Western Oz leaving late in the touring season
23 September 2015 - 12 January 2016

Sydney to Mataranka, NT

23 - 26 Sep Sydney to Port Augusta

We are startng this trip very late in the season to enable us to rendevous regularly with Zoe and Lincoln. They are unable to leave earlier due to work commitments. We are following a similar route to our 2000 trip revisiting all the highlights but adding a swag of new points of interest.

We're maximising our time in the west by barrelling from Sydney to Port Augusta though travelling a new area for us - heading west on B94 from Yass.

Our timing was accidentally ideal as we caught both wild flowers & the eye-watering, golden, ripening canola crops. The MIA towns of Binalong, Harding and Temora are very pretty. It was cool to see the old CBC bank in Temora where dad lived for part of his youth while his father was the bank manager.

Rain made the whole route superb. We found lots of beautiful free camps on the way thanks to the Wikicamp app on Robbie's phone.

Cute Binalong	Recent rain greened the pastures	Lots of wildflowers of all types after the rain
Beautiful canola		'Chooks' helping themselves to the crops
Dad's old place in Temora - bank opposite corner	Overnight stop beside the Murrumbidgee River	Overnight roadside stop in Mildura
The Adelaide Hills beautiful after rain	Overnight stop in bird sanctuary - Port Augusta	Decision - left to Perth or right to Darwin

26 - 29 Sep Port Augusta to Curtin Springs

We love turning right onto the Sturt Hwy at Port Augusta. It feels like a doorway to the magical part of Australia. This time we are geeted with unexpected flowers & vegetation - a sign of good recent rains. We're still travelling quickly to bypass familiar spots like Woomera, Andamooka & Coober Pedy.

In the past we've been deterred by the dirt road north of Coober Pedy heading to The Breakaways. Not this time. What a spectacular place, and the road in was excellent, probably recently graded. We did a drive through before Steve did a good walk through some of the landforms. Regretted bypassing this site before. The flies were super-abundant though.

As the land got drier we ran into road-kill country. Wedge tail eagles, kites & crows regard this as their road side diners.

Exhilarating when we drove into Curtin Springs van park to find Zoe & Linc waiting for us in their campervan. They'd travelled even faster than us coming from Sydney via Broken Hill in 3 days. We intend bumping into each other regularly now till they head east from Perth while we continue south some months ahead.

We love this sunburnt country	... but it has rained even here	A mountain in a sea of salt
Inquisitive locals at a roadside lunch stop	The unique opal mines of Coober Pedy	'These rigs blow us round as they overtake
The magnificent Breakaways	Steve loved a 2 hour walk	but oh the flies
Sight during the drive through at the Breakaways		Repairs on a solar driven car - Darwin-Adelaide race
Who knows what this Wedgie is waiting for	Mt Connor (the 'false' Uluru)	Curtis Springs - our 1st paid campsite of the trip

29 Sep - 1 Uluru

For the next few days the 4 of us will travel together round Uluru & the Olgas. The temperature is searing now - every day well over 40 but the nights are still cool-ish. The flies are in plague proportions and we are seeing some novel 'protections' adopted by tourists - especially Chinese. The best was a black garbage bag wrapped tightly round the head wth holes only for eyes & mouth and secured by tape. Can't imagine the heat inside that.

The Olgas have been 'upgraded' since our last visit 14 years ago. Viewing platforms and paths are a plus but very disappointed that the end of the Valley of the Winds is now barred. It is a very special view from there that is no longer accessible. The walk into the vast valley in the Olgas is now much easier via a graded path but it loses some of the sense of adventure. In this heat though we weren't complaining.

We drove to the sunset viewing spot & discovered how popular this place has become since 2001. A line of hundreds people replete with folding chairs and nibbles made chosing a spot difficult. This prompted Steve to tell us of his third, very different visit in 1976.

He came, solo, by mini moke and broke an axle on the (then) rough, sand track into Ayres Rock from the highway. Centralian had a coach tour in twice a week and soon after Steve's accident their coach arrived. The driver offered to take the car & Steve & Baz (his dog) to The Rock. Trouble was there was no way to tow the Moke - only to push it. The rear of the Moke was lashed to the coach's bull bar, wheels clear of the ground & Steve steered the Moke. It was a very hairy 50km drive. On arrival the owner of the (only) motel arranged for the part to be flown in from Alice & insisted his mechanic instal it free of charge. In the 3 days it took, 2 Centralian tours gave Steve dinner. Outback generosity!! As Steve was leaving the motel owner showed him a copy of the Alice Springs paper which had a photo of Steve/Moke lashed to the coach with the caption "Moke tows coach to Ayres Rock"

We stayed roadside just outside the park. A ranger told us we had to move from this public land but we admiited to having drunk a few reds so he let us stay.

The first sight is still a thrill	Kids & Steve 'ignoring' The Olgas	Valley of the Winds in the Olgas. Note fly screens
The start of the graded walk into the Olgas	Lunch in the fan-cooled van is a great respite	Line up to view sunset over the Olgas
Every bit of shade was welcome during the walk round The Rock	Spectacular & varying scenery around the base	We dubbed this 'Cooling down rock'
The sunset view spot at Uluru was also crowded so Linc was creative	We travelled four abreast while traversing the park for a few days	Rescued a Thorny Devil from the road

2 - 3 Oct Kings Canyon

On to Kings Canyon after a delightful roadside overnighter. The canyon ranks with Uluru. There is a short, easy walk up the cantyon and a long, spectacular trek around the rim. On our first trip the latter took us 7 hours as we were mesmerised plus the kids needed to climb everything. This time we still dawdled but took 4 hours. Brilliant (but hot) again punctuated by a view through the 'keyhole' into the canyon from the suspended watehole in The garden of Eden.

