Unfortunately, last night we heard that Dad had been taken to hospital with difficulty breathing, so we were a bit anxious about what the day would bring. Praise God, he was sent home, so that meant we were able to see him and give him a hug straight away. So, we left Benarkin early so that we would arrive at Mum & Dad's for morning coffee time. We drove right up onto their front lawn with the van still attached and were excited to see their surprised faces ...

Continuing north from Dubbo on the homeward run, we have taken some of the less travelled roads as they are often so much more picturesque and a lot of the towns have an 'old world' charm. One area we drove through was the Kaputar National Park, which had some steep, windy sections as well as quite a few water crossings - good to wash the underside of the van and car! We came across emus, kangaroos and cows and went for a nice walk to see "Sawn Rocks" - a rocky...

The rain and cold have continued to follow us... or we have folllowed it, from Broken Hill to Dubbo. The areas are so green now due to all the rain and we have seen lots of puddles of water everywhere along our route. As well as the water, we have seen lots of emus, goats and kangaroos - almost hitting one big one with the car (phew!). After arriving in Dubbo, the centre of western NSW, the rain stopped and we were left with heavy dew and then a couple of crisp,...

We left Coober Pedy in a misty fog and continued down the Stuart Highway towards Port Augusta, passing lots of caravans heading north for the warmer weather! The desert area is looking quite green due to the unseasonal weather which is nice to see. We had a lunch stop at Woomera to see if anything had changed since we were here with the boys in 1998. It's pretty quiet but interesting with its displays of rockets and satellite debris. The low cloud continued, bu...

So, here we are in Coober Pedy! Initially disappointed that we are unable to continue on the outback tracks of South Australia, however, we have to adjust and look for 'plan B', so we will continue south on the bitumen to Port Augusta and then see what develops with the weather and road conditions. In the meantime, we have had a look around this dusty, underground town of dirt piles and mechanical rubble and attended an underground AOG church this morning, whic...