I love Spring....

I just love spring.  When spring comes it brings with it, a new sense of hope.  A new growth, of dreams and ideas.  Creative inspiration.  There's a real FEELING that comes with spring.  And every year I appreciate it more and more.

Today we have a cloudy day, that would seem more like a wintry day, but if you REALLY look closely, you can see the freesias and azaleas blooming, the wisteria has new shoots reaching and stretching up to find the lattice work to climb up on.  The jasmine is in bloom and there's pink blossoms in the trees announcing that spring is here.  The baby plovers born in the middle of our paddock, have been herded by mom and dad, back into the bushes for their protection.

And all the while, I have the 1812 Overture running through my head as the house has been sold and the pace of our situation seems to be set by this music.  Slowly at first as dawn awakens, and then the finale, ...grand and large, as it stomps into the finish.  But the hope is there.  New inspiration is there.

Spring.  New beginnings.  A fresh start.  A new canvas to start the next stage of our lives.  I guess that's why they have 'spring' cleaning, and why diets are started, and why exercise seems to be so enticing as the sun's rays soak into your soul.

Yes, I just love spring.  I love the colour of spring.  The pinks, baby blues, lemon yellows, and light greens of spring, as nature works her finest magic.  Such wonderful hope and inspiration.   Yes,  this is where your dreams start and motivation kicks in.  Goodbye Winter,..hellooo Spring!!!

Patience takes a new test......

I haven't been writing much about our trip to the desert.  It's been about 3-4 weeks now since we've been home.  It took me a while to get the photos online, but they're there now.  But it IS hard to write about something that happened a while ago...ESPECIALLY when there's new horizons and planning to do.

And here we are,... we're in the process of selling the house, moving kids out, and generally planning the next trip.  It has been THE ....SLOWEST.....process I have yet to come across.  It's driving Chris and me crazy.

Liz and her hubby, James, have moved out this month.  The 'babies' of BOTH families finally bit the bullet and moved out on their own.  I'm so pleased for them.(as well as for us!)  This is their first house together as man and wife.   And they both seem to be settling in nicely.  Liz has taken Jack, (her dog) with her, so they're now one little happy family.

Chris and I have cleaned the house as far as you can go.  We've gone through all the nooks and crannies of this place.  Thrown things out, sorted boxes out, fixed up little things that you never touch until the last minute.  The only thing we have left to do now, is to pack up!!

We have checked out:   costs of flights, costs of storage, costs of insurances, costs of RV's, registering of RV's, highways and byways in the US.  We've checked out taxes for the new house, and investments.  We've looked at new houses and new motorhomes until we're blue in the face.  We've sorted out the bulk of what needs to be done.  But until we sell the house,...we're stuck.  And here.... is where patience starts.

We have been offered a contract on the house.  HOWEVER, it's the first offer.   It's a 'fancy' name business contract that basically allows the buyer to have a 6 week contract with an option to pull out if the council doesn't allow them to do what they want to do, on the property.  We had the solicitor have a look and we've made the counter offer.  So!  in the meantime, we wait.  And wait.  And wait.  And then yesterday, someone else is came through the house and THEY'RE interested too.  So!  we'll see how this all pans out.

We're both going crazy at the moment.  We're trying to find things to do to keep ourselves occupied now.  We're in limbo so to speak.  Not wanting to start any new projects. (just in case) 

Well, I'll go play in the garden and then read a book while I wait it out.  Might as well take advantage of this 'pause' in our life.

The NEW experience for us city dwellers....well,..at least ONE city dweller

So THIS is roughing it eh?  Getting up at sunrise, putting the pot of water on the fire.  Immediately, you start packing up and getting dressed.  And bathroom etiquette?.....well,....there's sand, there's bushes, and occasionally, if you're lucky, a bushy tree.  I think this is where I feel that camping is designed more for men.  I DID finally work out what was needed and how to approach that side of things.  I won't go into it, as I'm sure most of you are aware of it anyway.  But I'm glad that I did get that part of camping sorted out. 

And for packing? well....it's very cold in the early mornings, so EVERYTHING is stiff.....fingers, back, hips, and then there's the things your trying to cram into small bags that are stiff from cold as well.  So, there was no leisurely mornings in the desert.  Funny, though, that even if you were up at 6:30am,...we still didn't leave until around 8am.  You wouldn't think it would take that long to get everything ready to travel, but for some reason it did.  I guess there was more to do than I thought.

