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Back in Perth

2007-07-27T19:44:00.000+08:00

This will be our last edition of the travel blog. We have arrived in Perth and we are looking back at a wonderful trip with lots of adventures, beautiful places and we have met many friends on the way. Thank you for your comments and for taking an interest in our stories, we have heard from several who have read the blog regularly.

Having lunch in the middle of the road was an illustration of how truly remote the center of Australia is. And we had another example of that when we visited Lake Bollard, some 60 Km NW of Menzies, a town of around 60 inhabitants, north of Kalgoorlie. In a salt lake which is normally dry we found 51 carbonised steel sculptures by Antony Gormley; true to our reputation, it had just rained for a few days, so we had to walk through the mud. It takes at least two hours to walk around the installation. "The "insider" reveals an attitude in a taut abstract shape formed by the passage of the person's life". Visiting this place is a very strange experience. The sculptures are cast in an alloy containing molybdenum, vanadium and titanium, all found in the Archean rock of Western Australia.

In Kalgoorlie we visited the Super Pit at the time of a planned blast; it is done with milli seconds spacings, so there is not just one big bang, it looks like rolling out a carpet. The pit is 1.5 km wide, 410 m deep and 3.2 km long and the planned maximum depth will be 600 m. If you enlarge the picture, you'll find a yellow trailer on the RH side; you can also see the blast hole pattern near where the first holes have exploded. The Kalgoorlie goldfields have produced already more than 50 million ounces of gold. There are lots of statistics but one impressive figure is the 225 ton of ore which goes into one haul pack truck and it takes only 4 scoops to load it! These monsters are usually driven by women (better drivers?)

The yellow bucket is the one that delivers 60 ton per scoop.
It was in 1893 that the first gold was found in this area. A major problem was the absence of water and in 1903 a pipeline was constructed from Perth to Kalgoorlie, a distance of 530 km, with 8 pumping stations along the way. When steel was scarce, they used wooden planks tied with wire on the outside, as in the picture.

We arrived back in Perth on the 4th of July and with a friend's help we got a house sitting job in Swanbourne until the 4th of September. Meanwhile we have found a new builder for the house near Mandurah and it looks like we may sign the papers next week. We plan to rent a house until our new house is finished. Just today we sold our wonderful camper trailer to a very nice couple in Perth; we are happy that it can continue giving others that marvelous feeling of space and freedom.

The last picture of the Landcruiser and the camper trailer, at Cunderdin, about 150 km east of Perth.
View of our corner block at LakeLands with other new houses in progress and our new Honda Jazz on the right.

It was great to see our kids again, Montana now 18 months old, Lieke and Andrew engaged and planning to marry next year somewhere in WA and .......... Bas and Renee will return to Perth at the end of October and they are expecting a baby towards the end of January! And Daan just working hard, in Thailand at the moment.

Travel Statistics:

Trip distance: 25,144 km over 7 months (Dec.'06-July'07)
Weights (fully loaded): Landcruiser 2680 kg, trailer 1140 kg
Fuels used: 3231 liter diesel and 682 liter LPG

Consumption: diesel 1:7.8 and LPG 1:33 (resp.12.8 and 3 liters/100 km)
Price variations: diesel $1.13-$1.90 and LPG $0.47-$1.20 (if available)
Longest distance covered without refueling: 1000 km (only the two standard tanks, we did not use any fuel jerry cans)
Cruising speed on bitumen: 95-100 km/h
Average speed off-road: as low as 20 km/h
Hot nights: 2 (30+ degrees, all night)
Coldest night: -1 degree C (Alice Springs, the "hot" center of Australia)
Rainy days and nights: about 90 (on a similar trip around Australia in 1990 we had 2 in a whole year) Global warming or just bad luck?
Longest time spent in camper trailer due to non-stop rain: 30 hours
Hours played Rummikub: 130

Amount of books read: 35

DVD's watched on the laptop: 24
Flat tyres: 0
Deepest creek crossed: 60 cm and no snorkel on the car.......

Major expenses: fuel, caravan parks and internet computers

THE END

Uluru, the Olgas and further west

2007-07-14T08:01:00.000+08:00

Enlarge the photo to see the line of people climbing Uluru (350m)

the beautiful Stuart Desert Pea

Our last view of the Olgas before turning off onto the Great Central Road, also called The Outback Highway. There is 1200 km of remote dirt road in front of us, often badly corrugated before we reach the bitumen just north of Kalgoorlie. Although the weather looks good, we carry food and water for 3 weeks and also take into account that one shower of rain could leave us stranded for a week or longer. An added problem is then that fuel trucks are not allowed to drive on a wet gravel road and thus cannot supply the road houses along the track and we would run out of fuel after 1000 km. We have an UHF radio with 5 km range, a HF radio( with a range of several thousands of kms) programmed with 6 different frequencies (incl. the Flying Doctor) and when everything goes really bad, we have an EPIRB, emergency beacon. If that also fails, we will be in real trouble and short of getting help from local Aboriginals, we would have to walk to the nearest community which could be 300 km or more.....

Docker River Store, just east of the WA border, is a typical Aboriginal settlement. We are sad that most of these settlements are full of car wrecks and damaged houses. Employment is a constant problem and most communities are "dry" to stop abuse of alcohol, drugs and gambling. Unleaded petrol is not available, BP has introduced an alternative fuel for petrol engines called OPAL, which cannot be sniffed.

Len Beadell is often called the last outback explorer; he surveyed and graded most of the outback tracks in WA, SA and the NT. Len was out there with his family for many years after World War II and many of these tracks have the names of his family members. He wrote 7 books. The grader in the picture is the one he used and is now parked near the Giles weather station; it carries the name of the Gunbarrel Construction Co, referring to the Gunbarrel Highway which was the only east-west road link across Central Australia stretching for 1600 km. Len and his team opened up a 2.5 million square km area which includes the Great Sandy, Gibson and the Great Victoria deserts. Later the Great Central Road was improved and became the main connection between Perth and Alice Springs.

Here are the remains of the first rocket launched in Australia; they were not quite sure where it had landed until months later it was discovered by accident about 50 km south of Giles..... good thing not too many people live around here!

The roads are endless but still interesting with different vegetation. Here are two pictures of improved sections. The typical red colour comes from the iron content in the rocks (in some areas this content is so high that you can actually arc-weld straight onto the rocks). Dust is an ever present passenger, although both car and trailer are not letting any in, even after a full day of dust clouds. Having lunch on the road (away from the bushes, less flies) is no problem: the chances of any cars coming is almost nil. We passed one car during a whole day of driving on this stretch. But if you meet another car, typically the driver will wave at you, either by a whole hand or just a finger.

Guess who had to climb the hill to take the picture; she was lucky not to meet any snakes......

LUNCH TIME

ULURU, a bit of history

2007-06-26T16:19:00.001+08:00

Map of our progress, going anti-clockwise around the continent.

We have less than 2 weeks left, lots of unsealed roads and a total of just under 2000 km. Arriving in Perth we will do some house sitting and we will try to find a buyer for the Landcruiser and the Kimberley camper trailer, either together or separately. Then we will also decide what to do with our block of land, to build or not to build, that is the question......

ULURU

No doubt, Uluru is one of the famous icons of Australia, together with the Harbour Bridge (coat hanger) and the Opera House in Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef. It is striking that in Kings Canyon and Uluru we now see so many overseas visitors (since we left Cairns). Imagine, in 1948 the first dirt track to Ayers Rock was constructed.

In 1985 the Uluru (Ayers Rock)-Kata Tjuta (Olgas) Land Trust was handed back to the local Aboriginals (Anangu) and they leased the land back to the Federal Government for 99 years.
In the beginning, there was a camping area just north of Uluru. As a National Park, all visitors are now located some 16 kilometers to the north of the rock in a newly constructed village, which has 5 hotels, a caravan park, backpackers facilities, shops, medical centre, etc.

This place (it is called Yulara) in the middle of the desert (443 km SW of Alice Springs and 265 km east of the WA border) now caters for a maximum of 5000 tourists, any day of the year!
When we watched the sun set over Uluru at one of the viewing areas last night, we were amongst more than 1000 others!

A new airport was constructed another 5 km to the north and every day busloads of tourists arrive. When entering the National Park $25 per person will get you a 3 day pass, including entry to the Cultural Centre on the south side of Uluru; this adds up to a total of A$8.2 million per year just for park entry fees and the Australian Federal Government adds another A$6.4 million funding. Almost all of this money is used to manage and upgrade the facilities.

Tanneke joined a dot painting course ($50), which was very interesting, sadly almost exclusively attended by overseas visitors. There are several guided walking tours or you can walk around the base of the rock (10 km). Already 35 rock climbing tourists have died over the years (heart attacks and falls) and the Aboriginals don't like anyone climbing their sacred site; their culture has a deep understanding of the earth and the creatures that live on it. The management now strictly controls the climbing conditions such as too early, too late, too wet, too cold, too hot, threatening rain or lightening, too windy, rescue activities or cultural events, in fact you could spend a whole week here and find the rock "closed" every day, much to the disappointment of some people who come from far at great expense to see and climb. I think there is somewhere a compromise here, realising that half the tourists would not bother going here if they could not climb the rock. However, the Olgas (40 km to the west and higher than Uluru) are out of bounds for climbers.

The Anangu have incredible inside knowledge of nature, plants and animals. Even these days, Aboriginal trackers will be employed when people get lost in the desert, their eyesight is truly amazing. We experienced this first hand when we visited Tim and Leah in Kalumburu in 2005 when an elderly lady in our boat spotted a sailing ship at the horizon before any of us could see anything at all.

We saw a video in the Cultural Centre which showed how they can survive in the desert using only plants and animals as food, they know where to find water, even if there has been no rain for a long period of time.

It is fascinating to spend a few days camping in the outback, still with creature comforts so close at hand. At night we hear the dingos howling, there is a local pack of about 40 near the rock and they behave similar to wolves. At night the sky is absolutely blazing with stars. In summer temperatures often exceed 40 degrees and the flies become unbearable but we find the nights very cold (near freezing) during winter time, such as now.

KINGS CANYON AND ULURU

2007-06-26T15:34:00.001+08:00

THE WORKING TOGETHER PAINTING by Jennifer Taylor.

For those interested in Aboriginal Art here is an explanation (click on the photo to enlarge):
The central circle represents Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The twelve seated figures are the members of the Board of Management: four pairs of male and female Anangu (brown) and four non-Anangu (white). They have surrounded the park with yuu, a traditional windbreak. This is the protection that their decisions and policies provide both for the culture and the environment of the park, as well as for park visitors. Waiting and listening to the Boards's decisions are the Anangu and non-Anangu rangers. The Anangu rangers are barefoot, representing their close connection with the land and knowledge derived from thousands of years of looking after the land. The non-Arangu rangers wear shoes, representing their land management training and knowledge derived from European scientific traditions. Surrounding all are two more yuu (windbreaks) representing the protection and support of Tjukurpa (Anangu traditional law) and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which are working together to guide the management and protection of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Undulating sand dunes and rich bushland encircle the park. (taken from the visitor's guide; Uluru=Ayers Rock; Kata Tjuta=the Olgas).

