NYNGAN

 
 
 
 

We had another long drive today but were very happy to set up camp on the river and start collecting fire wood for roasting marshmallows tonight. We collected a lot of wood and then got the fire going. We enjoyed just sitting around, watching the fire and looking at the stars in the sky. We even saw a couple of satellites go by.

Tomorrow we are planning on going canoeing. They have a shed with a few canoes and paddles, so hopefully we can have a paddle on the river in the morning.

DAY 2:
Yeh! Canoeing! The canoe cost nothing to hire today, so we walked 20 m from our van, put on our life jackets, found some paddles (Lauren and I had to share because we could only find 3 paddles) and off we went. We had a great time meandering down the river, looking for animals (we didn’t see much, only birds). We saw a few cows on the river bank and some people playing golf on the nearby golf course, but otherwise, there was nothing else to see.

It was very peaceful and calm and at the end of the 3 km paddle, Mum and I did some practise in turning the canoe around in circles!

After a quick shop to get some more food in the afternoon, we started the fire again. Amazingly, it was still hot enough from last night and all I had to do was throw in a piece of paper and the coals caught alight!

We started the fire at about 2:45 and sat around it until dinner. For dinner we roasted potatoes in the hot coals of the fire – they tasted yummy! We ate dinner inside, but then had our ice creams that we had bought from the shop, back out at the fire.

BROKEN HILL

 
 
 
 

This morning we packed up and left to go to Broken Hill. On the way we stopped at Petersborough and Lauren and I got a finger bun while Dad and Mum got a coffee. We also saw a town named Jamestown – I like that name! The information centre we went to was actually an old train carriage. It was still decked out with seats and sleeping compartments. Then we drove and drove and drove.

We arrived at Broken Hill and had a late lunch at about 2:30. As soon as we set up we went to the park (opposite our caravan site) then came inside and played some games while Dad went on a run. When he returned Lauren and I had a shorter run with Dad.

DAY 2:
This morning we went to the Information centre and got a key to go to the Desert Sculptures. They were interesting because they were hand carved. Some of the pictures on them were the Rainbow Serpent, Emu footprints, clubs, boomerang and hand prints. As drove in and out of the Desert Park, we saw rock wallabies and kangaroos.

At the Silver City Mint Museum we saw lots of paintings, but the biggest painting was 12 m x 100m. It was huge and felt like it was coming out at you. There was also a chocolate factory and they sold kangaroo doo doo, wombat waste, cow pats and Koala Krap! (they were chocolate sultanas and chocolate nuts)

We then went to the Pro Hart gallery. Outside the gallery was a Rolls Royce car which Pro Hart had painted in scenes of the outback and bushland. Inside the gallery there were huge paintings of Australian outback scenes (gold diggers, bush rangers, mining life) as well as a dragon fly. It was interesting how with one painting he used a cannon to shoot Christmas baubles full of paint onto the canvas. It looked fantastic!

This afternoon we went to the Soda Factory where they make sodas like they did in the 1950’s. I had a cola crème soda. It was yum. I especially liked the icecream on the top which make the fizzy drink bubble.

Port Augusta

 
 

On the way to Port Augusta we stopped for lunch at Woomera. It is where rockets and missiles were tested during and after World War 2. I learnt that Hitler tried to kill lots of people with missiles filled with explosives. Then Britain used Woomera to try to make their own missiles.

In the Museum there were models of missiles and satellites and outside there were the actual missiles, rockets and test planed in a park.

The rest the day we drove and drove and drove until we reached Port Augusta. I helped Dad cook the BBQ (chicken kebabs).

The next day (today) we went to the movies and watched Ice Age 3. The best part was when the mammoth and all his friends when into the dinosaur world and tried to rescue their friend- cool movie.

We went to the information centre and I bought a boomerang and an iced chocolate – Yum.

Coober Pedy - Day 2

 
 

In the morning, Dad decided to get the wheel alignment on the car checked (steering wheel wasn’t straight when going in a straight line). While we waited for the car to get fixed we went to the Old Timers Mine which is an old opal mine which has been made into a museum. We were able to see opal in the rock walls and dummies that were arranged to show how they used to work. We had to wear hard hats, which was good because we all bumped our heads on the low ceilings. When we got outside we went to the “noodling” pit and looked for opals. We found many and now have lots of rocks in the caravan which is adding to our weight (we now have gold, opals, red garnet and silver).

