Weekly roundup - Week 4

Here we are at Sunday at the end of Week 4 on  the road.  Time is passing very quickly and it is amazing to think we have been travelling for a month now.  We have spent this week in Darwin - there is so much to see and do here - and we have enjoyed being in one camp spot for more than just a few nights.  Another mixed week this week.
Last Sunday after our last post we visited the Mindil Beach Markets.  What an amazing experience.  It leaves any market down our way for dead.  We really enjoyed ourselves and immersed ourselves in the music and the atmosphere on offer as the sun went down over the sea behind us.  We had dinner there with all of us tasting and sampling food from all different cultures.  A really great night out.  Not so great coming home when I took my eyes off the road for just a moment and before I knew it, Mal was on the exit ramp off the Stuart Highway heading for the north west suburbs of Darwin!  Our GPS system that is only 3 years old now died suddenly and permanently earlier that day and I did not have a good map of Darwin on board.  I managed to get us back to the highway in the dark, mapless while the girls sniggered in the back seat as I hurled colourful comments at Mal which is a useless exercise when it comes to navigation - he just has no inbuilt radar system for global positioning.  I decided we needed a new GPS in a dark moment on the way back to base if  only to give me a break from navigating!
Monday - The day started with a trip into town to the Toyota dealer.  Might as well have stayed in bed really.  Replacing clips on a flange seems to be more trouble than skinning a croc up here and the guys who work in the place wouldn't even come out to look at the car - they just said we needed to replace the entire flange.  Total cost $500 ish.  If looks could kill, the salesman would have been a pile of chopped liver as of 9.30am on Monday morning.  We gaff taped it and that's how it will stay till the car is serviced when it is due (around Perth we think).  We left the chopped liver behind and went into town to Crocosaurus Cove - an very impressive croc park in the middle of the main street in Darwin.  the kids loved it and had a go at feeding baby salties with a feeding pole and then swam in a pool with them behind a sheet of perspex.

Tuesday - A bright new  morning like every other morning/day here.  Sun, sun and more sun, no clouds and a hint of a breeze.  It is usually 25 degrees by 10am.  Blissful.  We took the girls to Crocodylus Park and saw massive crocs lying about and being fed massive chops and steaks that would feed an entire family for a month in one go.  They had a little zoo there so we lunched there in the grounds with our usual picnic.  In the afternoon we headed to the Darwin Hospital to have Rachel's plaster taken off.  The casualty area has to be seen to be believed.  Lots of Aboriginals sitting around looking quite well except that most of  them are very drunk by 2.30 in the afternoon.  The guy at the desk checked us in and told us that it would be a 5 -6 hour wait as all the local folk had to be seen first and although there wasn't much wrong with them, it was hot outside and in the afternoons they often wandered in for some attention to bunions on toes, head lice and other such ailments to escape the afternoon heat.  We would have to be the only white people in there except the nursing staff.  I explained that I would happily go to a GP to have the cast removed and was happy to pay the costs incurred to save the 6 hour wait.  They gave us a sheet of numbers to call and I called the Darwin Private Hospital, explained the problem and they offered me an appointment at 3.20 with their physio department to remove the cast that day!  I had a letter from the orthopaedic surgeon back at home who put the cast on (thanks a million Maurizio - the letter opened doors that saved us a lot of waiting and frustration) and within an hour, the cast was off, and the bill of $15.50 was paid in full!!  Rachel was a little teary and worried about whether it was really fixed but we had her thinking of other things and busy so she wasn't thinking too much about it.

Wednesday saw us head out to Humpty Doo to the Adelaide River for a cruise to see jumping crocodiles.  Closest I have ever been to a saltwater crocodiles mouth and closest I ever wish to be.  We also visited Fogg Dam to walk over the Dam wall but there was a huge 5.5m saltie there so we drove over instead!  In the heat of the afternoon we went to the free waterpark at Leanyer - great fun for the kids on the waterslides and waterpark equipment there and after this visit Rachel was convinced her arm was 100% better.

