Yeerup River just outside


 Marlo on the Gippsland Coast

Yesterday the sun came out and we set off to explore Cape Conron which is approximately 18klms down the coast. We spent a couple of hours rock hopping between rock pools and had a picnic lunch overlooking a wonderful little bay.

On the way home we spotted a sign for a canoe launching spot and decided to investigate and discovered this wonderful river which is totally untouched. All motorised craft are banned and at spots you have to navigate around submerged trees and various other snags but the scenery is absolutely spectacular. Hope you like the pics.

Miss G has her biggest dinner party at Marlo

The lanteens were hung, the xmas balls swung, and the pig was well and truely stuffed, into the BBQ as well LOL. Ron cooked up a storm all afternoon as we were the first contestents in the Marlo BBQ cookoof. The night started off with a game of Boche which was won by the (cheating) combination of Bailey and moi against her parents. While this was happening Ron was using every available pot, pan, knife, spoon in creating his masterpiece. Like all chefs he paid very little attention in how he left the kitchen but the produce was fab.

Entree:

Large green olives with tasty cheese and spicey pear paste

Soft Blue with hand made crackers

HOT pepperoni

Main Course:

Stuffed roll of pork

siverbeet with nutmeg and butter

Whole carrots baked in butter and pepper

Desert:

Mc B's world famous Christmas pudding with brandy custard

What a feast.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh school holidays on the coast

Yesterday we left Warburton for the trek down the coast to Marlo to meet up with Bailey, Scott and Julie. We had an uneventful trip but the traffic was non-stop the entire way, so I assume that Melbourne is empty and everyone is here on the coast LOL. As you can see from above, things are a wee bit busy in the park and today is a major changeover day with lots leaving and lots more arriving. No vacancies everywhere for at least the next week, so it is a grin and bare it week. The weather today is fantastic and we might get D'Luded into the ware and go paddle/peddle up the snowy river to escape the mayhem here in the park.

Happy Birthday Bruce, hope dinner at Vue was up to scratch

Lap 3 commences

Hello from Warburton in the Yarra valley and our starting point for Lap 3.  The Yarra is teaming with trout and platypus as it slowly meanders down to melbourne. The weather here (at the moment) is great, a balmy 28 with a max today of 35.  Miss G hosted DW and Peter to dinner last night under the lighting that would do a chinese bordello proud LOL, Yep the xmas lights are up.

The Big man in red is packing his sleigh and we are saying "Goodbye" to another year

Ron and I would like to extend our good wishes to everyone who has come along with us in 2009 and we hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year

Good morning from post heatwave Melbourne.

We are almost through the dinners, lunches,being total social animals and now we are looking forward to getting back out on the road and loosing some of the kilos that have mysteriously appeared in the last week LOL.

This weekend is all about giving Miss G a good check over and then packing up on Monday and heading down the highway to Warburton on Tuesday. Things have changed a weeeeee bit as it now looks like we can't go to WA straight away as our housesitter has decided that love will rule and is moving to South Africa to be with his partner, so we have to sort out something to do with the house in mid March. Is anyone thinking about coming to Melbourne for a couple of years LOL LOL

Salt Lake at Woomera

whitemandreaming.blogspot.com

This is another last for 2009, the last painting on lap 2. On the way into Woomera we travelled past these huge salt lakes which had the most wonderful colours in the soil, trees, plants and of course the lake itself. I hope you like it.

Melbourne is living up to its name with cold one day and colder the next but we have been warned that 35 plus will return next week. LOL.

Last Map of the year

Yes this is the last one in Black and from the next map we will be off again in Red starting at Warburton (back at the scene of the first departure) heading off to Marlo down on the Gippsland coast.

