Home!

The next morning we set off to complete the Nullarbor crossing. We stopped at the scenic lookouts to enjoy the magnificence of the Bunda Cliffs.
The views were truly amazing and the air was so clear.

Then we crossed back into Western Australia; and gained 2 hours.

We drove on and stopped for a short break just west of Madora Pass. It was still early and the temperature was rising so we carried on driving and enjoyed  the cab airconditioning. We decided to call it a day at the Cocklebiddy Roadhouse.
The caravan park offered little shade but did offer a discount for seniors.

We were a bit confused over the time, we were actually on Western Central Time - still 30 mins difference to the Perth area.

It was hot, but windy outside but inside the van we were cosy and cool.

The next morning the wind had increased dramatically and we had a very rocky ride for the next 100kms. Once we passed Caiguna and the scenery changed to taller trees and the weather changed with less clouds the wind dropped and the run more comfortable.
We stopped in Balladonia for an early break - local time was 9:30 am.

We took on a few litres of fuel in Norseman, thinking that it would be much cheaper in Coolgardie and we'd fill up there.

We had a quick cuppa break just north of Norseaman and then carried on north. Michael pointed out a high cloud of red dust  just ahead, was it a dust storm, a 'willy-willy' or a bush fire? I said that it was dust because it was red.
Then we rounded a bend in the road and found the answer - the rear trailer of a road train had broken away, the hitch had dug into the road and the whole trailer had flipped over and was lying in the middle of the road.

The road train was stopped on the side of the road and there was another road train in front of us unable to pass around the trailer. A couple of cars came by from the other direction and  managed to pass the trailer. We decided to give it a go rather than get stuck for hours waiting for police to attend and the trailer to be moved (how?? a crane!?)

We scraped past, having to go close to the trailer rather than risk overturning as the roadside edge was at quite a steep angle.

We were just feeling good about getting passed, and not getting stuck when another roadtrain came out of a side road, from a mine site, and threw up a stone which cracked the windscreen!!! A crack spread across the screen and continued to slowly expand - Bugger.

We drove on to Coolgardie and were right about the fuel, it was a lot cheaper; by 13 cents a litre.
A car pulled in behind us and confirmed that the road was now closed, the police had arrived just after we squeezed past.

It was still hot outside so we carried on driving; Just before 5pm we stopped at the Boorabin National Park 24 hour rest area. We were surprised how quiet it was, only 3 other vehicles there.

There were lots of parrots flying around the treetops, including the magnificent Major Mitchell Cockatoos and the cheeky pink and grey Galahs.

A breeze finally arrived in the early hours of the next morning and despite the long day the day before we were wide awake and up before 7:00am.
We were on the road by 7:30. We stopped in Southern Cross to buy the weekend newspapers and then pressed on homeward.
We had a coffee break near Kellerberrin, at a 'Rabbit Proof Fence' stop.

 We carried on, using the bypass around Northam town for the first time. We usually travel across country from here but decided to head towards the city and then travel north.

We had another coffee break in Mundaring and then drove into city traffic and arrived home around 4:00pm.

A fabulous trip with lots of interesting places, meeting old friends and  testing the performance of the van in extreme heat - all good.

               Overall we travelled  8,983 kms
                            we spent  $1,780 on fuel
                            we spent  $1,290 on accommodation
   (46 days in caravan parks, 10 days with friends and 4 nights free camping)


Until the next time......

Peterborough and Kimba

The next morning before leaving Peterborough we paid another visit to the wonderful Motorcycle Museum.
The quality of the restoration work done on these bikes is amazing, the man is a genius. He's also very, very patient - he received one exhibit in bits, in boxes and it took him 15 years to get all the bits together, searching 5 years for the correct exhaust! All of the bikes are a real credit to him.

We left town and drove on to Orroroo and Wilmington before taking Horrocks Pass down onto the plains and into Port Augusta.

 We had a quick shop stop in town and then headed west. We went back west the way we had come, deciding to head home directly across the top of the Eyre Peninsula rather than visit some towns down on the Peninsula.

Our night stop was in Kimba, again. This time we arrived quite early in the afternoon and the weather was mild so we ignored the caravan park and went to one of the three free overnight stops provided by the town. Donations welcome.  We stayed at the recreation grounds, were there are well maintained, clean toilets and hot showers for $1 (that gives 2minutes of hot water).

A lot of country towns have 'silo art' as a feature and Kimba is no exception. Their painting is one of the best, it covers the whole of the side of the silo towers, not just one or two towers.
I should have made the effort to walk down into town and take a photo at sunset last night, the light would have been perfect but the morning photo had to do.

Then we were back on the road west. We drove on back to Ceduna and back to Norm and Bobbi's back yard. We had promised to take them out to dinner when we came back and tonight was a good night to do that because it was Norm's birthday.We had a very nice meal at the Foreshore Hotel.
The hotel is 'community' owned and operated, it's one of the biggest employers in town and is a very efficient operation. A credit to all.

