Troopy Travels

Updated Pictures

Hi folks. We are slowly catching up here. Tonight we have updated the pictures in our slideshows page…you will now find a load of pictures of Lajamanu, where we are currently staying. Just follow this link (or you can get there through the home page at www.troopytravels.com)

http://www.troopytravels.com/slideshows1.htm

If you have visited the slideshows before, you may need to refresh the page when you get there. You will find the Lajamanu listing and can go from there.

We are planning a bit of a drive to Kalkarinji tomorrow to check that place out and then next week we are heading to Katherine for a day or two. Will add more pictures and words to this blog very soon.

We hope everyone is well…enjoy the pics :)

Adelaide!

Ok, so we made it to Adelaide. We stayed with Anneliese’s mum and dad the time we were there. We really enjoyed staying with them and catching up with them again. I had a great time learning to speak German, because we are considering heading to Austria in the near future.

We also caught up with Annelieses boys and got indoctrinated into the way of the Port Power (AFL footy team). We actually even watched the grand final…though we didnt go as far as crying at the result.

While we were only in Adelaide a short time it really was nice to catch up with everyone again.

Once we got into Adelaide we found ourselves very rushed. We HAD to find work and Anneliese had no problems there, the RDNS were after people and once Anneliese jumped through thier hoops they grabbed her up and had her running within a few weeks.

I found things a little harder, there was a bit of IT work around, but not huge amounts and I had a hard time trying to classify my skills into a position that I would enjoy.

We loved seeing family again and had a great time with everyone, but we really didnt want to stay there and we certainly didnt want the jobs that we were looking at. Anneliese was not happy nursing again and the thought of going back into IT really didnt sit well with me.

During my searching the papers I found a few adverts for jobs going on Aboriginal communities. Working in shops or community stores. Generally they gave you a house with the job, services were paid for and the wages were pretty reasonable.

I told Anneliese and we both agreed that these jobs sounded pretty much perfect. So we applied for all of them. A few days later I rang the places to see if they recieved our resumes and each time I was told we were way overqualified and they hadnt considered us at all. Each time I convinced them that this is what we wanted and we would be very useful.

In the end, a community store at a place called Lajamanu showed interest and a gentleman called Jim came down to Adelaide to interview us. He was a really nice bloke and made us feel like this job would suit us, he warned us of what we should expect but that just made us all the more eager.

The next day he called us to tell us we got the jobs if we wanted them….. YAY!

In the meantime Anneliese was getting her teeth worked on and had the last touch ups just before leaving Adelaide. She now has a sporty new tooth that is solid and wont break…it will be upgraded to the porcelein model in 3 months.

So, after a quick visit to my kids we packed up the troopy and began our journey north again. We didnt have a lot of time, so we took the most direct route to Alice Springs. Staying one night in Coober Pedy - while there is some interesting stuff in this town, I think once is enough.

Our next night in Alice Springs was no more memorable than Coober Pedy. We got into town, did a quick bit of shopping, took some pictures from ANZAC Hill and went to bed ready for an early rise the next day.

Southern Flinders

We drove around the touristy places today, we didnt have far to go as we planned to spend this evening in the southern flinders rangers.

We went up to Arkaroola, but none of these places really took our fancy. We found more interest in the landscape than the tourist shops and buildings. So we quickly moved on and began heading south.

We found another cafe for lunch in a little town (town?) called Blinman…a few houses and a cafe is pretty much it. The cafe is very good, lots of bush tucker done up in a cafe that would go just as well in any street in a city. Wonderful food and great atmosphere…but some bastard stole our shovel while we were inside eating…we dont really understand why, but there you go.

Our shovel was kept in a hollow tube in the front bullbar, it was held in with a large split pin so it couldnt go anywhere and had survived there quite happily until Blinman…..life goes on.

We then headed to Brachina Gorge to camp the night. Southern Flinders is completely different to northern. A lot greener, a lot more people, and special campsites where you must stay (and pay)…no going off the tracks here. It was a nice spot, we enjoyed it, but its just not the same as being out in the bush, no fences, no ready made fireplaces, no logs to park your car up against.

Adelaide tomorrow.

Flinders Ranges

The next day we continued along the Track. We came to Clayton Station, which has a nice little bush camp site setup. They have toilets all set up and even a spa bath! We got there and the only other people were just leaving, they recommended we take a spa and so of course we had to oblige.

Basically the spa was a plastic watertank cut about 1/3 down with 5 water hoses attached to it. The water comes from an artesian bore and is quite hot once it gets going. So we had a lovely wash in the middle of nowhere in beautiful clean hot water…it was bliss.

The Claytons all do this off thier own bat and with thier own funds. They ask for a donation, which seemed fair enough for us considering the toilets, shower and spa were all well maintained and cleaner than many public places we had seen.

Onto Maree to top up with fuel and grab a quick bite to eat. We didnt hang around here…no point to really.

Our next stop was Copley. A very little town on the edge of the Flinders. We stopped here only because while we were passing through we noticed they had a cafe and Quandong jam….curious? So were we.

Quandong…as many of you will know, is a native Australian bush fruit, its also called Wild Peach and tastes very nice made up into a jam, quite sweet but with a nice tang to it as well. We had it on scones and with cream and it was all so bloody nice, the scones were fresh and yummy, the cream was real and tasty and the quandong jam just topped it off perfectly. Very yummy stuff and well worth a try if you ever get the chance (its worth knowing that there is a company in Copley that makes this stuff and exports it out….so try to get hold of some).

After Copley we drove into the Flinders we wanted to spend the night in the North end of the ranges and so we drove into the bush a little way before Nepabunna and set up camp.

Such a nice place to stay, perhaps not as desolate as the desert, lots of bush and trees about….but nice a real ancient feel about that place.

Halfway between Etadunna and Dulkaninna

After our stay overnight in the desert dunes, we then kept travelling the track past Mungeranie. Mungeranie is basically a pub about halfway down the track. They have petrol and a campsite, but we didnt want to camp there. We took some fuel and whinged at the price of $1.53 (wow have we learnt since then) then went into the pub for a chat.

The publican and his wife took over the place only recently, surprisingly its a small piece of freehold land in the middle of this huge station. I had thought the station owned the pub, but no, its totally in the hands of the publican and his wife.

These two are lovely characters and well worth meeting, if you are heading up the track (or down it) you must (and likely will anyway as its the only place for hundreds of k’s) meet these two.

After heading off from there we decided to find a camp away from campsites and people…we are beginning to really like this solitude business. About halfway between the Etadunna and Dulkaninna stations we decided that the land look sufficiently barren for us to set up for a night and pulled off the road.

Another quite night and an early one ready for another big day tomorrow.

Bludgers!!!

Oh yes, we are completely ashamed of ourselves. Well…not really.

Sorry its been so long. Much updating is needed, so please give me time to get this together. We wont update piccys just yet, lets get all this writing out of the way first. Beginning from where we left off, so here goes…..