little left out, we didn't have a huge wide brimmed hat and while ck's walk was a little funny thanks to the sore back, it didn't have the chaffing inner thigh look about it. We took a walk through a very dry river bed full of rubbish and that's about it, we didn't really do anything. Oh yeah, I did get us fish & chips one night for dinner and restock the beer supplies. I looked into taking a tour of the local mine but it was a bit expensive and probably would have been boring by myself. We spent most of our time listening to the Olympics, both being sports nuts it easily kept us entertained while we were marooned in Mt Isa.

Weather: Shorts, we could wear shorts!!! Not hot but pretty good really.

Staying at: Alice Springs, NT, The Heritage Caravan Park

Stopped for: 3 nights, 28^th – 31^st July

            Back to Alice Springs, not really high on our list of things to do but sometimes life sucks. With some time to kill until Mum & Dad make it up to Yulara, and still with some maintenance to the car to be done we booked in for a few nights. Our companions from our previous stay had unfortunately moved on, we got the same spot which suited us as we fitted in perfected; sadly the company was not quite the same. Now normally I don't tend to discuss shower or toilet excursions during our trip, mainly because there are better things to read about. But this one has me stumped, and frankly I'd be interested in your opinion. Upon showering on the first night, I noticed the most bizarre thing I have ever seen in the shower; a cracked fresh egg shell… you know something from a chook. I kid you not, I stood there for five minutes trying to work out why you would have an egg in the shower. I've heard some old wives tales about using it as a conditioner to help with scalp problems, I guess that could work. Maybe used as a very small soap holder, but it would have to be disposable. There is a couple of disgusting stories that I heard during my high school years that I will spare you the details, but surely they were just boys spreading rumours? So please, if you know, put us out of our misery, why, oh why would you have an egg, and then use it in a shower?

            Last time we were here we missed out on doing a bike ride out to Simpson's gap, a 34km round trip through some of the West MacDonnell Ranges. Not this time, ck was good enough to encourage me to get back onto the bike, and she came along to make sure I went. Ck's not the biggest fan of riding; actually I think she would rather grind her teeth on a rail way track than hop onto two wheels, so I was over the moon that she led the way. It was a hot day and after stopping into the local bike shop for some last minute gear, we made our way to the historical marker for the start of the trail. After a quick bite to eat, we set off on our journey along the winding bike track towards the gap, 17km's of it. They mark every km, which can either be seen as a wonderful thing or the markers of death, each one taunting you, still 15km's to go… 14kms, how's the legs…11kms, you must be getting thirsty…  7kms, your tush must be getting sore by now? Thankfully the track was made the whole way so no problems with the road bike, ck and I went at our own separate paces, meeting at designated markers. This gave me a chance to open up the bike and dust off some of the creaks and groans (mostly me, not the bike), it was great fun winding up and down and around the corners again. With much relief we made it to Simpson's Gap for a bit of a squiz and some photos. Why is it so much harder to get back onto the bike for the trip home? With the body already aching, we started the trek home into what turned out to be an uphill ride most of the way back. Those damn distance markers were even worse on the way back, and yes, the tush was starting to hurt by the end! Just before we phoned the police to start a recovery mission to come and get us we came to the end of the track. We made it, 34kms of track completed and none too soon, not sure how much longer we could have gone on.  

            After we returned home from the ride there was no chance in hell that either of us was going to cook, we could barely raise the beer to the lips let alone stand over a stove. Dinner out and about was agreed upon and before you knew it we were off looking for a bite to eat. We managed to get a spot in a very popular and busy Italian restaurant but after working out that our spot was allocated to another group in 45 minutes, our menu options were then limited to pizza and we could see what the chef was doing with a frozen chook, we decided to try somewhere else. I may have mentioned in my previous entry on Alice Springs about coming here in my younger years for work, and I'm pretty certain I mentioned a trip or two to the casino. Of course I did, remember that even on this trip I was denied entry thanks to a pair of thongs that ck and Max won't be seen dead walking around with me in. Well this time we looked a little more respectable and passed the front door without even the customary check for ID, don't you hate it once you get past that age. Inside looked way different to what I could remember, a whole heap fancier and this time I had a lovely lady accompanying me (that's ck in case you were wondering). We found a restaurant out the back and demolished a meal, pretty certain we went for the cheapo burgers, but they were delicious. No thought of hitting the tables this time, we were both ready for bed and pretty much crashed as soon as we got home.

            So now comes the time when I head back to the local Subaru service centre to finally get the car fixed with the new steering bushes. With the new parts in town and the blokes keen as mustard to get it done this time round I dropped off the car at 8am again and wished them well. Ever have that sinking feeling that something's not right? We used the time without the car to get some washing done, walk max and even give the camper a bit of a clean. Last time we were in Alice we got caught in a huge dust storm, and it piled dust all over the place. You could see it coming over the horizon, like a rising storm bearing down on the little town of Alice, awesome stuff. Anyway, we spent the day killing time until we could pick up the fixed car. And then came the phone call, again at the end of the day, "um…hi…it's Bob (name changed for no reason other than I can't remember) from Subaru…your not going to believe this, we can't fixed your car". Insert a ridiculous amount of expletives at this stage. Their explanation, the bushes require some sort of special stamp to get them out of the special little spot they are hiding in. Insert more expletives. But wait, it gets better. After arriving to pick up the car I was given a bill for nearly $600 dollars. I've really got to stop swearing; surely it's bad for your health. Upon further investigation the clowns had decided to give the car a 75,000km service, you know the same one that Darwin Subaru had done a few weeks back (again when I hadn't asked for that). After discussing that he had apparently written it down in front of me that morning (at 8am when I don't even know my name let alone what someone is writing) on a piece of paper, I mentioned that I had not yet learnt to read upside down and mind read every person that I meet. As far as I could recall I was there for the second time, against my wishes to get the car fixed, not serviced! After getting shown the air filter (of which I thought still looked pretty reasonable) I agreed to pay for that, I was starting to feel bad for them. I still refused to buy the parts from them, pay for any man hours spent "attempting" to fix our car, or anything that I didn't ask for. So my bill, now $37.50, and I still feel that I paid too much for that filter… oh yeah, and the car still isn't fixed… aaaahhhhh!!!!

Weather: After a couple of weeks of cold, no strike out cold, let's say freezing nights, it's finally starting to warm up at night. The days were a magnificent mid to high 20's and the nights hit double figures from memory.

Staying at: Yularu, NT, Ayers Rock Resort

Stopped for: 4 nights, 24^th – 28^th July

So the CK Oz Trip crew packed up and set about driving to Yulara (the town next to Uluru) before my folks got there the next day, that way we could surprise them and have the champagne on ice for their arrival. Part of our routine when packing up is to of course check the lights and brakes before heading off, a good idea that your brakes are visible when a road train is bearing down on you on the freeways out here. Sure enough we were all set to leave 'early' when you wouldn't know it the brake lights didn't work. Insert expletives, something about Alice Springs really has increased my vocabulary. I was so set on beating my folks to the rock that I threw caution to the wind and drove off regardless (much against ck's wishes). Got about 1km down the road when common sense prevailed and we pulled over to work out what to do, we had little option but to see if we could fix it. All the trailer service places in town are booked solid at the moment thanks to peak grey nomad season and good luck trying to find someone who knows what they are doing (refer car service from previous entry). We rolled up the sleaves and with a lucky guess found the culprit to be a loose pin in the 9pin cable that connects all the car lights to the trailer. Fixed it up in a jiffy and spent a couple of minutes high fiving Max, some days he must think we are nuts. Let me tell you, the man belt is starting to look like a bit of dutch cheese with all those new notches from the trip. I'll spare you a detailed recall of each km of the trip, let's just say we got there, taking some snaps along the way of that mountain that sneaks up on you, and too less experienced travellers could be mistaken as Uluru, you know what I'm talking about if you have ever been here. When you finally did see the rock, it stands out like nothing I have ever seen before, it's monstrous. Ck did her best effort to take shots while we were driving, pretty funny stuff to watch as you only got to see it every few seconds as we ducked and weaved along the road, think we got plenty of crappy pictures of the roadside. Now remember today is Thursday, and we had an agreement with mum & dad that we would all be arriving on Friday. Of course we had worked out that they were travelling way too fast to get there on Friday, sneaky little buggers they are, so we figured that they would be arriving today, it was just a matter of what time. As we pulled into the car line up to check into the caravan park we received a call from them, confirming their arrival to my instant reply that we were still in Alice Springs and why were they there early? We quickly got out of the car and two cars in front of us there were my folks, beating us to the check in counter. Both of us snuck up behind the car and gave them a nice little surprise, how amazing is that. We have come from complete other sides of the country and arrived within 2 minutes of each other. So there you go, everyone was lying, never trust a Colla when it comes to this sort of stuff!

            We went for the non-powered option, probably a good idea as we got the best part of the camp ground and got a chance to setup next to each other. You can forget about pegging in to this earth, the deep red dust on top is just a cover for the rock base underneath, I'd swear that Uluru was below our campsite. Even dad dragged out some pegs that look like they'd hold down the Sydney opera house comfortably and even those wouldn't go through. Some strategic placement of heavy objects in the camper had us sorted so we get down to some catching up with the folks. We sat under a little picnic area for a bit of a drink and chat. Unfortunately another couple decided to join us, and we couldn't shake them no matter how many hints we gave. After not seeing them for 6 months we were pretty keen to find out what they'd been up to but this other couple wouldn't budge. I think in the end Dad told them politely to bugger off, nice work by the old man! As sunset hit we jumped the fence behind our site and climbed up a small pile of red soil to get a sweet view of Uluru. This was also our first sighting of the new Annie Liebowicz in our family (couldn't think of a male photographer), my dad. His new found love with the digital camera put us to shame, and ck thought that I took heaps of pics. If there was a brownlow medal for photography's best on ground, dad is the Jimmy Bartel in his category. Although he might get reported for drinking too much during the season! The best bit about our location, there was plenty of stuff for dad to snap, no need for him to take shots of his favourite son (that's right you two, favourite son!) and daughter in-law.

Now before I get distracted, you may notice during this take on our stay at Yulara that I don't use the old name for Uluru, Ayer's Rock. This is one of our pet hates about some of the great landmarks in Australia being named by the first bloke to put it down on a piece of paper. Ayer's was actually the premier of South Australia at the time so of course he made sure that his significance in life would be remembered, thank god they didn't carve his face into the side of it. Plenty of times on our journey we have traced the source of the name of a river or landmark to be the sister of an uncle who had passed his cousin on the way to visit his mother in-laws elderly neighbours' milk drivers mechanic. Sure it was great for the mechanic, but how did it make sense to give it a new name when the indigenous folk of Australia already had a name for it? It just doesn't make sense, so Uluru it is, plus who really wants to remember a SA premier anyway?

Our first full day with the folks was a beauty, we decided to have a look at a few of the local attractions and found Uluru to be the favourite. We packed a lunch and snacks and jumped in the car for the drive over, it's a fair walk from the campground surprisingly, probably around 20kms. The whole way there was the clickety click of dad's camera going off in the background and mum's video camera rolling. Uluru is massive, almost an aberration on the rest of the landscape which is pretty sparse and relatively flat in comparison. Just one mighty big rock with an endless supply of tourists swarming around taking photos (never fear, we joined in). We took a bit of a stroll through the very informative and well laid out information/cultural centre before heading off to the base of the rock. There's a huge car park set around the spot where you can start your ascent up the side of the beast if the weather is kind, if there is a whisper of wind they tend to close the walk, something you appreciate if you have been up it. Our plan was to walk around the base with the entire crew to try to take in the enormity of it. There's a 9.4km flat walk around, that's right, 9.4km's around, that's gotta be big! And boy it takes a while too, it sure felt like we were 'half way' round for about 5km's, of course this was mentioned about every 100 metres, much to my amusement. There's plenty to see from the water pools, stagnant water falls, wave rock formations and aboriginal art, enough to keep you entertained for the day. We had lunch on the way and took as many photos as possible, the rest of the time we spent trying to stop dad taking photos where there were signs up stating no photography allowed. All the family will know what I'm talking about, he just loves to push the boundaries, he taught me well… Ck had all the energy in the crew and powered in front of us for most of the trip, of course when whinged and nagged but she's learnt to ignore that over the years. It was a brilliant walk and no matter how many photos' we took you could never quite capture the brilliance of what was in front of you.

As a treat for Christmas, ck's mum (Sally) spoiled us by sending us to the Sounds of Silence dinner, basically a big spiffo dinner including champagne overlooking Uluru and Kuta Tjuta at sunset. For those interested, Kuta Tjuta used to be known as 'The Olga's" but has since reverted to its original name much to my satisfaction. Not the easiest to pronounce either, much to the amusement of our travelling companions for our stay here. Seriously, try to say it three times fast, even funnier after a few reds at the campsite. Back to the dinner, we were herded to our 'secret' spot with about 80 other guests for champagne and canapés while the sun set. It's the first time in while that we had both worn 'nice' clothes, we looked pretty smart, have a look at our blog homepage, it's the cleanest we have been in months. After sunset, they led us down the path to the dining area, under the stars with a roaring open fire. The fire was perfect, it was a freezing desert night, one that's perfect for a big glass of red and an open fire. We had a huge selection of native Australian animals to feast on (so proud to eat our national emblem), to the point where there was only enough room for desert and a coffee. The entertainment was a lone didgeridoo being played during dinner which added to the atmosphere. We left with me a little disappointed, there was supposed to be port at the end of the night but I couldn't find it L. We managed to make friends with a few couples (couple of glasses of wine always helps) but none more so than a nice young couple from Italy on their honeymoon, they were just about to head to Hayman Island, lucky ducks. Enrika & Andrea from memory, they were the smart ones to join us at the fire in between courses. For some reason (probably wine) no one else seemed to leave the tables. The bus took a rowdy bunch home and us to our campsite, where mum & dad were waiting to top me up with some port. Thanks Sally, it was a nice change to sausages and potatoes.

Next day we woke up pretty well considering the endless supply of grog from the night before, but we are seasoned veterans in this business now. The whole crew jumped into the car and drove over to Kuta Tjuta (still can't pronounce it) for another walk. This time we opted for the shorter walk, right up the middle of the huge cliffs to a nice lookout for lunch. Dad wouldn't stay on the track but no real surprises there, still going bananas with the camera too. Kuta Tjuta is significantly different to Uluru, and yet only about 20-30 minutes drive from the rock. A huge collection of boulders all sort of mashed together to form something pretty different to anything we have seen on this trip. Even stopped at the viewing platform on the drive back for some more pics. In the afternoon we fired up the bricks, a game that is essentially dominoes lying flat; seems to be one of the favourite with the folks. Managed to sneak a win here, it wouldn't turn out to be my last for the trip, much to the frustration to the rest of the crew. I think dad was a nervous wreck thanks to bricks by the time we left them a few days later, sorry mate! We had a cracking sunset, but they were every night while we were here so no more info required, best enjoyed with a beer and dinner on the go.

Against all the CK Oz Trip rules we were woken at 6am by dad shaking the trailer, all my brothers and sisters will be nodding and smiling right now. Our plan was to set out for sunrise over Uluru and then dad & I were going to attempt the climb if it was open. We joined in with a few hundred other tourists on the far side of the rock just before the sun did its best work. Right on cue, the sun rose and Uluru turned a blazing red, an amazing sight and dare I say it, worth getting out of bed that early. Once the show was over we made our way to the base of the climb and thankfully found it open. There was already a steady stream of tourists starting out so dad & me and set about stretching the limbs for the strenuous ascent. Leaving behind our distressed (cough, cough) wives, we made a slow attempt at climbing the rock, clinging on to the support chain like our lives depended on it (actually it did, one step sideways and it was a very quick trip to the bottom). I walked behind dad, mostly so I could prod him if he ever thought about chickening out. We passed and were passed by a few people, most were willing to chat and listen to our attempts at speaking each of their languages. We had the most success at Italian, well dad opened up with Pizza and Spaghetti, funny stuff for us, and this dude was big too, don't need to mention how big the drop was again. Even one little dude who wouldn't have been older than 10 seemed to be by himself and was going up and down, some kids have no fear. The top of the chain was a welcome site and a good spot to stop and soak up the view from the first flat spot on the climb. From there we followed the white line like good little rabbits; it's still quite a climb to the eventual peak of Uluru and quite a bit of scrambling was required. Needless to say that the camera got a fair workout, especially once we made it to the pinnacle. Most of the people making it this far said "…is this it?", like they were expecting a show ride or ice-cream shop. It was all down hill from there, the trip down was quicker but just as intense. We were buggered, the toes were aching from the forward pressure and the legs started to shake by the end. Made it to our very patient wives, actually I think they had forgotten about us. It was great to have achieved something that I had always wanted to do, and to have Dad going step for step with me was even better. I was pretty proud of the old man; he's still pretty fit and didn't complain too much really.

Another afternoon of bricks after dad woke from his much deserved snooze, of course the arvo was dominated by yours truly but we don't need to go into details. We had our final night at Uluru before we set sail for Kings Canyon in the morning.

Weather: Cool to mild at night, a big improvement on the last two weeks. The days were pretty good too, at least the sun was out and we could put the shorts on. Mind you if previous destination was Melbourne no doubt you would swear we were in the middle of a heat wave up here.

Staying at: East MacDonnell Ranges, NT, Ross River Resort

Stopped for: 4 nights, 20^th – 24^th July

We came up with a great idea, head out to the East MacDonnell Ranges, find a nice spot and send a note to Ronnie & Brett to join us (they are finally on their trip across to the Whitsunday's). A brilliant idea, forgot to check about phone reception but surely it wouldn't be a problem, we were only 100km's from Alice. Well you can guess the result, no reception, and no way of getting in touch with them, they sailed on past Alice Springs and we missed catching up with them, bugger. Not sure they would have been too worried, when you have Whitsunday's on your shopping list, why would you want to stay in Alice Springs?

            The drive out to Ross River Resort is magnificent; you weave your way through the East MacDonnell Ranges for about 100km's and find a beaut of a location right at the bottom of about four different rocky mountains. We found the homestead which was built around the late 1890's, about the time when the gold rush hit the area. It's a ripper of a building, steeped in history and most of the original building still in place. We spent a nice afternoon here on one of the days putting away a bottle of red in front of the fireplace. The bar is surrounded in deep and dark timber, almost had an Irish bar feel to it, even complemented with horse saddle seats on the side. One of the staff joined us for a very interesting chat, it seems that she is not very happy with the new management, and was very happy to fill us in on all the details. After it started to get a little scary, we took our bottle and ran; too much information for us. So back to where I was, we secured a couple of nights in the campground, and learnt about our "powered site" being switched off at 9pm if no guests were staying in the cabins. Of the eventual four nights we stayed here, this happened on three of them. To our surprise, the campground was virtually empty, only a couple of campers around and plenty of space for us to choose from. On one of the nights we were actually the only ones staying there besides the two permanent residents who you never saw. Outstanding location, beautiful campground surrounded by red cliffs and trees, not a sole in sight, perfect. There was a nice big fireplace next to our site which we took advantage of every night, more of a roaring bonfire on most occasions. Most of the campers that were there the first night were kind enough to leave us a stack load of wood, including huge logs that some dudes had chain sawed the night before.    

            Once we were satisfied with our setup, we jumped in the Subaru and headed up a 4wd track to N'Dalia gorge (love that name!). Crossing over a couple of sandy creek beds and some nice rocky sections we made it to the car park to find it also deserted. We were here to see some aboriginal rock carvings; rumour has it that there are over 2000 of them in the area. A nice walk following a dry river we found plenty of cool rock carvings, not sure how or when they did it but it has stood the test of time. We went about 30-50 metres beyond the marked track to find the best stuff right in the heart of the gorge, sometimes you just have to look a little harder. We returned back to camp, well satisfied with the day's adventure. So satisfied with the day's success that we might have toasted one too many times that night and put away a few drinks, guess we were happy to be out of the squeeze of Alice after all.

            Not much to tell you about day two; let's just say that we paid the price from all that merriment from the night before. The temperature overnight had plummeted below zero and it only got up to around 9 degrees during the day. We concluded that it was an excellent idea to have an inside movie and sleeping day, just the cure for a decent hangover.

            Still bemused by the lack of people, and with plenty of energy after not doing much the day before, we made tracks for a town of ruins nearby, Arltunga. Started with a gold rush in the late 1890's, it became the first central Australian town way back then. Didn't last too long as the gold didn't turn out to be as fruitful as first thought, and eventually it became something interesting for tourists to come look at and not much else. There were plenty of little things to go look at, the old battery, the police station, etc… but of most interest to us was the old mines. We spent a bit of time with a torch exploring some of the mines, jeez, and I thought my work office could be squishy at times! These guys virtually lived in a hole where you could pick your nose with your big toe comfortably. Its funny how there is never ending tales of people living through hell, just for that small chance of fame and fortune. Take some advice from me, your better to live a rich life than have a life surrounded by riches. Yep, couldn't agree with me more on that, but I wouldn't mind some more money if any of you are willing to send some? Nope, didn't think so. We spent the day looking around here and returned home stuffed but satisfied we made the trip out there.

            Our last full day was spent out at the very popular Trephina Gorge. A couple of nice walks, through the centre of the gorge and then up over the top and back down for lunch. Still relatively quiet but we did run into about two other families out and about enjoying the eastern ranges.

            Hey while I think of it, I'm not sure it happens every time but the price of our accommodation dropped every night that we stayed. After initially booking in for two nights (CK Oz Trip standard practice) and selecting to stay another night we were given an existing guest discount. Did this again the next day and you guessed it, another discount, it had actually dropped by ten bucks a night by the last night, gotta love that.

            A couple of other highlights from our stay here, unfortunately Max was only allowed to stay at the homestead but not at any of the tourist attractions. So our only option was to take him for a walk then put him to bed while we headed out. The nearby mountain range proved to be a winner with Max, each morning he lugged me up the scaly rock edge, each day going higher and higher. Eventually we reached the top and got a magnificent view of the surrounding ranges, not that Max stopped to enjoy it; he was off in search of lizards or anything else that moved. He was usually stuffed by the end of the walk that he was happy to sleep it off, he wasn't the only one! Our Bocce set was taken out for the first time on the trip, it's the heaviest thing we have taken with us and it took us six months to finally get it out for a game. Think I just held sway over ck. On the last night we were joined by another family, wouldn't you know it, they were Geelong, unbelievable!

Weather: Cold, oh so cold. -2 overnight, one day it only got up to 9 degrees we are led to believe. We did not leave the sanctuary of our camper trailer that day, and our ever faithful little electric heater. All hail the heater!

Staying at: West MacDonnell Ranges, NT, Glen Helen Resort

Stopped for: 4 nights, 24^th – 28^th July

So we crossed over from East to West, stopping through Alice Springs to grab some supplies and visit our favourite Krummies. I also snuck in some time to catch up on GFC news while ck was doing the grocery shopping, after all my tasks were completed of course.  In much the same as the drive out east, the West MacDonnell Ranges surround you as you wind your way to Glen Helen, the major tourist stop on the map. The "resort" campground is set at the base of Glen Helen gorge; the towering red cliffs of Glen Helen oversee the campground day and night. We snagged about the only bit of grass in Central Australia, a nice little fenced off area where they tended to send camper trailers and tents looking for some power. The only rule was that you couldn't leave your car on the grass, sounds like something your dad would say back home… "Now listen son, I don't want you parking that fuel guzzling rust bucket on my beautiful lawn, you hear my sonny..." I could go on but I think you get the picture. Our power came from inside the shed that backed onto the grass, doesn't matter where it comes from really, power is power. The grass area filled up quicker than it takes to boil a kettle. We were joined shortly after by the young family that had caused all the "trouble" back at the Devils marbles. Mum & Dad and four young girls, sounds like hard work to me. They turned out to be great company; unfortunately they only stayed one night but we figured we might run into them down the track, their heading in the same direction. The campground is situated on the edge of the car park for the resort reception/pub/restaurant, an interesting combination with plenty of traffic to keep you entertained. The view however of the gorge cliffs at sunset is magnificent from the campground, we sat there every night just soaking up the last hour of sunlight with colour of the cliffs changing constantly, brilliant!

