Category: Australia

The entire eastern seaboard of New South Wales and Queensland had been experiencing constant flooding rain for weeks on end and the damage to property and lives has been incalculable.

We left Sydney on the 9^th March during a lull in the rain, but it was still very windy as we made our way south along the Princes Hwy until we got to the Picton Rd and then onto the M1 motorway, or Hume Hwy as it is known. Stopped for lunch at Gundagai and then Holbrook to fill up on fuel. The highway now bypasses this tidy town, which is a shame as it used to be the place to stop for a break and some lunch, back in the old days.

I had decided to stop at a rest area for the night, just south of Benalla, but after spending an hour there, soon decided us to pack up and tow the van back to the Benalla showgrounds, which had grass and was away from the traffic sounds and big trucks pulling up for toilet breaks and rests, always leaving the engines and compressors running.

Day 2 saw us heading towards Bendigo, where Beryl wanted to stop and have a look at the woollen mill.  I had run out of propane gas in one of the gas bottles, the day before and found a place to get it filled, as well as a nearby service station to fill the car. It turned out to be a very tight fit with the van on, but having entered the street, I couldn’t back out again, as the traffic was heavy. Anyway, a few back up and turns just allowed the van to squeeze past the bowser and the bollards. Narrow streets, traffic, roundabouts and a 20ft caravan are not a match made in heaven.

We were going to stop at Maryborough for lunch, but the GPS took us down back streets and we ended up missing the entire township. Stopped at Avoca, where the café was still serving. Asked for a couple of pies, which she got out of the refrigerator, saying that they were still hot, as she had just put them in there – they weren’t hot but it was the only place in town that we could find.

The countryside was very picturesque with green farmland and great hills. Passed through a town with the biblical name of Ararat, which was quite pretty and saw a big sign, promoting their big gaol, built especially for the criminally insane. We didn’t stop.

We continued on our way to the overnight stop at Wannon Falls, arriving there around 4pm. 

We parked under the shady eucalypt at Wannon Falls rest area.

The Wannon Falls are a punchbowl waterfall located in the Southern Grampians Shire, approximately 19 kilometres west of Hamilton, in western Victoria, Australia. The falls are fed by the Wannon River that has its head waters in the Grampians mountains.  There is a 30-metre vertical drop of hardened basalt lava into a deep plunge pool at this waterfall.

The falls didn’t have much water flowing, but spectacular never the less.

Despite all the rain we had on the east coast, it didn’t really get this far south west, so the falls weren’t flowing too strongly. A nice relaxing stop over though, with the added bonus of young kangaroos testing out their sparring skills on the paddock beside the caravan.

The following morning, we had a leisurely run to our next stop, the Pine Country Caravan Park in Mt Gambier where we were going to meet up with the rest of our contingent, who had left a few days earlier than we did and spent time at Ardlethan and Wentworth.  They arrived later that afternoon and we set up for a BBQ dinner together, where everyone relaxed in the very fresh evening air (actually very cold and crisp) and then hopped into bed.

Day three started with a chorus of corellas which woke us all and got us up relatively early.  The Blue Lake was less than 5 minutes away so we drove there and parked to do the 3.6km walk around its circumference.

The Blue Lake is a volcanic crater and is one of the youngest volcanoes in Australia. It is an explosive structure called a maar which consists of a rim of ejected basalt and ash resting directly on the land surface. The Blue Lake is used as Mt Gambier’s water supply and the water quality is very good. It is replenished by infiltration of local rainfall and stormwater together with lateral groundwater flow, through the limestone aquifer.

The lake is flat bottomed with an average depth of 70m. During December to March, the lake turns to a vibrant cobalt blue colour, returning to a colder steel grey colour for April to November. The exact cause of this phenomenon is still a matter of conjecture, but likely it involves the warming of the surface layers of the lake during the summer to around 20 °C, causing calcium carbonate to precipitate out of the solution and enabling microcrystallites of calcium carbonate to form. This results in scatter of the blue wavelengths of sunlight. The view of the lake was spectacular and the surrounding countryside was beautiful. Mt Gambier was clearly visible in the backdrop.

Our next stop was Umpherston Sinkhole which was located in the town of Mt Gambier as well. The gardens and park are a remnant of a late 19^th century garden developed by James Umpherston with the sinkhole as a feature. The sinkhole was once a typical limestone cave that formed by the corrosion of limestone rocks by seawater waves and the sinkhole was naturally created when the chamber’s roof collapsed.

