Douglas Family Do Oz Blog

This is our Blog which is our account of our expedition.

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Day 144 28-02-2008

Last few days - 422.79 kms
Total Distance - 17,153.97 kms
 
Not much today, this place is boring (Adelaide i mean).  I did pack up the car and clean it out as tomorrow i am back off to Victoria and the golden triangle again.  Bec is of next week to fly back to Brissy to get the kids, so i figure that looking for gold is better than sitting around here, it'll get me off my big ass for a while anyway.
I did get some bad news yesterday, a company called me to do some work for them, it's just some training and advising as they are opening up a new Truss plant (triangle things that hold up your roof) in April and need as much help as possible as no one there has done it before.  I guess it's good to keep your hand in (damn).
Over the last couple of weeks we have mainly been trying to help out Cathy where we can, she is a single mother with a really busy job and i think she really appreciates the help, she would do anything for anyone so we are glad to help.  Last weekend we went to a Sea-Horse museum, it was incredible to look at, also the males have the babies - 30 of them and within hours they are at it again, always knew that girls were complaining about nothing (i'm dead).
Late last week we went to the Clipsal 500, that was great to watch (heaps of minor crashes), i love the sound of the V8's going flat out.
I'll try and update this a bit more, it's hard when we aren't doing much at all.
 


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Day 134 18-02-2008

Day Travelled - 76.65 kms
Total Distance -  16,731.18 kms
 
Today Bec wanted to go to Harbour Town, and knowing that it was going to be bloody hot, i could think of worse places to go than a nice air-conditioned shopping centre, sure it was boring and i spent a lot of time sitting around, but it was cool!
We were there for about 4 hours, on our way home we passed a big temperature display that said it reached 41 degrees, thats ordinary, tonight's minimum is supposed to be around 25 deg, so that should be nice to sleep in.  I thought this place was supposed to be cool..........


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Day 133 17-02-2007

Day Travelled - 470.47 kms
Total Distance - 16,654.53 kms
 
Today we went for a drive to Port Pirie.  We went through the Claire wine region but Bec wasn't to keen on tasting them today.  The country out here is so bare, they have less grass than western Queensland did.  we saw about 50 Willy Willy's (tiny Tornadoes) ripping up all of the dirt around, but we couldn't get close enough to take any decent photo's.  We had lunch at Port Pirie then headed down to Port Broughton then back to Adelaide.
We ended up driving 470k's today and with the 200 odd yesterday and 40 degree temps i am about stuffed.


Find it at www.seek.com.au Your Future Starts Here. Dream it? Then be it!
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Day 132 16-02-2008

Day Travelled - 210.63 kms
Total Distance - 16,184.06 kms
 
We set off at about 10 am and headed up to Barossa Valley so that the girls could sample a few wines (i use the term 'few' very loosely).  we stopped at about 5 wineries before lunch at Tanunda where we ate in a little cafe down a back street, the food was beautiful.
Before lunch we stopped at a little winery where they tried port, and loving it they asked for a bottle, the guy there said that he only had it in 2 litre left and being alco's they said fine.  He reached under the counter and pulled out a 2 litre plastic container with a handle, it looked like a thinners / turps bottle so that gave me some ammo for a while.  After lunch we went to another 6 wineries and the girls ended up with about 12 bottles and 1 plastic bottle between them.


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Day 130 14-02-2008

Day Travelled - 75.26 kms
Total Distance - 15,973.43 kms
 
We got up this morning and had a half-hearted effort at looking for work, the problem is that we don't really need the money (well we do, but we don't), and we don't want to stop the holiday either so we are thinking that will be the last of our job searching efforts as well.  If we do get one, we'll take it, if not we are off again.  HA HA goldfields here i come  hmmmm.
 
 
Day 129    13-02-2008
 
Day Travelled - 10.11 kms
 
Not a lot today, we poked around Cathy's place for a while then did Bec's compulsory shopping centre visit.


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Day 128 12-02-2008

Day Travelled - 140.25 kms
Total Distance - 15,883.20 kms
 
We had a fairly restless night last night with some of the local drunks using the caravan park as their main road home, nothing to exciting, just bloody loud.  We left Tailem Bend and went to Murry Bridge for a look and to check out the old bridge there.
We then headed off to Adelaide via the Adelaide Hills, damn these were a pain to drive over with the camper on, a real strong headwind didn't help either.
We found a car park in the centre of Adelaide and went for a walk through town.  Whilst we were there we stopped in at the parks office and got our desert parks pass because we will be going to Lake Ayre and across the Simpson in a few months.
I gave my friend Cathy a call and she is putting us up for a few days, it's great to catch up again.  We had pizza for dinner and sat around chatting till late.


Listen now! New music from the Rogue Traders.
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Day 127 11-02-2008

Day Travelled - 520.84 kms
Total Distance - 15,742.95 kms
 
We set off fairly early this morning, having no kids with us makes a massive difference with the room used and the amount of stuff pulled out (Taylor).
We headed off to Arrarat and had a coffee on our way through, the amount of churned up ground we passed was incredible, the old miners must have really got stuck into it .
We ended up stopping at Tailam Bend in South Australia after covering more than 500 kms, today i am stuffed.  Pasta and sauce for dinner then into the sack, i could sleep on a bed on nails tonight.


