Base Camp

Not so much Wandering due to the set up of the new home. Lots to do including knocking down the old house and building a new one.
The top picture shows the view from the side of the house across the vineyards,very pleasant view with breakfast.

The next picture shows the dogs in the backyard. It is fenced in with the driveway going round the back of the sheds and out to the front. We have an exit and entrance gate. The dogs are enjoying the freedom of a huge backyard where they can run and get up a good speed.

Picture 3 is looking up the driveway towards the sheds and beyond. There are two great big sheds, one is having a concrete floor poured that will house the caravan and the two cars while the other shed will be my workshop and Kathy's sewing room.
The  workshop shed is just visible behind the bushes, the building in front of the bushes is a wine  cellar.

Picture 4 shows the end of the block past the sheds. There is a small orchard covered in bird netting that was also a chook run. Behind that is a row of trees that are on the end of our block and if you look carefully you can just see the vines belonging to our neighbour Hahn wines.

Canberra

Tourists at the Nations Capital. The pic shows us at the War Memorial with Anzac Parade leading to the Houses of Parliament in the background. The first white building is the old Parliament House, with the new one behind it. Click on the picture to get a bigger view.
After Warrnambool, we went to Albury via Ararat for their trials, where Tiffy got a Jumping Masters pass. We stayed in Albury for a few extra days then went to Canberra for the dog trials. Very Busy weekend judging, with no success for Kathy running both dogs.
Currently in Cooma for a few days before heading for Bega and more dog trials next weekend.
The Easter traffic was amazing on the drive to Cooma. Fortunately, it was all going the opposite direction to us. We took the Cooma turn just outside Canberra and were met with a constant stream of traffic heading for Canberra, and that was at 10:30 am. We can see the road from the caravan park, and the traffic did not reduce until about 3:00pm. There will be a lot of tired travelers by tonight.

The Black Stump

Have you ever heard of the saying "Beyond the Black Stump" when someone is referring to going out in the Bush? Well, we have been to where the Black Stump was. It has rotted away years ago, but it was at Timboon.
Timboon was the end of the railway system that was in Victoria, and the Black Stump became the symbol of the end of civilisation for Melbournians,
The town is now a tourist destination with many things to see, but the most interesting for me was the Railway Shed Distillery. We sampled some of their wares and bought some of their single malt whisky and a coffee liquor. Took the dogs for a walk along the Railway Trail, but not all of the 32 km track, then had a drive around the town.
We were at Warrnambool for the dog trials, not very successful, but we had a good time with friends. There was a surfing carnival on too and the park was full of screaming kids going berserk all night little cherubs playing in the evenings.
We stayed on an extra night and were close to the last to leave the caravan park this morning after a quiet night with just the sound of waves crashing on the beach to lull us off to sleep.
We are in Ararat tonight (yes a whole 150 km in one day) making our way to Albury for the weekend.

PS it seems there are several Black Stumps, Queensland and NSW have them too.

Barossa

We are in the Barossa Valley testing the Landcruiser and the Desert Sky to see how they work together. So far very good. Hills do not make any difference and the Toyota drives like a car.
We have a second objective in the Barossa, we are looking for a home, preferably on a big block with room for the dogs and the caravan. So far there are a couple of places we are looking at but it is not easy finding the right place. Some are a great place but very expensive, while others are cheaper but need a lot of work. Life was not meant to be easy.

Land Cruiser

Here is the new Tug for our wanderings. The latest model Toyota Land Cruiser GXL,with a few extras to be fitted. Soon we will have a bullbar, towbar, snorkle, electric brake controller and tinted windows at the front. Already had the leather seats installed.
It has a 4.2 litre twin turbo V8 diesel, 6 speed auto gearbox and should be able to pull the off road caravan anywhere we want to take it. Tiffany anf Hannah have already given it their seal of approval and Kathy loves it.
We have to do about 1000 to 1500 km before we can tow with it, so it is getting the run around to clock up the kilo metres.
As soon as we get the Toyota fully optioned we will be out to the Barossa Valley to make sure everything tows OK and then we will be ready for bigger journeys. Planning for a visit to Canberra and Victoria in February as the first real run with the new rig.

Last days

The Blog needs this to complete the record of the trip.
From Derby we went to Broome, had a few days at Banana Well camp near Cape Leveque. Beck caught a couple of mud crabs which were cooked up for dinner, one of the highlights of the trip, then returned to Broome and went down the Tanami road across the Desert to Alice Springs and home.  (See the Dog Blog for more of Broome activities)

At Fitzroy Crossing we went to see the Giekie Gorge. The boat took us down the gorge to see the spectacuar rock formations. It is a pitty that they plan to flood it to create a water supply for the local area.

We had a day at Halls Creek, then set off across the Tanamai Desert. The most expensive fuel of the trip was at Billiluna, $2.60 a litre, and you had to wait for the locals to open the shop. We had a night in the desert near the WA/NT border. Tested out the 'Oppy Shower' and the ,Porta Potty' and spent a comfortable but cold night in the desert. We got to "civilisation" at Tilmouth Crossing and had the pleasure of hot showers and roadhouse facilities for our last night in the desert.

Next day got us to Alice Springs, but because the Alice show was on we had nowhere to camp so we pushed on to Erldunda. A very cold night and a strong smell of septic tanks.

On the last day we got to Port Augusta and decided to push on to home. We could have stayed a night in Bute with Beck's parents, but we decided we are this close we will go home. We parted company with our travel companions and made it to home late in the evening.

A great trip with good friends that was over too quickly. We will have to go back sometime to see some of the places we missed.

Mt Barnett to Derby

I put together 5 photos that summarise our drive down the Gibb River Road from Mt Barnett to Derby. Click on the pic to see a bigger image.

We had one night at Mt Barnett near the Manning Gorge, but as dogs were not allowed we did not go in. The dogs had a swim in the river there and had a great time. It was hard work getting Tiffany out. At least the dogs managed to get rid of the dust and grass seeds that had stuck to their coats and Mintie turned almost white again.

The road is good most of the way with just a few rough patches, none of them as bad as the Mitchel Falls road.

Several places were marked for photograph stops that were truly brilliant views.

Some creek crossings, mostly dry but some with water in them and one or two that were deep enough to give you a car wash if you hit them too fast.

The ever present factor was the dust. We followed about half to three quarters of a kilometre behind other traffic or we would be breathing dust all day. The Dust photo shows a car aproaching us through the dust of a third car that had just passed. Most people slowed down to minimise the dust bur occaisionally you would get a speedster that would throw up a huge cloud of dust and rocks so that we had no option but to stop and let it clear.

We are now in Derby, having a couple of days relaxation with good showers, toilets, no dust and civilisation. Even going out for dinner tonight.