We left Noel and Sharon's on Friday 16th March to continue north visiting more of David's family as we went. We travelled around the coast of Victoria passing through Lakes Entrance up through Eden arriving at David's brother John and Sue's just out of Bemboka in the afternoon. On Tuesday 20th we moved to David's sister Glenys and Wal's in Bega for a few days. Then we headed to Canberra to David's brother Tony and Ros. Tuesday 27th we left Canberra to go to David's brother Rob's at Orange. Friday 30th we headed to David's Mum's and sister Bon's at Casino.
'A bicycle built for two'
From the lookout at Eden
Eden
Rescue chopper coming in to land on the oval at the back of Glenys and Wal's (Bega) - photo taken from their dining room window.
Will it or won't it!!!!!! The entry bridge to John and Sue's.
Ah yes it did!!!!!!
River Clyde - near Bateman's Bay
Rob's 2 grandchildren - L - Hudson: R - Noah.
The Mighty Moonbi Range (which didn't seem very mighty after some we have travelled on)!!
We left David's Mum and Bon on Wednesday 4th April to head for Qld and Easter Camping with my rellies at my Uncle Keith and Elaine's property "Yellowstone", west of Miles. ( We spent Easter last year before we left for Darwin at the same campsite at "Yellowstone") So it was good to catch up with some of my rellies after 12 months and have a relaxing time sitting around the campfire, eating, talking and laughing!!! On the Tuesday after Easter we left to spend a few days with my Mum and Dad and my brother Owen and Philippa near Dalby.
Above & Below - two sections of the camp
The kids swimming pool!!!!
The eating and campfire area.
The outhouse - an upgrade from last year!!!!!
We arrived back at Woodgate on Sunday evening 15th April. The plan had been to return to Tiaro but because our block at Woodgate with the shed on it didn't sell we now have to build a house beside the shed (council sub-division rules)!!!!! So we have had to take a backward step and move back to where we thought we had moved from. But it's nice to be back at the beach for awhile and with the van in the shed it has given us lots more room to spread out.
In the shed at Woodgate (check out the $5.00 strip of carpet from the Woodgate dump)!!!!
Our netted lounge room!!!
Some interesting facts about the trip:---
'Cruisin Aussies' - 13 months away.
Travelled approx. 35,000 kms.
Spent approx. $ 8,620 on fuel.
Highest price diesel - $1.97.1 at Warmun (Turkey Creek) W.A.
Lowest price diesel - $1.46.9 in Melbourne.
We filled the fuel tank a total of 64 times on the trip.
We were in every city on the mainland except Brisbane and Sydney.
Paid work while away - David approx. 7 months: Me approx. 3 1/2 months.
And I didn't find a better place to live than Queensland!!!!
Thanks for reading and special thanks to Annaleise and Roxy for your many many comments on my blog posts - it gave me great encouragement to continue blogging.
Next day Saturday March 10th we headed south again going through the outer suburbs of Adelaide then to Murray Bridge (it is 31 years since I was in Adelaide and Murray Bridge) to Jeff and Ruth's near Geranium for the night and Sunday. Alan and Ruth were working for Jeff and Ruth and we wanted to catch up with them on our way past as we hadn't seen them for a few months. Sunday night we stayed at a free camp 7 km's south of Tailem Bend.
Salt Lakes near Snowtown
Paddle Steamer - Murray River
Murray River
House Boat on the Murray
Someones day just got ruined!!!!!!!
Monday we headed south along the coastline crossing the border into Victoria and eventually reaching the start of The Great Ocean Road Monday afternoon. That night we spent at Port Campbell Caravan Park about 59 km's from the start of the G.O.R. It is a really beautiful drive along the G.O.R. with spectacular views and lots of places to stop to look at different sections of the coastline. The following photos will show it better than I can explain it.
The Start of The Great Ocean Road, Victoria
14 photos of places along the Great Ocean Road
Tuesday we reached the end of the G.O.R. then continued right through Melbourne and arrived at David's niece Sharon and Noel's place near Moe late in the afternoon.
One thing impressed me about Perth was the painting on their underpasses - this was a new one just near where we stayed in the caravan park and I was very impressed by it every time we went past.
On Monday 5th March we at last left the Midland Caravan Park, Perth to start the journey home. First stop was the Earthquake Site just out of Meckering.
At 10.59a.m. on the 14th October 1968, the small town of Meckering, about 130 km east of Perth, was destroyed by an earthquake. The magnitude of the Meckering earthquake was 6.9 on the Richter Scale making it one of the largest recorded in the seismic history of Australia.
The earthquake lasted 45 seconds and was felt over an area of 700kms in radius and caused damage in many towns. The quake focus was 7km deep and had the force equivalent of 10 Hiroshima type atomic bombs.
The Meckering earthquake site - the only section left as it was. The fence shows the slope of the ground where it lifted up.
A photo of a photo of the railway lines after the quake.
That night we stayed at a free camp site about 70km east of Southern Cross then Tuesday we headed to Kalgoorlie. It's a town with many old buildings in the main street and a really good view from the lookout of the town and surrounding areas.
The Pipeline
In 1895 the first plans were prepared for an engineering feat that would stagger the world — an attempt to pump water uphill some 500 km, from the hills near Perth to the goldfields of Coolgardie.
Before construction began, the dream had become bigger. The pipeline was extended for water to be pumped even further east, to the new goldfields of Kalgoorlie.
On 24 January 1903, the dream became a reality when water, which began its journey at Mundaring Weir, flowed into to Mt Charlotte Reservoir at Kalgoorlie.
Today, water is supplied to over 100 000 people and six million sheep in an area covering 44 000 square kilometres (two thirds the size of Tasmania).
Above and Below - the water pipeline from Perth to Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie
We continued east across W.A. only stopping to eat and sleep until Wednesday night when we stopped at a free camp 30 km west of the town of Eucla which is 12km west of the S.A. border. That evening I spent 4 hours peeling, dicing, blanching and cooking all fruit and vegies we had in the fridge, making 2 batches of biscuits and also cooking two casseroles, all to use up the vegies before we got to the quarantine checkpoint at the border next day. When we arrived at the border we found it was only for people coming the other way and our checkpoint wasn't until Ceduna - so all my hours the night before were a waste of time!!!! Oh well what's done is done so we continued!!!!
The Nullabor crossing was a bit of an anti-climax as it was nothing like I expected by others comments - it was an ever changing landscape from low shrubs and grass to high trees and ocean views and plenty of traffic going both ways and a really good road. Near the end of the Nullabor we made a small detour to the Head of the Great Australian Bight and found some beautiful and spectacular coastal cliffs.
Above and Below - View at the Head of the Bight
Above and Below - different sections of the Nullabor
The Nullabor at the Head of the Bight turnoff.
Ceduna
Some towns have interesting toilets!!!!!
And some towns have large birds!!!!!
Above and Below - Eucla
Thursday was a rather weird day as we had afternoon tea at 7 p.m. and tea at 9 p.m. (just as it was getting dark) and the daylight saving in S.A. didn't help things either. Thursday night we stayed at the free camp west of Fowler Bay turnoff and Friday night at a free camp 70 km's south of Port Augusta.