Thursday was a great day too with a visit to Indo Pacific Marine to see a closed reef system in action and we had a guided talk/tour through the centre by the man who designed and built the centre.  It was very interesting with lots to see.  The afternoon was spent lazing over the road at the Wave Lagoon pool in rubber rings in the wave pool.  Yes folks, Jane was in the water again!!  When you get out of the (warm) water here, the (warm) breeze blows over you and you dry and your hair dries in 30 minutes you never feel cold at all.  It's so great to enjoy the water and feel warm. 

Friday - a very big day with an early start to travel an hour down south to the Northern Territory Wildlife Park.  What a great facility.  We walked our feet off that day (about 6kms all up) and saw so much of the wildlife that is natural to NT.  Mal got to hand feed whiprays and the free flight raptor show was particularly impressive.  We were there all day and very pretty whacked when we got back to camp.

Saturday saw us at the Parap Markets (had to post some things home to Dad!) and I am now the proud  owner of another pair of Happy pants (or hippy pants).  They are awesome and I fit in here with the local population without a problem.  I might just move here.......
Which brings us to today, Sunday - Mal's fishing day!  Mal was up early and away up the road to catch us a Barra for tea.  Hmm.  I have just returned from the supermarket with dinner supplies.......you can read between the lines.  Very disappointing with nothing on the line at all.  We will continue to put the line in when ever it is safe for as long as we are out here near water and fish.

We are now the owners of a portable solar panel!  We decided to lash out and get one so we can be completely self sufficient and not need to be in camp sites with power poles. We used it yesterday to power our fridge during the day and are very happy with the power it throws out.

So, the good,the bad and the ugly for this week - the good would be the intensly beautiful landscape at Fogg Dam wetlands.  Birds and birds and birds - and water lillies.  Just stunning.
The bad would be the lack of Barramundi on Mal's fishing line. He is a broken man this afternoon......
The ugly - a toss up between waking up to a failing power line that was arcing over the top of the trailer - fairly spectacular, similar to fireworks but somewhat dangerous when your house is below it - but unlike others, the power cut for the day to replace it did not worry us as we calmly plugged in our solar panel and watched the grey nomads panic about their fridges and freezers and their air con units. OR, maybe it was the Toyota salesman - Mal was not impressed.......

Tomorrow we are on the move towards Kakadu.  We are all pretty relaxed now and enjoying each day as it comes.  I love that I can wander to the bathroom at 7am in just a t shirt and shorts and when I get there the overhead fans are on to move the air and when I get out of the shower the breeze from the fans doesn't make me cold as I dress at my leisure.  Then as I eat breakfast, my hair dries in the breeze and I am still not cold!  I love it!  There is less formal school work happening but so much informal learning happening for the girls that I am not very worried about it.  The other day in the car, Rachel wanted to know about numbers that were very big (we were estimating populations of towns at the time) and she asked whether there are any numbers as big as infinity.  We talked about big numbers and about never ending numbers and that led to a discussion on 22/7, or pi.  Eloise has been set some work by her teacher Mrs Johnson on fractions so I have to confess that she now knows all about 22/7 but hasn't done anything on 1/2, 1/4 or 1/3!  Sorry Mrs J.  She told us last night as she went to sleep that she does not like Darwin because it is very hot- she said "Mum, do you know what the temperature is at the moment.  I think it must be pi hot".  Jeannette - I promise to get to halves and quarters next week......

We haven't met any Dream Stealers this week - score is still Crawford's 2, Dream Stealers nil.