The next morning we were tempted to stay longer but had promised ourselves to  press on westward.
We drove out of town, through Penong, Nundroo and Nullarbor. The weather was glorious. Since that day in Broken Hill it has been beautiful, maxima only around 28 degrees. It was a mild evening so we found a lovely rest area, with shade and screening from the road and enjoyed a night under the stars - only one other camper around.

Silver City - Broken Hill

Time to head on; we were going to re-visit the city of Broken Hill. An Australian icon, and it's been 14 years since our last visit.
We left GolGol and travelled along the Murray River to the old town of Wentworth and on to Buronga and the start of the Silver City Highway to Broken Hill.
As soon as we left Buronga the landscape changed dramatically, there was no rural area it was immediately barren scrub land.

 The word 'drought' was hardly enough to describe the desolation. Running alongside the Highway there was the still under construction (due to be completed April 2019) water pipeline from Wentworth to Broken Hill.
This work has added to the amount of dust in the area although there is evidence of the company's efforts at lessening erosion. (wood chips and spray grass)
It was a hot, hot day and very windy, we had the a/c running on maximum and the windshield and side windows were hot to touch. After we passed the Coombah roadhouse the view through the windscreen resembled old newsreel footage of the terrible conditions in Kansas and Oklahoma in 1930s. Hot winds blowing fine, white dry dust (soil) across the road. It was almost like a snowy
European  landscape. How can any pastoralist, grazier, station owner possibly cope with these conditions?
We saw goats grazing - on what?!?

Then we saw the hills of the Broken Hill mines and were soon into the city.

 We went directly to the caravan park - Broken Hill Tourist Park and checked in for 2 nights. While I was waiting in reception Michael had a walk around the park and came in to say that we'd like site number 39. He'd had a look and that was the only one with any shade so site 39 it was.
After setting up and a light snack  I was off to the pool. Unlike some pools this one had a shade sail and was deliciously cool and shady - bliss.
The caravan park was possibly once a council owned park - there is obvious civic pride in the ablution block.
 (These tiles are scattered along the walls of the facilities, one in each wc).

We slept with the a/c running all night but were delighted to find the meteorologists were right and a cool change had arrived.
We took ourselves off into Broken Hill after breakfast, walking into town  and along the old main street - Argent Street. The city has a fine history and no matter what you think about unions in this day  and age the work they did years ago here in Broken Hill forged the path for better work conditions for every worker.
The mine still dominates the skyline and although some houses appeared rundown and the school playing field didn't have one blade of grass, the overall feel of the centre of the city is of a rich, thriving city.

We grabbed a light lunch in a small shopping mall and then spent the afternoon relaxing with the luxury of the windows and door open enjoying a light cool breeze.

The next morning, we took the Barrier Highway directly west out of Broken Hill, and in a short while crossed the border into South Australia.
The landscape was nowhere near as desolate as the Silver City Highway scape had been, this was the Australian Outback that we were more used to - red dirt and scrub land.

 The amount of roadkill was appalling, but after passing through Olary this suddenly stopped. We put it down to the fact that the scrub was very much drier and therefore less animals in the area; maybe there were more fences but most of the roadkill had been kangaroos and wallabies and they don't abide by fences.
We passed through the quarantine post easily, no fruit and veg on board. As we'd been in and out of the fruit fly exclusion zone and across state borders I hadn't been buying more than one or two days fruit and veg, just enough for that evening's meal. Now, once we got to a town in South Australia I could stock up on onions, potatoes and garlic.
We paused for lunch in Yunta. 'A taste of the Outback Town'. We have a bumper sticker on the back of our motorhome saying - 'Where the hell is Yunta'. We had been here before and bought the sticker, now we've been back so we definitely know where Yunta is!!

Then we turned off the Barrier Highway, which continues down through Burra to Adelaide, and went into Peterborough.
This is one of our favourite little South Australian towns, it just feels nice.
The big attraction in the town is Steamtown, with it's great railway display and evening light show but we had 'been there, done that; a couple of times so this time we just went to the supermarket - for those vegies, and then on to the caravan park.
We were able to select our own site and found one with lots of shade, we were soon set up, sitting out in the shade relaxing.

On the road again - with a new wheel

The first day of the New Year we spent relaxing, emailing and planning a new itinerary. Then on 2nd Jan we were ready for action, we both put a lot of energy into thinking positive thoughts and I was restraining myself, promising not to phone and ask about the new rim before 10.00am. My phone rang at 9.05 - our rim had arrived.
We packed up and made our way over to the dealership - all was well; it was the right rim! We both gave a big sigh when we saw it - we'd both been holding our breath in case it was the wrong one.
Now we had to have the spare wheel put on that rim so we drove around the corner to a tyre shop called (believe it or not) Jappo Donks.
As we didn't need to have the van jacked up they did the job in the carpark, but that accursed spare wheel carrier was getting more and more difficult to use. Each time it is used it gets a little more damaged and every fitter has to be 'inventive' to get the wheel down and then clamp it back up.
The guys at Jappo Donks were excellent, they were extremely busy but were very polite, friendly and helpful.
Getting that worked on and user friendly is now top of the list of jobs needing to be done when we get home.
The weather was still stinking hot and after standing around in the sun for an hour or so we called in to the local shopping mall for a cold drink and early lunch before getting back on the Hume Hwy.
We exited the Hwy and went into the town of Rutherglen, what a very pretty little town. We then left Victoria and went back into NSW, through Corowa, Berrigan and Finley before reaching our night's destination - Deniliquin.

