Category: Travel (Page 2 of 14)

After a cup of coffee and a Sad Brecky, I packed the car and was on my way. It was a late start, as this was only a short hop of 307 km to Barkly Homestead. I would have driven longer, but Eve, my ex-truckie fried from the September trip, kept mentioning it like it was a “must-do”, so I booked the smallest cabin they had.

My little friends the termite mounds were back along the sides of the road.

There was also ample evidence of the bushfires they had up here. Sometimes it was only on one side of the highway, but other times it was clear it had jumped it. Not that jumping it would be a huge feat – this major highway right up the middle of Australia only has one lane each way.

It was mid-morning. I looked at the heat gauge on my dash and it was already 37C.

Every now and then I’d see a dressed-up termite mound.

Here’s the view. No wonder people get the urge to put Grandpa’s old shirt to good use on a termite mound! There’s nothing much to see for miles.

I had to stop the car and show you these colours. No filters, no fakery. This is the Outback.

As I was taking that last photo, I looked up and sure enough, there was a hawk floating lazily in the sky. I grew to look for them and I’d lean forward when the car was passing underneath them, so that I could see the patches of white underneath their wings.

The hawks (and sometimes eagles) have learned that if they hang around the highway, a car or truck will hit an animal and they’ll have an easy feed. As we learned in the Bird Show at Healesville Sanctuary, these birds can spot a mouse moving from 2 km away. A dead kangaroo in the middle of the road ?

Too easy.

There have been MANY dead kangaroos by the side of the roads, all in various states of decomposition. In a little car such as my trusty Golf, I’m making sure that I leave a town well after sunrise and I’m safely ensconced in my room when the sun goes down. Twilight, dawn and night are when the wild animals roam. The massive road trains that are here have no cares – they’re big enough to mow anything down and keep right on truckin’.

Made it! This is the last town before I turn right and start edging my way across Queensland for a while.

I tell you what – it’s bloody hot. I’m so glad the aircon in the car broke before I went so I could get it fixed in time. The trip would be absolutely brutal if I didn’t have the respite from the heat.

I had so much time to kill that I decided to find a café and grab a coffee and something to eat while I read my book for a while. I passed by one café but it looked a bit dodgy, so I kept on going. The second one looked like a busy, bustling place.

How could I pass up a slice of purple yam cake? It was delicious.

The main drag of Tennant Creek on a Friday morning. No one was out unless they absolutely had to be. The heat was not mucking around.

I got in the car and kept driving, then a few minutes out of town I saw a sign to Mary Ann Dam. It was less than 2 km and the road was sealed, so you know the rule.

I swung the wheel.

What a fabulous spot. The wind was blowing over the water towards me so there was a cool breeze. There were cockies and other birds squawking and singing in the trees.

I decided that I’d spend an hour here and read my book and just chill.

About 20 minutes before I left, a car load of young guys arrived and they went further down the dam. After a little while, I heard their music start up.

I now have Shaggy and Rayvon’s ‘Angel’ on Mum’s Boppin’ Bangers. It sounded so good as I was reading there.

After a while, I packed up and hit the highway again. And here it is – Threeways.

So called because it’s a T intersection with only 3 ways to go.

I swung a right and then I was heading across Australia towards the border between the Northern Territory and Queensland.

The heat haze of the road was constantly there.

I still had a couple of hundred kilometres to go. A mixture of murders on ‘Casefile’ and belting out bangers from Rumours got me through.

It’s a bit hard to miss Barkly Homestead with these two out the front!

Barkly Homestead was a strange mix of good and bad. When I arrived there was an hour before check-in, so I wandered around the gift shop.

This was a fantastic place! It was full of high quality stuff – not like the normal junk you see at the greasy roadhouses. I bought up big here. I needed a new “going out” bag that could fit my new phone, I bought Christmas presents for the girls, I bought presents for Liga2’s sons and …

I bought Scout a VERY expensive toy that she’ll probably destroy in 5 minutes. But I couldn’t resist the squeaker. I know she’ll be the same.

So yes. If you’re going past, definitely drop in and have a look at the gift shop.

I was finally able to do my laundry! It’s the little things that make all the difference.

I was down to my last outfit, so I was very glad to change a fiver for some coins and get this job done. I sat in the shade and read my book, listening to all of the birdsong around me.

Barkly Station waters its grass, so the birds are drawn here.

It wasn’t just the white and the pink and grey cockies that loved this place. So did the Guinea Fowl. I couldn’t get over the noises they were making.

So what was bad?

