Day 17 Daly Waters to Mataranka

We got up early and left Daly Waters around 8 am because we wanted to get a good site at Mataranka and we know most people leave around 10.

We made sure the noisy blokes in the 4wd's could hear us early in the morning.

We arrived a little early but the lovely lady at the camp grounds told us to go pick a spot which we did and landed a perfect site right on the river edge and it even had a tap nearby!

We set up and went for a look around the immediate area which is very nice. We went down the track to the hot springs but got a little confused as to which way to go as there were no signs so we came back.

Later we went into town and grabbed a couple of items at the grocery store and looked all around the town and then popped into bitter springs for a look which is only 500 mtrs from our camp site.

That night we roasted a heap of veggies for tea on the webber because finally there are STILL NO FLIES!!

Day 16 Banka Banka to Daly Waters

 We left reasonably early to head towards Daly Waters.

We fuelled up on the way and saw a sad looking puppy at the fuel stop so we gave him a little feed which he very much appreciated. It broke our hearts to leave him there.

We arrived at Daly waters again to a very empty camp site and was taken up the back to the unpowered area and told where to park by 'bluey' hahaha

Typically not long after the vans started rolling in!

We went for a full tour of the town the looking at and taking photos of all the weird and quirky things they have around the place. Guess what NO FLIES

We popped into the pub itself and had a ginger beer costs a lot of money.

The bird life was amazing so we spent the afternoon photographing birds, well karen did.....although I had a go and fluked some fancy bird.

Happy hour was between 4 and 6 so went back to the pub for a few half price drinks as thats the only way you could afford to drink here and we ordered a meal at 6.

The meals were large and not really over priced.

There was no entertainment because that doesnt start until May, but still an enjoyable night.

Late that night 3 4wd's with people who spoke some foreign language were setting up right next to us and banging and clanging to early hours of the morning.

Day 15 Devils Marbles to Banka Banka Station

 We got up at sunrise to do another walk around the marbles without the flies and to grab some photos.

We packed up then headed up the road to Banka Banka Station. Its only 200 kays and you cant go in until 11am so we stopped at every roadhouse and any other stop of significants on the way up.

The roadhouses are now very disappointing. Once quirky iconic destinations are now foreign owned and or run and they will slowly disappear.

There was another telegraph station that was interesting that we spent quite a bit of time looking at.

We got to Banka Banka right on 11 or not long after and there wasnt a soul in the place which really surprised me.

However as we were booking in they started rolling in! And id say within the hour the place was pretty full.

We had a nice grassy site and a tap for water.

We decided to do the 5.5klm to the stations water hole. It was a very hot walk but the reward at the end was worth it, i beautiful water hole with quite a bit of bird life and wildlife.

The station has a bit of makeshift bar and opens it for a couple of hours every night so we did the right thing and grabbed a cold beverage. Very expensive drink so we only had one.

Day 14 Alice to Devils Marbles

 We packed up and got away nice and early to head to Devils Marbles.

We popped into Anzac Hill for a look and stopped at some roadside markers etc nothing of any great interest to us although I am sure historic buffs would disagree! 

We crossed the tropic of capricorn line on the way up.

We also had a look at another Telegraph station which was quite interesting.

The old UFO display at Wycliffe Well was sadly closed down and like a ghost town.

We got to Devils Marbles reasonably early and set up in our designated camp site. It was very hot and flies the were still terrible.

During sunset we went for the typical walk around the marbles and got some photos. The camp grounds were pretty busy, even the overflow was busy.

Day 13 Alice Springs

 Today was a relaxing lazy day plus I got a few nore things done on the car and van.

First up I changed a wheel on the van because I noticed one of the tyres had a small blister in the side wall. Most likely caused from me running the pressures too low on the rough roads.

I will reassess the pressures I am using in future.

I had to change the anderson plug on the Van because even though we were using one of those wales clips to hold the plug on, the corrugations or stones managed to disconnect it again. So this time I made my own little pin to hold the plug together.

We then popped into Alice to grab some groceries, a few clothes, fuelled up, printed some photos, went to bunnings and shouted ourselves KFC whoops!

