Day 1, Monday 27/6/2016, Lake Macquarie to Cobar

Alarms set for 0400hrs, but I was awake at 0300hrs waiting. Breakfast, last bags in the car, coffees in the thermos and house locked up. We left at 0445hrs, drove in the dark and rain and arrived at Dunedoo at 0630hrs to a very dull sunrise.

Drove past the split rock and caught the Morgans at a cafe in Trangie at 1100hrs. There are very swampy paddocks and very full flowing rivers around Nyngan and Cobar. We'll have to just keep driving if it's a swamp at our designated spot.

The kids have given us codenames. Col is Shrek of course, I'm Donkey!?, Siân Dragon, Jack Puss, and Jordan Ginger Bread Man. Interesting! They topped up their fuel at Nyngan. 90L. They're getting 17L/100km.

Gary had been waiting on the corner for us back at Trangie. Eliza and Amara were going paparazzi crazy with their cameras. They got a charming photo of me stuffing my face with a sausage roll. Lucky Leah and Gary changed their original plan of going through Warren as it was flooded and the main road closed.

We've seen the usual suspects: cows, sheep, pigs, goats, rabbit, fox, alpacas, kangaroos, emus, crows, galahs, cockatoos, kites and eagles.

We had a lovely lunch stop together in a park at Cobar. Delicious sandwiches then a bit of soccer juggle to get the blood flowing.

Poor Peter is stressed about getting red dirt in the car already. Hehehehe, he's got Buckley's.
Heading west we cleared the black clouds and rain just past Cobar to arrive at Meadowglen in sunshine and blue skies at 1515hrs (10.5hrs).

There's more green than I've ever seen out here, but still patches of deep red dirt that contrast nicely with it. It was a pretty quick and uneventful setup while Eliza and Amara collected kindling. Then we explored the dry creek beds, climbed trees and played soccer before happy hour at a raging fire. Just had to warm up the pre-cooked dinner.

As our chairs kept creeping closer to the fire, we decided to call it a night and went to bed to read and sleep. It only got down to 1 degree C. Toasty warm in bed.

Preparation, Sunday 26/6/2016

Bag packed yesterday, shopping done, and all clothes washed, dried and folded. Today I've loaded all the food into the car. Col and Jack put the storage box and rooftop tent on. The car is fully packed and ready to go in just 2 days, not bad!

The kids had a lesson on their car yesterday and have been spoilt by Stuart who has it fully ready to go. They're all packed.

Rose and Jack dropped in to farewell us and Rose has cooked a banana and chocolate cake for us to take. Yum!

We've taken little Luna to the Pockran's house where she'll holiday with her sister for a month.
Baynhams, Pockrans and Freemans dropped in to farewell us and had pizza for tea.
The Morgans left at a respectable time today to get a head-start on us and break up some of the large first days of driving. They are staying at Dubbo tonight.

Outback 2016! Preparation, Saturday 25/6/2016

This trip has just Col and I in our Defender. The kids are in their own vehicle. Lisa and Stuart were kind enough to lend them their Pajero. I originally designed this trip for Lisa, but Pockrans are unable to come due to other commitments.

Colin Parkes 50
Cheryl Parkes 45

Jordan Parkes 20
Jack Parkes 18
Siân Baynham 18

Peter Davies 69
Gary Morgan 45
Leah Morgan 45
Eliza Morgan 12
Amara Morgan 8

There isn't as much preparation to do this time as we already have most things we need. Of course the map/itinerary/menu/shopping lists/packing lists have been done for some time now. The Defender has been in at the mechanics for a thorough check over and service. The meat has been ordered and is currently being frozen. Most of it is cryovaced, but I have to do the chicken schnitzel today. Two spag bols are pre-cooked, cryovaced and frozen.

Today I have to do the grocery shopping, start loading the car, help Col put the rooftop tent on and pack my own bag.

I just tried to clean my camera sensor. Probably a stupid move. I hope I haven't ruined it!
We've all finished work now for a month! Yay!!

Two days before we are due to leave and a "super low" has come up from Antarctica. There is snow at Orange and flooding at Warren and Cobar, not to mention the freezing temperatures. I hope the swags won't be in mud the first night.

Two more sleeps!!

I'd better get moving with the shopping and packing!
Mum and dad came out for tea last night to farewell us which was lovely.

Day 24, Saturday 14/07/2012, Tamworth to Lake Macquarie and the week after. (The End, for 2012)

This morning Lisa and I headed into town at Tamworth to get the rest of the birthday presents for Madison, Chelsea and Katie. I am so tired! I feel like I have hit a brick wall, or someone has slipped me a couple of sleeping tablets. I’m not sure if it is physical exhaustion or the post holiday blues already hitting.