Have a look at the corrugated road, at times it goes on for hours and it rattles the fillings out of your teeth. Lower the tyre pressures and hit about 80 km/h and it is half bearable.

At Uluru in the Cultural Centre Tanneke did a course in dot painting and here is a sample of images often found on Aboriginal paintings.

Uluru just before sunset. On the right Tanneke's produce! Also pictures of Uluru at sunset and the view from the top.

The Standley Gorge is another impressive waterway cut through the Ranges.
Dingoes roam the country; we hear them at night, howling like wolves.

Driving west of Alice Springs we first see the Simpson Gap where a river took millions of years to erode a gap through the West Macdonnell Ranges. Note the sign behind Tanneke! Many camping areas are supplied with dedicated fire places to avoid bush fires getting out of hand; this family was cooking their meal in a "Dutch Oven", surrounded by hot ashes.

Tanneke is looking at spinifex, a very hardy and thorny plant that grows in large patches through the centre of Australia; it loves puncturing tyres and is infamous for getting caught around hot exhaust pipes with vehicles often burning down completely. The picture is taken after our walk through Palm Valley when we returned on the top of the escarpment.

Tennant Creek and southwards

2007-06-21T08:59:00.000+08:00

Bas, thank you for solving riddle no.2: DISILLDOUS on the back of a motorhome was: "this will do us" meaning the grey oldies are happy to retire and travel for as long as they can.

What about the first riddle?? INOURRI also on the back of a motorhome, a slow Nissan bus. Anyone?

And here is one found in the pub of Ross River Homestead, it cost $1 if you ask the bartender to explain: ISDERASMNEORSSEDSASDERISORSSRSS?

TRAVELING SOUTH: Tennant Creek is 1000 km south of Darwin and 500 km north of Alice Springs on the Stuart Highway.100 km South of Tennant Creek we find the Devil's Marbles; nature found a way of splitting rocks and then rounding off the edges. According to the local Aboriginals, this is the site where the rainbow serpent laid her eggs.

The center of Australia started opening up around 1870 when the first telegraph line was built from Adelaide to Darwin, to connect by cable to the rest of the world. With many relay stations along the way, a telegram from London to Adelaide would take about 7 hours to arrive. Operators in most of these very remote stations would write down the message in morse code, translate and then use the morse key to send it on. In 1877 the first town in Central Australia was established, it was Hermannsburg, 125 km SW of Alice Springs.

Tennant Creek, the last gold rush in Australia, mid 1930's, in the middle of the Great Depression. Here we see many Aboriginals, some active in art centres or working as road crews, but the majority living off the doll and sitting around. Recently there have been calls from some community leaders to change the social welfare system and link it to "good clean living" such as kids going to school, no abuse of alcohol, drugs, gambling, domestic violence and sexual abuse of in particular children. It is a very complex problem with no simple solutions. Moreover, the anti-discrimination acts will stop any laws relating to only Aboriginals. Having experienced apartheid in South Africa, we cannot understand why our government is still funding and creating so many separate services for Aboriginals, why can we not be all Australians, irrespective of race or cultural background?

This afternoon we will go to the Central Lands Council and apply for permits to travel through several areas of Aboriginal Land. Just today on the radio it was mentioned that the permit system will be overhauled.

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL ART
-It is the longest continuing art tradition in the world, at least 40,000 years and probably longer.
-There are hundreds of different Aboriginal cultures in Australia, all with their own unique form of cultural expression and ancestral language.
-Most artists are located in urban rural and remote communities and are connected to local art galleries.
-Authentic Aboriginal art includes documentation of the name of the artist, the title of the work, when the work was made, the language group of the artist and some appropriate cultural information.
-Although most Aboriginal artists are women, in 1971 a group of men started painting in Papunya after having been encouraged by a school teacher. They established in 1972 Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd. and are now highly regarded internationally.

This is the camping ground in Alice Springs, one of the driest places in Australia......

It seems we cannot get away from locals commenting like: "this is very unusual weather, we have never experienced this before". So once again, we had hardly stopped to camp in Alice Springs, and the rain came down in buckets. This time it was cold as well, during the night down to a few degrees above freezing. Tanneke bought a fan heater, which we now use when we have a powered site. When traveling around Australia with our children in 1990, we had 2 days of rain during the whole year, now we can count the days of sunshine; we have had two days of hot weather so far! Even Darwin is having temperatures in the low 20's.

At 200,000 km (very low km's for an Australian 12 year old Landcruiser, most have done over 300,000 or as much as 600,000 or more!) and with the central desert road in front of us, it was time to change the coil springs on the Landcruiser. Upgraded (thicker) coils resulted in the car going up by almost 100 mm, thus increasing the ground clearance and also stopping it from bottoming out on bad roads.

The East Macdonnell Ranges, N'Dhala Gorge 90 km east of Alice Springs; note the tilted layers of rocks, very similar to Arkaroola in the north Flinders Ranges in South Australia. On the right we see one of many petroglyphs (rock carvings) about 10,000 years old.

Trephina Gorge with the John Hayes Rockhole. We also visited the Ross River Homestead, built in 1890.

The Macdonnell Ranges stretch east to west for 400 kilometers, are around 340 million years old and were created around the same time as Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas); originally more than 3000 meters high but now eroded to lower levels.

The Todd River Regatta in Alice Springs is a yearly boating competition; unusual is the fact that the Todd river is normally dry (on average it holds water once a year- however has held water 6 times already this year) and thus the regatta is held with bottomless boats .....true!. I have seen a picture once and it is absolutely hilarious, boats with running legs sticking out underneath!
The yearly Camel Races is another crowd pleaser. And then there is the yearly Beanie Festival, don your own handmade creation. Although not a large city, more a town, Alice Springs surprises with many shops and eating places, 7 caravan parks and lots of art galleries; it is clear that tourism is a major source of income here.

Cooktown and Gulf country

2007-06-13T13:29:00.000+08:00

Rodeo was coming to Normanton, we missed out by a few days; the town's population tripled overnight.

Three Ways Roadhouse was just being refueled; the road train has 88 wheels.

In Tennant Creek I tried my luck at gold panning; I now understand why gold is so expensive (ended up with mostly mud).

This river crossing is near Lawn Hill; just imagine the water being 2 meters deep as it happens after heavy rain.

Lawn Hill is a beautiful spot, far away from the bitumen. But most of the area had turned to dust due to lack of rain for a long time. It is an oasis in an endless dry country.

Please meet Krys: about 8 meters long and its head alone weighs over 200 kg. It is an exact replica of one of the largest crocodiles in the world, shot by a lady called Krystina in 1957. We see lots of BIG models of fantasy (Big Banana, Big Crayfish, etc.) but the scary thought here is that this monster actually moved around the Normanton area not so long ago. Tanneke is just checking if she would have fitted......

In Croydon we found the resurrected Gulflander, a 1930's train that now runs for tourists once a week between Normanton and Croydon. The railway was built more than 120 years ago when gold was found near Croydon. It has no connection with any other line. This large area has had so many setbacks in the past but people keep trying to make a living. Floods, droughts, cyclones, epidemics and more. Tourism has now become an important part of the economy.

We checked this sign for the author but could not find one; interesting anyway.

On the way to Lawn Hill we found a prehistoric dig; 500 million years ago this area was an inland sea and huge birds roamed here. In the rock you can see part of a leg bone of this bird.

Someone nicked my crocs and walked away; when I wanted them back he hid behind his BIG Daddy and refused to return them......

How about a shoe lace tree? Click on the photo for enlargement of shoe strings.

The first part of the tour was conducted in a modified Landcruiser, just like an Oka, built in Cairns; perfect for off road tours.

The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable of all plants and animals. The tinnies are run on batteries that are recharged by solar panels. While moving through the water, they are completely silent. The water is at places more than 4 m deep; we also saw a fish that comes to the surface and spits at spiders which then drop in the water. This area is known for minerals and gems, in particular gold.

The cows were very friendly; Cobbold Station just runs only 10,000 of them.

Cobbold Gorge (85 Km south of Georgetown) was an unexpected beautiful surprise; we took a tour in an electric motor driven tinny.

Fresh water crocks and heaps of birds populate this gorge that is part of a private property.

On the road to Normanton, we were encouraged to run the car and trailer through an automatic wash street on the side of the road to get rid of seeds and plant material. In the outback we often find road condition signs at the beginning of long tracks (800 km plus...) and all drivers should check with the local police. No point in driving 600 km and then finding that you have to go back due to a deep river crossing, a muddy road or washed away sections, you may run out of fuel or get stuck for a week in between two river crossings. Some crossing have posts that mark the depth, can be up to 4 meters deep! If you get caught driving on a closed road you may get fined for the total amount of the repair costs; how much for say 500 km of churned up track?

When Captain Cook had to repair his ship, he had a major headache of finding a way through the Great Barrier Reef. He stood on this hill, as we did at sunset.
Here is the main street of Cooktown. Once again, the rain followed us and huge gusts of wind attacked the tent at night. Then we found that the rain had caused the Burke Development road to close, so we had to go further south and travel the Savannah Way to the west.

Cooktown, Bloomfield Track

2007-06-01T13:03:00.000+08:00

We are now going to be out of range for a while, could be up to 3 weeks, until we reach Alice Springs, although we should be able to read email now and then.

The Bloomfield track between Cape Tribulation and Cooktown had extremely steep sections (low range, 1st gear) plus mud, fallen trees, gullies and 8 creeks, two of which were deeper than we liked. But all went well with an average speed of 25 km/h over 4 hours.

Tanneke is showing the real hazard of falling coconuts, they can weigh more than 2 kg and when they fall 12 meters, it hurts!

At Cape Tribulation we ran into this Cassowary, looks like a giant turkey with very strong legs and beautiful colours. They are becoming very rare and we were lucky to spot this one.

From Cape Tribulation northwards, the track becomes strictly 4WD.

This ferry should still look familiar to our kids, when we crossed the same Daintree river in 1990. The other picture is taken on the beach of Port Douglas, a place even more glamorous than in 1990. The die hard sun bakers are still around although swimming is a serious risk with deadly stingers, crocks and sharks.

Once again we see the aftermath of some serious accidents, whereby foreigners forget that we are all driving on the wrong side of the road here.....

Cairns

2007-05-27T13:39:00.001+08:00

Since we were the last group, they had to deflate and pack the balloon and the basket was laid on its side; we had to stay there for several minutes to make sure that it would not take off again-every kilo counts!

Early Sunday morning launch!

The order of these pictures is mixed up.

Here is the second quiz. What does the word on the motorhome mean? Only real Aussies will get it. Hint: we are in the midst of "grey nomads". Please supply your answer in the comments at the bottom of this section. SHOKO??