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Day 126 10-02-2008

4 Days Travelled - 201.08 kms
Total Distance - 15,222,11 kms
 
Well i'm gonna be slack today and do one entry for the last 4 days, all i have been doing is looking for gold and poor Bec has been stuck at the caravan park with occasional walks into town.  I did get lucky and find 1 piece with the massive weight of 0.4 grams, i have a feeling that this hobby isn't paying for itself just yet.  Anyhow i'll keep trying.
Tomorrow we are off to South Australia in the hope of finding some work.  Because the kids won't be back for a while and we don't want them to miss anything we figured that we might as well do some work since we will be sitting around for a while, the money always comes in handy.


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D-122 6-02-2008

Day Travelled - 94.62 kms
Total Distance - 15,021.03 kms
 
After our slack night last night we were on the road by about 9.30 am.  We didn't go far, we went into Bendigo for a look around.  The old buildings here are incredible, they are huge.
We left Bendigo at about 11.30 and headed off to Maryborough and set-up the camper at the caravan park (yes in the camper), setting up took a bit longer today as the weather is crappy and we will be staying here for at least 4 nights so we put up the annex as well.
At about 2.30 pm i went out metal detecting, again the exercise was great but i only found a few bullets and shells, some old nails and a horse shoe - i spose the horse shoe was something different, but geez, 1 piece of gold will keep me happy....maybe tomorrow.


Find it at www.seek.com.au Your Future Starts Here. Dream it? Then be it!
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Day 121 5-02-2008

Day Travelled - 225.91 kms
Total Distance - 14,926.41 kms
 
We were ready to leave Dawn and Gene's at about 10am (thanks heaps for having us) and on our way to the airport to drop off mum and the kids, well, the kids anyway, mum couldn't fit in so she caught the bus.  Though being a gentleman i did offer her the roof rack.
We had lunch at the airport and sent them packing, Bec bawled like a baby with the kids going home for probably 6 weeks (i cheered! is that wrong? Nah kids i'll miss ya).  We left the airport and headed off to Bendigo.
When we got there it was pouring rain, so we thought stuff this and stayed in a cabin for the night.


Listen now! New music from the Rogue Traders.
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Day 120 4-02-2008

Day Travelled - 138.58 kms
Total Distance - 14,700.50 kms
 
We were up fairly early and on our way to science-works in near Melbourne.  Once i hit the tram lines in near Footscray i was hoping like heck that no trams would come along, it was all good, they avoided me.
We got to science works at about 11am and found that it was $6 each for adults and free for kids to get in.  Science works is like a big science museum for kids, and they had a ball, we were there for about 3 hours.
When we left we headed off to the shopping centre so that i could get a shirt and a couple of pairs of good shorts because some of my gear is getting a bit tatty, so i need some more to wreck.
We then headed back to Dawn and Gene's place where i took Taylor for a game of golf, to say that she sucked was an understatement, she had 28 on the first hole and it didn't get any better.  Luckily it looked like rain so we went home after 7 holes where there was a nice warm dinner waiting.


Find it at www.seek.com.au Your Future Starts Here. Dream it? Then be it!
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Day 119 3-02-2008

Day Travelled - 29.15 kms
total Distance - 14,561.92 kms
 
Not a lot happened today, Bec and i went and got some laundry done (4 loads), Kai went and played golf with Dawn and Taylor and Blake stuffed around at Dawn and Gene's place making the most of the television.


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Day 118 2-02-2008

Day Travelled - 0 kms
Total Distance - 14,532.77 kms
 
We had an early morning this morning, Kai, Gene and i went and played Golf whilst Bec, Mum and Dawn and the kids went into Melbourne for the day.  We had great fun at golf and really enjoyed the piece and quiet.  The girls and kids got home about 4 hours later.
When the girls got home we did a bit of cleaning up in the camper and just sat around for the afternoon.


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Day 117 1-02-2008

Day Travelled - 141.61 kms
Total Distance - 14,532.77 kms
 
We weren't really quick getting ready this morning, but we finally moved and got to Sovereign Hill at about 11am.  We saw a few things today that we missed yesterday, but mainly we just had another look at the things we saw yesterday.
We got home at about 4pm and went out to the local club for dinner, we had $6.50 fish and chips, makes it hardly worthwhile cooking.  After this we came back and watched 20/20 cricket on the television and sat around all night.
 
 


Listen now! New music from the Rogue Traders.
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Day 116 31-01-2008

Day Travelled - 125.38 kms
Total Distance - 14,391.16 kms
 
We were up and off by about 9am this morning and on our way to Sovereign Hill.  It rained all the way to Ballarat, but cleared as soon as we got there, thankfully.
Sovereign Hill was brilliant, and fairly reasonably priced as well at $105 for a family pass for 2 days.
There were a couple of guys dressed in period police uniforms picking on the kids, but by the end of it they were wishing they hadn't as Taylor had well and truly put them in their place, Bec and i walked off and pretended that we didn't know them.
When we left we went to the Eureka Centre which had a bit of memorabilia from the Eureka Stockade revolt and some stories and videos of the same.  We then went to the Gold Museum which had gold of every shape and size on display, i was incredibly jealous.


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Day 115 30-01-2008

Day Travelled - 86.77 kms
Total Distance - 14,265.78 kms
 
We packed up quickly this morning and were on our way to Bacchus Marsh to meet Mum and Blake who had flown down from Brisbane for a visit, and to pick up Kai and Taylor who are flying home for a month or so next week.
It was great to see my little boy as we haven't seen him since we were in Brisbane (November), and we hadn't seen Mum since chrissy so that was good as well.
We are staying in Dawn and Gene's (friends of Mum's) backyard for the next week so that is very much appreciated.
Not much happened this arvo, we just sat around and talked whilst the kids ran amok.


