Escaping from "Carlos" Feb 2011

 On the 15th February there was a Cyclone Watch alert issued .  This meant that we might have to leave the park and we received a text from management to that effect. So in the pouring rain we packed up the annex and put the awning up. Lynn was thoroughly soaked by the time he had everything squared away even though he had a rain jacket on. It was really quite windy too which didn;t help at all.

 After a wild night when a lot of trees were uprooted or blown over and there was lots of rain , we checked with management about their plans and said that they would play it by ear. Lynn had already decided that based on the threat maps from the BOM it would be prudent to leave town while we could and head" down the track".

 When we got to the Elizabeth River it was like a lake there was so much water you couldn't see the river and traffic was diverted onto the higher bridge that has been built for this purpose. We also saw lots of smaller trees down and plenty of water lying around and nearly over the road in a lot of places at creeks etc.

 We continued on to Pine Creek and decided that we should be safe enough here. We checked in to the Lazy Lizard C/park and are the only ones here. It's a nice park but again because of the rain there is lots of water lying around, all the grass is totally waterlogged so a trip to the loo is like going for a swim.
 the amenities are clean but very rustic. There doesn't seem to be anyone else staying the other parks either.

 Yesterday we went for a drive in the afternoon when the rain eased off. although we have driven through Pine Creek many times we haven't spent time and explored the area. So our first stop was the lookout where you can see the old mine pit which is now full of water. It was filled many years ago.

 From the  Lookout we drove back into town and looked around at the other caravan parks and then drove out to Pussy Cat Flats about 5 klms out of town on the Jabiru road. There is caravan camping there too at the racecourse.
 On our way back to the van we stopped at the Railway museum. This is mainly some old buildings and a shed that houses an old steam engine and a more modern diesel motor.

 an old mine shaft at the Lookout

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 1877 locomotive at the Railway Museum

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Old railway station



 newer diesel Locomotive



 From the museum we headed home as it was about to rain again and we spent a quiet night with no flies , no humidity and peace and quiet but with lots of rain and no wind.

 The next day we decided to stay put and let things in Darwin settle down as well as there were concerns that the bridge at Adelaide river would go under due to the large volume of water coming down the cathcment area. however this didn't eventuate.

 As Lynn had decided to clean the awning on both sides I thought that I would go for a walk in the drizzly rain and take a look at the old mining relics that are on display not far from the museum.

 Although Pine Creek is associated with gold mining there is a lot of old uranium mines in this area mainly towards Kakadu on the road to the UDP or Gumlorm falls. This   set of  story boards had the history of uranium mining.
 

Mining Machinary



 boab trees :note rain spots on camera lens



 More machinary

 Head frame

old stamping mill and boiler

 While we were at the museum yesterday I noted a plaque to a "Walk through Time  but thought nothing more of it as I couldn't see what it referred to . As I was walking to the mining musem  along a footpath that extends almost the lenght of the town I came across some tiled plaques which depicted the history of the town through time. Unfortunaely some of the aboriginal stories had been vandalised.

 We really enjoyed our time at Pine Creek and when we got back to Darwin we found that it was optional to leave  and only a few of us did, the rest decided to stay put.

Out and about in Darwin Jan 2011

 While we have been in Darwin we have caught up with a few friends and dined out in the great outdoors in Darwin. Despite being the "wet season" there are often patches of no rain and indeed we may not see any rain for several days. That is when it gets very hot and humid and most unpleasant. If it's raining its often much cooler.

 A couple of weeks ago we went to the Wharf on a Sunday night . This is a popular venue as there are a number of takeaway places selling Asian food  and seafood with lots of tables set up either outside on the wharf or inside  in the building. This gives people the
 option of being out of the rain if needed.  These places are also open during the day at the weekend. Many locals go down to fish off the wharf.

 Our group of 8 people had a variety of food both Asian ( Thai) and seafood and as it was Pete's birthday the next day we finished off with birthday cake.

 The wharf has 2 sections that enclose a small body of water that provides safe anchorage for a few boats , including the tugs that bring the big boats in.

