Author Archives: rohan

QUIZ: Photos

Posted on 10 September, 2011 by rohan

OK, time for a little reader involvement!

Given the affordability of digital photography these days, you can imagine we have been photographing everything that moves, everything that doesn’t move, and even things that aren’t moving while we are moving!!!

So, for a bit of fun, see if you can guess how many photos/video clips we have taken on our journey so far, up to and including our whale watching tour yesterday, here in beautiful Coral Bay, WA.

Here’s some info that may (or may not!) assist you in making your estimate/guess.
Days we have been on holiday: 34
Number of cameras: 6 (2 of the cameras get lots of use; 1 camera gets a fair amount of use; 2 cameras get a bit of use; and one camera gets less use than the others)
Distance travelled: 9329km
Times we have listened to the same CD’s over and over again: at least 20!

So, add your guess in the comments section and we’ll see who is closest to the mark. There may (but probably won’t) be a prize for the person who guesses closest to the correct number.

I’ll announce the result in a few days time.

One last clue… the number is more than 1,500.

The answer can be found here.

Posted in Quiz, The Trip | 4 Comments

Campsite Collection #2 – Tenant Creek to Broome

Posted on 9 September, 2011 by rohan

Here’s our campsites from Tenant Creek (the day after Alice Springs) to Broome.

Tenant Creek - similar to Erldunda, not very busy, not the greatest place in the world but suitable for our needs for a night as we continued to head north


Mataranka - I know others thought it was a great place to stop (especially with the thermal pool) but it really didn't do anything for me at all. Although, the wallabies and peacocks that frequented our campsite were quite interesting.


Darwin - can't say enough (good things of course!) about our Darwin hosts, Dan and Tach. We had a fabulous 4 days with them - in their driveway! Certainly one of my Top 3 places of the trip so far.


Mathison Rest Area - located 104km west of Katherine, this little rest area was situated right on the roadside, but it had all we needed for the night and we ended up sharing the same rest area for the evening with 13 'neighbours' .


Kununurra - relatively 'lush' in comparison to most of our previous campsites. Kununurra is in the strange situation whereby they have TOO MUCH water (due to the Ord River/Lake Argyle irrigation system) and they actually ENCOURAGE you to water the empty caravan sites!


Mary Pool Rest Area - another roadside rest area, this one is located approx. halfway between Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing. What a busy place, there must have been 30-plus other vans there for the night. Perhaps the poor reputations of the "locals" in Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing was partly the reason for this...?


Derby - a nice large site, but very dusty. It didn't help that the westering sun meant no shade on our van from the surrounding trees... and the temperature was hitting 38 degrees the afternoon we arrived! Derby itself is nothing to write home about - dusty, hot and smelly (as a result of the mud flats that surround the town as a result of the massive 10 metre tides, the largest in the southern hemisphere).


Broome - the campsite itself was probably the smallest we've had so far, without a blade of grass in sight. As for Broome, I'm still undecided - it certainly has potential, and the short time we had there was enjoyable and chock-full of interesting things to see and do, but we really didn't have enough time there.

Posted in Campsites, The Trip | Leave a comment

Campsite Collection #1 – Murray Bridge to Alice Springs

Posted on 9 September, 2011 by rohan

Well it looks like the ideas for my blogging have gone out the window, as I haven’t blogged since Day 3 of our trip (probably not worth reading anyway)!!
So I’m taking a different approach.
Here’s a look at all the campsites we’ve had on our journey. Collection #1 is from Murray Bridge (Day 1) to Alice Springs, in chronological order.

Murray Bridge - not a bad site, but the weather was not pleasant (still freezing cold, and raining the next morning when we were packing to leave)


Port Augusta - this site was known as the "Rose Garden" and apparently was only allocated once the rest of the park was full (quite a few were turned away after we had arrived) so I think we were lucky with this one


Lake Hart Rest Area - Our first roadside stop. Free, so no facilities, but what a view!


Coober Pedy - it must get hot here 'cos they've got sun shade over the top of the caravans!


Erdunuda - nothing special, but certainly not the worst site.


Kings Canyon - lovely views (see the background), but they come at a (considerable) cost!


Ayers Rock - again, nothing special but satisfactory for our needs.


Alice Springs - the campsite was OK, but Alice Springs itself did nothing for me. I was glad to be on our way heading north again.

Posted in Campsites, The Trip | 2 Comments

Petrol prices

Posted on 15 August, 2011 by rohan

Save up your dollars if you are going to be driving around Australia – the fuel prices in the more remote areas are astronomical! (I won’t even go into the price of basic food items, which Emma has mentioned previously)

Surprisingly though, the prices in country Victoria and up through Adelaide were on a par, or more often LOWER than prices in Melbourne (at the time we left on 7-August, I paid 141.9 cents per litre).

