Lake Argyle

With shopping packed, a new battery installed we made the short 59 or so kilometres to the Lake Argyle camping area. While it took a while to get booked in (busy) we soon made our way though to the famous inifinty pool that everyone speaks about. 

Kids checking things out

The Rosspot Crew!

The Rossmob crew braving the chilly waters. 

So the pool was lovely but all reports of the temperature being a little on the chilly side on the forums and apps are 100% correct. It was a quick dip for most with only Andi and Bella braving the water for any thing more than 10 minutes. 

However the view of the lake with the colour of the water against the red cliffs was simply spectacular. The shear scale of how big the lake is was clearly evident and the day we arrived it was showing off its good side with a mirror like finish. 

We chilled in the sun before returning for some chilled out time back at Camp. Stu made a quick trip further up the road to check out spots to launch the kayak tomorrow morning, yes it was time to get it off the roof and a bit damp. 

We were able to get some snaps of the Dam wall and surrounds with the afternoon being perfectly  still. 

We have booked the lunch cruise for the next day as the sunset cruise (which was highly recommended) was all booked out until Friday.

Day 2 of our stay at Lake Argyle was another perfect wind free day.  With the excitement of the lunch time boat cruise in front of us we knock off a few journal entries with the kids, had pancake breakfast and wat he’d down movies in the making of the Ord River Dam. 

It was an impressive feet given the climate and challengers that the “wet” presents, the classic moment  being workers wearing no shirts, hats but then lighting excavation explosion charges with cigarettes !

The cruise was just perfect, heading from the north point through the heads (about 42 metres deep) then onto view some of the estimated 30000 fresh water crocs that inhabit the lake. 

Some of the positives that came from the damming included providing a island natural home for some highly endangered black footed wallabies free from natural predators.  The approach to consultation with the transitional owners wasn’t unfortunately evident and although some reconciliation and compensation has occurred the impacts of the dam are lasting. 

Other topics of interest included the barramundi farm that struggled cause the lack of tides meant the quality was below par.  There was also the mobile service available when we went within 10kms of Argyle Diamond Mine and feeding fish in a good way. 

 Peek a boo

Over a fantastic lunch with freshly cooked Silver Cobbler with salads to boot. This was after a lovely swim in the lake off the back of the boat. 

It was warm enough that even Mum got in!  Compared to the inifinity pool yesterday it was like bath water!  Even had some fish join us to see if they could scrounge a free feed. 

The cruise was just fantastic with some amazing views. 

We returned to a lazy afternoon with kids doing some more swimming and Stu going for a paddle in the kayak later in the afternoon. 

We finished the evening listening to Steve K the season’s musical entertainment. He was great singing both originals and covers. Great sense of humour. Check out YouTube for “Kimberly Cassonova” and “Double Dick Derrick” to check it some samples. 

Wolfe Creek Crater

We left our overnight spot on the Tanami at around 9am.  Seems that this will be our usual pack up departure time.  Today was the day we crossed the WA border and in doing so gained an extra 1 1/2 hours time wise.  Of course the obligatory pictures were required although the welcome sign wasn’t quite the traditional one.

Ross's at the WA border

We cruised into Wolfe Creek Crater around 11:30am WA time, after a fairly easy day on the Tanami.  The road conditions were pretty good and it meant an average of 80 kms / hour was possible.  The road into the crater itself was a bit rough but we were more concerned that we might miss out on a spot given the small number of camp spots available onsite.  Turns out we were there in plenty of time with a stream of vehicles arriving with us and we were able to secure a spot.

The crater itself was quite impressive. A 300 000 year old hole from a meteorite which crashed into earth would have certainly made a bang, the surrounding landscape is pretty flat so the crater that is 20 metres deep certainly stands out.  The temperature has certianly risen and it was pushing high 20’s so we thought that we would take a trip to the crater first before setting up for the night. 

The crater!  About 2.5 kms round, 800m across, 20m deep and 300,000 years old 

Dad's glamour shot.

Once setup was complete, the sweatiest and dustiest one undertaken to date, we settled back into the enjoying the afternoon’s warmth with a few cold beverages.  It was nice just to sit back and relax.

 The camp at Wolfe Creek Crater, not a bad view :)

Spectacular sunsets are a regular up here

Corrugations on the Wolfe Creek road were certainly a little rougher than most.

