Day 22 - fossicking & bananas In pyjamas

Today I was looking forward to a sleep in but I couldn't do that as Mum woke me up early to get ready for the fossicking tour. So I got ready in the freezing cold and we made our down to reception with a few other MySwagers to get our sives, buckets, collecting tin and water. 

We followed our guide Cory to the little place that is kinda hidden because it's off the highway. Cory showed us what to do and we set to work. There were already some holes so I got the pick axe and started getting some dirt. Mum and I started off with dry seives but then Dad was complaining he couldn't see with the sun so Mum did the wet seives and Dad and I did dry but then I wanted a go at the wet and in my first lot I found 3 garnets! So for the rest of the day I did the wet seive. I had a lot of fun using the pick axe and the seives and getting dirty of course. I was stained red by the end of the day. 

We had been there for about 3-4 hours before we decided to head back. I counted all the garnets we found and we found 23 of them. That's not including the ones we found at Ruby Gap. When we finally got back to Gem Tree Dad put all the fossicking tools away while Mum and I went in to see Cory and get our garnets looked at. We ended up having 1:4carats, 3:3.24carats and quite a few 3carats. The rest were put in a bag for 'show and tell'. 

When we got back to the tent I ate some lunch and then got into Mums bed and read for about an hour before I fell asleep for at least 2 hours and then woke up amd read again. When I finally got out of bed I didn't feel too good. I had a headache and was ready to go home. But I couldn't. I've done pretty good though, that's the first time in 3 weeks I said it. Mum got me panadol and got me drink a bottle of water before we headed off to Kate's Camp Kitchen.

 We had the whole MySwag group there and we hung up 2 of the MySwag flags. For dinner we were having a campoven roast. Everyone got a tour of Kate's kitchen and how it was made and how they cater for everyone. Then we got our food and enjoyed an amazing roast! When everyone at finished dinner Kate came ans explained what the movie we were about to watch was about. It's about her family and the history of the N.T and her whole family. We then watched a short movie that her kids made for school. It was really interesting. When everyone started to head off us and the Jacko's and a few other people stayed to finish our drinks. But then B1 and B2 came out (bananas in pyjamas). It was so funny! Indi, Rah and I were standing at the hearing warming up a bit when one the guys that works there came and started talking to us. He was really nice and funny and we kept laughing at his hiccups because he had, had them all day. He had only been at Gem Tree for 2 days. Then B1 and B2 came over so us 3 girls had a photo with them then B1 said that they were off to get some rum. He came back with his can and took off the banana head. It was Cory and B2 was Aaron, Kate's husband. So Cory, this other guy, us 3 girls and the parents were all sitting/standing around the fire and heater talking. I recon we could have talked all night if the parents didn't say we had to go.

As we were walking off we said bye to the 2 boys and Kate and than drove back to the camp where the others had got a fire going. We stayed around the fire for a bit and then Catie, John's wife said that John had brought this book on how to play the digeredoo and by the end of the trip he would be able to play it. Well seeing as this was the end of the actuall MySwag trip we made him try to play it. He had only read 2 pages and knew only how to hold it. It was quite funny. After that I went off to read my book in Mums bed again. 

Tomorrow we say goodbye to everyone and we are heading for Coober Pedy. Jacko and family and Linda and Tayla are also travelling with us home as we live pretty close by.

Today's blog was done by Chloe 

Day 21 - Gem Tree & the Pademelon Bowling Champion

Today we said goodbye to our last Queenslanders. Dave, Vee, Jamilla & Chris. They are off to join the other Queenslanders & do the drive over the Simpson Desert.

We headed off in convoy to Arltunga Historical Reserve. This is officially Central Australia's first town born out of the Gold Rush. We had a little drive around and checked out some of the old ruins and old cemeteries. Chloe & I are fascinated with old cemeteries, something we have inherited from my Mum. After a little look around it was time to head off to Gem Tree, it was decided we would all make our own way  to there as we all wanted to spend different amounts of time at Arltunga. To get from Arltunga to Gem Tree we had to drive on the Binns Track, quite a famous track for these parts of the woods. A rough road driving through different cattle stations. Whilst on this trip it has become quite a joke about how cows are attracted to our car and sure enough around a corner and there waiting for us was 6 cows. We slowed and waited for them to pass before we could continue. Further along the track the most magnificent Big Red Kangaroo came hopping across the road and off into the distance. I don't think I will ever get sick of seeing the wild life out here.