We had great pizza for lunch (18 inch pan) and then went through many opal jewellery shops (they looked good). There was one uncut opal which was valued at $250,000, but we didn’t buy it.

Coober Pedy

 
 

Today was long drive – 9.5 hours in fact. That was basically it. We stopped at a roadhouse for a late lunch and we watched the V8 Supercars. Dad goes for Team Vodaphone and I go for Tander. Whincup came 2nd (not sure where Lowndes finished) and Tander came 3rd, so we are arguing over who did better. I think it was me. There was also a big echidna and a frilled neck lizard. There are lots of BIG things which are tourist attractions !

Yulara

 
 

Day 1:
This morning we woke up and got dressed because we were going to drive to Ayres Rock. When we got there, we started to climb the rock. For the first 30m there was no chain, to help pull yourself up with your hands and it was really steep. When we got to the chain it was a bit easier. We decided to climb 10 lengths of chains at a time and then have a rest. Once we got three quarters of the way to the top, the wind was really noticeable and we started to feel a little uncomfortable. Dad decided that it was best to not go any further, so we started to go back down slowly :-(((( I was not happy about going down, but we did it all together and made it safely. When we got down I had a cramp, but an Icy Pole made it feel better.

In the evening, we headed back to the rock to watch the sunset. It was very beautiful as we ate cabanossi and other snacks.

Day 2:
The next morning we got up early and went to watch the sunrise – it was also very beautiful. We then headed back to the caravan park and had brunch (bacon and eggs) with our new friends. In the afternoon we played some Yahtzee (Lauren got 3 yahtzee’s in one game) and scrabble. We all (Pradopoint club) went out for dinner because it was our last night together.

Day3:
We decided to have an extra day so we could go star watching (Dad and I), dot painting (Mum and Lauren) and see the Olgas. First up was the Olgas – they looked like big balls from far away, but when you get up close they are just rocks. We did a short walk into a gorge (between two Olgas) and then back for lunch for a bit of a rest. Mum and Lauren went off to dot painting, while Dad and I did some quite jobs and just hung around. In the evening Dad and I went star gazing at the Yulara Observatory. We saw Saturn and lots of other stars. Some of the stars were actually 2 stars close together and some were hundreds of small ones, but just look like one without a telescope. It was awesome.

Kings Canyon

 
 

Today we set off in the first group of cars to go to Kings Canyon. We travelled on a dirt road, it was a bit bumpy. Our first stop was at Goose Bluff (where a crater hit). Dad said you would have been a goose if you were there 142 million years ago.

When we got to Kings Canyon we went on a long 6.5km walk. It took us 2 hours. My legs were tired at the end. We saw ochre, bird poo, birds nests and vegetation e.g. trees, plants and of course the canyon. There were also a couple of helicopters taking people around the rim of the canyon.

We passed a couple of rangers who had just taken care of a 75 year old woman who didn’t bring any water with her on the walk and had dehydrated.

We headed back to the van park, had showers and then dinner. The shower block has a gate at the entrance – this is to keep the dingoes out and must be closed after your exit.

GLEN HELEN GORGE

 
 
 

A quick trip of about 1 ½ hours saw us get to Glen Helen Gorge – we were the first of the Pradopoint group to arrive, so we set up our caravan and worked out which gorges we were going to visit.

First, we went to Big Ellery Creek Hole where we found a water hole. We wanted to go in for a swim, but it was a bit cold and a bit dirty.

We met some of the other Prado people there and they told us to go and look at a place called ‘Standley Chasm’. We climbed over big boulders and under trees. It was hard work and very steep. Coming down was much harder than going up! I really liked walking through the Chasm because there were rocks around me on each side.

We then went to the Ochre pits – Lauren was asleep, so Dad and I ran down to the pit and took a photo. They use Ochre to make face paint. The rocks were very colourful and interesting.

Lauren woke up and we travelled to Ormiston Gorge. It had a water hole, but we didn’t see any animals around. We climbed up a few rocks (James is a mountain goat!) and then got in the car to go back home.

We had dinner at the lodge – they couldn’t find our booking at first, so we had to watch everyone else eat until they could see that there was still enough food for the four of us.

Joke of the Day: Why does a skeleton play a piano at church?

