Lightning Ridge

After a cold night and fighting the goat heads we packed up and headed off to Lightning Ridge in search of fortunes.

Once again the crops through here look great.

Decided it was time for a change so a couple of nights at a caravan park, was very lucky as most parks are booked out, managed to get a good little un-powered site.  There is a small patch of opal diggings in the park and Charlie has managed to find a pile of opal (or at least a small fleck of opal)

The kids had a great time playing with a couple of other families that were there, good interaction and met another family from WA heading the same direction, they will be a little in front but hope to catch up when we get further north.

There seems to be a lot of stuff to do around here, we went on a underground mine tour and then a little fossicking on the piles there, not much to show for there.

 Following a full education on opal mining, straight outside to see if we can find anything.

Not much to show, back to the magic patch at the park. Think we need to go further afield today and maybe a little more exploring.

The next day we headed off to Grawin Opal fields about 40kms from Lightning Ridge, interesting place full of strange set ups and people. There are a couple of large opal mine dumps that you can fossick. Spent a few hours here and managed to find a few little pieces, think Charlie is hooked.

We also spotted in at the local gallery (John Murray), well worth a look if you are ever in town.

EEC was limited this day, only really saw Stanley the Emu on the outskirts of town

Updates:
EEC has had a good increase with 12 spotted plus Stanley
Total EEC now stands at 26
CCC (Charlie Croc Count), Still struggling

Gunnedah to the border

Well after a great weekend with the Dono's playing a little golf, walks to see the sites and lots of good food and wine.

Off again to tackle the Qld border, heading up through Narrabri, Moree and then across to Mungindi. Seems that these guys have had a great start to the growing season, expect this is the most crop they have had since 2016.

We arrived at the border in Mungindi, permit and passes in hand only to be told that whilst we had permission from the Qld Chief Medical Officer this was now useless as it was issued under Directive No 5 and as of the 3rd July it was superseded by Directive No 6. The guy on the border was pretty good but alas we needed to reapply to CMO for permission under No 6.
This has all been done and now due to some assistance from a lovely lady at Qld Health the application was sent up to the CMO a few hours later, fingers crossed and we will have something shortly.

Well that didn't work first time so what do we do now, looking at the number of campers hanging out at the border we thought better and headed across to Collarenebri, about 100kms towards Lightning Ridge. Good drive on the dirt but no issues. After a little driving around looking for space along the river (there was none as there are a heap of people here) we set up camp at the showgrounds.

The kids spend the late afternoon riding their bikes and only issue were the Goats head thorns, they are nasty and come morning a few flat tyres. Off to the bike shop to get some thorn proof tubes, not sure where but we will find some, expect its a common things in these parts.

Hot off the press, second application was rejected and now we have to wait a little while longer. Plan is that we have to show that we haven't been in a hot spot in the last 14 days, as we left Vic on the 1st come the 15th we should be fine to cross the border.......as long as NSW doesn't turn in to a Hot spot.

So off to Lightning Ridge to find our fortune.......

Updates:
EEC has had a good increase with 6 spotted
Total EEC now stands at 14
CCC (Charlie Croc Count), this is very slow at the moment but hope to increase in the warmer weather

Dubbo Zoo to the Dono's

Up and at them relatively early to get a jump on the crowds, off to the Dubbo Zoo. A lot of people but as usual did not disappoint, clear favorite was the Siamang Monkeys

Quick return to our freestay for a pack up and head off north to Gunnedah for the next few days staying with Brett and Sandra Dono.

Emi was constantly on the lookout for more to add to the EEC, no such luck.

Great first night with the Dono's, camp oven Chicken Cacciatore, very nice .

Kids are getting on like a house on fire, bike riding, playing with Archie and battling with Jumanji

Updates:
EEC, 6* added although there is an * on this as these were all spotted at the Zoo.
EEC total stands at 8

Temora to Dubbo

After a slow start in the morning we managed to pack up with only a couple of small issues, seems that the Gas Struts on the loader have had better days. Little trip to the re-gas man is in order.

Once Charlie had done his mandatory 5 laps of the pacing track on his pushie we were off to the first activity for the day, Temora Aviation Museum. This is well worth the stopover, they have a great collection of military aircraft.

Charlie and Emi both had a great time and as for a favorite, it was between that Spitfire and Lockheed Hudson bomber.

From here we headed towards Dubbo, the landscape is vastly different from the last few trips we have done through this way, seems that the farms have had good rains in the region and all the crops are up and about and still a lot of water lying around. This makes for great viewings of  green fields as far as the eye can see. Hopefully that will be good follow up rain and then a nice dry finish for harvest.

