Oz Trip - Epilogue

Oz Trip – Epilogue

After arriving home fairly early in the day we started the great unpack and clean up. We spent pretty much the first afternoon of being home just pulling everything out of the camper and Pajero. The following two days comprised of a lot of washing and cleaning. It was a bit sad wiping away the dust as it felt like you were wiping away all traces of the adventure. I have strategically left a few little reminders on the Pajero. After the two days of cleaning it was hard to believe that the vehicles had been where they actually had been :-(, they looked like new again! It was amazing to see them without the red tint of the dirt.

We had just under two weeks before we had to return to the real world, ie work! In that time after the clean up we had to drop the camper to Caloundra for a service, Jodie needed at bit of retail therapy at the Sunshine Coast, catch up with family we hadn't seen for 6 months and have a couple of days to wind down before psyching ourselves back up to get back into work mode. I unfortunately didn't get around to finishing as many blog posts as I would have liked in that time and it really slowed down once I returned to work. But they are now all done.

Here are some of the trip stats:

• Total Kilometers = 32,351 in 5½ months
• Fuel economy = av 16.24l/100km
• Unpowered/powered nights = 111 unpowered, 56 powered
• Longest stint without power = 21 nights
• Number of photos = 16,934 unsorted photos – about 150Gb
• 9 x 4.5kg gas bottle refills.
• Highlights – So many, but the standouts - Wilpena Pound, Chambers Pillar, Manning Gorge, Bitter Springs, Maree Pub/Muloorina Station/Oodnadatta Track, Wolfe Creek Crater, Territory Day in Darwin, Gunlom Falls, Mitchell Falls, Finke Desert Race - and probably a few more that I cant remember at this time.

For me it has been the realisation of a 5 year dream. An adventure that I am never going to forget, and unfortunately won't be able to repeat any time in the near future. Also a massive thank you to my fantastic wife, Jodie, for all of the help in planning and actually coming along with me to some of the far out locations that I dreamed up. She put up with a lot to say the least, and there are no words that can express how much that means to me.

Feel free to donate to the “Steve and Jodie early retirement fund” if you have enjoyed reading about our travels and want to see and read more. Arm chair travel, we'll do the travel, while you read all about it from your armchair :-)

We hope you enjoyed following our adventure as much as we did living it!

Until the next one

Steve and Jodie

A nearly complete tracklog - The GPS filled up so there are some gaps in the log :-(, but you get the picture.

PS I am not “The CARP” and am still none the wiser to who he is. I will forever be on the lookout for his mark!

Oz Trip - Day 168

Day 168 – 16/10/2012 – Home

There was some mixed emotions this morning. It was a sad feeling packing up for the last time, but there was also a sense of anticipation that we couldn't wait to get home. It really started to hit home that the adventure of a lifetime was coming to and end. We were in no particular hurry so it was 9:30am by the time we pulled out of the van park and due to road works it took longer than usual to get to Bargara. We pulled into the driveway at 11:30am. The adventure was over :-(

Homeward bound!

Oz Trip - Day 167

Day 167 – 15/10/2012 – Hervey Bay

It was an early start for me this morning as I had to drop the Pajero off at the Mitsubishi dealer for a service at 8am. After walking back to the van park and some breakfast, I hired a Stand Up Paddle board from the Enzos. After a few fall offs initially I soon managed to get the hang of it and spent the next couple of hours, paddling up and down the beach front.

Oz Trip - Day 166

Day 166 – 14/10/2012 – Hervey Bay

The first job for today, was to go for a swim. Just a stroll out of our camp site and onto the beach for a swim. It was nearly high tide so there was plenty of water.

Oz Trip - Day 165

Day 165 – 13/10/2012 – Kilkivan to Hervey Bay

Probably one of the best points about the Kilkivan bush camping park was the free pancake breakfast on Saturday morning in the camp kitchen :-) . The owners cook up the pancakes on the BBQ and supply the jam, cream, maple syrup, hundreds and thousands etc etc, mmmmmmm. I managed to put away 5 or 6 before Jodie made me leave to finish packing up our camp site.