Our stay in melbourne is turning out to be docs, dentists and dinners LOL. So far we have both done the docs and I have to go back on Monday for a final say about my -------back (cant get into a specialist until the new year). We have both done the dentist and got a pretty clean bill of health, or at least we will have teeth for another lap LOL. The dinners start tonight with Steve at Tea House (Chinese) tomorrow with Tom don't know where yet but will be inner city somewhere, then Monday with Julie and Scott at Ink (seafood), Bruce on wednesday lunch at Clayton and Co, Thursday with Geof and Jenny and we still have to fit in john and Marie, Matt and a couple of other catch ups. We should have put on lots of weight by the time we escape here.

It is great to see that the twins are coming along well and the pics look great. Well done Tim and Bec, hopefully you will get to come home soon.

Back in Melbourne and on our first night we were off to the Peels 21st birthday. It was great to catch up to Tom and Darren and have alook at the new renovations. Great job Tom the place looks fantastic. We managed to catch up with a couple of people from the pub days and on the way home we even called into the Laird for a quick look see. This was Ron's first time back so for him it was a strange experience.

The rumours of it being very quiet were true, when we arrived around midnight the place was very very quiet. Off to the doctors today and dentist tomorrow getting everything prepared for next years trip LOL.

Today we took a trip around the mountains.

We left the boys in Warburton this morning and deicded to take the reefton Spur to Marysville and then back to heathcote via the Black Spur. This is a road that we have travelled many many times and especially back in the bike riding days. This particular lap was a favourite for most bikers and on any weekend you would find (and still do when the law is not around) many bikes cranked over through the corners of the spurs. Unfortunately this was also the area that coped the worst damage during the Feb fires and you can see from the pic that things are still very very grim up there. Marysville hardly exists anymore. Today they opened a supermarket in the old car museum and they also have a cafe and hairdresser back in action but the rest of the town and the wonderful 100 year old resorts are gone. The forests are very spooky and quiet. The tree ferns have come back with a vengeance with all the new light as the canopy is totally gone from massive parts of the area. The fire was so hot that alot of the euclypts will never recover and whole mountain sides are charcoaed tree trunks.

Here's looking at you..............

Yesterday we headed off to the Healesville Sanctuary for our bi annual walk around the aussie bush etc and see things we haven't managed to see on the road LOL. The zoo is getting bigger and better each year and the exhibits really do represent a natural setting. The highlights are always the platypus exhibition and the Birds of prey free flight show. 26 and fine today and off to Warby to say hi to DW and Peter.

On a Clear Day ....... you can see, well not always but the next day was great.

We leave Mansfield today for Healesville just outside of Melbourne. Victoria true to form has gone from absolutely cooking to dam cold and we have had to dig out the long pants, shoes and sock, jumpers and coats. We both could very very easily turn around and go back north. LOL

"Congratulations to Bec and Tim and the twins girls"

For Ron's birthday he finally got a dog. He had been at me for ages to get something that we could take to parks that are "Must have pet" parks eg. Kunanarra in WA and we found the perfect pouch.

Salvadore the First , a quaint little thing and very very much like his owner. Salvadore snores and his cheeks blow in and out, much like his owner, he makes strange noises and his backside moves, much like his owner and after an exhausting day at the vineyard he sleeps - just like his owner.

Salvadore was a big hit in downtown Yackandandra where he met the local hounds and provided the human population with much mirth. Then onto the Wood Park Vineyard which is where this pic was taken. Unfortunately after 4 hours of celebritiy status he just couldn't hack the pace and had a stroke causing him to cease most of his bodily functions (just like his owner). Gone but not forgotten.

It's great being back in the Alpine area. We went for a drive yesterday down to Milawa Cheese factory where they have great wine, cheese and lunch.

The trip around the mountains was fantastic but the ever present reminder of the bush fires earlier this year jumps out at you at every corner. The devastation is horrific with almost no canopy in the forests and at least 75% of the gum trees are dead. On a happier note the trees that are surviving are coming back into leaf and there is even the sound of birds that have returned to the area.

Just Laying around at Beechworth,  just have been the long lunch and good wine - life's tough

About time I did something about all those dam roads that were making the map look very messy. Here is the updated map which has only the roads we have travelled on it.

Yesterday was a new experience. RAIN !!!!!!!