Linda was a couple of kilometres in front of us and radioing back anything we needed to watch out for. Over the radio came a message pulling over for a road train, and another, and another and another. 4 road trains on a very slow dirt track, they are huge! Fully loaded with cattle. We pulled over and watched them come around the corner to pass us and then get engulfed in their red dirt, what's a bit more red dust in the nooks & crannies. But quite a site to see.

Finally arrived at Gem Tree and caught back up with Dan, Mel & Family & Steve & Nadia who had been off getting repairs or having some R & R from the bumpy dirty tracks.

We had booked into baked potato night along with a couple of the other families, so headed down to the billabong for some delicious baked spuds followed by a game of pademelon bowling. Pademelons are a fruit which are good for nothing, they grow all over the sides of the road in the Northern Territory & are too seedy to eat. The object of this game was to select a pademelon write your name on the fruit and bowl it similar to lawn bowls to earn points. It came down to a drawn game after the second round between Matt & Steven. Game was getting serious, I was so bad at this game that I won't mention where my melons ended up haha. Anyway back to the final round. Matt bowled his pademelon and it somehow came back around and stopped closest to the pin. Matt was the winner of Pademelon Bowling! He won a free night in a powered site but we are hoping to get this prize changed for something else as we can't stay longer & not sure when we will get back here.

At the baked potato night we met a young German Backpacker who is spending 9 months riding his bike around Australia. He left Tasmasnia in March & has made it up here! Crazy but he would see a lot of this big big country.

Early night for tomorrow we are off to so some real fossicking for Garnets. This is something I have been looking forward to the most. My Dad got his love if fossicking up here & I'm hoping to find something I can take back for him to cut & polish for me.

Today's log was written by Di.

Day 20 - Day trip to Ruby Gap

Last night was by far the coldest night we have experienced. We are having beautiful 20 -26 degree days and chilly nights but last night was freezing a freezing -3. So freezing that our water pipes froze over. When we checked in the guy running the place said make sure you have your showers in the afternoon because he wasn't coming to unfreeze the pipes in the morning and he wasn't kidding. Icicles hanging from the taps. Thank god for warm days to thaw us out.

I had heard a lot about Ruby Gap and was very keen to check it out. Ruby Gap was named this due to back in 1887 an explorer came through and thought he had found Rubys but it turned out they were just Garnets and little Garnets are everywhere. There were 3 other cars who decided to come along for the adventure. The drive into Ruby Gap said 66km and some parts along a 4WD track only. It took us 2 1/2 hrs to get there! Very very rough track but a lot of fun. Some parts I am almost closing my eyes but all cars did it easily. Linda came with us and ran ahead on foot at some points to make sure it was okay for the cars. Long long drive but so worth it, we collected lots of little garnets and could have spent hours down there but we had a long long drive back. A beautiful tranquil place. Just perfect.

On arriving back at camp we were then informed about another track going out to Trephina Gorge. Trephina Gorge itself is beautiful but the reason the guys wanted to go was the water holes we had to drive through to get in there. The first water hole was the largest. Jacko was in the front and slowed down to have a look. Matt radioed to see which way he was headed through the water, with the reply being no guts no glory he took off through the middle of the water hole. We followed closely behind then Darren & John. With that out the way they were looking for more. Darren had been out earlier & informed them we had two more water holes to drive through, but smaller ones. Little Rueben who is almost two said that the little water holes were boring. But off we went. I get a bit nervy driving through water but these little one were not too bad. Making it to the Gorge its self we stopped for a quick look at some Aboriginal Petroglyphs. Linda is a photographer so heading back to camp we dropped her off at the waterholes and she took photos of the guys driving through and loving every minute of it. The car came out a little reedy and the number plate a little bent but it was fun.

After an exhausting day, it was a quieter night around the fire and early to bed. We were off again in the morning for our last stop Gem Tree on what has been an incredible couple of weeks.