The next day Pam, Jamie and Stu got up early and did the crater’s rim walk returning at 7:30am for a quick breakfast before pack-up.  We decided not overnight in Halls Creek as planned and we were looking to push through to Purnululu NP so that we can setup for a few days rather than somewhat consistent 1 night stays we had experienced to date.

We made Halls Creek around 11:30am after a very rough 150 kms to complete the Tanami Track.  It was certainly a tricky section of road with lots of corrugations as well as sandy sections and a few rollercoaster’ish dips thrown in for good measure.  Charlie did very well!  It was lovely to complete the track and although it was a tricky section that finished it, overall the track was in very good condition.

Halls Creek was an interesting town, good fuel prices being $1.63 per litre for diesel.   From the additional security bars at the information centre, seems that the issues at night reported on forums must be true.  Not nearly as bad as at Fitzroy Crossing but still a concern.  We had the idea that we would use the local swimming pool to refresh ourselves after fuel, accommodation and some other domestic bits and pieces.  The pool had showers, the main reason for the parents going in as well.  After a few days on the road a freshen up with clean hair etc would have been nice.  The pool opened at 2pm so the long wait for it to open ensued.  Delays and distractions such as ice creams were required to keep the kids somewhat at bay.

Turns out a local notice at the pool indicated that it closed for maintenance some 4 days ago, not reopening till mid September.  The kids were shattered, a) we had waited a long time and b) they really wanted a swim.  However it was not be and so we headed for Purnululu NP some 150kms north of us.  Enjoying the tar road along the way, the kms zipped by and we arrived at the 52km dirt road entrance to the park.  

The road in was entertaining for the drivers, but for the passengers that suffer a bit a motion sickness less so.  It was pretty corrugated but had a number of corners ( Stu firmly believes that the person that built the road was a Queenslander) in fact not really a straight section, but this was combined with lots of dips and a few creek crossings to throw in the mix.  It took us a good part of an hour to get in, with the back drop of a setting sun on the Bungles Range as we arrived.  Just stunning.

We got to camp and setup in fairly quick time, ready for walking adventures ahead for tomorrow.

Hitting the dirt for the first time

The buildup for a big day of dirt had a somewhat slower start with car keys going missing and trouble with trailer brakes again. But we were on the road by 10:30am only to be greeted with a further 75kms or so of bitumen which we weren’t sneezing at but we were also keen to see when the dirt kicked in. 

A somewhat solemn final fuel up at the aboriginal community Yuendumu certainly opened everyone’s eyes around how some people have to unfortunately live. 

By this stage the red dust had certainly kicked in and it was day of mixed roads, some part quite rough others just amazing smooth. 

They say you need to camp off the track where your fire can’t be seen from the highway. Still not sure why but heeding that advice we were on the scout for somewhere, however when the closet tree tall enough to hide a camper is in the horizon it’s a bit tricky. We aimed for a camp out behind the now closed Rabbit Flat roadhouse but that was not to be. Big bollards made sure of that. So a further 34 kms up the road (thanks WikiCamps) we found the perfect spot. 

Tents were pitched, red dust is everywhere and in some places it shouldn’t be (still working on keeping the step sealed). 

Kids collected firewood whilst camp was being set. Not being able to get many thick branches meant it was a quick and big fire.  No other bush was burnt inadvertently although there was some concern.  

<Fire pics>

So far no major breakages, fuel usage is going well and hopefully we will make Wolfe Creek tonight, some 300 kms away. 

 This is the view we had for most of the day, the dust cloud in front was Jamie.

 Lunch time stop on the Tanami, we learnt to stop on the up wind side of the road to reduce the dust sandwiches

 Charlie's glamour shot on the Tanami during a wee stop.

Its a big place in the middle of Northern Territory

 Our camp on the Tanami about 300kms from the Wolfe Creek Crater.  Beautiful sunset colours as always.

 Just another glorious sunset, we are really spoilt.

 Morning sunrise on the Tanami

 The "adults" making it across the border to Western Australia. 

The Ross's make it to the 6th state on the trip.

A black headed python chilling in the middle of the road.  Estimated about 2 metres long ... so big.

Ross River to Tanami

Today we were leaving Ross River and heading back to Alice Springs to meet up with Philpots. It was a short drive so we took advantaged and stopped off at a few sites on the way. Once in Alice we had to shop for for 7 days and nights. Katie had a shopping list and after a bit of adjustment (!) she was set loose in the supermarket. 