            After dinner, not having learnt our drinking lesson from the other night, decided to pop into the pub for happy hour and to catch the local entertainment. The local muso, Tim, was on as he is every night, playing a bit of guitar and having a sing-a-long. I love guitar, occasionally have a little bash myself, but love to watch the pro's go at it. We took full advantage of happy hour as Tim kept belting out the tunes, then he opened up to requests of which I started firing off a few. The first five or so were denied, claimed not to know them, who would have thought that he wouldn't know Snow Patrol, Smashing Pumpkins, Extreme, Foo Fighters or Nickelback? I had a crack at a few more, eventually got a bit of Eric Clapton, Tommy Emmanuel and Simon & Garfunkel. Sometimes you just have to find the right generation; he carved up a storm, absolutely nailed Tommy much to our delight with one of our favourite songs. The happy hour (well happy hour had finished but it didn't stop us) jugs kept coming and we were warming up in front of the fire with some of our finest singing. Before you knew it his wife had joined us and we got to know her pretty well while Tim finished off his last few songs. Eventually he joined us as we continued to drink the night away, when will we ever learn? The last ones to leave, we boisterously returned to our very quiet camping area making way too much noise but on top of the world. Never fear, we paid the price the next day, ck was pretty good but I spent most of the day in bed watching the replay of the GFC 07 premiership. You see I'd just found out that they had recorded all of the radio stations broadcasts so I had to watch and listen to each one. Sometimes it's good to have an excuse to lie in bed all day! We did manage to walk to Glen Helen gorge late in the afternoon, but it was only about 400 metres away from our camp so I'm not sure you can say that we did much.

            For some reason we were full of energy the next day, and so we took off for the big one, the Ormiston Gorge pound walk. This is a beauty, four delicious hours of stomping up and down the country side to end up back at the car park and where you started. Now I'm sure that sounds like mindless nonsense but if you have ever had the chance to do this walk then you know that it is far from the truth. This walk is stunning, the view from the top of the lookout is…well…um…I tried to have a crack at describing this three times but kept deleting it, so let's just say…bravo Ormiston Pound…bravo indeed. I'm not going to take you through each step of the walk like some of my previous epics, some things are best left unspoken (good excuse to be lazy and help catch up). We rounded out walking through the Ormiston Gorge, which is as equally impressive as the pound, and finished up back at the car. Back on the road to camp we set about collecting a bit of firewood and some new reasons to detest burrs, they really breed some crackers out in Central Australia. Got an idea for you, if you have a habit you can't shake, try jamming these puppies into your hand every time you start up your defect and that should help you break the cycle and create a whole new language while your at it. Upon returning to camp our planned fire was quickly extinguished as some campers had come along and blocked it off, we thought we better make some introductions just in case we accidentally burned their tent down. They were a super friendly family, and one of the kids was so obsessed with Max that he took him for a walk which confused the living daylights out of Max. It's no coincidence that the kids we meet on the road all seem to be really well brought up, something about the fresh air or learning about Australia first hand that seems to do it. We thought it best to avoid happy hour again tonight!

            The next day put a few of the other attractions on our shopping list, first off the aboriginal Ochre Pits. Interesting stuff, these are the actual walls where they took ochre to do their paintings (both bark and body); the walls are a rainbow of traditional aboriginal colours. Next stop, Serpentine Gorge, which included a 15 minute strenuous climb up a goat track to a lookout over the snakelike gorge. We rolled back down to the bottom for some lunch at the very tranquil water hole. Moving on, and last on the list of things to do was Ellery Big Creek Waterhole, a nice big fresh pool of water that looked like it would be popular in the summer times. They warn you that the waters are generally always freezing; dipping the old hand into the water confirmed what they were saying, no matter how many times you did it the water kept getting colder, you never adjusted. We left a young group blowing up a dinghy by mouth, while it looked to be entertaining watching them cross the waterhole, the thought of jumping in to help them if they got stuck had us almost running to the car. We returned to camp and started up the fire between all the campers setup for the night, our next door neighbour had been good enough to go collect some more wood and the kids who had a grand time with the marshmallows. A couple of other groups joined us, each with their own interesting story. The oldest couple were the most entertainment, while you couldn't get a word in; you had to marvel at their approach to camping. Most oldies you see on the road are showering at 4:30, having dinner at 5, and into bed by seven. These guys almost forgot to have dinner as they kept downing the drinks and filling us all up with tales like grandpa from the Simpsons. An entertaining and relaxing night.

We were the first packed up in the morning and exchanged details with the family in the hope that we would see them down the road some time. We even had to wait for another couple with the 10 second tent to move before we could get out, think it is one of the only times we have actually beaten anyone in getting packed up. Destination, sadly, Alice Springs while we wait for my Mum and Dad to arrive from down south and I attempt to get the Subaru looked at again…

Weather: Perfect during the day, 24-28 but still damn cold at night, 0 was a common theme as we slept. One of the blokes next to us used the joke that he put his hands inside his fridge during the night to help warm up.

Staying at: Alice Springs, NT, The Heritage Caravan Park

Stopped for: 6 nights, 14^th – 20^th July

            The drive from Devils Marbles to Alice Springs was rather uneventful, passing the huge dude on the side of a hill better known as Aileron was probably the highlight. There were a few fuel options along the way but when they were trying to charge $2.33 a litre we thought it best to use the rest of our fuel from our spare tanks. We weren't the only people to come to this conclusion, while filling the tank just past one of the roadhouses we saw an endless line of travellers pull up, check the price and drive on. Ck managed to get every last drop out of the tank as we pulled into Alice Springs, we were confident that we would be testing out our RACV membership at any second along the freeway. The fuel was at least 50c a litre cheaper in Alice, that's good drinking money!

            After popping into the information centre for some advice on things to do in the area we moved off to our cv park that ck had been good enough to book during the day. There was stacks of people heading down to Alice over the last couple of days so we didn't want to chance it, good thinking too as the park was jam packed full of old crackers and their trusty satellite dishes. We were lucky enough to have some great company on both sides of our camper. Must be something to do with camper trailers, they both had one, one was the very fancy T-van, very expensive but great for 4wd trips and setup in about a minute. The bloke ended up being a doggy's supporter so we quickly made a plan to head to the pub on the weekend to watch the game. The other side of us was a couple who had made the camper trailer from scratch themselves, it weighed nearly nothing, learnt this out as they couldn't decide which way they wanted to setup so I gave them a hand pushing it around. Unfortunately he ended up being a Carlton supporter so you can imagine that he was the subject of much ridicule while we were staying there. On the first night when everyone had setup the gear we invited everyone around for a happy hour outside our tent. Well every man and his dog showed up, we probably had about 20 in the circle. Even a couple that camped next to us in Darwin had showed up, a grand old time was had by all for much longer than the allocated hour. Some unexpected entertainment was provided during the drinks by a couple who showed up that spent nearly 2 hours setting up the van in the perfect spot for tv reception, a round of applause please. The next day we had the pleasure of watching a couple show up in a humungous Winnebago, most of us just stood there with our mouths open watching as it pulled in. Thankfully the couple were kind enough to offer us the show, they seemed pretty proud of the big ship; it was amazing inside, just a glimpse of the luxury some people travel in. The cv park was pretty close to the famous Todd River, well not really a river, more a dried up sandy bit of land. The river only flows when they receive significant rain, which apparently hasn't happened in the last 12 months. Didn't stop max from going off his tree a couple of times when we took him for a walk a couple of times. There was a fair bit of rubbish lying around and who knows what the hell he was eating in the bushes, best not to find out and just hose him down afterwards.

            We took a trip up to the top of Anzac Hill for a sweet view over the top of Alice Springs and the surrounding McDonnell Ranges. Way back when I was young and innocent (well I think I am still pretty innocent) I actually flew to Alice Springs for a few days for work, the guys at the place I was working at took me up to the top of the same lookout. I suspect you may be not as excited about that as I was? By the looks of it, not much has changed in those ten years; even the casino looks vaguely familiar... I swear I was there on business related matters.

            One of our "free days" we spent out at Standley Chasm, a 30 minute drive from the heart of Alice. What is a Chasm I hear you say? Well, buggered if I know but from what we saw it is two sheer cliff faces about 5 metres apart that almost forms a tunnel, without a roof. Quite spectacular if you can time it to be there during the middle of the day as the sun creeps around the corner and lights up the whole chasm. It lasts for probably an hour or so then plunges back into a cool darkness and you almost forget what it looked like when it was lit up. We sat on top of a pile of rocks at the far end of the chasm and got the most out of the midday sun spectacular. Probably a good idea to take your time too, they charge $8 bucks a person to go have a look, from memory the only one in the ranges that you have to pay for. Since we had paid the money we took up the option of exploring further up the dry river bed for some more chasm action. Around the corner we found a huge hollowed out tree overhanging the rocky outcrop we had just climbed, before ck could tie up her shoelace I was climbing up the inside and out the top of the trunk. The drop below was probably about 10 metres so I stopped there for a photo or two then realised my stupidity in climbing up, not so easy to get down without rearranging some very important members of the family jewellery collection, if you know what I mean. After navigating the exit of the tree with a few bumps and scratches (and a slightly higher voice), and ck just about crying from laughing, we carried on our adventure. Not the easiest climb, nor is it marked so you kind of guess where you are going. Eventually we ran into a group of about 20 pro walkers (not sure what makes them pro, if you ask me if you can walk then you know what you're doing?) having some lunch. They had come across the next chasm that had a vertical hole climb that stopped them in their tracks; about half way up you had to climb through a hole without any support below and a nice little drop to keep you on your toes. Not the biggest of holes either, if Macca's was part of your regular diet you can forget this walk. Both of us shimmied and squeezed our way through, all with the vocal support of the walking group and a bit of a round of applause at the end. The best bit about getting through, there was no one else out there, just what we were looking for. We climbed and climbed up the river bed until we found a part of the Larapinta Trail that would lead us back to the car park. By the way, in case you're interested, the Larapinta Trail extends along the McDonnell Ranges for an amazing 12 day, over 200km hike, and we just couldn't find our hiking boots at the time! The trail led us up, and up, and up, almost straight up, and once you reached the top, despite the amazing view, you could clearly see the track go straight down and back up another ridge twice the size that we were standing on. DOH… Doh… doh… (for the slow ones that's an echo). After navigating the next down and up sections of the walk (and endless Cooee's to another group on a far ridge) we found an outstanding view of the majority of the surrounding mountain ranges, it was breathtaking, even better due to the fact it wasn't planned, don't you love it! The final descent was once again straight down, hard on the knees and ankles, but made a little easier when you see people straining coming the other way. Especially the pro walking group that we ran into again, poor buggers had to go the long way round. While normally they don't recommend going off the track for various reasons (death being one of my favourites), this place they actually encourage you to explore a little bit, and its well worth it, make sure you go outside your comfort zone here, you won't regret it.

            One of the main reasons for stopping in Alice Springs was to get the cars steering bushes fixed that had been identified in Darwin when we last got it serviced. We even called them a couple of weeks before hand to make sure they had the parts which they assured us was the case. Now don't fear if you don't know what a steering bush is, neither do Alice Springs Subaru! After dropping the car off at the crack of dawn (8am) we left it with em' to perform their magic. I was over the moon when they called us at four in the afternoon to tell us that they had never seen this model (2004) before and they would have to order parts in for it, great, thought that's what my call was all about a couple of weeks ago. Picked up the car and thankfully they didn't try to charge me, that wouldn't have been a very amusing conversation. Now I know your all waiting to hear when we are going to get this fixed, don't worry the second chapter in this story is just around the corner in a couple of weeks, stay tuned.

            The big day arrived and we set off to the pub with Graham (the doggie's supporter) and got a great spot, next to the bar with a view of the big screen and another smaller screen with the other game on. The drinks flowed freely and the boys from the western suburbs gave a good account for themselves in the first half. Expectedly the GFC pulled away in the second half in front of an enthusiastic home crowd as Graham drowned his sorrows over another couple of beers. Late in the game the Carlton neighbour showed up to help out with the drinking, did a fine job too. Ck was good enough to drive us back to camp at the end of the day; we were in fine form by the end of the game as you can imagine. After fine day on the good stuff the last thing you want to do is cook, so we set out with a craving for fish & chips, ah the greasy stuff. Wouldn't you know it, they were either all closed or shut down permanently. We had plenty of back up plans; the first on the list was casino. I was still wearing my ridiculously large sloppy joes (thongs) and was promptly stopped by the bouncer at the front door, no entry if your sole was rubber. That was a bloody funny question for me to answer after a few drinks, buggered if I know what these thongs are made of… probably recycled paddle pop sticks! Entry denied we continued our search. Next stop was an "open till midnight" souvlaki shop that stopped serving food about 3 minutes before we arrived, at 8pm. Passed up on the Italian and Thai and went for the pizza (some may argue that this is Italian), but something caught our eye on the way there. A 24-7 bakery, couldn't believe it, talk about destiny. And they had all the good stuff; we loaded up with relish and feasted on bakery goodness. This didn't turn out to be our last trip to the bakery, look up Krummie's bakery if you're ever in Alice Springs, you won't regret it.

            So a super squishy park, we didn't get the car fixed in the end and the nights were cold, but still we seemed to enjoy the stop. Thankful to be leaving, we set off to explore the McDonnell Ranges…

Weather: Mid 20's during the days, but oh my god did it get cold at night, we're talking single digit figures here people! Not good for a couple who have spent the last 5 months in perfect warm weather.

Staying at: Katherine, NT, Springvale Homestead

Stopped for: 5 nights, 7^th – 12^th July

We didn't really travel that far to our next stop; we planned to have one more camping trip with Sally & Annie (S & A) before they head over to WA. Kafwin was our next stop, we had been here before but there's always something more to see and do with other people. After discussing our options with S & A we decided to try out the Springvale homestead, the stories of that rooster may have scared them off the other spot. We arrived earlier than them and ended up selecting a huge non-powered area right next to the billabong with a nice big fireplace right in the middle of the site. The billabong was home to about six fresh water crocs which made Sally a bit jumpy, much to the amusement of the rest of us. The only criticism I might have on the homestead is the shower and toilet facilities, they were probably some of the worst we have come across on our travels so far.

Our first trip out saw us back at Katherine gorge, there are plenty of walks on offer and we decided to try one of the shorter ones (about 10kms). We weaved our away along the banks of the river until a very steep climb took us up to the top of the ridge over looking the river, hard work but a stunning view once up top. Our trail continued up and down several hilltops until we made our way down to a stagnant waterfall for lunch, you could see the water level from the wet season. Normally a good swimming location but at this time of year you'd be better off tickling a croc than taking a chance in the water. We continued on down to the bottom of the ridge and out onto the edge of the Katherine River. Without hesitation ck and I were lapping it up in the very inviting water and swimming across to the far bank, it looked sandy and probably only about 100 metres across. It wasn't until you got pretty close and dodged the passing tourist boats that you could read the sign "Danger, stay out, crocodile breeding ground". Didn't have to tell us twice, we went moving across that river like Hackett swimming for Gold. S & A met us half way and as I tried to offer some advice the mother in-law quickly made it clear she didn't want to know. As we made it to shore on the other side it was quite entertaining to watch Sally read the sign and make a hasty retreat. Remember I did try to say something, can't do any more than that. The team returned back to the car park exhausted but well and truly satisfied with our effort. As a reward for finishing ck & I feasted on an ice-cream, it's a great way to finish a walk, especially as everyone goes on about ice-creams at the top when you're walking. To this day I'm still not sure how they did it, but S & A headed back to Katherine Gorge for a bit canoeing the day after the big walk while we slept in. Our day consisted of the usual, long breakfast, long lunch and lazy afternoon while the ladies slogged it out on the river. We did a couple of small jobs in town and set about making them dinner on the camp fire for when they returned. Somehow they managed to stay afloat and return with big smiles on their face, canoeing seems to do that to you. Dinner was a special little roast chicken dinner with roast vegetables and coal baked potatoes, it doesn't get much better than that. We followed it up with some cards to round out another perfect day.

Located in the town of Kafwin are some more thermal pools, nice, warm and amazingly clear. The ladies needed a warm bath to rest the aching muscles and this seemed to be the tonic. We spent an hour or so just cruising up and down the river until your fingers started to look like something out of a Gremlin movie. Somehow S & A talked us into visiting the Jurassic Cycad gardens next, one that we had originally put on our list for our retirement trip. It actually wasn't that bad and we got to see a stack load of Cycads, at least we can identify them now when we are walking.

There is a tour offered by the homestead that goes for about 3-4 hours up the river for a bit of croc spotting and dinner on the banks of the river. It was a pretty reasonable price and it seemed like a good chance for us to sit back, relax and let someone else do all the work. The tour guide was not only informative, he actually had a sense of humour and knew what he was talking about. His job was made a little harder thanks to a group of pommy's with a couple of kids that were not happy about being on the boat. It might be just me but if your kid is scared stiff about going on boats then maybe you should think a little harder about taking him on a dinner cruise. By the time we made it to our dinner spot on the banks of the river I was spotting crocs like the late Steve Irwin. The dinner (meat, meat and more meat) was accompanied by an endless supply of wine that we all made the most of, much to the loathing of the pommy group next to us. Our drinks were never empty, not that we didn't try, we just always had a bottle handy. Word on the street from the ladies was the salad was pretty good; I just couldn't seem to find room on my plate at the time. We were all well and truly inebriated by the time the boat had to leave, after we all stumbled up to the toilet we were the last ones to board much to the smirks of the tour guides. As we cruised back up the river ck and I were entertained by S & A continually enjoying the reflections in the water, it's funny how shiny things amuse you sometimes. A fantastic dinner with great company, it's a night not to be missed if you stay here. After the dinner party all successfully navigated their way up the stairs and back to camp it was unanimous to crash for the night, don't remember hitting the pillow but we all slept pretty well that night.

Man I can't believe I nearly forgot, since our arrival into Darwin a few weeks ago I'd been hassling the ladies to shave their heads. Up until now there had been legitimate excuses, work, family, drug dealer won't recognise us, etc… Now they had no excuse and to my surprise Sally just grabbed a pair of scissors and started lobbing off Annie's hair. In no time I had the shaver out and ck set about taking off their hair down to a number 7, I wanted shorter but you can kind of understand why they didn't. Lots of photos and a lot of laughing later and S & A were looking magnificent in their new short back and side's style. I knew what was coming next but didn't want to look at the road train heading my way; ck was sitting down as well. I was torn, I love her hair and want it to grow long again, but want her to be free of all hassles on this trip. If that meant losing the hair than so be it, with the video camera rolling off came the hair. Each brush of the shaver hurt me deeply, but she loved every minute of it. Lucky she looked pretty spunky at the end of it. I rounded out the quartet by giving myself a fresh trim and wouldn't you know it, no one disturbed our site for a few days. The ladies got plenty of comments when we were swimming in the thermal pools, that was pretty much straight after and it made for some interesting conversations. Hats off to the ladies participating in the "CK Oz Trip shave for a beer" event, I didn't think they would do it but they proved me wrong.

Every night we had a roaring fire and so many games of 500 that we were starting to forget who was winning, I'm sure when we look back at the score sheet it was probably the young ones. Max found the wildlife to his liking, especially the little wallabies that continued to hop along our tent line to the billabong, how quickly his favourite lizards were forgotten. Of course S & A are avid readers and subscribers to our blog so they were most keen on trying out a spot of fishing to see if we could whip up dinner. On the last night we made our way down to the river bank and threw the line in for a couple of hours. The only thing we caught was a few submerged logs and a hankering for dinner, without too many arguments we packed up and left the fish to fight another day. Sadly we parted company the next morning, they were off to Gregory National Park and we had to start heading down to Alice Springs. A fun filled few days, thanks ladies, we all miss you already, especially Max.

Weather: Around 30 every day but the nights were starting to cool down significantly, not a good sign as we are heading further south over the next few weeks.

Staying at: Mataranka, NT, Bitter Springs

Stopped for: 1 night, 12^th – 13^th July

            Mataranka isn't really that far from Katherine, but it wasn't something that we were going to miss. The only thing they can really offer is some thermal pools but boy are they worth it. We found a nice little caravan park right next to the Bitter Springs thermal pools and setup by about lunch time. Keen as a kangaroo on bitumen at sunrise we walked over to the springs for a bit of a dip and frolic. The water was a perfect 32 degrees and clear as glass. These were so different to the ones in Kafwin, there were no carved stone steps, it was significantly deeper and the current was considerably stronger. We drifted along with the current and millions of little fish until we reached the end and climbed up a vertical drop ladder. During our swim we had noticed some people with snorkels and concurred that this was a super idea and we would return later in the day. Back at camp the might of the GFC was on show against the season's disappointment, the Fremantle shockers. After another ridiculously easy win we grabbed the snorkel gear and headed straight back to the springs. It was amazing what was underneath the water with a proper face mask on, it was like swimming in an aquarium. Occasionally a whale or two would swim past; thankfully we didn't have the spear fishing gear with us as it turned out to be some fellow tourists who have clearly been in a good paddock for one too many years. There were stacks of plant life, a couple of different turtles including the aboriginal favourite long-neck turtle and heaps of schools of fish. It was an excellent idea and one we will put into the memory banks for future expeditions into the thermal pools. Nothing more to report for the stop, it was only an overnighter but one of our best ones yet.

Weather: Still around 30 during the day but those damn nights are starting to drop below 20.

Staying at: Devils Marbles, NT, Stuart Highway

Stopped for: 1 night, 13^th – 14^th July

            Do you ever get a picture in your mind of something you have never seen and are convinced that it will look like that once you see it? Well I do, and I couldn't believe that there was anything besides desert on the way down towards Alice Springs. We drove pretty much all day down the Stuart Highway (of course stopping for lunch and toilet stops) until we reached about the only real interesting thing for about 500kms either side, Devils Marbles. I'm sure there are plenty of exciting things out there, and please don't write to me about all of the historic road side markers along the way, but this is one major natural phenomenon. We thankfully arrived before sunset and picked a perfect spot where we could not only see the marbles from our kitchen; we could lie in bed with a cuppa and see them too. Mind you their pretty hard to miss, they are the size of houses and turn a blazing red at sunset. We trekked around the marbles for a while, taking plenty of snaps then grabbed a cuppa and sat up on top to watch an awesome sunset, no photos, just enjoying the moment. After dinner we made friends with our next door neighbour who had a ripping fire going, and none to soon too, it was a freezing night, the first time I can remember the beanies coming out since SA (and back then it was just to fit in!). With dingoes scuttling around and some clowns even feeding them, we settled into bed for the night and got a pretty good night sleep. We were woken in the morning by the charming sounds of our next door neighbour shouting in her most delightful tone (now think of your highest pitch, most annoying old bag voice, that's it, now read on) "…get down, would ya, get down, I'm trying to take a picture…harold, they won't get down, they're ruining my perfect picture...". This went on and on so we opened the window to see what the fuss was about, the sun was rising and lighting up the Devils Marbles in a way that can only be seen to be believed. It was spectacular and there were some families including young kids on top of the marbles enjoying it, much to the horrendous complaints of our "mates" next door. The husband even chimed in when a German tourist came walking past, he had a go at him for staying up there for too long, nice, what happened to the free country? These guys fitted our description of the oldies perfectly, you know the ones who will only settle in a place that has t.v. reception and if everything's not quite right then don't worry you'll hear about it. It was made even worse when two of the young girls beat their parents back down and was promptly given a dressing down by the old bag, seriously! We actually got to know the family who "caused all the trouble" a little later on and thankfully they weren't perturbed by the whole event. After a nice brekky under the watchful eye of the Devils Marbles we packed up and headed south for Alice Springs, still a fair day's drive from here. Drop by the devils marbles if your on the road, who knew a few big rocks could be so interesting.

Weather: High 20's during the day, god knows how cold it was at night but I'm pretty confident it was single figures.