This shot was taken a few hours ago from a hot air balloon! Yes, we got up at 4 am and were taken by bus to a place called Mareeba, about an hour west of Cairns. There they were filling the world's largest commercial balloon, the "400". It is 37 m. high, 28.7 m wide and can lift 20 people plus the pilot.
The envelope weighs about 400 kg, holds 400.000 cubic feet (oi, metric please) of air, which is heated to around 90 degrees C with 4 LPG burners. The pilot has a compass, a GPS, an altimeter and a two-way radio and before he takes off, they let up small helium balloons to check the wind directions at different levels. By opening side vents, the pilot can rotate the balloon but for the rest he depends on the wind direction, which can be very different at higher or lower levels. Before landing, the pilot spits overboard and watches where it goes, then he can work out if landing is safe, so that we do not end up in the trees or the power lines.
We were very lucky with the second flight of the day: so much rain around for the last days, so there were several clouds about. Just before landing, the pilot decided to go up from the usual 4.500 ft to about 6.500 ft, which shot us through the clouds into the sun! ABSOLUTELY MAGIC!!

Planes; Reef; Bowen ("Australia") movie in the making

2007-05-27T13:15:00.001+08:00

Another shot of the reef.

Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman had altered the town of Bowen beyond recognition. Bowen was the most suitable place in Australia to make it look like Darwin in the war, due to the jetty still being like some 63 years ago; all they had to do was change names of buildings, fit different street lights,

throw heaps of mud on the bitumen, build a new hotel and gather about 800 head of cattle from around Australia to put in newly built enclosures. The movie will show the bombing of the town by the Japanese and we were told that the hotel will go up in flames.

While staying at a caravan park near Airlie Beach, I discovered the airstrip next-door (could hardly miss it with all the noise). The red ultralight was for sale ($15.000 o.n.o.), heaps of water planes and then a 1931? Tigermoth, painted in dark colours, also for tourist flights. Hmmmmmm.

Queensland: Carnarvon Gorge, Whitsundays.

2007-05-26T06:27:00.000+08:00

Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays: beautiful in the extreme but overloaded with tourists (like us). We went on a boat tour and snorkeled the reef.

On the right: Cape Palmerston Beach, no water, no toilet, no power, no people and no charges-just NOTHING! (only midges, mossies, sharks, crocs, stingers and other life threatening hazards like falling coconuts).

Fruit stalls along the road rely on the honesty of travelers; this one even offers change!

OK, who can work out this text? Reply in "comments" lower down. There is another one coming, a bit harder. Shoko??

Cape Palmerston south of Airlie Beach was only accessible by driving on the beach at low tide. We tried very hard not to get bogged (the difference in high and low water was around 4 meters!) We were just the two of us, apart from mossies and sand fleas...... Fortunately they mostly like Tanneke -:)

Nature can filter the rain water as seen here in a side gorge, called Moss Garden.

The view from the top is stunning. Carnarvon National Park is more than 100 km long. The gorge is formed by a combination of volcanic action, a huge inland sea, depressions and water erosion.
Dinosaur foot prints have been found in the different layers of rock and sandstone.

An amazing palm that can grow for more than 1000 years is pictured here.
It is a macrozamia, a type of cycad (palm) with woody nuts that are extremely poisonous with cyanide in their natural state. The local Aboriginals know how to deal with it: they cook them and then ask for a volunteer elder to taste them first....

Some joker put up this sign on the way out of the gorge, note the punt about soul.

The Carnarvon Creek early in the morning, we were the first!!

Carnarvon Gorge is famous, but we had not seen it on our trip in 1990. Heavy rains a few months ago had washed away lots of trees and bushes. Here two beautiful "pretty face or whip tail" wallabies, drinking in the early morning.

I have tried to make the pictures smaller so there can be more. Please click on the photos to see a lot more details.

We are off on a special adventure tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 4 am........... if the weather is good. More later.

Queensland, Brisbane

2007-05-08T09:05:00.000+08:00

Just arrived in Brisbane, staying with Kate Walpole, behind the camper is the house she shares with a friend (no, we did not camp on the street..).

After visiting two more national parks on the Queensland side of the border with NSW, we stayed with Kate Walpole for the Labour Day long weekend. One afternoon we drove south and visited Peter Schuiringa, his wife Cathy and daughter Sarah (their son Patrick was diving in W.Australia). 17 years had passed since we last met and we had a great time. Peter used to live on the farm "next-door" in Kommerzijl where we went to primary school.

These parasitic vines have surrounded a large tree and will eventually kill it and then survive on their own. The picture is taken near Natural Bridge, which is a waterfall through a hole in a huge rock. We visited Springbrook National Park and later we drove to Binna Burra in the Lamington National Park, before driving further north- west to Beaudesert.
Kate and Tanneke go for a walk near the Story Bridge in Brisbane, early Saturday morning.

NATURAL BRIDGE

Leaving NSW, entering Queensland

2007-05-04T09:32:00.000+08:00

If you click on the map, you may see more detail. We have drawn in the first half of our trip.

Just north of Ballina, on the NSW coast, we visited the first commercial tea tree farm in Australia, called the Thursday Plantation (the licence was issued on a Thursday). If you have never used any of the many different tea tree products, you are certainly doing yourself short. The gardens around the factory include a permanent art exhibition with some beautiful designs. In Ballina we visited the factory where our trailer was made. A team of 25 people complete 3 trailers in two days. Two minor repairs were done under warranty and all is well again. We are very impressed with their quality of work!

On the right the view of Boonoo Boonoo National Park, west of Lismore. On the left the remains of "tank traps" (cut-off tree stumps) built during WWII as a secondary obstacle for invading Japanese armies from the north. The first obstacle was the "burn and poison" tactic, meaning withdrawing all people and leaving nothing for the invading armies. Hostile terrain, the incredible distances and poisoned water wells would have created a logistic nightmare for the invaders.

At Bald Rock National Park on the Queensland border, we did some bouldering. Bas and Daan check out how we have mastered the bouldering technics, clinging to smooth rock ......

The views were amazing.

Moree, NSW, in the middle of the drought, had a special surprise for us in store in the form of artesian springs. Actually they were allowed to drill down to 750 m into the artesian basin, which covers most parts of Australia. There were 4 different pools, 35, 37, 39 and 41 degrees and yes, it was wonderful. Lots of "Grey Nomads" make a detour to soak the old bones.

Before we got to Nimbin, we took a western detour and visited Moree, a thriving country town where they cultivate cotton, pecan nuts and sorghum. On the right you see the leave, the bulb, the bloom and the cotton with a multitude of seeds inside. On the left we see a huge machine which surrounds a semi trailer and picks up a compressed block of cotton which is covered with a tarp and which is then stored in a paddock for a while before being picked up again and transported to the mill where the seeds are removed from the cotton. The cotton is then compressed and wrapped, ready for transport (95% to China, 5% to Bonds in Australia).
The drought has reduced the crops to 50% this year and they will not be able to plant any new crops until rain falls.

Next to the house near Nimbin where we stayed in 1990 the new owners showed us their "pets", two huge carpet snakes. They are happy to keep them around the house because they keep the rat population in check.

Thanks to Kate's computer, we can upload pictures again. The sequence is not quite right, but here is a shot of Nimbin, NSW, which we also visited in 1990. There was a huge music festival (Aquarius) in 1973, ala Woodstock, and a group of hippies bought one of the last remaining bits of rain forest, complete with waterfalls and including a sawmill. Originally it was a purely agricultural community, but now the "alternatives" moved in and

cannabis became part of the local scene which later attracted a lot of "socially disadvantaged" people. Today Nimbin is a tourist attraction and art in various ways is demonstrated through out. The Tuntable Falls area is still the same separate community with most of their original principles in place. We find it a fascinating community because the mixture of cultures and ideas seem to co-exist fairly well. The garage where I worked in 1990 was thriving and they offered me a job on the spot!

Sydney and further north in country NSW

2007-04-14T14:00:00.000+08:00

West of Sydney we spend almost a week with Kees (Renne's remote cousin) and Annemiek Poll (and Lilly the boxer), who have built a house on 10 acres. They spoiled us with lots of time spend together and the luxuries of a house. We hope that one day they will visit Perth so we can return their hospitality.

At Lane Cove National Park we found the trees three times the size compared to1990 when we stayed at the same place with the kids. The parrots love the bottle brushes.
How could we go past Bathurst (again) and not visit? No way! So here we are, ready to "hit the mountain" in record speed; it took less than 15 minutes with photo stops included. Speed limit was 60 and traffic goes both ways with a winery and other private properties inside and around the track. Caltex chase is actually sharper than it looks and they are building a huge apartment block right on the outside corner!! I was amazed that we could just drive on the track without any restrictions. How about losing your license for doing 120 km/h down Conrod Straight with a trailer in tow.....

At Nundle we went to see a Country Festival and it was a real show with lots of locally produced food and a sheep shearing demo on the corner of the pub. Check out the two blokes providing the shearing power!

Made me think of my year as AFS exchange student with the Shaw family on a sheep farm in Illinois, USA. The guy was obviously experienced with full length wool cut and no nicks at all!!

At Tamworth I played my first game of cricket (after 25 years in Oz, never too late..) and hit one for six when the ball landed under a tent and it took them ages to find it. I have to report as well that my third ball as bowler hit the bottom of the stumps. Maybe I should have started earlier?

Siding Springs Observatory (near Coonabarabran, the astronomy capital of Australia) offered a two hour tour and it was very impressive. It turned out that there were at least 7 optical telescopes, many operated by students at remote computers around the world.

Mount Kaputar (+1500 m) formed 17 million years ago. We camped near the top and saw some stunning views; once again we have warm days and cold nights and while it is still Easter School Holidays, we meet many families with children. Tanneke bought another blanket (for bush camping) and a small heater for the times we are connected to power at a caravan park. We are staying a few days in Narrabri and although the library has new computers, they don't allow uploads. But the caravan park has wireless and it works!

Cotton, sunflowers, sorghum and wheat are the main sources of income although coal mining is a constant threat..... Warrumbungle National Park, SW of Narrabri is another volcanic remnant with abundance of wildlife such as 14 different sorts of snakes (Gosse?). With our camper trailer we can always find a spot, even if the place is fully booked.

Tomorrow we will drive further north and visit the hot springs at Moree; then we will head east towards the coast. Moree is the artesian spa capital of Australia. Cotton (two thirds of Oz cotton production grows in the Moree Shire). They also grow Pecan Nuts (70,000 trees on one farm), wheat, cereal, olives, cattle and sheep. It seems that every country town in NSW is the capital of something in Australia (?). Cotton growing needs lots of water and we wonder what the future will be with the severe shortage of the last years.

Orange, NSW

2007-03-24T10:08:00.000+09:00

Going back (finally a computer that can upload the pictures) to the Snowy Hydro Scheme with one of the huge generating stations; this one can feed 5 high voltage 3- phase power lines, which connect to the grids of NSW, Victoria and Tasmania. But only 2 generators were working when we visited due to lack of water.

Many trees in the burned forest survive and regeneration occurs in many different ways; here we see many green shoots coming out of the bark (enlarge photo by clicking on it).

Just west of Canberra we found several farms that were reduced to dust; here are over 1000 sheep surviving only on the feed the farmer supplies. When we stopped the car to look, many came running thinking that the diesel sound of the Landcruiser meant food was going to arrive...

It was very sad to see but "the rain makers" that we have been ever since we left Perth, it took only another 24 hours and several showers arrived which must have meant heaven to the sheep and the farmers as well!

At one of the highest spots just into NSW on the Barry Way; the scenery is not nice with all the burned forest, but nature is restoring itself slowly.

