Home

After a cold night we woke to a glorious morning, the sun was trying to warm up the cold air (6 DegC) but didn't have much of a chance.

This morning Ron was taking Vicki to hospital in Bendigo, so we left together around 9am but we headed into Echuca to refuel and then along the Murray Valley Highway back home.

The kids were very excited about returning home and getting back to their Lego collection. The weather today was very nice with a sunny day to remind us that spring is only a couple of weeks away.

We parked the caravan in front of the house and unloaded absolutely everything as we expect to sell the caravan over the next few months.

I was a little bit weird for the first few hours in the house where we have so much space compared to the 20sqm we occupied for the last three months. Now that the caravan is empty we have lots of stuff lying around the house and the next few days will be spent stowing things away and getting used to the rain which is forecast to fall for most of next week.

Later in the afternoon we dropped that caravan back it's usual spot at the office and that brought our trip to an official closure.

I suppose one day we'll return back to Broome where the weather is nice and the lifestyle is uncomplicated but for the time being we better start enjoying the cold and the rain.

Almost Home

Early this morning, as I paid a visit to the ablutions, I was washing my hands and talking to the fella next to me without looking at him before I realised it was one of my customers from Albury. I suppose that's a reminder that we're getting close to home.

We tracked back through Mildura onto the NSW side of the Murray to follow the Sturt Hwy to Eusten. This stretch of road was the worst we've seen on our trip, much worse than the outback roads of WA. It is limited to 110km/h but the side of the road has holes that are 1ft deep in places and no sign to warn drivers.

At Robinvale we finally crossed back into Victoria where the road was generally better but there was clear evidence that the road has suffered with recent rains. We stopped at Lake Boga for lunch and, once again, marvelled at the lake which was a dustbowl back in 2009.

On the East side of Kerang we found a detour as one lane of the Murray Valley Hwy looked like it was washed away by floods. The map shows "Dry Lake" beside the why but it was full to the brink.

SHortly after Torrumbarry we turned South to Lockington and by 1:30pm pulled in at Ron & Vicki's place. Unfortunately Vicki had just returned from Hospital with one leg in plaster. Ron, Ilse and I took over Vicki's kitchen to prepare tonight's dinner.

Tonight's tucker reminded us very much of the good times in Broome where we had Mango every day and where we caught tonights' fish.

This was fitting meal for our last night in the caravan, in exactly the same spot where we had our first night over 3 months ago.

Here is the link to today's travel map

Mildura

We woke to an overcast sky and that's exactly what we encountered for most of our way South until we got closer to the big rivers where it started to rain.

After some 300km we crossed the Darling and short while later the Murray as we approached Mildura. Crossing the Murray also meant that we were back in Victoria and the end of our trip is near. Our Track took us through Mildura to Irymple where we found a little Caravan park.

For the first time since leaving Victoria 12 weeks ago we are in Caravan park that isn't absolutely full to the brink. It must be the fact that it's cold and raining here.

After lunch we went for a drive to the Mildura Chocolate Company where they handcraft chocolates using local ingredients. The whole outfit is a not-for-profit organisation employing and supporting disabled people.

For the first time ever (other than at home) we have had hot chocolate made with real chocolate.

Next we went to Lock 11 and were lucky to see it in operation as a boat went through the lock. Due to high flow levels the difference between across the lock is only 1.5mt but normally, with less flow, it's more like 3 or 4mt.

We a bit of exploring along the river and ended up at Allseasons Houseboats where we checkout the luxury houseboats they have available for hire. Maybe, later in the year, we could have a few days on a houseboat.

A quick trip past the supermarket was in order as we've lost some food due to the caravan fridge running too cold - I should have turned it down when we came back South.

Here is the link to today's travel map.

Silverton

Our first trip this morning was out West to the Umberumberka reservoir which provides some of the water for Broken Hill. Along the way we stopped at a lookout which gives a great view over the Mundi Mundi Plains which stretch out for an eternity.

Just below the lookout is the location where some of the scenes for Mad Max 2 were filmed. Although right now the plains don't like the dusty, sandy outback landscape from the movie but instead, represent a lush and blooming wildflower area full of grass bushes and other plants. We have also come across a number of flood damaged river crossing as a reminder of the recent floods.