Week 3 photo roundup

Hi all,
We are lounging around in Darwin in the warmth.  We are in a campsite with power this week so it is fairly luxurious. The weekly round up this week comes as a series of photo shots.  Hope you enjoy it!
We continue to have a good time.  There have been a few hassles this week but nothing we couldn't sort out.  On Monday, the girls both got stung almost simultaneously as they passed by a bush at the Douglas Hot Springs.  Both cried lustily as it must have really hurt.  Mal did a Bear Grylls impersonation and bush bashed a track back to the car off the trail to get them some help.  We poured cold water on the sting sites and then administered Claratyne to both and we watched as the biggest weals I have ever seen appeared on their skin - Rachel's arm and Eloise's neck.  We put them both in the car, turned on the Air con and administered icy cold water by mouth (the fridge really came to the fore on this day- thanks to all my colleagues at school who have been sick which has allowed me to get work and to then purchase the fridge in the first place!) A 30 minute drive back to camp and a cool shower all helped and by the next morning things were back to normal.  Eloise kept saying she had fire on her neck so it must have been a nasty stinger thing.  The other casualties this week are a broken fog light from a stray stone off a roadtrain and a loose rear wheel flange (pulled off the car in Katherine in the Woolies carpark after we declined to help the local indigenous folk buy a slab of beer).  Mal has gaff taped it and it has done some pretty rough roads this week on the way here so gaff tape gets the prize this week for the most useful thing in the rig.  We will see a Toyota dealer here on Monday to get that sorted before we hit the Gibb River Road.  We also woke to a hot fridge and a rank smell a couple of days ago to find that our trailer battery died overnight.  I drew the short straw to clean it out and certainly earned my bottle of Bundaberg that night!  We have had the mobile battery man to the trailer this morning and he is returning with a heavy duty monster battery which will see us right for a while. Thanks to all who have texted, phoned or even tried to without success!  We are very often not in a place with signal which makes contact with us hard.  It has been great to chat with those of you who have managed to call at just the right time.  Thanks for the texts and emails. 

Katherine Gorge at Nitmiluk National Park. This photo is from the second gorge for those who have been here.

Swimming at the Lily Ponds Rockhole at Katherine Gorge.  We swam in the waterfall and in the waterhole in front of it.  Someone had to get out to take the photo and today, it was me!

River crossing in Litchfield National Park.  The crossing was up over the running boards and we fitted the water bra to the car before attempting this one.  Lots of fun and the Blyth Homestead at the end of the track was very humbling.  How anyone lived out here in the 1920's in complete isolation with no power or running water, far less the lady who lived here and had 14 children over 27 years makes my mind boggle.  Tough people to survive this lifestyle.

Me and the girls swimming in the Buley Rockholes in Litchfield National Park.  This time it was Mal's time to get out and take the picture.  For those of you who know my aversion to cold water, it may surprise you to see me in this waterfall - it was so hot and the water was just so refreshing and clean and clear and so lovely compared to swimming in a pool back home.  Bit of a water theme happening this week - watch out for next week's installment with Mal's big barra catch - which I am confident he will bag this week coming!!

Good, bad and ugly - The good thing this week was the free bush camp in Litchfield and the swimming in Buley rockholes and the 4WD tracks we did and the awesome capability of the car to get us to these places.  The bad was the deep cycle coming to an abrupt halt in the trailer, and the ugly would have to be cleaning the fridge out the next day.  Give me a vomiting student any day!!

Dream Stealer award this week goes to the girl in the Tourist Info Centre here in Darwin who advised that accomodation and camping spots in Kakadu were impossible to come by without a week's booking in front.  I rang one of the camp sites in Jabiru to be sure we had somewhere to pull up if we missed out next week on free sites in Kakadu - the lady there has owned the joint for 20 years and has NEVER had to turn someone away from lack of spaces.  So, Dream Stealers nil, Crawford's 3.

Love and kisses - Eloise is making us lunch today so time to go and sink my teeth into my bread roll.
Mal,Jane, Rachel and Eloise

Weekly roundup - Week 2

Well hello everyone - here we are at the end of Week 2 at Batchelor.  Actually, we were in a place called Hayes Creek at the end of the week last week but the population there is nominal as is the phone and internet signal.  Today is now Tuesday and we have signal here at Batchelor.  All is still OK although a couple of casualties in the last couple of days but you will have to wait till Week 3 round up for details since they both happened on Monday and Tuesday of this week. 

Week 2 as it happened......
Monday - We went on an underground mine tour at Mt Isa which was interesting and disturbingly, I think the tour guide who looked all of 16 to me, had the hots for Rachel.  He blew it big time when he snuck up on her while she was in the dump truck thing and said boo in a loud voice.  She gave him a withering look and it was all over red rover.  If looks could kill he would have been the next underground casualty!  She didn't even jump which I thought was pretty impressive given the darkness and the eerieness of the underground tunnel we were in.