We returned to find Col upset that it had taken so long at the shops. I had completely forgotten the headlights weren’t working (it wasn’t a simple fuse), sorry Col.

After a very quick gift giving for Madison 10yrs and Chelsea 1yr we did a racing departure, arriving home right on dusk.

 

 



Total kms:                         6,500km

Total fuel:                          916L

Total fuel cost:                 $1,478

Average Fuel Economy   14L / 100km

The following week:

Peter lost his hiking boots. He last remembered them in Bourke. He phoned Kidman Camp and sure enough, there they were. She plans to post them to him.

Col pulled the headlight switch apart. A metal contact was worn away. He had to replace the switch.

Peter dropped the T Van back to Newcastle. The lady wasn’t too worried about some damage on the van. She said “you expect worse than this in the Outback!”

We had a lovely baked dinner here with Peter, Pockrans and mum and dad as a welcome home.

Peter went and spoke to the boss at the workshop in Tamworth that set up and wired his car for the trip. The boss was shocked by Peter’s story and somebody’s skills will certainly be reviewed. He was horrified by the potential danger the Freeman family were placed in by the less than satisfactory job done on his vehicle. Peter was reimbursed $400 to cover the Ceduna bill and they plan to do a thorough check of the entire car.

The T Van people got in contact with Peter to let him know that he still had their coupling attached to his car. He will post it back.

Thursday 5/8/2010 Tamworth to Lake Macquarie...The End.

(Tamworth to Lake Macquarie)
Busy morning, everyone off to work and school.

Bye Peter, Anthea, Madison and Haley. So wonderful to see you all. Miss you guys!

We left at 0900hrs for the last leg of our trip. Driving east through our beautiful mountain ranges.

Jack's excited that he didn't miss his Wednesday night soccer game as he found out it was washed out.

Poor Phoebs will lose a house. Thanks for house sitting Phoebe.

Lisa and Stuart will be pleased to lose a dog. Thanks for minding Jet for us.

I spoke with mum and apparently she has even more photos than me! ie 1600 to 1200!!

So sad. 5 weeks absolutely flew by.

Stopped at Singleton Maccas, saw acouple of kangaroos at Branxton and were home by1330hrs.

Home sweet home...

Started the unloading and washing, all had a shower and checked the mail.
Jordan and Jack were desperate as their school reports weren't there.
Apparently Bob next door had collected the mail until Phoebe arrived.
We were visited by Larissa only 2 hours after getting home, giving us the social update.
Then we were off to Lisa and Stuart's to pick up Jet, buying them some wine and beer on the way as a thank you.
Jamie and Michael were pretty happy to have their big cousins back.

Jet was also pretty excited to see us!

I have such a huge job ahead of me, sorting the photos, making a book and hopefully a travel documenary once Jordan gives me a lesson on video editing.

I hope you enjoyed our trip, and hope to see you on our next big adventure!

Total kms:                     10,891km

Total fuel:                      1,410L

Total fuel cost:              $2,220

Average Fuel Economy 13.5L / 100km or 7.4km / L

For itinerary, planning and stats, see the "pages" contents in the sidebar index. I have also added many photos to earlier entries.

If you are interested in any of the photos, they are for sale (in their original size) as framed photos, posters, canvases, cards or calanders at www.redbubble.com/people/parkes for very reasonable prices, delivered to your door. Cheers, Cheryl

On our way.....Friday 2/7/2010 Lake Macquarie to Boppy Hill

(Lake Macquarie to Boppy Hill)
We changed our itinerary by leaving a day earlier and only driving half the distance.

We left 30 minutes later than planned, at 0830hrs. Not bad! Everything fit, including cryovaced meat for the whole trip. The food wasn't packed in reverse order as I'd hoped, but access to it all is pretty easy. A great job by Col to have the car modified. Fully set up with everything we need, including cupboards, shelves and storage boxes.
We've set off on a massive family adventure. Family time, and no work for 5 weeks. Yay!!

Our first treat is driving along our own Lake Macquarie. A silver mirror reflecting the mountains, with Jordan and Jack singing a duet in the background.
Well, nearly a very short trip. We almost had a car accident just past Denman. A car overtaking us, another turned into that lane coming towards the two of us. Some swerving and breaking by all, and nothing worse than palpitations!!
We'd had a toilet and snack stop at Denman,

..then a rainy lunch stop at Dunedoo.

Thank goodness for our Foxwing awning. I spent most of the morning plotting Waypoints on our Hema Navigator (from off my itinerary). All finished.
I'm now enjoying the wet countryside and music from the iPOD through the car stereo. Almost at Trangi.
We arrived at Boppy Hill (50km east of Cobar) at 1800hrs. It was a quick set up and a precooked tea eaten by 1930hrs.

Time to relax with a glass of wine.