Poems By the
Bush Poets Now into our Trip One:- 'The Amazing North'
Our Maiden Voyage around Australia started on 13th May 2002: Ending 4 months later on 10th September2002 First we head for Darwin NT as far North as we can go before we land in Jakarta :) The journey this time will take in the Eastern Half of Australia,, from Melbourne in the South to Darwin in the top end, and over to the east coast on the York Peninsula then all way down the East Coast then back to Melbourne.
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We had set-up our Van with what we thought was necessary, we had the minimum of clothes, a 20lt drum of Melbourne water, a spare 20lt of fuel in case... our fridge was loaded with the necessities of life (6 pack of VB) and were all ready to see what the "Grey Nomads" (meaning grey haired caravanners) get so thrilled about.. we were going to find out.. This trip has been our Goal for the last five years.. to see Oz
Xmas Hampers
Our first port of call was along the southern coast of Victoria to Robe in South Australia, 680km from Melbourne, The weather was really foul,, Wind, Rain and Freezing.. Had to use the electric blanket for the first time... Mmm I hope it improves :)
The next morning we thought we would get right up to Port Augusta, approx 700km, where we would then start our trip from South to North via the centre of Australia known as the red centre. The bad weather was left behind us, and we were not to see rain for the next three months, just glorious sunshine.
Our first visit on this rout was to Woomera where in the late 50's the British experimented on the Rocket Range ( Test Site)
(Click Photos) Woomera's main launch site in the 1960s showing a fully-assembled Europa launch vehicle. (Photographed from a helicopter at an altitude of about 90 metres by Max Ryan, then Officer in Charge of the Still Photography Section, DSTO Salisbury. Max says that the photograph was widely published around the world.) For those interested to read more go to CLICK HERE
After a good look at the rocket site, and viewed the remains of the rockets, (Parts were found over 1500km away from the fire point and all retrieved and set-up as a Museum, we moved onto Coober Pedy where we planned on staying at the local caravan park.
Coober Pedy is a waterless town, we had to pay an extra 20c for a hot shower each Very hot in summer with temperatures reaching 55c, so the Opal miners of the last century decided it was cooler down the opal mines and stated to experiment with living really downunder where it is a min 25c all year round.. They excavated homes, hotels, and even shops to get out of the scorching heat during the daytime. this has really caught on these days as churches, museums and all type of community life is now all downunder.
Coober Pedy is where the worlds best opals are found and cut The landscape is completely covered in sink holes (mines) and one can envisage that it has similar characteristics to the Luna surface, especially when viewed at sunset.
From here we continue our journey North and heading for Ayres Rock (Ularu) approx. 1200k away. We pass a, what is known as 'The Dog Fence' a fence that was built last century to keep the wild dingoes from traveling on to greener pastures and thus protecting the livestock of the Farmers. the fence stretches many hundreds of (1800) miles North to South.
