Bituman, the river and the Garden of Eden!!!!

Wednesday 1st August to Sunday 5th: Wednesday: Once we'd decided to just blow through Alice Springs (after re-kitting the kids, restocking our pantries, some general repairs etc) we headed north toward Tennant Creek and the "Three-Ways" turn off (where you can continue north to Darwin or turn east onto the Barkley Highway toward Queensland)......it a big country and we're being reminded all the time of this fact because it was a good 2 days drive to TC! We found a spot to camp off the highway, got a roaring fire going, but the lesson here is that 'someone's always watching' because we had a couple of old guys come to where we were and hassle us about fire safety and to make sure we put it out completely before we left.......a bit frustrating to be honest as we are really conscious about the campfires that we have but I guess they were just being cautious.....still, it was odd that these guys turned up when we were in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!!!!! How's that happen???? Thursday 2nd: a quick pack up (after pancakes for the kids!!!) and we were rolling again.....this time headed for TC for lunch. Just above TC is the Three Ways junction where we finally had the afternoon sun at our back as turned east for the first time since we'd left Kiama. We made a quick pit stop at the Three Ways Roadhouse where we chatted to a young Army Corporal who was driving a massive truck with a 65t Abrahams Assault Tank on the back, headed for Darwin. Seems that most of the servicing for the military is done in Brisbane but the majority of the gear goes there via sea transport however his tank (which had just returned from service for Desert Storm) needed to be moved via road.....he was a great young guy who was really proud to be serving his country and it made me feel proud also that we have people in our armed forces like him who are prepared to fight for us and for those who are unable to fight for themselves....... Anyway......I digress.....so we're heading east, passing road trains with 4 or more trailers, making our way to the Barkley Homestead where we all needed a shower and a dust off. Dinner in the pub was delicious and we caught up on some of the Olympics action too which was great. Wednesday 3rd; back on the road (we were really clocking up the kms over the last few days) and we made our way to Camowhel which is a tiny little highway town just over the Qld/NT border. Theres lots of these odd little towns out here but they're all full of gorgeous UK and European backpackers working so that they can extend their visa for a further 12months.....still it's odd to be served by an English/Irish/Scottish/Swedish/German/French/etc model in a town with nothing around it for 100's of kms......or maybe that's just me??? Anyway.....Camowhel has a lovely little river that meanders through the area which was a magnet for all the grey nomads and even though the water wasn't running while we were there, we found a very relaxing spot next to a wide open section of water and put our feet up for a couple of days. The kids swam, ran around and made a beautiful mud pool which they delighted in laying in and rolling around in while Pete and I kicked back and read a book for the first time on the trip....it was fantastic. The nomads stretched along the river (the Georgina River) for about 10km and the whole area was free for camping.......both Pete and I commented that if the council charged $10 per van that they would make a killing!! Saturday 4th: the Eastie kids were pretty keen to show us one of their favorite spots from their last trip, a place called Gregory Downs, which was further north, so we jumped back onto the dirt roads once more and headed 220km further north to this fabulous spot on a spring fed creek that delivers a minimum of 10,000ltr per minute of pure, crystal clear fresh water to the area. You jump in from directly in front of your camp and just float all the way down the creek which is bordered by paperback trees, cabbage tree palms & pandanus palms! The water is cool but seeing as the temp is now into the 30's during the day, it's perfect!!!  