The gardens in the sinkhole had some interesting features with huge hanging curtains of ivy – and beehives formed in the holes in the limestone.

We continued on and went to the small cave garden in the centre of town which was fairly unremarkable and overgrown. Across the road was a café – Sorrentos – where we had lunch.

Trev, Clare and I went back briefly to the Blue Lake where Trev put up the drone for a few aerial shots – only a brief fly as the batteries were half empty – enough to get some shots and a nervous fly back to home.

We sat around enjoying happy hour but as soon as the sun went down it was so cold we escaped inside to the comfort of the vans.

Had a leisurely start the next morning, leaving the campsite for a 22 min drive to the Tantanoola Cave, our first stop for the day. The cave had been discovered in the 1930’s by the son of a local farmer on whose land it was. He had been chasing rabbits with his ferret which went down what he thought was a rabbit hole but did not return. The teenager threw a couple of rocks inside and heard loud noises – he then crawled in and discovered the amazing cave below. The family started charging for cave tours about 2 weeks after that!

National Parks bought the area later on and have cared for it to ensure it is well preserved. We entered the cave and it was a beautiful cave, with the most formations packed into the one cave. Spectacular! The tour lasted 30 mins.

Once back outside we did the short cliff walk above the cave which gave us a great panoramic view of the local area. The cave guide had told me that the pine forests around the area were owned by Kimberley Clark – and used for making toilet paper (a COVID lockdown essential!!) No shortage around here.

We then drove on for 40 mins past Penola back to the Coonawarra wine area to a winery recommended to us by the caravan park owner – Brand’s Laira Winery.

It was a beautiful winery with the oldest vines in the district planted in 1893 by Captain Henry Stentiford the first owner of the vineyard. Eric Brand took over the vineyard in 1952.

The grounds were well kept and manicured with beautiful rose gardens among the vines.

We entered into the cellar door area and enjoyed a fantastic Ploughman’s lunch and wine tasting. Kerry and Dave were in their element!

We got up early so that we could be on the chair lift to the start of the summit walk as soon as the lift started operating.

The start of the walk, at Eagle’s Nest.

We were third cab off the rank and about 10 minutes later, stepped off at the Eagles Nest restaurant and the beginning of the trek.  We had borrowed a couple of walking poles and Beryl found that the rubber tip passed through the grating of the steel path and was pulled off somewhere between the start and the first klm.  I didn’t use mine, but she did at some of the stages to the summit.

The walk was quite pleasant but some of the steeper parts had us puffing. There were still a few Alpine wildflowers out and the weather was quite warm, with the occasional cold wind gusting through, to drop the temperature by a couple of degrees. There is a bit of walking path upgrading going on and a side track viewing platform at Lake Cootapatamba.

Walking path protects the fragile flora but ignorant people still dump tissues and plastic bottles off the sides.

Lake Cootapatamba

There is a toilet block 1klm from the summit and there are a lot of walkers waiting their turn. Some low cloud scudded across the summit at times, but we made it quite comfortably. A couple of school groups arrived and the area was very crowded with people. We had a snack and a drink of water, before tackling the walk back down.

Going downhill places stress on different muscle areas, so it was a little taxing. We arrived back at the chairlift in half the time it took to climb, but were glad to see it. I was looking off the side of the boardwalk and trying to see through the grating in the last kilometer, to see if I could find Beryl’s walking pole rubber foot and after 13klms, saw it in a clear patch. Lucky. We decided to grab some lunch and coffee at the Eagles Nest restaurant and we both had wobbly legs climbing the stairs. It was good to sit down for a half hour. A tiring and strenuous day for a couple of old timers.

The following day we decided to do another walk to the falls, at Sawpit Creek, as we both felt reasonably rested. This is a loop track and rated Grade 3, moderately difficult. To get there, drive along Kosciuszko Road towards Perisher Valley. You can either begin the walk from Kosciuszko Education Centre on  Kosciuszko Road, or continue driving 400m past it, and then turn left into Kosciuszko Mountain Retreat. Take the first left down a short dirt road to reach Sawpit Creek picnic area , which is the other starting point for Waterfall walking track.

There are a lot of signs of feral pig damage along the track but it is a pleasant walk, with a few steps and inclines to negotiate.

