Thursday 8/72010 Near Cocklebiddy to Norseman

(Near Cocklebiddy to Norseman)
A very mild night. No condensation or ice. I got so hot I had to take my beanie and socks off. Up at 0715hrs. Bacon and eggs for breakfast. Left by 0715hrs (turned our clocks back 1.5hrs).
Everyone is now so much more relaxed and layed back (holiday mode). No stress, happy and chatty and working like a well oiled machine with the pack up.
We're skipping Cocklebiddy Cave as we've already been to a couple of caves. It is the biggest, with an underground waterfilled tunnel that people have dived to 6.4km, but that is all closed to the public anyway.
Next on the list was 4WD down steep gravel, then a soft, white sand track south of the Eyre Highway to Eyre Bird Observatory.

They used to breed, study and preserve 240 species of birds here, and we were expecting to see a bird show or a wedgetailed eagle up close, but it was more of a museum of the old telegraph station (lovingly restored), a weather station, plus they log any birds they see that day.

There was a lovely couple (George and Anne) manning the station from Smiths Lakes. A three month rotation for volunteers.
We had a cuppa, home made biscuits and a chat. A tour of the museum and history lesson and a walk around the grounds. We were it! Very personal. We then compared Landys with George admiring Col's setup.

George tells us they recorded record lows of -5.4C the previous 2 nights. No wonder we froze!
We learnt all about Eyre's travels and the life saving oasis that this place proved to be. Aborigines suggested digging to 2m coastal side of the dunes, and sure enough he found water.
This is the reason the telegraph station was built here.
(One big HSIE excursion)
The drive felt long today. Maybe because there was less sightseeing and the longest straight stretch of road in Australia (150km) just after lunch at Caiguna.

We decided to stay at Norseman pub tonight to all have a break from unpacking and packing and to do the clothes washing a bit earlier. Great call, as it then started raining.
Jordan vomited 60km east of Norseman. Thank goodness for wet wipes!! (? car sick from computer work while driving)

It was lovely visiting Norseman pub again, but very wierd to have the same room.
The kids agree that it is a painting of Larissa on the wall.
Heard on the news they are predicting fierce storms with flooding and hail. Great night not to camp! :)
Did clothes washing, had lovely hot showers and woodfird pizzas.

Wednesday 7/7/2010 Koonalda to near Cocklebiddy

(Koonalda to near Cocklebiddy)
Wow. Sunrise over the Nullarbor, with one lonely tree.

We were camped right next to a massive hole. The climb in was far too difficult and dangerous for the kids, I even froze momentarily in one section.

So the kids waited on the surface while Col and I went caving. Inside info is a valuable thing.

After finding the spot you can squeeze through under the caged off entry, we roughly new the direction and length of time needed (about 30 minutes) to get to the underground lakes. Wow!!! Absolutely massive caverns.

We came across old pumping equipment, then crystal clear lakes. We explored only one section of three. More time, better lighting and a rope and harness would be fantastic.
Once we found the lake I only wished Jordan and Jack were there, and my photography teacher.
Andrew and Nell were kind enough to wait around to make sure we returned safely. I got his card. I think I will have to buy his time lapse shot. It is fantastic, plus he has been so good to us. A lovely couple. I'm glad we ran into them.

We left here at 1100hrs and drove through old Koonalda homestead. It was active from 1938 to 1988 as a fuel stop on the old Ayre Highway. Now a ghost town and car grave yard. The homestead ran off the water pumped from Koonalda Caves.

Had lunch viewing the spectacular Bunda Cliffs (90m high). The weather was perfect.

The $2 shower at BorderVillage turned out to be $3 each., but worth it. Jordan and Jack bought a stuffed kangaroo each.

A man is now searching the car for fruit, vegetables or honey. We are too prepared!
Jordan and Jack had fun playing at Eucla Telegraph Station, pretending it was a fort. It is gradually being covered by the sand dunes which became unstable after rabits ate the vegetation.

We then pulled into reststop 13 near Cocklebiddy to camp instead of inland as we ended up doing that last night.
It was a lovely big parklike stop. A few other campers, but well dispersed through the trees. We again joined some other campers at their fire and had a lovely chat with an older couple from Perth.

Tuesday 6/7/2010 Salt Lake to Koonalda Cave

(Salt Lake to Koonalda Cave)
Up at 0700hrs and packed by 0840hrs. There was even time for the kids to play more, jumping off sand dunes. The coals were still hot from the previous night and we managed to have a breakfast fire.

It wasn't as cold last night but there was still ice on everything. Wow.. waking to a sunrise over the salt pan... life is too hard!!!
Another interesting day. Our first stop was at Ceduna, a small coastal town south of Woomera where soldiers went on their days off from testing nuclear bombs.
I guess we camped in radioactive fallout from the 1940s...
I've been getting the kids to read information sheets I brought on each place, prior to arriving there (historical, geographical and touristy). A very educational trip.
After a walk on the pier at Ceduna, and a chat to a friendly local fisher boy, we had some morning tea and bought some fresh bread at the bakery. There is a large Aboriginal population here.

It was quite late when we arrived at Head of Bight (1445hrs). There was noone there to pay, the office was closed. Such a perfect day. No wind, sun shining and so warm our jackets were off. There were about 8 southern right whales. So massive! They didn't do much performing but it was great to just watch them so closely, many with calves. The water so aqua. They looked like submarines surfacing.

The next stop was Nullarbor Roadhouse for some fuel and a sausage roll (too busy to make lunch), then on to Mitwijinie Caves. The hema navigator came in handy here as it helped us find the almost invisible track across a field to a better dirt road beyond. This was truly in the middle of the Nullarbor. No trees, flat, nothing for a full 360 degree turn. But sudden huge holes in the limestone ground.