Listen now! New music from the Rogue Traders.
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Day 114 29-01-2008

Day Travelled - 243.54 kms
Total Distance - 14,179.01 kms
 
We were up and moving early this morning and on our way to Dunolly, on our way we passed through Maryborough who just happened to have a mining shop open, i eventually came out with a new coil for my metal detector so that i can now find all of the deeper rubbish and dig that up (ohhh gawd).
We went through Dunolly and stopped at Moliogul at the place where they had found the 'Welcome Stranger' nugget.  This was found in 1860 and at about 100 kgs is still the biggest nugget ever recorded, so this was something that interested us.  We rang Dad from here and wished him a happy birthday.
After we left here we went and found the guys grave in the local cemetery and took photo's of it, for such a major find the guy has a pretty simple gravestone.
When we left we went back through Maryborough and had a look at the caravan park as we will spend a few days here in a couple of weeks so that i can go and find my fortune (sic).
We then came back to the camper and had a swim (so much for being heated, it was freezing), had dinner and hit the sack.


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Day 113 28-01-2008

Day Travelled - 149.94 kms
Total Distance - 13,935.47 kms
 
We left Camperdown at about 10.10 this morning, we were under a tree with a nice cool breeze so we all slept in, well it is the last day of school holidays.
When we finally got on the road, we headed off to Ballarat for a look see.  We stopped at the Eureka Centre (info centre) and had a look at all of the 'Eureka' gear for sale.  We found a caravan park close by with a 50m pool attached, they recon it is heated, and by god it should be.
We eventually set up the camper and took the kids for a swim where they had fun on the water slide.  Whilst we were there, there was a guy there who wouldn't stop perving on every girl that walked past, no matter how old.  There are some sick people around, when we went and told the girl next to us about it, we pointed him out and he saw us pointing and took off.
After this we took the kids to putt-putt then came back to the camper and cooked fish and vegies for dinner.


Find it at www.seek.com.au Your Future Starts Here. Dream it? Then be it!
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Day 112 27-01-2008

Day Travelled - 122.32 kms
Total Distance - 13,785.53 kms
 
We were fairly slow packing up this morning as we weren't in a real rush to leave, we ended up leaving at about 10am.  We got to the 12 apostles not long after and it was one of the nicest things we have seen since we left.  We had a ball walking up all of the different tracks and looking at the different formations.
We had lunch at Port Campbell at about 2pm and had a look there before heading off again.  When we finally arrived at Camperdown we set up camp and Bec and i sat around as we were stuffed from all of the walking, as usual the kids went out and played even though they said they were buggered also.  We had baked beans and spaghetti for dinner as we couldn't be stuffed making anything else. 


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Day 111 26-01-2008

Day Travelled - 0 kms
Total Distance - 13,663.21 kms
 
Not a lot done today, the kids did a couple of hours of school work in the morning then we took them down for a swim for an hour or so.  Whilst we were down there, there was a japanese fella fishing of the rocks so we had to sit there for 1/2 an hour watching him and waiting for a wave to smash him, but to our sheer disappointment and his incredible luck he didn't fall in.
We then had lunch and i went fishing for a while and the kids went swimming again for a while.  When we got back the kids were playing cricket with half of the park and Bec and i were chatting to Mick and Jo whilst we had dinner cooking.


Sell your car for just $30 at CarPoint.com.au. It's simple!
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Day 110 25-01-2008

Day Travelled - 259.65 kms
Total Distance - 13,663.21 kms
 
We packed up and left right on 10 am this morning.  It took us about an hour to get through to Geelong, this was a nice tidy looking place.  We then headed on to Torquay to have a look at Bells Beach.  Bells is spectacular and no wonder it is called the home of surfing in Australia.  We then went to Anglesea and had lunch there, this was nice to, although judging by the prices in the real estate window - very expensive.
We then headed along the Great Ocean Road to Cape Otway.  The scenery here is sensational, every one should drive this road, it's no wonder this road is advertised so much, it's brilliant.
We missed the first couple of places that we were going to stop at, then we found somewhere in Cape Otway National Park.  We set up camp and then went for a walk down to the beach.  Man the surf is wild down here, the waves are huge and break about 100m out.  I have been swimming in surf for as long as i can remember and there is no way i would go out past my waist in this place, besides it is way to bloody cold.


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Day 109 24-01-2008

Day Travelled - 36.69 kms
Total Distance - 13,403.56 kms
 
We were ready and on the rain to Melbourne by about 10am this morning.  It was only about 20 mins to get in there, which was nice, as i hate trains.  We got off at central and were surprised at how dirty this area of town was.  We walked to the Queen Victoria markets, this joint is monstrous though a bit ordinary to look at.
We left town a bit disappointed at about 2 pm and gave my sister a call as she has been down here working and was leaving today.  We caught up with her at about 3pm at the airport and chatted till about 4.30 when she had to board her plane.  It was great to catch up as we haven't seen her since November and the kids loved seeing aunty again.
After we left the airport we headed back to the caravan park and Bec did some washing as we are heading off again tomorrow.