The ground is ploughed up by feral pigs. They cause lots of ecological damage.

The waterfall at the end of the track. Hard to see from the walkway.

The actual falls were flowing but the trees and scrub overgrowth make it difficult to see and get a decent photo. The second part of the loop, the return journey, seemed a lot longer and hillier. There are lots of bull ant mounds along the track and if you linger next to one, be prepared for a possibly very painful sting. It was a relief to finally hear traffic on the road as we neared the exit point and plodded on to the picnic area and back to the car. This walk sapped us and maybe in hindsight we shouldn’t have followed it up the day after doing the 13klm one. Regardless, it was a great few days and well worth the visit. We have decided we probably will not do the summit walk again for our 80th birthdays.

The picturesque Thredbo River

7^th – 11^th March 2021

I think a vast majority of travellers can sometimes forget just what is on our doorstep. Thousands of tourists and backpackers come here to experience our country, whilst many Aussies travel overseas to enjoy the often overcrowded cities of Europe and Asia. With the CoVid 19 pandemic of the past 12 months, many Australians are finding places to visit within our own country, which is a good thing.

Well within reach of a day’s drive from Sydney, Kosciuszko National Park is not only the place to visit during winter, but also offers great sightseeing, hiking, fishing and other sporting adventures during the summer season. 

Beryl and I decided that we would go and do a few hikes to celebrate my 70^th birthday, so we booked in to Touchdown Cottages at Jindabyne for a delightful 4 night stay and our trekking base.

Runway View Cottage

Bush Rock Cottage

Touchdown Cottages viewed from Mavic Pro

Lake Jindabyne is less than 2klm as the crow flies

Jindabyne is only a 30 minute drive to Thredbo and/or Charlotte Pass, where you can start your short or long hikes.  A good site to get an idea of terrain and lengths of various walks, is the Wildwalks web page.

Lake Jindabyne from Kosciuszko Rd.

We left home on Sunday morning and drove down to Jindabyne, some 450klms away. We had booked in for lunch at Larks Hill winery, at Bungendore and it was very classy and the meals were a good size and delicious.  Hopped back in the car and drove on through the outskirts of Canberra and finally reached our destination at Jindabyne around 4pm.

We settled in to Bush Rock Cottage and made plans for the following day. It was decided to drive up to Charlottes Pass and have a look at the walk to the summit, then back down the mountain and across to Thredbo to check out parking and to buy lift passes to the chairlift which takes you to start of the Mt Kosciuszko Summit and Main Range walks.

On the way to Charlottes Pass, we stopped at the Rainbow Lake walk, which is an easy 3klm and has a terrific lake at the end. There were water lilies in abundance, lots of lizards and birdlife as well as fish – trout – rising in the lake. 

Rainbow Lake is an easy walk to start the day.

Placid waters

Lizards abound on the walk

Daisys add bright colour

Got back in the car and kept going. Drove past Smiggin Holes and Perisher Valley, which would be teeming with skiers in the winter season, but were almost deserted in summer.  The road near the pass was packed with parked cars, as people took to the many trails and walks on offer up there. Also loads of mountain bikes use the trails, so it is a busy location.  Saw some lovely Snow Gums, which would have been spectacular with snow and wet trunks, showing off the colours. Even in summer though, the patterns and colours were amazing.

Wonderful patterns and shapes of Alpine Snow Gums

Some of the walks available. At 70, some of them would be a task for us

We drove back out of the National Park and headed off back to Jindabyne, before making a right hand turn back into the park and along the Alpine Way to Thredbo, where we purchased lift tickets and had some lunch. Loads of cars in the carparks and mountain bike riders racing the downhill tracks from the top of the chairlifts.

Day 14.
Our time in Darwin went far too quickly, but we went there to celebrate Alison’s birthday and catch up with her and Chris.
Our last evening together was planned to catch the sunset over Cullen Beach and have fish and chips on the balcony overlooking the beach. Naturally, the restaurant was closed but we did catch the sunset.

Went to the Fannie Bay trailer boat club and had a meal there instead. It is a nice club and we ate and chatted for a while before going back to the unit and picking up our bags.

Ali and Chris dropped us at the airport around 9.30pm to catch the 2am flight back to Sydney. Alison had a uni exam the following day, so we insisted that she get some sleep beforehand and Chris also had an early start.