It was only a really short day for us. We left the camp ground at 10am and arrived in Scarness at 11:45am. One of the shortest days we have had for a long time.

After setting up camp and lunch we did a little bit of shopping and then spent the rest of the afternoon just taking it pretty easy and enjoying being right on the beach front.

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Oz Trip - Day 164

Day 164 – 12/10/2012 – Kilkivan Bush Camping

Because we didn't have a big distance to travel we could take our time packing up. It was still cold but at least the rain had stopped but it was very windy. We had heard that it snowed in Glen Innis! We had only passed through there the day before! If we had been a day later we would have seen the snow that we went chasing in Tumbarumba.

We arrived at the Kilkivan bush camp early in the afternoon. It was a nice place with a pretty relaxed atmosphere. There were powered and unpowered sites. The unpowered sites were pretty much anywhere that your power cord couldn't reach too.

At least someone was taking it easy.

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Oz Trip - Day 163

Day 163 – 11/10/2012 – Walcha to Warwick

We were able to pack up just in time before the rain started, and it didn't stop raining all day. We had planned to spend a night at Girraween National Park. When we arrived at the turn off to Girraween we had pretty much decided to keep pressing on but we thought we would go for a drive through anyway. It is lucky that we had decide not to stay at Girraween as it was pretty sloppy and wet and it was pretty full. There had been about 30mm of rain in the region so the camp sites were pretty saturated.

So we left Girraween and pressed on through Stanthorpe to Warwick. Even though it was only 3pm by the time that we stopped, we had had enough of driving in the solid rain. Jodie also wasn't feeling the best as she was starting to get the flu.

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Oz Trip - Day 162

Day 162 – 10/10/2012 – Bathurst to Walcha

Well you can't go through Bathurst without doing a hot lap, well as hot a lap that you can do in a turbo diesel 4wd towing a camper with a 60kph speed limit! On the way out of town be did a detour to Mount Panorama for a quick spin around the race track.

Pole Position!

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Oz Trip - Day 161

Day 161 – 9/10/2012 – Bathurst 

It was pretty hard to get moving this morning as it was still 0.4deg outside when we got up at 6:30am. It got down to 0.2deg overnight and there was frost on the Pajero. As we pulled out of Tumbarumba at 8:30am it looked like it was going to be another beautiful day for driving through the country side.

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Oz Trip - Day 160

Day 160 – 8/10/2012 – Tumbarumba Rest Day

A nice cool night again which was perfect for a sleep in. The temperature went down to 0.6deg over night. Our body clocks were all over the place due to travelling a the different time zones over the last couple weeks, getting back to normal for a few days and then day light saving started with through us out again.

It was pretty much our first relaxing day of the whole trip so far. We didn't have anything planned. No jobs to catch up on and no driving. We walked up to a local cafe for lunch and then pretty much just sitting back taking it all in before we did the final push for home :-( .

Oz Trip - Day 159

Day 159 – 7/10/2012 – Mt Selwyn and Cabramurra Day Trip

Because it was pretty cool overnight, (min 1.4deg), and for the last couple of days, and there was plenty of moisture around, we decided to head up to Cabramurra and Mt Selwyn to see if we could find any snow – unfortunately we didn't. We might have if we had headed to Thredbo instead. It would have been pretty cool to do desert to snow in one holiday.

I didn't end up taking any photos of the day trip either as we had covered all of this ground before. So here is the link from the previous day trip around this area.

http://blog.sjbowden.com/2011/04/snowy-mountains-trip-day-5.html

On the way back to camp we stopped in at Paddy's River Falls. Due to the rain over the past few days the falls were running really well.

Paddys River Falls

Oz Trip - Day 158

Day 158 – 6/10/2012 – Tumbarumba

Again another day of driving through a lot of small towns in picturesque countryside. It was just a shame that it was pretty much raining all day. We packed up in the wet and it pretty much rained all day until setup that afternoon.

When we left Cobrum we headed out through Yarrowonga

Yarrowonga

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Oz Trip - Day 157

Day 157 – 5/10/2012 – Cobram

We left Geelong and headed for Cobram via Ballarat, Bendigo, Tatura and Shepparton and a lot of smaller towns in between. It was beautiful and varying scenery the whole way. It is certainly an area that we would like to spend a lot more time exploring.