G'day everyone, great news to bring you today. In the last week my sister has finally given birth to her sixth child, and yes she is completely out of her mind. Aragon Benedict Talaue is the new addition to the brady bunch, I've been informed that there was a good looking gent in the lord of the rings with a very similar name, me thinks that they might like this movie ;-) Congrats to Pam, Glenn, Tristan, Jarod, Chloe, Jordan & Shekinah. On top of this our good friends Tim & Fi have given birth (Fi did all the hard work) to their first baby, a fine looking young lady, Alice Mary McGrath. It's times like this when you miss being back home, love a best wishes to all of you.

Let me take you back in time a little and bring you the next chapter in our life on the road...

Staying at: Darwin, NT, Sally & Annie's House, Nightcliffe

Stopped for: 2 nights, 24^th – 26^th June

On the way back into Darwin from Litchfield we were cruising along at a very comfortable speed, somewhere under 110 despite the limit being a very inviting 130. Traffic was increasing but not anything to worry about, the roads are in pretty good condition and there are plenty of overtaking lanes. This normally provides a good opportunity for all the non-towing cars to make their moves and get past us and the road trains. On one of the well signed and clear overtaking lanes a few cars went about doing their business successfully…except for one clown! For some reason they panicked or didn't realise that they were coming to the end of the passing lane and pulled up even with us as the lane ended. Left with no option but to merge back into the right lane (straight would have left us testing out the airbags once we touched down), we moved back and I waited for the grinding as our cars came together. Thankfully they caught me in the corner of their eye and swerved onto the other side of the road (lucky for us and them that no traffic was coming the other way) and avoided what would have been very ugly. They made it in front of us and continued on their voyage with not even a hand up to apologise, maybe they were as shocked as us? Once our hearts restarted and breathing functions resumed we said a few choice words and thanked our lucky stars for getting us through that one, close call and a nice red was put on the menu for when we stopped tonight.

We pulled into Sally & Annie's (S & A's) house with much anticipation, our new drawer for the camper should be there waiting for us. It was around now that we got another touch of the NT love…the drawer was not there! First thought, it's been stolen, second, someone has swiped it, third, call the manufacturer to make sure they sent it. The third one gave us much more information than the first two, they had accidentally sent it to our Melbourne address. Thankfully they realised their mistake just before it was delivered to our front door step and set about getting it to Darwin before human beings reversed back to a civilization of monkeys. Great, who knew how long it was going to take despite them saying that it should have already arrived. My next call was to the courier in Darwin, let me take you back to the saying "N.T. Not Today, Not Tomorrow". They got one of them right, definitely not today but maybe tomorrow, that's as good as we could hope for.

For the first time since being on the road we didn't setup the camper as S & A were good enough to put us up for the night. We sat back, relaxed, hit the cards and a nice bottle of plonk for the night. It was weird not sleeping in the camper, it has become our home and you felt a little lost not wearing your thongs in the shower! S & A headed off to work in the morning and we took advantage of a washing machine in the house that actually cleaned your clothes (I'm sure I will mention this again in the future). We waited and waited for the drawer to turn up and after a couple of calls to the courier it finally arrived. We were like a couple of kids at Christmas, after cracking open the wrapping, we feasted our eyes on our new drawer and a promise of much easier access to our gear. It was big enough for ck to fit inside, and slid into the camper like it was meant to be. Now is the time that ck is in her element, like a game of Tetris she set about rearranging all of the gear and containers to fit perfectly. It was late in the day by the time we finished so we booked Max in for another night at the kennels and we booked into "Hotel S & A" for another night. All of us decided the best way to celebrate the arrival of our new toy was to grab some fish & chips and the compulsory bottles of wine and head down to east point for a sunset dinner. It was a great park, very similar to some of the botanical gardens back home but with a better view. As we watched the sunset and the throngs of joggers pass by we toasted the good life, and the new drawer!

We were spoilt the next morning by S & A at their local café with some sensational muffins and a rare cup of coffee from a shop. Max was calling us and we had to set about getting back to camping life, all this couch sitting was starting to get me comfortable, plus you could hear way too much from the neighbours at night in the city, don't ask!

Weather: Above 30, warm and muggy at night.

Staying at: Darwin, NT, Coolalinga Caravan Park

Stopped for: 8 nights, 26^th June – 4^th July

I'm not sure if you can remember, but I mentioned when we last left Darwin that there was a whole bunch of things that we planned to do but never got around to it. Put it down to laziness or stupidity, but we decided this time to write a list which seemed like a much smarter idea. Unfortunately this turned out to be a list that filled an a4 page with ease and a total number of items well over 50. You can't avoid to-do lists, even on the road. Our campsite was still available back in the same spot and most of our neighbours from the previous visit were still there. Before we setup I gave the camper its first wash for the trip to remove some of the red dirt. Ck somehow managed to roll her ankle about ten minutes earlier after sliding down a drain while picking up Max, some may say convenient timing? Now the last thing I want to do is bore you with every single detail of what we did during the next 8 days, unless you would really like me to pull out the list and describe my endless search for a rubber knob for the camper? No, I didn't think so. I'll pull out a couple of the highlights as there were a couple of things that are worth hearing about.

One of the must do's when you come to Darwin is to check out the museum that contains an entire section on the devastation that was cyclone Tracey. Some of the pictures and information they have available will raise the hairs on the back of your neck. We spent a few hours in there reading all about it and wondering what sort of damage a similar cyclone would do these days. It's funny that immediately after the cyclone they applied new building standards to survive a similar conditions, but have since re-evaluated these requirements and relaxed somewhat. Don't they say, never take your eye off a predator? I hope for their sake that they never see anything like that again. The best bit about this museum, it was Free! Considering what they had on show, including art and some of the best aboriginal artefacts, it was the best free thing I can remember (excluding nudie runs on the beach of course).

I thought it best to re-establish our friendship with the neighbours while ck was out shopping. Dale had been good enough to lend me his state of the art soldering iron so I was obliged to have a drink or two with him. Just so happened that a couple of the other blokes also had their wives out at work or shopping and before you knew it we had a nice little crowd of fellas having a grand old time. After solving world hunger, agreeing that AFL was by far the better sport and coming up with a solution to the ever present carbon issues, we called it a day just as ck returned from doing the shopping. It's a tough job but somebody has to do it. Don't know if you noticed I snuck in the bit of soldering without making a point of it, too many notches on the belt to count these days ;-)

Now if you ever come to Darwin make sure it is around the 1^st of July, known as Territory day or more to my liking "Fireworks Day". How can you resist the temptation when one of the only places left in Australia legally sells fireworks to any man, woman or child for one day only. And with a company selling all the good stuff labelled "Black Widow" how can you say no? Like a dog to a bone, I was down to our local fishing shop to pick up the nights supply before I'd finished breakfast. I was like a kid in a candy shop and settled on about 10 single launchers and one big puppy that promised to light up the sky and put all dogs on edge. That night we made our way to S & A's house for a ripping homemade salad, they knew they were on a winner when your ingredients include chicken, potato and bacon, delicious. Even ck was excited with the prospect of lighting off some fireworks, as soon as it was dark the sky was a sea of colour as every man and his dog had some to set off. All of us made it down to the local park to watch over the water the main show at Mindil beach while setting off our own. The first few were ok, apparently they had little parachutes in them but a little hard to see the little guys at night, they kind of fizzled if you ask me. My favourites were the single bangers that launched about 30-40 metres up then burst open with a huge spray of fireworks and a bang that stopped cars, awesome. All the ladies had a go, squealing as they ran back from the launching site, not too bad but at least they all had a go, including the mother in-law. Then came the big puppy, this was my baby and with much anticipation I set it off before anyone had a chance to take it off me. In sequence it launched nine individual fireworks; it set the night sky alight and had me begging for more, thankyou NT, you made our day. The fireworks continued well into the night, even driving along the road we were spotting kids setting letting them off out the windows of their moving cars, crazy! An experience not to be missed…

High on the list was a fish and chip shop in Cullen Bay that our brother in-law Aaron recommended, hidden amongst all the glitzy shops and restaurants. We successfully tracked it down only to find it closed, bad timing on our behalf but it looked a goer. Lunch was still required so we found a little restaurant overlooking the boat harbour and took a nice break from the to-do list; still we ticked off finding the fish and chip shop. That's right, it was on the list!

On one of our last nights in Darwin we had the fortune of sitting down with Dale and Jenni and a couple of their friends (and now subscribers) from Rockhampton, Phill and Shell. They had plenty of information that they were willing to share with us including a couple of their favourite camp grounds, info that you can't buy anywhere. Don't they always say to get to know the locals if you really want to find the best places, they gave us enough information on Cape York to make us consider skipping central Australia and heading straight there. Thanks guys we owe you one. Phil & Shell were in town to check out the v8's which were hitting Darwin on the weekend, love that passion for your sport, some mad blokes that I know even got a tattoo after their team won the AFL grand final last year.

We obviously spent a few more nights with S & A, considering they were the main reason we were in Darwin it seemed to make sense. One night was spent devouring the delights of the potato man down at Nightcliffe beach under another perfect sunset, followed up by cards and wine of course. We also treated them back at camp to my homemade pancakes (the old family favourite Dutch recipe) and ck's homemade apple crumble over a game of Carcassonne. There was no way we had enough room for that dessert, but how can you say no to apple crumble, straight from the camp oven with cream, delicious.

It was time to move on; we had been around here for so long people were starting to get to know us. Our list was just about done and the rest of Australia was calling us, with much excitement we said our goodbyes and set off, happy to be back on the road again.

Weather: Above 30 every day, perfect at night 20-24.

Staying at: Daly River, NT, Daly River Mango Farm

Stopped for: 3 nights 4^th –7^th July

Located south of Darwin by a few hours drive, this spot is located on the banks of the Daly River. Another farm come tourist park, their main attraction is the barramundi fishing, but watch out for the Salt Water Crocs around every bend. A wise man that cleaned the camper back in Darwin was made to look like a clown as soon as we hit the dirt road across the Daly River on the way to camp. Freshly watered from the road works, red mud was coating itself all over the camper, why oh why did I bother. The owners were super friendly and gave us a great spot right next to the river, we were a little worried about being near the fish cleaning area but it turned out to be a bonus. Before we had even unhooked the camper a couple offered us two nights feed of fresh Barramundi, already filleted and cleaned. And their reason for offering it to us, coz were Victorian! Wiping away a tear from the eye I'm sure I could hear in the distance "…we love him coz he's a Victorian…" ah it takes you back. This happened again later in our stay when another Victorian handed us another nights feed, god bless em. This was a perfect arrangement as you couldn't really fish off the banks here, they actually give you a guarantee that a salty would take you before you got to bait up. Word from all the guys on the boats was they spotted up to sixty a day sunning themselves on the banks, and some even chasing the boats trying to get in a snack before dinner. Our spot had a nice big fireplace that we took advantage of every night, funny thing was it was so hot every night without the fire that we couldn't sit near it. But there's something tranquil about a fire with a beer in hand that just rounds out the day perfectly.

            We got to know the guys next to us after one of them drove a fishing hook right through his foot, they'd been drinking all day and he claimed not to have felt it too much. Apparently he unsuccessfully tried to pull it through the other side thanks to his "mate" egging him on, that's what friends are for eh? Hospital was in order while his mate filled us in on his travels; apparently they had driven straight from Williamstown to here, something like 37 hours straight. The dude with the hook in his foot returned in a very good mood after they had loaded him up on morphine to get the hook out, nice little cocktail of beer and morphine to keep you going for a while.

            We took a walk through the Orchid plantations to stretch the legs and give Max a chance to have a free run off the lead. He rewarded us by finding two totally different piles of fun, one was a nice load of manure, the other fish guts; he had a meeting with a hose to attend to after that. We followed that up the next day with a walk around the property's billabong and some old ruins from a time gone by. This time we wised up and kept him well away from any piles that he could roll in.

Made a day out of driving to the Douglas hot springs, about a 320km round trip but it was well worth it. A natural attraction, the river where the spring's first rise out of the ground was around 60 degrees, this then ran down to where it met the Douglas River (which is freezing). You could lie in a couple of spots that had hot and colds streams running over you giving you the best of both worlds. We spent a few hours there just lazing about, even sat in the water while eating lunch, perfect. It was only later that we read about a salt water croc spotting not far from where we had lounged about, just shows you can never be too careful in NT. Popped into the local cv park for a squiz at a few of their attractions, the best being a rope swing into the river. After seeing the kids all do it I couldn't resist, didn't even think to check the water. After launching myself I first flew past a huge submerged rock, then let go flying through the air into unknown waters. After hitting the water I soon realised that it wasn't that deep and hit the bottom with a bit of a thud. As I swam back to shore I ran into a hidden tree and started to curse my stupidity. Don't worry; it didn't stop me from doing it again, this time even higher! Now if you think that was insane, you should probably ignore the fact that about twenty metres away was croc cage with bait still in it. My reasoning was that if it hasn't taken the bait, why would it want to grab me!

 The Daly River Mango Farm is a great stop, reminded me of a long weekend camping trip to somewhere like the Murray River.

Weather: It was easily over 30 every day and the nights didn't drop below 20.

G'day subscribers, as you all would have worked out by now, we are way too busy (lazy) to get the blog up to date, I think this brings me up to a month behind again. As a wise man said to me the other day, at least I'm consistently a month behind. I think I just like writing way too much and it takes me forever to write each of our stops, one day I'll get sick of it and just write, 4 days, it was good! Until then enjoy the endless narrations of our life on the road.

Staying at: Katherine, Northern Territory, Manbulloo Homestead Caravan Park

Stopped for: 4 nights, 6^th – 10^th June

We cross the border! Goodbye Western Australia, thanks for an amazing adventure, we'll be back!

As you cross the border you get a bit of a sign of the lifestyle of territorians, on the road leading into WA there is a huge quarantine check point. You can often see travelers standing there eating all of their fruit and perishables, not on the NT side of the fence! On our side of the road there was nothing to stop you brining in what you like, come on in, the doors open and help yourself to the fridge. Welcome to the Northern Territory.

In much the same conditions as the speed changing from 100 to 110 between VIC and SA, the speed changed from 110 to 130 between WA and NT. The road was no different, if anything a little worse, but at least they now have speed restrictions, not that long ago you could be going like the clappers (as fast as the sticky tape can hang on) and the cop would give you thumbs up as he overtakes you. Add to that the rapid increase in the last few days of the grey nomads, doing on average between 70 up to a staggering 73kms per hour and you have an interesting trip on your hands.

With ck snoozing for one of the only times on the trip (still a bit tired from our canoe trip) we drove through the very picturesque Gregory National Park. If we had our time again we probably would have stopped here and checked it out. That's my opinion, ck checked it out from the insides of the eyelids, but there's no doubt she would agree with me. It certainly looked like an impressive NP, one well worth spending a few days exploring. Our destination was to be Darwin in the next couple of days, mainly to catch up with the Mother in-law and Annie. Remember how I mentioned early on about two crazy women riding their bicycles around Australia, well we intend to spend some time with them in Darwin. Tonight's stop was to be Katherine, only 514 km's to be done in a day, piece of cake after driving through the vast expanses of Western Australia. By the way, when we crossed the border we also crossed the 15,000km mark on the trip; just don't think about how much fuel it takes to drive that far. There were a couple of options for us to stay in Katherine that were dog friendly; our pick of the bunch was Manbulloo homestead. It was another farm turned tourist park, mostly dealing with permanent residents but still catered for a nice small number of people like us. Our site was located wherever you like under the big shady trees, near the amenities and next to a big open area to let Max do his stuff. Our first real signs of the cane toads that are making their way to WA were encountered here, and they breed em big up here. On the way to the toilets at night you normally have some company, not by choice either. They say the best way (most humane) to kill them is to stick them in the freezer; could you imagine Mum's surprise when she went for the ice-cream. Not once person that we have met so far gave us that suggestion, most involve a nine iron, a cricket bat or a marshmallow stick and an open fireplace, but you didn't hear it from me. Our original plan was to stay one night and then keep going up to Darwin, that plan was quickly thrown out the window when ck got in touch with the Mother in-law, not only was she not in Darwin, she wasn't in the state. Off visiting ck's sister on the Gold Coast was where she was at, bet she didn't ride the bike over either! There is nothing better than driving over 15,000kms to find out the person you are visiting isn't there, guess we probably should have called before hand! So we stayed for four nights, easy as that, seemed like a good idea until the bloody rooster cranked up. This rooster was either sleep deprived or feeding in the wacky tobaccy crop out the back. Regular as someone on a fruit diet, this rooster went off all night, every night, could drive a man insane if you stayed for too long. On top of that I had a nice big huntsmen pay me a visit while doing dishes in the camp kitchen; don't worry he got to meet the potato masher up close and personal. We had a deal, he broke the rules! And of course then there was the roaming dog from the property that took an interest in our campsite throughout the night, every night, Max grew to dislike him, bet he wished that he could use the potato masher! Other than that, this was a great spot to stop, seriously!

So now we had some time on our hands, here's a few of the things we did while hanging around in Katherine, or Kaf-win as pronounced by some of the locals.

We dropped in to Edith Falls for a bit of a squiz and a dip, probably picked the wrong day (public holiday) as the place was packed. A rude shock for us I can tell you, our last few waterfalls were almost deserted, these falls were about as busy as the Myer shop windows at Christmas, families everywhere. You didn't have to walk far from the car park to get to the falls, I guess that's why it appeals to say many on long weekends, and still it was a nice swim and a great spot for lunch. The base of the falls is a fair swim from the entry point so we gave it a miss and just cruised around in the open waters of the huge swimming hole. In another section of the Nitmulik National Park we went for a nice long walk through Butterfly Gorge to see a section of the Katherine Gorge. Another nice spot for lunch even though you had to walk about 6kms to get there, it was a sweet rock face to jump into the cool waters of the Katherine River. In a stark contrast to the Ord River that we paddled down a few days before, the river was packed with canoes and tourist boats. We both suffered from a bit of dehydration on the way back despite drinking enough to sink a canoe, the temperature out here gets over 10 degrees warmer than the car park. Considering that was over 30 degrees and we were walking during the afternoon you can only guess that it was damn hot! On the way back we decided at the last minute to check out the nearby Cutta Cutta Caves, why not, we hadn't gone and seen any yet. It was our first real experience of the NT (not today, not tomorrow) way of life, the place was in desperate need of some maintenance which the tour guide outlined to us that he'd been trying to organize for ages. There were some cool rock things; if you're into that sort of stuff, lucky for me I'm interested in almost anything. Don't rush up here to see it, but if you're in the area and have a spare afternoon, drop by; you don't really have anything to lose. We threw in a big rest day in between somewhere, you need to plan to take it easy when traveling, and sometimes you can get caught with trying to do everything and not really appreciating where you are. We have a lot of these days! Of course this still means all of the household chores such as clothes washing and catching up on the blog (never going to happen but I'm trying). There was also a river next to the homestead that we checked out for likely swimming and fishing options, swimming ruled out thanks to our Saltwater friends, fishing looked an option but once Max and ck jumped up a tree when a leaf shifted in the wind we soon realized that the river was not where we wanted to be. With the imminent arrival of ck's mum, Sally, we skipped one of the favourite attractions with the oldies and put the Cycad gardens on the list of maybes for next time. Darwin here we come!

Weather: You know I record this for our recollection at a later date, but the weather never changes, not sure why they even do a weather report. Let's just say, low 30's for the rest of the time in the north of NT and that should cover it. It's perfect all the time!

Staying at: Darwin, NT, Coolalinga Caravan Park

Stopped for: 8 nights, 10^th – 18^th June

Can you believe we're in Darwin already, seems like yesterday we were fishing off the coast of WA. As mentioned, we were not really here to check out Darwin, the aim of the trip is to try to avoid cities and enjoy our beautiful country, but we were here to see ck's mum (or better known to me as the mother in-law, sounds scarier doesn't it, I can almost hear the Star Wars Death March tune in the background). Now I don't remember the last time we drove in real city traffic before, but regardless we took the camper and crew into the heart of Darwin CBD to drop into the information centre. After some rather inventive parking we managed to get enough information to start a bonfire and took off in search of the best c.v. park close to Sally's place that allowed dogs. On some very dodgy info we found a caravan park that "let" you stay in the gravel car park if you had a dog, or they could just fart in your face and make things easier for everyone. We passed on that place and reluctantly selected the Coolalinga Caravan Park, a bit further away but a dog friendly park with shade and a swimming pool, sweet.  After not finding anyone in the office we decided to go up and have a look at the park anyway, while wandering around we found one of the dudes who ran the place and he decided that we could stay right where he was standing. A huge unmarked site in complete shade, right next to the swimming pool and no spots either side of us, the best spot in the park if you ask us. Sold, we moved in and set the whole rig up; we were here for at least a week. The only thing that we didn't really agree with was paying two bucks a night for Max, but you can't complain everything else was as good as we could ask for. Within a couple of hours you got to know all of your neighbours, our nearest, Jenni & Dale were the source of much amusement for our entire stay. Despite Dale being a bombers supporter, we quickly got to know each other, note that this is best done by continually sledging each other no matter what the situation. Things were a little too easy for me now that they call QLD home, you almost feel sorry for them ;-) (If he works out how to use the computer I know he'll be reading this). More about them when we return to Darwin, don't let me forget now! Now I don't want to ramble on about every waking minute that we spent in Darwin like I did for the Ord River Trip and the Gibb River Road epic, most of you have work to attend too, so I will try to pick out all of the highlights from the time spent here.

Took a trip with Max out to Mindil beach, the most popular with the locals, and also recently opened to the public again after a Salt Water Croc spotting, we sent Max in first! It's a long flat beach with no swell, would be better off calling it a bay but I think this way that get more people to come down for a swim. This area is famous for the Mindil night markets, where thousands of people descend upon the beach on Thursday nights and Sundays for all sorts of market stuff (food, and craft stuff, you know what I mean). We didn't find the time for some reason to come down for the market, too many games of cards with the ladies I guess.

So we did managed to catch up with Sally (can't get that song out of my head) and Annie which was really exciting. We had been looking forward to this for a while, unfortunately ck's grandparents (Oma & Opa to me) were here a few weeks earlier and we missed them. Don't tell them but we might be planning a special stop in at Nambour to show them our new found 500 talents in a few months time. While we're on songs that get stuck in your head, every time someone said Annie's name, I couldn't stop singing to myself "Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson. It's on our IPOD and always gets turned up loud in the car … "Annie are you ok, are you ok, Annie… you been hit by, you been struck by, a smooth criminal…". Trust me, it drives you nuts, great now the song is in my head again. Back to catching up with the ladies, they set about filling us in on their adventure up until Darwin, and teaching us the finer points of how to play 500. We both love playing cards (I come from a family of mad card players, scratch that, I come from a mad family) but had never gotten around to learning 500, now we'd like to declare that Opa & Oma are in for some trouble when we arrive! They also taught me another version of backgammon, think it was Russian, Slovakian or Eskimonian (it's a word if I think it is), do you ever notice that the rules change as you start to gain an advantage, I didn't win.

We all went for a day out, with Sally & Annie (mj song playing in head) leading the activities. Our first stop was Fog Dam and a slight hint of what is on offer inside the Kakadu National Park. Fog Dam is vast wetlands with a ridiculous amount of wildlife running amok; it was enchanting to see nature going about its daily life without a care in the world that we in the trees nearby. Patience paid us back big time when after standing around just looking at the birds all going nuts a pond suddenly stopped moving, all of the birds froze, something big was about to happen. Could it be the much talked about three legged chicken dance? Nope, after about another five or ten minutes of waiting a nice big salty raised his head out of the water looking for a morning snack, nothing was stupid enough to go help him brush his teeth, but it was still pretty cool to see. We moved from here to the Window to the Wetlands tourist attraction, a free information centre on the wetlands environment and how it all works, informative but no way near as interesting as standing there looking at it, Fog Dam the winner so far. The stomach was calling so we made our way out to Berry Springs, a natural hot spring swimming and picnic area. Lunch was first order of the day; we found a great shaded spot and devoured some freshly made rolls and other goodies. Ignoring all of the advice you received when you were a kid, we couldn't resist and went for a swim straight after lunch. I'm sure I could still here mum telling me not to swim for an hour, in case you cramp, of course it could have been the mother in-law who was right there! Oh boy, the water was a perfect 28 and clear as the window everyone ran through when they were a kid. There are two large swimming areas and a great little waterfall that you can get a deep tissue massage from if you can force your way against the current to stand under. Sally & Annie showed us a secret little spot above the falls that no one goes up to, guess it's not so secret now, but it was cool to check out with the goggles on, you'd be amazed at what you can see underwater (more water!). In between each of the swimming holes you cruise down with the current through shallow creek beds, just look out for the spiders up above, they are big enough to swallow little kids for breakfast. Once the old man crinkles started to appear on the hands we dragged our little tushies out of the water and up to the picnic area for an afternoon of cards and relaxing, a most enjoyable day had by all.