The overnight flight from a balmy 28C in Darwin, to a bracing 8C in Sydney the following morning is not one that I want to do again. We both froze for the rest of the day, despite being rugged up and having the heater on all day.

Photo albums are now a thing of the past, but we can all relive and enrich our memories through avenues such as these web pages. Thanks kids.

Days 10 to 13
Time for a visit to Crocodylus Park, in Berrimah. This mini zoo was quite well laid out and has a substantial number of crocodiles. It also sells crocodile meat. The museum was interesting and we enjoyed many hours there. A boat tour around the enclosed waterway was eye opening and there are some truly big specimens in there. Keep hands and head inside the confines of the boat, as the crocs do shoot out of the water a metre or so high to get a bit of food. Worth the visit.

Alison and Chris both had to go to work, so we just spent a couple of days walking around the Darwin waterfront and the city.
We had a drive out to Lee Point and took a walk along the beach. It was pretty hot and humid, so it didn’t take long before we decided to head back. There was a lot of dead coral washed up on the beach and loads of hermit crabs scuttling along, dragging their home along behind themselves.
Back near the carpark, the birds were prolific, with lots of different species flitting around.

We saw a young Koel cuckoo squawking for food as its foster parents, a pair of Grey Crowned Babblers, obliged. The cuckoo lays an egg into a host birds nest and kicks out a corresponding egg. The young cuckoo generally hatches first and kicks out the other young or eggs, so that the parents will look out for only one. The cuckoo in this case, was about a third bigger than the ‘parents’ so they were kept very busy.

We drove a little further to have a look at Buffalo Creek. Went for a loop walk through the forest but it was unusually devoid of birdlife. After that, we headed home to pick up Alison from work.

We went out onto the waterfront pier for dinner that night. The water at the pier was swarming with very big batfish and trevally, which thrashed onto scraps being thrown in from the diners. I reckon if I fished there, I would use a hot chip for bait. Couldn’t go wrong.

The following day, Beryl and I walked along the East Point walking track and then diverted across to the forest loop track and mangrove walk. There were a lot of Agile wallabies around the grassy areas and some impressive bush hen nesting mounds along the walk. It was an interesting walk and there was a bit to see.

Beryl, Alison and I went for a drive to the Territory Wildlife Park, out near Berry Springs and spent a few hours there. They have some nice exhibits there and the park covers a large area.
Our first stop was at the open air bird feeding show. The owls and raptors fly around freely and are well trained. All the birds come out in turn when they are cued and display how they feed.
A buzzard showed how they pick up a rock and then smash it down to break large eggs (emu). Ospreys dive into water to catch fish and owls swoop on totally silent wings to catch prey. A great show.
We looked at various ecosystem displays, such as wetland, monsoon forest, dry forest etc. The nocturnal house had a lot of activity inside and it was interesting to see the night feeders doing their thing. The aquarium was also quite good, but it was a shame to see the big saltwater croc kept inside. They need sunlight rather than artificial light.
The outside pond had some massive freshwater rays and big barramundi swimming around
We had a good few hours spent there and it was a place worth visiting.

We also stopped and had a look at the Darwin Military museum and it was an amazing place to see experience.

We then drove out to the Aviation museum and watched the video on the bombing of Darwin, by the Japanese during the 2nd World War, and the planes are amazing.

Days 6 to 9.
Alison had to work today, so we drove her in and then went back to Darwin to have a walk along the waterfront.
Lots of backpackers in the parks and water areas and lots of eateries in the plaza.
There were a couple of Navy ships moored along the jetty, one being a massive French ship.
They had an enclosed wave pool in the park and lots of tourists were bobbing around in the washing machine chop, probably thinking that this was the way surf in Australia behaved. WRONG!.
It was quite humid, so we walked back to the unit to have a bit of relaxation before going out to pick up Ali from work, later that afternoon.

Today, we decided to head off to Kakadu for the week-end. Booked our accommodation and headed off. The girls didn’t want to go back in to Leaning Tree Lagoon to see where we had been bogged, so kept on going to Jabiru. We booked in to the Abinik Resort for a 2 bedroom cabin. It was clean, but very dated and the price was very high for what you got. My bed had springs almost popping through the mattress and the ceiling fans were only one speed – ballistic. Anyway, it was better than sleeping in a tent.

Drove out to the Rangers station and had a look around. It has changed since 1975 but the original building is still there, although fenced off due to asbestos contamination and having been burnt in a bushfire.

