14/6/14
At the end of our day with Daryl and Delpheen in Kununurra we received news that Brett and Meggan were flying to Adelaide in readiness for the arrival of our first grandchild. Only problem was we were about 3700km from the Flinders Medical Centre where Meggan would be the next day.
A quick rescheduling of events saw us on the road the next morning at sun up. We managed to get passed Katherine before stopping at a road side stop for the night.
During the day our "fuel system" light came on. After a brief chat to a couple of road train drivers we continued on into Timber Creek. From there we had phone coverage to chat to the mechanic at Peter Kittle Toyota in Pt Lincoln and we were back on the road confident it was most likely dirty fuel from Kununurra that had set off the alert. After trying to have the car seen to at Tennant Creek only to find the Toyota Dealership closed, we are now booked into Kittles in Alice Springs for Tuesday (day after tomorrow) From there we should be home in 2 or 3 days.
While in Timber Creek we called in on their annual "festival" . Only purchase was a sausage in bread.
From there we travelled east through quite mountainous country that feeds the Victoria River. For parts of the trip the road follows the Victoria through the mountains providing stunning views.
After refuelling and restocking the fridge in Katherine we set up at King River Roadside Stop. Nothing to rave about but it had toilets and was free. Watching the Crows live and seeing them beat Noth Melbourne was a highlight of the day!
15/6/14
Early rise at 6 (ish) as we had to get some miles done.( hard to get Tony out of bed! ) Keen to do the thermal pools around Mataranka a place called Bitter Springs as we heard it was not as touristy. Correct! On arrival not one person there. However within 5 minutes of a quiet stroll down the track we were overtaken by a bus load of young ones!! ( At 8 in the morning Tony thought he was dreaming as a number of bikini clad girls stripped off in front of him!! I had to hold him back and suggest maybe we will do it another time as there was a severe lack of guys for myself!!) anyway that was probably the most exciting time Tony has had since leaving Kununnara so he has handed the blog to me. Not a lot to report other than a very long trail of white caterpillars (grey nomads towing their white vans) continuously travelling in the opposite direction to us!! We decided we need to eat lunch at either 11 or 3 in order to be able to find a spot in a roadside stop! Had a count of 14 vans where we had lunch today! Not on our lonesome. So trying to get smarter we decided to head for a night camp spot 6 Kms off the bitumen on a dirt road for a bit of serenity. Wrong!! 15 vans in the middle of nowhere at a placed called The Pebbles. Very nice area though and we even have phone coverage.
16/6/14
Big travel day today. Refuelled in Tennant Creek then continued south to Ti Tree for lunch after a power nap at Wycliffe where they claim to have seen more UFOs than anywhere else on Australia.
The stop at Ti Tree included a shower in the caravan park and we left feeling very refreshed.
After refuelling again in Alice we set up camp in Slug's driveway before settling in for a fantastic night with Slug, Toje, Lina and Steph. Lina, Slug's sister in law, cooked up a storm with delicious soup followed by home made pizzas. Only down side was Joanne wasn't able to join us as she was in Darwin on business. Fantastic to catch up with such good mates so far from home. Although Toje played it down, it was great to hear he has become a bit of a celeb in Alice, he even has a program called The Pill on local community radio. What a star!
17/6/14
Slugs hospitality continued as we had showers at his place followed by a great breakfast provided by Lina.
Had the car booked into Kittles Toyota in Alice and arrived at 9:00am only to find all mechanics fully engaged, meaning we went to the back of the line. Suffice to say I wasn't real happy!
Unfortunately Kittles couldn't tell us when the car would be ready. If we had know it would take all morning we would have loved to have visited the School of the Air and caught up with Steph who has picked up a contract for the first 2 terms. Unsure of how much time we had we finished up spending the next 2 hours in the mall in Alice. Found a really interesting art gallery come museum that provided an excellent insight into traditional Aboriginal life.
The car had a new fuel filter and we were ready to go by about midday.
After a brief lunch stop at Eldunda we set up camp in another road side rest area about 80km north of Marla. After a -1 degree night in Alice last night our first night back in SA seems relatively mild. Probably only about 5 degrees! Tonight the socks and winter woollies have been dragged out of the bottom cupboard. Boy we had it good up north!
18/6/14
Big driving day today. Left the free camp at about 8:00am and arrived at Marla Bore about 8:45. Had phone coverage so got some good news from Brett that the baby is growing as expected. Megs and Brett will be staying on in Adelaide on the advice of doctors but at this stage it's all systems go.
Called into Coober Pedy to refuel and picked up some really unhealthy lunch at the bakery.
Arrived at Glendambo about 4:30 and later had a nice meal at the Glendambo Pub. After tea tried to understand what all the fuss is about the NSW V Qld State of Origin.
We are very much looking forward to getting into Adelaide tomorrow night.
19/6/14
Last day on the road today. Left Glendambo early and drove nonstop through to Redhill where we had a short lunch stop. Arrived back in Adelaide at 4:00pm and headed to West Lakes to catch up with Mum and so ends a brilliant trip. One made special by the people we travelled with and the incredible experiences we chalked up along the way.