As is often our practice we went to the Info Centre for information of caravan parks. There are 5 in Deniliquin - the one closest to the town was the one that the lady in the info centre thought would be the best. They don't have a brochure, they reckon they don't need one, they are so popular.
So off we went to The Car O Tel Cabins and Camping. I went to check in and almost fell over when told that a powered site with ensuite facilities would cost $25!!! That is THE best value we have come across.

We set up and found the place very quiet and clean. Highly recommend it.

We were only staying one night though so the next morning on the road again, across "outback NSW" to the oldest town in the Riverina area - Moulamein.

From there we headed back in to Victoria briefly, crossing the river at Tooleybuc. Just up the road, at Robinvale, we were back in NSW and then we stopped for the night at the Riversgarden caravan park in GolGol.
This place was such a contrast to the previous night (not just on price: it's $40) - it was packed, bulging at the seams.

 It's next to the river and the place was full - All along the river's edge were boats, jetskis, gazebos, kids having a swim in the river  and people lying in the shade - Aussies on holiday.

   It was hovering around 40 degrees so we did the usual, hid inside the van with the a/c on. The people on the site next to us obviously didn't have an airconditioner in their caravan as they'd put a sprinkler on the roof of their van, and had another one under their awning!!

Deja Vue - all over again.

As it was Christmas, we just jacked the van up a little to take the pressure off the  tyre and had a nice quiet day. The next day we phoned RAC breakdown (NRMA in New South Wales) to come and change the spare tyre for us. The release mechanism on the spare carrier is beyond either of us, so we always wait for a professional.
We booked into the caravan park for another night.
The man from NRMA was onsite within the hour, and quickly changed the wheel.  In the meantime I had been on the phone to all 3 tyre shops in Yass and found that they were all closed until the New Year. The earliest opening on Jan 2nd, the latest on Jan 27th.
So...  we rang Jax Tyres in the northern Canberra suburb of Mitchell and ordered a tyre which would arrive with them the next day.
 So... next morning we checked out of the caravan park and drove to Mitchell. We had to wait for the truck to deliver our tyre so we drove up to the new shopping centre of Gungahlin. It was around 40 degrees and although there was a small air conditioned shopping mall most of the eating places had outdoor seating only!!! I still find that strange as the climate in Canberra is stinking hot in summer and freezing in winter!?!
We found a cafe with some indoor seating but very poor air conditioning. (Caffe Cherry Beans.) After a 30 minute wait my Caesar salad was quite acceptable but Michael's 'Hawaiian Melts' were inedible, on stale bread and over melted!

We returned to Jax and they checked out our flattened tyre - good news ...."It's not punctured, the valve seal has perished. You only need a new seal, not a tyre".
THEN .... the tyre fitter appeared with our wheel ... The rim has a hole in it! 
Aaaargh!   Here we go again -

So... we put the new tyre on the spare rim and fit that to the van. (Our old spare was in need of replacement, so now we have 5 good Michelin tyres.)
Put the old tyre on the old, holey, rim and put that in the spare wheel carrier.
Now we are mobile on good tyres but without a spare.
I had a quick internet search and found an old second hand rim in Queanbeyan.
So.... we drove over to Queanbeyan. Unfortunately it was a 6 stud rim and we need a 5 stud. I rang the caravan park at Queanbeyan to head over there but  they were full, I rang Yass caravan park and begged to return. Yes, we can have their last site.
So.... we drove back around Canberra, north back up to Yass.
We checked in for 2 nights and decided to phone Fiat Dealers in the larger towns near by. We found one in Wodonga (Albury / Wodonga....Albury is in New South Wales and Wodonga is in Victoria). Their parts shop is closed at weekends but someone will phone us on Monday and hopefully get us a rim.
So... I booked an extra night in the caravan park. That makes it a whole week that we've stayed in Yass. If it wasn't so stinking hot it would be a delightful little town in which to spend a week.

Monday morning 8.30am I didn't wait for a phone call from the team in Wodonga; I rang them. No they don't have one in stock but can order one today which should be delivered by 10.00am on Wednesday. Let's do it.
So.... we booked into a caravan park near the Fiat dealership in Wodonga and set off there. The Hume Highway improved as we got further away from Canberra and it was quite a nice run down.
We had a brief stop in Gundagai, not to see the Dog on the Tuckerbox (which is at a roadhouse outside town) but the family from "On our Selection" - a series of novels by Steele Rudd, written in the late 1890s. There is a great statue of all of the family, Dad, Dave, Mum and Mabel.
It was in the park next to the  information centre so was easy to find.

 The rain came back just as we arrived at the caravan park in Wodonga- typical - the one caravan park where they have a swimming pool and although it's over 35 degrees, there's a thunder storm!!

It was New Year's Eve and the local oval had a party and fireworks. We could hear and just see the fireworks over roof tops, then the major Syndey display came on tv at midnight. Here's to 2019.