Sunday, 20 July 2014

Day 29 - Home

Today we said our goodbyes to Peter & Mandy and headed off early to go home to see and squish our Amber.

We have mixed emotions about heading home, a great part of us wants to keep going & I think if Amber was with us we probably could. But as they say, all good things must come to an end and we need to start saving for the next adventure.

So after over 8,000km of driving we have seen such a small part of the country. You really don't realise how big Australia is until you start getting out and seeing it. We are firm believers in seeing what's in our own backyard before we make the big step of overseas travel.

There is nothing we would have changed and certainly no places we visited that we didn't enjoy immensely or wouldn't go back to. Doing this trip with My Swag helped us get to places we probably would not have done on our own, places like Palm Springs and Ruby Gap, harder 4x4 roads which when in a group makes them so much easier & safer if something goes wrong.

The people we have met have been fantastic, some we now call friends and will definantly keep in touch with and the Victorians, Linda & Family & Jacko & Family, we will camp with again and probably just catch up for dinner & drinks. Everyone from ten My Swag community contributed in some way to making this a great experience.

Highlight of the trip for me was Kings Canyon - just Wow & how it made me get out of my comfort zone, I am quite a shy person so this trip has done me wonders & it's showed me I can do just about anything. Matts highlight is also Kings Canyon walking around it was quite an accomplishment & he loved the 4 wheel driving. Chloe's highlight is well everything....she has declared it the best trip ever!

Goodbye from us for now we are off to clean & wash red dirt from every crack & cranny of the car, trailer, clothes & ourselves.......

The Heales


Saturday, 19 July 2014

Day 28 - Off to Gol Gol

Today we  had a nice leisurely pack up & started heading for Gol Gol which is on the NSW side of the Murray River where my cousin Peter & his family live.

Before leaving it was decided we would drive the scenic way down to the border via the Minindi Lake & following the Darling River all the way down. Minindi lake is part of the Kinchega National Park. The lake does not have any water in it and it looks like this may have been the case for many many years. The Darling River has a little water in in at this point. Matt & Jacko needed one more dirt road fix before we head off on the bitumen down to Melbourne.

The drive was along vast spaces of nothing but we did see a lot of Emus & Goats. We found out later that night from Peters wife Mandy that the goats are not owned by anyone in particular and the farmers just look after them if they stay on their land. The River starts to get a lot of water in it and when it meets the Murray we see a lot of water. It's nice to see a river with flowing water, it feels like forever since we've seen water where it should be. The territory is very dry.

Finally arriving in Wentworth we said our goodbyes to the Jackson family. It will be strange not travelling with these guys, we have had a lot of fun with them, but they are heading to Mildura to stay and we are off to Gol Gol.

My cousins family moved up here a couple of years ago and we thought it was time we stayed for a visit, the offer from Mandy to stay in a house with a heater definately made the offer very sweet. We had a good catch up over a couple of drinks & homemade pizza. Chloe had a good catch up with there kids Grace, Harry & Ben. We only see the cousins once a year at Christmas so it was a nice visit.

Tomorrow we finally make the last 600km drive home. 

Day 27 - Silverton & Broken Hill

This morning we said goodbye to Linda & Tayla, they have been travelling with us since day 1 & have been fantastic travel buddies. It will be odd waking tomorrow without seeing them but they have decided to get home a couple of days earlier than us. Sadly I didn't get to see them before they left as I was sound asleep enjoying a nice sleep in for once in four weeks.

When I did wake up Dad had just started making pancakes. They were just the shake and bakes, not homemade like Granny and I make but they were still good. So we ate some pancakes with a few birds eyeing us off for them and then got ready to drive into Broken Hill.

I had reception in Broken Hill so of course I went on my phone and checked Facebook and Instagram. We went to an information centre which was also a Gloria Jeans so we all got a hot chocolate and then went to look in the info part. The parents got some pamphlets while us kids looked at the souvinirs. I ended up buying a amethyst bracelet meaning peace. It matches my amethyst necklace of the 'Tree of Life'. 

After the information centre we drove up to the living sculptures but when we got there it was too expensive to go in so we turned around and drove to the Pro Hart Museum. That was really interesting and the lady at the desk gave us a quiz to do which was fun, until I realised you didn't get a prize at the end. :( But I loved the paintings anyway. They were really cool and we got a booklet that told us about his life and how he got the name 'Pro'. Which actually is short for Professor. We also saw his painting of a dragonfly on carpet. I was so confused when I first saw it, I was like "is that carpet??!" Yep it was definantly carpet.