Ballarat

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Oz Trip - Day 156

Day 156 – 4/10/2012 – Rest Day

Today was pretty much just a rest day and catching up on jobs day before we hit the road again. It was extremely windy so we took the annex walls down while they were dry and to stop them acting like big sales and flapping around. It was also a head start for packing up in the morning.

Later that afternoon we went for a drive through the Geelong CDB and Esplanade on the way to a nice little family owned pizza place, Erics Pizza & Pasta, that we had heard about. The pizza was fantastic and the atmosphere was great. In between making pizza orders Eric came and sat down with us and was chatting to us while we ate, telling us all about the sights to see in Geelong. Unfortunately we couldn't talk him into “retiring” and opening a pizza shop in Bargara.

A Geelong main street

Oz Trip - Day 155

Day 155 – 3/10/2012 – Melbourne Day Trip

We caught the train from the South Geelong station to Melbourne at 9:25am hoping to miss a bit of the peak hour rush. Unfortunately earlier that morning a computer problem caused the closure of two of Melbourne’s tunnels, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-03/tunnel-closures-cause-traffic-chaos/4292378. So even though we were only one or two stops along the line, we were only just lucky enough to get some seats. Pretty much from our stop onwards people had to stand. I imagine it is what the Brisbane to Gold Coast “Bombay Express” is like everyday. The trip took just over an hour.

Flinders St Train Station

Oz Trip - Day 154

Day 154 – 2/10/2012 – Sorrento

We didn't have much planned for the day so we were in no rush to get moving. We headed back to Torque that we missed the previous day for a bit of a quick look around.

One of the beaches at Torque

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Oz Trip - Day 153

Day 153 – 1/10/2012 – Geelong via the Great Ocean Road

As we left Port Fairy we felt a we could have spent a few more days there just relaxing and wandering around the town.

It was going to be a big day, not so much kilometres wise but a lot of sight seeing on the way, lots of stops. First stop was the Bay of Islands.

The Bay of Islands

Oz Trip - Day 152

Day 152 – 30/9/2012 – Port Fairy

It was going to be a bit of a shorter day kilometres wise mainly so that we could get to Port Fairy, have a bit of a look around and then find a place to watch the NRL grand final. The first stop of the morning was Mount Gambier.

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Oz Trip - Day 151

Day 151 – 29/9/2012 – Naracoorte

We had a cold and wet pack up again at 8am. It was pretty much 11deg all day and briefly hit a max of about 15 during the day, but that was short lived. It was also pretty much just a driving day. We were taking the scenic way around the back of Adelaide via Crystal Brook, the Claire Valley and the Barossa Valley. Again the scenery was fantastic and so many little towns that I have lost track of them all.

Some of the more notable places that we went through were Nerriupta, Tanunda, Auburn and Mount Pleasant. They were all very nice and we definitely want to go back and explore this area in more detail.

Crystal Brook main street

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Oz Trip - Day 150

Day 150 – 28/9/2012 – Port Pirie Day

After pushing pretty hard for the last couple of days we had a bit of a sleep in, until 10am!!! After a late brunch and a few jobs we just made it to the smelter tour at 12:45. The smelter is the worlds largest lead smelter. It also produces silver, zinc, copper and gold.

Oz Trip - Day 149

Day 149 – 27/9/2012 – The Nullarbor (Penong to Port Perie)

Again another early start as we had a lot of kilometres to do again.

The Penong van park site just before we pulled out.

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Oz Trip - Day 148

Day 148 – 26/9/2012 – The Nullarbor (Madura Pass to Penong)

We we on the road by 8am again and were just planning to get as far as possible. First stop was the lookout at the top of Madura Pass because we didn't stop there on the way in the previous afternoon.

