tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58864382011-04-21T19:40:11.124-07:00Becoming Gypsies, touring this wide continent to see its sights. This site will be periodically updated with notes from our travels. Keep checking it to see where we've been.Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.comBlogger341100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1125272047623734472005-08-22T16:32:00.000-07:002005-08-28T16:34:07.626-07:00

Day 37 - 22/08/05, Broken Hill, NSW.When we planned to pass through Broken Hill on our drive back to Melbourne, we just wanted to see what it was like, maybe spend a couple of hours and then set off. We hadn't realised how much more there was to Broken Hill! As we went through the brochures it became apparent that there were many things to see and do, and so we decided to spend an entire day here

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1125271957333904822005-08-20T16:30:00.000-07:002005-08-28T16:32:37.333-07:00

Day 35 - 20/08/05, Wetootla Gorge, Gammon Ranges, SA. The morning was back to normal, no wind and no rain, and the day looked good. we decided to go for a scenic drive through the ranges. The drive was about 90 km along 4WD-only track. (incomplete...)

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1125271835163682442005-08-19T16:27:00.000-07:002005-08-28T16:30:35.170-07:00

Day 34 - 19/08/05, Balcanoona, Gammon Ranges NP, SA. Last night was pleasantly warmer than the previous nights, though there were many months. When we went to bed, though, the wind picked up and blew in great gusts, threatening to blow our tent away. When we woke up this morning it had quietened down, but the skies were grey and the clouds low. Just when we had hurriedly packed up the tent it

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1125271642030524422005-08-18T16:23:00.000-07:002005-08-28T16:27:22.036-07:00

Day 33 - 18/08/05, Angorichina, Flinders Ranges. We had to hang around in Hawker because I was expecting a call on my mobile. Mobile coverage in these areas is very limited and Hawker was the only town in that area that had coverage. The call came early and so by 10.00 we were free to go where we wanted. While we were having breakfast we met Beth,a sprightly retiree, whom we had met when we were

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1125271377382471112005-08-16T16:20:00.000-07:002005-08-28T16:22:57.383-07:00

Day 31 - 16/08/05, Arkaba station bush camp, Flinders Ranges. It was cold last night and hard to get up in the morning. But we were all packed up, had breakfast and ready to start by 9.00, which included a chat with our friend from last night, Chris. We decided to do a scenic drive today, and a long walk, to St. Mary's peak, the highest peak in the Flinder's ranges tomorrow. The scenic drive

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1125271206427983702005-08-15T16:12:00.000-07:002005-08-28T16:20:06.430-07:00

Day 30 - 15/08/05, Hawker, Flinders Ranges. Went to an auto electrician first thing in the morning, and he immediately fixed the headlights. It was a problem in the relay, and a part had to be replaced. It was a five minute, fifty buck job! But atleast that's sorted. After that we went to the the old water tower in Port Augusta, which is now a lookout. It rained all night last night, but by

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1125270607644471762005-08-13T16:04:00.000-07:002005-08-28T16:12:29.300-07:00

Day 27,28 - 12,13/08/05, Marla, Port Augusta, SA. In the morning, we backtracked the 150 km we'd already travelled out of Alice and returned to Alice Springs, from where we made a few phone calls and had lunch before hitting the road again, hoping to get to Coober Pedy. Just as we turned onto the Stuart Highway, we saw a man with a big red suitcase trying to hitch a ride. There was no readily

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1125270022739000682005-08-11T15:59:00.000-07:002005-08-28T16:03:42.316-07:00

Day 26 – 11/08/05, Aileron, NT. We'd meant to go to the Alice Springs Desert park this morning and spend time there until 2 o'clock when our car was due to be given in for a service. We stayed at a backpacker's last night and got all our things charged – laptop, camera batteries, HDD etc. But we were very late starting off this morning and weren't out until past 10.00. So we skipped the desert

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1123729526109475462005-08-10T20:04:00.000-07:002005-08-10T20:05:26.110-07:00

Note: The sequence of the Blogs has got messed up. Anyone know how to fix it easily, please drop me an email, since I have limited access to the internet to spend a lot of time on working it out :) Thanks.