The kids will remember this spot in Jyndabine, right next to the lake; only this time it was nice and warm!

The Carcoar Dam near Blainey turned out to be a beautiful spot with free overnight, rain water tanks, (cold) showers and decent toilets; we found this spot with a million dollar view. The water in the dam was less than 20%, even after recent rain. Te lake is also used for rowing, but due to the low level there were warnings of bacteria and swimming was banned. The water is used for irrigation and we were surprised to see so much green with cattle and sheep.

A few cold nights

2007-03-16T11:18:00.000+09:00

Note: still having problems uploading some pictures, will try again later.
BTW, we have a new mobile phone which is supposed to work in the CDMA regions (mostly used by farmers, has better coverage) and in the USA as well....but not in the desert, I suppose.

We thought that we picked the seasons right for the trip, going anti-clockwise. But we have had a few cold nights (socks, track suits, beanie and hot water bottle) near Cabramurra, the highest village in Oz at 1488 m. The town was created during the construction of the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme, which has a multitude of dams and hydro power stations. The construction took more than 25 years and saw around 100,000 people employed, most of them very new immigrants, who could often not speak English. Italians, Yugoslavs, Polish, English, Irish, Scottish, they were all there, a few with their families and they did all the hard work in atrocious conditions. 125 died on the job. It was also the introduction of the Toyota Landcruiser to Australia at the initiative of Thiess, who then became the first Toyota Dealer later on. The Landcruisers turned out to be much more reliable than the Landrovers and American trucks they used first.
Hydro is also the main source of energy in Tasmania, but the recent (couple of years now) lack of rain has caused Tasmania to import power (electricity) from the main land for the first time and Victoria and NSW are trading power as the need arises. We wonder about climate change and the wisdom to invest so much into hydro power while sun energy appears to become more appropriate.

Through the Snowy Mountains

2007-03-16T10:20:00.000+09:00

Hmm, an unstable rock wall on the right and 500 m down on the left, no guard rail, no bitumen, no room to pass another vehicle and steep enough for first gear...., this road caused some concern; good thing it was not raining! A 4-WD coming from the top was so nice to reverse and crawl against the rock face on the wrong side of the road, so that we could pass over the edge........

Up and down for hours and hours, some very lonely places and then the signs such as: Ha Ha Creek or Seldom Seen Creek.

"The fires were so intense that a thunderstorm formed above the rising column of heat; the clouds known as pyrocumulus generated lightning which reportedly started 5 new fires near the Victorian border; the fire was like a tornado (30.1.03). Two fires were pushed together and the rising heat became a massive, unstable air column with gale force winds burning 100,000 ha in one day".

We have driven through burned forests for days on end; it is very sad to see all these trees destroyed, but somehow nature recovers and we can see new green appearing from underneath the bark. Some of the trees that died are now cut and transported on log trucks on a massive scale, with trucks coming from Queensland to rush the timber to the mills before they turn "blue" and become useless for furniture or chipping.

Despite the fires and drought, this tree is still showing flowers. We are near the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme area, which included opening new roads to an otherwise inaccessible region (NSW).

Oi, what happened to the car and trailer? No worries, we were camped next to a creek and it was great to hear the water
rushing over the rocks at night. Only two other campers were nearby. Thanks to the off-road capabilities we were able to get so close to the water, which came from a natural spring further up.

Tasmania, NW

2007-03-01T09:37:00.000+09:00

More pictures of Dismal Swamp.

Some plants looked very scary down there, as if someone was watching us......

Here is the rest of the Big Tree. At Freycinet National Park (on the east coast) the sea pounds the rocks relentlessly.

From Corinna northwards there is a very scenic, long, dirt road going north to Arthur River. Steep at places (1st gear!) and dusty all the way: white powder looking like cement! We also visited Dismal Swamp, near Stanley. It is a 70 m sink hole with fascinating plant and animal life at the bottom. It is the only sink hole that has not been drained and it has its own ecosystem with tiny crayfish that burrow and make small chimneys which aerates the soil. The Black wood trees love the moist atmosphere. Descending to the floor of the sink hole can be done by slide or walking down a ramp. Here is an example of the lifetime history of one of these trees.

Lake Dove at Cradle Mountain was still as magic as always; we were lucky with good weather and walked the 2.5 hours around it.

Near Scottsdale we met a Taiwanese biker who was a illustrator artist and he showed us his diary with daily notes and drawings; we had a meal together with him and he left us with self designed post cards. Jeff has travelled many places in the world. On the right is a 400 year old stringy bark tree with a base of 16 meters and a height of 62 m.

Stanley in the North is one of the oldest towns in Tasmania and lots of houses are still in original condition. The "Nut" is a volcanic hill (152 m) right next to it with beautiful views when you use the cable car or walk to the top. When they wanted to make a new harbour they used enormous amounts of dynamite and when the big bang came, nothing happened...... Until 12 years later when 400 ton of rocks suddenly dropped off the side into the ocean!

The area has been used for sheep and cattle and flies are around in great numbers. On the very NW corner of the Island there are huge wind generators, each one 100 m high; they make use of the "roaring forties", strong westerly winds that come all the way from Cape Horn in South America. Each generator is good for the supply of electricity to 1500 homes. The private company that runs the generators and the cattle country is called Woolnorth. Not sure why this track near Coles Bay was named like this.

The Pancake House survived a very nasty huge fire not long ago.

If you want to cross the Pieman river at Corinna, there are some interesting instructions nearby. The Tasmanians have a great sense of humour!

Looking at the spot where we camped in 1990; the site is only for tents now.

NW and N of Tasmania

2007-03-01T09:19:00.000+09:00

When driving over the Elephants Pass near St.Marys, we have to stop for a taste at the famous pancake house and find an interesting sign:

The Bay of Fires, on the NE coast, it was a little paradise when we visited Tasmania in 1990 with the kids. The sea, the dunes and the lagoon, we stayed then for a whole week and there were no other campers in sight. Now the lagoon was very low and dirty due to lack of water. The road is bitumen now and there were lots of campers. We camped at the next beach for two nights.

Scottsdale, Tasmania

2007-02-19T12:25:00.000+09:00

Just a quick update. To all our kids: the Bay of Fires is still a magic place, even when the lagoon was almost dry and not very clean, the beach and the sea were just as wonderful as in 1990. But "our" spot is now for tents only and there are lots more bays and beaches with a sealed road along the coast and many more tents/caravans/trailers. We camped two nights about 200 m further north, also a great place.
BTW, we heard from Jude Maskew that "zuurpruim" left his home horizontally by ambulance on Australia Day and has not been seen since, presumed to be dead.... Thought you might want to know.
Bernie and Jude have been so nice to check out Danmar Homes and the report is mostly negative to the tune of us wanting another builder/quote from D&C or otherwise it is goodbye and we will start again, but probably later this year (July/August) when hopefully the mad building rush has gone a bit. We may look for a rental place in the area for the time being, we will see.
We are now in Scottsdale and will head west, via Cradle Mountain, to the very NW corner of Tasmania. Weather has been fine, warm but lots of march flies (marsh flies?), you know the sneaky ones that attack from behind and then take three seconds before they use their needle.
More stories and pictures soon, we hope.

HOBART,still

2007-02-14T08:20:00.000+09:00

Near Russell Falls in Mt.Field National Park Tanneke finds shelter in an old stringy bark tree. During the day we don't see a lot of animals, but the sign shows that at night time there is plenty of activity.

In Cloudy Bay we find the water full of red alga. We are not sure yet what the story behind this is. In any case it is clear why they call it 'cloudy bay'.

The quiet spot at Cockle Creek before the invasion arrived.

Russell falls did not show much water due to the lack of rain, obviously.

The view from Mt.Wellington (1270 m) is absolutely stunning on a clear day.

This shot of the Dutch Lion took me 8 pictures, because the digital cameras are always 'slow' and you miss the right moment on a moving object. But being digital, just click away and erase the bad ones...

In the harbour of Hobart we found replicas of the Endeavor and the Dutch "Duyfken"; they were part of the Wooden Boat Festival and have sailed around the world many times. When we see the 'Nederlandse Leeuw in het vaandel' we still feel partly Dutch.

On the way to the ski slopes we find drinking water catchments and tall posts along the road for the snow ploughs in winter.

The Antarctic room at the Botanical Gardens in Hobart, temperature is kept at 9 degrees C.

Also a very special cactus for Imogen; there was a whole green house full of different cacti (elephant cactus= elephant foot?).

Chish and Fips?

It did the trick, we noticed it!

The French did a better job than the Dutch and the English when landing on Aboriginal territory; they established friendly and useful relationships and not a shot was fired. This picture is taken at Recherche Bay near Cockle Creek where we camped all by ourselves in the late afternoon. It was a different story the next morning, we were surrounded by tents, a marquis and ABC television camera crews. A "long boat" was then rowed from the shore in memory of the first French arrivals. The event was organised by the Living Boat Trust.

Where the Huon and the Picton river meet, there is a beautiful air walk, a steel structure that is suspended 45 meters above the river, like a cantilever. The rivers are brown from the tannin in the water. We saw some "young" huon pines, very rare while they were all cut down soon after the arrival of European settlers. The trees can grow to 2500 years old, so it will take a while before they are re-established...... Selected logging of other trees is ongoing with mixed feelings of different groups.

Just a quick summary of what we have done so far. After a rough voyage crossing the Bass Strait, we found a cabin in Devonport where we could sleep warm and without the howling wind.
We decided to travel straight through to Hobart the next day and found a tiny spot in a caravan park that was right next to a busy highway, on a slope and near the entrance, about the size of two tents.
The next day we visited Joe, the man I worked for twice in 1990 and he suggested we go to the showgrounds, very similar to the Perth Royal Show grounds, inclusive cable chairs and the once a year huge show. The rest of the year they make some money out of tourists, mostly motor homes and caravans. There is a minimal amount of showers and toilets, water and electricity, but for $16 a night, nobody complains. Some people have camped here since October. We were one of 5 campers, but that changed this last weekend when over 100 motor homes rolled in to see the Hobart Cup (horse races), the Sailing Regatta and more. Every caravan park in and around Hobart (there is a total of 3!) was full to the last square meter. It is amazing how many 'grey nomads' have sold their house and keep moving around in relative luxury. Some have bought a cap/chassis truck and designed their own home on the back; every thinkable combination, all with some good points and some limitations, are on show here.
Joe and his wife Anne invited us to spend the next weekend on Bruny Island, where they have a "shack", really a comfortable house and we talked, painted and explored the island.
But before all this we visited Mal and Bock and their children and after so many years and one false start in 2001 we finally managed to meet up again and it was very nice. Also Coosje's father and her eldest brother's family was on the list of visiting, both very nice to see again.
We have gone to the library of Glenorchy almost every day to book one of the 20 computers for two times one hour (one for Tanneke and one for me), this is a free service with access to printer, email and internet. We can also get DVD's and books of course, all for free. The laptop is a very good cinema screen in the evenings when we can sit inside the tent.
We have been south as far as Cockle Creek, done the Huon Air Walk and watched the sailing boats in the harbour of Hobart and drove up Mount Wellington for a super view of Hobart and surroundings, amongst many other things. Tasmania is really a beautiful place with huge amounts of forests, endless walks and wonderful beaches, but just a bit cold for us except in summer. People are generally relaxed, very friendly and have time to talk. In the shops they will gladly refer you to a different business if they cannot help, even make phone calls!