We drove down to Cahill’s Crossing, on the East Alligator River and saw a 4wd had gone over the edge, apparently during the night. There were a couple of people fishing but we saw no crocodiles.

Next, we headed out to Ubirr to check out the rock art and catch the sunset over the floodplains. Beryl and I were amazed at the volume of people here and remembered back in 1975 that we didn’t see anyone else at this spot. The rock art has faded dramatically and been damaged by wasps and perhaps people touching it. There are now walkways and railings to deter people from physical contact with the art.

We had an hour or so to wait for the sunset and the smoke from burn-offs would make it a nice one.
About 80 people were lined up on top of Ubirr and it wasn’t pleasant. One lady made loud comments about how she sees better sunsets from her bathroom window back home, where ever that might be, and that this was a waste of film. I commented that she was still using film! She huffed and told me that I knew what she meant. Go home lady.

We walked back to the car in twilight and then stopped in at the Crocodile Resort for dinner, which was quite nice and reasonably priced.

Leaving Jabiru, we dropped in to Mamukala wetlands bird hide to see if any birds were there and heard a lady complaining. Yep, it was the same one from the previous evening at Ubirr, so we left and continued on along the Arnhem Highway towards Darwin.

We did stop at the Gungarre Forest walk, near the Aurora Kakadu Resort and did the loop walk.

Wow it was hot and humid but worth the stroll.

Chris then took us in to Shady Camp, some 70klm from the highway, along gravel roads. There were a lot of people there and it is a well known location for barramundi fishing contests. We saw a massive saltwater croc in the freshwater side of the barrage wall and it appeared to have a deformed or damaged snout, with the bottom teeth protruding up like pigs tusks. About a dozen people were fishing off the barrage wall and I saw barramundi being landed frequently. They looked to be under legal size but they all went into the catchers bags, with no releases evident.

We had ‘lunch’ under a huge monsoon forest tree, loaded with Corellas. They were very noisy and animated, but entertaining. From there, it was a fairly uneventful trip back to Darwin.

Days 1 – 5.
Alison had her heart set on us coming up to Darwin, to celebrate her birthday, so we set about packing for warm weather and left Sydney for the far north.
We arrived at Darwin airport about 1.30am and the kids picked us up to head for their unit at Frances Bay.

We slept a little late and got up around 9am to head for the Botanical Gardens for brunch.  This is a nice venue to enjoy the plants and wildlife as well as the delicious food. A popular place, by the looks of it.

It was a lovely morning and I had on a T shirt, shorts and thongs, which in hindsight wasn’t the correct attire for the rest of the day.

The family all decided to head out of Darwin, to Fogg Dam, as there was a lot of birdlife and a fat freshwater crocodile there on some days, so off we went. Had a great time there and the place was teeming with birdlife.

We kept heading out along the Arnhem Highway, towards Kakadu and arrived at a roadside swamp where the herons, egrets, terns and a multitude of other wading birds were feeding on fish.

Unfortunately, an egret met its doom on Chris’ UHF antenna, at 130kph. Took some photos and Chris took us to Leaning Tree Lagoon Nature Park, as the billabong was covered in water lilies. We couldn’t really get too close to take photos, as the water was too high.
Chris decided to drive us around the boundary fence and come in from the back, to see if we could get in closer. It was all looking good, but we still couldn’t get near, so he decided it would be faster to keep going around the fence line and come back out on the highway.
Well, we got bogged and tried to winch out, all to no avail.

After a while, Alison and Beryl walked out to the highway and managed to flag down a 4wd. They unhitched their boat and drove all the way around the fence line to try and get us out with snatch straps and winch. No joy there either. The kind samaritan’s battery died and there were now two vehicles stuck.

Alison went back out to where Beryl and the boat were and flagged down another 4wd. It was now dark but they managed to find us and got the guy started. There was no way the Prado was coming out that day, so after the other two vehicles left, Chris decided to lock up and leave it in the mud until the following day.
The heat, sandflies and mossies were driving me crazy, so I walked in the pitch black towards the highway, just being able to make out the fence line in the dark. Shorts and thongs now come into play, and aside from the biting insects, frogs, green tree ants, cane toads and other things plopped onto my bare feet and legs. I must admit though, that the thoughts of Brown snakes, Taipans and Death Adders were higher on my list of concerns.