Typical roadside overnight layout for us when travelling together	Weather always perfect so bar-b-que roadside is de rigeur	After the initial steep climb, time for a rest
One of the spectacular looks down from the rim walk	One of the many climbs Steve & kids made just for the joy of it	Looking way down

4 - 12 Oct Alice Springs - Elliott

At 'the Alice' we discovered a brilliant waterhole - The Gap View hotel, we spent a few hours a few times in their pool & enjoying their cold beer and hot fish & chips. This was facilitated as they let us stay overnight in their carpark, without charge. Steve chatted to a cop manning the bottleshop attached to the pub He was checking ID's as locals who live in 'dry communities' are banned from buying takeaway alcohol. He told Steve that the policy had dramatically reduced rapes & other violent crimes in Alice Springs.

The Alice has numerous interesting sites which we bypassed as we'd been before. Instead we took a long drive to Hermansburg; the site of a really old mission credited with rescuing many tribes during severe droughts. It was founded by the Strehlow family one of whom also started the foundation outside the Alice which is not just a fascinating museum but also the repository (in the vault) of most of the sacred relics of the surrounding tribes. They were sadly donated by elders as gradually they died without having suitable successors. The mission also has numerous paintings by local indigenous artists including the famous Albert Namatjira. Incidentally the rights to his works have just been returned to his family due to the efforts of Linc's (Zoes husband) uncle Scott.

We stayed overnight at Glen Helen Gorge camp. Hired canoes & swam paddled through the gorge. So nice to be cool for a while. At breakfast outside the van a galah landed on Steve's shoulder to be fed some meusli. Weird, till we saw it fly onto the shoulder of the caretaker - his pet.

The next days saw us gawking and swimming at the many beautiful gorges & gaps of the West McDonnel Ranges. We overnighted at lookouts & creeks. Heaps of exotic birdlife.

Headed north and stayed overnight in the Devils Marbles carpark. Excellent place for a scamble amongst the marbles. We met a young couple there skateboarding from Darwin to Alice & beyond.

Moving on we stayed overnight at the Tennant Creek Reservoir. Lovely spot. An indigenous ranger tried to move us on but again we had been drinking red so had to decline. Instead she joined us & told us a fascinating story about her foray into western life. It was unsuccessful as she found her well paid PA job was financing her relatives' drinking and gambling so she quit to become a local ranger. There are major problems in town due to the twin curses of alcohol & gambling.

Northwards to Elliott and the nearby lake; heaven for birdlife. On arrival though as we were deploying our awning we were blindsided by a ferocious willy willy. It tore the awning supports out of our hands & threw them onto the roof. The result was 5 holes in the roof membrane, a smashed roof vent and one support completely torn off. Lucky we don't anticipate much rain for the duration.

We didn't swim much in the lake due to muddy edges, bird droppings and freshwater crocs.

Paradise in the heat - pool, cold beer, cheap heats & shade	Hermansburg mission	Photo of arrival at Hermansburg of visitors by camel
Glen Helen Gorge complete with swimming hole	The view down from one of our overnight stops	An inquisitive local
Who's having the more fun?	Prepared for an outing	A West McDonald gorge
Devils Marbles carpark	Lakeside camp site near Elliott	Robbie wire-lashing the broken awning support before we drive on

13 - 14 Oct Mataranka Springs

Mataranka is a favourite of hours. The pub is friendly. It's where we discovered rodeos, on our previous trip. The springs are otherworldy in this dry country. On the walk to the springs we are first met by benign invaders - peacocks. Then hordes of bats in the trees which unbeknowns to us will provide grisly entertainment later. The main spring is located in a palm filled oasis populated by less benign invaders - wild pigs. I suspect the local hotel culls any unruly ones as the ones we met were pacifists.

On the way out we heard a loud clap and on investigating found an awesome spectacle. The fruit bats were swooping to the creek to drink on the wing. That creek is home to a myriad of freshwater crocs who quite fancy bat au naturale. As a bat swooped down a croc would sometimes swoop up resulting in a grisly end to the bat's drink.

After an overnighter beside the road to Elsey Station we headed for a swim to Bitter Springs. This like those at Mataranka these have been upgraded since our last visit, but these are still quite natural except for a swimming entry point. This waterway is a flowing creek so you climb in next to the spring & glide with the current downstream through a fairy land of algae & plants. The growth is prolific as the water is warm & mineral rich, straight from the springs.

Katherine Gorge next stop.

Beautiful Mataranka Springs	Zoe & Linc have caught up after staying with friends in the Alice	One of our welcome committee at Mataranka
Site of the bat feast. You can see 4 crocs; one on the right has just eaten	Zoe enjoying Bitter Springs

Go forward to Katherine Gorge to Wittenoom

Go forward to Karijini to Perth

Go forward to Bunbury to Sydney