Anyway, we will be going "bush" again today and hope to send pictures soon after.

Special greeting to Shoko who wrote a note on this blog. We are looking forward to hear how she is doing.

TASMANIA

2007-02-06T09:44:00.000+09:00

We are having a few problems uploading photos and text, so it will have to wait until we can get to an internet cafe that allows uploading or direct connection with our laptop. Meanwhile all is well, we will cross over to Bruny Island for 4 days and then travel north to the NE and NW corners of Tasmania.

Montana 1 year old/ improvements to the car

2007-01-27T08:11:00.000+09:00

Montana had a huge birthday party and Tim and Leah went out of their way to make something special out of it. Lieke sent us this picture. We also saw pictures of a "mechanical bull" set up in the street and Montana riding it with one of Tim's friends. He was dancing to the music most of the day...!

It is great how we keep in touch with text messages and email.

Tanneke was not happy with the "1.5" seat on the left; officially made for two people, it has gained a reputation of being uncomfortable for the left person, who virtually sits on the seatbelt buckle and tends to slide off towards the door and the centre person who has no room at all. So off we went to the wreckers and swopped the seat for a decent (one) person seat and got the centre console with it. The luggage in the back was also not ideal with three large boxes and heavy tools secured with a seat belt and a fishing net. I found a company near Adelaide and they made a double drawer unit which was freighted to a depot in Melbourne. One drawer now holds all the tools and only the table and chairs will sit on the top with a fishnet securing them. The added bonus is that the drawers can only be opened when the doors are unlocked and even the drawers have a HD lock on them. It is all made from marine plywood and proper bearings, all surfaces are carpeted and on the sides are more storage areas with lids. The back seat will still fit in the car when we return (after removal of the fridge of course).

We will board the ferry to Tasmania tomorrow morning (Sunday) and it may be a while before we have another opportunity to upload photos.

Staying with Father David/ Melbourne/tennis

2007-01-27T07:31:00.000+09:00

Here is another shot of one of the huge wind generators in South Australia.

Mount Shank, just south of Mr.Gambier is another volcano but this one has lost its water for a while.

Father David, whom we know from Lesotho (he worked there for more than 30 years) runs the St.Michael's Priory at Diggers Rest, half an hour's drive NW of Melbourne. Nearby we see "zebra" cows, only one stripe.....

We spent one day in Melbourne and I was lucky to obtain a centre court ticket for the match between Serina Williams and Peer, the Israeli girl. Then Andy Roddick and Marty Fish played. It was awsome to be amongst the cheering and very rowdy crowd and sit about three metres from the court; how I got that ticket is another story..... because everything is sold out. You can still get a general pass which will give you access to the grounds and all the other courts.

closer to Melbourne

2007-01-24T18:44:00.000+09:00

It is amazing how many tourists are on the road and in Victoria there are many signs near camping or roadside viewing areas where they remind European and US visitors of the "keep left" rule after they have been distracted by some awesome sights........
Father David Wells shows us around the area north of Melbourne where he lives and where we can stay for a week.
"The birthplace of the Ashes" is the Holy Grail of all Aussie cricketers.

The builders of Melbourne's (until recently) tallest building (The Rialto-253 m high) were so kind to refurbish the Cross on Mount Macedon after rust, rain, fires and lightning destroyed the original structure built in the 1920's, at their own costs.

Visited by the first prospectors on their way to the gold fields in the 1800's we find "Hanging Rock" which became famous after a book written in the 1970's called "Picnic at Hanging Rock" and later filmed in the 1990's. It is a vulcanic uprising and the story describes some school girls disappearing at the top after a picnic. I was surprised to get myself lost at least 6 times between the many rock formations with rain channels running in every direction, before finding the path downwards again.

Adelaide to Melbourne

2007-01-24T17:45:00.001+09:00

If you think we have "computer enhanced" the picture of the Blue Lake near Mt.Gambier, then you are wrong; it is a volcano filled with water and the colour at certain times of the day is just incredible!
In the Otway Ranges near Apollo Bay in Victoria we find the Beauchamp Falls in one part of the rain forest.
There are 3 treetop walks in Australia, one near Walpole in WA, one in Tasmania and here we see one in the Otway Ranges, which is the largest one with tower and canterlever walk, some 60 meters above the forest floor.

Near Meningie in South Australia we find a huge wind farm. They are just adding another 80 wind generators and here is a picture of the crane which was used to fit the three blades. Note the 3 men near the hook at the end. There is a lot of discussion here regarding the cost and energy needed to build them and how much they can produce while running costs and maintenance need to be paid for as well.

The drought has been so bad here that the farmers resort to irrigation, if they have access to water. This circular pattern is quite a sight from the air.

Most places we visit have seen at least 5 months without any rain and farmers have to irrigate to keep crops alive. Here is an example of circular irrigation, quite a spectacular sight from the air.

The south coast is pretty wild and hundreds of ships have come to grief here over the last two centuries.
Camping in Victoria is restricted due to fires and also for administrative reasons; we still find some nice spots but again the weather is not kind to us: wherever we go, we end up with wind, rain or sand storms. (see picture of collapsed tent of another family)
Before the next 40 hours of heavy, constant rain that kept us locked up in the tent, we visited the Beauchamp Falls, part of a subtropical forest.

The Kampertrailer was delivered with one gas bottle and yes, it ran empty, of course when we needed it. Introduce our "Companion" a single burner unit with "spraycan butane" cylinder and automatic ignition. Very hot and useful when the weather is so bad that the thought of cooking outside is not attractive, or let's say, impossible due to high winds and rain. This little beauty can actually be used inside the camper tent. Highly recommended for anyone considering camping, cost about $22 plus $2 for a cartridge, if you shop around.

We visit the Coorong

2007-01-06T07:09:00.000+09:00

Kingoonya has 4 inhabitants, one family of 3 and one old man living by himself. The pub/motel/restaurant is open 7 days a week and they make a terrific meal. Never judge a place from just the outside! Colin and his wife and kids bought the place 6 months ago and hope that changes to the roads will bring them more business.

At Wilpena we camp next to a hill with kangaroos and beautiful views.

Another beautiful camping (started in 1946) in the centre of Adelaide allows us to take their last spot (school holidays, everything is full). The caravan next to us has airconditioning and it is quite noisy. That evening we spotted two possums, one with a baby. They run straight up the tree and then jump on the caravan's roof to drink from the water dripping out of the aircon unit, waking the owners......hehe. In the morning we hear the monkeys in the zoo next door.

We are now in the Coorong, the waterways at the mouth of the Murray River. There are 200 different bird species, many of which make a yearly return journey to northern Alaska. The main lagoon is 140 km long and only 4 km wide. The name comes from the Aboriginal word Kyrangh, which means "the long neck". They have not had rain here since April 2006, so they have welcomed us, the rain makers. We are the first of a whole lot of campers who suddenly decide to use the Lake Albert Motel. I am trying to get a second night free if we can produce another day of rain, but the clouds are clearing this morning.

We bring rain to Meningie (Lake Albert)

2007-01-06T06:41:00.000+09:00

The people of Coober Pedy (maximum 57 degrees!) live mostly underground, including a church, complete houses, swimming pool and camping. They are not allowed to do more mining in the town, but within your area, you can add more rooms (particularly if you find more opals...).

When you travel through a remote area and find two airplanes mounted vertically, what would you think?

The owner of the property checks out two uninvited visitors hiding in the bush. Her name is Kaeli and she is 15. Tanneke found some carrots and the horse is happy. Kaeli's family runs sheep and their neighbours are 15 km away. The total area of their farm is 40,000 hectares, about 1000 times more than our original farm in Groningen.
The Northern Flinders Ranges is a geologist's paradise because the earth is tilted and raised and shows history of the last 560 million years on the surface. You can actually drive for 10 km and cross 80 million years......It makes us realise how insignificant we actually are.

The weather is playing havoc

2007-01-06T06:09:00.000+09:00

Back in Holland??? Complete with a working windmill, a Dutch couple re-created in WA their own familiar place. They run a restaurant now.

More sand dunes at Christmas. There are always people with sense of humor.

The weather has gone funny everywhere. A cyclone in Geraldton, extreme rains in the southern part of WA, flooding in Esperance, then cold and rain on the south coast in South Australia and cool weather in Coober Pedy, then hot and now wet in Adelaide. All this has happened before but not at this time of the year.

Crossing some very lonely places

2007-01-01T20:38:00.000+09:00

The manufacturer of our trailer claims that it will go where the car goes; here is an example of the extreme offroad swivel hitch capabilities, not a scrape or groan!

We were thinking of Renee and Bas in Namibia when we came across these dunes, not far from Lake Eyre. Kangaroos and camels complete the picture, but you have to click on it to enlarge it and find some....

What about the piece of space junk that came down near Balladonia? It is now mounted on the roof of the road house (a replica, NASA took the original in a hurry and did not give it back); so much for foreign junk being dumped in Australia........

Second attempt to download photos

2006-12-27T11:31:00.000+09:00

We are amazed at the capabilities of the Cruiser (climbing the rock before in 2WD, not even trying). On the next picture, driving on the beach, again 2WD.

The very dark sky before the temperature dropped from 44 degrees to 14 in about an hour, with first bees attacking, then lightning, rain and ripping winds. The road to Balladonia should have been closed after 40 mm of rain overnight. Rocks, grease limestone and sand greeted us and often the question was: "To dive or not to dive", not knowing how deep the water was going to be. We had it splashing over the bonnet a few times and it was certainly axle deep.
When we say "remote" in Australia, it means REMOTE. This sign means that along the main road west of Esperance Ted and Bev Hill are very likely the only people living on Koornong Road and just to make sure that they get a few visitors now and then, they put up the sign that you do have to drive 5 kilometers before you find their farm. We later found a town with exactly 4 inhabitants, one family of 3 and one old man living by himself. The nearest towns are small and some 300 km away. They run a pub/motel/restaurant and their daughter studies primary school by internet. On Boxing Day the "neighbours" dropped in for a coffee; they live 150 km away on a farm that measurers around 100 by 200 km; they have sheep and some cattle.

2006-12-27T11:12:00.000+09:00

Parry Beach, just west of Denmark, very nice, shaded and protected from the wind.

