UP THE MIDDLE

  Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
Friday, May 22, 2009

Since the last entry we have been to; Camden, Wollongong, Lake Conjola (NSW), Canberra (ACT), Mildura, Adelaide, Port Augusta, Coober Pedy (SA), Erldunda, Kings Canyon, Uluru and Alice Springs (NT).

We moved inland from Sydney to Camden to avoid the busy Easter school holiday period.

The area around Camden is one of the original agricultural areas of N.S.W. It is a lovely, neat and prosperous town with a lot of the old original buildings restored and there is a strong sense of pride in the place. The main street is wide with a tree lined central reservation and there are lots of cafes and restaurants.

Camden Town

Wollongong or The Gong as it's affectionately called is NSW’s 3rd largest city. I had been here on school trips to see the steel manufacturing process but my memories were of a dull and dismal place.  Either my memories were wrong or they have done a lot to it as we were impressed with the feel of the city. There are 17 patrolled beaches, a very pretty harbour and Gong is unique for having 2 lighthouses. 

Along the beach to Gong

 

One day we walked about 5kms along the beach into the city, passing a lovely 50m and 25m ocean pool where local residents and surf life savers were – impressively- doing their laps.

Ocean pools & lighthouses at Gong

 


                                           

Autumn colours of Bowral

We took a trip inland to Bowral, a little though now very popular and too busy town, where my godfather used to live. It is on the Southern Highlands and the roads to and from it through Kangaroo Valley are very steep and windy – there is no way we would have wanted to take the van along them as there were lots of blind, hairpin bends.

Hamden Bridge

The entrance to Kangaroo Valley is over castellated Hamden Bridge which reminded us of London Bridge.

Kangaroo Valley

               

Kangaroo Valley

The county though is beautiful with lots of green rolling hills and pastures and very expensive houses with fantastic views over the escarpment to the sea.

Naughty but Nice

The caravan and camping show was on in Sydney so we shot up there via the Grand Pacific Drive over Seacliffe Bridge which was pretty spectacular.

The show itself was much bigger than we imagined and there was not enough time to see everything we wanted although we did manage to buy a portable fridge/freezer and self inflating mattresses for the 4WD trip.

Disaster struck the next day as David broke his front tooth.

We moved down to Lake Conjola and David aka Mr Gappy, got an appointment with a dentist in Ulladulla who told him a root canal and crown was necessary but that it would take about 3-4 weeks to complete treatment.  As we had to be in Alice Springs in little over a month we decided to shoot across to Adelaide and get the work done there.  Lake Conjola was beautiful and we’ve said we’ll definitely go back there on our way up the east coast in 2010/11.

We arrived in Canberra, the capital of Australia, on Friday 24th April with Saturday being ANZAC Day which is a public holiday and huge over here - remembering the troops who fought and died in all wars.

I had always wanted to attend the dawn service in the capital so we got up at 3.00am to get to the war memorial for the service at 5.30.

It was absolutely freezing and the mist and rain came down making it even worse but the service was very moving, especially when they played The Last Post and we were really surprised at how many young people go to the services and are so proud of their grandfathers/relatives war efforts. Thousands of people were there -including the PM Kevin Rudd and the Governor General- and the war memorial itself is beautiful.

Canberra War Memorial

After the service we went round the memorial and were very impressed with the thought and feeling that had gone into it.

The tomb of the unknown soldier was especially poignant in its own chamber with what we thought were 4 full size model soldiers representing each of the armed services standing guard; as we walked around the hall one soldier came marching in to change places with the infantryman and we realised they weren't models at all! They stand guard - absolutely still- for 15 minutes each shift!

Standing guard - unknown soldier

We wandered the empty city after tea and toast to warm us up but the city itself is a bit of a soulless place and not somewhere you would want to live.

After some long days driving and a night spent free camping we arrived in Mildura on the banks of the Murrimbidgee and met up with our fabulous friends Liz and Paul who had decided they would travel with us up the centre to Alice Springs.

Crossing from NSW to South Australia we hit the dreaded border control for fruit and vegetables. This control is an attempt to keep fruit fly and vine pests etc. out of SA and is rigorously enforced.  The border is manned 24/7 and each and every driver is questioned and vehicles/vans searched for any of the huge list of things you can’t take over the border. We’ve heard some crazy stories about the lengths people will go…..even burying jars of honey in the ground and digging them up on the return journey!  Penalties are harsh though and we thought it was easier just to live on fruit salads and avocados for days before.

Adelaide was a city I had always wanted to visit; it seems to be one that you either love or hate and we both loved it.  It is considered a cultural and gourmet city and there are lots of open spaces, wide streets, shopping malls and beautiful heritage buildings. The river Torrens flows through the centre and although quite small you could hire pedalos and catch a paddle steamer for a short trip.  There are lovely big parks alongside the river with lots of walking/running tracks and picnic/bbq areas and because the weather was so good there were tons of people using them.

One day we went to Port Adelaide then to Semaphore and Largs Bay which is where my Mum lived when she was about 11yrs old.  My grandfather was a ship’s captain and the family had moved from India to Sydney, thinking that’s where he would be based.  Unfortunately he spent most of the time docking at Port Adelaide so the family packed up and moved over to Largs Bay….only to have him transferred back to Sydney!