The only hiccup was buying beer/cider - as they didn’t open till 2pm and it was only 12:30! It would be really poor form to wait till 2pm just for that so off to find a spot for lunch at a park where the kids could burn off some energy. Great to see that they get on so well. Jamie and Stu headed to fill up the trucks with fuel and campers with water. Some 300 litres between us of fuel took sometime which meant we didn’t wait around for 2pm :-) So off to the grog shop we trot doing drive by with drops and pickups. Turns out every other traveller had the same idea and the queue was quite lengthy. 

Finally after 2:45pm or so we are all packed and loaded with the single butcher stop on the way out of town.  By 3:00pm we finally left town not sure how much of the track we going to get done. 

Starting the Tanami we hit the tar section (very good road by the way) and we ended up staying at Tilmouth Well Roadhouse. Apart from the constant generator noise, trucks starting at 6am and seemingly warming up for ages it was ok. But still no dirt yet, tomorrow was the day. 

Camp at Ross River Station

Bit chilly in the morning at Ross Rover station

Ross River Campsite from the hill behind

Tilmouth Roadhose

Looking for keys at Tilmouth Roadhouse ... the joy

Tilmouth Roadhouse camp

Just a small flame, overnight at Tilmouth Roadhouse

We were greeted by these throughout the night

And off we go

Days 1 - 3 :  It’s been a long time coming, but the WA leg of our around Australia trip is finally underway. 

Packed up ready to head north

The days have been mainly driving, as the start of each big trip seems to be. It gets us out of the cold as quickly as possible.  The first day saw us leave Canberra and head westward towards our first stop in Mildura. We did this same leg coming home in a single day at the completion of our Central Australia trip so we thought it should be ok to do again! Turns out leaving at 7:30am still means a long day covering over 800 kms.  We headed for a free camp called Kings Billabong Wildlife Reserve (Wiki camps : http://wikicamps.com.au/site/57867/34216069) on the banks of the Murrumbidgee river. 

Trickiest part of the day was finding the Philpots, as they had left the Berra at 5:30am the same morning so were the first ones at camp around 4:00pm. We finally arrived at 5:30pm after some end of the day crankiness between navigator and driver to figure out the best way to find them. Once arrived though saw a quick setup for an overnight camp followed by dinner of a fairly warm evening. 

The next day we rose to a beautiful morning.  We had the fish jumping and the birds singing. 

View from camp 1 

We broke camp at 9:30am, like usual, and a quick stop at the  pump house just down the round saw us meet the first challenge of the day. 

The Philpot’s truck had a flat main battery whilst we checked out the pump house, not sure what was causing it and more importantly it happened relatively quickly.  Still haven’t solved the problems with this one. 

We continued our trip towards Renmark, about 10 minutes from the border when Jamie mentioned over the radio that a tyre on the trailer looked a little flat. 

Resembling a pancake, the tyre didn’t have much air left. On closer inspection a repair was possible. So a tyre repair was in order, first time for us doing a plug on a tyre not at a 4wd show! Although taking 40 minutes, it seemed to work and a quick trip through the fruit and vegetables inspection station and we were South Australia bound. 

The obligatory picture of border crossings was in order. 

A stop at the lovely Renmark saw the boys rattling off to the information centre staff a range of questions.  The info centre were great and the information they shared I am sure will be remembered! (Note to Nana - we’ve already picked up some more blanket badges!) A play on the paddle steamer PS. Industry released a bit of energy for the kids 

Of course the morning yoga/gym session in the street was a must. Lucky we are tourists!

Renmark was a lovely place, but onwards we must press to a free camp called Camp Lawrie near Port Pirie some 3 1/2 hours down the road. With device time not yet allocated for the day, the boys plugged in and we travelled on and arrived at dusk. 

There is sea in the background if you squint!

Camp 2, it was going to be a chilly night so we weren’t up much past night fall. Think we were all in bed by 8pm.

Nice camp, clean loos and amenities were good, can’t complain for a free camp.

Before we broke camp, we did a quick tyre switch as we noticed the repaired spare had deflated again, the other trailer did some break adjustment. Jobs done, we were back on the road making our way due north for the first time, making tracks for Coober Pedy.

Interesting things on the way included the SolarFarm using solar and sea water to grow fruit and vegetable with hydroponics! Very smart SA! Apart from the large light that seems to be able to seen from miles away and a small sign as you go past, you wouldn't know its there.