Internet access hard to find

2006-12-26T19:13:00.000+09:00

Coober Pedy, south of Alice Springs, very much in the middle of Australia. This is a quick message to let y'all know that we are fine and from today much warmer! Parry Beach, just west of Denmark was beautiful. The last warm weather was experienced in Mason Bay, west of Esperance. We found it just short of paradise before we ran into some bad hazards in the form of bees, lightning, rain and strong winds the next day, to the point that we thought the roof of the campertrailer would blow off during the night! Next to us was a nice family who got stung twice. Then we went camping at Wharton (Duke of Orleans Bay), east of Esperance, where we stayed two nights. Several National Parks were closed due to fires (caused by long spell of drought and then lightning). Then the roads were closed due to heavy rainfall and the temperature dropped from 44 degrees to 14..... We drove along a road that was still open but should have been closed. There were puddles more than axle deep, sand and heavy mud and a few times we were not even sure if we would get stuck in the middle of a large mud lake. Several times we had to divert into the bush to avoid deep water which was murky, so it was anyone's guess how deep it was. When we finally hit the bitumen again after about 6 hours, we saw only one car, coming the other way. So it was a real test for man and machinery but we are very happy with both. Fuel use has settled at 12.5 l/100 km and 1l/30 km LPG.
The Eyre Bird Observatory was next on the list, an interesting and nice experience. But we kept having strong winds and cold weather (socks, thermals and more in bed!) while I kept looking for my beany, and this is in the middle of summer in Australia!!!
Finally, in Ceduna (South Australia) we had enough, the weather report said snow in Victoria, 12 degrees in South Australia, so we cut through part of the desert and the Gawler Ranges and arrived in Coober Pedy today after driving another 850 km, most of it on rough corrogated roads with many sandy spots. Last night we saw huge sand dunes and lots of kangaroos plus some camels and we decided to spend the night next to a salt lake. We have some great picturers, but cannot download at the moment; wireless routers are still on the wishlist of every internet access point we have found sofar. We plan to stay one extra day here and then head east, more gravel roads, via Lake Eyre and the Flinders Ranges, to continue to Adelaide to do some errants.
Good news was the receipt of the new lease contracts which we had asked them to mail to Esperance; we signed for another 10 years and mailed the papers back to Perth. It means that for the next couple of years we will still be lease holders until we can hand over the lease.
Coober Pedy is a very strange place; opal mining has made this town and half of the houses are underground, they told us. It gets very hot here in summer (except now) the record stands at 57 degrees (I would also go underground at that sort of heat!
Problems? Of course, there are always a few. The electric brakes on the trailer would not work and I found out that the 6 brake lights (4 on the Cruiser, 2 on the trailer, plus the electric brake controller) were too much for the fuse of 10 Amp. So I removed two brake light globes on the Cruiser. Today the immobiliser failed to start the car, the second unit helped out, so we must have a bad battery or a faulty switch. Sand and dust has been a daily problem, particularly on the bad roads and especially when camping next to the sand dunes last night. The central locking system does not like bad roads and is failing to unlock......Daan????
There are little things that are not practical in the trailer and we are making a list for the manufacturer. Another unexpected problem was mud in the pad locks, especially the one that locks the coupling! Flapping canvas and squeaking frame poles still need sorting out. We are also trying out the best way to fold the two folding chairs, they sit fantastic and are absolutely hopeless to fold and store. The UHF radio is magic and the new CD player even takes bad roads without skipping.
We have already met lots of interesting people, mostly young ones from Europe but also many "grey nomads" like us. In Ceduna we met a Dutch couple from Hellevoetsluis, who have come to Australia for the 8th time in the last 7 years and have travelled almost every major and minor road; they have seen more of the continent than most Australians.
We will keep trying to download pictures as soon as we have an opportunity.

December 13, we leave Perth, going south.

2006-12-12T22:22:00.000+09:00

First one weekend and now a week at a different place, our camper trailer has passed all tests and we are ready to go. Harry and Leonie were kind enough to lend us a camping spot at their property, but still with the backup of a room in their house.
Here we see Harry taking out the recycle bin, their driveway is a long hike and Harry loves his multi-function tractor.

The second picture shows the camper setup complete with awning and tropical roof (and Harry's trailer) On the side of the tent is a fridge, which is now semi-permanently bolted to the floor of the Landcruiser; it runs on 240 or 12 Volt. The Cruiser also has a new CD player, an inverter to make 240 Volt for charging camera and torch batteries, a powerful HF radio which allowed me to talk to another traveler near Adelaide (2500 km away), a UHF-CB radio to communicate with truckies, caravaners and other road users and an EPIRB for a disaster situation, which sends out a satelite signal like SOS. When it works OK, rescue teams are supposed to start looking for us........ (Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon)

Trip preparations have started

2006-11-21T11:12:00.000+08:00

Not the real thing as yet! I signed up for an "All Terrain" course, making sure we get to know the limits of our vehicle and generally learn about 4WD and the Australian outback. This course was run by Austracks and it was useful and lots of fun. One day of sand and one day of water crossing, rocks, uneven terrain and very steep decents. It included one night of camping in the forest, complete with camp fire, heaps of stars, lots of stories and during the day, lots of flies.....

Here we see a Danish tourist couple crossing a creek ^.

Deep ruts that scrape the bottom of the car and challenge approach and departure angles, it was all part of the course. This is our Landcruiser 80 series ^.
Playing in the sand bowl, tyre pressures down to 15 lbs (110 kPa) does wonders, it is like steering a boat. All five vehicles in the picture managed to climb the hills in the background, which was amazing considering the fact that some of these cars weigh over 3 tons, loaded. Afterwards we assembled to get all the tyres back to road pressures (280 kPa) thus testing different sorts of pumps and other equipment.^

Some people wonder why you would leave the comforts of home for the heat, the cold, the wet, the flies, ticks, leeches, snakes and more; here is a quote from "Tent commandments" by Susan Duncan, it just tells it all:

"The birds wake you in the dove-grey light of pre-dawn. What would seem like punishment at home becomes a privilege in the bush. Every sunrise is a brilliant daily performance, every new campsite a home with a strikingly different view: hills the colour of wild salmon, deserts with soils that range from ochre to black, turquoise oceans, creeks the colour of beaten gold"

" At each new campsite, the rituals quickly get pared back to a minimum. Routines are simplified to a degree that would seem impossible at home. What seems spartan at first soon feels liberating. The billy goes on and the prospect of a hot cuppa in an enamel mug holds more thrill than a five-course dinner at the best restaurant in town"

I would like to add that eventually our return to "civilized" surroundings will give more creature comforts but we will still have the memories of the wonderful sites and the feeling of having been close to nature and being at peace with ourselves, away from stress, deadlines and commitments.
Not seeing our kids is what we will miss most.

Waiting for papers

2006-11-13T14:12:00.000+08:00

It is getting warmer now and we are wondering if our trip through the desert, direction Uluru, is going to be a risk due to high temperatures and the long distance (1000 km of only nature), meaning we may follow the south coast and go to Tasmania first.
We are waiting for one more letter regarding the permit to use the degreasing facility of the garage and then I can expect an offer for a new 10 year lease.

Our planned departure date is now December 12th, 2006.

There are still things to do like securing the new fridge in the car and sorting out boxes with goods and tools that we want to take with us.
I have signed up for a weekend "all terrain" training, that is one day sand and one day rocks, with the trailer. These people are highly experienced and I just want to get to know the car and what it can and cannot do. It will also be a useful time to run through tools and equipment and to get familiar with the HF radio.
We have a total of 110 liters of water and probably 185 liter diesel on board. It is the old dilemma: take too much gear and you will get bogged or break down due to the excessive weight; take too little and you won't be able to get yourself out of trouble when something goes wrong.
We have bought a booklet "Australian Bush Survival Skills" which is fascinating reading. It tells you how you can weld with car batteries, how to make drinking water from sea water, bush tucker (food) and -in emergencies- how to catch animals and fish when you are desperate. We are very much aware that the dangers of the Australian bush are not to be underestimated, common sense and good preparation are critical.
Meanwhile Bas is already working hard in Norway, Renee is packing and getting ready to join him early in December. Then Lieke and Andrew will go to Sydney for 3 weeks. Tim, Leah and Montana will be in Perth a few days before we leave (that is why we stay a bit longer) and then Shoko will go back to Japan two days later. We will miss her, she is such a nice person.
After the weekend I hope to post a few more pictures.

De Waard siblings together at the wedding

2006-11-05T12:34:00.000+08:00

The wedding of Bas and Renee was such a special occasion! And to see our siblings joined together on one photo does not happen so often any more, especially with Tim up north, Bas in Norway and Daan traveling almost every month.
I am keeping this photo on the desktop, it makes us very happy!

We are back in Australia, for a few weeks in:

2006-11-02T17:45:00.000+08:00

Subiaco in fact! Daan and Imogen are renting a friend's terrace house and they have offered us a room! It is wonderful to experience inner city living for a change: shops, bank and railway station are within walking distance. It certainly is a complete contrast to the camping trip we are about to begin.

Daan and Imogen are getting ready to spend a week in Dubai, work and holiday. From there, Daan will fly to Capetown for a week's course.

Bas has arrived in Norway and Honeywell did not waste any time to get him started. Meanwhile Renee is packing their belongings and organising the rental of their home; she will leave for Norway during the first week of December.

Our days are spent sorting administration, taxation, lease contracts for the garage, shopping for the trip, testing the new camper trailer, making repairs and alterations to the Landcruiser, seeing doctors and dentists and sorting out insurances. I have re-joined the gym and go there three times per week. It was great to see so many old friends again. The same for the chorus (Vocal Evolution), they are getting stronger and better all the time. I will try to add another blog just before we leave.

15.10.2006 Bas and Renee are getting married

2006-10-17T21:43:00.000+08:00

Here are the first photos of the weekend wedding. There are heaps more if you click on the link to "rock'nhorse" on the left.
The group picture is a bit dark, but you can see from L>R: Leah, Tim, Lieke, Andrew, Mrs.RJ de Waard (Renee), Mr.BL de Waard, Imogen and Daan.(they were the official photographers, taking more than 1300 fotos)
We had the most wonderful wedding, the sun was out, the setting on the lawn of a beach bungalow near the ocean was simply superb! With a civil celebrant doing the official honours, almost 40 people witnessed this wonderful couple tieing the knot. We all stayed for the weekend in surrounding luxury cottages and went out for a wonderful and well organised lunch on Sunday. Bas and Renee were able to stay an extra day and now they are back in Perth. Bas is getting ready to leave for Norway next Monday and Renee will follow him in the first week of December.
It was great to see Tim, Leah and Montana coming down from the North to be part of all this.
Montana was the centre of attention, he is now 9 months old and walks along the table.

4 months Europe.........

2006-10-09T21:02:00.000+08:00

4 months have passed and tomorrow we will fly back to Australia, via Hong Kong where we hope to meet Yin Kwan (Edith) again after she finishes work (she is a teacher). We are sad to leave so many nice people behind, some of whom are struggling with their health. But we are looking forward to seeing our kids and friends again.
We have spent time with both Tanneke’s parents and my mother and we are delighted that my mother has fully recovered. She is home again and will get some help from different organizations with house cleaning and she can order food if she wants to, which gets delivered to her door. This morning we rang her neurologist and it has been confirmed that she has been dismissed from hospital without conditions, which means she is out shopping with Tanneke at the moment and Oma is driving her car again! She is allowed to walk and bike, whatever she wants to do.
Tanneke’s primary school reunion was unforgettable, with almost all (4 have passed away and a few could not make it) students turning up and the headmaster being the centre again; Jan Abma is 80 and still extremely active. Old stories of love, original drawings and “poesie albums” were circulating and during the 6 hour get-together the committee had organized a boat tour through the canals of Leeuwarden.