Over the sky's of NT for the past week or so there had been fighter jets flying around (me thinks just to do the tourist attractions for free) for the pitch black exercise. Pitch Black was some special air force thing where six countries descended upon the NT for some war games, pretty cool to watch flying overhead every day. They put on a free family day at the RAAF base in Darwin that we snuck along for a bit of a look, it was free after all. We had chat to one of the Thai pilots, pretty funny bloke who we tried to convince into giving us a lift back to Melbourne to say hi to everyone; unfortunately it was only a two seater so we missed out. We lined up to check out the NATO spy plane (they called it something else but we knew what was going on) but the line didn't move so we decided the next best was a retiring cargo/transport plane. While waiting for the aerial show we watched with amusement as numerous blokes tried to create conversation with a blonde French pilot over her suntan. She had the whitest legs (as did all the French crew) and didn't understand a word of English, do you ever notice how people just repeat the same thing over and over a little bit louder each time if someone doesn't understand your language? The aerial display was worth the wait, the pilot performed some ground shaking maneuvers right above us that made you check to make sure you hadn't wet yourself, and did I mention this was free?

It was a special anniversary of ours while in town so we found a classy buffet (if you can have such a thing) overlooking the harbour, The Jetty Restaurant, and dined out for a few hours with some nice wine. We gorged on food till we couldn't move, knew I should have worn the stretchy pants! Do you think asking for a doggy bag at a seafood buffet is probably pushing it a little far? The young fella behind the bar made me the best short black I've had since leaving the inner confines of Melbourne, man I miss the coffee. Thankfully we had plenty of desserts to choose from to go with it, I found the best way was to grab one of each and decide back at the table, brilliant idea if you ask me.

Oh yeah, I've got to tell you about the dog park near where we were staying. At a town called Palmerston, there is this specially designed dog exercise area at Marlow's Lagoon. It's fenced off from the rest of the park and Max could do whatever he likes, he even completed some of the obstacle course which left us pretty impressed. This was the first place I can recall someone putting up a sign warning people not to enter, it's designed for dogs, and he got a few trips out there while we stayed in the area, lucky dog.

Now most blokes who read this should take note, don't make a deal with the devil unless you have too. If you say something like, "I'd like to go see the new Indiana Jones movie", expect to hear back, "sounds good, as long as we can go see that new see Sex & The City movie". Now you have two choices, either make the deal and pay for it or go by yourself, after all you don't talk in a movie anyway. This is based on experience, wait until you get to the ticket counter and realize that the chick flick goes for over three very, very long hours. And oh boy, all they do is talk, blah, blah, blah, but the chicks love it, don't know why, they just do. In case you were wondering we did stop past the movies to see a couple of new flicks, one typically good, the other…

Sally popped around one night for dinner and a game of Carcassonne, beginners luck got her over the line. Now normally everyone plays fairly on the first round for a newbie, you know, to show them the ropes. Little did I know that ck would use her mums and her pieces to take me out, so sneaky.

A real treat for us was going out to a music concert at the Casino gardens in the city, overlooking the Mindil beach sunset with Sally and Annie (your ok, your ok Annie...). The theme for the night was jazz, the warm up act wouldn't have defrosted a frozen frankfurt, they tried but not up to scratch I'm afraid. The main dudes (Monsieur Camembert) were a funky Russian polka jazz group, if there is such a thing. While not the typical type of jazz band, these guys had everyone entertained, by the end of the night the dance floor (bit of grass) was packed with people having a great time. All four of us concluded the night to be a success, but straight to bed afterwards, it was after 9pm, way too late for us these days.

So we had really good intentions of catching up on a whole bunch of chores that we had been putting off until we arrived here, we got so caught up with relaxing and catching up with Sally & Annie (you been struck by...) that most of them got completely forgotten, as we left Darwin we realized that we would have to return next week to get them all done.

There you go, that's most of the stuff that we did while in town, over 8 days there was plenty of time for lazing by the pool, doing a bit of blogging and just enjoying the perfect weather, but I can't keep writing about that every day can I?

Weather: No wonder why all the grey nomad's come up here every year, the weather doesn't drop below 30 during the day, and a very comfortable 20-24 at night.

Hi All, thanks to those who sent messages following the Gibb River Road novel I released a couple of days ago, it was great to hear from you and gave us a good laugh. The following is our last week in WA and brings to close a great chapter in our trip. WA is a pretty special and remote place, put the kimberley and karajini onto your list of must do's when you plan your trip. We will be back here one day to discover a few more hidden wonders and soak up lots more of those perfect WA sunsets. Our next blog entry - Northern Territory!

Staying at: Kununurra, WA, Lakeside Caravan Park

Stopped for: 2 nights, 1^st – 3^rd June

Wow, did anyone read that last blog entry, not only was it brilliant writing, it made me want to go back. CK Oz Trip landed in Kununurra (which is super hard to spell) and found our way to the Lakeside Caravan Park after doing the now routine stop by the information centre. This park was pretty ordinary, even by our staying in car parks on the side of the road standards; the sites were so small we had our next door neighbour's caravan awning touching our bedroom window. Of course they could have left the awning down but don't get me started on that conversation (don't worry I'll come back to it later). We didn't really have big plans to go see anything here, just more an opportunity to unwind, load up the groceries and check everything was still where it should be after completing the Gibb River Road. The only tourist trip we did in town was to go checkout the lookout on top of Kelly's knob, don't ask me why, they just called it that. In the distance we could see that the grassfire was still burning, we just hoped everyone was ok back the El Questro. Now here's something for you ponder over, if we have, Postman Pat, Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine, what do you think the fireman should be? Frank or Fred, probably more likely to be Philippe these days. There you go, Philippe the Fireman, you heard it here first! Now where was I, oh yes, our stay in Kununurra. Not much took our fancy in terms of touristy things, but one little brochure grabbed our attention, a three day, two night, canoe trip down the Ord river. Our first enquiry was to check that little Max could tag along (no kennels in town) that got approved after some investigations by the dude who ran the trip. Later on we found out that our other companions on the trip were also called and didn't have a problem with him coming along, thanks ladies! So we went down to the backpackers to meet the owner and check out all the gear, a real down to earth aussie bloke who ran us over everything. With water proof containers in hand we shopped for a few feeds and prepared for the trip. It was so exciting, from not doing anything in town to all of a sudden going on a self guided canoe safari, the CK crew were on a high the whole afternoon. We paid for a few more nights at the caravan park so we could leave our gear all setup, and went to bed with an early start unavoidable (it had a 5 in it)…

Weather: Don't know I was too excited about the canoe safari to pay attention, probably around 33.

Staying at: ORD River, WA, (Kununurra)

Stopped for: 3 days, 2 nights, 3^rd – 5^th June

Do you ever incorporate a repetitive noise or your alarm into your dreams at night, it happened to both of us the other night when some dudes car alarm went off at some ridiculous time in the early hours of the morning. Of course you eventually wake up and then you have to try and work out what's going on without yelling at your better half to turn the TV down. Now I think I mentioned that it was an early start, how does 5am get you going? Yep, 5am, not a good time of the morning when you're working let alone when you're camping and very used to a slow start to the day. Of course the showers were packed with oldies trying to make the most of the day, I guess that way they also beat the cleaners in the morning. The main man behind the show, think his name was Stuart, picked us up from the cv park with our containers packed and a very full esky. Here's a tip for you, considering you have to take all your rubbish with you, it's smarter to buy beer in a can, once drunk it is a lot lighter than bottles and less likely to break, clever huh? While loading up all of the canoes onto the trailer we met the rest of our crew, due to some interesting conversations on the trip we agreed to use aliases to protect their true identities (they may be superheroes, who knows?). So all three of our companions were women (Max and I badly outnumbered), let me introduce them to you. First there was "The Loch", a dive instructor and boat driver who had just moved to Broome from Coral Bay, by herself for the trip but made canoeing look way to easy. Then there was the mother and daughter combination. "The Pro" (mother), a professional dragon boater from Port Lincoln in SA, and just to show off she had been down this river a few days earlier with her crew. I'd suggest they probably went a little bit quicker than our little tea party. Last but not least was "The French Connection" (daughter), a student studying Eco Tourism in Adelaide, once done I believe she was interested in doing an architecture course, some people just love UNI (and a mighty big hec's bill). Not to be outdone Max and I tried using aliases, I was Julio, and he was Iglesias, well it amused us at the time. The trip out to the base of the dam wall was well worth it, the mountain ranges and the dam itself is pretty impressive. I think if you had some time in Kununurra it would be worth coming out to the dam wall for a bit of exploring and a nice picnic. As we got to know each other our trusty guide briefed us on what to do when you fall out, what to do when a croc attacks and where the finish line is. For all the blokes out there, putting your wife in between you and the croc is not in the handbook of how to survive a croc attack, I checked! The canoes were unloaded off the trailer and packed tight, Max squeezed in the front with CK and we all set off on what should be an awesome trip. We waved goodbye to our last human contact (our guide) as we rounded the bend into some amazing gorge walls and stunning scenery. The current was moving nicely so there was little need for paddling as we just cruised along the river at a lazy speed (The Loch and I concurred it was about 6km's an hour). Max quickly moved from his spot under ck's feet to on top of the swag's in the middle of the boat, and there he stayed for the rest of the trip. In case you were wondering we had to cover 55km's in 3 days to make it back home, not a bad effort if you make it! The first 13km's (lifejackets on) or so were the quickest of the trip, some small rapids to contend with that have the ability to tip over the canoe if you don't pay attention but otherwise lots of fun. A couple of close calls from a few of us, but we all made it safely out of the first section onto a cozy little sand bank for some morning tea. Max went nuts on the sand; think he was enjoying the freedom and his new friends that he was still trying to impress. Everyone jumped in for a dip (ignoring the fresh water crocs in the water), even Max had a bit of a splash around. There are two tour groups that offer this trip in Kununurra, we were "lucky" enough to meet a couple who were traveling with the other mob. They were quickly tagged as "The Racers" thanks to their excellent stroke technique, their ability to annoy you before they started talking and their constant attempts to outline how much better their camp setup was. Unfortunately this wasn't to be the last encounter with these guys, but it gave us a good talking point for the whole trip. We paddled on, with the racers well and truly out of sight; I think they were trying to make good time if you know what I mean. Our journey through the biggest section of the gorge forced the camera out a few times, of course every time you stopped paddling the canoe turned backwards. It's impossible to paddle and take a picture so you just accepted it and sailed backwards for a bit. We found a spot for lunch as we clambered up onto some rocks on the side of the river, no drive thru takeaway stores out there. How funny would it be to paddle a canoe through the KFC drive thru, now I've thought about it and it just wouldn't work, there were no cup holders in our canoe. The break was welcomed by all on board, we were joined by a large water monitor (lizard or goanna, I'll get back to you on that). It got to a point where we had to move it away from jumping on board one of our canoes, we had no extra paddles and he was heading in the other direction anyway. The first days paddle was the longest in terms of kilometres, around 26kms from memory but the first half was down hill with the current behind us. The afternoon was a bit tougher as the river flattened out and widened, we continued to paddle while the sun beat down and the crew started to tire. We figured that we were pretty close to our camp site for the night when we ran into our tour guide on the river who had been doing some work on the camps, never have the words "yeah, you only have about an hour of paddling left…" hurt so much. He left with a smile; we continued to paddle as we had no choice. We had been invited to visit the racers camp, but the French Connection convinced everyone that this wasn't in our best interests, no one argued. It was funny as we rounded the corner at Pelican Rock to see the racers standing on the side of the river near their camp, suspect they had been standing there for a couple of hours waiting for us. Sorry guys, the beer was starting to rattle in our esky, think it was getting nervous, we had to push on. We probably missed out on their slide show from the day's trip but you can't have everything. The Pro and the French Connection steamed ahead and confirmed the sighting of camp much to the relief of everyone, rest was in sight. With all the canoes safely tied to the rickety little pier, we unloaded all of the gear and went about setting up camp. We had pretty basic facilities available, a camp shelter with table and chairs next to an open fireplace. A nice cleared area nearby gave us enough room to setup all three mozzie tents and swags. The toilet was definitely the highlight, raised higher than the camp area it was a basic drop toilet with a view to die for, overlooking the river it was the best so far on our trip. At night you could sit on the toilet looking up at the stars and the solar system with not a care in the world. Back to camp, firewood collected, the first drinks cracked open the conversation got into full swing as we got to know each other. No secrets to be shared on this blog site, but don't worry ladies, I've got plenty of notes ;-).Jeez I nearly forgot, while out collecting wood there was a loud bang and lots of noises coming from back at camp. Apparently the portable gas cooker that ck was firing up for a cup of tea decided to blow up in her face, all the girls successfully put it out and confirmed her eyebrows were still in tact, a lucky escape for ck! Ck was feeling a bit under the weather after a long day on the water (and a butane gas bottle trying to remove the inside of her eyelids) so she had a bit of a lie down while I set about preparing a feast. For us, Italian Sausage Stew (delicious), for the Loch, well it was some sort of sausage mix (as was every meal for the entire trip from memory), and for the pro and the French connection, vegetarian sausages. Now I didn't think that you could have vegetarian sausages, but they proved my wrong, you learn something new every day. I had a bit of a run in with a big (let's call it a huntsmen) spider, not my idea of a good time, but he quickly moved on to leave us in peace. We all reluctantly decided to head to bed later in the evening, there was still two long days of paddling ahead of us. There was plenty of activity from the wildlife in the area overnight; I think The Loch kept an eye on camp for most of the night for us. I suspect most of us slept pretty lightly, our bedding was a pretty thin mat and swag with a sleeping bag on top, just enough to feel like you were sleeping on the ground. Still it was better than nothing!

We all woke just after sunrise and shared in making teas and coffees all round as The Loch filled us in on the nocturnal activities around camp overnight. Our gear was damp thanks to some overnight dew, but everyone was in high spirits, there is nothing quite like waking up on the side of the river for a bit of breakfast and the outlook of another good day. Even better news, our canoes were still there, we all gave thanks silently as it's still over 30kms to the end, that's a long swim. With all the gear packed up and loaded back into the canoes we set off for another day paddling on the Ord River. With no sign of the racers we crossed the river to a stop listed on our now very damp river guides of a potential waterfall. We managed to find an unmarked track; Max took over and led the way to a very nice and relaxing waterfall at the end of a 20 minute walk. On the way The French Connection had a very graceful fall off the track towards the river much to the amusement of everyone else, but no harm done. The water was refreshing and everyone enjoyed our first real chance to have somewhat of a clean, even Max had a bit of a dunking. Back at the canoes The Loch was good enough to point out that she had seen a spider crawl into our transport, righto, everything out. We unloaded the entire canoe onto the side of the bank in search of the damn spider with no success, reluctantly we reloaded and headed off with me sitting on the edge of my seat, we never did see it again; I still suspect that she set me up! For some reason, when we were a little bit further down the river I decided that we should try swapping spots in the boat, the end result was a bit of circle work and that idea was quickly shelved. There were two major destinations today, the most important one was camp of course, but before that we had to stop at "Jump Rock" (or Yahoo Rock from memory). This was a great spot for lunch, but that's not the reason people come here, you guessed it, at a very daunting 12m straight drop (straight is a good thing!) you are tempted into taking the leap of faith off the cliff into the waiting Ord River below. Without hesitation, The Loch set the bar for the rest of the group by leaping out; worst bit about that height is that you have time to change your mind half way down! Didn't take long for the good wife to have that cheeky little smile of hers and away she went, crazy woman, got a cracking shot of her stepping out too, look for that in the photo section. After a bet with The Pro, I stepped out on a ledge a fair bit lower, anyone who knows my recent past with injuring myself knows that this was probably a much smarter idea. The Pro held up her end of the bargain to lay claim to one of the coolest mums that we have met and leapt off on the lower ledge with The French Connection (TFC) in a beautiful mother and daughter moment. That just fired up TFC and up she went to the top and completed the trifecta of insane women on our trip. Good job ladies! Lunch on the back of the rock was devoured pretty quickly, not quick enough it turned out as the racers cornered us. They admitted to dropping past our site on the way to compare it to theirs, seriously, get a life!  We quickly headed on our way and paddled the few hours it took to get to camp, I'm sure that we were starting to go up hill at some stage during the afternoon. The tour had provided some fishing lures which I tied out the back of the canoe, more out of hope than anything else inside the last hour of paddling. Caught a few bits of weed, considering we didn't have a recipe for it we threw it back. After a hot afternoon of paddling we made it into our second night's camp on the opposite side of the river and an even nicer spot. The camp site had much the same facilities as the night before including another ripping toilet with a view. There was a magnificent view on top of the cliff top next to our camp area that we took full advantage of with a few drinks during a picture perfect sunset. A bigger fire was roaring over dinner and a few drinks; we all shared some stories and had a bit of a laugh, a great night had by all.

The next morning I had woken early and was just having a quick toilet break when I noticed the onset of a cracking sunset behind me, with a quick shake of the leg I was bolting up the cliff with camera in hand. I got some magnificent sunrise pictures, much to the amusement of ck as I returned to the tent in only a jumper and jocks. It was worth it! We followed the same pattern as the morning before for breakfast and packing up, we really had a good routine going it was a shame that this was our last day. As we set off the river really started to open up and the wind picked up, thankfully for us it was coming from behind and giving us a bit of a hand. A quick toilet stop along the way nearly ended in disaster as in my haste to get off the canoe resulted in me missing a head high tree that I ran straight into. As I regained consciousness I found the good wife in stitches still back in the canoe, worst bit was I still busting to go! Back into the canoe and narrowly missing another conversation with the racers, we zigzagged our way to the very popular Zebra Rock Gallery. This is a significant tourist attraction, I believe the only one in the world, and we found ourselves back in contact with other people. That would have been fine, except most of them were well washed, neatly dressed tour groups, we were feral thanks to a few days on the river, think we all got quite a few interesting looks. Didn't stop us demolishing a choc milkshake and a bit on banana cake, delicious!  Back into the canoes to cross the river again and over to Elephant rock, you have to have a bit of an imagination but it does kind of look like an elephant, with a massive pile of something behind it, I think the French Connection worked that one out for us. We successfully tracked down the aboriginal rock art and picked up a few burrs for our troubles. Back into the canoes for the last time, as we pulled out a water monitor kept a very close eye on us from the log above us. Now I said I would get back to you on whether they are a goanna or a lizard, and the answer is they are a … goanna and lizard (you can refer to them as both), glad I cleared that up for you!  The path out of Elephant rock was relatively narrow and lined with dead trees, one of which snuck under The Loch's canoe, trapping her much like one of those plates that spin on the end of a stick in a magic show. While laughing like mad, we all teamed up to pull her off the log and back to safety. As we paddled the last few km's to home, Max decided that something on the bank took his fancy and he launched himself off the canoes and into the water, not one of his best decisions. Ck did a good job of dragging a very wet and miserable puppy dog back onto the canoe. Everyone got back into the rhythm of paddling down the final stretch of the Ord River, spotting the occasional croc and counting down the final kilometres, we were all buggered. We turned off the main river and into river inlet that leads to the lake of Kununurra (not sure but probably called Lake Kununurra) and more importantly the finish line. We all rode in together, reliving the highlights of the trip; I even snuck in the last couple of lessons on the birds that we were spotting on the nearby trees. While the idea of a nice long shower and a soft bed were on offer, it was with much sadness that we finished our journey. The trip was made so much better thanks to the company that we had along the way, thanks ladies, your true identity is safe with us (I wouldn't trust Max or should I say Iglesias!).

The Pro organized for Stuart to pick us up and return everyone to their accommodation, along the way we exchanged details and said our goodbyes…sniff, sniff…our journey had come to an all too soon end.

Staying at: Kununurra, WA, Lakeside Caravan Park

Stopped for: 1 night, 5^th – 6^th June

Man, another epic tale that was, first the Gibb River Road, now a trip down the Ord River, you guys must be bored out of your mind! We returned to our favourite caravan park to find another clown had setup next to us and decided that his septic pipes would ideally run through our site, right where we sat for lunch and underneath our kitchen. We gave him the opportunity to move them as we hadn't been there for a while and it could be a mistake, but no he sat there watching us unload all our gear around the pipes and into the camper. Eventually I had to approach him and ask if he minded moving them away from our camper, not happy about it but he moved them enough so we didn't have to stand on them when we opened the zip to the tent, man were we dying to leave here already. Our only reward for being back in the camp ground was the nice long hot shower; you could actually see the lake starting to drain from all the water ck and I used. We were all feeling uncomfortable at being back in civilization and we missed our mates from the canoe trip, it's funny how you yearn for the space and freedom once you have a taste for it. With no reason to hang around we left early the next morning with the plan to cross the border and head into the Northern Territory…see you on the other side.

We continue our journey from the last blog entry along the Gibb River Road. Staying at Ellenbrae Station last night and finishing with a hot shower with the donkey we pick up where we left off...

Staying at: El Questro Station, WA, Gibb River Rd

Stopped for: 4 nights, 28^th May – 1^st June

We woke up to a perfectly still morning after a great nights sleep, best way to enjoy that is with a bit of bacon & eggs, delicious. Packed up and popped into the communal area where the open office is located. There was a promise of some fresh home made scones on offer that we couldn't resist, they were good but no match for the CK Oz Trip camp oven, scones demolished we said our goodbyes to the hosts (fighting urge to hug them after fixing our tyre) and started our journey.

Our destination today was the very popular El Questro Station and on the way the biggest river crossings yet; the Durack & Pentecost Rivers. There was a stack of river crossings in this section of the Gibb River Road (GRR), most pretty small but still required concentration. Made it safely to the Durack River crossing and was surprised at the height that the river could actually get up to; it must be crazy out here during the wet season. No one in their right mind would attempt to cross unless your car could convert to a boat by pushing a button; James Bond style, how cool would that be! A bit of a rocky crossing but not as high as we expected it to be, would have been lucky if it made it half way up the wheel. Our lunch stop was at a spot that was built on something similar to moon dust (just trust me that's what it was). I can still see ck shaking her head as I walked around in slow motion for about 10 minutes making footprints claiming that they will be there forever. The trip continued as we wound our way through some awesome mountain ranges, this area was certainly different to other sections of the road. As we made our way up to the top of the last climb we were greeted by the sight of the Durack and Pentecost ranges overlooking the Pentecost River. It was worth the stop to soak in where we were and take a couple of shots from the lookout. We met a couple at the stop from Switzerland that had made the trip up to Mitchell Falls despite the road being closed at the time. With that information at hand, we made a plan to get to the river before them, wait and watch them cross. We wound our way down the mountain to the waiting river, as we turned the corner I think we both swore. The river was huge, probably about 100 metres across and who knew how deep. If we couldn't cross we would have to drive back around 500kms to the turnoff, not a very enticing option. Pulled over at the side of the crossing and got chatting to a couple of country bred aussie blokes about the area and the river, they gave us a tip about a few secret camping spots in the area which we threw into the archives for a future trip. We watched in amazement as a woman went swimming in a "safe" rocky area of the river that is littered with Salt Water crocs. While waiting for the Swiss couple, another 4wd came the other way to give us an idea of the river depth and any deep sections. We had enough information to give it a crack, after all what could go wrong; we weren't going back along that road no matter how bad the crossing. I took the wheel, ck armed herself with the camera and Max nodded off in the back. Ck was snapping away when to our surprise the water level started to come up to the window and a big salt water croc started heading our way. Max was going off his tree and we started singing "we all live in a yellow submarine"… now if you believe that your probably still kicking the donkey (read previous blog entry). The water was probably only knee height but still flowing pretty quickly, not enough to stop us having a great time crossing the river to the other side. I was pumped, we'd just crossed one of the most popular (my opinion at the time) river crossings in Australia, couple of finals pics and we were on the home stretch to El Questro (EQ).