A quick fuel stop at Port Augusta saw a lucky break in that the tyre deflator which was left between the jerry cans on the trailer was still there! 100kms of highway and somehow it didn’t fall off!  Chalk that one up to good luck.

Filling a few Jerry cans in addition to the tank to make sure we got to Coober Pedy without refill and we were off, heading to Woomera for lunch before making the final stretch into Coober Pedy that afternoon/evening.

Woomera was a funny town, amazing history but very quiet and it seemingly doesn’t get busy from speaking to some locals. Although signage says there are permanent 200 residents, we didn’t see many of them or the 5000 - 6000 personnel that supposedly transit it through it. Still a unique place!

We arrived at Coober Pedy around 5:30pm as the sunset. Arriving at Jam B&B, we were greeted by Julie and Michael.  As we had the whole place to ourselves we took the campers down into the car parks below.  Equipment had a lovely frost free sleep for the night.

Western Australia 2018

Well its not long now before we kick off the last of our around Australia trips, whisking ourselves out of the depths of Canberra winter to somewhat more pleasant temperatures.

We aren't alone either with the adventures of going round Western Australia in 14 weeks to be shared with another family, the Philpots (their more organised FaceBook page).  Like us Ross's they have two kids as well, they are at either end of ours age wise, so should make a happy group of camp kids.  Some warm up trips together over the years bodes us in good stead to survive each other. 

With two families with campers in tow we head off into the wide blue yonder just after the school holidays and come back just before the next set finish up.  We think it's long enough but only time will tell.

The plan is to make our way up the centre to start with, doing long days down south to get out of the cold as quickly as possibly.  A few familiar kilometres to travel here.  A quick side trip for the Philpots to Uluru and Kata Tjuta with ourselves making news tracks into the east McDonald ranges.  We then rejoin forces at Alice and make our way towards Halls Creek via the Tanami Track, our first taste of long range dusty roads for a while.  Once we have defrosted we then head towards Kunnanurra before turning left down the Gibb and clockwise from there till we hit the south west corner around September.  From there weather permitting its a few days down south and the long trip across the Nullabor back to Canberra around mid October.

As we head off look forward to posting stories of our adventures, come along and join us for the ride.

Summary of our Central Australia trip

Well we have ticked off stage two of our three stage journey around Australia, the latest being a good appetite wetter for the next and final big instalment, the trip to Western Australia in 2018.

We kept pretty much to the original high level plan of going through western Queensland including Mount Isa and Lawn Hill NP then across the top on the Savanna Way stopping in at Lorella Springs before joining the Stuart Highway at Mataranka then heading north to Darwin visiting Litchfield NP on the way.  After Darwin we headed south down, stopping into Kakadu and then headed for the Alice.  A restock saw us head west to West McDonnell ranges and Finke Gorge NP before making our way round to Kings Canyon and the Rock/Kata-Tjuta.  Our final dash south is via Coober Pedy and then across the Oodnadatta Track coming out near the Flinders Ranges.  From there the temperature dictated a hasty retreat back to bricks and mortar back in Canberra.

We only booked into Adel's Grove and Coober Pedy before we left, the rest was left to about 4 or 5 days out at best, usually it was the next night or even just drive-ups in some circumstances.  This ease of planning meant we were able to switch the number of days at certain locations so that we can see others.  For example we reduced the number of days at Kings Canyon so that we could visit  Palm Valley and that was well worth the visit.

Picking highlights for the trip, like the Cape York trip, was very hard as there were so many great places we visited on this trip.  Forcing ourselves to pick a few, from the parents perspective the highlight places or events were

• Uluru and Kata-Tjuta
• West McDonnell ranges
• The Big blue skies everywhere
• Ubirr tour and tour guide Annie; and
• going places without crowds

The boys however picked these places and events straight away:

• Darwin and catching up with Alice and Scott
• Mindil Markets
• Coober Pedy and
• Mataranka / Bitter Springs

As per our Cape York trip there were a number of things that we thought went really well on this trip, and some that could still be improved. There are also some delightful moments that should be recorded for prosperity as momentos to the funnier or lighter moments. 