We woke to a steady downpour in Benalla, gutters running, puddles, soggy grass, all very unusual experiences for us LOL. We then had to work out how to pack up Miss G in the wet without us getting totally drowned. We failed LOL. It continued to rain all the way to Beechworth (which has now been renamed Beachworth). Again we had the new experience of unpacking in the rain and again we pretty much failed in the keeping dry department, although Miss G sailed on through without a problem. Beechworth is a very pretty little town and one of the few places that has banned new development from the town centre so it is very much a turn of the 20th century town. Great food town, lots of antiques and book stores and lots and lots of local wine - yum.

Last night we went to Provenence for dinner and had the degustation menu (samples of lots of things with selected wines). This was Ron's birthday present and what a surprise it was when the chef came out with birthday wishes from Hans and Roli in Zurich, well done boys you caught him out LOL.

It's a roo but.......

It's the only BIG RED that we have seen in 25 months and 78,000 kilometers. We spotted this one at Kenchega National Park a couple of weeks ago and he was dam big. I think standing he would have been 7 - 8 ft, not the roo you want to meet on a dark night.

We have one more night here in Benalla and then it's off to Beechworth for dinner at Provenance
tomorrow night for his birthday. We still have two weeks today before we are due in Melbourne so have no idea what we are going to do to fill in the time.

The heatwave has finally broken with a cool front blowing in yesterday taking the temp from 38 down to 25 with very gusty winds and sand storm ahead of the muddy drizzle that continued all night. This morning is cool and overcast with the forecast of more rain and possible storms. Of course this would happen now, as we took Miss Guided through the car wash on the way out of Echuca and for the first time in 6 months she was clean.

After a lovely quiet 2 weeks with Hans and Roli rolling through Jordon, They are back home and I am guessing about to make up for some of my comments left on their blog LOL LOL LOL.

Glad you are both home safe and sound and the trip looked fab, even if you got lost more than knew where you were going, had more flat tyres than Beaurepaires, saw lots of ruins that resembled your face and generally put the west on a war footing with the Arab world. We missed ya LOL.

We are in Benalla where we have bought a new TV and are about to head up to Beechworth for his lordships birthday. Rumour has it that there is a good restaurant up there so we are off to find it. Weather yesterday 40 and dam dam hot, today 38 with storms this afternoon. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh another day at the pool.

Is this the story about the Loaves and fishes ????

Well not quite LOL. We finally left Swan Hill behind and arrived here in Echuca a couple of days ago. We decided to try a park out of town a bit called "River Bend" because it had an ok review on the Badger web site. The Park is about 24klms out of town and half of that is dirt, not bad but still dirt. The park itself is on 44 acres and it's lawn from one end to the other - and we are in the wort drought in history !!!!!!!!. Situated along the Campaspie river ( I think, it's definately not the Murray) it is single handed draining it with sprinklers going 24 hours a day. We are the only van here, a couple of permanents in huts and the owners and that's it.

The park used to be a nudist park up until 2 years ago and is now in the process of reinventing itself. There is a very very strange person working (and I use that word loosely) here, put it this way you wouldn't want to run into him on a dark night, well even in daylight it's scary.

Off to Echuca proper today, two days out here in Deliverenceville is enough for this vegimite.

Your right this is NOT Swan Hill

This is a great pic of the salt lakes at Woomera. Not much news as we are still waiting out the heatwave up here. Yesterday we spent most of the day trying to track down a new TV we found in the retrovision catalogue. After calling 6 stores around the state we finally found one at Benalla. So the plan is to go to Echuca tomorrow and then onto Benalla early next week.

This means that we get a slightly bigger screen but we get rid of the dam ant that crawled behind the screen and died, dead centre of the screen.

OK the map means no new pics LOL

We have moved on down the Murray to Swan Hill but have not left the heatwave behind. Yesterday was 40 in the shade and today is expected to be more of the same. Thank goodness we are in a nice park on the banks of the river so it looks coolish and we have a great lawn site about 50 meters from the pool, so life is not too bad LOL. The heatwave is expected to last all week so we might just sit here and wait it out.