Tuesday - We moved on to Barkly Homestead for an overnight stop.  Not such a good day really.  The kids bickered in the back seat and when I tried to plug in my ipod into my ears to escape the noise from the back seat (we are trying to let them both sort out their differences themselves as they have weeks and weeks to go of being together), the girls had run it out of charge. Put that together with a sore neck and I was a grumpy mummy. We paid $2 a litre for diesel here and can't get milk at all.  The generator thumped all night so I chalked this day up to the first bad day and hopefully one of not very many like it.

Wednesday - Today we travelled to Cape Crawford.  I have posted about Cape Crawford earlier this week so won't repeat here.  We are still really happy to have been to this place and will be watching with interest if the tourist plans for the area ever take off.

Thursday - After moving on early in the morning we ended up after a big day in the car at Mataranka. Home of the thermal springs - and hundreds of arthritic grey nomads.  We stayed at a van park rather than at the springs themselves and the girls were able to watch hand feeding of Barramundi.  Mal was very tempted to throw in a line but expect that it would have been a fast eviction by management if he had done so!  We swam at the less touristy Bitter Springs and it was truly lovely.  A few people there but nothing too awful and you have to be able to swim to go in here to cope with the current and both our kids were fine. 

Friday - A rest day at Mataranka.  We went to the Roper River area within the Elsey National Park to have a bush walk but as soon as we stepped out of the car we spotted a huge croc trap so changed our minds rapidly and made back for the car at a fast rate.  The wet season this year has been huge and went for 2 extra months so here, we are in the start of the dry rather than in the middle of the dry.  A lot of roads that we want to take are still closed and areas that we would like to visit are off limits due to flood damage or water still over the roads.  The girls swam at Mataranka Thermal springs which is now all built in like a very large swimming pool and it was a matter of finding a bit of water big enough to wallow in around all the other grey nomads.  Mal and I refrained from swimming and the girls were happy to hop out after a half hour.  We explored the local park and saw the We of the Never Never statues so gave the girls a lesson about Australian Literature.

Saturday - We drove to Katherine and had a rest day for the rest of the afternoon.  It was insanely hot.  So hot and humid in the afternoon that it was hard to feel like doing anything.  We sat and did not much for the afternoon before heading to town for a week of groceries as we will be heading into no where land for a week when we leave here.

Sunday - the real highlight of the week.  We went over the main road to Nitmiluk National Park - formerly Katherine Gorge.  So wonderful a place.  We went for a bush walk to the top of the gorge.  The view was spectacular but the heat was almost unbearable.  We were all wearing almost nothing - shorts and t shirts and there were pommie tourists wearing jeans and long shirts - most were stopped along the way and looking dangerously hot sucking madly on their water bottles.  I have to say that for the first time in as long as I can remember I felt very hot.  I now understand what people are talking about when they say their undies are wet with perspiration.  Walking back was like walking into a fan heater.  The information centre is not air conditioned (it is winter here!!!!!) so no respite there at the end of the walk.   Back to the car for lunch and more water consumed.  I think we all drank about 3 litres each that day.  After lunch and the obligatory ice block at the Tourist centre, we took a boat cruise up the gorge.  Jaw dropping scenery and stunning views.  We wanted to hire a canoe and paddle but again, due to the wet, the canoes can't go out till they catch the 7 salties that have come up the gorge in the rains.  We went up 3 gorges and just were stunned at the scenery.  Awesome stuff that is not done justice with a camera.  They took us to a bank where we had to climb up and up and up and at the top was a waterfall with a deep swimming hole.  We all were in for a swim.  Wonderful wonderful day.  It was a huge day out by the time we drove back to the campsite and made dinner on the camper kitchen, did dishes and fell into bed. 

The good, bad and the ugly this week - the good would have to be the Gorge hands down.  The bad would be the sudden heat that we have struggled a bit to get used to.  We are doing better now and have decided to buy some more hot weather clothes in Darwin.  Till then, we are living in swimmers most of the time.  No one seems to care and we certainly don't.  The ugly would have to be the number of people who insist on running generators out here in the middle of nowhere where most of us are trying to have peace and quiet.  It doesn't seem to matter that you aren't allowed to run generators - there people just do what they want and don't consider any one else.  Very ugly.....