As we entered the road to EQ the Subaru decided to run out of fuel, so close… Never fear we filled it up from the spare jerry cans on the camper, a life saver out in this part of the country, never leave home without them. Even the drive into EQ takes you through a couple of flowing river crossings, the last one right at the entrance to the resort. EQ is set on approximately 1 million acres of land, that would take forever to keep the grass down without a ride-on mower don't you think!  The resort itself is set on a small section of the Pentecost River, with huge shady trees and a massive camp area. They offer all sorts of accommodation from luxury cabins, to non-powered camping, all with-in walking distance to the "Swinging Arm" bar and restaurant. We opted for something a little special, there are private camp sites that offered no facilities but your own secluded area on the side of the river, with at least a few hundred metres and no sight to the next camp. Didn't have to ask us twice, we found our way (about 5kms from the main camp area) to our site, it was huge, probably could have put 3 caravans in there. Right on the side of the river, a short stroll to collect some firewood and plenty of long grass for Max to explore. Actually that was probably the best bit, we could let Max run around off the chain for ages with no real concern, no one was anywhere near us. We could still drive in and use all the facilities of the resort, but had our own little piece of paradise for a few days. Our planned two day stay became four once we worked out what was on offer in the area, plenty to see and do here if you have the time. We had a roaring fire every night, with the music pumping thanks to the privacy, just wish we had remembered the marshmallows.

Our first morning we took to the river in front of camp to give Max a walk, it was there we encountered our first black taipan snake (I think), it crossed in between ck and I on the walking track, and luckily Max was miles up ahead. No need for concern, it noticed all the notches in my man belt and went about its own business. Max spent some time running around and swimming in the flowing water of the river before heading back to camp for a snooze. We took the opportunity to head out to the Zeebeedee hot springs, set in beautiful lush rainforest, and with the water clearer than … well ... really clear water, it made for a perfect destination. It kind of felt like you was in some sort of spa retreat, only you know that you have to put on your three day old socks once you have finished (day four is the real ugly one!). The water was a very comfortable 32 degrees that we soaked up for about an hour until we got kicked out by the rangers. The springs close at midday so tour groups can have private sessions in there, a bit weird in the outback to have that arrangement but they do pay a fair bit of money for the experience. We walked back with the tour guide operator who gave us a great run down on the area; there was a bloke who loved his job. If you ever get to see this area you will probably understand why most of the people who work here love it. As recommended by the tour guide, we decided that the sunset cruise down the chamberlain gorge was a good idea so we decided to chill out for the arvo. The cruise started not long before sunset (don't need to go to Uni for that one!) and we managed to snare the front two seats on the boat. It was a nice cruise down the river and our guide filled us in with all the useful information you could ever ask for. At the end of the gorge we were asked to stick our arms out the side of the boat, remember that there are crocs in this river! In a flash the first person to get taken overboard by a huge croc was probably around 45 and pretty skinny. We all assumed the crocs would still be hungry so most people pulled their arms back into the boat. The guide informed us that this was the first time that had happened this year, wait…nope, that's not what happened, now that wouldn't be good for business. With hands out the boat (in a relatively safe section of the gorge, only freshwater crocs here they think), there were hundreds of archer fish shooting water out at your hand. Apparently they do this to knock food down off the trees and rocks walls into the water for them to scoop up. Very entertaining and once again we were amazed, no crocs in sight in case you were wondering. A quick stop off the boat for a bit of show and tell and a little rock wallaby joined in the show. We were treated to a couple of glasses of champagne on the way back to help the conversation flow on board. With no loss of passengers we made it back to shore and back to camp for another roaring fire.

Emma Gorge was next on the list of things to do, a pretty rough drive from EQ (about 60km round trip from camp) but highly recommended while staying nearby. We ran into our New York friends that helped us when we had the blown tyre, good to meet them in a more relaxed situation. A decent walk into the gorge but well worth it, the waterfall drops over 100 metres to the large enclosed swimming hole. The water was so cold it could freeze the balls off a stone statue! The base of the waterfall was like hail pelting down; you couldn't stay in there for more than 10 minutes without starting to consider hypothermia. The problem was it was so magnificent you were fighting the cold to stay in there floating on your back trying to relax and enjoy the changing scenes of the waterfall above. Still it's a nice problem to have; some people have to work for a living! On the way back to the car ck came across another black taipan waiting for her on the path, jumping back she grabbed me, stood on my foot and froze until the snake slithered away. I'd claim that I was there to save the day but she was the one between me and the snake, I didn't see it necessary to change the situation. Crisis averted we made it back to the car and back across the rough track to camp. The fire that night was put to good use by ck, throwing together some chicken (onion, garlic, butter, herbs, yum!), and some potatoes she whipped up a roast in the camp oven cooked in the coals of the fire. It was cooked to perfection; clearly it was made with love! (That must have been the secret ingredient).

The last gorge on our list of things to do was the El Questro gorge, not to far from the resort itself. The drive in was not listed as a 4wd track but based on our limited experience it should have been. The sections of sand were coming up to the bottom of the car, the rocks were way too big for a conventional car and the river crossing was one of our favourite. Upon entering a very steep descent into the river, the headlights were almost submerged in water and the car started to complain just a little bit. We had a backup plan of winding down the windows and paddling if we really needed to but we made it safely across. The walk into EQ gorge was shaded along the entire path and provided some excellent photo opportunities. I think I publish about one in every hundred that I take, I'm sure the family will be trying to avoid slide night when get home. As the gorge narrowed we found ourselves at the main swimming section where a huge boulder has formed a small waterfall and inviting swimming pool. You could actually continue on past the boulder (waist height walk through water) for some more bush walking but this seemed to be the most popular spot to stop, have a swim and turn around.  We had a bit of a swim around, jumped off the boulder into a way too shallow rock pool and dried out during lunch when the sun broke through the tree canopy above. I can't describe how nice this place is, I wish I could but I can't, even the pictures don't do it justice. Guess you will just have to come out here and check it out for yourself!

Back at camp Max was running around in the bushes as per normal, occasionally going nuts at a bit of moving grass but otherwise nothing to worry about. I decided to stir him up a bit when he got a bit excited and we went looking for what was moving. It moved too quickly for us and we missed out on a bit of fun, a couple of minutes later something got him going again. Upon investigation and a bit of encouragement from me, the little fella found a damn big King BROWN SNAKE!!!! Aaaaaahhhhhhh... Max…..Get out of there… One of the most dangerous snakes in the world, let alone Australia (I assume) was about 5 centimetres away from Max's snout. Screaming in my best high pitched voice yet (I could have tried out for the boy's choir), Max wearily moved away from the snake. Even he was a little bit worried about the size of this thing. Even more worrying is that this was smack bang in the middle of ck's toilet tree, that's gotta scare the living daylights (or something else) out of anyone. Now we had been hearing movement in the bushes for the last three days which Max has been well and truly aware of, little did we know what was out there. Don't we live in a great country!

The reason we stayed for the last night was the promise of a cracking aussie BBQ at the EQ swinging arm bar. All the staff and travelers staying in the resort show up for this thing, they cook up a feast and the staff put on some live entertainment. When we arrived the place was packed, just so you know the whole thing is outdoors, no need for a roof with the weather they have up here. Best bet was to head to the bar and try to see if a good situation would present itself. Lucky for us we noticed the NY couple were seated right in front of the fireplace and had room for us, man these guys are turning in handy. Dinner was magnificent as we loaded our plates up, not often these days do we fork out for a dinner out so you have to make the most of it. The entertainment was great (pretty handy guitar player warmed us up), one bloke (who turned out to be that tour guide from the other day) turned out a very nervous performance but he finished with a bang. He told a fart joke that had the entire crowd rolling on the ground, if you ask me a fart joke will stand the test of time, especially this one. Our female friend from the NY family was selected to participate in an entertaining whip cracking display. One of her kids started to get upset when he thought she was being hurt, poor little dude didn't understand what was going on. A great night and well worth hanging around for, we reluctantly left the fire and headed back to camp for some much needed sleep.

We packed up, checked out and left with a tinge of sadness as we knew this was the last day on the Gibb River Road. Back on the road, this was probably the worst thirty kilometers of the GRR, no doubt that this is the most heavily used section of the entire trek and I wouldn't be surprised if they tar this road in the near future. We drove through a wild grass fire that was burning out of control with no sign of anyone panicking or trying to put it out, apparently it will burn itself out eventually and it is part of the natural maintenance of the environment.  We didn't stick around to see what happened! Our adventure quickly came to an end as we made it to the junction point; turn left to Wyndam (we skipped) or right towards Kununarra and the NT border. We stopped for a few minutes to take some pictures of the sign and celebrate what had been our highlight of the entire trip so far. It was tough going at times but it was well worth the effort and there were certainly no regrets from anyone in the team. So here are a few estimations that I have made:

-         Drove nearly 1000km's of rough, corrugated road

-         Crossed over 40 river crossings with flowing water

-         Swam in a pristine waterfall most days of the trip

-         Drove over 137,506,001 corrugations (and felt every one)

-         Drank our beer supplies dry by the end (we couldn't have lasted any longer out there clearly).

-         Saw more wildlife in its natural environment than you can expect to see in a lifetime.

-         Punctured one tyre, actually that's damn good when you hear some stories around the camp fire.

-         Got way too used to not having a shower

-         Weather the whole time was magnificent, above 30 every day, perfect for swimming in waterfalls.

Would we do it again? I can't answer for the other two on our trip but there were a few things we didn't do along the way…

Trust us; this is one slice of Australia that will change you forever!

As I close out on Gibb River Road, I'd like to leave you with a saying from Henry Lawson that we think best describes the CK OZ Trip way of life.

"I'm at home and at ease on a track that I know not, and restless and lost on a road that I know"

            - Henry Lawson

Gibb River Road – The Kimberley – Western Australia

On of the most famous roads in Australia, initially used as a track to move cattle, it is now a major tourist route while still supporting the local farming community. The Gibb River road (GRR) is essentially a "shortcut" between Derby and the T-intersection between Wyndham and Kununurra, on the way to the Northern Territory border. Not a bad little shortcut too, with approximately 700kms of rough and corrugated road to navigate it's not a decision that you make lightly. The reward is some of the most stunning gorges, waterfalls, river crossings and mountain ranges you are likely to encounter in Australia. It is usually closed to traffic for up to 6 months in a year thanks to the monsoonal wet season, and is only passable once the graders have taken to the worst of the road. Most books will advise you to only travel along this road in a sturdy and well built 4wd, carry at least 2 spare tyres and towing is not recommended. Sounds great doesn't it? Let's go…

Staying at: Lennard River Bridge Rest Area, WA, Gibb River Rd

Stopped for: 1 night, 24^th – 25^th May

We moved out of Derby and the last signs of civilization with a mix of excitement and trepidation, we really didn't know what to expect from the next week or so. Before leaving we loaded up the food, water and fuel as who knew when we were next going to see a general store. A last minute alteration of the tyre pressure was also required to help ride out the corrugations and rocks just waiting to make the trip a whole lot harder. On the way out of Derby we stopped past the Boab prison tree, a gentle reminder of tougher times in the region between white settlers and the aboriginal communities. There was also one of the biggest cattle water troughs you will ever see, apparently you could wet the mouths of 500 thirsty cows in one go. We were impressed; Max decided it was a good spot to have a quick dip before we moved on, funny stuff.

The first 60kms of the Gibb River Rd is sealed and makes for some nice driving; slowly it becomes a dirt road but generally in pretty good condition. Clearly the graders don't have to travel far from home to get to this spot and it was some nice traveling, our spirits were high and the hope that this would continue for the entire journey. There are a few things to keep your eye out for, road trains, floodways and hidden rocks waiting to tear your tyres to shreds. The first road train we encountered completely blinded the road, the amount of dust caused by these things left you with no choice but to pull over onto the side of the road and wait it out. Pretty cool to watch coming straight for you, the headlights of a truck and a huge dust storm behind it. Now the floodways are everywhere along this road, some with a little water in it, some dry and some with plenty of water in it. I'll leave alone the ones with plenty of water as they seem to be more frequent later along this trip; the dry or nearly dry ones had the ability to catch you off guard. The road dips pretty quickly and the road condition leading down to them deteriorates without warning. After a few hairy moments we worked out a driver/co-pilot operation where we would remind each other of what was coming up and slow down well before the floodway to save our car from falling apart. The last and most common cause of blown tyres along this road is those sneaky rocks that disguise themselves as just an ordinary piece of road. Just slightly lighter in colour than the road, they jump out at you and can give your car a nasty bang if you don't move in time. So our driving consisted of swerving left and right, slowing down or stopping completely and occasionally closing our eyes (not sure why we did that but it seemed to work). We arrived safely at the Lennard River Bridge Rest Area (just a stop on the side of a bridge overlooking a river) where there was a permanent resident who sold ice creams and has to press his hand to his throat to talk, like that dude in South Park (exterminate, exterminate…). He was good enough to show us a croc sunning itself on a nearby log through his telescope, not as keen on swimming in the river after that. We drove around the area for a bit trying to work out if we wanted to stay there but it turned out to be the best option for all our gear. We had some lunch, setup and left Max to guard everything (asleep under his blanket) while we went to check out Windjana Gorge. As you enter the gorge you are greeted with huge cathedral type cliff faces before making your way along the river to the main section of the gorge. Little by little you start to see a couple of freshwater crocs sunning themselves on the far river bank and grab the camera just in case you don't see anymore (trust us, everyone does this), taking way too many pictures as your wife stands there tapping her foot. As you wind the corner into the stunning main section of the gorge the river opens up to a huge sand bank, and literally hundreds of crocs just dying for you to get close enough for a "happy snap". We got within a few of metres for a very quick photo; apparently the freshwater crocs are a bit less aggressive than their salt water equivalent. We didn't push our luck and go for a swim (that would have been pretty silly), for the record according to crocs we taste like chicken. Tunnel creek was next on the list of things to see, well we would have gone but some noodle forgot the torch and it would have made things very difficult. Reluctantly we headed back to camp and put that on the list of things to do the next time we go round. Max was on edge so we all took a stroll up the river back at camp, keeping an eye out for crocs trying to use Max as an appetizer. The team decided to turn around once a couple of roos jumped across our path and all three of us just about jumped up a tree. Back at camp a couple of the locals were swimming in the river, they just said that the crocs knew the locals and left them alone, nuts if you ask me. A few other travelers pulled over late in the day for some free camping, we sat there out under the stars for a few hours overlooking the creek, no city lights out here, day one a success.

Staying at: Dog Chain Creek, WA, Gibb River Rd

Stopped for: 1 night, 25^th – 26^th May

The next morning we moved camp down the road to Dog Chain Creek, inside the majestic King Leopold Ranges. Not really a long drive in terms of km's but on this road any distance wears you out pretty quickly. On the way we passed the Queen Victoria Head, a rock shaped like Queen Victoria, surprisingly it actually did. On top of one of the mountain lookout points we ran into a French guy who had been riding his bike around Australia for three years, gotta respect that. Our destination was a nice bit of cleared grass located right next to…you guessed it, Dog Chain Creek. We dropped off the camper and headed over to Lennard River Gorge, even Max was allowed to come on this trip. The road leading in was described as rough in the brochure; it eventually turned into a full on 4wd trek with a bit of sand, some daunting rock clambering and our craziest river crossing on the trip. Not to worry, the Subaru made it without giving a whimper; this car is turning out great on this trip. There was a pretty short up hill walk to the top of the gorge where Max proceeded to dance with the edge as he seems to enjoying doing, it was a fair drop down to a magnificent water fall. A small group was down the bottom so we figured that you could obviously get down there, there appeared to be an unmarked track of sorts going down the side of the cliff face, almost a straight drop. We gave it a go, had to carry Max down a few of the steeper sections, but successfully made it to the waters edge. Wow it was spectacular, there was a mammoth waterfall dropping down into a nice big swimming pool before heading down a narrow gorge and smaller pools (inaccessible) further down. In no time I was in the water for a very refreshing dip, Max followed pretty soon after, but I think that was just to show off to the other group that was there. They moved on and ck jumped in the pool for a dip and some awesome pictures. This was just the start of the gorges, but we figured it was going to pretty hard to top this one (boy were we wrong). The way back up Max had found his second wind and decided he could easily jump up the 1+ metre rocks all the way up, some days you can barely get him to jump out of bed. Ck got out of the car back at the creek crossing and took a couple of pics as we successfully made it across again, jeez I hope there wasn't any crocs in that water that she had to walk across. Back to camp for lunch where we found the group from the bottom of the gorge doing the same. One of the group members was from just around the corner from our place in Kensington, small world isn't it. Setup camp for the night once the group continued on their voyage and set about collecting some firewood and preparing dinner. As sunset fell we were joined by a group who had camped opposite us over the river the night before. It was pretty clear that there was not going to be enough firewood for the seven of us so I dragged the two frenchies out to cut some more wood with the axe. They assured me of their skill at wielding an axe, after laughing for about five minutes (they looked like woody woodpecker having a go, tap, tap, tap) I took over to show them how the pros do it. I paid the price for showing off when the axe handle snapped in half but thankfully no one was hurt. Male stubbornness took over at this point and we continued to calve up the log with half a split axe (there were four women back at camp waiting to give it to us). Successfully we returned as men, with a big log in tow that of course only got used as a seat by the end of the night. The fire was roaring, the drinks were flowing and the conversation was very humorous. There was a mix of two French guys, two Irish chicks who refused to drink, and an Aussie chick who got the guitar out. Lucky for us she had been studying music for years, she could sing like Jewel and play enough to keep us entertained. It was a great night, the kind that you can't plan for, exactly what you hope to get out of this trip.

Staying at: A car park …, WA, Gibb River Rd

Stopped for: 1 night, 26^th – 27^th May

Do you ever have the feeling that you should have got up earlier to make sure you got everything done in the day? Or maybe changed your plans and not left instead of heading out too late. Some days the gods smile on you, other days they throw obstacles in your way all day and you have to work out what the hell to do. This was one of those days, but instead of it being a negative experience, it made it one of the best days on our trek across the Gibb River Road. The team woke early enough to say goodbye to our companions from the night before, assuming that we would meet again at some stage down the road. Took young Maximus for a bit of a wander along the Gibb River Rd to stretch the legs and soak up a few of the sounds of the Kimberley. It's a magic time of the day when there is little traffic on the road and the wildlife is moving around before the heat of the day hits. With Max satisfied and happy to head back to bed we drove along to Bell Gorge. The Subaru once again had to show its stuff through a few river crossings, one that jumped up to the headlights got us pretty excited. The last part of the track from the camp ground located at the entrance to the gorge and the gorge carpark was pretty rough and kept the speed under 20kms. It's funny how you notice that every other vehicle in the place is a very big 4wd with massive tyres and plenty of spares. Sometimes you just have to take a chance in your life, up to you how risky you want it to be! It was a brief walk to the top of the gorge and the most amazing thunderous waterfall, the tour guide from the group the previous day was daring us to jump the 40 odd metre drop into the pool below, um I think we passed as the wind was blowing the wrong way. Of course this is where we made our first mistake for the day. While taking a couple of photos of the area and trying to work out the best spot to cross the river, we decided to let a larger tour group cross in front of us to show us the way. 30 minutes later, we were still watching about 20 oldies crossing the river slower than a turtle takes to change the bed sheets. Speaking of which, do you think a turtle gets itchy inside that shell like you do with a plaster cast? Actually now I think of it, not sure a turtle knows how to change the bed sheets either. Where was I, oh yes, the river crossing, the oldies individually passed cameras, shoes, hats and pharmacy prescriptions to the person on the other side like a game of tunnel ball back at primary school. It was excruciating to watch, we did feel a little bit sorry for the last bloke who had helped everyone else to cross the river only to end up falling in and dunking the shoes and what looked to be an expensive camera. We scuttled across in front of a very disappointed crowd; everyone seemed to be willing us to fall in just to make them feel better. We opted to skip putting the shoes back on and got in front of the tour group, climbing up the rock face and back down the other side in bare feet to wind up at the bottom of the waterfall. After quickly catching up with last nights companions we took up the opportunity for a dip in the refreshingly clear water of Bell Gorge falls. While cool, it provided a nice relief from the heat and it was nearest thing we were going to get to a shower. The swim up to the base of the waterfall became increasingly difficult as the power of the falls was continually pushing you back. Just before the body gave up I managed to hang on to a bit of rock ledge at the base while CK got out the disposal underwater camera for a quick shot or two. Buggered if I know how she managed to swim and take a photo against the current but she is a much better swimmer than me. Once the arms let go you could just drift away with the flow of the river soaking up the roar of the waterfall and the surrounding red cliffs that populate this area. A majestic swimming spot, and a great spot for some lunch and a bit of relaxing. Did our best not to watch the large tour group getting changed in plain view of all to see, there are some things you just don't need to know about until later in life. Packed up and headed back to the car, well before we got stuck in traffic again. We successfully navigated back across the rough track and down to the deep river crossing again. This time I jumped out of the drivers seat, handed the reigns over to ck and crossed the creek in bare feet (not one of my best ideas) to get some awesome pics of ck in action. Well the pictures would have been even better if the camera didn't decide that it had enough for the day and reported a full memory card, she was only half way across, doh, doh, DOH! Ck clearly had her confidence in river crossing up as we made our way back to camp, one crossing she didn't slow down too much and had streams of water spurting out the sides of the car like the Ferrari in the ad for shell ultimate. Shortly after we were driving on a short section of bitumen when some hideous noises started coming from the front of the car. Being the positive person that I am, automatically assumed that we had blown a tyre, we might have to consider turning back and canceling the GRR expedition. With only one spare and still over 500kms to go it didn't seem to be worth the risk. After stopping the car and investigating, found a front plastic guard had dislodged itself and was dragging itself along the ground, hence the noise. Never fear as we quickly refitted it temporarily until we got back to camp and got back on the road. Isn't it funny how sometimes you automatically assume the worst when it's the last thing you really need to do, why is that? The spirits in the car were lifted after we had averted a potential show stopper, we were invincible. Arriving back at camp saw us pack up all the gear, load Max into the car (not so fond of running behind the car) and put some cable ties to good use to repair the plastic guard. Hooking up the car we noticed another small problem where the pins in the 9pin plug between the camper and the car had broken free, some more temporary repairs before we hit the road. Surely by now there were enough warning signs to stay put, setup camp and relax before heading off in the morning. I was so pumped from performing some masculine duties (ck was impressed for sure!) that common sense didn't even get a mention. We left unaware of our destination late in the afternoon, probably not the smartest thing to do but hindsight offers no assistance a couple of hours later. Ck drove until a rapidly setting sun forced us to start considering options for the night; unfortunately the area we were driving was in a very large section of no free camping, and one camp ground that didn't allow pets. We also realized that we didn't have enough fuel to continue on past the Mt Barnett Roadhouse (next fuel stop 300 kms) which closed at 5pm. With no option to drive on (no way we were driving at night either) we found a car park for one of the gorges and pulled over. Without setting up we cooked dinner out the back of the camper and waited until the traffic on the road settled down. Pretty soon it was dead quiet, and then the dingoes started up, man did that camper go up quick! This probably turned out to be one of the best stops of the whole trip; no one else around, amazingly clear stars and very peaceful (ignoring dingoes surrounding tent). The alarm was set for before sunrise so we didn't upset the owners of the land and then we drifted off into a very restless sleep.