After the Pro Hart Museum we drove back out to Silverton to look at some of the stuff there. We stopped out the front of the pub and took a photo of it. We were going there for dinner later on but we took a couple pics anyway and then went to look in the souvinir shop next door. There were some weird things in that shop, it was quite funny. Dad brought a sticker there to add to his collection.

We then drove up the road a little bit To the Mad Max 2 Museum. Mum, Dad, Jacko, Darcy and I all went in. Tracy, Indi and Rah stayed in the car. I didn't (well still don't) know anything about Mad Max, let alone Mad Max 2! So I had no idea what the actuall museum was about but it was pretty cool. All the costumes and cars and the pics from when they were making the movie. 


After that we walked back to the car and Indi and Rah came running to the cars saying that they just patted the donkeys and were taking selfies with the donkeys. Haha! I admit the donkeys were pretty cute and considering me and Rah have been quoting Shrek like this whole holiday, it's pretty funny. 

The Jacko's then drove back to camp while we drove the John Dynon Museum. It wasn't really a museum it was more of a shop. John Dynon himself was sitting at the counter talking to us while we looked at all his paintings. They were really nice and there were a few that I really liked but sadly couldn't buy.


After the John Dynon thing we drove around Silverton. It's actually a pretty big town and they film lots of movies here. Some of the souvineres say 'Silverton, Australia's Hollywood'. I started getting a bit hungry by now and I think Mum was too so we drove back to camp and Mum made us some really yummy toasties. When I had finished eating my toastie I went on the playground with Darcy, Indi and Rah before we went for a walk down to look at all the animals the campground had. They have a massive space full of goats, sheep, peacocks, ducks, chickens and all different types of birds. 

We spent at least an hour or more there trying to make Jack the cockatoo dance. Then we walked back to the tents to get ready to go to the pub. When we got to the pub it was pretty busy but we were put out side with heaters and away from the wind. It was really nice out there and peaceful. We ordered our food and drinks and just talking and laughing. 

Dad at one point came out and said that he wanted to do this challenge they have. The owner of the pub came out and started asking Mum these weird questions about Americans, rattle snakes and Australia. Then he gave Mum an envelope which had 'rattle snake eggs' in it, Mum opened the thing and something came jumping out of it. She screamed and when she jumped she almost landed in Tracey's lap! It was so funny!! Sadly nobody thought of video taping it. :( haha oh well. After we ate we all went inside and started reading some of the funny signs and cartoons they have there. We just walked around the bar reading them to each other if we found a really funny one. 

Dad then told the owner that he was ready to do the challenge. He ended up talking Jacko into doing the challenge too. Let's just say that, that was the funniest thing I have ever seen!! I think us girls died of laughter. Man, that was just, haha!  To know what the challenge is you will have to go to the Silverton Hotel & do it.



So after that we drove back to camp and started fire. We all sat around the fire for a while and laughing most if the time. We heard a donkey, don't ask me how or where it was because I have no idea. We then all started slowly going to bed and have a good nights rest before we drive to Gol Gol tomorrow. 

Photos will be uploaded later

Today's blog was by Chloe. :)

Thursday, 17 July 2014

Day 26 - Broken Hill & a little sunshine

This morning we awoke to no rain but some very wet tents. With the prospect of where we were heading having no rain we were quite keen to get moving.

Driving towards Broken Hill with no rain gave us a good chance to see what the country side around us was like. I said it looked like a Hobbits Village, so green with the most beautiful rolling hills. The greenest land we had seen for the previous 3 weeks.

Once we left the green fields we started to drive along flat boring landscape. We sighted some Emus & a couple of Wedge Tailed Eagles and lots and lots of goats. Having decided to avoid staying at the city camping grounds we drove straight through to Silverton and are staying at the camp ground called Penrose Park & strange mixture of camping sites and day spots but again we have space and can have open fires. We are loving the flexibility & space you can get by staying at these little out of the way camp spots. 



Tomorrow we are off to explore Silverton & Broken Hill.

Today's blog was written by Di

Day 25 - Off to Spear Creek

With another wet day ahead of us we headed off to our next stopover Spear Creek.