Find it at www.seek.com.au Your Future Starts Here. Dream it? Then be it!
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Day 108 23-01-2008

Day Travelled - 60.47 kms,
Total Distance - 13,366.87 kms
 
The troops had a sleep in this morning, but when they woke up we headed off to look at my old primary school.  I went to school here from kindy to halfway through year 3.  First we stopped at my old house to get some pics, we were here when Dad was in the air force, we then went to my old primary school.   hmmmmmm the area seems to have changed a bit since, the school now has a 10 foot chain wire fence around it, thanks for sending us there Mum it looks real safe.  We then drove by my old kindy, same deal with the fence, apparently we were lucky to leave the area alive (mum you should have made me go to high school here, these fences would have kept even me in).  I would like to thank Mum and Dad for trying to get rid of me and my sister at such a young age. Geeeeez
Needless to say, we didn't get out of the car here!!!  On our way back to the caravan park Bec spotted a Westfields (i was driving too slow, my fault) so we were walking around there for a couple of hours, after we left there we just happened to find Australia's biggest lolly shop, so the kids stocked up and Bec got an armful for Blake, as Mum and him are flying down here next week for a visit.
By this time it was about 2pm so we headed back to inflict some more pain on the kids (haha more school work)


Find it at www.seek.com.au Your Future Starts Here. Dream it? Then be it!
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Day 107 22-01-2008

We were packed and gone by 9.30 am and our first stop was at Glenrowan to look at some of the Ned Kelly memorabilia.  We wanted to see the film that they had made, but at $60 per family and it only went for about 40 mins, it was a bit much for us, so we gave it a miss.  The kids were a bit dissapointed.  There ended up being a heap of free stuff to look at anyway.
We then had a look at Winton Racetrack where they have the V8 Supercars, this is a dry dirty looking place and pretty ordinary to look at as well.  Next stop was Benella, where we had a bit of a walk down the street, had lunch and bought some more school books for the kids for this year, they were happy and excited to get these, though later on they weren't to impressed.  Benella was quite a nice plase, and heaps bigger than we expected.
We piled back into the truck and headed into Melbourne, and it wasn't untill we got about 30 k's out of town that we began to see some houses, we saw the smog over the city before we saw anything else.  We ended up finding a caravan park near the airport which was handy, it's a nice enough place, but i'll be glad to be back in the bush again.


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Day 106 21-01-2008

Day Travelled - 178.34 kms
Total Distance - 13,057.82 kms
 
We decided to go for a drive today, so we had brekkie and headed to Albury/Wodonga.  Wodonga looks like a nice place, and Albury looks like an old town (it is i spose), we went to the information centre and found that there isn't much for us to see hereso we headed south again to Yackandandah (old gold town) then on to Beechworth.
Beechworth is a nice old place with plenty to do.  We first went to the court house that Ned Kelly was tried in, a chinese centre, the gaol, the telegraph office (where we sent a couple of telegrams) and then onto the Bourke Museum, named after robert O'Hara Bourke (Bourke + Wills fame) because he was the police superintendant here for a while.  The courthouse and the museum were really interesting.  All up we got to go to 5 places in Beechworth for $25 for the family, so we thought that was pretty good.
By this time it was about 4pm so we headed back to the caravan park to sit and rest for a few hours.
I also got on some scales today whilst we were out and gladly found i was down to 88 kg's.  When we started i was about 95 kg's , amazing what happens when you eat well and excersise.


Sell your car for just $30 at CarPoint.com.au. It's simple!
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Day 105 20-01-2008

Day Travelled - 85.95 kms
Total Distance - 12,879.48 kms
 
I awoke this morning to the lovely sound of rain on the roof again.  When i looked outside it was grey in all directions, beautiful weather for packing up the camper.  The kids and Bec packed up inside and we put the kids in the car to keep dry whilst Bec and i packed up the rest and got wet.
We had warm showers and headed off at about 10 am.  It was only about 80 kms to Wangaratta, but by 3/4 of the way there the wind picked up and the clouds started clearing.  By the time we had set up the camper the sun was out, lucky, because all of our gear was soaked.
During the afternoon we went for a stroll through town and when we got back i fixed the car alarm and put a new plug on the camper (a pin was broken and not connecting properly), Bec read a book and the kids ran around the park.
We had a quiet night and had spaghetti bol for dinner.


Sell your car for just $30 at CarPoint.com.au. It's simple!
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Day 104 19-01-2008

Day Travelled - 32.08 kms
Total Distance - 12,793.53 kms
 
I awoke this morning to the rain still belting down, and not looking like improving at all.  We went into town and had a walk around for a couple of hours, it's a nice little place.
After lunch we went for a drive to a fruit farm to have a look, it was ordinary because it had bugger all fruit there, so we left and went back to the caravan park where we watched a couple of DVD's and had soup and pasta for dinner.


Find it at www.seek.com.au Your Future Starts Here. Dream it? Then be it!
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Day 103 18-01-2008

Day Travelled - 142.10 kms
Total Distance - 12,761.45 kms
 
We were packed up and on the go by 10 am this morning and attacking the big climb out of Talbotville, i was in low 2nd all the way up the hill and it took ages.  We stopped at the old Grant Cemetery for a look, but there wasn't a lot left as fires had been through here last year.
After we got to the top we took the Dargo Rd towards Mt Hotham which we were told would be no worries to tow the camper on, i would love to see the bloke that told me that again.  The first 5 kms was fine, the next 5 was through 4 inches of bull dust, thanks to the logging trucks then after that the road was horrible, i wonder if the council knows it exists, because i don't think it has ever seen a grader.  This trip was about 80 kms long and took the best part of 3 hours.
We were very happy to see bitchumen again near Mt Hotham and we went and looked at the ski resort.  When we got up there, i turned off the car and it wouldn't start again, we had shaken the crap out of the car and it had immobilised the engine.  Luckily dad and i installed it so i know how to bypass it, there's another job for me to do.  When we were at Mt Hotham we were 1850m high, so i knew the 40 kms down to Bright wouldn't be much fun and i was right.  I had the car in 1st + 2nd low (i unlocked the front wheels first) all the way down so that i didn't cook the brakes (engine braking is not real good in an auto, bigger tyres don't help either).  We ended up going down 1550m in 20 kms so that was great fun.
When we eventually pulled into Bright i was absolutely stuffed and i had only driven 142 kms.  Bright is a lovely little town, the kids love it, the river is set up for the kids to swim in, with little rapids for them to go down on their bogey boards, a diving board and a waterslide into the river.  The playgrounds are the biggest that i have seen and there are 3 of them in town.  We went for a walk and got dinner and settled in for the night to the sound of rain on the roof again.


