Kimberley 2015 - Uluru

We traveled from Ericas campsite across the border and had a drink at the first pub in the northern territory. Seemed like a good idea when we saw the sign but when we got there it was a road house being looked after by tourist backpacker workers who seemed quite stressed out and heaps of tourists buying souvenirs. But we had our beer $6 for a can, and kept moving. We got to Yulara around 4:30pm and are camped in with the million others wanting to experience the outback and the rock!

We are here for two nights and I wouldn't stay any longer. We are camped in the overflow area out the campground on red dust and have the power station as our morning view. It is also noisier than thr generators we've had going. We had ours running when we first pulled up and had a lady ask "is that going to be going all night it's rather noisy" the power station behind us is100 times noisier.

So we will start here two nights so we can do the walk around the rock. But I'm happy not to stick around for much longer.

Got some good sunset shots tonight though so an happy with that!

Kimberley 2015 - Marla SA

Left our lovely spot next to the salt lake and drove towards Coober Pedy.  We stopped for a wee stop for Sam at the rest area where the young guy, Dane, has a memorial. He went missing from Victoria last year and was found dead from a snake bite and his can bogged Not far from where his memorial is. 

We kept driving to Coober Pedy where we stopped for lunch and had a little look around. To tell the truth Coober Pedy did not impress me much. It had a great skate park that Sam got to try his scooter on but the rest of the place looks untidy and had a lot out want to be tourist type places with pushy opal sellers. The mounds of dirt around the town from all the mining was described by Gaz as looking like a dog that buried his bone and then forgot where he buried it.

We took a couple of tourist photos went to the bottle store beer is now $49 a case. Not too bad.

Kept driving as far as we could towards the border and got to a roadside camp called Ericas camp on wiki camps, 10km south of Marla. A lot of red dust the further you go from the road so we camped closer to the road in gravel. There was a lot of toilet paper around too. I don't understand why people just can't dig a hole!

Got a campfire going and cooked up salmon steaks for dinner. Decided on an earlier night and got tucked up in bed.

Left camp this morning just before 10am heading for Uluru. Sam is excited to see the humungeous rock.

Kimberley 2015 - lake side camp Glendambo to north somewhere just before the border

I think we found the best site so far! Lake side camp, 14km north out of Glendambo. We had three place to ourselves and arrived with time to explore around and watch a gorgeous sunset then a full moon rising. Sam tried to ride his scooter on the dried up lake bed. It was ok yup start with crunching along the salt build up on the surface, but closer to the middle it got a bit muddy.

We got a roaring fire going and cooked marinated lamb ribs on the grill over coals and had steamed vegetables and potatoes on the side. We had stopped at Port Augusta and done a bit our grocery shopping so our veggies were all stocked up.

The keg was put to work heating water next to the fire and we all had a bucket bath/wash. It feels good to have a wash with hot water. We will start getting the shower tent set up at stops when we can now.

Packed up this morning and pulled out in to bright blue skies. It's warming up now almost shorts and tshirt weather.

We should reach Coober Pedy by lunch time and will spend a bit of time there to see what's around then head towards the border as far as we can get.

Kimberley 2015 - Bomber's bro campsite to Coober Pedy

After pulling in late at bombers bro campsite, approx 10km west off Wilmington 40km east of Port Augusta, we decided to just take out easy on getting to our next destination somewhere near Coober Pedy.  We made cheesy toast for breakfast and had a cuppa, Gaz fixed up a couple of poles on the camper trailer that have become sticky and bent. Then we headed off. Just around the corner we could see down to the Spencer gulf and Port Augusta.

We drove into town to do a few things like banking and picked up some more fruit and veg, then went to the servo to fill up the car and jerry cans,plus put air in the tyres and the airbag suspension.

We won't get to Coober Pedy today but there are heaps of roadside stops to pick from along the way. The landscape is changing dramatically now. And we have entered an area we have never been to before!

Kimberley 2015 - Penrose park to Port Augusta

Woke up around 7am, a small frost over night but definitely not as cold as the night before. We got the fire going again and had poached eggs on toast for breakfast. As soon as the sun starts coming up out starts to get nice and warm.

We took our time packing up and took the time to use the wonderful hot showers at Penrose park for the last time.

Heading to Port Augusta today.

We stopped on the side of the road for lunch just past Yunta. Sam stood up ona big pile of metal and waved out to a train that was coming along and he was thrilled when the train blasted the horn back at him.

We then continued on to Wilmington where we stopped and filed up the water tank and water containers. The sun was starting to set and the campsite we had been heating to had a big sign saying camping was prohibited. Lucky there was another camp site only 7km down the road that I found on wiki camps, bombers bro campsite on Horrocks pass. We pulled up just after sunset so had to set up and start cooking in the dark. Gaz got the camp fire blazing and we cookedup some chicken drumsticks and the rest of the sausages for Sam.

The fruit fly quarantine bin is no longer near broken hill as we thought its now at Oodla Wirra just before Peterborough and its for fruit, vegetables and any plant material so all our veggies her to get chucked out. We had been eating carrots and mandarins along the way.

Gaz is getting a bit stressed with the set up and pack up and drive routine and wants to be able to just set up for a few days somewhere. We have been adjusting our itinerary as we go and it just means that we may miss out on some spots to allow for a bit more rest. 

Kimberley 2015 - Penrose park Silverton

Woke to a massive frost this morning! Has to be three coldest night so far. We had a lovely evening setting up camp and going for a walk around the park chatting with other campers. There was almost a party atmosphere happening. We managed to get a camp spot near where we camped last time. Quite a few more campers this time. 

It cost $25 per night for the camp site. The showers are amazing and they also run a kiosk with fish and chips etc between 5 and 7pm. We just arrived around 2pm and had a late lunch cook up so decided to do fish and chips for dinner. Sam is straight onto his scooter whenever we start to set up camp now. We decided we would try to find him a 4wd your scooter today but it didn't happen.

I did a load of washing talking advantage of the free laundry facilities yes free!

We drove into Broken hill and collected a few supplies. Managed to get the car booked in for the suspension to be checked over. We did it grocery shopping then dropped the car off and went for a walk through town.

We came back and the mechanic wouldn't accept any money for looking over the car looks like we just have to get new bushes.

We then stopped at Silverton hotel for a beer and picked up a new Silverton cap for Gaz as Bruce ate the last one. Back to the campsite with steaks brought from the butcher in broken hill and get the grill plates working over nice red coals on the fire. A few glasses of red and off to bed.