1. The food. I ordered a steak sandwich and I had to leave half of it.

2. NO WIFI. This was the second day that I had no internet. I don’t like being cut off from the hive.

3. Green poo. Apparently drinking the bore water does inexpressible things to your bowels. It’s fluorescent, too. Quite a thing to start your day with!

4. The bugs in the room.

When I checked into the room, I saw that there was a can of Mortein provided. I should have paid more attention.

As soon as night fell, I was invaded by these black flying bugs. They were coming in from the ensuite window, which some idiot had helpfully left open, disregarding all the holes in the flyscreen.

Once I’d balanced on the shower base to shut the window as far as I could, I blasted the room with Mortein and left them to it.

In the morning as I was enthroned on the loo, I counted the bodies. Nearly 70 bugs lay there.

Yuck.

Still no internet. Hopefully things get better in Mt Isa!

Dad Joke of the Day:

Our Crazy Road Trip has come to an end!

I was supposed to go with the Ligas when they went to see Uluru at sunrise, but I couldn’t get properly to sleep. My brain was obviously concerned that I had a 9-hour drive the next day, and getting up at 4:30 to see something I’ve already seen 2 months ago was probably pretty silly.

When the alarm went off, I told them where the car keys were and I wished them good luck. “I hope the Rock glows orange for you!” I said from under the covers as they snuck out the door.

It was the right decision. My Apple watch showed that as soon as they left, I fell into a deep sleep for 2 hours. No wonder I felt as fresh as a daisy for the whole day!

Liga sent me these shots of what they saw, so I’d say they had a worthwhile experience! Then it was time to say goodbye.

Liga hugged me and said, “We’re friends for life!”

It’s true. The three of us have travelled for over a week in my little trusty Golf and we’re still friends. The Golf even made it into the photo!

Then I headed off on my own.

I can’t lie. I call myself an “extroverted introvert” and the introvert inside me LOVES solo road trips.

I wasn’t hungry when I left Yulara, so I drove happily for a couple of hundred kilometres before I stopped for Frogdancer’s sad breaky.

I was all alone here. There was a fairly strong wind that made the trees make strange noises. It was a little bit creepy at first, but then I leaned into it and it was fine.

The (sad) breakfast of champions!

Then, around 30 minutes of driving later, I had a decision to make.

Do I turn right to go straight back home the way we came… or do I turn left?

Well, we all know the answer to that! I haven’t renamed this part of the trip as “Frogdancer’s Crazy Road Trip” for nothing. Yes, I turned left and headed towards Alice Springs. I thought I’d probably get there at lunchtime, and there was a fabric shop I particularly wanted to visit.

The colours of this place are beautiful.

I want to make sure that I capture them all in my Central Australia quilt I’ll make (one day.) I remembered seeing an Indigenous quilt shop in the heart of Alice Springs, so once I got there, I filled up the tank and then cruised around until I found it.

I think I bought far more than I need… especially considering that I bought fabric when I was here in September. Oh well! It’ll all get used eventually.

I had a lovely lunch of rice paper rolls, then called Mum and Dad when I was walking back to the car. I headed off again, but I have a new rule this time.

If there’s a turn-off or a historical marker that looks interesting, GO AND LOOK AT IT.

So that’s how I learned I was on the Tropic of Capricorn.

The colours and the sheer expanse of the land are immense, but the sky adds so much. As I drive, the clouds hang, seemingly so low above me, adding sculptural shape to the vista I’m seeing. It changes all the time and I’m loving it.

Evan28 has a new podcast out called ‘Long Play’, which has a guest each time talking about their favourite album. He and the guest go through the tracks together, talking about the music/lyrics/whatever.

The first one I listened to while driving was Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours.’ I remember when this came out. My friend Simone’s older sister bought it and we listened to it in their rumpus room and we LOVED it. But being so young, I had very little idea of all the insane marriages, divorces and affairs that were going on when the album was being made. The boys soon brought me up to speed while I was listening to the pod and it was fascinating.

I haven’t listened to this album in years. Once I finished the pod, I downloaded Rumours from Spotify while I still had internet. This was a fabulous decision. Little did I know, but I was soon going to have two days with no internet, but this meant I still had banging music to sing along to when I was driving.

I texted Evan28 about me downloading it and he replied, “Yay! That’s the aim of the podcast!”

I arrived at the Devil’s Marbles Hotel at around 4 PM. I could’ve gone further to Tennant Creek but I wanted to see the Devil’s Marbles at sunset. I was so glad I did, though I doubted myself when I saw a sign in the hotel: We have no wifi. Don’t even ask. Just talk to your neighbour.”