Found the girls and discussed our options, whilst waiting for Chris to join us. We had been on our feet for five hours at this stage and had finished our water, ages before. Chris arrived and we then attempted to get someone to drive all the way out and pick us up. There were no bus stops or cabs in the vicinity. After a number of calls, we were relieved to find a friend of Chris’ was able to come, but we still had to stand in the dark for over an hour and at the mercy of the myriad biting insects, which seemed to love the aeroguard. We discovered that Chris also had 25 litres of water in the car, but no-one was going back in to get any.
It was a relief when Stuart finally pulled up and took us back home. He was also kind enough to go through Maccas so that we could all get a meal and something to drink. Flopped into bed around 11pm that night, after an eventful first day of our holiday.

This morning, Chris tried to organise someone to recover his vehicle and we eventually found a towing mob who could do that. It took them half a day and they laid out 300 metres of winch line and half a dozen max tracks with each metre gained. $800 later, it was freed.
Meanwhile, Alison, Beryl and I went to Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin city, to have a look at some pretty massive mud lizards.

This is the place where you can hop into a perspex tube and be lowed into the crocodile enclosure with a monster. Lots of gouges and scrapes on the outside of the container, so you can swim with Bert the croc, if you so desire.
Spent a couple of hours there and saw the rest of this ‘mini zoo’. It was quite good.

We slept in the next morning and caught a cab into Alice, as Chris had taken his car in to Toyota for a service. Did a bit of shopping and met up with Chris. Alison went to get her hair done and we sat around in Gloria Jeans coffee shop for a couple of hours. Alison, Beryl and I had booked in for acupuncture as we all had sore backs and it is a treatment which has really helped me in the past few years.
Chris went back to the casino and we hung around town until it was time to pick his car up at 5pm. Didn’t surprise me that it wasn’t ready, as the local Toyota dealership doesn’t have a very good reputation. We got it around 6pm and picked Chris up to go to dinner at Monte’s Pub. It was also Mulga’s trivia night so we joined in a got 2nd place. A great night and lots of fun.

Next morning we loaded the car and headed off to Tennant Creek. I drove most of the way and towards the end, I was going into a trance. Glad to get there and wake up. Straight roads, high speeds and long periods of driving are not a good combination.

I set the cruise control on 130kph and was amused to hit a couple of ‘built up areas’ where there were signs to watch out for people and slow down to the speed I was sitting on anyway – 130kph. They have an open speed limit up there. We had dinner at home that night.

Tonight we celebrated Alison’s birthday at the local Greek Restaurant. The owners put on a huge spread for Alison, Jana and another friend who had birthdays that week. A real fun night with food and drink that only the Greeks can pull off. The plate breaking deal came into play later that night and at the end, they wouldn’t even let us help clear up. A really nice family and friends of Alison and Chris too.

We had another couple of days before we had to go back to Alice, so Beryl and I drove up to the dam and then the Telegraph station and further on to Banka Banka staging area. It was very overgrown since we were there a couple of years ago and we couldn’t really explore the site for relics of the WW2 era.

Our trip was over all too soon and the kids drove us all the way back to Alice Springs, where we stayed for a couple more days until we had to fly back to Sydney.

Days 6-7.
We followed the Mereenie Loop road from Kings Canyon to our next overnight camping spot at Redbank Gorge. There are lots of Thorny Devil lizards soaking up the heat on the road and they often get run over, but Chris spotted one which we were able to rescue and take back into the scrub.

We saw a few mobs of feral donkeys and wild brumbies as well. The National Parks cull them fairly regularly as they cause a lot of damage to the fragile ecology of the area.

We arrived at Redbank Gorge and selected a campsite from the many that have been set up there. Got all our camping gear off and out of the Prado, leaving it unattended while we drove to the Gorge for an afternoon walk.

The track into the gorge was rough and not very well defined, but we made it there. The flies were driving us all mad though. Made our way back to the car and headed back to camp to set up for the night. Chris and I left the girls and drove 20klm out of the park to collect some firewood, as gathering it within the park boundaries was not allowed. The campsite had a big firepit and a big gas bar-b-que, so we lit the fire and sat around it while the dinner cooked. Chris made a damper and a beef stew, which was pretty good.

The night arrived and was getting colder and colder. We rugged up and had a second sleeping bag to cover us up, but I have never been so cold. Around 11pm, the silence was shattered by the loud, angry bellow of a scrub bull heading up the valley towards camp. The sound echoed around and was immediately answered by a dozen others.