Madura roadhouse campsite

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Oz Trip - Day 147

Day 147 – 25/9/2012 – The Nullarbor (Esperance to Madura Pass)

Basically we left at 7:45am and just drove. We were just going to see how far we could get in a day. It didn't occur to me until after half way across that I should have mounted some sort of camera on the vehicle and taken a photo say every ten minutes and then created a time lapse movie out of them and made you all sit there and watch it. Instead I will just load up a heap of photos.

The Corrugated Camels at Norseman

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Oz Trip - Day 146

Day 146 – 24/9/2012 – Esperance Sightseeing

We had a bit of a late start again this morning as it was our last chance for a bit of a sleep in before we started driving across the Nullarbor, which we had planned to be big days.

Our first stop for the day was the old Jetty.

Heading out to the end of the jetty

Oz Trip - Day 145

Day 145 – 23/9/2012 – Albany to Esperance

We left Albany at 8am and headed towards Esperance via the Sterling Ranges. And as per usual, the day that you have to leave is always the best.

The beach behind the van park

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Oz Trip - Day 144

Day 144 – 22/9/2012 – Albany Sightseeing

After a late start, a bit of shopping, and lunch back at camp we set off to have a bit of a look around Albany.

It was nice to have an en-suite while the weather wasn't so good!

Oz Trip - Day 143

Day 143 – 21/9/2012 – Pemberton to Albany

Our first rainy pack up. Not only was it wet it was also cold. Due to the wet we were a little bit slower getting moving than normal. First stop for the day was the Valley of the Giants tree top walk. It was a lot easier than climbing the trees the day before and Jodie even did the walk. The maximum height was only 40m, a lot less than the day before.

The Valley of the Giants Tall Trees Walk

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Oz Trip - Day 142

Day 142 – 20/9/2012 – Sightseeing in Pemberton

We started off out sightseeing day by doing a tour of the timber mill. Pemberton is pretty much a timber town. We were lucky to catch the tour as it is only run on at 9:30 and we just turned up a couple of minutes before it started.  It is amazing to see how quickly a massive tree can be processed into fencing stakes!

The logs coming in

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Oz Trip - Day 141

Day 141 – 19/9/2012 – Pemberton

We left Bunbury at 9am. The first stop was Busselton. Again it was a very nice seaside town.

Oz Trip - Day 140

Day 140 – 18/9/2012 – Ferguson Valley Day Trip

We woke up to our 1st rainy day of the trip. Luckily it was just light showers on and off and cleared up as the day wore on. Today was going to be a bit of a sightseeing day. The first part was a drive through the Ferguson Valley to visit Gnomesville.

We were on the right path to Gnomesville

Oz Trip - Day 139

Day 139 – 17/9/2012 – Bunbury Jobs Day

Another early rise as I had to have the Pajero into the dealer for a server first thing. Basically it was another day to catch up on shopping, washing, refilling water tanks etc etc.

We also had a brief family reunion. My parents and uncle and aunty who were passing through on their way to Kalbarri briefly stopped in. They caught the Indian Pacific train across from Sydney and were doing a tour of the South West WA. They had timed their trip to meet us in Perth, but due to our delays we just had to cross paths and say hello.

In the afternoon we managed to find a cinema and catch The Bourne Legacy. We had been waiting for this movie to come out for a while and were hoping that we would eventually be in a place that had a cinema and was still showing it!

That night we had dinner with Jodies parents as they were leaving the following day. We weren't going to catch up with them again until we were all home in Bundaberg.

Oz Trip - Day 138

Day 138 – 16/9/2012 – Bunbury

It was nice to have a bit of a sleep in as we didn't have a big day to get to Bunbury and we didn't have to be out of the camp site by 10am :-). When we were finally ready to leave and were doing our final pre departure check, I found that the hazard/indicator lights weren't working, there was a battery charging error light on on the dash and the battery voltage looked way higher than normal, up around 15.5v! After a bit of detective work I found that the hazard fuse had blown. After replacing the blown fuse everything was back to normal.

Camp Will & Bec

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Oz Trip - Day 137

Day 137 – 15/9/2012 – Perth

Kilometer wise it wasn't going to be as big a day as the last couple, so we could afford to have a bit of a latter start. It was about 9am by the time we eventually rolled out.