Capt Gappy at Mount Lofty - Adelaide

Other days we spent in the Adelaide Hills, Mount Lofty and Hahndorf region and we had a days wine tasting round the Barossa Valley on an organised tour - meaning no one had to drive home. We went to about 5 wineries including Wolf Blass and Penfolds.  Lots and lots of tasting.

The main purpose of our visit however was to get David’s tooth fixed and the dentist managed to do all the root canal work plus have the crown made and fitted in the 12 days we were there.  Total cost -$2052!!!

We set off the next day and it was great travelling with friends as we could chat on the cb radio, the only problem being that all our silly comments could be heard by everyone else on that channel. 

After stopping in Port Augusta for 2 nights we set off on the 545kms trip to Coober Pedy and before leaving we filled our water tanks as there were no hook ups to water in the caravan parks in CP.  It is the centre of the opal mining industry but does not have black opal like Lightning Ridge. 65% of the locals live underground - in dugout houses - as the temp remains at a constant 23C all year round.  Above ground the temperatures reach 40+ in summer and approach 0 in winter.

Typical underground home

   

Best hotel in Coober Pedy!

Like Lightning Ridge, everywhere you look there are abandoned mine shafts and heaps of fine rock that are the remains of exploratory drilling for opal veins.

Spoil heaps at Coober Pedy

  

Coober Pedy golf course - unusual!

We went on a guided tour one afternoon seeing the Breakaways,

The Breakaways

the Dingo Fence, mine workings, underground homes and the superb underground Serbian church which was remarkable and very large.

Serbian church - Coober Pedy

Hollowed out of solid rock

 


                                                                  

St Linda

The Dingo Fence is a  pest exclusion fence that was built during the 1880s and finished in 1885, to keep dingos out of the relatively fertile south-east part of the continent (where they had largely been exterminated) and protect the sheep flocks of southern Queensland.  It is one of the longest structures on the planet, and the world's longest fence. It stretches 5,320 km  from Jimbour on the Darling Downs through thousands of miles of arid country to the  Eyre peninsular on the Great Australia Bight.  It was only partly successful as Dingoes can still be found in parts of the southern states.

A good buy in Coober Pedy?

View over Coober Pedy

Another 765kms with an overnight stop in Erldunda and we arrived at Kings Canyon. We had decided to stay at Kings Creek Station which is 40 k from Kings Canyon on a working cattle station.

At the border with Liz & Paul

 

Green green grass of Home?

 

 The van sites were red dirt but we had a camp fire between our two vans and both nights, after collecting firewood from land up the road,

Chopper Hilton cutting firewood

we sat around the fire having nibbles and drinks until late in the evening. With little light pollution the stars were very bright and it was so still and quiet it was lovely sitting around the fire looking up at the sky.

Nothing beats a good campfire

Late afternoon we wandered up to a lookout to watch the sunset over the desert plain and although we didn’t see any kangaroos we did meet camels in the bush that I thought were from the station and tried to make friends with….. only later finding out that they were feral!

Feral?? camel at Kings Canyon

At Kings Canyon we did the rim walk which was spectacular

Rim walk Kings Canyon

Beautiful sandstone colours

but lower down in the gorges the flies were pretty bad and at times we needed our fly nets to keep them out of our mouth, eyes, ears, etc.

Wow, what a fashion statement!

The drive to Yulara which is the service village 20kms from Uluru (Ayers Rock) was quite boring as the terrain was stark and unchanging.  The village which is the only place you can stay near Ayers Rock (Uluru) was very up market and had shops, supermarkets, bank, service station, medical and police stations.

On the evening of the day we arrived we went to Uluru to see the sunset at 18.00 and had champagne with Liz and Paul while taking lots of photos. It was good but it’s been so hyped that we were slightly under whelmed by it all.  The next morning we were up at 5.30 to see the sun rise over the rock at 7.10.      

Uluru at Sunset

We had been unsure of whether to climb The Rock as the Aboriginal owners are not keen on people going up but after hearing that the main reason was health and safety rather than spiritual we decided to do the climb.

Ascent of Uluru

     

Across the top of Uluru

The climb was much steeper than we expected but once past half way point the walk became easier up to the trig point right on the top.  From the top, which was like a moonscape with shallow dips and valleys everywhere, there was an incredible 360 degree view over the desert.

At the top of Uluru

We even saw water holes containing prehistoric looking fresh water shrimps. At the base we did the Mala walk to the area of "secret womens’ business" where there was a waterhole and lovely green vegetation.

It was interesting to see how weathered the rock actually is and apparently it is a great sight to see water pouring over the sides when it rains.

We have just heard there is a strong move to close the climb completely so we are glad we decided to do it. 

After Uluru we carried on 44 km to the Olgas (Kata Tjuta) and although we didn’t do the Valley of the Wind walk we did do the Waipa gorge.

Olgas in the distance

The buggers won't get us now!

We arrived in Alice Springs and spent the next 4 days preparing the ute and ourselves for our 4wheel drive camping adventure through the Kimberleys. 

The highlights of that will be in the next Travelpod instalment!