The Great Barrier Reef

Well here we are. Several months on from the last phase of our trip, I'm finally getting around to putting the photos up. A classic demonstration of daily life getting in the way again!

We chose to stay on Great Keppel Island for our Great Barrier Reef experience - I'd spoken to enough people and read enough blogs to decide that staying on the mainland would be inviting ourselves to several days of tourist-choked madness - no thank you, sir!

Sunset over our lovely quiet beach. A far more appealing site than the tourist-choked alternative! 

Great Keppel Island sounded quiet, chilled and (most importantly) really well situated for eyeballing the coral and pretty fishies up close.

We impressed ourselves with being super organised in the morning, managing to order a taxi and arrive at the bus stop we needed in plenty of time, which then translated to us chancing a slightly earlier bus to the wharf. Which was fortunate, because the bus ended up taking about 15 minutes longer than we thought it would...

We arrived at the wharf/ ferry terminal and briefly panicked because we needed to go to the end of the red jetty, which after a quick initial perusal of the whole area was non-existent - all jetties for decidedly wood coloured. A second look revealed a jetty with posts capped in red. Phew!  We marched on over, prayed we hadn't missed the darn thing, asked some other folks who were milling around the area and confirmed that we were in the right place at the right time. Excellent.

The island more than made up for the dismal weather on our first day!

We got on our ferry when it arrived and after 45 minutes of very exciting seafaring we arrived at Great Keppel - woohoo! The island was looking quite depressed thanks to the overcast skies and rain (set in for the rest of the day with enthusiasm) and sadly we had just missed the breakfast session by all of 3 minutes, so we resorted to breakfast ice cream and hot drinks.
I'd like to say I handled the crummy weather really well, but after a fairly stressful previous day in airports I'd say I would have failed the Character test that day; less than enthusiastic about the dismal weather and the lack of covered walkways or enclosed warm areas, we mostly sulked in our little cabin room reading and napping. At one point we went for a walk to find the beach from which we'd snorkel in tomorrow's blazing sunshine *ahem, got that Mr Sun?* and were mollified to see it was worth the 45 minute (one way) trek in the rain and although now sodden, we returned to the cabin with high hopes. Mercifully, the next morning yielded blazing sunshine and a dramatically improved demeanour on my part, which both stuck around until we left ;)



The island had a lovely backpacker-esque feel to it which grew on you after a day of walking around in flip flops and smiling at strangers amid the albeit rather dilapidated surrounds, and having made the acquaintance of some of the staff one evening we were even treated to an extra adventure on a half day snorkel cruise we did. Superb!







Top tip: if staying on Great Keppel, ingratiate yourself with the super friendly staff and make sure you request to be taken over to The Observatory; I'd recommend booking a half day snorkel and mentioning you've heard about this amazing spot (it's not included in the half day tour)...

The Observatory used to be part of the bazillion-star resort that once decorated the place (and has long since died a horrible death) and was built so that guests could descend beneath the water to observe the fish and coral without having to get their hair wet.
The Observatory itself has had it's day; along with the fact that the winch used to hike boats up to the platform to access the entrance no longer works, it's no longer air tight and the local sea life have made their homes on its windows. BUT the area was chosen for a reason, and remains the home of some really spectacular fish. I saw a potato cod 1.5 metres long, enjoyed feeding and swimming with a host of batfish which, totally undeterred by people, swarmed around us and brushed up against me to jostle for the cracker I held out, and a load of other fish I don't know the names of. So cool!

Notes from the drive from Clare to Uluru

Due to a distinct lack of reception I made some notes while Sarah was driving, so they'll be more bullet point style! Here we go (didclaimer - no exiting has been done, so spelling errors and a lack of sense mag be present).