Not having a shower for 4 days wasn't too bad, although, ....it WAS  a pleasure to have a HOT shower and wash my hair.  It didn't seem like roughing it too much.  Once we were out of the desert, showered, and had some dinner into our bellies, it was just like normal. 

I must say though, that my first shower was actually in 3 days.  It was at Purni bore.  Chris and I had gotten our truck in first, so I grabbed my gear real fast and headed for the shower that had been set up there.  There was a sign on the door that said ' turn on all the taps in the sink and the shower and let the water run for at least 10 minutes".  well, it ran for about 5 to 10 minutes, and when I got in, it was tepid.  Strong flow, but the hot water from the bore hadn't come through yet.  So my first REAL HOT shower was at the next stop at the  Mt. Dare station.

 

 

Those blue buildings are the toilets and showers.  Cement floors with colourbond walls and roofs.  While it wasn't 5 star, it was most certainly a VERY WELCOME sight and feeling for which I can only thank the folks at Mt. Dare for opening up their site to us.  It was here too, that we met a man who was VERY impressed with the Scout.  He wanted one just like it and his robust enthusiasm was met with good hearted humour and banter. 

 

 

 

 

It was here that we were also woke up with the screeching Corellas coming in for their morning feed.  There was about 200 or more Corellas and Galahs coming in.  They almost looked like bats in the earlier hours, except for the screeching noise.  It's a bit disconcerting to see it, but exciting too.

I really think the hardest part was going over those rocky roads.   That was on the way to Alice Springs from Mt. Dare.  For as far as you could see the scene changed around every corner.  But, when we came across the gibber plains, there was nothing....nothing but red and purple rocks for miles and miles.  And that included the road.  It looked like a dried up ocean bed.  I don't know what it was; whether it was the short wheel base Scout, or the springs, or what.  But it was like being on a washing machine that was unbalanced ....for miles.....and miles,.......and MILES.  And after driving on that kind of road for so long, you welcomed your bed at night.  The following morning, you woke up stiff, but felt pretty good after things warmed up.

 

You may notice the rocks on the ground here with Chris's truck?...notice the line of rocks?....that's the edge of the road.  Notice that the road itself is all rocks too?  Yep, that was a hard one to handle.  By the end of THAT road, I welcomed bitumen roads as soon as I saw them.  Even Chris was rattled after that road, so I didn't feel too bad.  Oh..and Chris under the truck?....well, he's putting the screws back on the diffs.  All of the screws had come undone and we had already lost one screw.  It wouldn't have been a pretty picture if we had lost the diffs.

 

 

I do have to say here, that Chris did most of the work.  I just wasn't physically capable of doing a lot of the packing.  Things like putting the sleeping bags into their TINY little bags.  Wrapping the canvas camp beds up and putting THEM back into their tiny little bags, and then putting everything into the back of the truck.  That's not to say, I couldn't camp and I did help, but in smaller ways.  I just would have done it a different way, that's all.   I do now understand how a swag would come in handy.

And so the red sand begins..........

The next morning, we all scrambled around trying to pull our tents up and get the trucks ready.  We still had to fuel up and pick up whatever goodies we were going to buy.  It was getting late.  So while Chris fuelled up, I started to buy one or two things, but then a queue happened while I was shopping and I ended up waiting in a very long line.  Then, Chris and I stopped and took pictures of the Birdsville Pub while the others gathered up their own stocks.

It was then I spotted the the bakery.  Hot Dog Buns!....I knew I needed those for our 4th of July dinner.  So we headed over there as well.  As usual, Chris and I were the last ones ready for driving out.   I even missed out on the buns, as the bakery had run out.  But I DIDN'T miss out on the Lamingtons!!

FINALLY!!  it must have been around 9:30am before we finally headed out.  Sorry Col!.....I could feel, that as the leader of the group, the stragglers were starting to frustrate Col and some of the others.  They were all anxious to get on the road.  But, we  finally got there.

Just outside of Birdsville, we hit a muddy patch and then some water crossing over the road.  It was exciting to go through the muddy patches and go through the 2 feet of water on the road.  We all stayed to the center of the road and made it through easily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were the 5th of our group, so we missed out on the dingo that was hunting a calf, off to the right hand side of the road. 

Well, it wasn't too far out of Birdsville that our first sand dune came into view.

Big Red as it's fondly called.  Well, it didn't LOOK that big, but I'm only a novice, so what would I know.  We all parked along the bottom of this sand hill.  And the bird on the sign post?...well, that's Claude.  He's a garden gnome crow.  He's part of the Clough family and he goes on all the family trips as well.

