To view the photos of this leg of our trip, click here.
Day One, Thursday 24th June 2004: With everything all packed and the caravan hitched up, two years of planning has finally gone into reality. With me finishing work this morning at 7.00am to commence my Long Service Leave, it has given me the opportunity to do the final packing before Sally arrives home from her work at 6.50pm. Who would have thought that we would be leaving at 7.00pm to go on a fourteen week holiday. After a good run with a bit of wind to contend with, it was 10.00pm when we pulled into the Parking Bay at Mambray Creek to setting into bed for the night.
Day Two, Friday 25th June 2004: With an early morning SMS message at 6.15am from my brother somewhere on the Nullarbor, it was out of bed and on our way to Port Augusta where we arrived at my father's home at 8.15am. Sue and Malcolm arriving at Port Augusta soon after us, it was a social affair until early afternoon when we left to head towards Glendambo. It was when we turned onto the Alice Springs road at Port Augusta when it really hit that the Big One had started. We had to contend with very strong winds for most of the way with the worst being between Woomera and Glendambo. We were moving along at 80kph when I used the windscreen washers and the wind was that strong that the right side jet blew water out to the drivers side of the vehicle without even wetting the windscreen. It was because of the strong winds that we decided to call it a day and stop at Glendambo for the night arriving at 5.00pm.
Day Three, Saturday 26th June 2004: After filling up with gas, we were on the road by 8.21am heading for Coober Pedy with much better driving conditions than the previous day although we did have a few light rain showers along the way. It wasn't a surprise to see lots of green out in the paddocks after the recent rains that the area had received over the last few weeks. After a short coffee break at the Ingamor Parking Bay, we arrived at Coober Pedy at 11.38am where we booked into the Oasis Tourist Park.
After lunch we checked out the Big Winch which is mounted on possibly the highest point within Coober Pedy. From here we headed out the Oodnadatta Track to have a look at the Dog Fence and the Breakaways. With the reds, oranges and other colours of the Breakaways, no one should go through this area without check out this very scenic landscape. It was well worth the time and the short drive to see. As soon as we can get onto a landline, we will be posting some photos of this area for all to see. By the time we arrived back at the Caravan Park, most of the sites had been filled.
Day Four, Sunday 27th June 2004: Today was a day set aside for exploring the township of Coober Pedy. It was disappointing last night to find out that we were unable to update our Web Site until we will be able to download the drive required for our laptop. Thanks to my sister Sue back at Booleroo Centre, it is now on CD for us and shortly on it's way to Alice Springs where we will collect it on our arrival.
The weather was very kind to us with warm sunshine and very little breeze. After lunch we walked to the main street checking out all of the opal shops as we passed them. There are some very impressive underground opal shops and Motels to be found here. The Desert Caves complex was truly a great venue to visit. It is amazing to see what they have created both above and underground . The Catholic Church is worth a visit as well.
We were not aware until this trip that it is Coober Pedy's busiest time of the year now and it was a surprise to see the caravan park fill to near capacity each day. A relaxing late afternoon was spent in the sunshine back at the park.
Day Five, Monday 28th June 2004: We were out of bed early so having taken advantage of it, we were on the road shortly after 7.30am heading towards the Northern Territory. The kilometres were rolling by and we had reached our overnight destination by 11.30 am and decided to eat lunch there and then continue on. The country side showed signs of the recent rains that had fallen in the area a few weeks earlier with green grass scattered through out the paddocks. The parking bay at the border has had a face lift since we were this way nine years ago, but still no toilets for tourist to use.
After arriving at Erldunda at 2.21pm, we fuelled up and continued on to Yulara.
Due to be unsure if we would make Yulara on gas, we refuelled at Curitn Springs which had the dearest gas so far. For those who are following out tour expenditure sheet, we didn't fill the gas tank here and you will notice the kilometres per litre were thrown out of whack for Yulara. It was 5.15pm when we arrived at the Yulara campground after travelling a total of 743 kilometres for the day.
Day Six, Tuesday 29th June 2004: We must be starting to get into the holiday mode now with our best nights sleep for the trip so far. The day was nothing short of being perfect, so we headed off for a quick drive around the rock before making our way out to the Olgas. As we approached the Olgas, the view of the Olgas changed from spectacular to not so spectacular and then when you finally arrived at the parking area around on the Western face, it was a sight to behold. We had our picnic lunch at the rest area and then drove to the Valley Of The Winds car park. To be able to walk in through the Olgas, made the whole trip worth while. The colours of the red Olgas and the green trees and bushes were a sight to be seen. We completed the full walk in just under three hours.
Arriving back at the sunset viewing area car park for Ayers Rock at 4.00pm, we parked our vehicle and enjoyed a coffee while the crowd started to roll in for the sun set. By about 5.00pm. the car park was overflowing with vehicle being double parked to take advantage of what they expected to see. The rock did change colour as the sun set, but it was suggested that the best time to view it would be during the summer months.
Day Seven, Wednesday 30th June 2004: During the morning we headed into the shopping area of Yulara Resort. The area has been very well set out with very little impact on the surrounding country side. Some of the green lawns almost seemed out of place in such a remote area. Anyone who visits this part of the world should have a look at the Sails In The Desert complex with it's restaurants and in ground swimming pool. Back to the caravan for lunch and then it was out to the rock. It was amazing at the number of unsupervised children wondering around on their own as they climbed the rock. As climbing the rock wasn't for us, it was a matter of taking some photos and then heading back to the campground.
Day Eight, Thursday 1st July 2004: It was 9.09 when we pulled away from the resort heading for Kings Creek Station. We had heard earlier that Kings Canyon Resort was booked out so we settled for the station instead. just short of Kings Creek Station, Keith and Deb who we had met at Yulara had a blow out on their caravan. After a short stop to see if they needed help it was on our way again to arrive at the Station at 12.50pm.
After setting up, we headed off to check out the following days walks at Kings Canyon and then onto Kings Canyon Resort for a look around. The caravans would have been eight to ten in a line to book into the Caravan Park during the middle of the afternoon. Back to the Station for a relaxing afternoon and a good evening around the campfire with Keith, Deb and their three kids and another couple from Victoria and their sixteen year old son.
Day Nine, Friday 2nd July 2004: First thing in the morning we went and collected some firewood for the night's campfire and then off to Kings Canyon Resort to top us with auto gas and then off to Kings Canyon to tackle the rim walk. We did the walk in a clockwise direction and once up the first climb, the rest wasn't all that hard to master. The best part of this walk would have to be The Garden of Eden. Once back this walk was completed, we enjoyed a picnic lunch before setting off on the Kings Creek Walk . All up, both walks and lunch took us a total of four hours to complete.
From here we headed to the Kathleen Spring walk. This walk took us up to a permanent water hole which was also worth the effort to have a look at. It was then back to the caravan for a well earnt drink before settling in to the campfire for a few hours before going to bed.
Day Ten, Saturday 3rd July 2004: After a good nights sleep, we were on our way to Alice springs by 8.28am under ideal conditions. The wind was very light and we had clear skies. Nearly three hours after leaving, we arrived at the Finke River parking bay for lunch. By 2.30pm, we had arrived at the MacDonnell Range Caravan park where we had already booked our site and just as well as they were fully booked out.
Once set up on our site, it was off to collect a few groceries and meat before heading back to the caravan park to update this Web Site and hopefully finally set up our mobile phone to connect to the Internet thanks to Sue having sent the required Driver to the caravan park which was waiting for us when we arrived.
For Diary notes of the entire trip, click here . To view all of our photos from our trip,click here.