Clare to Coober Pedy:
Flat all the way save for some strange flat-topped hills and some little valleys.
Occasional areas with trees looking like they could use a drink.
Mostly bushes and tuffs of grass.
Passed some lakes that looked as though they were almost entirely salt! Pretty in an arid, barren sort of way.
I've seen 3 eagles so far, and 4 kites. Each eagle has been picking at carrion whereas the kites dance above the road in the air currents. The eagles are graceful but as they're so much heavier they take longer to move. One nearly got taken out on the roof tent - I got a really nice close look at him as he wooshed up at the last moment! The wind today has been fierce - I'm not surprised they've had trouble getting past it to the calmer currents.

First sighting of an indigenous group, 120kms out of coober pedy. Five aboriginals wandering around next to a 4wd pretending to be stranded, flagging down tourists. With fair warning from my aunt and uncle, we didn't stop. We quite like the Tonka intact.

The Big4 at Coober Pedy is nice enough. All of the campsites have been around $30 a night so far and here was around that.
The facilities are fine, but showers are coin operated - 20 cents for 2 minutes. No biggie.

The wind overnight was unreal - the whole car was getting rocked like a boat. A group of local dogs serenaded us for about an hour as soon as we went to bed, then a local decided to blast some Elvis for us at 11.30pm. At 2.30am we both woke up because the strap on the front of the tent had been blown up and onto the roof, flailing around clacking on the fibre glass driving us mad. I got up at that point and dug out some string, retrieved the wayward strap and tied it to the step on the car, which worked really well thank goodness!

Coober Pedy to Kings Canyon:
Paid 153.9 at Caltex in Coober Pedy rather than 159.9 at the Shell. Worth driving further into 'town' to find!

Passed a rest stop with a beat up van and what appeared to be a person on a spit over a fire pit. It was only stuffed clothes - jeans and a sweater - but the message was clear: sod off and keep driving! We obliged willingly amd drove past.

Stopped at Cadney Pk for fuel and a loo break. Fuel is now generically labled 'unleaded' and I had to leave my ID at the counter before filling up. I guess a lot of people fill and run to save money!

Kings Canyon:
We got in and discovered there was no reception - first place we've stayed so far without anything! Not that surprising really, middle of nowhere as it is.

We looked at doing a helicopter flight, as we'd seen a poster advertising flights from $95. Not bad, we thought, assuming it was a half hour flight. Further investigation revealed the flight was actually 8 minutes. Helicopter flight was swiftly dismissed as extortion.

We saw 2 dingos and one wild dog with a limp who consistently appeared around dusk and early morning each day looking for scraps, and two healthy dingoes (or one who backtracked a lot) who meandered around for a few hours either side of midday. They looked quite leathery and dark - not furry and reddish as we'd seen in posters.

We decided against doing the Rim Walk at the canyon as we'd started the day a bit too relaxed and it was too hot by the time we were ready to go exploring, so we did two smaller walks. One along a long-dried-up creek and one to Kathleen Springs. Both were fairly tame and not massively interesting. The scenery didn't change much and the Kathleen springs were actually a rather stagnant water hole thronging with flies and midgies.

Nonetheless, it was good to see the area. We spent the afternoon drinking cider in the pool, which was an excellent way to relax in the heat!
Petrol here is 202.90 per litre. Ouch! But expected.

Today we're off to Yalara, where we'll stay to see Uluru and the Olgas. No reception on this drive until you're around the corner from Yalara.

We saw a small herd of wild brumbies today! They crossed the road in front of us - much excitement in the car, we've never grabbed the phones out ao quick for a photo! There were around 6 adults, a teenager and a foal. Very cool!

Yalara is great so far. Pricing has become more reasonably - more like what I'd expect to pay at home, and everyone is really friendly. We've made some friends along the way, one lot who offered us a brand new Weber and $400 worth of gear in exchange for our gas camping stove! I said no, but they followed us here to Yalara which has been a laugh.
Tomorrow we'll walk around the base of Uluru, hopefully quite early given how hot it has been today.

Photos from Phase Two, and a bit more...

On the road to Coober Pedy

Stopped at Spud's roadhouse on the way to Coober Pedy 

Making ourselves at home at the sunset lookout at Kings Canyon

Our spot at Kings Canyon

Live music in the evening on Monday - Rod Dowsett

A very filtered and post-processed photo of Kings Canyon. There were no clouds so it was looking ultra bland this particular evening!