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1123728404279698282005-08-10T19:36:00.000-07:002005-08-10T19:46:44.286-07:00

Day 25 – 10/08/05Mt.Saunders, Western MacDonnell Ranges,the 4th tallest peak in Central Australia.A Rock Wallaby and Joey in pouch, warming themselves in the morning sun. We came upon them when on a long walk in the morning in Ormiston Pound. They are a rare and elusive creature, usually seen only in the morning and late evening, when they descend from the hills.Sheriff George surveying the

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1123726108593017002005-08-10T19:05:00.000-07:002005-08-10T19:08:28.596-07:00

Day 19 – 4/08/05 Uluru, NT We set off towards Uluru in the morning. On the way we dropped in at the Henbury Meteorite craters. The 4-5 craters were formed by a meteorite which broke into a few pieces before it hit the earth. They are ancient and some had trees growing in them. One of them was like a lovely garden. A creek drains into it and the bottom is wet and supports plenty of vegetation.

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1123725948535733042005-08-10T19:04:00.000-07:002005-08-10T19:05:48.543-07:00

Day 18 – 3/08/05 Rainbow Valley, NT We'd checked into a backpackers' last night, mainly becaue we needed power to charge the photo storage device, laptop and camera batteries. Thought we'd start earlier because we didn't have to pack up the tent etc. But it was the usual time by the time we started. Took us an hour to update the blog site before setting off for Standley Chasm. Standley chasm is

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1123727772021012632005-08-09T19:28:00.000-07:002005-08-28T15:57:09.413-07:00

Day 24 – 9/08/05 West MacDonnell Ranges.Wild horses on the way through the Western MacDonnell Ranges.Red Bank Gorge with a permanent pool of ice-cold water (in the middle of a desert). Access deeper into the gorge is by wading through this pool or floating through on an inflatable thingy.Ormiston Gorge - with the dry Finke river bed. The Finke is supposedly a 100 million year old river that flows

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1123727306017871922005-08-08T19:23:00.000-07:002005-08-28T15:54:51.643-07:00

Day 23 – 8/08/05 Palm Valley.View of Palm Valley - relic of wetter climates, when most of the earth was covered by a rain forest. These Red Cabbage palm trees are found only here, in a 2 km stretch along the river bed.Access to Palm Valley along a 4WD only path, using low range gears.Morning drove to Finke gorge along Mereenie pass, require permit. Road a bit like Oodnadata...not too difficult,

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1123726988517489582005-08-07T19:15:00.000-07:002005-08-28T15:50:51.446-07:00

Day 22 – 7/08/05 Kings CanyonView of Kings Canyon from the rim'Lost City' at the top of the canyon. Eroded domes that look like the ruins of a city.The early start to watch sunrise on two days at Uluru has done us good and we are now able to start our days earlier. Today we were up at 6.00 and were on the road before 7.00. We got to a lookout just as the sun was rising and watched sunrise over Mt

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1123726544393980602005-08-06T19:08:00.000-07:002005-08-10T19:15:44.403-07:00

Day 20, 21 – 5,6/08/05 Uluru, NT Sunrise and sunset at Uluru are big events, and people turn out in crowds to watch Uluru at these times. The rock changes colour as the sun sets or rises. Sunrise was at 7.20 am. But we wanted to be there much earlier for some pictures. So we were up at 6.00 and at the rock by 6.30 am. Which was good. The horizon was just developing colour. We drove to a

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1123034564579958162005-08-02T18:56:00.000-07:002005-08-02T19:34:27.610-07:00

Days 16, 17 – 1,2/08/05 Alice Springs, NTThe morning was crisp and cold. Most of the people at the caravan park were enroute, either to or from Alice Springs, and so without wasting any time in the morning got ready and continued their journey. We had a quick breakfast and set off by 9.30 am, which seems to be the earliest we can get going. We had about 400 km more to go before we got to