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Day 102 17-01-2008

Day Travelled - 14.07 kms
Total Distance - 12,619.35 kms
 
We had a fairly tame day today, i was up early and had a couple of hours peace before the kids got up.  After breakfast (bacon and eggs) we went for a walk up to the Talbotville Cemetery where after the fires of the last few years there is not much left, there are three gravestones left, even the fences are mostly burnt down.
When we got back we got in the car and went for a drive up the Crooked River.  Along here there was 24 river crossings in 7 kms, so that was a bit of fun.  There are a couple of old gold towns along here as well, but besides 1 chimney and a lot of mine shafts there is not much left.
When we got back we had lunch and i took the kids for a swim in the river with their bogey boards (nice little rapids) whilst Bec had here nana nap.  The kids did some schoolwork whilst i got some dinner ready and we sat around the campfire for a while.


Listen now! New music from the Rogue Traders.
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Day 101 16-01-2008

Day Travelled - 114.20 kms
Total Distance - 12,605.28 kms
 
We were on our way at 9.15, and on our way through Omeo I stopped for fuel ($1.599), the kids were amazed when a bloke came out and filled the truck up for us, so had to explain that that is how they used to do it.  The bloke there gave us directions to get to Dargo, unfortunately there were logging trucks on the road as well, they are heaps bigger than us and on one laned roads, that sucked.
The 80 kms to Dargo took us about 3 hours, including stopping at the Dogs grave (where a stockman buried his dog in 1860) and one of the high country huts.  The country out here is beautiful and recovering well after the 2003 fires that burnt this place up.
We stopped at Dargo and got some hot chips for lunch and a photo of the general store and the pub.
We left Dargo and headed to Talbotville (about 35 kms) and this took the best part of 2 hours to do.  The range out of Dargo had us back to 1st gear so that we could get up it, even though it was bitchumen, but the road leading down the other side was dirt and we were in 1st low the whole way, damn it was a long way down.
After we set up camp, i went for a walk while the kids rode their bikes with me, and in about 2 kms we went through 7 creek crossings, i am looking foreword to driving up here tomorrow, in 7 kms there is 24 creek crossings.
There is some unbelievable 4wd tracks around here, anything that is called a "spur" will require you to take off your skirt to do it, damn they are steep.


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Day 100 15-01-2008

Day Travelled - 141.81 kms
Total Distance - 12,491.23 kms
 
I woke up this morning at about 7 am after a bloody freezing night.  Stopping to camp 20 kms from a ski resort isn't real bright, even during summer.  When i got up it was 6 degrees (yep, i got a thermometer).
We drove the whole 20 kms back to Omeo to get some clothes washed and some food shopping done before heading out to Dargo (high country).  When we got to Omeo, we found the caravan park and quickly set up camp before heading off again.  We went and looked at the oriental gold diggings, this was interesting as they blasted the sides of the cliff with water so that they would collapse then they went through the dirt.  When we were up there we bumped into the local ranger and he thinks we will be able to get the camper through to dargo from here, we will give that a go tomorrow.
We left the lookout and went for a walk through Omeo, which is a nice little town.  We did our shopping and took the kids for a swim at the local pool, this is part of the river that has been dammed up, it even had a diving platform.  We stayed there for about an hour till we came back to the caravan park.  Here i met a young couple from Tasmania who are doing the same as us, they are on day 15 of their trip, it was nice to talk to someone our own age, damn there are a lot of retired people travelling.


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Day 99 14-01-2008

Day Travelled - 232.08 kms
Total Distance - 12,349.42 kms
 
We were up at about 7am this morning, well the kids and i were anyway.  The kids gulped down brekkie and went off and played with the friends that they had made.  Bec and i had showers and packed up the camper and we left at about 9.30 am.
I stopped outside of Bairnsdale for fuel and got it for $1.519 which is better than we have been getting.  We drove through Bairnsdale for a look and it was a lot bigger than we expected.
We then headed onto Omeo, we stopped at the information centre for a look, but they are closed on Mondays.  We drove on to the ski village of Dinner Plain and stopped there for a look.  We talked to a lady there and found that we had missed the camp area by about 20 kms, and there were no other ones around.  Off we went back 20 kms, we found it (Victoria River), and it is a beaut little spot.
After we unpacked, i took the kids down to the river where they rode their bikes through the creek crossing, this ended with some great photo's of the kids falling into the water.  We are allowed to have a camp fire tonight, so that will be a nice change from the last couple of weeks.  Mind you, being within 20 kms of a ski resort you need a fire, even during summer.


