Meeting Uluru up close for the 1st time- Sunday 29th July

Awoke early as kids were still asleep until around 8am, so I have a coffee in bed before I get up, it’s a wonderful thing these holidays, just taking it easy. We wanted to get to Uluru by 10am for a guided tour and a walk. It is a walk taken by a ranger who is very knowledgeable. About 50 people take the walk, as it’s a free tour. As none of us have ever been to Uluru before its just fascinating seeing people walk up this huge rock. Its like they are walking almost horizontal as its so high up. The aboriginals prefer you didn’t walk the rock and we respected that and didn’t do it. The talk started out all about the aboriginals and how many different languages within the aboriginals groups. It was funny when Oliver whispered to me,” She hasn’t even spoken about Uluru yet”, he must of felt he was at school listening carefully but hadn’t quite come to the part about Uluru yet. It certainly was a well worth tour and so interesting learning about the trees surrounding the rock and how they grow berries that the aboriginals grind to make syrups or for medicinal purposes, like numbing the skin if they have an infection. There was another walk and that was the 10km one around the base of Uluru, however Lily would never do it, so after returning back to camp for a bite to eat Mark and Dylan wanted to do that one. I dropped them off and they said see you in about 3 hours. Oliver, Lily and I went back to the cultural centre where there is so much to see and do. Both Lily and Oliver purchased items from the handmade aboriginal art shop, Lily some hand carved wooden musical sticks and Oliver a carved wooden animal. Just outside the shop are 3 aboriginal women who sit for hours painting the most magnificent art and they talk in their language. No photos or videos are to be taken at the cultural centre out of respect for the Aboriginals. Lily was frightened of these women; I guess they do look a little scary, as they aren’t exactly pretty women. (Sorry). Lily would hide around the corner as we watched them paint. We sat in the glorious sunshine and ate an icy pole. A video and stories of the Aboriginals was playing in a small theatre area and Lily and Oliver wanted to watch. It was a traditional aboriginal with the painting of the body, and when 2 women appeared with no tops on, both Oliver and Lily, had a giggle to each other, at the women in the video, bits were a wobbling a fair bit.

Time to go and we’ll get some more souvenirs , like postcards etc and I purchased for Dylan when he finished a certificate that he respected the aboriginals and ‘I did not climb Uluru but I did the Base walk around it, 10km. When I gave it to him he was really happy and a sense of pride he had done it. Sore legs tonight for Mark and Dylan, so they are already asleep. Lily finally had a full pamper with her hair and got rid of most of the red dust off her body tonight with a glorious soak in a tub. It was a tight squeeze but we got there and I can for now see the color of her skin, not that faint orange red dust. The dust gets in everywhere, and I think I must be breathing it in. For those who didn’t know I had really bad bronchitis before going away and a bad cough, can you believe it, I still have it and a cold to match. 10 weeks and counting. Can’t wait for warmer weather as we move up. Here I am again last awake all snuggled up in bed. Our day tomorrow starts before sunrise as we want to see it rise and then out to the Olga’s for more beautiful sights

 Here Dylan and Oliver try there hand at balancing the bowl the Aboriginal women would use when out picking fruit and collecting and using them to grind the food to make syrups of cordial type drinks.I think the boys did it easy, don't you think by these photos. 

Arriving in Yulara. The sights of Uluru

                                                                  

                                                                   