Cervantes Caravan Park

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Oz Trip - Day 136

Day 136 – 14/9/2012 – The Pinnacles

Again we were up and on the road again early. On the way out of town we stopped to make a phone call to make a booking at the Cervantes van park. First stop was Port Gregory to see the Pink Lake. It is not pollution that makes it look pink but the beta-carotene contained in the algae that does.

The Pink Lake

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Oz Trip - Day 135

Day 135 – 13/9/2012 – Murchison Station

This morning we had to cook breakfast in the camp kitchen as it was far too windy to use ours. It also saved us a bit of time in packing up. We were on the road by 8am. We stopped at the Overlander roadhouse to refuel and make a few phone calls. The first thing that we noticed as we were getting closer to Kalbarri was the wild flowers lining the side of the road.

Wildflowers lining the side of the road

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Oz Trip - Day 134

Day 134 – 12/9/2012 – Steep Point day trip

After speaking to a couple of people the night before in the camp kitchen, they said that it took them about 4 hours to get to Steep Point. So with this in mind we set off at 8am. The first 100km or so was formed reasonably good dirt road.

The good dirt road

Oz Trip - Day 133

Day 133 – 11/9/2012 – Denham and Monkey Mia day trip

As it was a couple of hours drive to Monkey Mia, so we set out relatively early. We stopped for smoko at Denham on the way.

On the way to Denham

Oz Trip - Day 132

Day 132 – 10/9/2012 – Hamelin Station

We left Exmouth early and headed for Hamelin Station stay. We were going to use the station as a base to explore the surrounding areas.

Along the road to Carnarvon

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Oz Trip - Day 131

Day 131 – 9/9/2012 – Cape Range National Park day trip

We were able to have a bit of a sleep in as we had to wait for a local dive shop to open so that we could hire some snorkelling gear. We were planning to spend the day in the Cape Range National Park. We didn't bother trying to camp in the national park as it was notorious for being full and having to line up early in the morning to wait to get in.

On the way out to Cape Range National Park we stopped off at the lighthouse.

Oz Trip - Day 130

Day 130 – 8/9/2012 – Exmouth

We left the roadhouse relatively early, but we were still one of the last to leave. By putting in a big day before we arrived at Exmouth around lunch time which gave us a bit of time to have a bit of a drive around the town in the afternoon.

On the way to Exmouth

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Oz Trip - Day 129

Day 129 – 7/9/2012 – Tom Price mine tour

We left Karijini at 7:30am because we had to be in Tom Price for a mine tour at 9:30am. This mine tour was really good as well. Although you couldn't see a lot into the bottom of the pit to see the activity, it did allow you to get up closer to the big mining trucks and see more of the processing plant up close. The mining trucks were driving right past the lookout and you could see the drivers in the cabs. They were also blowing their horns as the tour group waved to them.

Changing a wheel on a dump truck requires a monster forklift!

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Oz Trip - Day 128

Day 128 – 6/9/2012 – Karijini Day trip

Today we set out to drive around the Banjima Drive through the Karijini National Park. First stop was Joffre Falls. We only did the short walk to the lookout as we were on a tight time schedule.

Joffre Falls

Oz Trip - Day 127

Day 127 – 5/9/2012 – Mt Whaleback mine tour and Karijini National Park

It was the coolest morning that we had had for a while. It was about 8deg. We didn't have to be at the visitors centre until 9:15 for the mine tour. We were ready to go just after 8am so we decided to go for a drive to Radio Hill that looked out over Newman.

Looking out over Newman from Radio Hill

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Oz Trip - Day 126

Day 126 – 4/9/2012 – Road trip to Newman

We were up, packed up and pulled out right on 8am. Today was basically just going to be a driving day to Newman. We weren't too sure which way to go. There were a couple of options. Down the dirt via the Rio Tinto Rail access road – the more direct route with pretty much no doubling back, or sticking to the black top which meant back tracking about 200km but we could site on a good speed.

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Oz Trip - Day 125

Day 125 – 3/9/2012 – Karratha Jobs Day

It was into TJM first thing to pick up the new battery tray. It was exactly the same as the one that had broken and fixed so it was pretty easy for me to put in. Nothing else needed to be changed just an unbolt, swap and rebolt job.