Back at camp I set the hammock for Karen to lay in and cooked a pork belly on the webber. 

We watched a bit of footy, did a bit of cleaning and had an early night.

Day 12 Rainbow Valley to Alice Springs

 I was up early and captured the sunrise on Anzac Day. It was very nice and no flies of a morning.

We packed up and did a little bit of reversing practice to try and prepare us for caravan parks as we were heading to one today!

Not so much practicing reversing although I do need to understand the dynamics of reversing the van better but more so practicing how we communicate with each other when Karen is guiding me into a site lol

We learnt a lot doing the test reverses......we should have done all this before we left but we just ran out of time.

We left rainbow valley and aired our tyres back up once back out to the highway.

It was only a short drive to Alice so we popped into the big discovery park and asked if we could get a nice grassy site preferably away from people and they delivered hahaha.

We then went and washed the van at a car wash before going back to the caravan park and setting up.

Yes we reversed into the site ok and so we should it was designed to take a bus or two.

Once set up we went back into town to bunnings to grab a few bits and pieces and also gave the ute a quick wash.

Neither the ute or the van are really washed, more like a rinse.

We spent the arvo at the caravan park where karen watched the anzac footy and I tighted a few bolts and did some maintenance things.

We then popped into the local brewery and had a ginger beer and went back to the van for tea and more footy. 

We saw some youtubers we follow today too at the caravan park and the brewery. 

Also just to note we have been offgrid since we left and although its nice to connect to water and power at the van for unlimited showers and aircon 24 hours a day we do not need it. We have heaps of on board water and our power system give us all the power we can possibly use and recharges itself very quickly.

Day 11 Marla to Rainbow Valley

 Up for the sunrise. Karen tried to sleep in a little as she didnt sleep well.

Aired our tyres up and soon arrived at the roadhouse at Marla. Fuelled up and popped around the corner to empty the loo.

Long highway kays today which is our least favourite but it wasnt too bad.

Stopped at Kulgera Roadhouse for a look, it had bra's and hats all over iots roof and an old boot tree out the front.

A little while up the road we popped into the border rest area for a photo. Yet another near new ranger having issues, he had a cordless fan sitting in his engine bay so it was clearly overheating. Every broken down 4wd we have seen so far has been a ranger sadly.

Next stop was erldunda roadhouse. This one is a more of a larger commercial place due to being the turn off to uluru. We grabbed some hot chips hahah this is becoming a theme.

Near the turn off to rainbow valley was stuarts well roadhouse so we grabbed a little bit of fuel.

The road into rainbow valley was very bad so we aired back down and went to our campsite. We did a little more drone filming on the way in.

Its a well organised place with toilets and designated camp sites but we are the only ones in the whole place.

The flies are bad still but maybe a little better than it has been.

Karen did some washing and hung it on our awning line. Its 26 degrees.

Sunset was spectacular, we photographed it of course then spent the night watching footy.

 

Day 10 Anna Creek Station to Marla

Woke early again, beautiful sunrise and no flies early.

Got some dust coming in under the fridge area so tried to sel that up a bit but not properly really.

I broke the tv socket so I dodgied that up until I get a new one. And I adjusted a cupboard latch that came undone at some point.

Hit the road early, got the william creek station early and fuelled up. $3 a litre!

Popped into Algebuckina bridge for a look.

Continued onto Oodnadatta, got more fuel, had an Oodna Burger and chips (gotta stop doing this!)

We then went through the Painted desert. It was very spectacular and so was the drive out through the cattle stations.

Tried some more drone shots today.

Road was rough.

Got at the highway and stopped at a roadside free camp near Marla around 4:30-5pm.

Day 9 Wilpena Pound to Anna Creek Station

 We were up nice and early and out of wilpena by 7:15. The servo wasnt open so just empied our loo, aired up the tyres and headed out.

Stopped at a lookout for a quick photo, and stopped at the Blinman cemetry for a look at the really old graves and some not so old.

No fuel at Blinman so continued on towards Parachilna and grabbed fuel there.

We then stopped again at Leigh Creek and topped up with fuel and grabbed some hot chips for the push towards Oodnadatta.