Last night at Kenchega

Could be a painting, this was our last night and the power upstairs really turned on the view. It was not as misty as the pic but I just love the pic and it is in line for future painting.

Mildura is being very kind to us, we are almost next to a strawberry farm so you know what we were up to yesterday afternoon. We also dropped into an elderly Italian couple's place just up the road and bought some home grown tomatoes, apricots, peaches and then into Stephenos for some REAL bread. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgh seventh heaven.

Off to the Perry Sand Dunes this morning so with luck should have some great shots. Called into the Art Vault yesterday and had a quick chat about a possible exhibition some time next year. Hopefully they think the works are good enough as I would love to have an exhibition and I almost have enough work completed.

Kenchega National Park

What an unusual place LOL. We arrived on a day that was 45 and the only saving grace for us was that we had a great spot on the banks of the Darling river (where it still has some water between the weirs) so we spent the day jumping in and out of the river to cool off.

Day two was 18 and rained on and off for most of the day and day 3 was perfect 25 and clear blue sky.

Each day was filled with wonderful little surprises. Unfortunately there aren't any planned walks so most of the time was spent close to our van. You will see from the van pic we had no neighbours, I think the closest person was about 5 klms away.

The emu family in pic one was a part of the welcome committee, dad and the teenagers wandering up the road.

The sunset was day 2. Unbelievable sunset that went on for almost an hour. This is one of many pics and on that night the river was perfectly still so I have some great mirror pics as well. Day 3 we witnessed the fight between the Willy wagtail and the goanna that can be seen in the pic. This little battle went on for about 15 minutes with the willy winning eventually. The biggest problem for the goanna was that safety was to go past us and he needed some convincing to do that LOL.

On the last day I walked around the river and climbed up a tree just before sunset and watched the kangaroos, wallabies, emus and everything else come down to the river for a drink and they didn't know I was there - amazing.

We have moved on to Mildura and I must admit it was great to be back in Vic. The food is great the service is fantastic and the wine selection has dramatically improved.

Red Rock

Here is the latest installment on the art front. Red Rock was inspired by Palm Valley in the West Macs just outside of Alice Springs and yes it is very very red.

We leave Broken Hill today and head out to the Kenchega National Park. The temp at the moment is 31 and it's only 9am so I am not sure how long we will last without power to run the eggnichner let alone the espresso machine LOL. We will be off the air for probably 3 - 4 days.

Hans and Roli I keep checking the blog but NO posts ??????? Does this mean no internet in Jordon LOL

Which way did Gulliver go ?

or Ron just had a wash and has shrunk LOL !!!!!!! Everything is big here in Broken Hill LOL

Desert Sculptures

Approximately 15klms from town on top of a hill is a series of sculptures done by carvers from all over the world. This amazing display is in a very arid area with kangaroos and emus wondering around and of course the odd snake and lizard.

We planned to go out to one of the more isolated national parks and check out the local rock art but unfortunately when I took the truck in to get the tyres rotated we discovered that the two rear tyres where totally shot and too dangerous to drive anywhere let alone 260klms of very ordinary dirt road. So here we sit waiting for two tyres to find there way here from Melbourne. With luck they should be here tomorrow and we will head out of here on Monday to the Kinchega National Park. Weather fine and hot 36 today, might be a pool day LOL.

Mad Max or Bitchy Beryl?

Yesterday we went in search of the road used for the Max movies and found it just past Silverton. As you can see they are quite proud of the cult movies.

Just in case you haven't heard, they are about to start making Max 4 and the town is starting to buzz with excitement. They could pick the extras out of the local hoons that do burnouts every night at 3am or drive down main street acting like demented baboons. Perfect place for another Max movie, don't even need to hire actors LOL.

Today we are off to the desert sculptures so tomorrow should have some good pics.