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Day 98 13-01-2008

Day Travelled - 15.77 kms
Total Distance - 12,117.34 kms
 
Nothing to exciting today, we took the kids to putt-putt again, went for a walk up the main street, and walked over the footbridge (over the lake) to have a look at the surf.  Unfortunately we can't go for a swim in the lake because of blue-green algae, not that Bec or I would go because it is about 20 degrees, looks like rain, but none yet.
We are heading up to the high country tomorrow, and even Bec is looking forward to getting away from the coast and the people.  We only stayed here today so that the kids could play and have a rest from the car for a day.
The kids ran wild today, they had a ball because there are heaps of others for them to play with, hopefully they will sleep well tonight.


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Day 97 12-01-2008

Day Travelled - 297.51 kms
Total Distance - 12,101.57 kms
 
 
We were packed up and gone by 9.15am this morning, we headed off to Orbost and crossed the border into Victoria. Orbost was fairly ordinary and the flies were taking over the town so we went out to Marlo to have a look there, it was right on the coast but Bec wasn't to impressed so we went back to Orbost and had lunch in the park (i didn't have to sit down, the flies held me up). We then headed onto Lakes Entrance where we found a caravan park and set up for the next 2 nights.
Whilst we were unpacking Taylor rushed into the camper and used a tent peg to tighten the arms that open out, as she was shown how to by a friend of ours (Ron you bastard). Whilst this idea is great when she loosens them, it is not so good for an over-enthusiastic 10 year old when tightening them as she broke the head off it and it took me an hour to drill and grind it out with the dremel (yes Ron it works bloody well, it was tight), exactly what i felt like doing after driving 300kms.
After that fun we went grocery shopping to re-stock as we had to throw out our remaining fruit and vegies at the border. Dinner and rest is on the cards for tonight.


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Day 96 11-01-2008

Day Travelled - 231.21 kms
Total Distance - 11,804.06 kms
 
 
Boring day today, we left Batemans Bay at about 9am and headed towards Bega. Whilst at Bega we went to the cheese factory and tried some of the different cheeses, some tasted really nice, some tasted like crap, each to their own i suppose.
Whilst at Bega it was bloody hot (about 40 deg), we were going to stay here the night, but changed our mind and headed on to Eden where the sea breeze made it a heck of a lot cooler. After we had set up i took the kids for a swim in the pool, then we got an early dinner ready because the clouds coming in didn't look to good. spoke to the woman behind us and mentioned the clouds and she said not to worry about it because it doesn't rain here much (fancy telling me it doesn't rain much here). Lucky i ignored her because it pissed down. The people behind us went out so i had to laugh as it filled up with water and then had fights when they returned.


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Day 95 10-01-2008

Day Travelled - 9.80 kms
Total Distance - 11,572.85 kms
 
 
Nothing to exciting today, we went out for a look at town this morning. We found a putt-putt golf course so we took the kids there for a game. After we finished there (i won) we went to Stocklands Shopping Centre because we needed to pick up a new 12v phone charger because the old one was buggered. As you can imagine, with Bec here it took 3 hours. We got Taylors hair cut short because she wouldn't tie it up and it looked terrible.
We then came back to the caravan park and took the kids for a swim before settling down and having dinner.
There was a helicopter over the beach for a while after dinner, so Kai went running down there to see what was going on, there was a shark swimming around, so naturally it was a huge one. The helicopter went away after a while so the park returned to normal and everyone went back to their camps.


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Day 94 9-01-2008

Day Travelled - 200.15 kms
Total Distance - 11,563.05 kms
 
 
We were moving this morning by 9.15am and on our way to Parliament House for a tour of the place. Damn, the place is huge and the amount of marble used is unbelievable. It was an interesting place to see and worth checking out. It's a pity that question time wasn't on, because that would have been great to watch.
From here we went to Gold Creek (there's no gold there), to have a look. It is a little town full of specialty shops, it was nice, but not worth the trouble.
After having lunch we left Canberra and headed towards Batemans Bay. It is a really nice place right on the beach, but is $54 per night (this is getting scary). We had made up our mind to stay here 2 nights even before we got here, whatever the cost, but i wasn't expecting that!! We wanted to have a couple of days near the beach and not doing any sight seeing. After this i think we are going to go back to the bush again and just go out to the coast when we want to see something, it is just to expensive to follow the coast at this time of year, it is just smashing our pockets.
We did have something exciting happen today though, i got well and truly cut-off by a 'P' plate driver who didn't dive way. A young girl went straight through an intersection and i had a six wheel lockup - the car and the camper. There was black lines covering the road and i have chunks out of my tyres. was certain she was gone, and i don't know how i missed her, it could have only been by millimetres. I had to stop for a minute and have a smoke, that really put the wind up me.


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Day 93 8-01-2008

Day Travelled - 179.95 kms
Total Distance - 11,362.90 kms
 
Our earliest start yet today, we were on the road by 9.15am.  We went to look at the Snowy Hydro Information Centre on Sunday but it was closed, so we went back this morning, and we are glad that we did because it was brilliant.
We then chugged our way to Canberra where we stopped at the information centre to see what happens around here.  We found a Caravan Park (Canberra Motor Inn) and found that it was $45 per night (a disgrace), we were going to stay 3 nights till we heard that, now we are staying 1 night.  The site where we are is bitchuman and on a slope, with no grass, if we didn't want to see some stuff around here i would have told them to go to hell.
Anyway, enough bitching, after we set up we went to the Australian Mint, which was well worth a look at, then we had lunch in the park and had a look at the Australian War Memorial.  We were here for 3 hours and were rushing at that, the place is huge, and sensational to look at, it is well worth seeing if you are in the area.  Next was the Telstra Tower, which was bloody high, Bec wasn't to impressed about being up there and wouldn't come and look outside (chicken).  I took the kids up to the observation deck 2 stories further up, and Taylor said "Bye Bye" and went back to Mum.  Kai stayed with me but only because i was telling him he was a chicken.  You could tell that he didn't like it by the way that he was shaking (nothing like a bit of pressure).
That was the biggest day that i have had in a while so we came back, had dinner and rested for the rest of the night.