So we got all set up, swam the afternoon away, cooked up another feast, hunted some cane toads and fell into bed ready to take it all on again tomorrow!! Sunday 5th: relaxation is the name of the game today, but I did manage a run this morning which was quite a challenge as I'd previously been running in single digit temperatures but found myself today running in 25 degree heat which just saps the spring out of your step when your not used to it!!  The kids haven't been out of the water all morning and as I write I can hear their squeals and laughter from down the creek.......might be time to go and join them!!!! Funny how it doesn't matter where kids are they always manage to make friends! Brits and Bridie found a couple of similar aged girls from Victoria who were traveling with their family for 12mths!! So they spent every possible moment hanging out with them.....I'm not to sure what they were talking about but there were plenty of squeals and giggles....pretty cute really!! So with everyone worn out once again we chased the few little furry friends away that were sniffing around camp and headed for bed.....but.....not before all the kids had made their maiden visit to what would become known as "Poo Palace" with the trusty shovel and loo paper in toe!!! They're all becoming quite relaxed with the whole "bushie" toilet experience now!! Monday 6th: We tried to make an early start but when pancakes are on the breakfast menu nothing moves very quickly!!! Eventually we all got our act together and headed out for the day to Lawn Hill National Park. This drop dead gorgeous part of the world was about an hour or so's drive from GD, again on the trusty dusty  dirt tracks.....but my goodness this area is a little patch of heaven on earth!!!  We whiled away the day on the waters of the Lawn Hill Gorge initially with the kids floating down the Gregory River in tyre tubes but eventually we managed to hire 3 canoes (Bys, Brits & I in one, Pete & Bridie in another and the 2 big boys Samo & Tails in he third) and paddled up through the gorge (trivia moment.....the deepest section of water through the gorge is 27m deep!!!!) up to the falls where we dragged the canoes around to the higher section and continued out paddle through his amazing and majestic place! We stopped off and all had a perfect swim in the beautiful limestone rich waters further up stream before making our way back but not before we saw a lazy 7ft fresh water croc hanging out in the sun, (the first croc the Teudtys have seen in the wild!) which was pretty cool. Brits made the comment that " if she was a croc then this would be the place she'd love to live" and I couldn't agree more, this area makes you shake your head in disbelief that such incredibly beautiful places exist!! Once we'd returned the canoes, it was time to feed the animals....ummm...I mean kids and squeeze in another quick swim (an unintended one for Pete as he dropped his sunnies in the water from the bridge and had to jump in to retrieve them!). The day had heated up quite nicely (about 34degrees!) so we stopped off at a little camp spot not 10min from LH for a Magnum break which turned into a Corona break because it too nice to leave!!  Eventually we needed to head back to camp so we made tracks and by the time the second song began to play on the car stereo my 3 little guys were sound asleep! All together now......"awwwwww!!" By the time we got back to camp though, everyone wanted to take on the rapids once more before dinner so we jumped in (to the delight and laughter of all the grey nomads who thought we were nuts) and freshened up. Then up to the pub for dinner where we had a great meal and I finally got to sample fresh wild caught Barramundi......."sensational" is all I have to say about that!!!!! Tomorrow it's time to pack up once more and make tracks, this time for Mount Isa......who knows what's in store for us down there but one thing's for sure, it'll continue to be a lot of fun I'm betting!!!!

A week in review.....