Things we did well:

• Food planning for extended stays away from major shopping centres. A big lesson learnt from our last trip to Cape York. Katie did a sterling job at making sure we had enough variety to keep us all very well fed throughout the trip. 
• Fuel planning, when to get fuel in the Jerry cans and when not. We got this pretty right although there were a few places like Tennant creek that we banked on there being fuel and would have been a bit stuck if there wasn't. We should really have a Jerry full all the time to ensure if one town is out we have enough to get to the next.
• Kids home work was considerably better than previous long trips but it only got good in the third week once the parents had got into a rhythm. We found the currency of additional iPod time to be a major driver. 
• Dental hygiene, vast improvement by dad and the boys to ensure its done each night and each morning regardless of the activity. 
• White boards, we purchased small (39 cm square) white boards for the boys and it worked a treat for in car activities be that maths or spelling or simply drawing their latest idea for a submarine or camper. The drawing bit varies depending on what the conversation had been that day. 
• Water management: we certainly were able to last longer on the 85litre tank than last time. The addition of cordial can even the more calcium rich bore water seem OK if it's cold enough!
• Cash management: We ensured that we had cash where we needed it, we only used cash where that was the only option, i.e. national parks or way out there.  We did find that there is pretty much card in most places though.  There is still the occasional % surcharge for credit but this was rare and the option of using savings account was there as well.

Things we could have done better

• iPods, this time they had iPods whereas last time they had iPod shuffles. We got the iPods to allow them to more easily shuffle through music they were listening to. The added benefit is you can play games on them as well, in particular their favourite at the moment, minecraft. It drove us batty how they were so focused on these blasted devices.  I don't think though a single bit of music was heard!
• Competition, patience and approach to issues: this time we found the competition between the boys was so much more evident than last time. If one did or said something, the other would have to chime in. Their patience isn't getting any better, waiting in queues for the smallest amount of time seems to bother them, they can't stand up either and have to lean on something that's holds them up, be that mum /  dad or a leaning post of some other kind. And also their thinking was always about what they don't have not what they do!  We kept having to explain what an opportunity they have to learn rather than whinging they didn't get the right ice cream at a shop after a walk!  :(
• We struggled to stay in a place for more then 3 nights no matter how good it is. We get itchy feet after 3!  We need to learn to chill out a bit more.
• Dad can't grow a beard. 3 weeks and he ends up just getting hairy. Maybe a beard trimmer would have made it look neater.
• When we all worked as a team it was amazing how easy setup and packup process can be.  The boys now do a range of tasks like packing the stairs, lights and folding down legs etc that make the process a little easier and faster. 
• We are still taking things we don't use: ie fishing rods, need to be really firm and only take what we need...noting this will change from trip to trip
• Electrical updates for the next trip will be to include the ability to charge the fridge battery from the solar panels. We found that the fridge battery would benefit from some extra attention when the camper is at 100%.  The panels are more than capable of keeping it there, even with the fridge running all day. But if we take the fridge with us then it struggles to keep things going for more than a day or so, especially in the hotter weather. 

Some stats :

• Total kilometres travelled : 10963km
• Number of days : 47
• Numbers of stops : 24
• Number of one night stays : 11
• Number of two night or more stays : 13
• Free camp nights : 3
• Cost of food : $2,300
• Cost of fuel : $1,785
• Accommodation : $1,400
• Average fuel cost : $1.34
• Most expensive fuel : $178.9 (Yulara) most expensive seen was $3.00 @ Lorella Springs
• Cheapest fuel : $1.13 in Canberra
• Average Daily cost including all tours etc : $190

Some lighter sides 

• Funniest town seen or visited would have to go to Bing Bong seen around the Boorooloola area. 
• When talking about all the army trucks coming up the highway, Katie asked where they all sleep, the logistics would be amazing. My reply, any where they bloody well want to! 
• The number of Challengers spotted on this trip has been amazing. Towing all sorts of vans and trailers, it seems a much more popular car to touring these parts. At one stage there was four in a single caravan park. Charlie was still the toughest looking one though!
• The number of shirts on ant mines on the Stuart and other highways. Every 100 metre or so the art of making a terminate mound look like a person using a old shirt and sometimes a hat and sun glasses is extraordinary.  There are thousands of them and some go to quite some effort. We wondered if the terminate minded, does t bother them?
• The convoys we passed be it 2CV's(70 or more) Landrovers (43 in one and 13 in the last one seen) are great fun. You can listen on the uhf to all the chatter. 
• Your caravaners wave being acknowledged is much greater in the morning than the afternoon.  We think that this is due to the strength of the pointer finger wavering as the afternoon stretches on.  In the colder southern states the finger just didn't work with very few acknowledgements, maybe to cold to lift a finger.