 Old fishing boat ? pearling lugger now a tourist boat

 Our group with Lynn on the right hand end  and Pearl shop behind them



 Some of the new waterfront developement  which includes a wave pool



 As Alex has a birthday a week after Pete's , we again gathered together to celebrate but this time we went to the Nightcliff foreshore where there are a number of areas set aside wiht lawns and picnic tables, Bbqs etc. When we went to the wharf it poured so we were inside but at Nightcliff we were ablle to relax outside and enjoy a really lovely sunset which unfortunately I didn't get a photo of as others in the group were clicking away happily.

 Having a sundowner!!!!

 another part of the foreshore  suitable for picnicking  as the path leads to nice flat rock

 A bit dark as it was almost sunset

 Both nights were quite different but both were very enjoyable  due to the company.

New Arrivals Feb 2011

 The main reason we have been in Darwin is so I could support my daughter through her labour of having twins.  They were due in middle of Feb but as most people know they usually come early. So when she got to 38 weeks and nothing was happening she was booked for an induction and after  about 10 hours the first twin girl was delivered and another 29 minutes later the second twin arrived. Both are healthy and mother is doing well. She did very well to deliver both twins normally.

 The arrival of these twins has caused much excitement in the family as there is no history of twins. they are not identical and in fact couldn't be more different except they are about the same lenght. The first twin ( Kallie ) is the heavier by about 200gm.


 Lisa with both the girls ( Mahlia nearest the camera)

  These 2 girls have been doing well enough that they will probably come home from hospital tomorrow at just 5 days old.

Xmas 2010 - Darwin

Well after a week's stay in Alice Springs and stops at Wycliffe Well and Daly Waters Pub , oh and a night at the low level in Katherine we finally made it back to Darwin but ran into a snag when booking a caravan park.
 The Free Spirit park  said we could only stay for a month  so we booked into the Boomerang Park but were under trees and every time we stepped off the pad it was into mud so made enquiries again at Free Spirit and got a booking there. They were still saying something about staying only a month due to new legislation but other people think that it hasn't gone thought yet . However Free Spirit said we would just need to have an  interview after a month ,it didn't mean that we had to leave . So after a week at the Boomerang we moved to a nice site which we were able to select at Free Spirit.

 The reason we are in Darwin at this unseasonable time of the year is because my younger daughter is having twins.  They are due any day now . In fact if they don't arrive by next week  she will be induced.

 Anyway we were able to have Xmas dinner with her and my granddaughter. We had a lovely pork roast that she cooked on her BBQ and a beautiful ham that she bought and Lynn cooked in the caravan with a lovely marinade.  We decided it was too hot to have hot veggies so just had some nice salads instead.

 After such a nice lunch we came back to the park and had a quiet afternoon before getting ready to go out again for tea. We went to friends' place and had cold meat and salads which were really nice. We sat outside on their large verandah with lots of nice fans going to cool us down. We had a great evening but we had a very heavy downpour of rain which made it difficult to talk to each other it was rather deafening  and afterwards the green tree frogs set up a real racket  which didn;t help. We also lost power for a while due to the storm.

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 the noisiest green tree frog!

 A not so noisy frog

 Lynn holding forth!!!!

Heading North December 2010

  We didn't get away from Port Augusta till late as we stayed the night about 40 klms out and the next day it was raining as we headed into fuel up before heading north.

 We then spent a very long day on the road and arrived at Coober Pedy about 6pm. after being stuck in the vehicle for so long I was very anxious to stretch the legs and didn't feel like cooking so persuaded Lynn to walk to the pub for a counter tea. It was still daylight when we walked back to the van which we had parked at the Information Bay on the edge of town. It is a free stop for trucks mainly and has no facilities but when we stayed there last year there was quite a few vans there but we were on our own this time.

 this truck was red last year but it now sports the Port colours



 the mural at the truck stop.

 From Coober Pedy we headed off again by about 7am so that we could travel in the cooler part of the day. We had a stop at  Cagney station for a cuppa and then continued on .

 When we were looking of a lunch stop we came across a nice rest area just north of Agnes Creek. It was quite a large area with shade and enough room to get back from the highway for an overnight camp. There was a motor home already parked there and the occupant came  over for a chat while we had our lunch. He had an interesting story to tell about some budgies that were nesting in the tree a t he back of his rig. Later he  showed us where the nests were and we saw a female budgie guarding her nest and waiting for her mate to come back and feed her.

