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.