10 March 2015

Outback Adventure -Part 1

                                         
                               For this trip we decide to do something different. Usually when people go to Australia its all about the 5 main cities and the east coast beach stretch or drive along the Gold coast. For us all modern cities are about the same. Unless its cities with a rich history like Rome or Istanbul , or natural beauty or at least something special we're not interested.

                           So having said that we've 3 main targets . Firstly its drive and live in a RV .
                          Second its drive through the Australian country and see the real Australia.
                          Third and most importantly we wanted to see the stars !!! - more later.

                                                                          Getting there.

After checking in to the hotel its to the supermarket to stock up.
Quite a bit huh.

Here.

Day 1

Our hotel was near the airport ,supermarket and the RV depot.
Brisbane here.

After picking up the RV we drove down the east coast.

Its a manual and a top heavy vehicle.

Busy along the Pacific highway.

Sarawak avenue  :-)

Took some getting used to , driving this.


Nice town houses.

Headed south.


Nice and green in this part.

Worlds deadliest continent  :-) 

And here she is.

There are many types of RVs but i chose this design as its all inclusive but smaller and easier to drive.

happy ,happy  :-)

The inside.

Stove, sink ,fridge ,A/C , sofa  ....everything.


Bathroom and shower behind the door.

So cool.

All the comforts of home .

This is with some perspective size wise..

Full queen size double bed.

The bed can be lifted up for access to the cab.

This is what it looks like with the bicycles down ,awning out ,tables and chairs out ,and all hoses and cables.
Total about 10 minutes work  :-)

Back on the road...

Don't ask  :-P

Along the Pacific highway.


Near the sea .


Passing a small town.


So much nicer than cities.

Vermin .

That's what we look like.

Today we'll hug the coast.


Tomorrow we'll turn inland.

Colourfull.

A house.....

...and its name :-)

The pacific highway is not by the sea.

Unicorns . ??????

Another small town.
By night we pulled up in a small town and dry camped.

And this was above us   :-)

So many stars .

What a start to the trip.



Day 2

Our camp was near a river .


So easy...no need to find hotels. 
Stop wherever you want.

After breakfast it on the road again. 

The first few days are spent driving to our target.

Now its all small towns only.

A bit hilly here.

Driving through the Dorrigo national park.

Its a rainforest.

Light rain .


Blink and you miss it.

After China....pfffffffffftttttttt

Heading west now.

Nice country.


Soon the sun comes out.


And the views get great.


Nice huh.

A feature from here on out.....straight roads.

A stop for lunch here.

Thats the runway behind us.

Team Griffin  :-)

Another small town.


Now we descend to the plains.


Nice huh.

After today its going to be all brown and straight roads.


Proton...

Look at that .

Mesa...


The road starts to get boring here so any distraction is nice.

Target practice !!!

Which way ?

Nice colours.


A short break.  The bicycles are for later.

Back on the road.

Nice blue skies here.

2 cyclones in the north at this time.

The rest area sign shows a table...

Thats exactly what you get  :-)

After hundreds of kms its evening here.

A stop for dinner.

The only place open in the whole town.

Back on the road. Its was already night but we went slow as we were on safari  :-)

Kangaroos...

Stopped finally at Wilcannia. Long day.
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.



Day 3

Bright and early...

Straight roads from here on in.

2 more days of hard driving.


See how far the road extends.

Even with zooming its still so far in the distance.

Later on ,more of the same  :-)

Aussie R&R  

Small.....

My ride :-)

Road Train !!!!!

Road kill  ha ha ha

So many dead ones along the roads

This road is so boring that people started decorating the trees ---  bra tree.

Old Tv tree...  there were a few more -shoe tree and shirt tree. 

Miles and miles of nothing.  We actually came for this. If you want to see the stars this is the place to do it.

Passing another town.

Almost everything was closed down.

Back on the road.


Emu   ...taste like chicken  ha ha ha


The side wind gusts are quite strong sometimes.

A bigger town.

Broken Hill.... a silver mining town.

After lunch its back on the road.

Some hill to break up the monotony.


Lots and lots of this.

Its getting to evening here.


Nice huh.

Our stop for the night.

Look at that. 
This is just one segment of the sky. my camera does not have a wide angle.

The milky way.
The perfect backdrop for the night.



Day 4

Our stop last night was here.

Glendambo- population 12.  ha ha ha

Soon we're back on the road.

Another town which we'll stop on the way back.

Accident on a empty straight road....fatigue ??

Another stop at a Town / roadhouse .

It has everything. pool...

Restaurant/ bar/ pool table/ arcade/ hotel/ RV park etc




All inclusive roadhouse.


A fantastic little RV

Soon we're back on the road.

Not too far to go.


136km more.

Mount Conner

In the evening we reached .

I've never set up an RV but it was so simple that it took only 10mins.

Bicycles down. 
Hoses and electric wires plugged in. 
Awning ,tables and chairs.


The rough life camping out  ;-)

The hardship we endured .   :-P

The mini mart...


Now we can relax  :-)


Day 5

The bicycles were for my wife ,not me.

Stupid instruments of torture.


Exploring the town.

Aboriginal art.


Didgeridoo.....aboriginal music

Not too bad.

Ayers WOK  ha ha ha

After cycling in the desert heat it back to the RV with the AC on full.

Atleast some one's happy.....

The hard life  :-)

lunch then sleep  ha ha ha

Now for the main highlight of the trip. 
A very special Dinner next to the Rock.

Not this Rock  :-P

This one.

Finally ..........Ayers Rock.

We start here.

Bubbly.

The picture of the trip.

Ayers WOK  ha ha ha

50km away by road is this... the Olgas

Not too many people.

Zoom of the rock.


Outback bunny  :-).

Suddenly from the bush....

Aborigines


And more...

Food is apparently not scarce    :-)


Traditional dance.


Short but sweet.

Dinner is down there.

With a view of the rock............................internet pic. cause mine already had people.

Not too many though.

Buffet..

Good company. 

Didgeridoo...

White or red ?

We ate till the sun set.


And exchanged stories.

A short briefing.


Then.....the main event.

This is what the dinner was like. ....internet pic 2.
My camera can't go wide

What i could take was this.

And this.

After we ate they switched off all the lights....And we finally saw the stars ,the milky way ,meteors and planets.

Through one of the telescopes...Jupiter with 4 moons.

We could see the stars. the milky way all across the sky. The 2 Magellanic clouds ,. 
It was awesome .
My camera is a simple one  ,what we actually saw is in the next picture.

We finally saw the stars ..........................internet pic 3.

Amazing  :-)




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