Next stop at the famous Dish, unfortunately this is still closed but we managed to drive up to it and get a few snaps.

Not too far up the road we came to Peak Hill where Charlie continued his relentless search for gold. There is a large inoperative open cut gold mine in the middle of town. Interesting walk up around the top of the open cut looking down in to the vast pit.

Surprisingly we arrived in Dubbo after dark but managed to set up OK. This is starting to be a habit that will need to be broken, all in all a good day.

Updates:
EEC: Still remains at 2, too many green fields for them to choose from.

And we are off

Nearly 10 years on, 2 kids later and a lot of planning, waiting, re-planning it has finally happened. With special permission from Qld Health we have started our trip as a family on the AAA (Around Australia Adventure). Plan is to get to Benyule and help out for a while before seeing where things take us.

Next challenge was to get out of Victoria as fast as possible avoiding all the dirty hot spots. We headed out through the picturesque Yarra Valley, very green and a vast contrast of the last time we went through there. With the Vic/NSW border closing at midnight we made it with a bit to spare, even though the passengers were fast asleep at the time.

After a quick stop in Wagga Wagga we headed to our place of rest, the home of the famous Paleface Adios. A great sunset on the way

and as usual we set up in the dark, really need to work on this as its not something that we want to do every time.
Great showgrounds with good facilities. Waking up to the sound of trotters everywhere, managed to catch a bit of track work and hard to tell the winner, very close.

Kids are having a great time riding bikes and collecting rocks.

Today we are off to the Temora Aviation Museum so stayed tuned.

Updates:
Emi has decided that for maths homework she would keep a count of emus we see. Going forward this will be known as EEC (Emi's Emu Count). This stands at a solid 2, spotted in the Yarra Valley, they must have been lost

The Run Home

It has been a long time since anything has happened on this blog and we must apologise. Now where were we last time, yes the Margaret River, not a bad place an we think next time we will stay for a few weeks.

Anyway we left the sleepy town (not really) for Margaret River and headed south towards the bottom, firstly stopping at Hamelin Bay where there are massive stingrays just swimming along the shore, not  a Steve Irwin in sight.

The next stop was Augusta and Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, where the 2 great oceans meet (Indian and Southern), it is very exposed and could easily see how boats ended up on the rocks (see below).

From here we made our way up in to the forests driving through Nannup on our way to Pemberton to see the famous Gloucester Trees (used in the old days as lookouts for forest fires). a very interesting concept, lets find the tallest tree, hammer a heap of steel spikes in to it and then put a lookout at the top.....seemed to work but i am sure it would have been a hard slog to work everyday. There are still a couple of these tree set up as tourist attractions and you can climb them. We did not take the opportunity for a number of reasons, firstly not fire season and no need to look for fires,  secondly may have looked like a stupid idea in the first place and thirdly at 75m high heights did not look like fun, especially when there is only one way up and one way down, passing looked very dodgy.

Leaving the heights of the lookouts we headed towards Albany, stopping for the night at a lovely place called Walpole. This place is a favourite for families and fishermen, has a great little river system and easy access out to the reefs if the weather is OK.

The next morning he broke camp and headed off to the Valley of the Giants (just outside Walpole). Here there are some massive Tingle Tingle trees that grow up to 60m tall and there is a tree walk that takes you up in to the canopy. It is amazing to be up that high and whilst it seems that the walk in constructed will there is a lot of movement up high.

After our walk through the trees continues east stopping at a magic little spot called Green Pools, seems to be a popular family swimming spot with massive protected rock pools. The water was the usual clear WA colour and the place was packed.

Declining the option of a swim we were back in Trev lot long after, next stop Totundirrup NP and Albany. Here we did the usual tourist things, Blow Hole (no blow that day), the Gap, Natures Bridge, all very interesting.

After exploring all or most of what Albany had to offer we decided to head straight to Bremer Bay for the night. This too is a popular spot for families and fishing with a great collection of different boats around. From all reports if becomes even busier when the local farmers decide they want to go fishing (normally in march when the weather is better), this is when the real boats arrive. Must be good money in growing 100,000 acres of wheat. Anyway, was a nice place even if it was only for a day.