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Day 92 7-01-2008

Day Travelled - 288.88 kms
Total Distance - 11,182.95 kms
 
We were on the move today at about 10am to do the tourist thing.  We headed to Jindabyne where we stopped for coffee at the information centre.  We started to head for Perisher Valley when we came across a toll booth, yep, we had to pay $16 for the pleasure of using the road (i hate NSWPWS).  We went straight through Perisher and stopped at Charlotte's Pass, where we got out and had a look, and took some photo's of Mt Kosciuszco.  There is a walking track to the top, but at 14 kms long or 4-6 hours walk we didn't worry about it this time.
On our way back we went for a drive through Perisher Valley to have a look through the houses.  There is no one there, it is like a ghost town, away from the main car park it is a nice place, but as you drive in it looks like crap because the main car park looks like a patchwork quilt, because of people driving on there in their snow chains i guess.
After Perisher we headed towards Thredbo, we stopped once because we saw some snow on the mountains, and we needed all of the zoom on the camera to capture it.  Thredbo is a truly beautiful place, one that we are definitely going to come back to - in winter, and definitely not with the camper trailer.
We drove the 100 k's back to the caravan park where i re-oiled the air filter and cleaned it out as i have a bit of a flat spot at about 2300 rpm (where i spend most of the time).  It made a bit of a difference because the air filter was filthy, but has not fixed it totally.  The fuel filter is also due to be changed, but after looking at it i couldn't be bothered (not that big a problem) i will do it in the next few weeks.


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Day 91 6-12-2007

Day Travelled - 222.78 kms
Total Distance - 10,894.07 kms
 
We were on our way at 9.30am (becoming a habit) this morning and headed towards Cooma.  It was a brilliant drive on the Snowy Mtn Highway, although with the camper on it was slow.  When we left this morning we were at 230m above sea level and at it's highest we got to 1500m above, so we spent a lot of time going up today.
It was an absolutely beautiful drive all of the was over the mountain range, i would love to do it on a motor bike though.
When we got to Cooma we found a caravan park and set up the camper before going for a drive through town.  We went to the Hydro Electric station to have a look, but we didn't get there till 2.40pm , unfortunately it shut at 2.30.  We found a couple of old blokes who were broken down, so we pulled over to give them a hand as it was 35 degrees outside.  I gave them a jumpstart (Discovery's are as bad as Lancruisers), then using my chrissy present (an amp metre, thanks Mum and Dad) we worked out that there was no charge from the alternator, it ended up being a loose belt, so we tightened it up and everything was fine and they were off again.
We then came back to the van park and got an early dinner ready whilst listening to the end of the cricket (brilliant win Aussies), turned out that it was lucky we had an early dinner because at about 6pm a thunderstorm came through and cooled things right down.  I never thought that it would be this hot, this high up in the mountains, at 2pm it was 35 degrees and we are at 950m above sea level.


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Day 90 5-12-2008

Day Travelled - 189.33 kms
Total Distance - 10,671.29 kms
 
We left Cowra this morning at about 9.30 am and headed towards Young.  When we got there we parked at one end of town and walked up and down the main street having a look.  We did some shopping at the IGA on the way back to the car.  Young is supposed to be the cherry capital of Australia, so on our way out of town we stopped at a farm and got some.  We have had about 10kg's of cherry's in the last few weeks and these are by far the best ones.
We left Young and headed towards Cootamundra to look at the house that Don Bradman was born in.  It has been restored and set up with a bit of his cricketing memorabilia and was great to look at, Kai was in heaven.  It was lunch time so we went in search of a place to stop for a feed.  We ended up at a picnic table at a cricket oval, the kids scoffed their lunch so that they could go and watch the local cricket team in action.
We were going to stay here tonight, but changed our mind and headed on to Gundagai, the home of the dog on the tucker box.  After we did the tourist thing we went and found a caravan park and set up.  It just so happened that next to the caravan park was the local pool, and it had a 1.5m and 3m springboard, we had no chance of keeping the kids away.  So we bargained with them, a couple of hours at the pool followed by a couple of hours of schoolwork afterwards.
We had beef satay for dinner and sat back for a few hours whilst the kids played in the park.
 


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Day 89 4-01-2008

Day Travelled - 4.37 kms
Total Distance - 10,671.29 kms
 
Bec and the kids were back to their normal sleeping patterns this morning and wakeing up between 8.30 and 9am.  We had breakfast and went out to look at the war, train and steam museum.  I like the war section th ebest as they had a heap of old artillary shells, a missile / torpedo, tanks and even an old Willy's Jeep.  This place is poorly set up and a real mess, but there is a lot of interesting stuff to look at, though at $32 to get in, it is dearer than the Australian Museum in the middle of Sydney.
We left the museum at about 11.30 and headed off to the Japanese Gardens on the north side of town.  This place is really spectacular, brilliantly done.  There is about a kilometre of walking tracks around the gardens, with beautiful scenery wherever you look.  Well worth a visit at $24 per family with a nice resturant attached.
Cowra is a nice place to spend a few days, with plenty of stuff to do around the place.  We settled back for the arvo and did some washing at the laundry, as we are expecting it to rain again shortly we didn't want to get caught out.  At least there is something good about staying in these nig parks, they always have a TV room, and today the cricket is on.