The road was very rough but we enjoyed seeing the ever changing landscape. We have been on this track before so no real site seeing although we did pop into Lake Arye South for a look.

The flies were terrible!!

We made it to a free camp just outsode of william creek station. The sunset was spectacular and so were the flies.

We heated up some prepared food and headed to bed.

Day 8 Darling river to Flinders

 We packed up nice and early went into Menindee to empty loo and inflate tyres.

Drove up to Broken Hill and went grocery shopping and refuelled.

Then we had a bad head wind all the way to Yunta where we got some road info and refuelled again.

The road from Yunta across to the Flinders was varied but easy enough. Very dusty. We only stopped to look at some ruins.

We got into Flinders quite late, tried willow springs station for a camp but they were full so went around to wilpena pound and got a site right on dusk.

By the time we made tea and karen caught up on her tv shows it was bed time after a long day.

Day 7 Darling River Camp Area

Day 7

Up early and went to look at the historic homestead but there’s no longer anything there.

Did the billabong walk but there was no water and it was very dry.

Not so hot today, in fact quite cold back at camp with the breeze.

Went to the woodshed which was interesting.

Spent the day back at camp to enjoy a nice cool change. 

Day 6 Lake Pamamaroo to Darling River Camp

Day 6

Up early for another great sunrise.

Packed up early headed into Menindee and emptied toilet. 

Checked out a burke and wills crew grave. 

Drove a short way down the road to the national park camp ground $8 a night fees plus $8 a day parks pass.

Arrived way too early around 9am, wasn’t supposed to get there until 2pm!!

We found the exact spot we checked out the day before which was lucky considering the sites are not designated and its easter weekend.

Spent the day hanging around camp and watched footy. 

Tigers beat Gold Coast!!

Deloraine girls beat south Launceston.

Day 5 Lake Pamamaroo

Day 5

Up early for sunrise, it was really nice.

Went for a nice walk along the lake.

Spent a big part of the day driving around the area.

Went to the dam wall to watch the 100’s of pelicans feeding on the fish.

Checked out sunset strip and copi hollow. Grabbed fuel.

Spent the rest of the day at camp.

Day 4 Bruces Bend to Menindee

Day 4 

Up early packed up pretty quick and hit the road to Menindee, but stopped in Mildura and filled water tanks. About 260 klm.

Nice quiet road so was able to sit on a nice gentle speed.
Stopped at a small town to dump our toilet.

Lots of kangaroos and emus.

Pretty baron land.
Used drone to find camp sites.

Found a camp site at lake Pamamaroo but got bogged in the soft sand on the lakes edge. Was just a small quick sand type spot surround by hard ground.
Winched ourselves out ok.

Another nice camp no one around. 

Went for a drive to Menindee and surrounds. Found some nice camping down the road.

Hot 33 degrees.

Nice sunset.

Day 3 Mildura Area

Day 3

Up early for sunrise. 

Went for a nice walk along the river.

Went to Mildura to get a spare fob for the ute….$410 :(

Went to the wetlands, quite nice but very hot again 34 degrees.

Went to botanical gardens, they were not nice at all so drove on.

Went to central plaza to arrange glasses return at supersavers. Bought some socks and grabbed some groceries.

Dumped Loo!

Lots of boat action again.

Day 2 Green Lake Camping to Bruces Bend

Day 2

Up early for sunrise over the lake and packed up pretty quick and drove to a free camp on the Murray river, Bruce’s bend. About 200 klm.

Lots of trucks on the road again so pace was pretty fast again. 

Stopped at some silo art.

Looked at some other free camps first but didn’t like the look of them so settle on Bruce’s bend.

Went into Mildura and picked up some parcels at the post office. 

Hot 34 degree, lots of river action.

Day 1 Boat to Green Lake Camping

We got off the boat around 8:30am drove to Green Lake Camping ground, about 350 klm. $15 a night

Stopped and had a look at Lake Tyrrell a dry salt lake.

Went to a butcher in a small town and grabbed some lamb chops and steaks.

Tried to use the roads less travelled but so did the B Double trucks so the pace was pretty fast.

Camp site was really nice but decided to only stay one night. Very hot 34 degrees.