During that time I had a look at the Lauwers meer, and the new polder not far from our farm in Kommerzijl. Everything has changed of course, but the Dutch are still the hard working and innovative people who seem to adapt well to new market forces.
My mother treated us and Addy and Willem with a very nice meal at a restaurant within walking distance of her apartment.
Today we are packing and doing some small jobs around the house.
We want to thank our parents, our families and all our friends for making us feel so welcome and sharing so many good times. We regret that we were not able to see everyone that we had hoped, but we trust that there will be another time. Of course you are welcome to visit us in Australia, but remember that for at least another year, we will be “homeless”. If you like camping, just bring your tent and join us!

We will try to continue this blog while we are traveling around the Australian continent but there will be times when we are “out of range” unless you can get us on the HF radio.

2006-09-28T15:59:00.000+08:00

Zandvoort aan de zee, long time memories on a sunny day.
We still can't get enough of meeting old friends and seeing beautiful places, although much has changed of course.
More good news with Oma de Waard going home this Sunday. She could stay with Addy and Willem since she left hospital.

2006-09-22T18:44:00.000+08:00

Our next blog will take a few weeks to compile while we are mostly visiting friends and relatives in the Netherlands at the moment.

Stonehenge on the left and a view of the cathedral of Salisbury on the right.

We were quite lucky with the weather, generally dry and mostly sunny, still cool. Salisbury has heaps of history and I must say that the gothic cathedral is a visual treat; it is still the highest in England with some 123 m height and can be seen from far. The running costs are close to 1 million pounds per year and the current restauration is a 20-year project with costs estimated at 20 million pounds, absolutely staggering! But the result will be huge number of tourists for many years to come. The city of Salisbury is very attractive and full of people, with parking provided on the outskirts and an efficient bus service.

Only 20 minutes' drive to the north we found Stonehenge, originally a timber walled circle (see the ditch in front) but later these huge boulders weighing up to 40 tons each were added. The more details are found, the more questions arise. There is clearly a connection with astronomy but how these boulders were transported over more than 200 km and why they were erected at this particular spot and in this formation, is unclear. There are major changes on the way with a new tourist centre about 1 mile away, one road will be closed and another one will become a tunnel. A tourist train will transport people to the actual site. We assume that they want to stop lots of people (who are not paying the entry fee) taking pictures through the fence and also to have better control of vandalism.

Our next visit was further north again, close to Bristol, the old Roman city of Bath. It is the only spot in England where hot springs come to the surface, cleverly tapped by the Romans to create a soothing cure for many ills. Bath has also one of only three bridges in the world that were designed to have small shops as part of the design (the other two are in Venice and in Florence). One interesting feature of Bath was the total absence of graffiti. Any explanations? anyone?

Short of a quick change of planes, Tanneke and I had never visited England before and we were positively impressed with the history, the beautiful landscape (provided the sun shines!) and the politeness of the population. Warren and Kyla's wedding was an absolute highlight.
People were generally very friendly and helpful although confusion reigned about our Dutch numberplate combined with our Australian passports. After a few days I added an "AUS" sign next to the numberplate of the campervan. Driving on the wrong side of the road was strange, especially while I was steering on the left side as well and having to guess where the right side of the van (with Tanneke) was aiming on the narrow roads.

Wild camping is allowed in England and we found some beautiful and peaceful spots; we would alternate this with clean and spacious campgrounds. Generally England was very expensive, almost in pounds for what we would buy in Australia with the same amount of dollars. Metrification is still a mystery in England with road signs in 1/4 miles (no decimals) while at the petrol pumps the gallons have made way for liters. How they work out their miles per gallon is a puzzle which I have not yet solved. It is also one of the few countries where diesel is more expensive than petrol (the other one is Australia...)

For the technically minded: we had to tape a section of the headlight glasses to avoid blinding the oncoming traffic at night; the British have to do this when they drive on the mainland of Europe.

2006-09-22T18:11:00.000+08:00

On these pictures we see
*Kyla and her father entering the church (anno 1200) in Salisbury,
*Warren and Kyla leaving the church after the ceremony,
*cutting the cake at the reception afterwards,
*"our" campervan and the lack of space on the English roads....,
*the white cliffs of Dover,
*a funny sign near the harbour in Folkestone (who wants to jump in a harbour without water??-it was low tide!) and
*the way we were sightseeing in Bath, a city north of Salisbury originally built by the Romans.

Good news: my mother is doing very well and is allowed to "go out" for walks or visiting friends. Meanwhile Addy has organised to paint the walls and ceilings of her flat so that she can soon go back to her "new home".

2006-08-30T03:38:00.000+08:00

Good news from the hospital in Apeldoorn. We had a meeting a few hours ago with my Mother, Addy, the hospital staff and myself and we have all agreed that Mother is now ready to move to the recovery department as soon as they have room. Depending on her speed of recovery she will then go home where she will have regular assistance. All the signs are positive and it looks like she does not have any lasting ill effects after the suspected blood clot.
We are now reviewing our travel plans with good hopes of being able to see more friends and family and attend the wedding in England. Pictures will follow as soon as we come back to Holland, some time in the middle of September.

2006-08-27T23:31:00.000+08:00

My mother in Apeldoorn has had a suspected minor stroke a few days ago and at this moment she is in hospital for observation. She had a cold and a lung infection after the hot weather of May and June and at 87 she needs time to recover. So we have changed our travel plans in Holland and hope that family and friends will understand that my mother's care is a priority at this moment.
Meanwhile we are getting pictures from Leah and Tim up north in Roeburne and I will try to upload the one we received today.

2006-08-27T02:27:00.000+08:00

Addy (my sister) and husband Willem invited us for a mystery adventure somewhere in France. It turned out to be a one week cruise on a mega$$ boat and after some quick lessons we were let loose on 66 locks and about 100 bridges, which are still undamaged, I believe.... Chica, their boxer was part of the adventure and we are happy to say that she jumped overboard only once, which resulted in Willem getting a mudbath to rescue her!

I never knew that driving a boat was so different from a car, the steering is about 5 seconds slow to react and in reverse there is no steering at all, no handbrake, airbags or seatbelts, even the anker was not to be used and the horn was ..... disconnected......
We could steer inside or outside but when it started to rain we had a choice of getting soaked or driving the boat from inside with no view and no demister. So Addy and Tanneke giggled for two hours while getting soaked to the socks. Even funnier was the lock we had just entered and the automatic system stopped because of lightning strike somewhere else. The doors of the lock were half open and so we were very much stuck, not being able to go forward or backwards. A mechanic came to our rescue after half an hour. All locks are self operated, either manually or with a special card. Look at the LH bottom picture and you can just sense the peace. At RH bottom Addy is crossing the aquaduct at Agen, built some 200 years ago. The other pictures show the tight fit in some of the locks and Chica getting her lifevest (with handle); unfortunately she was not wearing it when she jumped overboard....

2006-07-26T22:31:00.000+08:00

What is happening at the home front? It seems everyone is well and the garage continues to help lots of people. Gavin reported that he has now two qualified mechanics and one apprentice and that the first stage environmental drilling has been carried out. I phoned the person in charge this morning and found out that the first lab test results are out and that they will be presented to the property managers in a day or so. I understand that there were no serious contaminants found which gives us hope that the whole papertrail can now be completed regarding the handing over of the lease and the sale of the business.
On a more personal score, I can report that my plumbing problems are slowly on the mend so that in the not so far future I hope that my movements are not totally dictated by the location of toilets any more. Sitting around doing nothing certainly helps as well! Evening walks are still a bit of a problem. Our next report will be from the Netherlands. Tomorrow we will drive north, via Switzerland and Liechtenstein direction Germany with my mother's home in Apeldoorn our first call.

2006-07-26T21:45:00.000+08:00

How are we camping? There is room for 5 to sleep inside. We generally find a camping place that allows for motorhomes. The 220V will keep the fridge going and recharges many batteries.
We also have a toilet on board. All windows can open with flyscreen or shade. There is a tank with 70 liters of fresh water, an electric pump and another tank for the waste water. The cooker runs on gas, as does the heater (!) and a hotwater system. Sometimes we find a nice spot along the road and we stay overnight right there, but we are cautious about this with some horror stories in mind. The car has a maximum speed of 100 km/h, so we have to mix it with lots of trucks on the autostrada. Some campings are really fancy with shade cloth, as in this picture, but spots are rather cramped. Showers and washing machines are usually provided as are toilets with a varying degree of cleanliness. Internet is generally hard to find unless there is a university nearby or a place specific for backpackers. In Palermo we found one internet cafe with 45 computers, all on broadband. Cost vary from 1 euro per half hour and upwards. International telephone cards are our home lifeline, apart from SMS on my mobile. Sandy found us one which gives us 6 hours of talking at the cost of 10 euros, about 16 A$!

2006-07-26T20:11:00.000+08:00

West of Palermo, the capital of Sicily, on the north coast of the island, Sandy and Nicola take us to a National Park with a magic beach. Sandy beaches make the water look green and rocky beaches make the water look blue. The Meditaranean Sea is surprisingly salty and rather warm compared to Cottesloe......
We spent the whole day at the beach and it was as crowded as Zandvoort on a sunny day! (This picture was taken when we arrived early) The rest of the park was closed due to some serious fires. Even when we arrive in the Palermo area we see the side of a mountain full of smoke and helicopters and a fixed wing aircraft take water from the sea to douse the fire.
Nicola's parents live 50 km south of Palermo and we stay two days with them. Once again we are spoiled by the hospitality of our hosts. With Sandy translating and us picking up the rest, we manage to communicate between English, Italian and Dutch.
Sicily has a severe shortage of water. Nicola's parents get water only two hours per day which they can store in a tank. The town rotates its supply every two hours to a different part and the water is pumped from a distant river. Work is in short supply and many jobs are only taken by men. I am thinking of all the Italians who have migrated around the world, looking for a more prosperous country. And to make things worse, in 1968 there was a huge earthquake in Sicily, causing major damage.

2006-07-26T19:51:00.000+08:00

Don't you love innovative people? Here is a man selling icecream with squeezed lemons in a huge lemon on a trailer, at the most scenic place you can find. Tourist buses pass every few minutes and people are stopping for the view. On the right Sandy, Nicola and Tanneke. The weather has been hot and very humid at places. We hear that all over Europe older people are dying from the excessive heat.
"Our" campervan is doing well, with windows wide open we keep the breeze going. Nicola is a man with many talents and managed to help with several repairs we had on the way. One of the three batteries died with a dead cell on the autostrada; we were able to change it later with a bit of good luck finding the right size and being able to fit it ourselves. We also tackled and fixed a persistent problem with the 12 volt system that operates the electric waterpump and the inside lights. Apart from an earlier wheel alignment problem, which was fixed with the help of former language student Roman in Switzerland, we have had a good run. We can drive around 600 km on a 70 liter tank, a bit depending on the size of the mountains.