Ron's Rock

Hello from Broken Hill. We finally decided that we couldn't stand the wind and cold any longer and left Petersborough yesterday. The trip was a bit wild with strong winds particularly the last 50 - 70 klms through the open plains. Lots of dust in the air but the weather slowly got warmer the further we went.

Ron's Rock finally arrived and is very impressive, definitely the best stone we have found so far. It is approximately 3.3 cts and 10.8ml long by 5.4 wide and when in the sun is dazzling.

Broken Hill seems to be loaded with art. Gallery's everywhere so I will be in seventh heaven while he will grin and bare it, or just send me on my way while he goes to the supermarket LOL.

The romantic 30's posters of TAR

Lately we seem to be doing lots of train things. We arrived at Peterborough on Friday afternoon and what a pleasant place it seemed to be. As we were setting up at the park I thought I heard a familiar voice and sure enough two sites away Denis and Caryll were setting up their van. We last saw them at Derby WA 12 months ago. Of course that evening several drinks were had exchanging tales of adventures over the last year.

Yesterday (Sat.) we did the Steamworks (NO not a sauna) which has the most amazing collection of trains and carriages. Some great examples of sleepers from the 30's and 40's. Ron and I could happily spend some time here getting them back into shape, especially the first class lounge. An Erte here a Chirparis there and a couple of good painting and the carriage could be rolling around again.

Today we were meant to be heading to Broken Hill but last night the weather blew in and all night we had a gale with heavy rain and this morning we woke to 10 degrees and a vicious southerly. We managed to get the awning in without being blown away, so we are going to sit here until things improve.

Funniest thing happened yesterday. Denis and Carol are here on a Rock Art tour which has been invading (in the nicest possible way) farms in SA looking for new art sites. Yesterday they were about 50klms out in the hills checking out some carvings and 6 car loads went out and 6 cars came back but NOT everyone was accounted for. One women who shall remain nameless left her travelling companion out in the bush !!!!!!!!!! Much drama occurred about 6pm when it was discovered that they were one short LOL LOL LOL.

When the Lyns ask you out for lunch you should be worried.

We have just arrived back in Port Augusta after four great days in Port Lincoln with the Lyns. Wining, dining and picnics were the order of the day and we all had a great time catching up and telling new stories.

Off to Peterborough tomorrow and from there onto Broken Hill

Toot Toot and we're off

All aboard the Nichi Pichi railway to Quorn. Thanks to the company of Maryln and Kev the trip to Quorn was a fun day and the conductor and car captain made sure we all had a good time and lots of laughs. Quron is an interesting little town with lots of great ol' pubs etc but badly needs bucket loads of money thrown at it to get everything back to original condition. The train trip was great. It's been along time since I have been on a steam train and of course the first thing I did was stick my head out the window and get a face full of soot LOL.

We finally left Port Augusta for Port Lincoln yesterday and arrived here just in time to catch the Moto GP on TV. Go Casey, what a race. Last night we had dinner with the two Lyns and LD even baked a banana cake for us. We're being spoilt already LOL. Today off to see a couple of new foals from LP's horses and then we are cooking dinner at LD's.

Welcome back Bruce and Di where are you ????? Estonia WHY ??????

If I was that cow I would be worried too

Still in Port Augusta where the weather is decidedly cool and windy. We are going on a steam train trip tomorrow. The trip is to Quorn which is about 50 mile north of here on the way to Wilpena Pound. The train is the original 30's carriages from the Ghan and is pulled by a steam train. Marilyn and Kev are arriving in town today and they are doing the trip as well. The Lyns are also threatening to come for the trip so it could be a very funny day and a couple of wines might be had LOL. All going well we will be off to Port Lincoln on Sunday to spend a couple of days with the Lyns. Standby liver.

Bullseye

Finally the wind has died down and we can get on our way to Port Augusta today. Unfortunately the temp. is still in the teens and we have had to find jumpers etc and dust them off.

Now I hate to admit that Hans might be right, but Bruce his idea of opening an account out of Thailand has some merit. Remember he is the original traveller fully decked out in furs, bow and arrows and trading in beads so he would know LOL.

