Long time out of Civilization and therefore without Internet. We had an amazing time in the Outback and met many interesting and inspiring people, saw beautiful places in this amazing country. Please read on below on stories of the Simpson desert and the Savannah way.
We are in Darwin, the top end of Australia. And being in a City always means a lot of organizing to do. Soon after arriving we had lots of stuff to do, like servicing our car, getting the breaks of our bikes fixed(even so we almost never ride them), buying a new car battery, battery charger, checking our financial situation., and so on...
Organizing this and that saw us driving around the industrial areas for three days.
After all this ‘housekeeping’ it was time to indulge ourselves with a real bed, bathroom, kitchen and some City life. There are four of us now, Alex' little sister Katharina arrived three days ago and right now acclimatises to the murky heat in this tropic town. Rhonda arrived from Melbourne last night, now we are only waiting for Jaana arriving from Zürich/Switzerland this afternoon.
Our plans are to visit Kakadu NP, Litchfield NP, Katherine Gorge, Gregory NP and if enough time is left we will see the east Kimberley Region together.
With a second 4WD we will head off tomorrow and hunt for some hidden away treasures.
Looking forward to it!!! While the others are going back to Darwin in three weeks time, we will continue through the Kimberleys arriving in Broome in a couple of weeks time. See you then!
Don't forget to check out the new uploaded photos, just click on the right hand corner, where it says "click here".
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Barkley Tablelands and Limmen National Park
After the pretty monotonous tableland Hwy - cruising past a single cattle station for a couple of hundred kilometres - we took the rough and rocky Savannah Hwy to get to the Limmen NP. This area with the Roper River amongst numerous other rivers close to the gulf of Carpentaria is every fishermen’s dream and every Barramundis nightmare. We spent three days at Lorella Springs - a hot springs oasis in the middle of nowhere. We spoiled ourselves with having long baths in the hot springs fed pool and the icy cold beer at the bar. We had some nice chats to Darryl the caretaker, barman and host of the place – a true bushmen and friendly bloke.
He even gave us some Barra fillets he fished before as some sort of farewell gift.
We have to say that these Barra fillets, sprinkled with a little bit of flour and just grilled over an open fire in the bush were some of the best fish we have ever eaten in our life.
Andy commenting on the sunset over Lorella Springs:
Lost City formation
The best way to meet an Aboriginal…..
Towing them from the side of the road. Yep!
Just before we were planning to stop for the night, we saw a broken down car on the side of the road and an Aboriginal man(Jack Greene) waving for help.
We soon found out that the family of two adults and five small kids were thirsty and hungry after spending there second night in a row on the side of the road. Which meant that many drivers must have driven past not offering any help.... naughty!
They were waiting for a friend(which they were able to call for help) to come down from Borroloola to pick them up.
After carefully approaching the situation we handed out Oranges, Water and crackers to the hungry and thirsty mob.
We towed them up to the next rest area, where we soon prepared dinner for all of us on the open fire.
Curious travelers from OZ and NZ that had stopped at the same rest area, came up to us to contribute food and to tell us that we have done well in doing what we did.
It was obvious that all those people have driven past the broken down car and felt bad about it now.
It was an interesting and nice night chatting to the old bloke Jack, which invited us up to the Borroloola Rhodeo for the next day. Finally their friend arrived that night to tow them up further back home.
The next day we went up to see the Rhodeo and Jack Green with his family. It was a very good day out in the midst of the black and white country folks ha
ving a real country day.
Andy singing "Duncan is me mate" with Slim Dusty
He even gave us some Barra fillets he fished before as some sort of farewell gift.
We have to say that these Barra fillets, sprinkled with a little bit of flour and just grilled over an open fire in the bush were some of the best fish we have ever eaten in our life.
Andy commenting on the sunset over Lorella Springs:
Lost City formation
The best way to meet an Aboriginal…..
Towing them from the side of the road. Yep!
Just before we were planning to stop for the night, we saw a broken down car on the side of the road and an Aboriginal man(Jack Greene) waving for help.
We soon found out that the family of two adults and five small kids were thirsty and hungry after spending there second night in a row on the side of the road. Which meant that many drivers must have driven past not offering any help.... naughty!