I haven’t heard much about the Marbles. I assumed that they’d be in a neat pile, just a few of them.

Um… no. There were lots of them and they were scattered over quite a large area. Who knew?

Unlike Uluru, there was hardly anyone else here! Just two other couples, and we were walking around this huge space, so I only ever stumbled across them once. (You’ll see the photo later.)

The sun was heading towards the horizon, but there was still plenty of time to wander around and take photos as the marbles glowed more orange.

I could hear the sounds of animals moving through the undergrowth, but although I stopped and looked, I couldn’t see anything. I obviously needed a Liga with me to make something appear.

The Devil’s Marbles are granite and are formed from erosion. They were all once buried under soil, but over thousands of years the soil has been blown away and the shapes are revealed.

Erosion wears away at these marbles too, as bits of them fall to be ground down into sand. They sit on a huge sheet of granite underneath the ground, so I’d say that this erosion thing is set to continue for thousands more years until the granite is all finally exposed.

The sun sank lower towards the horizon.

Then the magic began to happen.

Moon and sun.

Even rocks get pimples, it seems.

Looking out, with the Marbles behind me and birdsong in the air as night begins to fall. How beautiful is this?

I found one of the French tourists as I walked back to my car.

I stopped the car a couple of times to capture the absolute wonder of what I was seeing.

It was worth the drive, I think!

Only a short hop tomorrow of around 400 Km or so. I need to do some laundry… urgently!

Dad Joke of the Day:

I’ve mentioned before that I have a chronic cough and it’s been pretty good during the trip, thanks to lots of peppermint oil in my water, cough lozenges, chewing gum and medication from the throat specialist. However, when I woke up at 5:30 with a cough, I knew that it wasn’t going to stop happening. There’s a lot of dust involved with sleeping in a cave.

Luckily, I’d gathered my things together the night before, so I grabbed everything – including a book and my reading glasses, naturally – and headed quietly outside.

It was pitch black, but after I’d enjoyed using the amenities block, the sunrise had started. I was too late for spectacular photos, but I got these. In the top shot, I was rapt to see a ‘planetary’ friend.

My alarm was supposed to go off at 7, so for the rest of the time, I sat in the kitchen area and read my book. I have to say, for anyone paying attention to the ‘Camping’ word in this property’s title, Riba’s Underground Camping is a pretty good site. Everything is clean, the kitchen has everything you’d want and the amenities block also has washing machines as well as the usual, and it’s only a short drive from town.

At 7, I went and woke them up. Because there was no ensuite, there’d be no coffee – or so I assumed. But Liga had planned ahead. I don’t remember if I told you that she’d asked me to buy a mini gas bottle for her camping oven? We had our coffee after all.

My morning coffee next to my Antarctica Pee Bottle.

Liga and I sat and chatted and she told me some stories about her army life in Latvia. She was selected to be part of really tough training for what we’d call Army Reserves. She was the only woman out of 20 participants. She’s keeping up with them too, though they’ve learned that it’s wise to wake her with a cup of coffee in the mornings!

Water is such a precious commodity here. The water for the town is brought in from a bore 28 KMs away.

After that, we were on the road again on our last full day together.

Just as we turned onto the Stuart Highway, you wouldn’t credit it. A herd of brumbies was munching grass right up near the road. They couldn’t have gotten any closer unless they were sitting in the car with us! I couldn’t believe it. When I was here in September, all the brumbies we saw were way off the road and hidden amongst trees.

I don’t know what special magic Latvians bring with them, but I’ve never seen so much wildlife in all my days. Fortunate Frogdancer has nothing on these two!

We stopped for a break at an isolated stop and Liga decided she was going to do a bush wee. As soon as she started to disappear among the trees, of course an RV drove in. I’m pretty sure that it wouldn’t have bothered Liga though.

But then she REALLY got her wish, when we stopped for lunch at a very greasy roadhouse.

Like, seriously? Who thinks this is great decor?

“There are many spiders’ webs up there,” said Liga. Some of the bras and hats had dates written on them that went back YEARS.

While I was eating my small bowl of chips – I figured that was a safe thing to buy here – the girls went into the back snooker room to look at the pinball machine. Suddenly, I heard shrieks of fear and they came rushing back in.

“There was a big bug… a cockeroach!” said Liga2, her eyes as big as dinner plates.

“I felt something on my foot and it was on it, trying to eat me,” said Liga, who was unfortunately wearing sandals.

When I finished my chips, I went to investigate. When Liga flipped it off her foot, it landed on its back so it was stuck. Now, I have a small foot, but even so, this thing was LARGE.