 

The boys took the air out of their tyres and put their sand flags up.  Their turn was about to start. 

Surprisingly, there were people already there going over the hill.  So we waited for them to cross and then we started over the hill too.

One by one. 

 

This.  This is what the trip was all about.  Going over 1100 sand dunes.  Four wheel driving.

Fuel up at Windorah and onto Birdsville......

Windorah's one of those small towns that have a great country atmosphere.  It reminded me so much of Dinuba, although it's A LOT smaller.  Wide street(s) that are tree-lined.  There was a bit of activity there.  The council workers were putting in sidewalks, the Royal flying doctor service was flying in.  The tourists were all lined up at the petrol station.  Not only did we have six trucks fill up,but there were 3 other vehicles and two motorcycles.  It was a very busy place.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

The thing most memorable there, was feeding the little white pony part of my apple. (next to the store) and someone telling me that the guy who ran the petrol station was blind.  Also, what's interesting, is that Col grew up in that area as well.  Everyone stocked up with snacks and goodies, as this was the last stop before Birdsville, nearly 400klms away.  No more shops or petrol stations until then.

As you can see, there's just miles and miles of open space and land.

So that when you finally got to see a mountain, or emu's or even cows and horses, you jumped for your camera.  I don't know how many eagles I missed because I just wasn't fast enough.

 

One side step to Birdsville, was Haddon's corner.  This is just the turnoff to the corner.  Haddon's corner is where 3 states come together.  Haddon's corner incorporated Queensland (Qld), Northern Territory (N.T.), and South Australia(S.A.).  It was very gusty winds out here.  As you can see there's no trees to break it up.  We all had lunch there at the corner before heading off to Birdsville.  It was amazing to watch fresh bread dry out before your eyes.

We made it into Birdsville at dusk.  So the mad scramble began.  Once again, trying to figure out which position to set the tent up, which way the door was going to be, which direction the beds were going to sit.  How fast can you shower and be ready for dinner, etc. etc. etc.  I managed to grab the camera to take a photo of the sun setting.  I think it was at this point that I was thinking to myself, that I'm having a hard time keeping up with everyone else, as the majority of our party had already set up, showered, and gone up to the pub for dinner leaving only a couple of stragglers behind.  Me, Chris, and another party.  But all was well, once I got to settle down to the best steak I've had in a very long time.  But once Chris and I were finished with dinner, we headed straight back to the tent for some shut eye.  Tomorrow, we head off through the desert.

On to Cooper's Creek......

Well, after packing up and making sure everything was okay, we set off to our next location, Cooper's Creek.

 

 

 

We stopped at a local roadhouse that Col used when he was working in the region.  We grabbed something to eat, filled the petrol tanks, and watched the semi trucks coming and going.  These trucks had 3 trailers.  Most of them were hauling cattle.  It's amazing to watch.

Here we are at Charlesville filling up.  The Scouts had the attention of some of the locals.  Blokes, of course, think the scout is really 'cool'..and  'they'd like to have one too"...and our guys joyfully tell them that the Scouts are 'the best car in the whole world' etc...well, you get my drift.

 

 

Quilpie is what I thought of, as the last town before the outback.  It's out there, but still not the furthest town, as I was soon to discover.  The center median strip was decorated with metal cutouts of cattle.  Obviously a country town with mining and cattle on everyone's lips.  We even stopped just on the outskirts of town to see if we could find opals in the rocks left behind for tourists.  I kept a couple, which have strands of blue running through them. 

  This was our first camp dinner night.  I wasn't sure what to expect, so I prepared tinned food for us.  We both experienced our first Chocolate Chip Damper for desert.  It was yummy.  And with everyone tired from travelling around 500klm that first time, we all fell into bed.

We broke camp the next morning.  Still trying to establish a routine for packing and unpacking.  We did sleep well.  The night wasn't as frosty as the night in Mitchell.

Chris packed most of the gear, and I was sent off to take pictures.  "LOTS OF PICTURES, Kath".  So I did.

Last minute pictures, last minute toilet calls, 'everybody ready?"  Okay!  We're off to Windorah today.

The first stopover.....

This was a first mishap. The rack had loosened up and was making a 'popping' sound. So the spare tyre had to come off and we re-arranged the packing. The rack just wasn't strong enough to hold the weight of the spare tyre, 2 petrol tins (full) and the toolbox. So Greg took the tyre and Chris readjusted the load until the next day.