Macho Macho man ......................

or is this a present for SA. We have arrived at Woomera JUST. The trip from Coober Pedy will rate as the scariest trip yet with gale force winds trying to blow us off the road. Luckily we didn't have a head wind or we would be back in Tennant Creek by now But, the difference between the side wind and a slight tail wind was 10 litres per 100klms, very expense trip. We have checked into Woomera for an overnighter. The town now only has a population of 300, but like a good government owned town has a fantastic swimming complex which was open, but the temp is only 20 and the winds are gusting over 100klms per hour with trees down around the town. The town also has a bowling alley, museum, heritage centre, marine center ?????? and everything else that might be needed if they decided to repopulate the place.

Tomorrow winds allowing we will head to Port Augusta, if it's toooooo windy we might just sit here and hope it blows out. As I type Miss G is a rockin and rollin, could be an interesting night.

Hello from "Windy" central better known as Coober Pedy

After a hectic day of at Bathurst watching yesterday we are finally going to go have a good look around the area. This morning we are off to the Dingo fence via the Oodnadatta track and the Breakways (more rocks) and back into town via another dirt road.

I did have a look at most of the opal shops on Saturday and managed to come home without a purchase. However I did find one little opal that would have made a great earring but at $20,000 it is staying in the shop LOL. It's good to see the locals are still sitting around throwing bottles, somethings just don't change.

Some very sad news yesterday with the passing of Mr. Marcus in San Francisco. Marcus was a great help and friend to us when we were at the Laird. He was an institution in the USA Leather community and his weekly column in BAR was not to be missed. He will be greatly missed.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Somewhere hiding in South Australian Roads Corp. is a frustrated queen that wanted to be an interior designer. "My section of road is going to colour co-ordinate with the landscape" and it does. Red rocks, red sand, red road, only in SA LOL. Arrived in Coober Pedy last night after a long drive from Elrdunda. our original plan was to do an overnighter on the way but the parks were terrible so we just kept driving. We were in CP 30 years ago and nothing much has changed LOL. Most of the same shops are still here, the Croats still have a club here (they buy the opals) but the number of dining options has shrunk dramatically. Last night we went to the only "real" restaurant - Tom and Marys Greek Travena, which was good but the rest of the selection looks a bit grim. When we crossed the border yesterday we had to dump any food we had so Ron is off re supplying Miss G so home cooking tonight.

Kings is King

We have just arrived back at Erldunda after a great 3 nights at Kings Canyon. We have been blessed with the weather, which for our walk was 27 with a slight breeze. The rim walk is 7klms and starts out with a 300 meter climb up to the rim and then the most amazing walk around "Bungle Bungle" type rock formations, gorges, gullies, waterholes and some incredible lookouts. Our time at the caravan park was lots of fun as well, with new friends from Qld, WA, NSW and UK all helping to make the stay a lot of fun. Tomorrow we head south to Marla (WHERE) which will mean we cross the border into SA, so they had better get their weather together down there as we still don't do COLD. LOL

Sunset last night

Today we headed off to do the walk around this dam rock and 12 klms later we and our personal entourage of flys arrived back at the car, a little foot sore but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Over the two days here we have hoofed it about 25 klms so tomorrow will be a "foot free day" in preparation for Kings Canyon.

Go Storm

ANT DANCE

This was caused totally by the Lyns. When in Port Douglas we were all looking at some Aboriginal art, some that was very good, but mostly the mass produced rubbish that is for sale all over the country. You know, paint by numbers and put a four figure price on it. I mentioned at one gallery that I wouldn't mind doing a "Dot" painting, but something totally different from the "women collection bush tomatoes at the creek with the turtle and croc feeding in the kangaroo corpse" you get the pic LOL. So here's ANT DANCE. It is a dot painting, each ant body is made up of dots and with dot eyes. Every ant is an individual. Why ants ? well the day I decided to start this painting Miss Guided was invaded by the little buggers, so that was the omen. LOL Hope you like it.