Today's blog was written by Di

Day 19 - off to Ross River

Today it was decided that we would leave when we were ready & not in convoy as the trip to Ross River was not too far only 181km and we all needed to stop via Alice Springs to restock food, repair tyres & do some washing.

This morning we said goodbye to 3 couples from Qld (Brian & Val, John & Adele, Stu & Jean) who were having a couple of days R & R in Alice before going home via the Simpson Desert. 3 lovely couples who we got to know quite well & were always very helpful with little tips and advice about 4WD driving & camper tips. So after our farewells we headed into Alice Springs.

Alice Springs is an interesting place & has a lot of interesting characters. After having a very civilised lunch of sausage rolls we headed to the toilets where we had to pay 50cents to use. They were definately clean and secure with two burly security guards on the door but we don't have this in Victoria and it caused some amusement for us. We had to wait until 2pm for the bottle shops to open. Alcohol can only be bought between 2-7pm in Alice Springs so the Thristy Camel bottle shop had a queue of My Swaggers waiting to restock so we could get to Ross River.

We stayed at Ross River Resort, resort is probably a bit of a stretch but the camp ground is set in some beautiful surroundings and the toilets are clean which was more than we had for fine past couple of days. Ross River is part of the East McDonnell Ranges.

A nice lazy afternoon was to be had, which we were all needing.

Last night was the camp oven cook off. Everyone provided something which they cooked via a camp oven in the hot coals or a webber. Feast began with Greek Marinated lamb strips with fresh bread, then chops & mash, chicken korma then roast lamb with beautiful roast veggies. Dessert was by far the best, home made Nutella donuts & apple crumple! Delicious.

Late night around a roaring fire perfect end to another great day.

Today's blog was written by Di

Day 18 - off to Owen Springs

This morning we all got together for a group photo. This will be the last time we are all together. Over the next couple of days we are seeing some heading off back home via the Simpson Dessert, others are taking days in other area before coming back at Gemtree.

Today's drive was not a difficult one but my goodness I am over corregated roads! Sometimes I feel like my brain might shake out of my head. We drove through some beautiful little valleys through some magnificent ghost gums all under the beautiful red rocks of the outback. Our original drive was to be much harder but after chatting to some guys at camp this morning John made the decision that his trailer would not fit up the Finke 4WD Track & he was going a different way but those who wanted to continue the original route were more than welcome, a few of the more experienced drivers without trailers decided to continue this way, the rest followed John. I was a little thankful for that, apparently the road we were heading for was quite a tricky road & we have already had trailer issues.

Along the way we went to see some of the original buildings belonging to the families who ran the cattle out here back in the 1800's. 

Then it was off to find a camp spot at Redbank Waterhole. Bush camping at its finest. We found a beautiful spot in the middle of a dried up creek which we could all fit on. Set up complete the adults set about having drinks & nibbles while the kids began collecting their own firewood and started quite an impressive fire for themselves. A couple of hours after we arrived the group arrived who did the harder track and I'm so glad we didn't do it they looked exhausted and said it would have been difficult with 8 other trailers along that track.

It's really hard for me to put into words a lot of what we have seen & done, and I know there has been lots I have missed out telling you. Our adventures continue tomorrow up to Ross River.

Today's blog written by Di

Day 17 - 4x4 Driving to Palm Valley

This morning we all awoke with the intention of all leaving together at quite a respectable time of 8.45 to head towards Palm Valley. Before leaving Kings Canyon, Sue came over for a chat and to wish us all safe travels and mentioned that the camp ground at Palm Valley can fill really quickly and is not very large. As we have 13 cars travelling in our convoy we thought it best to get moving but moving in such a large group is not always easy & this time we split into a few groups.

We began travelling in what was now called the rainbow group with Dave (King Billy) & family leading the way along th Meereenie Loop. We were soon caught up to by a few more cars and decided to move on directly & not stop and look at a Gosse Bluff which is a meteorite crater & get to Palm Valley early for lunch, lucky we did. The camp ground was already quite full & we all squeezed into where we could.

Lunch was provided by Darren (Darre253) & Karen, when they were camped at Yulara they were put opposite one of the large school groups and when the school left they gave them 40 wraps, a lot of cheeses slices & sliced beef so we made them into beef & cheese wraps and enjoyed them at our new camp site.