New vendetta: kill or evade all flies. 

On the road to Uluru. Or possibly Kings Canyon if I've mixed these up majorly.

Turnoff to the Lasseter Highway, aka Red Centre Way.

First sighting of Uluru! 

First sighting of the Olgas.

First inducation of the bar at Yalara - our accommodation at Uluru :)

Slightly muddled order - this is actually Kings Canyon.

Phase Two of the Aussie Odyssey

Time for another update. It's Sarah's turn driving so I can sit here and bash out a post!

We've finished the Great Ocean Road, which despite slightly touchy weather was spectacular. We drove up ti Halls Gap in the Grampians National Park and spent two nights there, and last night we stayed in Clare with my aunt and uncle. Being in a real bed amd not having to pack down the roof tent was looovely!!

The sun shone determinedly for our drive through the Barossa to Clare, and has hung in there ever since. I'm confident the rain is well and truly behind us now thank goodness.

Our places bear has several new additions:
The Arch
London Bridge
Bay of Murnanes
Bay of Martrys
Logan's Bay
Hopkins Falls
The Grotto
Worms Bay
Peterborough
Lake Bolac
Lake Bellfield
Halls Gap
Silverband Falls
Baroka Lookout
McKenzie Falls
Nhill
Tailum Bend
Barossa Valley
Clare Valley
Clare
Port Pirie
Port Augusta

There's a seriously long straight road between us and Coober Pedy, and the wind today is rocking the Tonka all over the place, but not to wprry.
We're on holiday; it'll take more than wind to deter us!

We stopped for fuel at Glendambo, which was last fuel before Coober Pedy. Fuel has been 139.9 fairly consistently up to Spud's Roadhouse in Pimba, where it was around 149.9.

It's just on sunset, which looks amazing - the colours continue uninterrupted across the entire horizon, slowly fading out at the edges. Bit hard to catch on camera at 110kph though, and we're so close to Coober Pedy neither of us could be bothered stopping. It needs to be wine time!

Phase One of The Aussie Odyssey

G'day!
Update number 1 on the start of our adventure.

So experiencing Down Under has begun, the Tonka is behaving very well and aside from some monsoonal rain and cyclonic winds of arctic temperatures it's been balmy!

We've been meandering along the Great Ocean Road which is in amazing condition considering they had around 150 landslides between Lorne and Wye River recently - looks like they've been working around the clock to get it open again and aside from giant mounds of dirt that have been moved to some of the turn-out lanes you'd never know.

We've been waterfall chasing and stopping whenever we feel like it, so far stops include:
Torquay
Bells Beach
Aireys Inlet
Erskine Falls
Sheoke Falls
Apollo Bay (got distracted by waterfalls and arrived here after all the campsite offices were shut, so camped at a Big 4 and put a note under the office door after dinner at the local Brewhouse)
Maits Rest rainforest
Cuppa in Beech Forest while waiting for workers woth chainsaws to finish clearing the road ahead
Hopetoun Falls
Beauchamp Falls
Attempted Triplet Falls but road closed due to weather lately
Gibsons Steps
Twelve Apostles
Camping at Port Campbell this evening and planning a sunrise jaunt in the morning!

Please May I Borrow Your Teleporter?

This is a tale of two people trying to find and purchase a roof tent.  

You may be wondering what could possibly be so difficult about buying an item which, for this particular car, is exceptionally common. 
Well I'll tell you. 

See, roof tents are readily available second hand. The problem is, most of them are not in Canberra, or even Sydney, but Victoria and Brisbane. A pain to get to just to take a look at a tent to make sure it isn't mouldy. 

The other issue is, there are brands which are extremely reliable, and brands which are extremely unreliable, and not much in between. Even for one of the dodgier brands, you're still looking at over $2000 to purchase one and have it sent to you, with no way of knowing whether the seller has been honest with you about the condition it's currently in.  