The nullarbor (an ancient sea bed) is riddled with caves, tunnels and underground lakes. We were able to explore the three caverns here, but there were no lakes to be found.
It would be a good place to camp but we need to push on. Heading to camp above the Bunda cliffs, we arrived at the rest stop to find that it was little more than a gravel car park. Not very inviting so we continued on. It was already dark, so we thought we'd might as well keep going to our next sightseeing destination and get a headstart tomorow. We passed through the abandoned Koonalda homestead and petrol station (Jordan thought there were ghosts) and continued on to the Koonalda Caves. It seemed more like the Serengeti here than the Nullarbor, with strange looking trees.
Great move. We were now camping in the middle of nowhere. Fantastic starry sky, and we ran into a local here, Andrew Brooks and his French girlfriend Nell. They shared their fire with us and were lovely company. Andrew gave me a photography lesson and then I found out he was a professional photographer. (Can't do great star shot yet, I need a shutter release cable).
He also gave us caving info.
Andrew took a great photo of our camp under the stars.
Nell is a youth worker, here to work with Aboriginal children.

Monday 5/7/2010 Mount Ive Station to Salt Lake

(Mount Ive Station to Salt Lake)
Jordan and Jack are now thoroughly into adventure, photography, bookmaking and reading.
We got up at 0710hrs. It still took 2hrs to have breakfast, pack up and leave, but it was hard to drag the kids away from the puppies.

A day full of great sightseeing, starting with a hike up a creek bed at The Pillars to see some organ pipes which are the geological remains of volcanic activity from millions of years ago.

It was great to get some exercise in!
More hiking up creek beds to see rock formations. This one is Kath's Castle.

Saw a couple of kangaroos near the creek.

We had a quick stop at The Embankment, a dam built in 1892, then had lunch next to Lake Gairdner. This was absolutely picture perfect!

We were saved from having to take the gate key back to Mt Ive station as we passed our camping neighbours and they offered to.
It was a relatively short drive to our next camp site at Salt Lake (Loche Claypan) near Wirrulla. We left at 1400hrs and arrived around 1530hrs on well graded dirt roads. We went offroad to find an isolated spot right next to the salt pan. So peaceful.

Arriving earlier was great. Time to explore and play. Col has a heap of wood for a fire, and you should see the view from his dunny!
Today was fantastic. Organ pipes, salt lakes, kangaroos and a wedgetailed eagle, topped off by a poker night by a bonfire.

Sunday 4/7/2010 Olary Creek to Mount Ive Station

(Olary Creek to Mount Ive Station)
Our first night at Boppy Hill was 2 degrees C and we were all warm in our beds. Last night I was cold most of the night, with thermals on. There was a huge amount of condensation in our tents. The camp chairs looked white from frost and even the olive oil was frozen like a slushy. I'm not sure what the temperature was... minus something!

It seemed to take us ages to pack up today. Sunrise wasn't until 0715hrs, and we didn't leave until 0900hrs (SA time).
The internet was available via Telstra at Olary Creek.
We head through the Flinders Rangers today, finishing with our first off road driving to get to a station at Mount Ive in the Gawler Ranges.
Due to brilliant planning, we had no vegetables or fruit to throw out at the border quarentine at Oodla Wirra.
Our first stop was at Peterborough, a quaint, neat historical rail town, where we had an early lunch. Yum! Hot pies, coffee and hot chocolate by a fire in a cafe.

So we set off through the Flinders Ranges all thawed out.

We had the same photo taken here in 2002 when the kids were 8yrs younger. Still cute! After heading straight through Port Augusta, we turned right off the Ayer Highway at Iron Knob (huge BHP steel mining town).

Our first taste of dirt.
Easy 70km/hr driving through the well graded roads north of Gawler Ranges, to Mount Ive Station.

Driving through sheep stations. Didn't pass many cars. Mount Ive Station is lovely. We didn't have a booking. Turned up at 1630hrs and paid. Set up camp and had our first shower. Lucky they had hair dryers so Jordan and I didn't freeze with a wet head.
The kids are having a lot of fun now. They are especially enjoying the property and the 7 little pups.

Saturday 3/7/2010 Boppy Hill to Olary Creek

(Boppy Hill to Olary Creek)
We got up at 0630hrs. Only just light enough to see. The gas was a bit frozen. Breakfast, packup and leave at 0830hrs. Drove through Cobar.

Lots of iron ore mining equipment. We've seen goats, sheep, magpies, emus and a kangaroo. Jordan loves the baby goats when they run. Jack has finally started his momento diary. The kids have been practicing their navigating skills, reading map details and distances out to Col.
Wilcania will be an eye opener for them. The sky is now blue. We're past the rain.
We had a quick stop for morning tea, finishing off any fruit before the fruit fly bins. We didn't quite make it to Broken Hill with the fuel, and had to get enough to get us there at Wilcania (too expensive to fill up).

The Darling River at Wilcania was a pretty back drop for lunch.

The kids were interested to see aboriginal people, and a small boy waved to them.
We topped up the fuel at Broken Hill using our credit card point Caltex cards and quickly updated our blogs while we momentarily had internet. I hope mum and dad are having fun in Alice Springs.....
Olary Creek was a fun place to camp. Jordan and Jack had fun exploring the creek bed and we had our first camp fire.

We were set up, had taken photos and were preparing tea only 30 minutes after arriving.

Our brand new stainless steel gas stove is already playing up. Blocked jet?!!!! Lucky we had wood and no rain....

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.