Saturday, 31 May 2014
Lake Nallan
We woke at 3:30am and decided to get going to miss the peak hour traffic in Perth. Yes Perth traffic does increase at the peak hour times on a Saturday. Not as much as during the week of course, but none-the-less it does increase. The plan is to get as far as we can so that the following day into Newman would be less time in the car. The plan was to make Lake Nallan which is about 20k's north of Cue, or further if we can. By the time we reached Lake Nallan we were ready to stop for the night. We had travelled about 830 kilometres. More Coming...
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
From a tent to a caravan...
This is an account of the activities that I have undertaken with my best friend and wife, Pauline.
We started out by travelling to New Zealand in 2003.
There, we hired a motor home and travelled around the south island for 3 weeks.
We then did small weekend trips in a dome tent with the kids.
We lived out of a small Coleman Esky and made do with absolute bare essentials in terms of cooking and eating equipment.
We found ourselves enjoying these camping experiences, so we invested in a second hand camper trailer.
The more we went camping we found that this style of camper trailer was becoming restrictive - rain and wind were dictating our movements. Because it was a conventional canvas style camper, these conditions made setting up and packing up difficult when we were on the road. Not so much and issue when you're set up for multiple days because the canvas has plenty of opportunity to dry after the weather subsides.
We then decided to by a Tvan camper trailer. This style of camper allowed us to pull up in any weather, or time of the night, and slip into bed without having to erect the tent section.
We started out by travelling to New Zealand in 2003.
There, we hired a motor home and travelled around the south island for 3 weeks.
We then did small weekend trips in a dome tent with the kids.
We lived out of a small Coleman Esky and made do with absolute bare essentials in terms of cooking and eating equipment.
We found ourselves enjoying these camping experiences, so we invested in a second hand camper trailer.
The more we went camping we found that this style of camper trailer was becoming restrictive - rain and wind were dictating our movements. Because it was a conventional canvas style camper, these conditions made setting up and packing up difficult when we were on the road. Not so much and issue when you're set up for multiple days because the canvas has plenty of opportunity to dry after the weather subsides.
We then decided to by a Tvan camper trailer. This style of camper allowed us to pull up in any weather, or time of the night, and slip into bed without having to erect the tent section.
The Tvan was great, but it still had it's problems when travelling on the road. The problem of wind, flies, rain and bugs were still there when it came to using the kitchen which is outdoors.
We had a full annexe for long stays, but it was too much to erect it for short stays and travelling on the road. Therefore, all of our kitchen use was outdoors.
We had some great trips in both camper trailers and because we tend to be on the move for most of our trips, we realised that a caravan was the only way forward for us.
We needed a van that was small enough to fit inside our shed and not too big to tow.
After a great deal of research we found a van that would suit our travelling needs as well as our budget. It's a 14' Goldstream Explorer ST off-road model.
So far this little van satisfies all of our needs..
You will see some of our adventures in the other posts on this blog.
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
The Road Home
We stayed at Coober Pedy that evening. Because we got in late we decided to get a pizza for dinner.
The next morning we were up early and on the road again.
By the time we reached Glendambo the Triton was running like clockwork again.
We decide that we would take a short-cut through to the Eyre Highway.
We took a right at Glendambo and drove out to Kingoonya. The famous Kingoonya Pub appeared to be closed down.
We then proceeded to take the route from Kingoonya south through Lake Everard and into the back end of the Gawler Ranges.
The track started out good and after the first 100 k's I was wondering whether I'd made the right decision.
After 8 hours without seeing a soul on this track, we came out around Poochera.
From there we drove through to Streaky Bay. We stayed at Streaky for 2 nights and made our way back across the Nullabor and eventually home.
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| Main Street of Kingoonya |
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| The Road South to Eyre Highway |
Monday, 23 April 2012
Ayres Rock
We drove from Kings Creek Station to Ayres Rock. It will always be Ayres Rock instead of Uluru for me I'm sorry.
Ayres Rock was one of the most exhilarating sights I've ever seen.
We looked around the town of Uluru that afternoon and collected our permits to travel through aboriginal country on the way home - Great Central Road.