Another early rise and off we travel, its an exciting day we get to see Uluru, however its another day of travel. The kids are getting better at travel now and even Dylan has worked out how far we go and then how long the drive will be.  As we left Marla, we came across our first dingo crossing the road in front of us, we broke quickly but were surprised and everyone was looking out the window at it. The wedge tail eagle appears regularly as they eat the road kill like dingoes and kangaroos. One wedge tail eagle wouldn’t fly away as we passed it eating a part of a kangaroo and we were shocked at how huge these creatures really are. It really is amazing how big our beautiful country. We reached the border of South Australia and Northern Territory and I felt a sense of pride we had made it this far and were about to cross into a state none of us have ever been, except for Mark, who had brought a client back to Victoria, once before. A photo opportunity was had and Oliver was jumping from South Australia to Northern Territory just for fun. We started to get closer and closer after several toilet stops, and a quick lunch stop at a rest area. We were now chanting Uluru, Uluru, and Uluru. A right turn and now we see the sign, to Ayers Rock. Heading down the long road we see up ahead an Aboriginal in the middle of the road pointing at us to pull to the side of the road as he had 3 others sitting there in a car and one of them was lying flat out on the ground. We were always told, DO NOT STOP FOR THE ABORIGNALS, that flag you down, we did slow but went straight past quickly. What happens again in another 20km is on the other side of the road is another Aboriginal flagging us down as he looks like he has a flat tyre, he is on his own. Oh no he wasn’t he had friends lying in the bush as we passed him. Dylan sees them lying low in the bushes. Quite an eerry feeling when you hear about stories, stopping for the aboriginals and then it happens to you. A huge rock was in sight, but it wasn’t the rock we were waiting to see it was Mt.Connor and a lot of people mistake this for the rock.  Oh wow, we had it in sight, amazing and so huge. We found Ayers Rock Resort camping ground and checked into our site. We were given a pass for when you buy alcohol and you can only buy 6 stubbies at a time.  Just near by is a lookout and Uluru and been seen clearly here too. At 6.19pm was the sunset on Uluru so we headed out there to watch it, like every other person in town. There were coaches of people and loads of cars all to see this huge red rock. As we got closer and closer you just couldn’t keep your eyes off it as its just gigantic. Mark kept clicking away on the camera and the boys did too on their ipods. Lily had an accident and fell and took the skin off the knee, so that was it for her. We did get many photos of the changing colors of Uluru, and then behind us the sun was setting with pinks, reds and oranges in the sky. Amazing once again. On our return we went to the bottle shop to enjoy the cold beer for dinner. Lily feel asleep and the boys were exited as we have started an on going uno championship, as we add our scores for the whole time we are away. I’m winning after 4 games, so we will see what happens. Oliver is our scorer of course, adding up the totals. Late night as I write this blog. Finishing at 11.30pm.

Coober Pedy to Marla

After a very windy night at Coober Pedy we awoke to beautiful blue skies and a magnificent sunrise.  We packed up and were to venture into town to see some other interesting things in Coober Pedy. We went into an Opal shop and ‘Stella’ the owner was very nice and gave the boys some rocks in a pouch that they can then take to school to show everyone. Then she let all of us choose a beautiful shiny colored stone each, Dylan got a dark blue, Oliver got cream one, Lily got a pale pink and I chose a dark green stone.  Dylan decided to spend some of his money and buy a shape of Australia that has some opal in it.  We walked to see the underground museum on how they mine and saw some of the machinery. We walked into an Opal store and were amazed at all the Opals. Mark was going to buy me the $110.00 Opal but I think secretly he has purchased the $18,500 necklace that I am sure he’ll give to me at a later date. Across the road was ‘John’s Pizza and Restaurant’, so we had a pizza for lunch as a specialty.  There was a street nearby that was called Oliver Street, so yes he had a photo next to his street. We then went to the underground church and again this was really interesting. So beautiful with stain glass windows as you go down into the church. We drove to the top of the hill in town to see the view from the lookout and then took a drive to the Breakaways and Moon Plains. There is a dog fence that runs from Surfers Paradise to the Bight of W.A, its 5600km long to keep the dingoes out. The Moon Plains was interesting as we stopped the car and all got out to feel the texture of the ground it was a grey sand but so fine you sink into it, I guess its like the Moon, hence the name. We had fun pretending we were walking on the Moon ourselves. A 2-hour drive was now ahead to a town called Marla. We arrived 4.30pm and booked a quick no power site just for the night before we head to Yulara. A stroll after dinner was in need for the kids as they were all a little ratty from the car. We ended up in a bar, I think the only bar in the town and watched Essendon lose to Hawthorn. We are in a small town in outback Australia and we meet this husband and wife with their adult daughter and the daughter plays netball against our nieces (Molly and Til), they were from Ouyen. Its lovely speaking to people traveling and seeing where they are from and where their journey is taking them.