They were waiting for a friend(which they were able to call for help) to come down from Borroloola to pick them up.
After carefully approaching the situation we handed out Oranges, Water and crackers to the hungry and thirsty mob.
We towed them up to the next rest area, where we soon prepared dinner for all of us on the open fire.
Curious travelers from OZ and NZ that had stopped at the same rest area, came up to us to contribute food and to tell us that we have done well in doing what we did.
It was obvious that all those people have driven past the broken down car and felt bad about it now.
It was an interesting and nice night chatting to the old bloke Jack, which invited us up to the Borroloola Rhodeo for the next day. Finally their friend arrived that night to tow them up further back home.
The next day we went up to see the Rhodeo and Jack Green with his family. It was a very good day out in the midst of the black and white country folks ha
ving a real country day.
Andy singing "Duncan is me mate" with Slim Dusty
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Crossed it!
The Simpson Desert
One of Australia’s last great wilderness areas, where hazards include great heat, lack of water and extreme isolation from human habitation and any facilities. The tracks that were made by oil explorers during the 1960s, have become popular 4WD routes.
We soon gave up the plan to drive along the apparently easier ‘Rig Road’ after talking to some people at the Dalhousie Springs campsite. Even though supposed to be the easiest way to cross the desert our limited fuel resources forced us to choose the most direct route: the ‘French Line’. This track runs east-west in a pretty straight line. Due to the prevailing winds the western side of each sand dune is not as steep as the eastern side. This was good for us coming from the west having in mind that more than 1000 sand dunes were waiting for us to be crossed.
We meet two elderly couples - David, Jacquie, Sue and Bob - in Dalhousie Springs who assured us that many vehicles were travelling through the desert and that we might be in good hands driving some distance behind them.
Jacquie and David have been travelling around the world, but mostly around Australia the last 10 years! We were quite inspired by Bob (78) and Sue (75) who were doing these kind of adventurous trip in their old age. They sold their businesses some time ago and caught up with Jacquie and David to do some travelling together like the Canning Stock Route and the Simpson Desert…
Excited and anxious we were just curious whether our car and our driving skills will hold up all right. It is quite amazing how effective it was to just let down the tyre pressure and to roll up and down the dunes with a steady momentum. Due to some inch of rain a few weeks before the red sand dunes and valleys were covered with beautiful wildflowers. It is unbelievable how quiet, isolated and special the place was and how cold it got once the sun went down.
Some kilometers behind ‘Poepples Corner’- the place where the three states SA, QLD and NT meet - we had to fix our first flat tyre. When two cars came up behind us – to our surprise Sue, Bob, David and Jacquie - we thought they would be far ahead of us by now. They told us that they got lost and missed a turn off somewhere, which meant that we were lost, too, without even realizing. We turned around and soon found the right track… we were once again lucky to have met them! Who knows when we would have realized that we were not on the right track anymore. We camped together that night and drove in a convoy together to the long awaited watering hole – the famous Birdsville pub. We all manage the last and biggest dune -‘Big red’ with 40 metre to climb. Our Troopie proofed again it is a real work horse that we can rely on. After 4 days of driving and over more than 1000 dunes we only missed one (reverse back and go up again).
We had a well deserved cold beer and a fantastic pub meal at this iconic outback hotel that night.
The day after the six of us took a very entertaining tour through the impressive exhibition of the Birdsville Working Museum - a must see if you are ever in the area. We also visited the gallery of German born artist Wolfgang John, who lives in Australia since 1959 and moved to the small outback town of Birdsville 15 years ago. He was an interesting chap to talk to and we ended up buying a print of one of his paintings.
carpets of wildflowers everywhere
our first flat tyre
Sue, Bob, Jacquie, David and us
One of Australia’s last great wilderness areas, where hazards include great heat, lack of water and extreme isolation from human habitation and any facilities. The tracks that were made by oil explorers during the 1960s, have become popular 4WD routes.