After I finished fitting the new tray we decided to head back out to Hearson Cove for a swim because it was so hot. We pretty much had the place to ourselves today as it was a Monday and everyone was back at work. A lot quieter than the day before.

Oz Trip - Day 124

Day 124 – 2/9/2012 – Dampier day trip

The first thing that struck us on the way to Dampier was the massive amount of road construction that was going on. They were in the process of constructing a divided dual lane carriage way from Karratha to Dampier. To put that into a bit of context for the people at home, it is the same as building a divided dual lane carriage way from Bundaberg to Bargara!

The massive amount of roadworks

Oz Trip - Day 123

Day 123 – 1/9/2012 – Karratha

Since arriving in Derby I had been chasing a replacement axillary battery tray to replace the one in the Pajero that had been welded up twice. After making a few calls from the Pardoo Roadhouse I managed to track one down at Karratha. So that was going to be our next destination.

First stop on the way to Karratha was Port Hedland. We were only doing a drive around the town as we weren't stopping overnight.

A salt stockpile on the way into town

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Oz Trip - Day 122

Day 122 – 31/8/2012 – Pardoo Roadhouse

The jockey wheel finally turned up late afternoon the previous day so I fitted it just after we had packed up camp and were hitched up. We pulled out of the van park right on 10am. We had a final walk along the Cable Beach foreshore while we were having smoko and, finally hit the road again at 10:30am.

Now that we were fully back on the road again, we would like to say a big thank you to Luke and Daryl at Australian Offroad Campers in getting us back on the road.  They did everything possible to get us going as quickly as possible and were great to deal with throughout the whole situation.  The main delay in getting us going was the time waiting for the parts to be transported from one side of the country to the other!

Now that we were fully back on the road and a fair bit behind our schedule, we had to make some hard decisions on what we had to leave out in order to get home on time.

We were hoping to make it to Port Hedland but because of our late depature, we only made it to the Pardoo Roadhouse. It was the location where the category 4 Cyclone Lua hit on the 18th March this year. It was looking pretty good for only being 6 months since it took the hit. All of the trees had been shredded but were starting to grow new shoots.

The Pardoo Roadhouse

The Pardoo camp grounds

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Oz Trip - Day 114 to 121

Day 114 to 121 – 23/8/2012 to 30/8/2012 – Broome (again)

The camper had been fixed and we were able to pick it up at 8am. After picking it up we went back to the Hotel to repack everything back into the camper. After checking out and on our way out of town we had to swing past the van park to pick up all of our frozen food out of the camp kitchen freezer in the van park. The bar fridge in the Hotel wasn't big enough to hold all of our frozen meat.

Boabs up the main street of Derby

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Oz Trip - Day 112 to 113

Day 112 to 113 – 21/8/2012 to 22/8/2012 – Derby

The place that was going to do the repairs to the camper opened at 7:30am. By the time we packed up camp and distributed our food between the car fridge and the camp kitchen fridges in the van park it was 8:30am by the time that we got the camper to the repairers. After we had dropped the camper off, we went to see if we could check into the Spinifex Hotel. It was pretty much the only self contained accommodation that we could find in Derby. Luckily they were able to get us into our room pretty much straight away. It was to be our home away from home for the next two days.

The Spinifex Hotel accommodation

Oz Trip - Day 111

Day 111 – 20/8/2012 – Horizontal Falls Tour

We were up early for an 8:15am pick for a Horizontal Falls trip. On the way out to the airport one interesting fact that I learnt about Derby is that has the largest runway in the southern hemisphere. The runway is located at the Curtin Air Base and was built in case the space shuttle couldn't land at its home base in the northern hemisphere. It also contained a 20 bed underground fully functioning hospital which was activated every time the space shuttle was launched. With the shelving of the space shuttle program and the planned US military base at Darwin, the runway will still probably be used as the landing strip for the US military planes that are too large and heavy to land at Darwin and then they will transport the equipment back to Darwin via road.

Our Seaplane