Feral bulls are quite dangerous and these ones were heading our way. I have never heard anything so deep rumbling and fierce as they bellowed out challenges. There was crashing of trees being knocked down and loud impacts as the bulls fought amongst themselves. The rocks in the river bed were also being tossed around as they came to within 70 metres of camp. Chris got up and started the car and turned headlights on to try and encourage them to go elsewhere. Didn’t work really and the mob kept heading off to where ever they were going.

About 2am they stopped bellowing and I got back to sleep. It was short lived though, as they soon started up again and headed back towards us. Some of the bulls did go through the campsite either side of ours. Some culling is definately required here. Got up at daybreak, teeth chattering in the 5 degree temp and stoked up the fire. We had a big breakfast of bacon and eggs and started to pack up for the run back to Alice. I mentioned to Alison that the bulls got very close to camp during the night and she asked, ‘what bulls’. She didn’t hear a thing, including Chris getting up and starting the car.

We drove out and soon hit bitumen for a smooth ride back to town. Stopped at Standley Chasm and had a look around for a bit. There was a Ghost Gum at the mouth of the chasm, where I had taken a photo of Beryl in 1975 and it was still there but much taller and wider in girth.

Also looked in at Ellery Rockhole and then hit Alice Springs. Picked up the bags we had left behind at Chris’s work place and booked in to our rooms at the Casino and had dinner at one of the eateries in there. Huge servings which even I couldn’t finish. Had a nice, long shower, watched some of the State of Origin football and had a good nights sleep.

Days 4-5.
Today we packed our luggage for the camping trip and dropped off the excess bags at Chris’ work place. The car was still packed to the brim, so I was wondering where we would be putting the luggage when we got back and headed to Tennant Creek.
We drove south out of Alice and then went for around 100klm on dirt roads which traversed through mulga scrub, desert oaks and red sandhills. Quite spectacular landscape.

We stopped for a look at the Henbury Meteorite Craters and then kept going to Kings Canyon Resort, where we set up camp.

We had time to drive out to Kings Creek and have a walk along the valley floor of the canyon.

There were hordes of flies which almost drove you mad. Had to breathe through your nose and they went into nostrils and ears and crawled behind sunglasses to buzz around your eyes. Most tourists had netting over their heads to keep flies away.

That night we slept with the fly off the tent with the mesh covering allowing us to sleep under the stars which lit up the skies. Lots of dingoes roaming around and taking anything which was not secured.

Shoes, clothing, rubbish bags. You had to put everything away or it wouldn’t be there in the morning.
Next morning we planned to walk the rim of the canyon, a 6 klm hike. The night was mild again and we watched the stars through the mesh netting of the tent. Got up around 5am and I felt some water drops hit my face. It was starting to rain. Jumped out of the sleeping bag and Chris and I got the tent fly out of the car, over the tent and pegged down just as the wind came up and the rain came down. Lucky. Of course I didn’t bring any wet weather gear or jackets, but the others did.

It started to clear a bit just before sunrise, so I figured it would be fine and just wore shorts and T shirt for the hike.

Walking to the first steep climb towards the rim, it got very cold with a strong wind and sheeting rain. Not very comfortable, but we were here now and had to do it.

Beryl and I tried in 1975, but we got flooded in at Alice Springs and the roads to Kings Canyon in those days were dirt and impassable in wet weather. We weren’t going to miss out again. The landscape is spectacular and the waterfalls cascading off the cliffs added another dimension. Later on, speaking with locals and others, everyone was envious of the fact we had seen it in the rain. Apparently an uncommon occurrence.

Cotterills Lookout, Garden of Eden and a host of other scenic spots were amazing, despite me being soaked to the skin, cold and sore.

My camera bag was also soaked and dripping water, so I hoped all was good with the Nikon. At one point during the walk, a young boy was complaining to his dad that he was getting wet. He had a raincoat on and the father said, ‘look that man (me) is soaking wet and not complaining’. Beryl said, ‘yes he is’.

We finished our walk with waterlogged shoes and clothes and got back to the camping area to dry out. Of course the sun came out and it remained sunny for the rest of the day.

We had dinner at the bistro that evening and went to bed with the dingos howling all around the park. There was a heavy dew that night, so it was a wet packup next morning and after a big breakfast of pancakes, we headed off.