Coober Pedy to Marla

Flinders Ranges to Coober Pedy, Thursday 26th July

6.00am the alarm went off, we wanted to start early and get going today as we were heading for a big drive to Coober Pedy. Skies were grey so it was ideal to get going quickly incase it started to rain. Dylan and I decided we would time ourselves to see how long it took us to pack up. Result 1 hour 45mins, not bad and that was the boys doing jobs too.  We might see if we can beat that at some stage. Lily is constantly hungry today in the car and keeps on wanting to eat, eat, and eat. We stop in Port Augusta and go to Coles supermarket for some supplies for the next couple of days. We have noticed, well actually the kids have, that there is starting to be more Aboriginals around the town. We have told them not to stare. As I write this, we have turned left at Port Augusta and are on a continuous straight stretch of road for about 50mins. Wait Mark, got excited, we veered left slightly and have had 2 kangaroos and an emu cross in front of us on the road. Long trip we arrived in Coober Pedy around 4,30pm and decided to stay at Ribas Underground Camping and Caravan Park. It was funny when we arrived because Coober Pedy looks so boring with just rock and the boys ask,” Is this where we are staying? And for how long?”, Its like being out in the desert. As we checked in they offer you a 50% discount if you then book an underground mine tour. So we did, it was at 7pm. We quickly put up the trailer and used the camp kitchen and cooked and ate there. There’s an underground T.V room and Internet, so we checked out that too, Lily wanting to play hide and seek in there. About 20 people joined the tour at 7pm and the guy who took it was very knowledgeable. We found out some great facts that 93% of the world’s opal is in Australia and 83% of that is in Coober Pedy. The boys took away a lot of information from doing the tour. So we are staying in the Opal Capital of the world. The following morning we will venture around the town and Dylan wants to buy an Opal. What are his chances of that? Some souvenirs maybe.

Last Day in the beautiful Flinders Ranges

Well we awoke at 1.30am on our 2^nd night to a rustling sound coming from the annexe and I actually thought OMG! someone’s into our belongings, I nudged Mark, and said “someone’s out there”, he jumps up and I shine the torch out the window to see the biggest grey Kangaroo, eating something, Mark tries to move it along as it was actually eating our map, we knew never to leave any food out, but a map, I thought wouldn’t taste all that good. We found out it was the big daddy kangaroo. I asked for another map at reception and they said “I guess the kangaroo ate it” how did you guess, it happens all the time.

Today we drove to different lookouts to view the sceneries of the magnificent Flinders Ranges; it was cold and windy today though. We also checked out other campsites that were in the northern Flinders ranges and drove along a rocky creek bed and saw the biggest red gum trees we have seen growing in the dry creek beds.

Again in the afternoon Mark, Dylan and Oliver took off on another walk to Arkaroo Rock, which has Aboriginal paintings. This took them 2 hours and on their return collected some firewood outside of the National Park, as firewood collection is prohibited in the park and Dylan was so looking forward to a warm open fire to sit around. Our last night in the Flinders Ranges was enjoyed sitting around a campfire toasting marshmallows. Bed was in sight around 9.30pm and by the time we got inside the tent the kangaroo’s were out again sniffing around the campfire or actually enjoying the warmth from it.

1St Day in Flinders Ranges

1^st Day in Flinders Ranges we awoke to beautiful blue skies and it was fresh, but such a joy to get up and sit in the sun with a Latte.  Walking day today with lots to see and do. Boys like to keep busy and love exploring and seeing new things. 1^st walk was the  

‘Living with the Land Walk’ which we explored the pastoral heritage of the Flinders

Ranges (1km) And then a 13km drive over to see the ‘Sacred Canyon Walk’ which is an Aboriginal Site with rock engravings in sandstone walls. The images representing animal tracks, people and waterholes. We saw wild goats and many Emus and Kangaroo’s.

Mark, Dylan and Oliver decided after lunch to do another walk to the 'Wangarra Lookout' which was approx 8km, no way was Lily going to do that one, so Lily and I stayed behind and checked out the Visitors Centre and had some girl time together coloring in and painting Dora pictures.

Burra to Flinders Ranges

Our Trip from Burra to Flinders Ranges started out at 9.30am and we were heading to Wilpena Pound camping ground. Along the way we stopped for supplies at Peterborough, Kids are getting used to being in the car for a while now. We arrived at Wilpena Pound at around 1.15pm. Setting up took us a little longer, who knows why but we better get quicker at. Mark said now we’ve set up I’m concerned how long it will take to pack up. We shouldn’t be worrying about packing up when we just got here. Within half an hour of being here, we turned around and there was a kangaroo trying to get into our food, as we had just had sandwiches. Lily screamed, as she’d never seen a live kangaroo. We all joked that c’mon Lily you barrack for the Kangaroo’s, Mark had to basically shoo and push the Kangaroo away as he got his head stuck under our chair. Dylan is taking so many photos of Kangaroo’s.

Night started early with it being dark by 6pm and then the cold started to set in. It was freezing so, you just hope into bed to warm up. I have the best gift given to me from mum and Georgia before we left; it’s a heated blanket. I hear everyone laugh but it’s the best invention, plug it in and it heats up and I basically hog it all night and leave it on high. Its not an electric blanket, but a snuggle blanket. Asleep early again all cosy and warm with thermals, heater and the heated blanket.