Here’s what we’ve seen so far:

Location Price per Litre
Port Augusta*, SA 138.9
Glendambo*, SA 163.9
Coober Pedy*, SA 182.0
Oodnadatta, SA 190.0
William Creek, SA 220.0
Cadney Park Roadhouse, SA 185.0
Erldunda*, NT 186.0
King’s Canyon*, NT 220.0
Yulara (Ayers Rock)*, NT 209.0

The places with asterisks (*) next to them are where one or both cars have refuelled. The other places are simply for interest’s sake. I’ll post further prices as we continue our travels.

Posted in The Trip | Leave a comment

Murray Bridge to Port Augusta

Posted on 12 August, 2011 by rohan

Into Adelaide

A wet start to the day quickly cleared to a partly sunny day by the time we got through the outskirts of Adelaide and heading north towards Port Augusta, via Port Wakefield and Port Pirie.

Port Wakefield to Port Pirie

The stretch of road between Port Wakefield and Port Pirie was amazing – along a valley between low, gentle, rolling green hills, lined on the left for kilometre upon kilometre by towering wind turbines. On our right, the floor of the valley was dotted with small salt pans, their waters turned pink due to the salinity in the water. And the road was top notch too – all in all one of the most relaxing and enjoyable drives I have ever done.

Wind turbines dotted the side of the valley for kilometres on the road between Port Wakefield and Port Pirie

Salt lakes dotted the floor of the valley.

Another of the small salt lakes along the road to Port Pirie

Port Augusta – It’s A Small World

Our stay at Port Augusta was highlighted by a few hours at Wadlata Outback Centre, learning about the aboriginal dreamtime stories and also the history of the explorers who discovered and opened up the interior of our great country – made all the more interesting by the fact that we were about to travel through the very countryside they discovered.

However, the most bizarre part of this leg of our journey is that we ran into a lady staying in the caravan park that works at our local Coles store in Endeavour Hills – talk about a small world!! She too is on holiday and it looks like we will be travelling as far as Alice Springs with them (we both have the same itinerary for the next 10 days or so).

Posted in The Trip | Leave a comment

Melbourne to Murray Bridge

Posted on 8 August, 2011 by rohan

I’m giving today a big green tick (hopefully there’ll be LOTS more of these in my posts as the coming days unfold!).

It’s going to take time to establish our various routines: what needs to be done, when, how, by whom. So while we mucked around a bit and overcame the usual minor early trip hiccups (was that breakfast in Ballarat or Beaufort?!?), I’d say Day 1 certainly went very smoothly.

Which only makes me more excited about Day 2!

Day 1 sunrise over Pentlad Hills, near Bacchus Marsh

Breakfast in Beaufort - Colleen, Emma and Matilda

Murray Bridge - our campsite for Day 1

Posted in The Trip | 1 Comment

T-minus 1 – I have a headache…

Posted on 6 August, 2011 by rohan

…but we’re ready to go!

I think.

Goede reis!

Posted in Preparation | 2 Comments

T-minus 2 – It’s going to be a messy launch!

Posted on 5 August, 2011 by rohan

I keep trying to do the maths in my head: x number of things to do in y amount of time before we leave… and the answer’s always the same: you ain’t gonna make it! (LOL – at least I’m consistent)

I’ve no doubt we will leave on time, but in order for that to happen, something’s got to give.

Wonder what it will be? :-)

Posted in Preparation | 3 Comments

T-minus 6 – To be (at home) or not to be…

Posted on 1 August, 2011 by rohan

Can’t believe how much of a hassle this census is proving to be… no one (and this includes two phone calls to the official census inquiry service) can give me a definitive answer on how we’re supposed to be filling in the census form, given that we’ll be in the middle of woop woop*, probably without internet access and most likely not in a caravan park, where we would normally be counted.

Some of the responses I’ve had:

  • Fill in the eCensus now and submit it as though you will be at home on 9-August;
  • Don’t submit the eCensus before 9-August, it’s against the rules (this is my personal favourite!)
  • You can’t submit the eCensus before 9-August, the system won’t let you (in fact it DOES let you submit before 9-August);
  • Collect a “census traveller pack” at one of the remote locations around the country (none of these locations are as remote as we’ll be on 9-August!!);
  • Fill in the form and post it back (we don’t have the necessary special envelope to do this).
  • Do the eCensus AFTER the 9-August, and complete it as though it were 9-August (this is feasible, but I want to enjoy my holiday, not have to worry about filling in government forms).

Ah, what a hassle… for the record we have filled in the eCensus and submitted it as if we were at home on 9-August. I guess the national results will be forever skewed a little as a result… meh.

* woop woop – non existing place used to describe somewhere very remote.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

T-minus 13 – Normal programming has resumed

Posted on 24 July, 2011 by rohan

After my brain fade last week, I have managed to get the layout back to a fairly readable format. There are still quite a few formatting tweaks needed, nearly all of which involve adjusting colours of the various elements of the blog. For example, the background colour of the search box (in the menu bar above) is currently grey, the same colour as the text, and IE8 is once again causing grief – so what’s new – with it’s lack of transparency support…

Needless to say, I’ve banned myself from applying any more upgrades… for the time being.

Posted in Preparation | Leave a comment