2006-07-26T18:59:00.000+08:00

Driving through Italy is a special experience: road rules appear to have no meaning. We saw police cars doing 90 in a 40 zone, with the rest of the traffic. Overtaking any time, anywhere, never mind the white lines or signs and many people don't wear seatbelts although the government is now starting campaigns. We have not seen any major prangs so far, but the statistics and newspapers tell a different story....
On the right is the harbour of Sorrento, south of Napoli. We stayed a few days at a camping and took a daytour to Capri, an island off the coast.
We are travelling together with Sandy and Nicola. They have made our travel program and we have the one exciting day after another. From Bologna we drive south to the "heel" of Italy, then use the ferry to reach Sicily. From there along the east coast of the island with many stops of old cities and ruins from Romans and Greeks. But the absolute highlight was no doubt the Etna vulcano, which right on cue started spewing lava, fire and rocks the day before we arrived, after being dorment for about 5 years! From a distance of 40 km we could see the rocks flying in the air and the red stream of lava going down one side. We drove to the car park, took a cable car further to the top and then there were huge 4WD busses taking groups of 20 even higher, about 300 m from the opening. We walked from there with a tour guide to the edge of the lava stream. With the wind behind us, we could approach the slow moving (1m/sec) lava to about 5 meters and feel the heat, red hot earth, some 10 meters wide. As soon as the wind turned the heat forced us to move away. Meanwhile Etna was spewing rocks every 3 seconds with incredible roaring sound. At one point the wind picked up and we had a sort of lava storm, black dust covering everyone. Days later we are still finding Etna in our hair.....
It makes us think how small and insignificant we really are........The power of fire.

2006-07-14T23:11:00.000+08:00

Dongo is a village on the west side of the Como lake in the north of Italy, close to the Alps. We found a family camping and this picture was taken on the other side of the lake; no beautiful sandy beaches, lots of stones, but very deep lakes and magnificent mountains. The roads are narrow and it is hot every day. Siesta suddenly makes lots of sense. In the evening we found a local brass band giving a concert in between the houses and we joined the crowd of locals.

2006-07-14T23:00:00.000+08:00

How do you find someone who lives in a flat you have not visited before? Simple, just look for the Aussie flag! Tom and Daniela used this innovative method to direct us. During June/July there were flags everywhere. Our Dutch numberplate and the Australian flags on the back did cause some confusion. In Italy the party is still going for winning the world soccer cup; we saw most of the games and loud car horns and lots of shouting made it clear that also in Switzerland there are lots of Italians!

2006-07-14T22:40:00.000+08:00

Hermann and Marlis (language student staying with us a few years ago) took us to Shaffhausen, north of Zurich and showed us the amazing Rheinfall; it may not be as high as some other falls, but it is truly impressive with a waterflow of 1,000 m3 per second and more at times. The sheer power of the water, Europe's main supplier of water and transport, is quite staggering and we were surprised that we had never heard about it.
Where-ever we meet friends, we are overloaded with hospitality and not everyone may want to be put on the web,
so we try to make a selection without spending days to upload pictures and stories. Posting these is very time consuming and sometimes also complicated.
Many keyboards are different and computers do not always have the necessary program to download pictures; internet cafes are often hard to find.
We keep a complete diary for ourselves to revisit later on when we are back in Oz.

2006-07-14T22:24:00.000+08:00

With help from Andrea, our Italian AFS student, we can try again to add more news. It may all come out in Italian, not sure yet.
We are staying a few days at his family home and apart from swimming, talking and reading there is the odd roadtest to be done..... No need to state the obvious, we are being spoiled to a very high degree.
There is more traffic on the roads and we saw the beginning of a high speed train track that will run from Rome to Paris.

2006-07-06T23:46:00.000+08:00

We left Bratislava full of wonderful impressions and entered Austria with the plan to see some of Vienna and Salzburg. The larger cities are a serious problem for our campervan since all parking is underground and our height of close to 3.5 m is just too much. In any case we managed some short-term parking and walked around the centre of Vienna and then headed west. Near Linz the autobahn traffic had come to a halt (accident?) while we had just taken a rest on a tree-lined parking place and with food, drinks, books and open windows we were quite happy to spend three hours in relative peace. I think we were the only happy people, everyone else grumbled at the long delay. In the evening we found a beautiful camping place and later that night thunder and lightning came down at the rate of knots..... The next day we visited Salzburg but had to continue to Munchen to be in time to meet Paul and Isabelle who spoiled us with their hospitality. It was short but we were able to catch up with lots of news. Paul and I were in the same class of the HTS in Haarlem between 1965 and 1968 (jeez, that sounds long ago....)
The next day we headed for Switzerland, via a bit of Austria again, where the diesel is a lot cheaper. The car is running like a clock, we get around 10 km from a liter which means that we can drive for almost 700 km before choosing the best place to refill. Europe is becoming more and more as one country with hardly any border checks. So far we only had to show our passports three times and only once did a customs officer want to see the inside of the camper.

We arrived in Lausanne and the Fontana's, former neighbours in Lesotho, again showed us around and offered their homes for us to stay. They also took us to the 2-yearly ex-Lesotho workers reunion, most conversation in French, where we met several people we had not seen for 30 years (and still recognised them!). Lot of great memories surfaced and it was nice to remember the many years of daily amazements. Interesting note was to learn that Lesotho has now its own independant electricity supply, no more importing of power, all due to the new highland water scheme with power generated and water sold to South Africa.
Since yesterday we have moved north again to visit friends near Zurich; they stayed with us as language students in Perth over the last 6 years or so, usually for a period of anything between 6 weeks to half a year. So the language is back to German, that is Schweizer Deutsch, while most people are very nice to us and actually drop most of the local language, thank you......
We cannot download pictures at this moment, but soon we hope to show you more text with pictures. Next week Tuesday we will drive further south and into Italy.
In between all these activities we still manage to see most of the soccer games. So sad that Australia and Holland were both eliminated, we think that Australia deserved better and I must say that all around Europe the Aussies have gained enormous respect.
Now we wonder how much partying we may find in Italy if they get through all the way......
We have had good luck with the weather so far, only a few days of rain, otherwise nice and warm and lots of sunshine.
More soon.

2006-06-28T05:02:00.000+08:00

Mirko and Lucia spent 5 weeks with us in Perth studying English in 2004. They did not hesitate to return some special Slovakian hospitality when we planned to visit them. Here we are enjoying a wonderful meal in the Bratislava TV tower restaurant at some 200 m height.

2006-06-28T04:57:00.000+08:00

Here Lucia and I share a scary moment when the lift to the top of the High Tatra suddenly stopped.

2006-06-28T04:49:00.000+08:00

Host Mirko explains to me from the main castle in Bratislava how the bridges over the Danube were built and how the boats have to manoevre due to the strong current. He used to row on the river but now concentrates on tennis and squash. Mirko works for HP.

2006-06-28T04:42:00.000+08:00

Behind unassuming walls we find surprising nice courtyards with delicious fruits, icecreams and locally produced drinks. Here we were sitting under a cherry tree after the many hiking adventures of the morning.
Our local tourguide, driver and host, Lucia, had taken two days off work to show us many interesting sites and some real Slovakian hospitality.

2006-06-28T04:34:00.000+08:00

Where the Morova enters the Danube they built a castle some 2000 years ago called Devin. Slovakia is full of castles and spectacular old buildings, many restored to original condition. Here we also found a memorial with the names of all local people who died trying to cross the "Iron Curtain" into Austria. And that was not even so long ago.......

2006-06-28T04:20:00.000+08:00

Tanneke climbing the High Tatra

The Tatras are absolutely spectacular and can change from sunshine to rain or snow within minutes. We walked at some 2200 meter height with rain clouds drifting in.

2006-06-24T16:15:00.000+08:00

Prague. Just the taste of one day walking around and taking a tour is enough to realize that you need at least one week to see the vast amount of history and old buildings. Also facinating are the political changes that have taken place over the last few years and the recent admission to the European Union. Socially and economically there are huge challenges and changes; you could say that there are at least 3 very different generations here.

2006-06-24T16:05:00.000+08:00

Oehringen in Germany is the town that is hosting the Socceroos and the whole place is full of Australian flags and Aussies.
It is fair to say that the whole of Europe is soccer mad. Tickets are sold by scalpers for up to 20 times the printed value. People drive thousands of kilometers to see a particular game. When we drove through Oehringen the stadium was just being prepared for a returning to town ceremony of the Socceroos.

2006-06-16T15:55:00.000+08:00

Our rough travel plan: Belgium this weekend, Prague several days and Bratislava/Vienna next, then by July 1 in Switzerland and half July with Sandy and Nikola a week to Sicily; then back to Holland. In August one week with Addy and Willem in France, then back to Holland. The first week of September in England, then back to Holland until we fly back to Perth on the 10th of October.

2006-06-15T15:33:00.000+08:00

Our home away from home for the next 6 weeks.
Peugeot Campervan with full luxuries generously supplied by Tanneke's brother Erik! Fully serviced and checked and ready to take us to the south of Italy and many other places.

2006-06-15T15:28:00.000+08:00

Soccer mad and orange everywhere: Eke and a friend getting ready for the game between Holland and Serbie-Montenegro. Even the dog was running around with an orange ribbon.

IN THE LAND OF ORANGE

2006-06-12T15:14:00.000+08:00

The plane from Perth to Hong Kong was half empty on Saturday 10.6.06; Coosje had taken us to the airport, which was very nice of her.
In Hong Kong we met Edith who stayed with us 5 years ago and who has been writing emails often to keep in touch. We found a nice restaurant and had a chance to catch up with her. Huge TV screens showed the game between England and Paragui. The next plane left at midnight and it was full to the last seat due to last minute soccer enthusiasts. We are now at Addy and Willem's house. They came to the airport at 6 am on Sunday morning and took us to their home in de Bilt. The weather was glorious, 30 degrees and sun, we cannot remember a similar day in Holland over the last 20 years. Soon my mother will arrive to take us to Apeldoorn and then the day after we will collect Tanneke's brother's campervan and the Europe trip will start for real.
I have tried to upload some pictures but it did not work yet. More later. Renne.

Coming and going......

2006-05-20T17:46:00.000+08:00

Gavin and Kylie are getting ready to take over the workshop from Tanneke and Renne. We had a bit of a party today with coffee and cakes and several guests. It was a "changing of the guard" and we are very happy with the handover to such a wonderful couple.

Our best wishes and good luck!

Mother's Day

2006-05-18T19:27:00.000+08:00

Sunday May 14th was Mother's Day and we spend lots of hours gathering at the house of Bas and Renee and talking to both sides of the family. It was also the day that Shoko moved from our house to Bas and Renee. We are missing her already.

Bas and Renee have announced their plans to marry on October 15th this year, a few hours south of Perth. We have brought forward our return to Australia to be there, of course. It will be a family affair with a civil celebrant. 3 cottages have already been reserved at the beach front in Dunsborough.

I will try to update this blog once a week so that there will be some news regularly.

The last supper

2006-05-07T21:31:00.000+08:00

Sunday night tradition: a meal at our house with all family members who can make it. From the right anti-clockwise:
Tanneke, Shoko, Bas, Renee, Imogen,
Daan(takes the photo), Andrew, Lieke and Renne.
Tim, Leah and Montana are missing.
We are a big sad to realise that today is our last meal together in this house, the home where we have lived for 22 years!

2006-05-06T07:31:00.000+08:00

This is Montana, born 10.1.06, our first grandchild, son of Tim and Leah. They live in Kalumburu, about 3000 Km north of Perth.