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.
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
We made it to Agnes Creek today. Travelling alongside our good friends from Western Australia. These are quite long journeys without much to see but flat dry roads and land. On the way we spotted a couple of huge wedge tailed eagles and so stopped to capture some footage and some photos for the travel log.
With a wing span possible of over 2 meters these big birds must get pretty hungry so they watch the roadsides for road kill.
Not a nice photo but very true of the middle of Austraila.
Its time for some wood collecting as we love our campfires by the roadsides.
Brian & Wayne
Time for a quick photo and then decide what to have for dinner.
Merrilyn
Wayne & Heather
We became very quick at our roadside setups for the nights on the road. Find some wood and light a fire, then grab a beer or wine and settle in.
me and the kids loved our compfires
These road train truckies were everywhere at the homesteads along the way. Fuelling up and moving on.
They always seemed to need a coat of paint or something
Our rig was always identifiable due to the kids pink bikes always on the roof racks. people would see us for miles and know it was the Robbos.
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.
A quick trip to Port Germein before heading forward to Port Augusta. The longest jetty in the southern hemisphere.
Port Germein was once an important transport hub for the surrounding districts following the opening of its jetty in 1881 - at the time known as the longest jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. Due to the shallow water along the coast, the long jetty was built to allow sailing ships to be loaded with grain from surrounding districts. Bagged wheat came from the local area, the eastern side of the Southern Flinders Ranges via Port Germein Gorge (opened in 1879), and from the west coast in smaller boats. About 100,000 bags of wheat were loaded per year. The jetty was extended to its full length of 1680m in 1883.
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This jetty is very long and the wind today is tremendous, almost blowing us off the jetty. A cool little lighthouse still sits by the edge of the water and we took a couple of snaps here and decided to head up the road to the next "main town".
The jetty was extended to its full length of 1680m in 1883.
The girls stop for a quick snap
Cannot fit it into the full shot
Talk about repetition
At low tide the bottom shows for kilometers
The old lighthouse still stands
We arrived safely at Port Augusta and had the rest day to relax for us all. As we arrived at the main entrance to the van park we noticed barbed wire surrounding the fences and a sign saying if your not in by 9pm, the gate gets locked. Not a comforting thought to be caged in a van park. We cleaned the van a little, and grabbed an ice cream for the girls. Tomorrow will see me mount the Solar panel and fix a few things for the red centre journey.