We left it there for the staff to find and went back to the car.

I don’t know why this roadhouse has a thing for discarded garments, but here we are.

On we went towards Uluru. Liga took over the driving again and I sat back and relaxed.

As we were coming up to the turnoff towards Yulara (which is the resort beside Uluru) I saw the sign for the roadhouse. Erlunga.

Hang on, wasn’t that the roadhouse we stopped at that had the exact centre of Australia on it? It turns out that yes, yes it does.

I was so pleased that I’d done the trip in September, because otherwise I would never have known about it.

We also looked at the emus and heard their strange low, hollow calls to each other.

“They are very ugly birds,” said Liga. She wasn’t wrong. These ones looked desiccated and strange.

The turn-off to reach Uluru is still nearly 300kms long. On the way is the lookout for Mt Conner, the ‘Fake” Uluru.

“It is such a shame,” said Liga. “This is beautiful rock in its own right – very spectacular – yet no one cares about it.”

And here we are.

Liga2 and I drove out to the Rock on our own after Liga wanted to stay in the room and wash her hair. She was cross because in her booking, she’d asked for 3 beds and the email arrived confirming that… and then once we were here, we were given 2 Queen beds.

Liga2 and I took the 16 km drive to see Uluru and she was delighted.

So was I, though I wasn’t nearly as Instagram-worthy about it!

We drove around for a while, so Liga2 could get her bearings for the next day when they’d be driving on their own, then we went back, found Liga, and the girls swept me off for a delicious dinner as a thank-you for the trip.

Even though I’d cuddled that gorgeous little joey the day before, I still ordered Wallaby Ragu. I regret nothing.

The weather forecast for the next few days was for cloudy skies, with tomorrow morning being the clearest. The plan is to wake up at 4:30 AM to go and see sunrise at the Rock.

Dad Joke of the day:

We woke up to rain the next morning. How lucky – imagine if we were trying to bushwalk in the rain? It would have been miserable. As it was, we packed our bags, Liga and I had some Latvian hazelnut chocolate as a snack – Liga2 had had the forethought to save a slice or two from her pizza last night – and we set off.

When I was in England last year, Deana gave me a pair of her pink socks that she was going to donate to the op shop. Since then, these socks have been to Ireland, Kangaroo Island, Canada, Alaska, the Red Centre, Kakadu and they’ve even jumped out of a plane. Now, they’re on the road again!

Today we were heading to Adelaide. This day was the first day with sustained driving, where we’d be sitting in the car for hours on end. Europeans aren’t often used to this type of travel, so I tried my best to limit long driving days as much as possible in the itinerary. However, given the time and the distances I had to work with, some boring days in the car were inevitable.

We drove until nearly midday, when we hit Dimboola and stopped for lunch. We found a retro café and I had a BLT that somehow disappeared without a trace in a very short time.

Dimboola looks to be a pretty little town.

Our next stop was just 7 minutes away – The Pink Lake.

I’ve already been here, of course, when I was coming back from Kangaroo Island in February. My friend Helen had told me about how you can harvest pink salt here, but all I had back then was a coffee mug. This time, I came prepared.

The Pink Lake looks its pinkest when it’s cloudy. The day was a little cloudy and the Ligas got to see the full effext of the colour. Once the car stopped,we raced down to the lake, where I instantly started scooping up salt. Liga was kind enough to sneak a photo of my sumptuous arse in all its glory…

We stayed here for a little while, then we jumped in the car again and headed off. Liga wanted to listen to the news, so we learned that there were bushfires to the north and south of us. My trusty little Golf kept heading in between them along our way.

We stopped each time we saw some silo art.

The Ligas were very quiet by the time we reached our hotel just before 6 that evening. They were desperate to escape ‘Mum’s Boppin’ Bangers’ and the confines of the car, so they headed off along the foreshore to stretch their legs and get dinner, while I set off to see Evan28 for dinner.

Yes, how lucky was this? Evan28 and Jenna were in Adelaide for Jenna’s sister’s 21st.

We had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant and then we met the Ligas for drinks. Unfortunately wthe wind was fierce on the foreshore, so we retreated to an inside bar for an hour or so and talked.

After the Ligas left to capture the last of the sunset on the pier – they got some amazing photos – Evan28 and I stayed until the bar decided to close. I love when I have one-on-one with my kids.

I asked Jenna and her Mum about what we could do in Adelaide in the morning before we head up to Port Augusta. There doesn’t seem to be a lot to do in the city, but we did get the helpful warning to keep our car doors locked in Port Augusta!