 When we got to Kulgera Lynn was very excited as he thought he was going to get some Paul's Iced Coffee and the local paper but he missed out as they don;t stock either .  We finally got the day before's paper at Erldunda.
After another long day's travel we stopped at the Finke River rest area  for the night . We were very surprised to see water in the river as it is the first time in all the years we have lived in the Territory and travelled the Stuart H'way many times .

 I took a walk down to the river to get a better idea of much water was in it and found quite a bit of bird life around.

 the Finke River  with water in it !!!!!



Black fronted Dotteril

  We too had our tree with budgies nesting it . The big tree in the centre of the rest area had  at least one nesting pair that we saw and they weren't too perturbed by all the galahs and Corella's that were roosting in the tree too.

 By the time we got to Alice Springs the next day we were starting to warm up and enjoy the warmer weather . Unfortunately y we had quite a few storms and heavy rain  during the week we were there but we also had some quite hot days and enjoyed a swim In the pool at the park. We stayed at Wintersun Park and found they were clean facilities and friendly people. We had great neighbours who we shared lots of sun downers with.

 We stayed in Alice for a week to allow me to catch up on some sewing projects I wanted to get out of the way before getting to Darwin and so I could post them off before Xmas.

Eyre Pen again Nov 2010

  After visiting the Talia Caves we continued on to Sceale Bay, but were unable to contact anyone re camping there so continued down the dirt roads  to Westall  Way where we found a campground  but again were unable to contact anyone as there was no phone reception so we just stayed the night anyway before going on to Streaky Bay where we stocked up on food etc and I visited a patchwork place and bought a panel of funny dinosaurs for a quilt for my daughter. We also got some nice seafood there.

 From Streaky Bay we headed to Haslam and made the mistake of taking the first road signposted only to find it was a very corrugated dirt road so at the first opportunity Lynn turned the van around and only a few klms further on we found the sealed road into a lovely small campground just near the jetty and with 2 other vans there. It was a fairly nice day as the weather went when we set up but later on there was a shower or two and the next day it blew a gale , so we didn't get to try some fishing although some others were successful despite the wind and rain.



Haslam jetty : note the whitecaps on the water



 The history of Haslam is rather interesting . It was quite a busy port at one stage with wheat and wool exports. It is now only a very sleepy place with no shops and a tiny  postal agency . However there is a story board of it's history down near the jetty that tells of just how busy and important the town was many years ago.



 As the weather didn't seem to be improving and Lynn was getting very sick of the wind after 2 nights at Haslam  we decided that it was time to head north to warmer climes . Unfortunately as we went back along the highway the little towns along the way were very quiet being a Sunday and with almost no shops etc open we only stopped at Wuddina for a cuppa at the Apex Park before moving on.

Lower Eyre Pen. cont

 As you can see I am slowly catching up my blog on our travels from last year.

After 2 nights in Elliston and no Fish!!! we wandered on up the coast wiht the ultimate aim of getting to Haslam before heading back across to the Highway and making our way east again before turning north.

 By mid morning and that means a cuppa break we were at Venus Bay where we had our cuppa sitting on the sand on a samll beach near the wharf. We watched the antics of a group of pelicans  which were waiting in anticipation of same tidbits. This spot is really delightful, very sheltered with some great limestone cliffs  protecting quite a big bay.



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Pelicans waiting for a handout



 part of the bay, sheltered swimming spot

 Limestone cliffs at Venus Bay

As we were wandering on  from Elliston we  found an interesting area with names like the "Tub" and the " Woolshed cave" so we stopped and had a look at this interesting area wiht some different geological formations.

 Helen at memorial for a young person drowned off these magnificant and treacherous cliffs  last centuary.

The Tub looking towards the sea



 The tub looking back



 The Tub turned out to be a sinkhole wiht just a narrow bridge of cliff between it and the sea. The sea doesn't flow in very much so the water in the bottom was very murky. The cliffs inside the rim offer protection for a number of birds.

Woolshed cove

 The way down to this cave is quite steep but  nice set of wooden stairs have been biult to make it easier to reach. There was a nice cove outside the cave and fortunately we were able to wander around quite easily as there wasn't much of a sea that day a nd no waves crrashing in.



Woolshed Cave