That afternoon I noticed the car was running rough so I called the local mechanic out. We took the car out to his workshop and he fitted a new fuel filter in the hope that it would run better.
He advised us to drive around for a while and see how it performed after the filter change out.
We went out to Ayres Rock and attempted to climb it.
Pauline found it a bit too daunting so we only made it up about 80 metres or so...
We drove the car out to the Olgas the next day and walked the circuit through them.
The car was still running rough at the end of this so the mechanic advised us not to go out onto the Great Central Road.
Ayres Rock was one of the most exhilarating sights I've ever seen.
We looked around the town of Uluru that afternoon and collected our permits to travel through aboriginal country on the way home - Great Central Road.
That afternoon I noticed the car was running rough so I called the local mechanic out. We took the car out to his workshop and he fitted a new fuel filter in the hope that it would run better.
He advised us to drive around for a while and see how it performed after the filter change out.
We went out to Ayres Rock and attempted to climb it.
Pauline found it a bit too daunting so we only made it up about 80 metres or so...
We drove the car out to the Olgas the next day and walked the circuit through them.
The car was still running rough at the end of this so the mechanic advised us not to go out onto the Great Central Road.
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| Ayres Rock |
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| Olgas |
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| Ships Of The Desert |
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| Dingo |
Sunday, 22 April 2012
Kings Creek Station
We left King Canyon and decided to stay at Kings Creek Station for a night.
The wood that I had been carrying around since Ross River camp came in handy here.
We decided that we would have one the stations famous burgers for dinner that night.
The wood that I had been carrying around since Ross River camp came in handy here.
We decided that we would have one the stations famous burgers for dinner that night.
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| Kings Creek Station |
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| Our camp site |
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| Amenities |
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| Ripper Fire! |
Friday, 20 April 2012
Kings Canyon
Today we're heading to Kings Canyon and it's raining. The rain hasn't been heavy or continuous, but the sky has been dark all day. Not far out of Kings Canyon, we noticed a station stay called Kings Creek Station. We decided that we would spend a night there on the way back out.
We set up at the caravan park and went over to the pub for dinner.
The pub had a husband and wife band (if you like) that sang a lot of fun songs. They got the audience involved so it was quite a good laugh.
The next day we got up and went off to do the canyon walk.
It was quite exhilarating looking down from the top into the canyon.
We set up at the caravan park and went over to the pub for dinner.
The pub had a husband and wife band (if you like) that sang a lot of fun songs. They got the audience involved so it was quite a good laugh.
The next day we got up and went off to do the canyon walk.
It was quite exhilarating looking down from the top into the canyon.
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| Stormy Red Centre sky |
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| Kings Canyon |
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| The strap doesn't do much for the guts!!! |
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| Looking down into the canyon |
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| Caravan Park |
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Palm Valley
After a night out at Ormiston Gorge we headed out to Palm Valley which you access from Hermannsburg.
Palm Valley is a great camp site out on the Finke River.
It's said that the Finke River system is one of the oldest in the world.
The track meanders along the river bed for much of the way.
The track definitely requires a four wheel drive to get out there. It's only about 20 kl's or so out to the camp site but because it's slow going it took us about an hour and a half to get there.
The section from the camp area to the valley proper, was even slower going and requires a reasonable level of four wheel driving skill.
That night we cooked on the campground BBQ. Pauline was startled by a dingo rummaging through our bin when she went back to the Tvan for some things to cook with.
Palm Valley is a great camp site out on the Finke River.
It's said that the Finke River system is one of the oldest in the world.
The track meanders along the river bed for much of the way.
The track definitely requires a four wheel drive to get out there. It's only about 20 kl's or so out to the camp site but because it's slow going it took us about an hour and a half to get there.
The section from the camp area to the valley proper, was even slower going and requires a reasonable level of four wheel driving skill.
That night we cooked on the campground BBQ. Pauline was startled by a dingo rummaging through our bin when she went back to the Tvan for some things to cook with.
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| Finke River Bed |
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| Palms in Palm Valley |
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| Palm Valley |
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| Palm Valley |
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| Camping at Palm Valley |
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| Night Falling On Palm Valley Campground |
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| Palm Valley Campground |
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