WEST MACDONNELL RANGES

 
 

Today we travelled to a great caravan park- it had a huge jumping pillow and a small one next to it. You can hire bikes and buggies to move around the park and each night they have some entertainment. (Star gazing through telescopes, didgeridoo playing, 4wd information talks etc)

While Mum did washing and Dad fixed the van and car ready for the next few days, we spent our time jumping on the pillows and playing on the equipment.

At night we went to Desert Park on a Nocturnal visit. We got there at 7 p.m. and were given head lamps to wear. The light was red so that it doesn’t scare the animals. I liked seeing the Bilbies, Echidnas, Mala and other animals. To enter the area we had to carefully walk though an electric fence. Our Guide, Pamela, was very interesting and knew a lot of information about the animals, what they ate and how they lived. We saw lots of their burrows and nests and saw them eating plants during the tour. In the middle of the enclosure was a water hole where we found a lot of the animals as they come there to drink at night.

There was a huge full moon and was saw satellites going across the sky.

After the tour we went for a treat to McDonalds for a sundae, then back home for a sleep before we travel to Glen Helen Gorge tomorrow.

ROSS RIVER

 
 
 
 

DAY 1:
On the way to Ross River we went via the Devil’s Marbles. We climbed up really high and Lauren was a bit scared! They are so huge and quite smooth. There are lots of them to see – a few hundred!

Our next stop was Ti Tree where we played in the park – it had a very high slide which was a bit scary, but we had a go anyway!

We finally made it to Ross River where we set up our caravan next to some of the other Pradopoint people and had a steak for dinner. We haven’t played with other children in three weeks – there are none to be seen in the caravan parks – only recycled teenagers, so we are looking forward to meeting other children soon!


DAY 2:
Today a lot of people arrived in the cars towing trailers. There is only one other caravan here. The rest of the people have camper trailers or just sleep in swags on the ground! Finally, some children to play with – about 30 all up. Some of the children we are playing with are named Brittany, Jessica, Samantha, Hannah and Hayley – definitely more girls than boys here. We help set up the red, white and blue decorations as we are helping the two American men celebrate the 4th July. They even had a hat cake and played the American Anthem. We had a Sausage sizzle and Hamburgers for dinner plus some fizzy which was donated by the sponsors of the event. Some of the people got some camp fires going – the biggest one had huge logs so they poured diesel over the logs to get it going!


DAY 3:
We set off early with a long day of 4wd ahead. As there are 30 Prado cars, we split into 3 groups to travel. We were in group C and our leader was Sean. We were the second car in line. We tuned our UHF radio to channel 18 and off we sent. Sean took us to some interesting sites – Artunga Historical Reserve which was Central Australia’s first town – it started from the gold rush. It has many old houses made of stone and two mines.

After a few tourist sites we started into Ruby Gap. It was pretty rough driving and no toilets to be seen (nothing like squatting in the dirt). The driving was great because we went over big rocks and through sand and dry river beds. There are 43 speed humps over the kilometres we travelled so we had to keep the speed down.

Once we got to Ruby Gap we started looking for ‘rubies’ which are really only garnets. Two fossickers came to Ruby Gap a long time ago and thought they had struck it rich. They travelled back to Alice Springs to show everyone their riches but were so disappointed that one of them even killed themselves!

We collected lots of garnets and then went for a walk though the gap. It was beautiful!

We returned home and had some toasted sandwiches for dinner and then sat around the fire until about 9:30. We toasted marshmallows and listened to stories that our new friends told. Mum says we can buy some biscuits and chocolate so we can make S’mores for the next campfire!

Tennant Creek

 
 
 

DAY 1:
We left early to start our journey to Tennant Creek but unfortunately we broke down and NRMA had to come and help us get our car better. He towed us to a Toyota dealer where we got an ice cream while Dad and Brian the tow truck man talked to the Toyota dealer to see what was wrong with the car. They thought it would take a week to fix it, so we would be missing out on Pradopoint. It turns out that it was only a petrol problem and after we filled up we were on our way. I was a bit scared being stuck out in the middle of the outback, but we played eye spy and I felt better.

We arrived at our caravan park and ordered pizza which was delivered to the caravan park! At night, because it was the 1st July, Tennant Creek have their Fire Cracker night. We sat outside and watched the beautiful fireworks - I especially liked the green, purple and red ones. These were the biggest fireworks I have seen except for on TV.