We at currently still travelling with the Jacko's & Linda & Tayla so we met up at the Coober Pedy sign bright & early and headed off. The advantage of staying in a motel for a couple of days is we can shower & take our time leaving as we don't have the whole pack up of the camper to do.

The drive to Spear Creek was an uneventful one with nothing to see. Mostly due to the rain. We have not seen rain or clouds for 3 weeks so we can't complain about having some on our way home. It's getting us back into Melbourne weather.


Spear Creek is a sheep station about 20km outside of Port Augusta. This sheep station is on over 20,000 acres and the little camp ground sits along the creek on the property. We had heard not much positive about staying in Port Augusta itself so found this alternative via the SA Farm Stays website. Beautiful, quiet camp which allowed us to have fires. It rained for the first couple of hours of being there but once the rain stopped the fire cranked up and it was lovely. We even had a little flushing toilet in a tin shed which had a resident Scorpian & Red Back Spider, but they kept to themselves.




Slowly heading home, tomorrow it's off to the Broken Hil region for a couple of days of sightseeing.

Today's blog was written by Di

Monday, 14 July 2014

Day 24 - Coober Pedy



Let me start this blog entry by saying I thought everything in Coober Pedy was underground.......silly me it's not.
However there is a lot under ground and it's definately part of the tourism appeal.

We are staying at the The Lookout Cave under ground motel, after sleeping in the camper with most nights being below 0 degrees the constant 25degrees in our underground room is feeling a little warm, sleeping last night was cosy & felt almost too warm, sad really. But it's a really nice motel & the family running it are lovely. So this morning started with a nice private hot shower and toast, toast is a luxury when camping and I had not eaten any for the past couple of weeks, delicious.



After ambling out slowly we met up with Linda & Tayla and decided to go to a working mine for a tour. Toms Mine. We were greeted by the owner Jimmy, a very funny man and then taken on our tour. Very interesting. We got to go underground and see how they mine opal. Jimmy had a funny sense of humour and didn't hold back telling us what would kill us underground and gave the kids a crash course in making bombs. Chloe even got to take a ride up the swing lift to get out of the mine. Coober Pedy supplies 95% off the worlds opals. Opal is worth $30,000 per troy ounce. But because Australia cannot keep up with the worlds demands they can pretty much charge whatever they want. Opal is beautiful but not my personal favourite gem so Matts wallet was safe.



We found a bakery for lunch with the best jam donuts. After lunch we went to have a look at the Serbian Orthodox Church which is underground. It has some beautiful religious carvings cut out of the rock face.



After lunch Matt, Chloe & I headed off to the Breakaways, these are a group of hill & rock features sitting on their own and given the name because they look like they have broken away from the Stuart Ranges. They are an interesting landscape, almost like sand and all different colours. Most also have an aboriginal story about them being dogs & emus.



Tonight we got together with the others at their caravan park for a BBQ and a couple of drinks. Tomorrow we are heading off to stay at a sheep station out past Port Augusta.

Sunday, 13 July 2014

Day 23 - Goodbye My Swag, Hello Coober Pedy

Today we said goodbye to our fellow My Swaggers. Darren, Karen & little Rueben off to WA, John, Caitie & boys, Tobias, Karen & kids, Danny, Melissa & boys off to SA & Steve, Sharon & kids back to NSW. Steve & Nadia are continuing their travels. We will continue our travels with Linda & Tayla & Jacko, Tracy & kids all the way back home to Melbourne which will be good to keep the holiday going. We have had the most amazing time with the My Swag group. Seen & done incredible things & had many laughs along the way. Looking forward to seeing everyone again in 2016 in the Flinders Ranges!

Officially today is the first day for the return trip home, it was a big drive approx 830 kms to Coober Pedy. We are staying in an underground motel here for a couple of nights so it will be good to have a couple of warm nights before getting back into the camper. So far Coober Pedy is nothing that I expected, I think I read too many books, the book world very rarely matches the reality.

Sorry no photos today, just a lot of driving & no sightseeing as we passed back through most places we had already been. Tomorrow our adventure begins around the opal mines and I'm sure we will have more photos then. 

Early night for us, catching up with the gossip back home & having a nice long chat to Amber who we are missing a lot. We have a TV in our room & we haven't turned it on, I know shocking.

Today's very small blog was written by Di :)