Family holiday for 6 months around Australia. Switching off for a while to remind ourselves of why we are doing what we do. Enjoying time with our little family that we have created. Creating some great memories and taking some awesome photographs as well.
All though we chose not to walk on the rock itself, we thought it was a great idea to fly over it. The helicopter would not start at first which is always a worrying thought.
We made it in the end.
The girls were very excited to sit inside and put on the headsets. Although Mia only had standard ear muffs.
Ularu seemed like miles away from the helipad but only took a few minutes and we were nearing the worlds largest rock.
If you go to the centre of Australia it is guaranteed that you will watch the sunset at Ayres Rock. It will not disappoint you in any way. Every car will park at the designated parking area for the best view and then it's just a waiting game.
This 30-minute video is sped up to 1 minute to show the dramatic change of light that happens at sunset. In the last few moments, you really are freaked out by what the Rock does.
An amazing place to be in the afternoon
Heather goofing around with the camera
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The clearest skies without any clouds what so ever
On one side of this huge sign, you stand in the Northern Territory
And on the other side you're in South Australia
We Stand Divided. One foot in Either State.
None of us has seen anything beyond this point in our lives so it's rather exciting for every little detail along the way. Curtin Springs is one of the last stop-overs for most travellers heading to the Rock. The distance is too far so everyone tends to stay here and leave in the morning for a fresh start.
The Boomerang Entrance sign
Funky Street Art
Main Street Sign Post
There was a guy who had ridden the entire Stuart highway on this posty bike. What a nutter!
Town Amenities were what you can expect here at Curtin. Very Dusty too. They did have internet here but WOW... i think we paid $5 (per 10 minutes) into some sort of vending machine and the screen looked 100 years old. but the speed was dial-up and took me 15 minutes to even check emails etc. obviously for desperate people only.
Thought I might walk the town with the girls to get a couple of photos in. feeling quite anxious about seeing Ularu and having the girls with us for this fantastic family adventure
Little Lily is always smiling
And Mia is the chatterbox.
So Its 'keep the van attached' and get a nights sleep here till the morning. Next stop. The ROCK!
We are definately not missing the work and running a business. As for real estate photos, i cant see anything worth taking in Curtin Springs. haha
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A day out today in Coober Pedy. We started at the feeding of the orphan kangaroos which was great fun for the girls (see video) and saw some aboriginal artwork at the gallery.
It was mothers day today and we sat for lunch in the underground hotel and enjoyed brunch.
Coober Pedy was a dusty hole of a place with no real comforts to speak of but a tone of character, a definate must see if travelling Australia... We stayed at the Riba's underground caravan and camping park which included a Mine tour in the evening it was very cool. We did some water divining and learnt about staking our own claim in the opal business. girls were terribly bored after 10 mins but it was their bed time and both were sleepy. This caravan park also caters for campers who want to camp underground in the hillside dugout tunnels..
Learning about how to blow the earth away with high explosives
Water divining is key to finding opal in the ground
The chicken man - strange travellers starting to appear
Coober Pedy from the Big winch Lookout area
Coober Pedy landscape
The Big Winch
We desperately wanted to find some opal and for people keen to try their luck there is a noodling area near the main street of town. It looks like a big pile of diggings from opal mines that you can noodle through and if your lucky and look hard you can find opal... we were lucky and found a few bits to bring home.
We bought the girls some opal earrings to remember their trip to Coober Pedy.
This is our final night at Coober Pedy tonight and since it was mothers day.. no cooking for mum so we bought one of their much talked about pizzas . Heading off in the morning leaving all the street drunk aboriginals behind. The only downfall to this town is the local aboriginals scattered through the streets drunk and sitting in the gutters... not a good site for tourists.
Noodling & The Breakaways
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After a great camp fire night with Brian & Merrilyn (our new found travel buddies) today saw us awaken to the picturesque Heart Lake. Although it is only a roadside stop-over, it is one of the better ones because of the lake.
Wayne on the roof of the land cruiser taking a sunset photo
We took a morning walk down to the salt lake with Brian and Merrilyn it was amazing to see such a huge lake without water but with its salt left behind... lots of great shots. Brian collected some salt to put in his salt grinder for dinner tonight.
A Salty Lake
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After noticing that all the freight trains come right by this lake, I decided to video underneath one. This can be very dangerous and the video proves this.
Panorama of the sakt lake
Rusty old train wheels from the mining done here years ago
The girls running along the old platform area
Brian & Merrilyn
The glare from the white surface made it hard for the girls not to squint
Salt lake education 101
The running man
heather on top of the salt mound
The Australian colours are starting to show
Run over by a freight train
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We jumped back into the van pushed forward to Coober Pedy today.
Along the way we started to see lots of road kill.. a tone of eagles and Kites (small eagles). We were warned when leaving port Augusta to be aware of cows, roos and strangely enough eagle. As anyone of these could jump out in front of you at any time. its not uncommon to see 4 or 5 wedge tail eagles sitting on the side of the road eating a dead carcus.
We only stayed a couple of days in port Augusta. It was more a rest time for us and preparation time to head up the middle of Australia. While we stayed here we permanently fixed our solar panel to the roof of the van as it was becoming increasingly difficult being placed in our bathroom every day.. this way it can function all day as its supposed to. The batteries are of a super size and can easily last all day without a direct sun positioning. We went for a boat cruise up the inland water way. Watched dolphins playing and shot some photos through the uppermost part of the inland sea.
Outback River Cruise
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We headed off without the license (as it was left in Victor Harbour) after a quick stop at the outback information center.
Ice creams for the girls
The Old bridge ferry
This old ferry carried parts up and down the waterway for building supplies. After finishing the bridge they realised that is was on the wrong side of the bridge so could not be taken back to the open ocean. they just left it to decay.
The new Shopping village at sunset
The outback centre snake
Drove on to lunchtime stop for some red dirt pictures and a family shot...
arrived at heart lake to see the sunset and get a shot in. Camp fire night with Merrilyn and Brian.