DAY2:
This morning we went and bought a new Gerri can to help us store fuel in case we run out again. There are a lot of Aboriginal people here – they didn’t have many clothes and most did not wear shoes. We saw young children pushing babies in prams and lots of dogs with them.

After our quick trip to get the Gerri can, we went to the Battery Hill Mine where we met our guide – Ray. We got to touch every mining vehicle. It was so cool. We got to wear ear muffs and a hard hat so that if a wall fell in we would be O.K. We were able to carry torches too. The best thing I liked in the mine was touching all the machinery – especially when Ray turned it on.

When we left the mine, we panned for gold but didn’t get anything. Ray told us where to find the gold and we started noodling and found heaps! (Not the noodle that you eat!) We were given specimen bottles to store them in.

After coming home and grabbing a quick lunch we swam in the pool – extremely cold. We had fun and at least we can say we went swimming in a pool in July!

Mount Isa

 
 
 

Answer to the joke of the day is:
A mouse on vacation ( sorry it took so long - esp for Uncle Craig) we have been off line for a while.

Today we went to the Underground Hospital. It was build in case the Japanese bombed Mount Isa because of the mines. Inside the hospital we saw bed pans for people to go to the toilet in, beds for new born babies, beds with a straw mattress, old glass bottles, a bed for people who had injured their backs (it could rotate). We even saw some children’s play toys which were tiny soldiers made from wood which the children would bowl over with a marble.

The passage way was narrow to walk through and was forked into two passages – one lot of beds for men and the other beds for women.

Outside the hospital, we saw lots of different types of plants that the Aboriginal people use for medicine and eating.

After that we went to a park which had a man-made lake in the middle of it. We saw lots of different animals – eagles, kookaburras and peacocks. We had some lunch there and also played with the vortex and the football. We really enjoyed watching the eagles swoop and soar in the air around their nest.

Winton - the town, not house

 
 
 

For the two nights we stayed at Winton we watched an Australian Bush Poet called Melanie Hall (This is the area where Banjo Paterson wrote Waltzing Matilda). On the second night she asked Lauren and I to do a play which needed 4 children. No one else volunteered, so she dragged up Mum and Dad to help. I was the Shearer, Lauren was the red back spider, Mum was the Speeler and Dad was the Sheila. Mel dressed Dad up in a wig, a skirt and a shawl.

As Mel recited the poem, we had to act it out. The story was about a drunk shearer who fell asleep and the Sheila and Speeler were going to take his money. As they were about to steal his money, the red back spider (Lauren) went up behind the Sheila (Dad) and bit him on the bottom! We had lots of laughs and a great time.

The owners off the van park also provide a 3 course dinner each night and a musician before the poet.

Other things we saw in Winton were a green tree frog that lived in our power box – we named him Fred!

Lark Quarry was interesting and unique because you could stand where dinosaurs had walked millions of years ago. It is the only display in the world that shows a dinosaur stampede where the Aussie T-Rex chased a group of smaller dinosaurs for his dinner.

Other bizarre things we saw were the musical fence and Arno’s wall where a man has cemented lots of recycled junk into his wall – eg sewing machine, car wheels, engines and motorbikes.

Everyday now, I am going to put a Joke of the Day up on the Blog and see if you know the answer (put a comment on the blog). I’ll give the answer the next day if nobody gets it.

Today’s Joke of the Day – What’s grey, has big ears and a trunk ?

The Stockman's Hall of Fame

 
 

So far on this holiday we have been looking at everything BIG! Today we went to the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and saw everything OLD! We saw things to do with horses: saddles, stirrups, whips, boots, spurs, horse shoes and their bridles.

We played with interactive maps which showed where the early explorers went throughout Australia.

We saw how the settlers lived in their wooden homes with no mattresses’ on their beds, a dusty cooking area, rickety chairs and benches to sit on. It was a very difficult life for them and makes me realised how blessed I am.

Communication was also different – old telephones and Morse code.

We watched movies about the history of Stockman, droving, ways of transporting goods (road trains, horse, camels). The people also had to deal with the difficulties of drought, locusts, mice, floods, poor roads and doctors that were far away.

The Hall of Fame was worthwhile as it showed me what life use to be like in Australia.