We landed in Mitchell the first night and stayed at the showgrounds. It was freezing! Everyone managed to put their tents and swags up and we all headed down to the local pub for dinner. Here's everyone in our group. Starting from left to right, we have Terry, Matt (son), Steve, Michael, Sasha, me, Graeme, Chris, Col, Julie (red scarf), Margaret (behind), Greg, and Amelia. We all retired early that evening, as we were all excited about the trip. The next morning it was still freezing. We were all up and moving at 6am. It was also a lot harder to put things away when your fingers are so cold and the canvas for the beds didn't want to work in the cold either. It was slow going that morning,.. because of the cold and trying to get into a routine at the same time. But...we all made it. Our next stop was Cooper's Creek.

Where to start.......

Well now.  Because I missed so many days in between the trip, I thought I would take a few pictures and go through our trip.  So here's the first part....

This is the very first morning where we had met up at Col and Margaret's house the night before.  Col had packed that night and we were just finishing things out the following morning.  We slept in our sleeping bags in their loungeroom.

 

Col and Margaret's son, Greg, with his partner Amelia, showed up the following morning ready to go.  So here's 3 Scouts all ready to go.  We headed out for Chinchilla to meet up with our Gympie party.

 

                                                      The fellas compared vehicles, double checked their own vehicles, and we waited on one of the party who got called away to do 'mechanic' duties.  In the meantime we got re-acquainted with each other and once we got everyone together again, we took off.

 

This was it!  The start... of our adventure......

One more night and we still haven't been able to climb Ayer's Rock......

Well, it's our last night and we still haven't been able to climb Uluru due to the winds.  Word has it, that since the Aborigines don't really want you to climb the rock anyway, it's just a way of saying "no".  In their culture, it's forbidden to 'climb' anything that's natural.  They firmly believe in Mother Earth and the spirit of the mountain.  In their culture, they believe it's disrespectful to climb this mountain.  I for one, don't want to climb it, but there are others in our group, who do.  Maybe it also has something to do with the full moon coming up.

Chris wanted to stay a few more nights, but that wouldn't guarantee that he'd be able to climb Ayer's Rock.  And he also checked to see if we could stay a few more nights, but at $450 per night,....I DON'T THINK SO! .....  So!  we pack up tonight and head out tomorrow morning.  We'll check the park first to see if the climb is 'do-able", otherwise, we're heading out.

We did a walk today..... 7.4klms long.  For those 'brisk' walkers, it would normally take 3 hours.  For me,...well, I think I did it in 5 and half hours.  We got lots of pictures and a lot of breaks for me.  And the walk was classed as 'hard'.  And I can now vouch for that!  I was exhausted!!  The older people in our group, had aches and pains in hips, feet, and knees.  But then, the lucky devils got to walk another 2.5 klms in Walpa Gorge.  Chris and I headed back to Uluru to see if it had opened up yet for the climb.  Nope....so we headed back to the cabin.

I've rested up now and it's time to pack up.  Chris is fixing a few things here and there on the truck and tonight we pack.  So with some more pictures to download and emails to check, I'll leave you now so I can pack for our next adventure.

We're here at Ayer's Rock, now known as ULURU....

We made it to Ayer's Rock.  This morning we were supposed to walk up, but it's been cancelled due to the high winds.  And is it FREEZING!!!  Chris's knees have seized up and I'm frozen to the bone.  And yet,...by this afternoon, we'll all be thawed out and in T-shirts.  And then late in the day again, back to freezing conditions.  The dramatic weather conditions is something to get used to.  Layers.  that's what I've been told.  You need to dress in layers to account for the weather changes.  Okay.  DONE!

We walked around the "rock'' and looked into the Aboriginal culture.  The Aboriginal culture goes back nearly 40,000 years.  And their stories, like most tribes, are handed down verbally through the generations.  You can almost visualize the tribal women at the base gathering food.  Only the men folk climbed the mountain.

Well, after the walk, we stopped in for a cuppa and a muffin.  Chris and I came back afterwards to do some more "fixing" and some washing too.  We'll head back there this afternoon, once the bones have thawed out and the asprin kicks in.

And as I wait for my clothes to wash, I'll go back into the sunshine and have another cup of coffee.

We're half way through our trip now....

The cars made it.  The only one that didn't break down was the Nissan.  And while we all boasted about our Scouts, Michael, quiet and unassuming, was very confident in his car, a Nissan Patrol which he bought only 10 weeks ago.  Especially since his was the only one of six vehicles that didn't have a problem.