Last pic from the west mac's

We headed south to Elrunda and did a quick overnight at the road house which is at the junction of the Sturt and lassiter Hwys and from there we have made our way to Urulu. Today (Sat.) we spent climbing the Olga's which are truly spectacular. Our first walk was the Valley of the winds which winds it's way through the peaks and across a big valley and then back up into the peaks. The colour is wonderful and the rock will have to be dam good to beat this, but that is tomorrows challenge. All going well we will leave here on Monday and head around to Kings Canyon for a couple of days hiking there.

The resort here at Urulu has really grown since we were here in the early 80's. It now has four hotels, a backpackers lodge, convention centre, shopping centre, service station and a pub which is licensed until 2am as we found out last night. With 1200 staff and heaven knows how many guest this is bigger than most towns in NT. We managed to fluke the weekend changeover for the school holidays with Vic/SA going back on Monday and NSW starting on Monday so this weekend is sort of quiet, but it must be a mad house in peak times.

Colour everywhere

Isn't this a great pic. The mountains are blue/purple, the ground is red, the vegetation is going into flower after a little bit of rain and that clear blue sky.

Yesterday we headed up to Stanleys Chasm with all the other tourists before heading up the highway to Hermansberg, the birth place of Namatjira. Unfortunately the mission and surrounds were handed back to the locals some time ago and is now in need of lots of TLC. On a brighter note they have the first solar power plant that we have seen, very impressive.

From there it was off to Palm Valley on the 4wd only track which spends most of the time in the Finke river and that means sand, rocks and bigger rocks. By the time we had traversed that, RT (truck) was an expert on rock hopping. The top speed on this piece of road was about 5klm with most of it at 1 - 3 klm. So pics tomorrow.

Pound Panarma at Ormiston Gorge

Not sure how this will work out but thought I would give it a try. This is the view from the top of the pound walk. The Pound is massive and this is seven pics spliced together to try and give you some idea of what a great place it is.

The walk is approximately 8 klms and there is quite a bit of uphill involved. When you reach the top (where the pic was taken) you then descend into the pound and walk across the middle, finally following the Finke river (dry and full of rocks) back to the camp site. Wonderful walk but you know afterwards that you have done it. LOL

Gosse Bluff
Yep, it's a very big hole in the ground, but it used to be even bigger. About 142,000,000 years ago this comet was cruising in the neighbourhood and decided to pay NT a quick visit. Unfortunately it got all caught up in the gravity and created a very big bang with a hole to match. When the comet impacted with the earth (it did melt, so there is nothing left of it) the surrounding area was 2 klms higher and what is left today is but the bottom. Still very impressive. It is 5 klms across on the inside and the walls tower above the surrounding countryside. This pic was taken from 12 klms away.

The West MacDonnell Ranges are truly breath taking and I don't know if any of the pic will do it justice, but I will pick out the best and put them up over the next couple of days. We have retreated to Alice (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH) for a couple of days as I have come down with a lergy and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Might have something to do with 37 on day and 6 the next.

Hopefully we will get out of here on Wednesday and head on down the highway to Urulu. more on that tomorrow.

What a great Grand Final it was and credit must go to the Saints for taking it up to the Cats, but in the end the better team triumphed.
Hawks for premiers 2010.

Goodbye to Alice

Off to Ormiston Gorge today and then onto Glen Helen and out to the meteor crater, on Sunday (hopefully) we will head down the highway towards Uluru and Kings Canyon. We might be out of contact for up to 10 days.

The desert is Blooming

Our last day in Alice and from here it is off to Ormiston Gorge for a couple of days of walking, climbing and generally exploring. From there down to Urulu and the Olgas. We will be out of contact from both places.

Miss G went to the doc's yesterday and got a clean bill of health and her slow leak has been plugged thanks to Beaurepaires. The mail arrived yesterday and the cartoons and double page spread about Collingwood was a little late LOL.

Go Saints for Premiers