What happened in 2014?

Ferry crossing on the Murray River at Cadwell

This year our winter destination was the Northern Territory and into Queensland. We headed off at a leisurely pace through western Victoria, across into South Australia, spending a few days in Burra and other points of interest, then north through Hawker and up to Lyndhurst with the beautiful Flinders Ranges on our right as we moved north.

Flinders Ranges from Merna Mora Stn near Hawker

 A stop at Leigh Creek was the last chance for provisions as we were heading into outback country but we left getting fuel till we got to Lyndhurst, knowing there was a service station there and it was supposed to have LPG. Unfortunately the pub is now only the place with fuel in Lyndhurst and only diesel so if you drive a petrol vehicle, you’re out of luck. Glad the old bus is diesel!

Old police station at Farina

20 kms up the Oodnadatta Track from Lyndhurst is Farina Ruins. In the last 6 -7 years the township, abandoned in 1960, has been transformed from a vandalised ruin of old tumble down buildings into a lovely spot to stop for a few days.

 Preservation and restoration work is being carried out by a team of volunteers, there is a shady camping area with toilets & showers for $5pp pn, and best of all the 1882 underground bakehouse operates during the tourist season (cooler months) turning out breads, sausage rolls, scones and other delicious goodies. Income from the bakery helps fund the restoration work on the old township.

Water across the Oodnadatta track - mud instead of dust!

We spent 2 days at Maree while the track dried out a bit after a decent rainfall, then continued at a leisurely pace as there is so much to see along the track.





We took 4 more days to travel 400km to Oodnadatta where communications finally caught up with us in the form of a note stuck to the cash register at the Pink Roadhouse. Sadly Jill’s father (98) had passed away in New Zealand.

Next morning we had a 200km run to Coober Pedy, the nearest town of any size. On the way a stone hit the rear window of the bus, 7-8 feet off the ground but luckily the plastic privacy film on the inside held all the shattered glass together. There were no flights out of C.P that day so it was overnight bus to Adelaide, plane to Melbourne, taxi home. Then having collected clothes, passport etc, back to the airport and off to Auckland, returning a week later after the funeral and some family time.

The shatter glass slowly collapsed

Meanwhile, Allen started to head back to Melbourne in the bus. The air turbulence from passing trucks made the plastic and shattered glass sag more and more but at Port Augusta he found a large card board box to flatten out to cover the gaping hole and he was back home within a couple of days.

That was the end of our travels this year. It took several weeks to fix the bus window. No replacement available so perspex type material was used, the biggest problem was getting it done outdoors in wet and windy Melbourne. We used the extra months at home to get a few jobs done and to work on our other Moke which hopefully will be back on the road by new year.

Allen has damaged his knee and will have surgery in January but with luck we will be adventuring again in 2015.

We are looking forward to Christmas as our son and daughter-in-law will be with us for a couple of months from Canada. It is some years since Peter has been home and Annette has never been to Australia so we will be doing our best to show them a great Aussie Christmas in the sun.

Making our way south

Kuranda Scenic Railway

After the Cape York trip we returned to Cairns for 5 days to do urgent maintenance on the bus, collect our Moke & trailer and spending some more time with friends including a day trip to Kuranda on the scenic railway. This is a “must do” trip for any visit to Cairns area as the train winds up the steep hills to a tropical village with an exotic butterfly house and bird aviary among the attractions.

Our plan was to spend a couple of days at Mareeba on the tablelands above Cairns but on the first morning there Allen got bitten by a redback spider which led to 4 days in the local hospital and several courses of strong antibiotics. It was 19 days before the swelling in his leg went down enough to be comfortable to drive. This gave me time to wash most of the red dust off the bus and we visited some of the local attractions like the historic village and Becks Military Museum – privately owned and one of the best collections we’ve seen, lots of interesting planes and tanks plus many engines from wrecks and other miscellaneous parts.

Sausage tree at Greenvale

 From Mareeba we travelled fairly short distances for a few days as the spider bite was still causing pain and gradually we made our way south with stops at Ravenshoe, then through Mt Garnet and down the Gregory Development Road to Greenvale which is a former mining town established in the early ‘70s. The mine closed but there is still a small community of 170 residents and excellent facilities – Olympic size pool, basketball courts, hotel, caravan park, police station etc.

On through Charters Towers and Belyando Crossing where the lorikeets shared our chocolate milkshakes, and climbed all over us with hot little bird feet.
Through Emerald and down to Banana (named after a big yellow bullock) to stop at Theodore for a couple of nights for a river festival before a stop at Gil Weir outside Miles where we once again got a flat tyre fixed.  All the flats were due to grit getting through the split rims on the rough Cape York road and rubbing between the tube and the tyre. We were getting very sick of changing wheels!

Monty's Garage - Glenmorgan

 At The Gums crossroads between Miles and Goondiwindi we got side tracked by a sign to a Motor Museum and this took us 55km west to Glenmorgan, a tiny town created by the railway for produce shipment, and then within 50 years reduced to a few residents after trucks took over the bulk haulage from farms. The Motor Museum is a private collection, mostly old Fords. Monty’s garage is set up like an old service station and garage with cars “For Sale” out the front. It is run on the honesty system with a donation box on the counter and you can just walk right in. Free camp in the town with showers.

We crossed into NSW at Goondiwindi and turned east on the Bruxner Hwy along the state border, spending a night on the side of the road above Tenterfield. Although it was a highway, only 2 vehicles went past all night.

Jacarandas at Grafton

We had a few nights at Casino again to catch up with friends then drove down through Grafton where the old jacaranda trees were in full bloom down the streets lunching at the Village Green Hotel ($8) before we headed through the hills towards Armidale. The road was very windy and quite narrow, climbing up into the dividing range again, some corners 25kph. However there wasn’t much traffic. This road called The Waterfall Way but as it had been very dry the falls were not flowing strongly.
We by-passed Tamworth to stop at Quirindi and visited Bob’s Shed, a private collection of old goods from the ‘40s & ‘50s – old grocery shop goods like treacle tins, flour packets, weetbix, aspros etc. Another section had workshop goods like oil bottles, plus model cars, trains etc all carefully displayed. He also had a car collection – all Holdens ‘70s & ‘80s and lots of Peter Brock memorabilia. The shed was part way up to the town lookout called Who’d a thought it, which gives a 360^o view of the surrounding district.

BANG!

With major bush fire threatening in the east we took lesser highways to move south-west through Gulgong and catching an Open Garden Day at Wellington which gave us the opportunity to visit several country properties and see what beauty can be created in very dry conditions. Next morning we hadn’t got far from the town when we got a vibration through the steering. We stopped and checked tyres which seemed OK but the vibration was still there and a little further down the road the driver’s side front tyre blew! Luckily it was on a straight section of road with room to pull over and put out safety triangles so we could change a wheel – again.

If you’re passing through Molong there is a great Collectables/Junk shop/junk yard on the northern side of town. It is a wonderful stopping place with something  for everyone – from novelty salt and pepper sets to car bits and scrap metal art – you can’t miss it because of the giant frog on a bike out the front.

A few more days and small towns saw us home in Melbourne by the beginning of November where we will pass the summer on vehicle and home maintenance before the next adventure.