The Dream Stealer Award - a toss up this week between the guy at the Cutta Cutta Caves Nature Park and the guy at the lookout on the gorge walk.  The guy on the gorge walk told us that there are no Barramundi to be caught anywhere around here and its just a big line to get tourists to come to the area. Couldn't convince him so we will let you know if we win that one.  The prize goes to the guy who had just come over the Gibb River Road - the road is crap, Cooper's tyres are no good and shred to bits, the only kind of camper trailer that is any good for our conditions are the ones that are imported (at this point it was strike 3) so he is the Dream Stealer of the week but we will let you know if it is Crawford's two, Dream Stealers nil after we have done the Gibb River Road, with our Aussie made trailer running Coopers tyres.

Take care everyone
Love and mossies,
Mal, Jane, Rachel and Eloise

Mataraka Musings

Howdie all,
We have arrived at Mararanka - the only place with internet signal since the last post!  We have had some adventures this week.  We decided to take the road less travelled and instead of coming up the highway past Tennant Creek we cut in fore a mere 400km detour to go through to Cape Crawford.  Couldn't not go there really when we were so close.  The highway was a single lane no wider than our driveway at home and all unfenced paddocks so cows wandering all over the road.  For the entire 460kms we passed 8 cars coming towards us and passed 2 going our way.  We passed a road kill site with no less than 10 wedge tailed eagles who were very reluctant to leave their restuarant - what a magnificent site - and as the car pulled slowly towards them to pass, they finally took to the air - a sight that none of us will forget for a long time.  We arrived at Cape Crawford and set up our camp.  Nothing here except some hopefuls with helicopters offerring 10 minute joy rides over the Lost City - which you can drive to with a 4by.  Not many takers - well, not many people here at all really.  I went to book in at the homestead as you are asked to do when setting up a camp and the guy asked for my surname.  "Crawford" I said,  "no, not the name of this place, your name" he said while looking at me like I was an idiot, and talking very slowly like I was a person of little brain. I repeated myself "Crawford. as in Mr and Mrs Crawford and their two children" I heard myself saying as I fixed him with my gimlet eye that only comes from travelling the so called Barkly Highway in the dust and heat for 460kms after a rotten night's sleep next to a generator.  "You're kidding" he says, "Nope" I say.  "No way" he says, "Way" I say.  He shakes his head a lot and I walk out having completed the requisite paperwork while he just can't believe my signature.  Was hoping for a good night's sleep but wouldn't you believe it, the generator here for the whole township sounds like a lawnmower right outside your window on high throttle - all night.......and in the morning at 6am, the chopper is started up to warm up just about 200 m from our campsite and than after 15 minutes it takes off.  I gave up and got up and we were away by 7.45 that morning.  We then cut over to the Stuart Highway and called into Daly Waters before coming up the road to Mataranka.  We have swum in the Bitter Springs Thermal Pool.  We tried to go bushwalking (in the Elsey National Park) along the Roper River but we hopped out of the car in the car park area and wandered 100m along the track to see a huge croc trap and decided we would abandon such a walk!  The wet season here has been huge and there are still areas closed to the public in Nat parks.  And there are many crocs who have wandered in the big wet that are still being rounded up.  We are heading out of coverage again for a while as we work our way through Nat Parks towards Darwin. I have been writing a lot and have lots of stories saved up for when I have a chance to post them.  There are so many interesting things and interesting people out here on the road and everyone has a story. Next post will be the Weekly Round Up for Week 2.

Weekly roundup - Week 1

Hi all,
We have pulled into Barkly Homestead today and have set up the camper in record time.  We have come from Mt Isa and have truly driven through miles and miles of nothing.  This country is huge and so many places are so isolated.  Here there is no fresh milk or bread - you buy frozen loaves and milk is UHT.  Everything is mega expensive due to the isolation factor.  We will not be purchasing diesel here at $2.00 a litre - at this point we are thankful that our 4by has a 180 litre fuel tank and it was full out of Isa.  Mal is very happy with the fuel economy we are getting even pulling the camper.  This afternoon is dedicated to catching up on the blog (amazingly I have found a hot spot for internet connection although if I move my mouth slightly to the left or to the right, I bet I will lose the connection!) The girls are about to do some school work which I haven't touched since we left - it has taken us this long to get into a rhythm.