And here's the list for all those guy's out there who understands cars and engines.......Graeme's Toyota Landcruiser busted a tyre and a bracket for the engine mount.  Col's Scout busted a shock absorber and broke his front spring shackle bolts and chewed up his wheel studs which destroyed his wheel and his roof rack came astray.  Greg, his son, broke his rear support member, his forward body mounts cracked which had to be welded, the transfer case broke which stripped his lower range gears, his rear brake cylinder had to be replaced, carburetor had to be rebuilt, and he lost his fishplate for his shock absorbers.  Steve, broke a rear spring which had to be welded,   a rock chip in the windscreen, and he had a hole in the transmission cooler.  And then it was our turn.  While Chris had his 'fun' in the hills of sand, he twisted his front drive shaft, and later both front and back diffs shook loose and we nearly lost those.  And then the top luggage rack which I already explained in the previous blog has to be tightened frequently, and the tie rod came away which also caused us to lose our steering, and two out of three fuel senders stopped working so we don't know how much fuel is in the tanks and my door latch is broken.

I really love the desert and we've been having a great trip.  But the next time we come out here, I think I'd like to go in luxury.

Excitement for the day.......

We left Alice Springs a couple of days ago and stayed overnight at a place called Glen Helen. You can see the pictures of it in my link "Photos".

The following day we headed out for King's Canyon. The roads were sandy, dusty, and very much corrigated. We bounced along this road, Chris full of concentration and me holding onto the 'suicide' bar, also known as the "Jesus" bar. I was very nervous on this road as I've had accidents on dirt roads before.

Well, we were about 100 klms in on the road and travelling about 80klms/hr on this rough road. Chris was trying to take my mind off my nervousness. He pointed to some mountains on his side of the car and then all of the sudden, he said, "Hold On, I've got no steering!" Doing my usual, my eyes shut, my grip tightened on the bar, and my head went down. The Scout slid sideways up the road about 20 to 30 mtrs and landed in the sandbank next to the road. Again, you can see the pictures in my link. The Scout made it without rolling for which I am thankful. Everyone else came back and we got the tie rod fixed enough to get us into Kings Canyon for the night. Personally, I didn't know the danger we had been in, but after it was fixed and we had travelled a ways down the road, Chris explained the gravity of the situation. All I can say is thank goodness he was driving. If it had been me, I would have rolled it for sure.

Chris's moment of glory....

The time finally came for Chris's moment of glory. The envy of all, in his little "Thumper". Yes, Virgil is no longer...it's now "Thumper". Chris got to have his bit of fun. He went up Big Red, and a few other hills, but this,....THIS....was his moment of glory.
Some of the guys in the group now want one, and somebody from another group came over and offered to buy it.
I overheard somebody saying in the Birdsville camp site, "I love the sound of that engine". With four Scouts in the group, the rumble of engines could be heard from far and near.
Below is the video of Chris's moment of glory......

But alas, it wasn't to be for too long. As he made his last climb up the hill, his front tail shaft twisted beyond repair, leaving him back to a normal 2WD.

The moment we've all been waiting for......

This video is Steve having a 'go' at going up the hill.

Two sleeps to go......

Okay! we're on countdown time now. It's amazing what things you have to do to get ready for the trip, not to mention the day to day stuff.

This week has been hectic. We've had the Real Estate agent out yesterday to have pictures taken of the property, as we're trying to sell it. So the day before we were madly scrambling around cleaning up both the house and the cottage.

Chris has been still doing tweaks here and there on the Scout. Our friends, who had to do a whole new engine in their Scout, are still doing the mad scramble. They started to put a new engine in last week, and they've been working until 2am to 3 am for the last several nights to get it together. But it's been one thing after another for problems. Chris is feeling a little guilty that he's ready to go and they're still doing the crazy scramble.

We were planning on seeing a movie with Camille, but as it turned out, Kung Fu Panda was suggested to be too violent for 2 year olds, so we bowed out. She'll see it when she's a little older. Besides Ice Age 3 is coming out this year, maybe then we can take her.

We've organized our nephew, Neil to come and help with the house and dogs. That's all done. And because I've been winding down the pantry, I've found that we're starting to rob the Scout of food, so it's off to the shops to restock the house and the scout.

And then Friday, we have people coming to look at the house for an inspection. Keep our fingers crossed.

And Saturday?....WE'RE OUTTA HERE!!!! ..........Did you remember to bring the frypan Chris?....and what about the.....