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Day 88 3-12-2008

Day Travelled - 136.10 kms
Total Distance - 10,666.92 kms
 
I was up early thismorning 7am (for a change).  We slowly packed up and went to McDonalds with Mum and Dad for breakfast.  We had to say our good byes to Mum and Dad as they are heading out to Parkes, then back to Brisbane.  We'll miss them now that they are gone again.  Bec's mum must be comeing to visit soon (no pressure though, only if she misses us).
We left Orange at about 11am and drove the 100 k's to Cowra where we stopped at the family holiday park.  After setting up the camper we went and had a look at the Cowra breakout site, where 300+ Japanese and Italian prisoners of war were killed trying to escape.  Then we went and had a look at the Japanese War Memorial and Cemetery.
We then came back to the caravan park where the kids went for a swim and Bec made a salad for dinner.


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Day 87 2-12-2008

Day Travelled - 23.40 kms
Total Distance - 10,530.82 kms
 
After getting up at about 8am, we had a shower and Mum mad us French toast for breakfast.
I then dropped Bec and the kids into town so that they could have a walk around whilst i went to the local library to catch up on e-mails.  We came back to the caravan park and ate lunch before Bec, Mum and the kids went to the movies.  Since we are leaving Mum and Dad tomorrow to head south again Grandma is taking them out one last time.  Dad and i sat around the caravan park listening to the cricket and reading a book.
The afternoon didn't get any more exciting, we just listened to the cricket and the kids rode their bikes around the caravan park.


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Day 86 1-01-2008

Day Travelled - 70.39 kms
Total Distance - 10,507.42 kms
 
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE
 
We were up by 8am today (early for us), but no-one was moving to quickly.  Bec had a really bad headache so she went back to bed, whilst the kids scoffed their brekkie so that they could go off on their bikes again.  At about 10.30am we headed off to find the Byth cemetery where we found the grave of William Tom (the discoverer of payable gold in Australia).  We then headed off to Lake Conobolas where we had lunch.  While we were there Kai went for a swim out to the pontoon in the middle (about 60m) and Taylor got in and straight back out again because it was to cold.
After lunch we went to McDonalds for an ice cream, then came back to the caravan park and read a book for a while.  We had sausages and vegies for dinner, then went to bed though we couldn't sleep because some wome woman was yelling and carrying on down the road somewhere, though the cops soon sorted that problem out.


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Day 85 31-12-2007

Day Travelled - 37.66 kms
Total Distance - 10,437.03 kms
 
Yea Ha! I got a sleep in thismorning because i think Dad has had a gutfull of finding rubish as much as i have, so he didn't wake me up early.  We packed up then went and had a look in the mine where the 'Fathers Day nugget' was found.  We then went back to the campsite and hooked up the camper for the drive to Orange.
We set up camp at the caravan park near the showgrounds then went into town so that Bec could do some retail therapy.  We ended up buying the kids a BMX each to replace the scooters that broke yesterday, they were supposed to be off-road ones, but 3 days on the dirt and the upper and lower bearing packs collapsed.  Whilst i was putting Taylors bike together, i got a bit excited with the pocket knife and put a big slice in my index finger, i think we have avoided a trip to hospital as we got it stuck back together fairly quickly.
the kids spent the rest of the afternoon hooning around on their bikes which gave us a much needed break.  We were all in bed before midnight, but some noisy partying up the road guaranteed that we didn't miss the new year countdown.


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Day 84 30-12-2007

Day Travelled - 15.63 kms
Total Distance - 10,399.37 kms
 
Dad woke me up at about 6.30 this morning, but again we found nothing but hobnails (out of miners boots), bits of tin and lead out of bullets.  We came back for breakfast at about 9.30am and found Bec, Mum and the kids had just gotten out of bed again.
We sat around and rested for a while before going 4wding up the river around to Tinker Point where there used to be a lot of mining activity, and then up to the Ophir cemetery where there is only 4 recorded deaths.  When there was the gold rush in this area there would have been 40,000+ people here, but there are no real records of the place.  Every thing around, including the signs on the walking trails appear to be a guess as to what really happened in the area.
Before dinner we went out detecting again, but just got the same crap again, though i did get an old button, which was different to getting all of the usual rubbish.  We had jaffles for dinner and sat around the fire for a few hours before hitting the sack.


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Day 83 29-12-2007

Day Travelled - 6.31 kms
Total Distance - 10,383.54 kms
 
Not much exciting today, we went detecting twice, found nothing and Bec, Mum and the kids poked around the campsite and the kids did some more school work.
In the after noon we met the bloke that found the 'Fathers Day Nugget' (it weighted 190 oz) about 30 years ago.  He was telling us about it, though it appears that he doesn't like all of the fuss created by it.  I am sick of everyone saying that 'there is heaps of gold around here, just try..........' i am begining to think that gold doesn't really exist.


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Day 82 28-12-2007

Day Travelled - 0 kms
Total Distance - 10,377.23 kms
 
An early start this morning although to no avail as all we found was rubbish everywhere.  We went to the sight of the old 'Young Australia Mine' and there was metal everywhere, so we went detecting for a couple of hours up and down the hills.  When we got back at about 10am the girls had just gotten out of bed (lazy buggers).
We went to another area in the after noon, but i think it may have been to close to the camp spot as we didn't find very much, not even rubbish.  When we got back at about 7.30am (i love daylight savings) Bec and Mum had dinner ready for us, which was most welcome.


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