Monday 23rd July to Tuesday 31st July  Tyres fitted and we were back on the road once more, hitting the blacktop for the small aboriginal settlement of Hermansburg which leads into the Finke Gorge National Park which holds the beautiful Palm Valley. It was with a bit of trepidation that we read the caution sign at the start of the dirt road that said to allow 3.5hrs to reach the Palm Valley campsite but underneath there was a little sign put up especially for the Teudys from our buddies that said it takens about 1/2 hr!!! The campsite was beautiful, the kids swam in the creek, hunted dingos and ate marshmallows while the big people walked the incredibly beautiful and almost out of place Palm Valley.....some of the Cabbage Tree Palm were 100's of years old and the valley is home to around 23,000 of them.....in an area of the country which is so dry and desolate, to see how this valley has adapted and created its own environment in such a beautiful way just blows your mind!!!  Tuesday 24th: Earlier in the trip we had received a tip that we shouldn't miss out on seeing a place called Ormiston Gorge, so the following day we packed up and headed for a lonely little campsite nearby called Redbank Gorge.....in Brons defense we witnessed an amazing sunrise here....but it didn't have much else going for it, however just down the road we found a little gem of a site (pity we'd already set up at Redbank) which we stopped off at on the way back from Ormiston. Ormiston Gorge was a surprise package which we all agreed has become one of the visual highlights of the trip. The colors of the rock, the shape of the lagoon, the River Red Gums, the cliff faces and the lone dingo walking along the waters edge made for the perfect outback scene, we all just needed to sit in the falling daylight and soak this place in....it was breathtaking! Once we'd forced ourselves up and decided we needed to make a move, a few of the boys thought it would be a good idea to have a swim.....it was good for a laugh because the water was Baltic!!!! However the promise of a 'Magnum' stop on the way home cheered the frozen few up and we stopped for a beer and an ice cream at a great little place called Glen Helen and sipped a frosty one while watching the sun fade and the colors change on the cliff faces.....pretty hard to take ! Wednesday 25th: The traveling caravan needed to get moving again as some of the team were rapidly running out of time so we headed for Kings Canyon. It was a bit of a drive along a dusty road  but always fun.....music cranked up, dust pumping from the tyres, red dirt and blue sky..... But it was nice to hit the Kings Canyon Resort (no fires allowed 😭😭😭) with clean hot showers, laundry, play area for the kids, pub, bistro and diesel at $2:33ltr so as you could imagine EVERYTHING was expensive here!! Funny afternoon with everyone braving a swim in the pool which couldn't have been more than about  8 degrees!!! We had a great first night as well. At the pub there was a fun country duo (The Roadies) playing that got very interactive with the kids and the crowd, the kids sang heaps of songs on stage, Mitch got up and did his thing with the guitar and blew everyone away (I get to say that I knew him before he hit the big time!!!) and we all got dragged up and dressed in wigs/crazy hats and played some bush band instruments....lots of fun and great for a laugh!! Was a shame we couldn't have a fire though as that night the temp hit about -3c.....brrrrrrrrr!!!!! Thursday 26th: was a cracker of a day, the weather was perfect so we packed up the supplies (essentials like Starburst and boxes of Arnotts Shapes) and headed for the canyon. The walk around the rim was about 6km so all the kids were in and it was spectacular to say the least, every angle was something brilliant in every direction and we all got pretty snap happy (even a bit "Arty Farty" with some shots!!) but by the time we were nearing the 2/3 mark a couple of the Teudty kids were struggling!!! With one last (tenacious) push we got the home with the promise of (another) Magnum break when we got back to camp.....I hope they all enjoyed them because ice creams for 10 people hit the $70 mark!!!! We had another fun night at the tavern with The Roadies, Mitch got to woo the crowd once again and we all got dragged on stage once more and don't forget that it was a Thursday so it was "cooks-night-off" and we all love CNO!!! Friday 27th: saw us scramble around the morning packing up and getting ready for the next leg which was Uluru or bust!!! We closed our eyes and filled up the fuel tanks, refueled the choccie supply and were off once more. It was about 250km to go of which 100ish was on dirt, we played 'spot the camel' and 'who's got the best mussie!".... The winner was the bird watcher with the 1920's villain style mustache who we saw in a rest area.....the Easties car almost blew apart with spontaneous laughter when he was spotted!! We all got fooled by what became known as Mt Nuttella which on first look seemed to be Uluru (we later had our resident book of knowledge inform us that it is Australia's most photographed 'red herring'!!) but was in fact Mt Conner! But it wasn't long before we got a look at the real thing and once again our minds were blown! Pictures and words will never do this part of the world justice, it is simply something that needs to been seen, felt and breathed to be believed!!  