Okay, what on earth does one of these tents look like then? How does one camp on the roof of one's car, and why is this a good idea - sounds uncomfortable! 

Actually, they're pretty brilliant. You get to be off the ground (always a plus when you're heading North in Australia), you can leave your bedding all set up in there, and they take about 7 seconds put up and down. So from the moment you decide you need a kip and get out of the car, you're looking at about 10 seconds of setup between you and that bed. Since I'm still waiting for ours, I turned to Google for some pictures:

This is a roof tent. There's a mattress in there!

They fold down nice and tidy inside a hard shell. 

After a few purchases that turned out to be scams (thank you eBay for your buyer protection policies), my partner decided we'd be better off having one made to our own specifications by one of the manufacturing companies in China. Now, I was skeptical (because I'm slightly geriatric in my approach to buying things online), but given that these companies manufacture tents for the better brands anyway, and it would end up costing us less than one of the good brands while retaining that level of quality, it seemed like a pretty solid plan. 

My partner organised everything (thank goodness) and after a few weeks of negotiations, a tent was commissioned.  Payment was made, customs organised, port fees calculated, and in no time our tent was on its way in a container on a ship.  

A few weeks out of the estimated delivery date, my partner jumps online to track the ship and comes across a slight snag. A news article informing the world that one of the biggest shipping companies in the world has filed for bankruptcy, with all of their ships being seized and returned to the port of origin. Not good, since our container was on one. 
The Australian: Hanjin Shipping Files for Bankruptcy

After no small amount of stress and some minor panic attacks that our precious tent wouldn't arrive in time (if at all), we set about trying to find out for sure what ship it was on. Extensive and determined online sleuthing yielded for us the container number, who owned the container, and what ship that container had been put on most recently. 
We held our breath as the page loaded, and exhaled with relief as it appeared our tent was on a ship owned by a different company, and was on schedule for delivery as planned. 

Phew! 

We calmed down and congratulated ourselves on not panicking (like, at all) with a stiff drink that evening.

That was a few weeks ago, and it docked at Botany Bay in Sydney on Friday 17th September. All we had to do then was wait for it to be unpacked and cleared for collection, at which point we could drive to Sydney to collect it and bring it home - at last! 

This morning the email finally arrived. We were allowed to go and collect our package!! 

After a quick phone call to work, my partner arranged to take the day off to go to Sydney and collect it. 

Like all good stories, it has a happy ending: I just got a text - he found it! 

The fateful package, finally in our possession! Woohoo!

Australia is apparently a big place. . .

Having spent a fair amount of time sussing out other countries, it seemed like a good idea to suss out my 'own backyard' as it were, and spend some time travelling a bit of Australia. A friend from England voiced her plans to come to Australia in 2016 to do just that, so we decided to make it happen. 

Out came the maps and the brainstorming began: where did we want to go? How much time did we have? To fly, to drive or both?

It transpired we had 3 weeks (as stipulated by my friend's employer - fair enough), about 6 places we wanted to see (none of which were close to each other, naturally) and a pre-existing condition that we actually spend time seeing an area, rather than doing a fly-through visit.  With just 3 weeks to work with, we needed to choose our top 3 destinations and lock them in: 

The Great Ocean Road, Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef.

Next question: are we driving or flying between these places? If we fly we'll be spending a lot on airfares and accommodation and may still need to hire a car when we get to each destination, or fork out for day tours; if we drive we'll be spending a lot on fuel and also need to hire a car, to the tune of $3000 in bond, payable upfront with restrictions on where you can drive it once you get up North. 

Quite a conundrum. 

That is, until my partner, who owns an FJ Cruiser, suggested we take his car and put a roof tent on it. 

Thus solving both the problem of transport and of accommodation in one fell swoop. 
Two birds, one Tonka shaped stone. 
YES! 

Our route, starting and finishing in Melbourne

Route confirmed, we all agreed the purchase of a roof tent was in order and the plan was put into motion. 


Getting our hands on a roof tent provided its own challenges, but that's another story.  
You can read about that particular drama in "Please May I Borrow Your Teleporter?"