We made it to The Rock !

We arrived late morning Monday (morning of Day 4) after three pretty rugged days in the car. The kids have been great, however Tess started to turn a bit feral on the afternoon of Day 3 (we decided it was a combination of four sherbert lollies and cooping up a red head for too long).

Day 1 was a whole lot of driving (680ks) and after leaving home at 6am, our first stop out of the car was Horsham for a cuppa! Then we drove some more.....arriving mid afternoon at the Motor Museum in Birdwood, SA for a visit. We stopped for the night 12hrs after we started, and the kids were very excited to kick the footy and play on the playground while we set up camp. We Bush Camped at the Tarlee Rec Reserve (SA), and had the place to ourselves until a couple of yobbos arrived in a V8 commodore at midnight - it sounded like there were four of them - and they very kindly camped in their swags 50m away.

Day 2 involved a whole lot more driving (705kms) with the night spent a few hundred meters off the Stuart Hwy at Ingomar Station (the Station is 34kms from the hwy), and the highlight was the fire we had and the moon that greeted us from up behind the camper. It was Easter Saturday night and Max is certain he heard the Easter Bunny arrive. Max was out of his sleeping bag and was freezing cold and shivvering, but was too scared to move in case the Easter Bunny saw him. So - he lay for 30 mins and then slowly opened his eyes - once the coast was clear he got back in his bag! The Bunny didn't disappoint - a Chrunchie Easter Bunny each!

Day 3 saw more driving (710kms) but also included a stop at Coober Pedy. Max was rapt with his 'black opal' find - fancy finding it right there in the dirt where everyone's been walking (he's realised now that it's probably just a black rock but is keeping it anyway). We also visited the underground church and said a prayer for Gidgee (for those that don't know - we had to put him down on Thurs - due to renal failure - not at all the way we wanted to start the trip, so we delayed taking off until Friday). Our night was spent 80kms short of The Rock - another great little bush camp beside the Hwy.

Day 4 only involved a little bit of driving - yay ! We got to The Rock mid morning however were unable to climb it due to the wind. It will be closed till the weekend so we'll settle for walking around the base (or part of it). The kids thought it was great, but were probably just as excited about the pool at the Campground! Day 5 was a big walking day - we did the walk through the Olgas and the three hour trek seemed to tire us all out except Max - he could have run it twice. Tess managed to walk 80% of the way which was a big effort, but was absolutely exhausted at the end of the day. We watched the sunset over The Rock from the lookout site at the Campground - we're glad we didn't drive back in to see it at The Rock - the kids were more interested in digging in the sand and playing with the ants! We leave The Rock today and will head across to Kings Canyon (another big walk on the cards), then into the West McDonald Ranges and into Alice Springs by the weekend.

Cheers, The Filmers