We got our breath back and headed for the campground which is part of the resort/village and got set up once again for the next 3 nights! It's always nice to put your feet down for a few days and know that you don't need to pack up the following morning so we relaxed the afternoon away and headed out into the national park that evening to witness the sunset behind this special place. I've always heard people talk about the change in colors and moods of 'the rock' throughout the day but I didn't expect the emotion that came with actually witnessing it first hand, the whole area casts a spell over you and the vista is completely captivating for the mind, body and soul......to be honest, I found it to be a complete full body experience that I'll never forget and will want to experience again for sure. We whiled away a lot of time at the sunset so it was put to the vote as to whether we should dine out (again!!) and oddly enough everyone thought that that was a great idea so we headed for the bar (again......hmmmm, is there a pattern forming here!??), filled everyone up and listened to some great live music until the little people were just about asleep! Back to to sub zero campers we go, negotiate all of the killer attack bunnies that swarm the area at night (Brits was held to ransom by a tribe of them on her way back from the toilets!!) & into bed before we became snap frozen!! Saturday 28th: was officially "Olga's Day" and we headed toward the other amazing rock formation of the area which lay about 50km from camp. We spent a beautiful day wandering through the Valley of the Winds and exploring this superb show of natures brilliance, we took time out to lay back on the rocks and watch the clouds move over the peaks, see the colors shift and move......it's not hard to see why these areas have such massive impact on Aboriginal law, mythology and belief because there is such a spiritual beauty to the area that it could be nothing but sacred!! We headed back for an early dinner before heading back to watch sunset again but with a light cloud cover the actual sunset to the west stole the show from Uluru that night and I wondered if it felt a little neglected??? We spent the reminded of the night around a tightly monitored camp fire where there were stories told and marshmallows eaten before, exhausted, we all flopped into bed once more. Sunday 29th: the Eastie boys all got up bright and early and headed off to climb the rock while the rest of us dozed the morning away, when they returned (after sneaking a full buffet breakfast in without the rest of us!!) we again packed up and headed for Uluru with the intention of walking around the 11km base walk. As a contingency though we parked a car at the half way point for those that felt the need to bail on the walk. We spent the next 4 or so hours just meandering around the perimeter of this massive Australian icon, getting snap happy (where appropriate, as there were many areas where for cultural reasons we weren't permitted to take photos), some of the team opted for the contingency plan and hitched a ride back to the starting point but Bron, Giorgie, Tails and I finished the lap with a lot of laughter.  We spent another hour or so at the Aboriginal Cultural Centre soaking in the heritage, legend and history of this amazing race of people in their spiritual heartland. Well...because it was the last night for some of our nomads we (again) opted for a meal out which was a fantastic way to farewell our buddies that were going to leave us the following day.....today was a truly awesome day, an absolute gem of the trip for sure!! Monday 30th: what better way to start the day than to run the perimeter of Uluru as the sun rises and places its first rays upon its face?? Bron and I braved the freezing cold and hit the track just before the sun came up and ran the 11km during a spectacular show of natures beauty!! There were a couple of bus loads of international tourists on the track at this time as well and I think they thought we were nuts but I'll keep that run in my memory as one of the most amazing places to pound a couple of kms ever! I could have run it a second time because the buzz of the morning was so awesome but we had a buffet breakfast calling!!! A quick tub and we headed out for breakie after sending Mitch to the airport! The crew managed to eat considerably more than would have been expected and we waddled out some time later only to have to head back to camp, pack up and say goodbye to Bron and Giorgie. We'd had such a fantastic time with those three guys that it was such a bummer to see them have to leave, so quick goodbyes were the order of the day!!! We were glad to hear that they all arrived home safe and sound (and had settled back into Phat Tuesday with ease today) Those of us that we're left caravanned out of Uluru on Monday afternoon vowing that we would return for sure!!!  We headed back toward Alice Springs and found another little gem of a campsite at Rainbow Gorge but arrived late and left early the following day (Tuesday) Tuesday 31st: we blew into Alice Springs again, raced around and got all the chores done and made a beeline for Tennant Creek......we're not there yet but should find our way there tomorrow!!!........stay tuned people!!!1