We soon gave up the plan to drive along the apparently easier ‘Rig Road’ after talking to some people at the Dalhousie Springs campsite. Even though supposed to be the easiest way to cross the desert our limited fuel resources forced us to choose the most direct route: the ‘French Line’. This track runs east-west in a pretty straight line. Due to the prevailing winds the western side of each sand dune is not as steep as the eastern side. This was good for us coming from the west having in mind that more than 1000 sand dunes were waiting for us to be crossed.
We meet two elderly couples - David, Jacquie, Sue and Bob - in Dalhousie Springs who assured us that many vehicles were travelling through the desert and that we might be in good hands driving some distance behind them.
Jacquie and David have been travelling around the world, but mostly around Australia the last 10 years! We were quite inspired by Bob (78) and Sue (75) who were doing these kind of adventurous trip in their old age. They sold their businesses some time ago and caught up with Jacquie and David to do some travelling together like the Canning Stock Route and the Simpson Desert…
Excited and anxious we were just curious whether our car and our driving skills will hold up all right. It is quite amazing how effective it was to just let down the tyre pressure and to roll up and down the dunes with a steady momentum. Due to some inch of rain a few weeks before the red sand dunes and valleys were covered with beautiful wildflowers. It is unbelievable how quiet, isolated and special the place was and how cold it got once the sun went down.
Some kilometers behind ‘Poepples Corner’- the place where the three states SA, QLD and NT meet - we had to fix our first flat tyre. When two cars came up behind us – to our surprise Sue, Bob, David and Jacquie - we thought they would be far ahead of us by now. They told us that they got lost and missed a turn off somewhere, which meant that we were lost, too, without even realizing. We turned around and soon found the right track… we were once again lucky to have met them! Who knows when we would have realized that we were not on the right track anymore. We camped together that night and drove in a convoy together to the long awaited watering hole – the famous Birdsville pub. We all manage the last and biggest dune -‘Big red’ with 40 metre to climb. Our Troopie proofed again it is a real work horse that we can rely on. After 4 days of driving and over more than 1000 dunes we only missed one (reverse back and go up again).
We had a well deserved cold beer and a fantastic pub meal at this iconic outback hotel that night.
The day after the six of us took a very entertaining tour through the impressive exhibition of the Birdsville Working Museum - a must see if you are ever in the area. We also visited the gallery of German born artist Wolfgang John, who lives in Australia since 1959 and moved to the small outback town of Birdsville 15 years ago. He was an interesting chap to talk to and we ended up buying a print of one of his paintings.
carpets of wildflowers everywhere
our first flat tyre
Sue, Bob, Jacquie, David and us
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Either you hate it or you love it
THE OUTBACK!
We are well and truely in the middle of it. We have seen some beautiful and historically very interesting places at Mungo Nationalpark or in the old mining town Burra for example. After traveling through the impressive Flinders Ranges with their gently rolling hills, we got our first real Outback experience along the Oodnadatta Track. Here the colours are prominent red, brown, orche, sometimes green and most of the time it's a big open space that makes us looking very small! We are impressed by the people that started mining or working on the railways almost 100 years ago, without water and the conveniences of modern life technologie that we take for granted every day.
The Flinders Ranges
One of the many stunning sunsets(at Copley)
Andy eating Camel and Emu at the legendary Prarie Hotel.
Coward spring, a warm welcoming bath in the middle of nowhere
.
History along the Oodnatta track - Tom Kruse mailrun
The ruins of Farina - a story of failure due to the lack of water
We are well and truely in the middle of it. We have seen some beautiful and historically very interesting places at Mungo Nationalpark or in the old mining town Burra for example. After traveling through the impressive Flinders Ranges with their gently rolling hills, we got our first real Outback experience along the Oodnadatta Track. Here the colours are prominent red, brown, orche, sometimes green and most of the time it's a big open space that makes us looking very small! We are impressed by the people that started mining or working on the railways almost 100 years ago, without water and the conveniences of modern life technologie that we take for granted every day.
The Flinders Ranges
One of the many stunning sunsets(at Copley)
Andy eating Camel and Emu at the legendary Prarie Hotel.
Coward spring, a warm welcoming bath in the middle of nowhere
.
History along the Oodnatta track - Tom Kruse mailrun
The ruins of Farina - a story of failure due to the lack of water
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