Day 3

Sunday was a pancake day thanks to Sheryl who cooked beautiful homemade ones and the kids certainly got into them eating them all up. Lily was last up at 8.30am and we wanted to get going by 9.30am as it as another big drive today, approx 5hours.  We were told by Sheryl and Ian to stop off at Monash in South Australia, as it was a huge adventure playground park, so this was our plan. We decided to stop for lunch at a small town called Cullulleraine by the lakeside and enjoy a quick bit to eat and toilet stop. Dylan, Oliver and Lily are travellling great with Dylan reading his new Percy Jackson book and Oliver doing some of his Olympic booklet from school by coloring in. Lily likes the movies, games on ipods and watching out the window at the sheep. We approached the border of Victoria and South Australia and there was the Quarantine station for fruit and vegetables. NO FRUIT OR VEGETABLES to be taken into South Australia, no problem we had eaten our fruit but hadn’t had a chance to cook our veggies yet and we had heaps of potatoes. We thought, no one would be there on a Sunday but sure enough there was.  A fine of $315 if you don’t declare it, so we handed over our potatoes and our vegetables but we were lucky enough to keep carrots. We reached Monash by 1.15pm and we suggested a limit on our time here so we could reach our destination, Burra, before sun goes down, or I usually say mad hour and kids go crazy around 5pm. Yes the kids were happy, what a fun adventure this was with so many different equipment to explore, and a fun maze to go through as well. 2 hours was left to drive, reaching Burra at 4.30pm. There is 1 caravan park here in Burra, so we headed straight for it, like everyone else. What a beautiful little town, heritage listed and we saw old miners cottages dating back to the early 1900’s.  Burra still has many of their original buildings so it was lovely going for a stroll at night down the main street. We all rugged up as it was cold, it must have been for myself to be walking in ugg boots. (Nice look I know). All in bed early and all nice and cosy for our first night in the camper trailer. 

Day 2

Day 2 began about 7.30am for us Adults and all the kids sleeping in until around 8am-8.30am, we headed off on a short stroll to the local tennis club and camping ground to check it all out. Wow, for a small town they have a lot, 4 tennis courts another fantastic brand new playground and next to all of this was the camping ground which is powered sites at $ 14 a night and full amenities as well as a huge shed with seats and couches with an open fire place in there. This is also where the football oval is and the local hall, yes a town with only 45 people has a hall, and they only recently had a funeral there. A short stroll back after basically seeing the whole town and then a trip out to a bizarre mallee scrub retreat called WHEREYABEEN. Built by the local fridge mechanic and everything is recyclable. Old Fridge doors become solid bush tables, a loo with a view looking out across a scenic mallee vista. A hand made slide down a sand dune, which was made from plastic sheets, kids loved this as it went really fast except that Oliver ripped his jeans and his top to bits and then Lily decides to go down and she rips her pants too. It was fun though. A 50 metre flying fox, again hand made, so what to the boys want to do, yes try it out. Oliver goes first, wow; it certainly flies fast and stops at a holt. Dylan had a go and of course Lily did too. This place was amazing, to think it was all hand built and much to our surprise a very old caravan, probably a 1950’s caravan converted into a face. Its called “The Gary Lyon”, the picture will explain. We are sending this photo into the footy show. Very funny. An 18-hole golf course is also there with each hole about 25 meters long. Everywhere you looked at this place there were different items, fake chooks of the roof and even bikes on the roof to add effects. A wombat hole with a fake wombat trapped inside.

Sheryl, Ian and their son Hugh also took us out to lake Albucutya, which hasn’t had water in it for 20 years but we saw a few kangaroos and even emu’s.  Early night as we were to take off on our next stop to a town called Burra in South Australia.

Day 1 of our trip

It was 9.37am on the Friday 20 July 2012 when we headed off on our journey of a lifetime. We made it as far as Davey Street Frankston only to return home as we forgot our drink bottles. It was hard to say bye for now to our dear dog ‘Charlie” but we know he’ll be in good hands while we are away.

We were headed to Mark’s sister’s place (Sheryl and Ian Herben) in a remote town called Yaapeet, population 45 people.   Sheryl is the local schoolteacher and principal of the Yaapeet Primary School and the School has a total of 5 children attending, 4 girls and 1 boy. We were welcomed and looked after wonderfully as Ian (brother-in-law) had done a barista course and had also bought a very high tech coffee machine so we were spoilt with wonderful coffee’s daily. We arrived in Yaapeet approx 4.30pm and we had prepared dinner as we cooked the night before and had the Lasagna ready to go.  Late night catching up chatting and of course the kids going next door as it is the school to play in the playground and the footy oval. Lily especially loved the school’s sandpit and the boys played with lots of sport equipment too.

Day 1 was over after a late night chatting and watching Geelong beat Essendon.