Welcome to Bourke
As you can see our first stop was the bottleshop for some much needed refreshment - "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS???" They have caged everything, this set the scene for things to come LOL. After our visit to the supermarket we were strongly of the impression that this town has all the attraction of "Road Kill" LOL. But then along came Tim (Ron's nephew) Bec (his wife) and Mandy (Bec's sister) and showed us some great country hospitality and cooked dinner for us last night. Off to Mt Axis today with Tim and Co and we are cooking dinner tonight at Miss G, small problem, I don't think we have cutlery etc for 5, oh well, we will cope.

We're Back

At last we have arrived back in the outback and as you can see from the pic above we didn't waste anytime in getting out there and dirty. We are currently in Cobar for a couple of days and this morning headed off to Mt Grenfall to view the rock art. As usual we read all the "Must do's" before heading out and broke most of the rules LOL. The temp was 36 but we did manage to take along a litre of water each. Our trusty climbing boots are "Keens sandals" but we did have our every faithful sticks to protect us.

Luna Gums

Lake Hillston

When we arrived at the Hillston Caravan Park it was listed as: Large sites - true, Large lawned areas - true, close to swimming pool - true and lakeside - Not true LOL.

Arrived at Cobar yesterday, temp 44, today 45 but we are off to find the elusive rock art in the national park before the temp goes up - stand by for pics LOL

Where are we ????????

Just to let you know we are not totally lost (well most of the time) I will update this map and put it up once a month. Tks blue for the map.

Happy Chinese New Year

(and if anyone can find some mangosteens please send them my way LOL)

A Farewell from Griffith

We were sitting under the awning having our 5's glass of wine and admiring the sunset about to happen in the western sky. There was this strange noise from the north and we turned around to be confronted with this sand storm blowing into town. I managed to run out to the street and snap this quick pic before I was totally engulfed by the storm an didn't want to risk taking another pic as the lens on the camera would be getting sand blasted. We are currently in Hillston NSW excitement centre of no where. Nice park, we are the only van here at the moment, so you can work out that we are not exactly on the tourist route LOL We are however at the park that the work gangs for the Kidman Way stay at and they start work at 5am each morning, so the doors start slamming at 4.30 with the compulsory "G'day Mate" at 4.40am as they all climb into their utes and drive past us - a bit like the "summer Nats " in Canberra.

The hunter/Gatherers strike again

We decided that it was time that we truly should try and be totally self sufficient so off to the "Gun shop" we went. (Apparently that's where you get the things we needed !!!) After much tooing and throwing we decided on 2 throw nets and on Opera House net (mine of course) and were assured that the little yabby bliters would not stand a chance. So with the recipe book open at Yabby Bisque we headed off to the great canal where they would be lining up to taste our meaty treats. Temp 38, wind - Northerly, shade almost non existent (no one told us it would be this difficult) not even a bar insight. The bait was set the opera house slowly submerged into the sludge and Ron was a throwing and throwing but not one bite AAAAAgh must be the wrong place, so off we set for the downtown alternative, temp still 38 , wind still blowing but at least some shade. In they went again, we waited and waited some more, then the first check time arrived - One hungry turtle (pic above) that was very snotty about having his lunch interrupted and three tiny fresh water shrimp, in they went again and again and again and again. the end result was Him above 4 times, his cousin once and 3 more shrimp all of which we carefully returned to their home with the added bonus of a free feed when we gave up. We failed again.

Well this is a first

Most of you know that Ron and I are a weeeee bit loopey about Art Deco. Yesterday we did a quick trip down to Leeton (after checking the yabbie traps- no luck) and discovered a great little deco town. We have both been to some of the most amazing deco sites and buildings around the world eg. Chrysler Building NYC, all of Chicago, London, Paris etc never have we seen an Art deco Water Tower.

Stocked up and waiting for the Lyns

Before we left Melbourne we decided that the Lyns should have their own cocktail glasses so here they are waiting to be abused. Can't promise that the Gin will last that long though LOL.

Fiery sky

Hello from Griffith NSW, this was the sky that welcomed us to town. We were reliably informed that the cool change had arrived and that it was only 35 yesterday and the same is forecast for today before it heats up again over the weekend and next week - HELP LOL

We intend to head out to Lake Wy-------- tomorrow and the continuing saga of Ron and the fishing rod, so far fish 10 Ron 0 (with his rod). I am taking bets if anyone wants to lay a wager. There is also a couple of national parks around so if things dont heat up toooooooo much we might even get a couple of walks in.

" The Rising off the Moon"

A great line from the musical "Mame" but very appropriate for this pic. This was last nights "Moon rise" over Lake Mulwala, truly spectacular, if you look closely you can see the outline of the dead river gums in the halo around the moon. Just as good as Broomes' "Stairway to the moon". We arrived yesterday after a wee detour via Shepparton Caravan repairs to get our gas knob sorted which took a quick 15 minutes then it was up the road to yarrawonga and Mulwala. the temp was in the high 30's so off to the pool we went. (Way toooooo many fools on jet skis for us to try swimming in the lake). Herb 4 is now with us, although it is a bit like outback WA trying to get real growing herbs up here, but we succeeded.

Somethings just remain the same

Well of course with the best of attentions on this trip we said "We need to be a bit more money conscious, No ensuites, No boozey lunches etc " we failed. Lunch at Nagambie, but we did sail to the pub LOL.

Something that amused us

Just before hitting the road we took off to the Heidi museum and they had an exhibition and this was one of the sculptures - we just loved it LOL

Blast Off - Lap 2

Almost on time, a seamless lift off from the Geelong space port with first stage cylinders firing beautifully. We arrived in orbit at Nagambie right on schedule and proceeded to settle down for the first orbit when we discovered a GAS leak. Luckily Shep has a jayco dealer so on Monday it's off to the repairer. The park here is great with the lakes on one side and the river on the other, it doesn't matter which direction you walk we are only 50 meters from water. It's pretty blowy but hopefully this will die off overnight. As expected the crowds are here and we are surrounded by tent city (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH) but it is that time of the year LOL.

You can see from the pic that it didn't take MG2 and Ron long to get back into the swing of playing with the BIG rigs.

Preparation is well underway at Space Center

Miss G 2 has been fitted with the multi directional sound system, DVD player, Ipod, radio, TV etc with two 9" rear, 2 tweeters and two 4" mid range speakers (guaranteed to get us banned from most parks and planets) and is making her way down the launchpad to Geelong for the long awaited refueling and final blastoff checks. After the fitting of the solar panels, repairs to the broken hatches and seals, the countdown to lift off will commence. Approximate launch time will be 10am Thursday (timed to beat the next cold front)with the first rocket separation to occur over nagambie (depending on the amount of muchkins that are running around), then across the border to pick up the new Herb Garden to provide vital nutrition during the journey before heading towards Cobar and the great outback. Can't wait.

Standby

48 hours and we are back on the road for Lap 2