Staying at: Elenbrae Station, WA, Gibb River Rd

Stopped for: 1 night, 27^th – 28^th May

Wow what a sleep the night before, think I was so aware of what was going on outside that a gecko passing wind made me jump out of bed. At least we had a bed for the night as we had briefly entertained the idea of even sleeping in the front seats of the car. The plan to beat the traffic and pack up before sunrise was thwarted when a road train came roaring past at about 5:45am, that got us out of bed quicker than you can say bacon n' eggs. We packed up the camper in under 5 minutes, pretty impressive stuff but we really didn't have much to do, just roll up the canvas and close the zip. With the rig all packed up we sat down for some brekky with the sun rising over the far mountain range, picture perfect and my words wouldn't do it justice if I tried to describe it. Sunrise completed, warm glow of the morning sun starting to take effect, breakfast washed down with a coffee (tea for ck) and Max starting to consider rising from under the blanket we made plans to head into the nearby gorge. It was a short walk into Galvans gorge, a stunning waterfall surrounded by lush rainforest and a very inviting swimming hole.  We were greeted to the sounds of birds stretching the wings and squawking out the national anthem as heard through a bird's ear (you really have to listen closely for that one). No hesitation here, we were straight into the water, it was only about 7:30 in the morning but what a great way to start the day. Ck was clambering up to the face of the waterfall in a jiffy for some sensational pics as the sun started to break through the trees. It was around now that we discovered a rope hanging from a tree over the top of the pool. Personally speaking, as a male this is like a free slab of beer with every bag of nuts you buy. It doesn't get much better than this, ck did the handy work of getting the rope swinging and I snagged it up on the tree. All that was left to do was swing out like the good old days and remember to let go. As we dried out on some nice sunny rocks by the side of the pool we were joined by a couple of young ladies who were also keen for a dip. One of the ladies was in charge of facilities at local aboriginal communities along the Kimberley; the younger one was on work experience from school. Pretty sweet spot to be doing your work experience, back at high school I got to sit behind a desk at the RACV head office in Geelong and learn how to put together key tags. Do any of you remember your work experience involving driving through endless mountain ranges and swimming in waterfalls when it suited? Didn't think so, lucky duck! Just before leaving we spotted the local "WindJana Man" rock painting overlooking the swimming hole. This holds a pretty special meaning for the aboriginal people, painted at the end of every wet season; they give thanks for the continual supply of food, the earth, rain, etc…what they have lived off for thousands of years and will continue to do so for thousands more. Without notice the waterfall was swamped with a couple of tour groups including the "turtle group" from the day before. No need to tell us twice, we moved on content that we had the place all on our lonesome for the first swim of the morning, perfect. The car made it safely to the Mt Barnett Roadhouse for a major stop to pick up fuel for the rest of the journey. Don't look now but the pump price for unleaded was a very upsetting 203.9 per litre. If you watch that going into the car it feels like the money continues to go up but the litres going in just freezes, speaking of freezing, the pump actually did seize up half way through filling up. The guy behind the counter just said "…yeah mate, it'll do that, ya just gotta giggle her a bit". Of which I replied that had (I really had). He followed it up with "…righto mate, I've reset her, bung it in and give her another go". Sure enough it worked a treat; unfortunately he remembered to charge me for the full amount, no wonder why everyone looks for free camping spots up here. Before we left I struck up a conversation with a guy from Bendigo of all places that was doing some work in the area installing satellite dishes. This dude seriously gave me the run down of his trip and life story in about 3 minutes flat; I'm guessing that he didn't get to speak to many people on his travels. Nice guy but we had to get moving, big driving day today. We drove across numerous small river crossings (mostly dry) and varying degrees of corrugations but generally speaking a pretty good drive. Our destination was Ellenbrae station, and we were actually doing really good time, our conversation turned to lunch and the possibility of making it there for a late one. It was around now that the confidence was high, the road condition was good, and everything was going to plan. We rounded a corner on some of the best road we had been on when a dirty big rock had disguised itself as a pebble and before I knew it the car was heading straight for it. Not sure I even had a chance to close my eyes when a sickening thud struck the front drivers side tyre that still makes me cringe. We both concurred without waiting for the feedback from the tyre that it was going to be a flat so we reluctantly pulled over (insert numerous bad words here if you would like to feel part of the experience). There really hadn't been many cars on the road today but in an instant there were two 4wd's that had pulled over to offer assistance, we thanked them and waved them on. It was around now that you curse not having two spare tyres, we still had over 100kms to go across the same road conditions (or worse) with no spare, great time to pray wouldn't you think! We pulled out all of the gear from the back of the car and changed the tyre successfully (another notch in the man belt) while ck took some pics of us stranded. Probably now was not the best time to find out that our air compressor was not up to the task, but thankfully a couple from New York pulled over to offer us a hand and fix up the air pressure on the new tyre. I was a bit on edge so ck safely guided us to the turnoff where you can head up north towards Mitchell Falls (crazy road by all reports) or continue east along the GRR. We stopped for lunch and a bit of relaxation from the excitement of the blown tyre. Ck continued on the driving probably a bit more cautiously than I had done earlier (and a smashing job she did too!), navigating her way through some serious road works that required a bit of sand driving and a few more river crossings. I counted nearly every kilometer till the station, it was probably the most anxious I have been on this trip, one more blown tyre and who knows what we were going to do. As we pulled into the turnoff the entire crew let out one big sigh of relief, even though the track into Elenbrae was rough, at least we were close enough to assistance. I will never underestimate the job the good wife did of getting us to the station, it was a super human driving effort that required ridiculous amounts of concentration, kudos to you ck, love your work! Trust me, a beer was first on the list of things to do once we were at camp. The guys at Elenbrae station fixed the tyre for 20 bucks (bargain if you ask me) which I was over the moon about and I went about swapping the tyres back to keep the old ones together. There were two camp areas available and ours was a huge area under some big shady trees next to the very inventive camp facilities. There was a toilet with flushing water (you come to appreciate these out here) and a shower donkey. Now a donkey shower is where they tie up a donkey and you have to kick it to get it to run around a shed, the friction caused by the movement heats up a steel rod which in turn heats up the water…if you believe that there are a lot of nervous donkeys out there. It's actually just a huge wood fire heater that is used to heat the water, simple and effective and we had a great hot shower, could have stood under there for hours but the donkey needed a break! We collected an absurd amount of firewood and set about making a fire that would have made my sister Jeanette (self confessed fire bug) proud. We slept like babies that night after a huge day, who knows what the next day will bring, and I wouldn't change it for the world…

G'day everyone, now I know I said a while back I would get you up to Broome, and it's only taken me another month to get you there...guess we're just having too much fun! Thanks to all those that have sent messages recently, it's great to hear from you guys while on the road, hope your enjoying the blog. We are all safe and well, and loving life on the road. The tan is coming along nicely, Max is in great shape and ck is looking better and better everyday, I'm a lucky man! Feel free to send us more messages, it's makes us feel loved and a little less like a loser when you check your e-mail acount.Winter has hit and the average temperature has plunged to around 30 degrees every day, life is tough. Anyway hope you are all well and stay tuned for the most exciting trip in the next blog entry...Gibb River Rd!

Staying at: Barn Hill Station, WA, Cliff Top Camp Ground

Stopped for: 3 nights, 16^th – 19^th May

We left Pardoo behind and headed up the highway towards Broome, there was one more stop along the way that had been recommended to us by a few travelers. Barn Hill station was our destination, just the lazy 300 odd km's, pretty standard distance between towns up here. Now if we were to bounce out of bed at 6am, pack up and get going before the heat really hits we would reach most of our destinations by lunch. Of course this seems like complete nonsense to us, we drag our crew out of bed once the sun has risen and then chill out over a coffee wondering where all the other people have gone. This usually means that lunch is on the side of the road along the way, which can be lots of fun depending on our location. The stop today was just a roadside rest stop with a couple of bins but that didn't stop Max making the most of it. We opened the door and he took off, bouncing between bushes chasing his life long love, lizards! He goes absolutely mental while we sit around munching away, we have some entertainment, he's entertained, seems like a pretty good situation to us. We touched down at Barn Hill Station early afternoon, opening and closing the gates along the dirt path that leads to the camp ground. You have two options when you arrive, either setup in the common camp area that has limited power and facilities with a bit of shade or camp out in the open, on top of the cliffs with magnificent views over the ocean, no power but that's the price you pay. We opted to avoid getting squished up against all the other caravans and headed for the sunset views; you can stay in a caravan park anytime. The showers are heated during the day by a big bit of black coiled pipe with water going through it, as the sun hits it the water heats up and away you go. Don't leave your run too late of course, once the sun goes down the water doesn't last too long. Our site was right on the cliffs with immaculate views over the ocean, perfect for sitting down with a glass of wine at the end of the day and watching the sunset. We took a trip down the cliffs to the waters edge and got chatting to a few of the people fishing. You could actually see the fish swimming around about 30 metres out but no one seemed to be catching them. Reports from all of the oldies included a lot of sharks swimming around pretty close to shore; obviously no one was swimming in the ocean when we were there. It was so hot that we took the towels and had a dip in a rock pool, max helping clear the areas of crabs and anything else that moved before we jumped in. Good work buddy! So back at camp we had been warned that the only negative about the area on top of the cliffs was the burrs, the little things that stick to your socks and give you a nasty little prick. Well these things were the top of the line type burrs, one step on these buggers and your life will never be the same, may as well chop that leg off and hope not to hop onto another one. Lucky for us there was only a couple of million of them on our site, poor Max was so miserable from getting them in his paws he didn't want to go out at all. Of course they stick to everything and we found them everywhere, I'm sure in ten years time when we head out on a camping trip we will still be finding them. The morning after arriving we headed out for a long walk along the beach to get away from the burrs and give the whole team a chance to stretch the legs. It was a beautiful beach, some impressive red cliff face met the soft white sand which eventually led to the clear blue waters, very tempting swimming but lots of sharks remember. Well we reached the halfway point in the walk and the water looked so good that we couldn't knock it back; it was time for a swim! We took turns standing guard for each other, one of us would do a quick duck dive and paddle around while the other kept their eye out for our ever present finned friends. Risky, but well worth it, trust us!

We managed to get some pretty poor reception but still enough to hear the boys from GFC get up for another win, things traveling along nicely on that front. Each night the sunsets were the same, perfect orange then deep red as it set over the ocean, what a view from our camper, this could be the only reason why people camp here and we understand why. Certainly wouldn't be for the burrs! Took a drive back down to Port Smith (the town is just a caravan park and a nice lagoon) for some money and a couple of items, not what we wanted to do but we didn't have enough to pay for more than a couple of nights and we did originally intend to stay here for a few. Checked out the blue lagoon while there, nice blue water surrounded by mangroves and little islands everywhere, looked a little too inviting for a crocodile so we didn't hang around. The campground at Barn Hill also had a lawn bowls green but for some reason we never got over to it, most of the time there was three funny old guys which huge beer guts bowling away having a grand old time. The burrs eventually got the better of us and we cut our trip short at Barn Hill and we reluctantly left for Broome earlier than we had planned.

Weather: Man it was hot here, probably around 35 each day.

Staying at: Broome, WA, Cable Beach Caravan Park

Stopped for: 3 nights, 19^th – 22^nd May

I'm not going to talk about the pack up from Barn Hill Station, let's just say that the burrs gave us a few reminders of why we were leaving. Our next stop, Broome! Now Broome is not the most dog friendly place in the world, they have over 5 huge caravan parks and not one of them allow pets, even the one in the industrial area. So our options were limited to either staying out at the roadhouse about 30kms out of town or put Max into a kennel. We checked out the roadhouse, despite having the option of setting up right next to where the road trains practice changing gears and using the air brakes we decided to check out the options for boarding kennels for Max. The vet was fully booked so they put us onto the other guys who had a great setup, we could drop him off at any time during the day, and even come pick him up during the day for a walk and then drop him back, sweet! We had some time to kill before dropping off Max as the dude was out shopping so we grabbed a site at the caravan park right on cable beach. I dropped off the camper on the site while ck took Max for a bit of a wonder, not very far as it turns out thanks to lots of dogs prohibited signs, fair enough around cable beach, it is their biggest tourist attraction. Our quest for beer bargains began as we drove around town, spotting the signs at every bottle shop for the best deal (not including anything that contained the word EMU in it). We stopped for a kebab in town and ran into the Radice family again, they just happened to be staying in the same c.v. park so we made plans to pop over later. Next stop was a nice muddy beach for Max to run around in before being dropped off at the kennels, talk about the highs and lows in a puppy's life, one minute running around in some sweet smelling stuff, next minute caged up with 7 million (not really) other barking dogs. Not his idea of a holiday but we were happy with the arrangement. The pool back at camp was big, landscaped and had a waterfall, pretty special stuff for a c.v. park. This pool of course is built for recreation, where you have a dip, relax by the side with a paper and soak up the rays (repeating several times when you dry off). One old chap decided that he couldn't miss out on doing his laps for a day and ploughed on through everyone for about 30 minutes. Back and forth he went, continually running into everyone having a good time, giving them a snarl for getting in his "lane" and continuing on his merry way. My suggestion would be to do that at 6am when no one is around, but no one ever listens to me, do they ck? Ck…hello…? Caught up with Nick and the kids and arranged a happy hour at some stage over the next couple of nights. Those sorts of plans are my favourite, that and sleep, gotta love sleep!

Timing is everything when traveling, and we happened to nail it when we arrived at Broome. Two major natural attractions at Broome were on while we were in town, the dinosaur footprints and the "stairway to the moon". The dinosaur footprints required a pretty low tide which lucky for us was on the first night at sunset, a two for one deal. This was located on the south west cliffs of Broome, right at the oceans edge you could find several footprints of dinosaur hoofs, looking something like a giant emu, moulded eternally into stone for everyone to enjoy. Got some nice pics of us down at the cliffs at sunset and headed home, more about the "stairway to the moon" later. Nearby were a couple of options for dinner so we figured it was about time to treat ourselves to a nice pub meal. We tried to get into the restaurant on cable beach but it was closed for a private function, DOH. The tavern up the road was the next option and we didn't mind one bit; we got a great spot outside in the garden with a water feature trickling away nearby. We both went with the steak special, excellent selection, especially when you throw in a nice bottle of red. All for research purposes of course to help ck with one of her goals for the trip, I'm just happy to help out where I can.

For a place that is raved about back home, Broome itself doesn't seem to have that much on offer for the traveler (they do have the Malcolm Douglas croc farm but we were after them in the wild). You really have to either be there for the spa treatments on go on one of their many tours to explore some of the more remote regions, not that cheap either for the budget conscious traveler. They do have cable beach which is pretty nice, we snuck down there for a few hours to see what it was all about, and only so I could report back to you guys of course. A beautiful safe swimming beach (no surf, apparently they got a 2ft swell a couple of weeks earlier) that is constantly swept and checked for some nasty stingers and all other sea creatures that plague the Australian coastline. The beach had been closed a couple of days earlier thanks to someone getting stung by something that put them in hospital but it was open for business when we arrived. The papers informed us that the beach had been checked and declared safe for swimming and they were continually checking to make sure it was still ok when we were there. The lifeguard tied a small square net around his waist, popped on a stinger suit and waltzed around the water to see if anything hopped into his little net, nothing in there, beach safe. Good job lads!

Bit of shopping at the local camping store (I could spend hours in here these days, so many things to get) and we made the big decision of ordering something extra for our camper. A new Drifta draw that slides in and out of the back of the camper to make accessing things even easier than it currently is. These guys made our kitchen (did a super job too) and we had been toying with the idea before we left but thought we'd see how it went without. In the end it just ended up making too much sense for us not to have it. Hopefully it will get delivered while we are in Darwin in a few weeks time. While I think of it; one of the most peculiar things we have noticed up north is that it is cheaper to buy the Melbourne papers than the local WA paper, these guys are nuts!

I ran into a couple with a cool looking camper and got chatting about their travels, they had just come off the Gibb River Rd and confirmed that we wouldn't have a problem going across in our rig. This is the news we had been dying to hear, so much doubt up until now washed away in a jiffie. All our plans now turned towards making it across the Gibb River Rd in the next week, exactly what we were hoping to do on this trip. You will have to wait for more info on that journey in our next blog entry.

We popped over to the Radice camp site for an after dinner happy hour (or two) and a bit of a catchup, this was their last stop north before heading back down to Perth. The great thing about the climate up here is you sit outside drinking beers until well into the evening in shorts and t-shirt without ever feeling cold. No wonder why the grey nomads migrate up here every year. Great company, cold beer in hand and a perfect night, not much more to ask for really.

We stayed an extra night so we could see the "stairway to the moon" phenomenon; people come from all over the world to see it so we figured we may as well hang around. The best viewing spot for this event was apparently at a pub (damn, damn and damn) overlooking the mud flats, so we pulled up at the bar, grabbed something to keep us company and found a couple of spare seats on the balcony. As the sun made its way down the midgies (tiny little bugs that bit like nothing else) started to attack so I went back to the car to grab the bushman spray and help save the day. First sweep of the car "looking like a boy" found nothing, so I turned the car upside down but still no success. I returned with my tail between my legs and found ck had been mauled by the midgies and not very happy about it. The good news was the Radice family had joined us and our Irish next door neighbour, a damn funny woman who reminded us of some friends back home. So let's get to the stairway thing, essentially the moon rises out over the ocean and at a low tide shines across the mud flats to create a stairway effect towards the moon from the reflections. Trust me that it works, unfortunately I am still trying to work out how to take decent shots at night on our camera so all I got was blibs and blobs. Here's how it went…a calming hush settled over all the villagers as the moon started to peak over the distant horizon. A blazing orange moon greeted us with that cheeky smile you can see if you squint and tilt your head to the left, and there before our eyes was the stairway to the moon. It continually changed as the moon rose to a point where the staircase seemed to be reaching out from the balcony of the pub right up to the moon (could have been the beer!). Well worth the price of a pint, drop by if you have the time and check it out. In case you were wondering it is an earth/moon timing thing, it's not on all the time like some tourist attractions. So here are the essential ingredients for this to work:

1.      Full Moon (if you got a half moon would it give you half a staircase? Something to ponder over if you have the time, then again what use is half a staircase...)

2.      Mud Flats (build your staircase out of mud)

3.      Low Tide so you can see the mud

4.      Moon rising at night, the sun is your enemy in this situation

5.      Nice big pint of your drink of choice to keep you company

6.      Camera – they all went off like crazy monkeys at feeding hour at the zoo once the moon appeared, you don't want to be left out.

So that was Broome for us, bit of a whirlwind tour but still enjoyable, we of course were looking forward to traveling through the Kimberley's so staying around was out of the question.

Weather: 33+ everyday, no clouds, there's never any clouds.

Staying at: Derby, WA, Kimberly Entrance Caravan Park

Stopped for: 2 nights, 22^nd – 24^th May

Well we packed up, picked up Max, settled on Heineken for the next slab and refueled the rig, all as we moved house to Derby. On the way I was taking some notes in the diary for the blog when I just happened to lift the eyes to see our car was on the wrong side of the road. Ck was in the process of avoiding a pretty big roo that had probably tried to brush its teeth in the front lights of a road train. A car started heading straight for us on the same side of the road, no problems there as we had plenty of time to move back over. Murphy's Law suggests that if you find yourself on the wrong side of the road in the middle of nowhere the car coming the other way will be carrying law enforcing officers. Sure enough they flipped on the lights and pulled ck over, around now I started cursing her for not wearing something a little more revealing, such a useful husband sometimes! So they came up to the car and performed a license check, breath test (lucky she brushed her teeth!) and a general chat about where we were heading. They even had some time to chat to us about our camper that they were checking out more out of interest than anything else. Nice blokes and of course there was no problem, lucky they didn't do a drug test… hehehe… only kidding.  As they left we started breathing again, I assume they saw the kanga behind our car on the road and realized why we were on the other side of the road, or they just liked ck's beautiful smile. My suggestion for her to wear more revealing tops for the rest of the trip "just in case" has fallen on deaf ears. We found our way safely into Derby and got a nice spot next to the dog exercise area (big paddock) with outstanding sunset views. Popped into the visitor centre to pick up some info on the status of the roads along Gibb River Rd and to find out what all the tourists do in town. Boy was that a quick conversation, you could go see the jetty and the huge tidal changes, or um… they have a fish & chip shop! Actually not true, they do have a few other things in the area but don't rush out of your way if your not heading along the Gibb River Rd. Checked out the pub options for watching the footy but came up short, figured listening on the wireless with our own beer at camp was a cheaper and more relaxing option (plus you never know when you are going to get kicked out). Lucky for us we had the option of just turning the radio off, it was the game against the Colliwobbles, no need to say anymore. We did go and check out the pier, you could actually drive along the horseshoe shape with a few people parked out on the end. We spent around 45 seconds there and gave it the nod of things done on our trip that will not go on the list of must do's while traveling around oz. Given we had checked out that tourist attraction we figured that the fish & chip option should be tried out for lunch. Washed down with a cold beer it was much better than the pier and gave us a nice start to our afternoon of planning our travels along the Gibb River Rd. With beer in hand we dragged out all the maps including the very informative Hema map, plenty of information on fuel stops, fresh water, camping locations and recommended stops. One final stop before we headed off was down to the local 4wd store to buy some recovery gear in case of emergency and picked up some handy last minute advice from the guy behind the counter. With our plans in place, we threw a movie on the laptop and chilled out for the last night before heading out the next morning for our most adventurous trip yet. Do we know what we are doing? Nope, but that's the best bit about it…

Weather: Another hot spot; probably around 34-36 but we had a nice shady site and cold beer.

Staying at: Aski Roadhouse, WA, on the Great Northern Highway

Stopped for: 1 night, 9^th – 10^th May

This day was crazy, we had stacks to do and here's how it went…

Max was due to be picked up today back in Tom Price, there was two times that we could do it; 8:30 or 3:30, we opted for the 3:30 as we had to drive 100kms to get there. So that meant a bit of time to fill in the National Park. We also planned to come back this way so after packing up and leaving way after the allocated 10am checkout we drove to the visitor centre nearby and dropped off the camper, no need to drag that over the trip back and forth today (saves heaps on fuel trust us). Found our way out to the last gorge on our itinerary and popped down to the staircase waterfall for a bit of lunch. This area was less popular with most travelers so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  Decided we had enough time to do the walk to the swimming section of the gorge and made our way along a very quiet and unmarked track to the rock pools. Jumped straight in despite the bathers not making the trip with us and chilled out for a while letting the world slip by. Time ran out, we could almost here Max tapping his watch, so we reluctantly packed up, skipped to the car and drove back to Tom Price. Interestingly Max doesn't actually wear a watch but boy does he know when it's 6pm, Dinner Time! Now we shouldn't be surprised by this but the lady at the dog kennels was actually from Meredith (town next to my folks) in Vic, even crazier was that she knew the Colla family quite well. Nuts, just nuts, if you know how far away from home we are! With Max back on board we drove back to the Visitor centre and picked up the camper, very happy to see it still there I can tell you. As the sun started to set we left Karajini for the last time and pulled into Aski Roadhouse for some fuel. It seemed like a good idea to get off the road after dark and booked a power site for the night. Now this caravan park out the back of the roadhouse had more grass than most parks we have been in on this trip and their drinking water was straight from the mountains. Not bad for a roadhouse, our weary heads hit the pillows pretty early that night after a nice long shower and some pancakes (with champagne) for dinner.

Weather: Same as yesterday, tomorrow will be the same, in the thirties, no clouds, love it!

Surfing Status: Now I know that I closed this section down but I have to reopen it temporarily. We were heading back towards Karajini NP when we were driving past a truck, not overly big considering some of the road trains we have gone past. When all of a sudden there was a banging noise on top of the roof, the surfboard straps had snapped clean off and the surfboard was flying behind us onto the side of the road. We only happened to be doing 110 at the time so what could go wrong, surely it would float down onto the soft bitumen and still be in one piece? Ck swung the subi around and we found the board lying on the side of the road, I was sure it had snapped in half and the surfing was done for the rest of the trip. Picked it up and gave it the quick once over, somehow it had landed on its tail and landed pretty much perfectly, only very small damage to the tail. Wiping the tears away (I didn't cry, that's just silly) I retied the board to the roof with some new straps and we continued on our way. Surfboard survived its worst wipeout yet!