Our Port Augusta day is also Latvian Independence Day. This is a Big Deal to Latvians. In 1918 they kicked the Russians out and enjoyed the golden age of independence before the Russians came back and took over the place during WWII. In 1991 they kicked them out again after 50 years of being occupied by Russia. Understandably, Latvians are keen to celebrate their independence.

After we got to Adelaide, I said to Liga that she should create a playlist of Latvian songs on Spotify that we could play as we drove to Port Augusta. We spent all day listening to what sounded to me like mostly jolly songs. I couldn’t understand a word, so I just listened to the melodies as I drove along.

Liga was determined to try kangaroo and googled a place that had excellent reviews for their char-grilled kangaroo steaks. It was a pub in Port Adelaide. We had the morning to kill before lunch, so Liga2 decided that she wanted to go to Rundle Mall to do some shopping. Liga wanted to stay at Henley Beach a while longer and enjoy the sand. I drove Liga2 to the mall and then found a shady bench under a tree and read a book for a couple of hours. We met at the British Hotel in Port Adelaide for lunch.

It was lovely. The girls had brought little Latvian flags to celebrate the day.

Happy and free Latvians!

Now that was a good effort! I must have been hungry.

We drove straight to Port Augusta after this and I’m sitting on my bed typing this as we’re getting ready for bed. Tomorrow will be an early start, because I want to spend as much time in Coober Pedy as we can, because I’ve never been there.

It’ll be a slightly larger driving day tomorrow, before the big one to get to Uluru on Wednesday.

Dad Joke of the Day:

We were up bright and early to catch the 9 AM ferry from Sorento to Queenscliff. Today was the Great Ocean Road! I took myself along here a couple of years ago on a Little Adventure.

Well, the Liga’s are here!

Quick code for telling them apart when I’m writing. Liga is my Liga from Antarctica. The other Liga will be ‘Liga2’ because she’s called Liga too.

I picked them up from the airport, and we went home to a lovely dinner cooked by Georgia: pizza straight from our pizza oven. Too easy! (At least for me.)

The agenda for the first day of the trip was to take them to Healesville Sanctuary to see all of the Australian animals, birds and reptiles. Liga was feeling almost personally attacked by the weather. She was freezing cold in Sydney and it was showering today in Healesville.

“Who ever heard of it being cold in Australia?” she protested. But apart from the weather, I don’t think we could have had a better day at Healesville. The animals and birds really turned it on, and I think that it was probably a good thing that the skies were grey. We practically had the whole place to ourselves.

We saw everything they wanted to see. It was funny to see the animals through others’ eyes. We were in the kangaroo enclosure and Liga said, “It’s incredible to think of how a kangaroo is put together. Front legs like a bunny, ass like a deer…” I’d never thought of kangaroos like that. To me, they’re just everyday, normal animals.

We were walking towards the platypus building and Liga said, “We have similar animal in Latvia called Beaver.” I thought to myself, ‘She has no idea how small a platypus is!’ I kept quiet and yes – she was surprised. She also thought the Tasmanian Devils would be “small, like rat.” Wrong again!

Spoonbills. I wonder how they got their name???

The animals really came to the party. Here is a male koala calling the girls.

Liga has a thing for koalas and we saw plenty, including a mother cuddling her joey. The only thing that would have made it perfect for them is if they were allowed to hold, or even pat the koalas, but the Sanctuary doesn’t allow that as it stresses the koalas out.

The Tasmanian Devils were something I was looking forward to seeing. I saw them here when I was a child and I’ve never forgotten it. When I came here on my Little Adventure a couple of years ago, they were sug in their burrows and refused to show themselves. This time though – we were there at feeding time!

Cranky little buggers. They were fed a mix of wallaby, possum and fish. All the bones, fur and scales were left on, as Tassie Devils are scavengers.

The Ligas were very excited to see them. Liga2 said, “The Tasmanian Devils aren’t in any zoos in Europe as far as I know. We don’t get to see them.” She bought a Tassie Devil soft toy for her kids as a souvenir.

We went to the open-air bird show and it was lovely to see the look of delight they shared with each other as an eagle flew over their heads. So many little things were just perfect – except for the showers and my internal freak out when my phone died and I had enormous trouble finding a charger. Fortunate Frogdancer finally found a girl in the café who had one, so the day was saved. (I needed Google Maps to get back to the Maroondah Highway… Phew!)

If I was unlucky enough to be reincarnated as a bird, I bet this would be me…

The next morning we loaded up the car and set off for a day on the Mornington Peninsula – the first leg of our Crazy Road Trip.

Dad Joke of the Day: