Isabel and her Bear

Here’s one for grade 3c at SHPS.

Isabel went to great lengths to get her bear (Honey) to the top and as you can see, she’s quite proud of her feat.

We made it!

Well 3 of us did.
It was a very arduous climb (and a bit scary at times) but we got there and even better - we got down again!

Uluru is a magical place - words can't describe it - it really needs to be seen to be believed

Well here we are at the Rock!

Another long traveling day but we are now set for 3 nights of not moving. Thus we put the annex up. It will be interesting to see if the girls survive sleeping in it at its still hitting zero degree’s at night.

From the photo you can see the kids are happy and Mum is ecstatic after spending 3 hours do the clothes washing to then be cooking dinner!

Looking forward to a big day exploring the place tomorrow. Hopefully the pilgrimage to the top will be successful…

Ducks. Dog and trainer on their morning run !

He has 30 ducks - so he did this about 5 times with different ducks and different dogs .
You see the wierdest things on the road !

More Photo's

I try to attach them - takes hours and then doesn't (Arrrggghhh!) - so here's the second attempt ..

A Missed Day

For those who studiously look at the blog each day - sorry about yesterday but there is no CDMA access at Kulgura (shocking isn't it).
Anyway we spent an uneventful day driving into the NT and stopped in a remote area next to the highway just over the border.
It was all pretty uneventful until Louisa suggested a fire - which attracted a family which included a guitar player (very useful around a fire underneath a brilliant starry sky) and a duck trainer (go figure!) - Yep he dresses up ducks and has his dogs herd them around - much too the amusement of everyone - they're heading up to the Alice and Darwin shows - keeps the whole brood in a horse float!.

here's the photo

A Whole day in Coober Pedy

We had a great day today.
Started off by getting up early (amidst complaints of NEVER getting a sleep in! ) and we joined the tour at 8:20am). The tour encompassed a visit to an underground church, the fossicking area, the underground pottery , the golf course, driving past various types of mines and a long stint in the museum – which covered many aspects such as what the underground houses and what the mines look like.

The picture of the girls is taken in a section cut out by a machine.

Later we went fossicking whilst Mum stayed behind. Luckily we found heaps of really big opals which ended up being great quality. Since the local miners looked so hard up - we donated them all back to the local miners charity.

We kept the scraps though.

Then we went out for pre-dinner drinks at an underground bar and dinner across the road at the local Pizza restaurant (to celebrate Dad’s birthday - Who Hoo!)

Quote of the day :- Dad to Louisa – “It’s destiny you will barrack for Collingwood one day”
Louisa “I don’t think so Dad - by the way…. What’s Destiny ?”

All Day to Coober Pedy

(By Louisa)
We had a long day of traveling today!
Everyone was woken up by an alarm clock!
Once we finally got out of bed the day began.
After 2 hours of traveling we got out at Woomera and looked at the rockets. Louisa’s favorite rocket was the one that went 8ks per second after 10 minutes of take off! Then we sat in the car for another 5 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whist in the car we saw very fascinating (more like boring) wide open spaces, with many eagles dining at the Road Kill Café!

Quote of the day:- (a lady in the caravan park to dad) “you’re very brave”
Dad “why?”
Lady “because you are traveling with three women!”

The photo is of Dad trying to get a testosterone balance thing working

Next Day - Port Augusta

We spent the whole day here not traveling! - A nice change.
Walked into town and did our supplies update prior to the big adventure into the outback. Walked back across Spencer Gulf and then Dad drove back to collect the previously purchased supplies and fuel.
The kids managed to get the pool opened! And the subsequently got very cold using it.
Dad went for ride and discovered a really cool lookout tower which he subsequently dragged everyone over to have a look from.
An early night (possibly watching Over the Hedge before sleep) before an early start in which we want to get to Coober Peedy plus stopping at Woomera for a look (over 500kms!). It will be interesting to see how we go.
At this point we are 2 days ahead of schedule - which is neither good nor bad...

Quote of the day (Dad) :- The pool was so cold it froze their bits off - not that they had any to start with...

Here's the view from Tailem Bend that wouldn't post last night

Sorry about this being a day out of sequence but we really liked the view.

Ahh the muddy old Murry - makes your mind wander back to the old days of Paddle Steamers, log fires and corporal punnishment in primary schools.

Where did we loose track ?

On the beach at Port Pirrie

Here's the girls enjoying there coffee and milkshakes on the beach at PP.
If we turned around there is a wonderful view of industry etc. so we chose the picturesque outlook of the Flinders Ranges instead !

Day 3 - Port Augusta

Another long day on the road - but it all went really well. Appropriate stops finished off with a great coffee and milkshake stop at Port Pirrie with one hour to go. Nestled between Spencer Gulf and the ancient Flinders Ranges we can see that we are really heading towards the barren desert.
We will spend tomorrow moving around the Port - doing shopping and catching our breath before we head into the Never Never the following day.
Tried to upload photos' to the blog last night but it did not work - will try again now - if it works - you'll know.

Cost of fuel so far approx $200

Quote of the day :- Dad to the girls - what are your daily tasks ? (meaning diary updates) - Isabel - "eating chocolate" - personally I'm looking foward to when she finishes reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory !

Day 2 - Tailem Bend

Well here we are in Tailem Bend.

After a very noisy night in a Rat (sorry - Ararat) one train that went past we counted 64 carriages !We spent 441 km's on the road whilst stopping for supplies in Horsham - and a quick snap of the border - it was a long day but sustainable once we figured out the grissles were due to low blood sugar levels - which we resolved and then got another 1 & 1/2 hours out of the travelling day.

This is a very picturesque spot (will post photo of our view).

For those concerned - the stress levels vary (depending on the personal situation) luckily we are taking it in turns to be grumpy - hopefully it will stay that way - otherwise Dad's walking home by himself !

Quote of the day - Isabel " at least the caravan's still with us !"

Tomorrow - Port Augusta (assuming we can get past the vaults in Snowtown!)

Our Email Adresses

Rosemary - rosemarychivers@bigpond.com
Neil - neildetez@bigpond.com
Louisa - louisadetez@optusnet.com.au
Isabel - through one of the above !

ready to go

1st day on the road

Hello everyone ! Our first day on the road was very successfull. We're camped at Ararat (in a caravan park - due to the cold weather and the desolation of the free site). Quote of the day - It was going to be as we were heading off :- Dad " Does anyone want to make a speech ?" Answer " JUST GET GOING !" But instead it's gotta be Louisa (as we were driving around the desloated free camping site) :- "where's Reception ?" And then we just had a better one - Louisa on the phone to Ashley - "I'm in a Rat - no hold on that's not right - where are we Mum ?"