So, here is Week 1.
So far we have been to Dubbo, Bourke, Charleville, Longreach, Mt Isa and now here at Barkly Homestead.  We are finally into NT.  The days are lovely and warm and the nights have been chilly to down right freezing.  We have seen Bilby's in breeding captivity centre, been star watching (where I froze to death depsite many clothes and beanies etc), spent the day in Longreach doing the repack of the car, been down into an underground hospital at Mt Isa and been down into a mine there too.  We went to Riversleigh Fossil Centre and to the Outback at Isa exhibition.  The repack of the car was good to do - you can't really tell where you need things to be packed till you get out here and live the travelling lifestyle.  It only took a couple of days to realise that all was not going to plan and I was getting frustrated at not having the things I needed at my fingertips! 
The number of retirees in vans out here is astonishing.  I am left wondering if there are any retirees living in their homes anywhere in Australia!  It really is like the march of the penguins northwards. All van head for Darwin and the only good part is that we are able to pass them all as the day progresses and beat them all to the van parks and get the good spots! 
We have left the main road twice and done deviation trips on dirt to see things that most wouldn't be game to see.  We have been in to a place called The Cascades to see Aboriginal Rock Carvings.  A most wonderful quiet and out of the way place.  We also took the dirt to see the ghost town of Mary Kathleen.  There are a handful of people out here with kids but we are very much the odd ones out with our camper trailer and kids. 
The girls have been travelling well with no line demarkations being drawn indellibly on the back seat yet.  Rachel chooses to sit in the centre next to Eloise and they play and chat and listen to an Ipod (Thanks Nancy!).  So far the biggest fight has been over a lost dice in Eloise's car seat that then escalated to a full on argument about how the other one was more ugly than the other - "your eyebrows look weird", "so, your nose hair moves when you breathe", "well I don't care because your feet smell", and so on and I am sure you get the idea.  Mal and I giggled silently in the front stalls and waited for them to sort it out.  Within 5 minutes they were best buddies again and sharing a set of earphones with the ipod. 
Surprisingly, I have kept a reasonable temper although I have had some moments that Mal has dubbed "Victor Meldrew Moments" - for those who are familiar with this TV character from One Foot in the Grave.  I have tried to expain at these times that it is difficult and indeed trying travelling with a family that resemble a fruit fly circus at times but this just makes them all laugh at me all the more.  It is hard to stay mad for long.
Some of you have been in touch begging for the good, the bad and the ugly just like we sent out the last time we  travelled in 2008.  So, by popular demand, here goes. The Week 1 good would have to be that being out here on the road far surpasses being in the office or at work.  Sorry to all of you back home who are slogging away in jobs in the freezing cold Canberra winter, but we really are enjoying the warm days and the switch off from work.  The bad this week would be the price of diesel which just goes up and up as you head more and more inland and although this is not unexpected it is still bad.  The ugly this week would have to go to the sight of the Aboriginal folk in Mt Isa who stagger through the streets totally drunk and out of it fishing through the bins for spent cigarette butts.  A real  eye opener for our naive city slicker kids.
We are adding an extra category to this weekly roundup - The Dream Stealer Award for the Week.  We have met lots of interesting folk already while travelling this week and some of them say the most amazing things. It is very clear though that the majority of people who we have met or listened to over a meal in a camp site are totally opposed to the Carbon tax, dislike Julia Gillard and think that the best thing to do with boat people is to put a bomb under their boats and remove them from Australian waters.  But, back to the Dream Stealer Award.  Plenty of those out here - people who tell you you can't do this and you can't do that and then they have a reason why you can't do it.  This week the Award goes to the guy we met in Dubbo on our first night from home who told us "You can't camp out west, there are too many rats.  Rats everywhere.  They get in your swag, in your tent, in your car, they are just everywhere.  Nah mate, don't go out west, stick to the coast."  Well, here we are and we haven't seen a single rat - not a single one - Crawford's one, Dream Stealers nil!

Photos below - leaving town, NT border just before Barkly Homestead, Croc Dundee Walkabout Hotel out of Longreach, Hotel at Barringun - yep, it's a hotel!
Till next week.