Staying at: Port Headland, WA, Port Headland Caravan Park (behind BP servo)

Stopped for: 3 nights, 10^th – 13^th May

Some people would say that we stayed three nights too many, hard to argue with them really. Port Headland is a mining town and that's it, nothing to really keep you here as a tourist. We unfortunately had a few things to do which required a weekday so we were forced to stay here for a few nights to make sure we got everything done. Lucky for us our neighbors were a cool young couple from Adelaide (geez I hope they don't read the earlier entries in the blog on SA!) who entertained us at night. They were in town looking for work (which they snapped up easily) and were in the process of securing accommodation (not such and easy thing up here). They had built their entire camp setup from scratch, pretty impressive stuff; wish I had taken some pics to show you their handy work. Anyway these guys made the stay a lot better than it could have been, beer will always taste good but when you add good company it tastes even better. The stay was nothing to write about, the CV park was nothing to rave about (it's behind the servo) and I got pretty crook one day (just after some sympathy). An older couple next to us with a small fluff ball (it's a breed!) proceeded to tell us that their dog only drank bottled water, bugger me, Max drinks saltwater, mud puddles or the bottom of the shower. I think even Max laughed at the other dog! Oh yeah, I almost forgot, ck overtook a big mining dump truck being transported through the mountains on the way to Port Headland. It was taking up nearly both lanes and she was waved past on a blind corner by the safety vehicles, scary stuff! Max and I had our eyes closed the whole time but we made it safely, not that I ever doubted her. So here are my top reasons why you would stay in Port Headland:

-         Creative accounting has forced you to avoid the tax department for a while

-         Your lost, should have taken the left at albiquirky

-         Fuel makes your car go faster, so you need more to make sure you get out of here

-         You need money to get out of here, so stopping very briefly to pick up some work (they pay big bucks up here)

-         You get excited about houses advertised for sale with "industrial views not to be missed"

Weather: An average of 34 and pretty muggy

Staying at: Pardoo Station, WA

Stopped for: 3 nights, 13^th – 16^th May

Once again Max came up with the goods when it came to selecting our next stop. We were intending on traveling into Cape Kerauden for some nice beach camping but discovered that they stopped allowing dogs after one was killed a year or so back. Max had a quite moment mourning a fellow traveler while we worked out that Pardoo Station was on the radar and met all of our accommodation requirements (Max was welcome). Pardoo Station is located around 100kms north of Port Headland on the coast south of 80 mile beach, originally run as a Cattle station, it now runs at about 50/50 with the tourist industry. The station has plenty of shady powered sites, a very refreshing swimming pool, all sorts of different showers and toilets and a great big communal fireplace. They even have a separate area for the backpacker tour groups that come through so you don't notice them. The host was very welcoming and pretty laid back, our site was just "…somewhere over there under some trees, which ever one ya like mate!" which we managed to find and setup in between a couple of big shady trees. A nice uninterrupted view to some perfect sunsets as it turned out was a nice added bonus. After we setup and fired up the kettle (or cracked opened the first cold one) and sat down to relax for a while we were offered a couple of nights of fresh fish just caught by a couple of the campers. No need to ask us twice, straight into the fridge, that's the easiest fishing for fresh fish I can remember. Can't remember what we had for dinner, oh yeah, fresh fish but we had so much over the time we were here not sure how we cooked it. Here's a list for you of the different ways we whipped up the fish:

1.      Beer Battered Fish & Chips

2.      Beer Battered Fish & Salad

3.      Beer (vital ingredient to be consumed while preparing fish or any meal really)

4.      Fish Patties, ck worked out some sort of recipe including chatting to a couple of the local resident experts on the matter, we even borrowed an egg ring for experimentation on keeping the thing together, the end result was magnificent.

5.      Pan Fried Fish & Salad

6.      For something different I think we finished with Beer battered fish, chips & salad. Anyway I think you get the picture.

Back to the story, most of the people staying here had traveled from down south and were here for the winter, they all seemed to know each other and kept the conversation (and drinks) flowing the whole time we were there. They were all up for a chat, they had no where to go and just seemed happy to relax and enjoy swapping fishing stories. That night we grabbed a nice bottle of red and headed to the communal fireplace to meet the rest of the locals and go over everyone's life story. Every person has a great story, the three young girls from Holland caught most of the male attention as we sat back under the stars wondering where we actually were (it's easy to get mentally lost up here). Picked up a few handy fishing tips so we headed down to the local croc creek the next morning to try out some of the new found "guarantees" to help you land the big one. We were pretty skittish around the waters edge as you can imagine, didn't stop Max from rolling in every piece of mud in sight, you couldn't tell he was a black and white dog by the end of the day. We both snapped up a couple of catfish and threw them back in cursing the buggers for taking our bait away from the big fish. Our next door neighbours (The Radice's) were upstream (or downstream depending on the tide) from us and were reeling in all sorts of fish, the kids seemed to be having a great time in the mud. One of the kids was quite happy to tell us that their brother had to nude up to get back to the car thanks to a bit of a slip in the mud, funny stuff. As the tide turned the water really started to come back in, the creek came alive with activity, you could see hundreds of fish swimming all over the place, going crazy on our lines but not crazy enough to stay on there. Eventually the good wife was dragging her line along the waters edge no more than a metre away from the shore when a fish literally jumped out of the water on her line and was clearly (her words not mine!) the biggest thing that we had caught yet. Being the fishing experts now we identified the fish immediately and thought it was just a mighty big version of the catfish and hastily threw it back in to ensure it survives another day. I may or may not have listened as ck thought it looked a little bit different, never fear the fish went safely back in the water and all was well. We decided afterwards to have a sneaky look into the fish identification book and what do you know, it was a nice big Threadfin Salmon. News traveled fast back at camp and before you knew it the head chief of the Radice family (Nick) offered up a fish he had picked up that day, slightly embarrassed we accepted and went about filleting the fish for dinner. Several times that evening we had to retell the story to interested campers, think it was just so they could have a laugh at us but it made for good conversation. Next day we took the Subaru out on a bit of an adventure across the paddocks of Pardoo Station out to a river that started with "B" but I can't remember the rest (feel free to post a comment on the blog if you know the name). There was a slight chance we might see a croc and it seemed like a bit fun for the day. If any of you have grown up on a farm you will know what paddock tracks are like, just a couple of tyre marks in the grass, this was slightly better but essentially the same. We checked out all the recommended spots to get some pretty good pics of the car on salt flats and the views of the ocean were superb. Of course you don't go down to the waters edge in these parts, pretty good odds on being picked up for dinner by a local salty (big hungry Croc). We danced with a few hundred cattle along the track (Max goes troppo at every one he sees), way too many of them had big horns, and made it safely across some cool 4wd tracks to the river. I spotted a couple of decent sized logadiles, ck doubted the legitimacy of my claims but there was no evidence to suggest they weren't real other than the fact you had to squint to see them in the distance and they never moved. Croc sighting successful if you ask me! We headed back for lunch at the camper and spent a bit of time fighting a surprising amount of flies and a weird smell hanging around our camp. After blaming Max (very useful on long trips in the car) for a while decided that a decent search might help solve the problem. It was then we noticed the remainders of the fish we filleted the night before under the camper, someone had forgotten to take them out in the morning to be buried, the balmy 34 degree heat had made a nice job of warming up that bag let me tell you. With fish bag in car, heads out the window (including Max) we flew down to the river to bury the bag and try our luck at fishing again. This time we were hoping to catch the one we deliberately put back the day before so we could catch it again. Once again the Radices were in town pulling in all sorts of fish, these guys were on fire, we tried getting a little closer to them but this just helped us see what they were catching. After a couple of hours Nick pulled in another big Threadfin (pretty sure it was the one from yesterday) and offered it up to us as he was going to throw it back. Man did we owe this guy a beer or what, in two jiffies his son had creatively passed the fish across the mud trap into my waiting arms (well he threw it and I let it land in the mud, no point everyone getting dirty!). It was a beauty, another couple of dinners, just have to think of another recipe. I could tell you the story about the fish that we caught right up to the waters edge, got caught in a stick and broke free when I picked the stick out but we're running out of paper… Returned home to find we had a new neighbor parked on top of our camper, well not on top but you know when you park in a supermarket too close to someone and you have to suck in the gut and walk like an Egyptian (go, whey ho, whey, ho, wheyyy, ho, whey hoooo…) to get out of the car, that's a pretty good description. There were plenty of spots around but these guys really wanted to be close to us, take up our sunset views, and generally upset the good vibe of the place. These are the days when you are thankful that you're heading out in the morning but regret throwing out the bag of stinking fish. We headed over to the Radice site for some beers (our last ones till we get to Broome, aaahhh) and a bit of relaxing, turns out they are both teachers back in south west WA. We met all of their kids (Nakeesha, Keelan and Sachi) who are super polite and got the full run down on their plans to travel right across oz using planes, trains and automobiles, sounded like a lot of fun. Kerry and Nick both advised us that we would be well and truly gone by the time their troop all got their act together in the morning. I still don't know how they did it but when I looked over at their site at the ungodly hour of 7am in the morning there was nothing but dust settling. I'm guessing they didn't go to bed at all and decided to get a head start on us; otherwise they are the most organized family in the world!

And I finish this stop with a most distressing tale…

Ck came back to the camper after showering on the last night and asked whether I had bumped into some young overseas female backpackers. Instant response was no (always best to deny straight up), I was then informed that the two helpless young ladies did not know the difference between Jillaroo and Jackaroo so they ended up in the gents for a shower. Silly Jim went to the other toilet block in a moment of madness. It still upsets me as I write this; see I told you it was distressing…

Weather: 32-34 each day, perfect sunsets (we think on the last night thanks to carpark man) and cool enough at night to sit by the fire.

Staying at: Onslow, WA, Onslow Caravan Park

Stopped for: 2 nights, 2^nd May – 4^th May

Big drive out of Exmouth, picked up a very happy Max, dropped into the info centre and filled up all of our water and headed off to old Onslow (site where the town used to exist) and a beach/river camp ground for a few days. Lunch was at the side of the road where we bumped into a few people that we have met along the way including a couple of dutchies. The drive up towards Onslow gave us a glimpse of the mountain ranges that include the Karajini national park, spectacular, think I may have pissed off ck a bit by continually pointing out how cool the mountains were. Had no choice but to fill up our tank at a servo that is currently one of the most expensive we have come across, at 189.9 for unleaded it hurt the bank balance big time. Driving past thousands of ant hills we made our way to the turnoff late in the day and found a dirty big sign "road closed to all traffic", not what you want to see at the end of a long days drive. The cyclones had washed out the road in three places, DOH. We pushed on to Onslow in the hope that one of the caravan parks would let us stay with Max; otherwise it was the side of the road for us for the next 3 nights. With fingers crossed we found the shire office and they called the c.v. parks for us to confirm we could take our dog, the ladies were the first of many in Onslow that gave us a bit of the good old fashioned country hospitality, only too willing to help and don't expect anything in return. Funny thing ,was the lady who made all the calls knew all the numbers off by heart, claimed that it was a small town and everyone knew everyone, do any of you remember those days? We were greeted by the friendliest of hosts and even got shown to our site, so much for worrying about having somewhere to stay. We headed to the pub for dinner and it was packed, great atmosphere and nice meal, after not intending to stay here originally this place was turning out great. The boys from GFC had another win without trying against Brisbane and continue to be uninterested in the opposition; this team seems only interested in the finals, good to hear! After a tip off from the c.v. park owner I picked up a shaver from the local supermarket for a bargain and ck performed her first ever shave of my head, did a top job too. It was damn hot so we headed down to the local salt works beach, a touch on the red/brown colour kept us in the water only long enough to cool down before heading back to camp. Not much else to chat about in Onslow, we were surprised by the good hospitality but it seems to be the norm in the smaller towns that we have come across. We were biding our time before making the trip to Tom Price for a Monday morning drop off of Max at the kennels before heading to Karajini National Park.

Weather: 33+ and not much cooler at night, plenty of mozzies to keep you busy at night thanks to the heat.

Staying at: Half Mile Creek Rest Area, WA, South of Tom Price

Stopped for: 1 night, 4^th – 5^th May

Lots and lots of km's to cover on the trip from Onslow to just south of Tom Price for an overnight stop on the side of the road. Our plan was to stay here for the night (no parks in Tom Price that allows pets) before dropping Max off at the crack of dawn (8:30). We avoided the expensive roadhouse covered in the previous entry and filled the car with fuel from the jerry cans which are starting to come in very handy, there seems to be large distances between fuel stops now. Lunch was done out the back of the camper at a sensational creek stop which can also be used overnight but we were miles from our destination. Ran into a couple traveling across the country who only stays in apartments or cabins, they definitely had a different budget to us, but of course they were still enjoying themselves. The toilet at the stop had been closed thanks to the floods that had easily gone over the roof, wouldn't want to be relaxing on the can with the paper in hand when that came through! We took the road via Paraburdoo on the way to Tom Price, for some reason they had fuel cheaper than Perth, think I nearly hugged the fuel pump. Continued our voyage to the Half Mile Creek Rest stop, this drive all day had been brilliant (minus dodging stray cattle) as we started to get up close with some of the mountains that led to the national park. In our trusty guide for the rest stop they mention that you have to slow down or you will miss it, well we didn't miss it but were going miles to fast to stop. Ck performed her magic and performed a u-turn on a dime and we made our way to the road side stop. Found a perfect piece of rock to setup for the night and set about collecting some firewood and preparing dinner. The spot was setup right on the creek which proved a winner with the camera and Max had a nice spot to explore for a while (and eat some pretty funky stuff). We relaxed by a roaring fire, some good old frankfurts for dinner and a beer or two to help the night progress. By the way there was no need for a fire as it was still around 26 degrees but there is something mesmerizing about a fire that makes it all worth it. During the night we were "lucky" enough to have some iron-ore trains roaring past; these things are huge and made the camper shake. Despite this the Half Mile Creek overnight free stop was a success, currently deleting the huntsman spider that greeted me in the morning from my memory.

Weather: A warm night but it was still worth having a fire.

Staying at: Karajini National Park, WA, Dales Campground

Stopped for: 4 nights, 5^th – 9^th May

We jumped out of bed at sunrise (got some nice photos) and headed into Tom Price in time to drop off Max at the kennels and pick up some groceries for the week. With much anticipation we headed into the Karajini National Park at a time that is very foreign to us to be traveling. The drive into Karajini was magnificent, mountain ranges everywhere just dying for us to explore. We arrived at Dales campground before 10am, a first for us, and then proceeded to get a very comprehensive overview of the area from the camp hosts. This dude knew just about everything you needed to know including the very dangerous black rocks (we had no idea what he was talking about but played along) and where to put your foot when crossing creeks or climbing rocks. Very informative considering we were just after a site to setup on, found out later that they were volunteers, they always seem to be the most passionate. We were guided to the Euro camp and setup the whole rig, more due to the dingoes that come into camp at night than anything else. Our first trip out was down to the nearby Fortesque falls and the most spectacular fern pool you will ever see in your life. Out of respect to the indigenous people there is no diving or jumping into this pool as it is steeped in dreamtime history, didn't worry us as you just slipped into the cool waters and lapped up the tranquility of the place. You could swim right up to the twin water falls feeding the pool and just forget about life for a while (also got some really cool pictures). We swam for ages and watched every new arrival just stare at what they were witnessing, it truly is a privilege to see this place, make sure it is on your itinerary if you're driving this way. That night the dingoes made their way into camp, if you were quick enough you could spot them with the spotlight circling the tents or bbq area, just waiting for you to go to bed. They howled throughout the night, sneaking into camp to steal unsuspecting tourist's shoes and food left out as a couple of our neighbors found out one night. The next day we both woke up a little fatigued and decided a rest day was on the cards, so a fair bit of reading, a little bit of games and some snoozing was on the cards. Fully relaxed we bounced out of bed the next morning, and jumped straight into a nice long breakfast. No good walking all day if you haven't had a good feed. We set out to do the Circular pool loop walk from the campground, a favourite amongst all the people camping at the campground. The start of the trek took us to the lookout over the top of the Circular Pool; a magnificent drop down to the pool greeted us. If you were crazy enough you could probably jump off and get close to landing in the crystal clear waters, you would really need to nail the landing as it was probably about 100 metres down to the bottom. We cruised across the top of the gorge snapping happily at some magnificent views and enjoying some nice flat walking before we began our descent to the bottom of the gorge. The route took us past the fortesque falls again and this time I took up the opportunity to jump in the falls for a quick dip. Ck took a couple of good pics for me before setting off for the Circular Pool. The path ducked and weaved along the river which often provided some shady relief from the heat and a good chance to chat to passing walkers. Everyone out here is willing to have a chat and it helps break up a days walking. We arrived at Circular pool after taking way too many pictures along the way, the water was refreshing and a welcome break at the end of a long walk. This pool was a little more intimate than the fern pool, you almost feel unworthy to be able to see this up close and personal. A quick swim across the pool and up under the waterfall rewarded you with some warmer waters dropping down the rock face. Lunch was demolished by both of us and before you knew it we were left on our own in what can only be described as paradise. It didn't take us long to jump back in and float in the cool sparkling clear waters all by our lonesome. No thought of nude swimming as the sight from the lookout above gives you crystal clear viewing, albeit things look a little smaller, not a good thing for the male gender! Reluctantly we packed up and made the trek back up to our camp, the worst bit about all the walks around here, especially as it's all up hill.

Next day we headed off to the other main section of the Karajini National Park (Weano/Hancock Gorge), driving some 50 odd km's across some pretty good (but sometimes bad) dirt road. We were pretty excited as we had picked up the following information on the area … (…to explore this area you must be fit, agile and be prepared to submerge yourself in near freezing water channels, follow very narrow paths, and desperately cling to rock ledges to save yourself from falling!) what more do you need to get yourself out of bed in the morning. The view from the Oxer lookout upon arrival was worth the trip in itself, four huge gorges meet in one place to provide a spectacular view of nature's handy work. Probably not a good idea to look down if you suffer from a touch of Acrophobia, there are sheer drops from the lookouts straight down the rock face to the bottom, would be a really cool spot for abseiling or rock-climbing. Weird thing was the gate (with a lock thankfully) that opened out straight out over the drop, best not to think about that while leaning on it. Geez I ramble on a bit, I haven't even got to the walk yet, no wonder why I'm so far behind in my blog! Let's see if I can shorten this a little bit…

Right so we made our way down to the bottom of the gorge (we were headed for kermits pool for a swim) which included a straight drop down a ladder, along the river bed and up to the point of no return. There is a section where you have to go waist deep in water, taking the shoes off is optional, and make your way to the other side doing you best not to slip on those black rocks (they really are slippery) I was talking about earlier. Being the good husband, I sent the wife in first to test conditions, ensuring a safe passage for yours truly and making sure she wasn't going to back out. After all I did have the backpack with the food and camera in it, seemed fair to me. That crossing turned out to be nothing as we met our next challenge, the rock wall over water. Starting to sound a bit like that scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where they ducked and rolled through the first blades without getting their heads chopped off only to meet the falling steps. With shoes off your challenge was to cling to a vertical rock ledge over a river of cold water and step sideways like a crab to a wall for about 50 metres. A wised up ck sent me first to my potential peril as we led a few people along the ledges, guessing the right way and eventually making it out the other side alive and pumped. Some people chose to swim the channel of water below us, made it look a hell of a lot easier than our path. Our last task was to navigate the "Spider Walk", always sounds promising doesn't it! A very narrow path saw a river of water rushing down some very slippery rocks below as two rock ledges came together (about 1 metre apart) to provide some very unique photo opportunities. With legs and arms spread we slowly crept our way down the rocky path, surprisingly a little like a spider! While hundreds of metres below the water and rocks continued to remind you of the imminent danger you were in should you slip. Well actually it was probably only 1-3 metres down but it was daunting enough, plus hundreds of metres make for a good story. Can you imagine how crazy we were then attempting to take pictures of each other while only halfway down, that was the only thing missing from Indiana Jones movies, in real life everyone takes pictures (actually from memory I think his dad did take a couple). We managed to get a couple of cracking shots that I'll put up on the photo section for you guys. So after all our heroics we made it down to Kermits Pool and then had to chose the chalice from which to drink for eternal life…wait a sec, got a bit lost there. The pool was magic; our timing was spot on as the sun shone directly through the gorge and lit up the pool. It did little to heat up the water as we realized once in the pool, the temp would not have pushed 15 degrees in the sunny spot. Still it was pretty much perfect, especially as it was cooking in the sun. We ate lunch, lounged in the sun, chatted to a few other travelers and generally put off leaving as long as possible. Eventually made the trek back, following the same path in, however this time we dropped all the gear at the end of the rock wall climb and both had a swim up the river; it was well worth the effort of going back for. On the trip back we stopped past the water tank again and picked up some more water for a shower, much to the jealousy of those camping around us. We met our new neighbors who were traveling around oz transporting hire vehicles between major towns, cheap and not a bad way to see the country, clever little bunny rabbits, put that one in the idea box for a rainy day! A nice big BBQ was the go for dinner that night, as the sunset (I can hear the music playing at the end of the movie, don't tell me you don't either) we stood there reliving our tale with a nice cold beer in hand. Don't worry I'll post that pic too! That must have been my worst attempt yet at shortening a story. Another night of dingoes howling rounded out a ripping stay; never ever leave this place off your list if you're traveling North West WA.

Weather: Between 33-37 all day, everyday, not a cloud in the sky! Boring eh?

Staying at: Exmouth, WA, Ningaloo Caravan & Holiday Resort (only dog park in town)

Stopped for: 3 nights, 25^th – 28^th Apr

Exmouth is a destination for so many tourists that the road was flooded, not with water as can be the case in this area but backpackers, lots of 'em from all over the world. Traveling in their Wicked campers, which are basically my families old blue Nissan urvan converted into a camper (just painted on the side), very basic, not as cheap as you may think but very popular with the backpackers. On the way here we crossed literally hundreds of floodways (all dry) which fill up during heavy rains making the entire area inaccessible both ways. We met a few travelers that only a week or two before us came across all the floods and found themselves trapped for much longer than anticipated. Exmouth is home to the ningaloo reef (part of the coral coast), whale sharks and the Cape Range National Park. It also provided the last chance of surf before the crocs start beating the sharks to the rope attached to my leg. We arrived at reception and spent 15 minutes going over the rules and regulations on how to look after a dog, followed by a $50 cash deposit for him. The park has a specially designated area for dog owners (right in the back corner near the owner's tool shed). Looked kind of silly with all of us crammed in there when the rest of the park was relatively empty, still we had a spot for the night and that's all that matters in the end. Even better than a spot was the swimming pool, huge and a bit like a big resort pool, we couldn't remember the last time we were in a pool but it didn't stop us from diving in (missed the sign saying no bombing). It was nice to have some relief from the heat; it was pretty muggy the whole time we were here, especially at night when it stayed around 27-29 degrees, ouch. We had a very keen couple next to us who were traveling in fabric gazebo tent, one of these big square ones that you pop up in the back yard for a bbq. Discovered that it wasn't even waterproof one morning (around 4am) when we got a couple of drops of rain and caught the two of them throwing a big tarp over the top and moving all their gear into the car, crazy!

Exmouth is not really a town that you do a lot in, so we didn't, our main purpose was to book a tour that we had been planning to do since the start of the trip and put Max into the kennel so we could head into the n.p. The tour was for the Whale Sharks, not just looking at them from the boat, but swimming up next to them, with snorkel and fins as protection. Never fear, they are mostly harmless, but you just never know what it takes to turn a shark, Victorian blood is very popular these days. It was expensive but it was the only tour we had saved up for, and we weren't going to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity. We managed to get a pretty sweet deal from the booking office after receiving some timed advice to get an additional 10% off, all from being nice, amazing! Took off to the local tavern to watch GFC take on the freo ferals, after sending a few messages back home turned the mobile off as it turned out we were on delay and we got way too much info before the game started. Bumped into another couple who supported the cats and proceeded to sledge any freo supporter who was willing to listen, not such a good plan once we got to about 7 goals down. The pub then ruined the night by kicking us out (on a Friday night) at 3 quarter time, we figured they had got the final scores and were peeved off. For the record we got up by a point, suffer in ya jocks! We checked out town of course then headed off to the lighthouse to see what the ocean offered in terms of a surf break, and weren't disappointed. Dropped ck off and I headed back out to try my luck, it was over reef, big and roaring when I got there but I was so keen to surf I would have ridden a tiger shark over burning coals. Found the rip and paddled like a bit of British beef with a touch of mad cow disease to get out beyond the breakers. It was only then did I realize where I was and what I was doing, the surf was big (for me) and it was a powerful reef break, the waves were screaming when they went past me. Around now I started to wonder what the hell I was doing, so decided that trying to catch a wave was a brilliant idea. Failed on the first one and found myself inside the break and about to get mushed. Think I closed my eyes and held on and got picked up by a big one, got the ride of my life and made it safely back to the "smaller stuff". It was pretty crazy but I was going off by the time I got out of the water, could have been very messy but at least I gave it a go. Returned home with stories of my heroics (may have added a couple of stingrays and a shark in there to make it a good one) which we celebrated over some wine and a shared pizza. The morning of heading out to the national park we took one unhappy puppy dog to the kennels for the week and attempt to settle an issue with Citylink over a $1.99 bill, currently not going too well for us. In summary, Exmouth is good to stock up your groceries and book your tours; otherwise I'd stay in the National Park the whole time.