After lunch those who wanted went for a drive into Palm Valley. Palm Valley is located within the Finke Gorge National Park. The scenery is amazing, lots of beautiful red rocks & it's quite green. The track itself is a bumpy one & defiantly for 4x4 vehicles only. You drive along one of the oldest rivers in the world. Matt is loving this part of the journey, I on the other hand prefer sometimes to close my eyes. But our car made it easily. The walk once you get there is well worth it, we did the short 2km walk which took us up over the canyon then down into the Valley of Palms. This is the only place in the world where these types of palms, the Red Cabbage Palm are grown, quite special. 

During the drive in we heard the group behind us mention that Dan's (Danadelaide) car has broken a shocker on the front wheel. Not drive able. Again lucky we are in a group, John (JCOJ) & Darren (Darren253) helped get him driving back to camp where they then had to ring for a tow truck (yes they found one who came out to the middle of nowhere) to come and get them back to Alice Springs for repairs.

We have been having amazing weather. Today was actually quite hot about 27degrees, hot enough for all the kids to change into their shorts & t-shirts, the nights however have been very cold. Tonight we all headed over to Steven (StevenB)  & Sharons camp where a nice fire was burning. The kids are loving being out here, tonight the game was spotlight tiggy, which kids off all ages enjoyed.

Chloe & I headed back to our camper to find out dingoes had been hanging around. We have seen quite a lot of dingoes on our travels. So have to make sure all rubbish has been put away of a night.

Tomorrow we head to Owen Springs via the Finke Gorge 4WD route.

Day 16 - A big Day

Today when Mum woke me up I actually wanted to sleep all day, but I couldn't because we were going to walk the rim of Kings Canyon. So I got up and ate my very yummy bacon and eggs and then got ready. I think my legs went a bit numb because I was wearing shorts but that didn't last for long as when we got there we met up with Dave and his family, Jacko, Kiara and Darcy and Brian and Val.

The walk up was pretty hard as they weren't really steps they were big rocks we had to step onto (if that makes sense). Kiara, Darcy, Chris and I were in the front and every now and then we had to stop and wait for everyone else. When we finally got to the top everyone was relieved so we stood around and had a bit of a brake before starting the actual rim walk. The rim walk is 6km, so half of what we did the other day. It should be pretty easy and when it flattened out it was pretty easy. 

The view was amazing! It's not what you expect. I was expecting just plain rock, nothing around but there is bushes and trees and it's actually quite green. It's still really plain though but even when you look down it's like a rain forest down at the bottom. So we walked around half the rim going to a lookout which you had to cross a bridge. Then we started going down so I though we were making our way back to the car park, but nope! We just went down into the canyon which they called 'The Garden Of Eden'. It was really pretty and not a black, neverending hole that I thought it was. It had trees, bushes, flowers and a river running through it. 

After the garden we walked back up to the top of the canyon and walked the rest of the rim. When we were about 2km from the end there was a gate We had to go through because it marked the end of the small track. On the way down it was a bit slippery as it was very steep. I almost fell over a few million times but never actually fell. When we got to the bottom we refilled drink bottles and sat down before making our way to the car.

After Kings Canyon we drove to the resort to get petrol and our Mareenie Loop pass. When we had finished getting petrol and our pass we drove down the road abit to check out the helicopters. Mum and I ended up going in one for 10 minutes but that's all we needed to see Kings Canyon and some of the places around it. Dad didn't want to go so we stayed on the ground and filmed our take off and I think landing too. The view was amazing! We got to see where we walked that morning and it didn't look as big from up in the air than when we walked around it. I was so happy after that, it was just awesome!

When we got back to camp Mum and I went to look in the gift shop and see if the camels were doing rides today because yesterday the girl told us that all the camels were all pregnant. All of them! So we walked down to have a look and they were doing rides but I didn't want to because I was happy with the helicopter ride. :) on our way back mum was going to bye me a ice-cream but we saw Tracy and the kids so we stayed with them for a bit and then Mum brought me a white magnum ice-cream. It was so YUMMY!! 

That night we all sat around the fire again and us kids went and played a couple games and talked. Tomorrow we are heading to Palm Vally which is the only place where this certain type of Palm tree is found.

Today's blog is done by Chloe