Cloncurry

Today we set off for Mackinlay which is between Longreach and Cloncurry, and decided to keep coming up the road here to Cloncurry for the night.  We got up early this morning and packed up ready to hit the road again.  We said farewell to Mike and Helen Shaw who have been great company - we had a lovely night in their van last night while the girls played with their Polly Pockets in the camper trailer.  We were only going to stay for a half hour or so but 2 hours later we went out the door of their van and into our tent to discover the girls had packed up and taken themselves to bed!  We felt like naughty teenagers creeping into bed not waking anyone up.  We travelled to Mackinlay - the home of Walkabout Creek Hotel where they filmed Crocodile Dundee.  It is truly in the middle of nowhere.  We drove most of the day through complete nothingness.  Absolute isolation.  We took the obligatory photos which I was hoping to load to the blog tonight but I am tucked up in the tent and the cable is somewhere in the boot of the Prado so it will be another day before I load photos for you all to see.  We were thinking of staying overnight at Walkabout Creek in the Hotel's van park but it was still quite early in the afternoon so a family vote resulted in us moving on to Cloncurry for the night.  We are booked into Mt Isa for the next 3 nights which is a tiny 120 km's up the road so it will be a very nice slow start tomorrow with a before lunch arrival in the Isa before we set about exploring it.  We are all having a great time.  Life in the car is very agreeable apart from listening to Qld AM radio, ( a very bad gardening show today where the solution to all gardening problems was prefaced with "well love" or "well mate", followed by the advice of "chucking some chook poo" or "sprinkling  human urine", pronounced  you-rine, - these two solutions are guaranteed to fix all plant issues - Mal reckons it is a killer cure - how to kill your plants in one hit).  The sun streams in through the windscreen and today the outside temperature rose to 24 degrees.  It is very cold at night though out here in the west and we have had 3 sub zero nights.  Tonight it will be about 8 degrees overnight but we have a powered site and run a little heater to keep us toasty warm.

We have arrived at Longreach

Hi everyone,

We are in Longreach having arrived here yesterday.  We have stopped here two nights so I could repack the car and camper - lots of things were just not in the right places!  We also needed to wash and Eloise has been unwell so needed to get her hot running water and a slower pace for 24 hours or so.  She is a lot better now and her cough has settled down a lot today.  We have had some big drives and have been in the car most of the last 3 days.  Tomorrow we head to Mackinlay to stay in the backyard of the Walkabout Pub for all those Croc Dundee fans.  After that we hope to get to Mt Isa and there we will stop for at least 3 days.  There is so much to see there and the main street runs for 180km's.  We have met some interesting people already and are loving being out here on the road.  We are the only family out here doing this and there are many many grey nomads in big shiny vans - we have met Lorna and Bob and passed Lorna and Bob every day for the last 3 days.  They operate off channel 18 and Mal has resisted the urge to chat.  He was keen to make contact with Cheryl and Poor Bloody Greg but I managed to wrench the radio from him before he could call them up to let them know we were going to pass.  They too love UHF 18!  People write the darndest things on their spare wheel covers.......  We were settling into our site at Bourke when a huge shiny van pulled in pulled by a white Cruiser.  As we all stared at this amazing rig, none other than Mrs Shaw, Rachel's teacher from school last year jumped down from the passenger's seat!  We had a laugh at being out the back of Bourke and seeing people you know and then had dinner together.  We said goodbye the following morning only to see them again in Charleville that night when they pulled into the same van park as us.  We gave up the next day and travelled in convoy with radio contact with them to Longreach and booked sites side by side.  Great company and lots of laughs over dinner.  Tomorrow we move on and they stay put having reached their final desination of Longreach.  I hope to post some photos in the next few days when we have a stop in Mt Isa.  It was a great 24 degrees here today but the nights are very cold and even frosty.  The girls are travelling well - they are enjoying being able to run around today and have hired a  tandem bike from the camp site to ride around this afternoon. We have seen one unmentionable slithery thing but it was behind glass on display in the office of the campsite.  Off to cook dinner before it gets dark!  Unlike some people, we don't have a big comfy van with all the home comforts!!