Weather: Hot, damn Hot. 36 by 9am, didn't drop below 27 at night and muggy the whole time. Just the way we like it!!!

Surfing Status: If you don't scare the living daylights out of yourself, how will you ever learn? Lesson learnt!

Staying at: Cape Range National Park, Mesa Camp, WA

Stopped for: 4 nights, 28^th Apr – 2^nd May  

Cape Range National Park has several camps available scattered along the coastal coral waters of the Ningaloo Reef, you have to let the ranger know which one your staying at before you get there. Problem is if you went to check it out first the ranger could give it to the next camper even if you park in the spot. We went with the Mesa camp as we had heard some good reports from others who had made the trek. It was set just behind the dunes, we found ourselves in a spot with no shade (it's worth millions up here) but it didn't matter as we expected to spend most of the time in the water anyway. First trip to the water left us speechless (maybe a couple of oohs and aaahhs), the water was perfect, the sort of stuff you see on postcards with the couple with perfect bodies and tans sitting in the water with a glass of bubbly just enjoying life. We jumped in to cool off and did our best to look like that couple, c.k. held up her end of the bargain but I just can't make my chicken arms turn into bulging biceps overnight. We were also well and truly amused by an old bloke doing his best work at getting an "all over" tan nearby. If you ask me, there are just some things that should never see the light of day, if you have ever suffered serious sunburn… let's move on shall we? Lazed by the waters for a while and watched this young kid come down, throw the line in and pick up a nice sized dart fish for dinner inside 10 minutes and went back home, pretty impressive for a little dude. We collected some water from a tap nearby for a shower that night and were lucky enough to come across an echidna sleeping on the road near the camp, our first on the trip (the echidna that is, we have had plenty of showers if you were wondering).

Next morning we were up at sunrise for the big day out on the cruise boat to try to catch a glimpse of a whale shark. Made our way down to the boat ramp nearby and met the rest of our companions for the day. Half the boat was filled with some of the German water polo team and their family members. Next on were a couple of south aussies who didn't want to talk football with us, something about giving it up for a while. Following them was a couple of older women from Canada who would go on to receive the most annoying award by the end of the day. Last of all were a young couple (pommy & frenchie) who had been working at a pearl farm for the last 6 months or so. Once we were herded onto the little zodiac and on board we were briefed on the day's activities including snorkeling over some reef and the whale sharks. We headed out with a perfect day on the cards, standing up the front of the boat like Leonardo DiCraprio (no I didn't misspell it, and for the record I've never watched that movie, theory is that it takes three hours and I already know the ending). We were busy spotting turtles doing their best to get run over and flying fish (haven't been smoking the funny stuff, they really do fly) when our trusty captain circled around a mighty big tiger shark just wading around in the reef waters. About five minutes later we pulled up to our snorkeling spot, I swear that nearly every person on the boat kept looking back to where the shark was to make sure we were far enough away. The captain assured us that we were safe, besides he had a whistle if things got ugly, convinced us to jump in. Snorkeled for a bit over some cool reef and then jumped back on board for some delicious morning tea, the tim-tams lasted about three seconds.  Next stop was the outer reef where we went in search of the whale shark with spotter plane up above helping out. After a couple of hours of searching we found ourselves having lunch with the threat of no sighting looming over us, the company is good enough to offer another trip if you are unlucky enough not to see one. Got chatting to our pommy mate and found out that he does a bit of cage wrestling on the side of his personal training career (none of the ladies wanted to talk to an I.T. guy after that), his girlfriend was even good enough to show us the sleeper hold on him that makes him pass out. Pretty cool stuff and kept everyone entertained while we waited for some good news. Not long after the boat took off as the captain had received word of the location of the whale shark. The excitement got everyone up to the front of the boat and even better was our position; we were miles in front of all the other tour boats and were a good chance to get in first. This was quickly dashed as we found our boat been overtaken by a little zodiac runner that had fallen off the back of another boat. Ck spotted a school of dolphins on the way and eventually we arrived to the news that three sharks had all popped up in the same spot. We were quickly briefed (don't hop in its mouth), then like a fine military operation we jumped into the water and swam like mad behind our swim leader. Our first encounter was incredible; these were only small ones but were between 3-4 metres each, no words will ever describe what it is like to see these gentle giants up close and personal. After each swim ranging from 30 seconds to 3-4 minutes you jumped back on board and tried to catch your breath. At one stage ck and I jumped in and were blinded by a big cloud of plankton (whale shark food) and screams from our swim leader to get out of the way. Sure enough the cloud cleared enough for us to see the shark heading straight for us, great view but scary as all buggery until we got out of the way. It was a brilliant experience and if you ever get the chance to see these things outside of an aquarium you will not be disappointed. We headed home stuffed but well and truly satisfied with our day.

Next day we headed out to check out some of the gorges of the area and did a bit of bushwalking, good stuff with some pretty impressive rock formations. We took it pretty easy as our bodies were paying the price for the day out on the water swimming our tushies off. Best bet was to head down to the local waters of our camp with beer in hand and have a crack at picking up dinner. Managed to catch around 6 undersize Spangled Emperor's, ck caught nothing but tried real hard. That little dude returned to the waters nearby, threw the line in, pulled in a huge golden trevally, showed us with a bit of a smirk on his face then headed home again in the space of 10 minutes (damn 12 year olds!).

Drove down to Yardie creek to check out the area, have a look at the creek crossing which was very full and did the gorge walk for some nice photos. Next stop was the blue waters (I know all the waters around here are blue) of Turquoise Bay for a drift snorkel, pretty cool as the current does all the work for you as you glide over the top of the reef for about 200 metres, just remember to get out before the current turns into a rip and takes you out to open ocean and those white toothed characters. Had one final crack at fishing and accidentally bumped my hook into a big spangled emperor, two nights dinner right there thanks very much, little kid no where to be seen.

Weather: Balmy 35 everyday, perfect for fishing and snoozing by the crystal clear waters.

Surfing Status: Righto, it's been lots of fun up until now, but from here on up north we start dancing with the salt water crocodile and prolific shark numbers. Your chances of being taken are so good that any of the information centers would give you a money back guarantee if you managed to come back. So the surfboard will remain on the roof racks for the next 3-4 months until we make it to the sunshine coast in QLD. Then we go crazy for the rest of the trip down the east coast of Australia, surfing everyday…isn't that right c.k?

Staying at: Bush Bay, WA

Stopped for: 4 nights, 13^th Apr – 17^th Apr

As it was a lazy 38 degrees when we packed up, decided that a good idea was to pop into shelly beach on the way back out to the highway from our last stop. This beach is made entirely of compacted shells, up to 10 metres deep in some sections, but best of all it makes the water a beautiful crystal clear blue with the white shells underneath. Not a bad spot to pop in and substitute for a shower if you ask me. Of course you don't take down your soap and shower cap, that would just look plain silly, but it does help cool you down and water is water. Covered the km's pretty easily to Bush bay, a free campsite about 30mins drive south of Carnarvon. Picked a spot away from the high tide mark and setup for a few nights of good old free camping, no facilities available here so everything in the camper gets used which is always good fun. Pretty quickly Max showed his dislike for a dog behind us that we nicknamed "big balloons", this dog was huge, um, think I might leave it at that! Anyway the owners seemed to take great pleasure in letting it run around off the lead and tormenting Max, not fair to the little fella as he was still a bit uncomfortable around big dogs after his recent attack. Explained the situation to the owners but they decided that it was a free country and just went on making life difficult, it's rare on the road but no everyone gets along for lots of different reasons, we didn't exchange details with these people when they left! There was another dog nearby that continued to roam up to the camper, had a chat to them and they were more than happy to keep him on the lead while we were there. On top of that, every morning you would see a different set of travelers looking around the camp area for their shoes, apparently another dog was having a ball swiping peoples shoes from outside their campers and relocating them into trees by the ocean. Still it was a free camp area so I shouldn't complain too much. The first night I had a crack at fishing off the beach, ended up spending most of the time watching two young kids reeling in an endless supply of fish. As soon as they left I jumped over to their spot and whammo, landed a big Longtom (good bait fish). In the excitement (me squealing like a girl for Caroline to grab the camera) the kids came back down to the beach to have a look. Got chatting to the little dudes (Nathan & James) which was perfect timing, they could hold the fishing rod while I packed up all of the gear as dinner was on the go. Sure enough a fish decided this was the best time to jump onto the hook and without fail my new best friend reeled in his biggest fish for the day on my rod. A beautiful yellowtail bream (I think) was the reward, I'm telling you if it's not ck it's someone else using my gear that has all the luck. Still officially it was "James" who reeled in the fish so I guess I can claim it as mine. The mozzies then started their feeding ritual on all of us so we all ran back to camp doing the happy monkey dance. I came out relatively unscathed, unfortunately the kids picked up over 60 bites each. The next morning we spent breakfast watching our fishing friends from the night before pack up, very entertaining watching them attempt to pack up a collapsible shower tent (which does take a special form Pilates to get right). After about 30 mins I decided that it was best for me to waltz over and save the day, this just ended badly as I had no idea what I was doing and failed miserably. The good wife, after laughing for 10 mins made her way over but thankfully (for the sake of the rest of the trip) failed to get it into the bag. We all agreed that it was broken and went about bending it to a point that they could just squeeze it in there, it's not going to be pretty next time they use that puppy I can tell you! Did a bit of shopping in Carnarvon and checked out a bit of the town, not much to report here, I certainly wouldn't come here for the tourist attractions. On the way back to camp we had our first emergency braking situation for Emus crossing the road, no big drama but they seemed to want to race us along the road for a bit, their a funny bird don't you think, not one you would ever want to run into at night. Did a bit more fishing (more bait!) and a smidgen of swimming which is becoming a daily activity. We just really chilled out here for a few days, something very relaxing about camping in a free location right on the beach, just can't pinpoint what it was.

Weather: You guessed it, 30 + everyday.

Surfing Status: If you are no good to begin with, is it possible to go backwards if you don't go out? This is my concern that is keeping me up at night.

Staying at: Blowholes, WA, Point Quobba

Stopped for: 4 nights, 17^th Apr – 21^st Apr

Just above Carnarvon was the new destination for us, not that far but when you add in a stop in town for showers, toilet, fuel, lunch, shopping and general diddle daddling around we didn't get there till mid afternoon. Also picked up a tip from the free camping guide for northern WA about a free water tap in town and loaded up the camper and all of our spare bottles with nice fresh water, handy stuff that. The blowholes or Point Quobba camp ground is located right next to a huge blow hole, formed naturally over what you can only assume as millions of years (we have no idea, someone tell me please how they work this stuff out). You are greeted upon arrival to the area by a huge sign reading "King Waves Kill", not exactly friendly but can certainly get the point across. We found a great spot in a corner facing the sand dune with a fair bit of privacy, unfortunately for us the wind that blew most of the time was coming from another direction and we copped it. The attraction (besides the $5.50 a night) of this location is the reef/lagoon right off the beach, it is stunning and we intended on having a couple of snorkeling trips to check it out. First full day we set off on a walk to the blowholes and back, then up to the lighthouse to get some phone and internet reception to pay some bills, also gave me a chance to update my afl dream teams which are struggling big time. On the Saturday we went for a huge walk up the beach before the footy started, went a little too far and missed the start of the game. The radio coverage at ¼ time changed over to the Freo game so we took the opportunity to go snorkeling rather than listening to that train wreck. Plenty of fish and reef to look at in the water, no more than five strokes from the beach which I guess it is so popular with families. We managed to pick up the scores at the end of the game; the cats romped home against the swans so we knocked the top of a couple of cold ones and settled in for some game playing. Later on I pulled out the fishing rod and managed to land a small fish on the first cast, something angry looking that was better off in the water than on the dinner plate. The rest of the time I battled a hawk that was following my lure like a … well… hawk…hoping that I would land something big, we both went home unhappy! Before I forget, I have to tell you about the mornings we had here. If breakfast was finished inside two hours we almost had to start again, we had perfect shelter from the morning winds and the sun just beamed down while we sat there drinking coffee and reading/snoozing. Even Max came out to join us (the smell of bacon probably did it), we had no reason to rush anywhere so why not enjoy it. This is the best time of the day, unless you are moving on to your next destination, everyone takes forever to get up and running. On Sunday we set out for some more snorkeling action but were quickly thwarted by some very strong currents and murky waters created from the windy conditions, of course conditions were perfect on the day we left. There is a nice old bumpy road which takes you for a bit of a tour up the coast to check out a few different cliff and camping areas (Red Bluff). Well worth the effort, even if your flat white ends up as a cappuccino from the corrugations. Caught up with some friends at the end of the road and were lucky enough to take part in drinking an Emu bitter, one of WA's proudest beer's. It took me back to the facial expression of those blokes in Cocklebiddy, I shared their pain! Not sure why (could have been the long breakfast) but we took forever to pack up on our moving day and didn't leave until about 11:30, not good when you have quite a few km's to cover in the day. Would come back here for sure if we were ever in the area again.

Weather: 30 and windy, cool at night.

Surfing Status: While Red Bluff offered some very decent reef tube surfing (2km cliff walk with board under arm), there wasn't much on offer in the area. No change otherwise.

I've finally got around to firing up the laptop to catch up on the blog for a little while. We have made our way safely to Broome into a nice "little" caravan park right opposite cable beach. Having a terrible time as you can imagine, and things just seem to get more frustrating by the day. The weather just doesn't change, 32-35 every day with no clouds. The water is warm, the beer is cold and the fish are jumping onto our fishing rods. We also just heard that the Gibb River Road is open for traffic and is in excellent condition, something we have been dying to hear, especially as we will be there in a couple of days, but more of that later. I'll start you back in Kalbarri and take you right up to Broome over the next couple of days, so expect a couple of updates from me. Just a quick g'day to Des and Auntie Beryl who are loyal subscribers, and to the rest of you of course, we miss you all..

Staying at: Kalbarri, WA, Murchison Park Caravan Park

Stopped for: 6 nights, 6^th – 12^th Apr

So up the coast we head, there is a real convoy of travelers all heading in the same direction at this time of year, it's inevitable that we will meet many of them again on our way. We popped into Geraldton for a lunch break out the back of the camper in the carpark down near the beach. Max was promptly solicited by a woman passing by for her females back home, he was real keen but little does he know that operation he had a few years ago rendered him useless in what she was after him for. Despite Max's protests we decided to keep heading up the coast as there was plenty to look forward to that Geraldton just couldn't offer. Found our way to Coronation beach and caught up with Clarry the caretaker (GFC supporter), who showed us to the only site with shade but looked like it was built on solid concrete, makes life kind of difficult when you have to peg down. Coronation beach is rated the second best wind surfing spot in the world, pretty impressive but do you know what that means, you get two guesses…I'll give you a hint, to be able to wind surf you need…and it's not surf! Sadly over the years the windsurfers have slowly destroyed the campsite by burning all the shade for fires at night, it's a shame as it looked like it could be a good spot. We moved on, especially as we originally thought that we couldn't get into Kalbarri with Max but managed to find a c.v. park who put their hand up. On the way to Kalbarri we listened to Geelong playing Melbourne on the radio, occasionally we lost reception completely and spent the next few minutes madly changing channels trying to pickup another relay or different station. The boys managed to sneak their way over the line and we made it safely to Kalbarri. We were lucky enough to arrive a few days before the school holiday rush crammed in and killed our peaceful mornings and quiet tourist attractions. Managed to sweet talk the receptionist into giving us a huge site with plenty of shade in a really nice location, she was probably going to give us that site anyway but I'm taking credit for it. This was a great c.v. park, right in the middle of town in and facilities were top notch. These guys also have a flat rate all year round that was pretty reasonable, our type of c.v. park! We arrived pretty late so didn't do much after setting up, had a beer with the next door neighbor (Vin), dinner and bed was happily accepted by all. The next morning was started perfectly, couple of coffees accompanied bacon and eggs for breakfast, this took a couple of hours as you can imagine, these things can't be rushed. Then we headed out for a big walk (gotta shake off that bacon) along the river with Max, this is how I disguise my sole purpose of getting the papers to read all about Geelong winning the football. Max is happy, I'm happy and ck is happy that I'm quiet for a while. Back at camp we got busy chatting to a bloke who had been out all morning on the boat and had filled the bucket (he had a very big bucket) full of Spanish mackerel, each one over 1 metre long. Ck put the charms on and before you know it we were walking back to the camper with two huge fillets, couple of dinner's right there, thanks for coming. We made plans for dinner that night which included beer batter, us not being experts in this decided that the best course of action would be to head down to the local tavern and sample some of their fine ales to determine the winner to be added to our batter. After much discussion (and sampling) it was decided the Cascade premium light was the go, plus the bartender told us that was the one to use. We grabbed a six pack and headed home, only needed one for the batter but I felt bad taking him from all of his mates, I'm sure you all understand. That night I whipped up our very first home made beer batter and cooked up the fish to perfection, washed down with a couple of leftovers from the six pack, we were living in style. The next morning I headed out for a bit of a run (hobble thanks to some nicely cracked heels) with Max so we could head out to the national park. Tired him out enough to put him to bed and off we headed to the Kalbarri N.P. The drive out there gives you absolutely no indication as to what you are about to see, it's pretty flat with not much in the way of trees to look at. This all changes once you get a chance to walk down to some of the lookouts on offer, the views from nature's window and z bend literally take your breath away. Of course you don't open your mouth to catch your breath or bbbzzzzzz….gulp, aaahhh flies. There are millions of the little buggers out here, the small ones that just won't leave you, no matter what form of break-dance you do. Think of the most annoying fly that you have ever had, just won't leave you alone, buzzing between your eye, nose and ear like your best mates, now times it by 100 and your getting close. We broke out the fly costumes in desperation, looked like fools, but happy fools at that. Anyway back to the day, watched in amazement as a busload of tourists jumped all over (and hung off) natures window in a fair attempt at making them the last people to ever be able to see it. I'm sure there's some onus on tour operators to tell them that they are looking at something that has been formed over millions of years, try to take it easy while playing Spiderman around it! Yup, couldn't agree with me more on that one, super point that. We popped down to Z bend for lunch and watched a couple rock climbing/abseiling the gorges nearby, looked like fun. Headed home after checking out the rest of the spots and giving the camera a fair workout. Spent the arvo trying to track down a spare part for ck's fishing rod that I may or may not have lost on the pier back in Jurien bay. Note to self, if something falls off fishing rod, best to investigate. Failed in finding the spare part but did manage to pick up a bargain snorkel for myself in preparation for heading up to the coral coast. The next day we followed up some rumors of a good snorkeling spot at lucky bay that some tour operators dropped into. We headed off and found an old beaten goat track that led us right up to some sand dunes, parked the car and arrived at a wild surf beach (no snorkeling lagoon), rips and swells going like mad all over the place, nothing surfable but we had the beach to ourselves so we spent a few hours cooling off and soaking up the rays. Never did find that lagoon but it was still a good trip and a nice test for the car on some rough tracks. Late in the day we ran into some friends from back in Esperance and made plans to head out for some fishing. The only thing we caught was rocks (no good for eating if you were wondering) but did get to see a water rat running back and forth around our ankles. Had an early night as we planned to get up before sunrise to get out to the national park for the big loop walk. Put the head down for two seconds and … beep, beep…. Beep, Beep….BEEP, BEEP… that alarm destroyed a perfect nights rest. It was still pitch black outside, we packed our bag with plenty of food and water and said goodbye to Max, not sure he even peered out from under his blanket, he doesn't get up before 9am unless there is bacon on offer. As the sun rose we pulled into the carpark of nature's window and discovered that we were the only ones crazy enough to be up at this time, perfect, not a whisper of wind and still cool enough to stand there with a coffee enjoying the serenity. We headed off on a four hour loop walk that followed the river around through some of the magnificent gorges in the area. The two of us just cruised around, no need to rush yourself out here, we were rewarded when a couple of small rock wallabies hopped across our path at the top of the cliff, not something you get to see everyday. Next stop was down a nice steep cliff to the river and a much anticipated swim under the very imposing gorge walls. It was only about 8:30 in the morning but easily warm enough to swim, in we hopped and had a grand old time for about half an hour. Not quite up to croc country yet but still kept an eye on every logadile drifting past to make sure it didn't wink at us. Continued on around the loop, around some rock ledges that literally hung you out over the water and along the river bed until we made our way back up to the natures window lookout. All in all it took us four hours but we stopped quite regularly to take it in, we did get overtaken by a couple of keen walkers that were trying to break the record for fastest time, or as they claimed to "get out of the heat". I'm pretty certain that when we got home we both napped for a couple of hours, even Max joined in despite the fact that he had been sleeping all morning. Anyway I've just noticed how much I've rambled on so I'll wrap up the last few activities. Friday was spent doing all the tourist drives along the cliffs and battling the unrelenting flies with lots of swimming in the beach in between. The last night I went crazy on the blog until well past midnight trying to catch up. That's it, Kalbarri was a great spot and you could stay here for a lot longer but the school holidays have arrived so time to go into hiding.

Oh yeah, for the slow learners, the answer above was wind…nothing better than wind when camping. Um, except for cyclones.

Weather: 30+ everyday and clear skies, we have noticed that Melbourne & Geelong are starting to cool ;-)

Surfing Status: Awesome surf spots but forgot my helmet, that should give you some sort of idea what it was like! You can actually stand on the edge of the reef to get a really good view of the surfers carving it up, check it out if you ever come here.

Staying at: Fowlers Bay, WA, (Denham/Monkey Mia/Shark Bay)

Stopped for: 1 night, 12^th – 13^th Apr

Covered the trip to Denham pretty easily, it's a long way off the highway so you really must want to see the dolphins to do this trip. Denham is the closest town to Monkey Mia dolphin resort if you were not aware, a place where the dolphins religiously swim up for a feed and a bit of showing off. We setup camp after registering at the visitors centre for free camp site at Fowlers Bay, just south of Denham, no facilities but you get the privilege of camping right on the waters edge with only a couple of other travelers. We setup the camper literally 2 metres away from the waters edge, it pays to know the tide times and heights out here otherwise you could find yourself at a whole different camp spot in the morning. Popped over the sand dune for a swim (it was about 37 while we setup) and got chatting to a couple fishing. The bloke had what looked like a good spot on top of a rock until he twisted around, lost his balance and found himself in the drink. Pretty funny stuff until he pulled his wallet out of his pocket, not a happy chappy I can tell you. We dropped the line in out the front of the camper but only managed to catch a few trees, not a good idea to laugh at the wife when she does it but then do it yourself five minutes later. It was a perfect sunset while we sat there fishing with beverage in hand, pity your limited to one night only in these types of spots. Woke before sunrise and headed into Monkey Mia for the dolphin show, arrived before it was open but already there was an eager crowd gathered at the beach which we joined promptly. Without fail the dolphins put on a good show and made their way right up to the waiting crowd. Not much more to say about it, it's worth it if you're in the area, and great for kids as they usually get picked out to hand feed the dolphins. We made our way back to camp and quickly packed up for the trip up to Carnarvon.

Weather: 36-38 both days, not a cloud in the sky. Good swimming weather!

Surfing Status: In shark bay, you must be crazy!