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1123034192673721802005-07-31T18:56:00.000-07:002005-08-02T19:33:25.750-07:00

Day 15 - 31/07/05 Kulgera, Northern Territory (NT).Most of our afternoon and the evening yesterday was spent with Dinesh and Geeta, the doctor couple from India who are at the Coober Pedy hospital. So we hadn't actually seen the sights around town. We decided to spend the morning taking a quick look around before heading off to Alice Springs. We went up to the Big Winch which is a lookout point

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1123034163351408372005-07-30T18:55:00.000-07:002005-08-02T19:30:10.056-07:00

Day 14 - 30/07/05 Coober Pedy.Last night as we were preparing dinner a cyclist rode into the caravan park, with a small bicycle trailer in tow. He was bearded and dusty, and came looking for a tent-site. We looked at him, wondering where he had cycled from. We'd heard at William Creek that a cyclist had been on the Oodnadatta track just a few days ahead of us. Could this be the man?He set up his

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1123034133189199562005-07-29T18:54:00.000-07:002005-08-02T19:27:32.160-07:00

Day 13 - 29/07/05 Arkaringa Homestead to Coober PedyAlthough we got up early at 7.00 am today (by our recent standards!), it wasn't until 10.00 that we actually got started.We had a small distance to cover about 150 km and most of it was going to be on the sealed Stuart highway. The drive continued through country similar to yesterday, but there was more vegetation, and short stubby trees. We saw

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1123034093271268372005-07-28T18:54:00.000-07:002005-08-10T19:57:15.856-07:00

Day 12 - 28/07/05 Oodnadata Track – Peake Telegraph Repeater Station to Oodnadata and Arkaringa Homestead.The morning was pleasant and the ruins were glowing in the morning sun. The drive back to the track seemed less difficult and less intimidating than the drive to the ruins yesterday. After the rough drive to get to the track, the track itself seemed so smooth and easy. it felt like we were

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1123034062406599482005-07-27T18:53:00.000-07:002005-08-10T19:54:54.123-07:00

Day 11 - 27/07/05 Oodnadata Track – Cowards Springs to Peake Telegraph Repeater Station.Entry into William Creek... A traffic light in the middle of the Outback! And a speed camera??Relics of the Old Ghan at William Creek. The Old Ghan is the railway that linked Adelaide and Alice Springs. The Oodnadata track follows this route. The New Ghan track was relaid and runs through Coober Pedy and Alice

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1122719518845083222005-07-26T03:31:00.000-07:002005-08-02T19:18:40.183-07:00

Day 10 - 26/07/05 Oodnadata Track – Maree to Cowards Springs. The road was sealed upto Lyndhurst (pop. 30, most days!). Lyndhurst was where the Strezelecki track went off across the Strezelecki desert to Inaminka. From Lyndhurst onwards the road was unsealed, but in a reasonable condition. It soon became apparent that this was because graders were working on the road. Graders are large machines

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1122719451919028512005-07-25T03:30:00.000-07:002005-08-02T19:14:53.903-07:00

Day 9 - 25/07/05 Leigh Creek.There were about 500 galahs in the tree near our tent. The first sign of morning was the mad hysterical laugh of the kookaburras and then the galahs woke up and exchanged pleasantries with their roosting neighbours, which generated more noise than can be described. We got going by 9.45. Started driving towards Hawker. On the way, just off the road were the ruins of

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1122719407745691302005-07-24T03:29:00.000-07:002005-08-10T19:49:36.983-07:00

Day 8 - 24/07/05 Quorn, Flinders Ranges.Last night was very pleasant, temperature-wise, as was the morning. We packed up and headed towards Wilmington. Just before Wilmington we turned off onto a road to Alligator gorge. The dirt track was quite steep but the views of the ranges were fantastic. From the car park we descended some steep steps until we stood at the bottom of a narrow valley. We