Leaving BB, we drove through the back roads through some incredibly large wheat growing areas, whilst they had had a bad season (in their terms) there still seemed to be a lot of wheat around. May be they should try and grow something on the East Coast and then will see what they have to complain about. We arrived in Esperance by mid afternoon and decided to stay at one of the nice caravan parks along the front. The weather then closed in and as things were not great we headed to the movies instead. Was something about chicks dancing in their underwear so not too bad.
First light Tom headed down to the pier to see if he could catch some squid, no luck so it was back to bed for a while.
As we were heading across the bottom there were a few things that needed to be checked, this is when things turned. Trev decided he didn't like his battery any more so RAA was on the job, 1 new battery and we were on our way. We initially planned to head out through Cape Arid NP and up to 4WD track towards Balladonia but after talking to a few people and looking at the weather (rain forcasted) we decided to head the long way around up via Norseman (Gold mining town) and then across to Cocklebiddy for the night, a small run of about 650kms. As we travelled through this area we noticed a number of salt beds by the side of the road.

During this stretch we travelled across the longest straight stretch of road in Australia and Cindy decided it was her turn to drive.

Mission accomplished and we made it to our destination just before it closed at 9pm. Camping in the back of Trev for the night as there was little other option.

In the morning we kept on tracking East towards the board and the Great Australian Bight and the famous Nullabor. Shortly after crossing the border and with Cindy at the wheel we encountered our second major issue......now we are not sure of the reason but after 10,000 km Trev decided he didn't like his oil and would drop the lot, likely this happened just as Cindy was pulling up to see the start of the Bight.

Now she will say it had nothing to do with her but this is yet to be proven.......anyway with 1 sump plug missing we were on the phone to RAA again. Second time in 2 days. Luckily we managed to get a spare from Eucla (about 20kms down the road) and along with some of the most expensive oil you have ever seen we continued on our way stopping to have a look at various viewing spots of the Bight

and the eternal search for that perfect windmill shot Cindy had been chasing the whole trip....got it.

With the Nullabor conquered, what a barren place, we travelled 1000kms from Norseman across the Nullabor and only saw 2 sheep, nothing else...we only wanted to see a camel or two....maybe next time then. Did manage to see a lot of signs though....

Again arriving at destination after dark we slept in Trev, seemed like a nice place to stay shame we were not going to be there long......or so we thought, Day 3 with the RAA, Trev now didn't like his clutch. With the master and slave cylinder gone. As it was Australia Day and nothing was open no spare parts in town we were stranded for the next few days......3 days in Ceduna. Luckily the good people at RACQ came through with accomodation and hire car. The next 2 days were spent having a look around town (that didn't take long) and then a little exploring. We went down to Smokey Bay and Streaky Bay for the day, stopping at Streaky Bay for a great lunch looking over the water.

As we were stuck for a while Tom decided that it was time to put that very expensive and yet performing crab dilly to work, first night 3 sandies, not having a measuring stick clearly meant a lot went back that could have been kept. Also need more bait as there was hunders of them everywhere. Only 1 squid though. The next night was far more successful with 15 more in the fridge bound for Adelaide the next day.

With Trev fixed and only 800kms to go to make Adam's 40th we headed off after lunch, stopping for a look at a few places along the way. Arriving in Adelaide about 11ish, got lost driving in.........

Adelaide for the 40th, and whilst here we thought it was time to have a look at Trev and see if we could fix the manifold.......now you have heard of opening Pandora Box.....well this was an understatement.
With the assistance of brothers and father (as well as a qualified mechanic spectating) we went to work. The mystery was quickly discovered and the golden spanner from Cooroy obviously didn't tighten all the nuts/bolts on the manifold, hence the back ones had fallen off.....easy ...replace manifold. Whilst this was in process Tom decided he should investigate where this mystery nut (that had punched a hole in the timing belt cover) had come from. Well this made the manifold issue look minor. This nut had come off from the bottom wheel of the second timing belt (balancing belt) and had bashed around inside until finally punch through the cover. Now some history, this occurred when we were in the Kimberley's about 8000kms ago. Anyway the nut was gone, the bottom pulley had wedged itself sideways in the housing and the belt was raped around behind the time belt. Now some will say that we were lucky, other would say we should not have opened up Pandora's Box....your call, either way we were in too deep and the experts were called in (mechanics around the corner). We spend the next 4 days in the comfortable surroundings of Adam and Sasja's place, whilst waiting for the repairs. Was far to hot to do anything except head to the movies, so that's what we did.

With Trev all fixed we made a last dash for home (Kingsville), Cindy needed to be back for work and Tom for golf, and we need to find a place to rent. Was a slow trip through the night but managed to get back safely arriving at 5am in the morning. As little rest and we headed off to view a property in Mt Eliza.....the rest is history, we have now settled in Mount Eliza and both are loving it. Cindy is now commuting to the city and Tom had set up his own business TH Freight Solutions......life is good...........

We hope to finish the rest of our trip around NSW and Qld at a later stage but thanks to all for putting up with us and being part of the journey.....it is something we can truly recommend if you ever get the chance