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1122719370340791392005-07-23T03:28:00.000-07:002005-08-02T19:07:58.660-07:00

Day 7 – 23/07/05 Telowie GorgeFinally left Adelaide this morning. It was mid morning by the time we started because most of the morning was taken up by posting our Blog. Started at about 11.30 am. We headed towards Wilmington which is in the southern Flinders Ranges. Planned to stop there for the night. Instead of taking the highway, we took the road through Gawler and the Clare valley winery

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1122073742629245382005-07-22T16:08:00.000-07:002005-08-02T19:07:08.866-07:00

Day 6 – 22/07/05 still in Adelaide.(Picture - Sunset on Henley Beach, Adelaide)Took the car to the muffler specialist early in the morning. The muffler had also cracked, in addition to the bracket having rusted and broken off. It was a big job that required the muffler to be replaced and better fastening to be put in. Left it with him for 3 hrs while I wandered the city. Got it back and the

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1122073725751751902005-07-21T16:08:00.000-07:002005-08-02T19:05:20.430-07:00

Day 5 - 21/07/05 Adelaide.Went into the city on a few errands. Just wandered around for a while and then came home. There had been a distinct rattling noise when the engine was started up or turned off on the car. Closer inspection revealed that the exhaust pipe had a bracket that was rusted and had broken off, leaving it hanging and swaying. It would've been a nasty situation if it gave way

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1122073704169001642005-07-20T16:08:00.000-07:002005-07-22T17:07:30.796-07:00

Day 4 - 20/07/05 Adelaide. Drove straight to Victor Harbour in the morning. The countryside here was rolling hills and tree-scattered pastures. This was the southern part of the Mount Lofty ranges. Victor Harbour was a pleasant coastal town and quite obviously very popular with tourists. Its only an hour and a half from Adelaide, and so easily accessible. It was still school holidays in SA and

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1122073671512663902005-07-19T16:07:00.000-07:002005-07-22T17:01:40.076-07:00

Day 3 - 19/07/05 Strathalbyn, South Australia. It's really hard to get up in the cold. We meant to start early this morning, but didn't get up until 7.30. Because Portland is so far west of Melbourne, that's also around when the sun rises. Had a breakfast of ragi porridge, packed up the tent and started around 9.50 am. The road to Mount Gambier was literally paved with kangaroos. There were

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1122073635314831572005-07-18T16:06:00.000-07:002005-07-22T16:59:33.496-07:00

Day 2 - 18th, July, 2005. Portland. The day started wet and cold. But things improved soon and we decided to spend the day in Portland. We drove down to Cape Bridgewater, 22 kms away where there is a colony of seals on the mainland. The walk to the colony was beautiful. By the time we started, the sky had cleared and the sea was a brilliant blue. The path was along the coast, at first very close

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1122073591381665142005-07-17T16:05:00.000-07:002005-07-22T17:00:12.630-07:00

Day 1 – 17,July,2005 – Start from Melbourne. Our trip finally started....about 10 days after we hoped to start. A lot of last-minute loose ends had to be tied up. Preparing the vehicle took much longer than we had expected and costed us much much more too, in the end. Peter at SCS 4WD assured us that the trip would be trouble-free after the job he did on the car. After breakfast with Tiju,

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1122073523403355112005-07-17T08:03:00.000-07:002005-07-22T16:39:16.576-07:00

For a long time, a tour around Australia had been on our 'to-do-before-we're-too-old' list. What better way to see the country than from up-close, on a road trip. That would give us the flexibility to linger on at places and to tailor our route as we liked. A wonderful opportunity presented itself when I got an extended time off from work to go to India to be with family. We thought that we could

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5886438.post-1065049721851626122005-07-13T10:08:00.000-07:002005-07-13T17:46:04.740-07:00

Sitting in Tiju's house and setting up this Blog account while waiting for the Landcruiser to be ready at the workshop. Mechanic is running up a huge bill. May go broke even before we start on the trip.

Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18353137515456962926noreply@blogger.com