This location was also going to be used for Mad Max 4. A 4km track has already been graded for filming, over 150 vehicles are stored (under lock and key) in Broken Hill and film studio was also built there. However, the landscape is too lush and green for the movie and it was announced very recently that filming will take place in another location - probably Namibia.

On the way back we called into Silverton to see the Mad Max 2 museum which has only been open for a year or two. Adrian and Linda, both Mad Max fanatics, have migrated over here from Yorkshire and opened up the museum in this remote location.

Half way back to Broken Hill we turned off onto a dirt road for 13km which took us to the Daydream mine, an Silver mine which commenced operation 130 years ago with miners from Cornwell. We went on an underground mine tour which took us nearly 100ft below the surface where we saw a couple of silver deposits.

In this area they mine Galena which contains Silver, Zinc, Lead and Gold. Around Broken Hill township, the major content of Galena is Zinc and Lead but around Silverton its primarily Silver.

Back in Broken Hill we had a Milkshake and Waffles at the iconic 50's style Bells Milk bar. Our next stop was the Minerals Museum where we learned about the Broken Hill Lode (the underground ore body) and how it came into being. It was amazing to see that the underground mining area is much larger that Broken Hill itself and located right beneath the town. Apparently the underground blasts can be heard in the town every day.

On our way back to the caravan we stopped at the supermarket, refuelled and finally arrived very tired after a big day out.

Silver City

It was nearly 7am when sun finally came up and after a quick breakfast I replaced the thrust bearing the jockey wheel. Before too long we were on the move again and had left Port Augusta behind.

We noticed that this time round it was very green from Ceduna onwards whereas in 2009 everything was dry until we came into Port Augusta.

It was sunny when we left this morning but as soon as we got to Horrocks Pass, in the hills East of Port Augusta, we were in cloud and rain. Once we left the hills behind and drove through Wilmington we were back in the flat country which was overcast but only with a few sprinkles of rain.

On our way to Peterborough we passed through Orroroo - now there's a name made up with only two letters of the alphabet! In Peterborough we refuelled before heading for the 285km track to Broken Hill.

After travelling a total of 415km we reached Broken Hill just after 1pm, checked in, had lunch and then off to the tourist information, a drive around town and the lookouts to get an overview of the town.

The street names are all mining related, Cobalt Street, Wolfram Street, Crystal Lane. Even chemical compounds are used for street names: Chloride Street, Oxide Street, Sulphide Street and Bromide Street.

I also found it interesting that small, old, miners cottages can be found on the side of a hill and have excellent views. Mind you, the view is onto a huge heap of dirt where the old silver mine used to be.

The last activity for the day was a visit to the local Royal Flying Doctor Service base which is the Head Quarters for the South Eastern region. They provide a little tour of the facility and the hanger combined with a film and a museum which illustrates the history of the RFDS.

By the time it got dark we were back at the caravan ready to for quiet night.

Here is the link to today's travel map.

Port Augusta

After a good night's sleep we got up just before sunrise which was nearly 7am local time.

We saw three cars with dog trailers full of Huskies stopping a few times and found out that they are on their way to the sled dog races at Falls Creek. That's very keen to drive over from Perth just to participate in the races, but I suppose they don't get a lot of opportunity sled dog racing in W.A.

With the heater going for the first couple of hours we made it to Ceduna where they took all remaining fruit and vegetables from us at the Quarantine check point. A quick refuelling stop on the outskirts of town and then back on the road heading towards Port Augusta.

As usual, when we go across the Nullarbor we always have rain (or hail) and this trip was no exception. Although they were only brief showers with sunshine in between they were pretty intense.

The landscape after Ceduna is very hilly for little while but then turns into pastoral land with sheep and lots of crops. The colour of these paddocks was a very deep green and reminded me of English country side meadows. I bet the farmers are very happy over here with the upcoming crop.

We pulled into a rest area at Minnipa and enjoyed a hot soup for lunch. The next refuelling stop was Wudinna and then we continued through Kimba and past Iron Knob into Port Augusta.

Iron Knob (photo 2) is an open cut mine where they are digging away the mountain. A small mining township is located the foot of the Knob.

In Port Augusta we pulled into the Shoreline caravan park where we've stayed a couple of times on our previous trip. While we set up the caravan another maintenance issue raised it's head - the jockey wheel thrust bearing has disintegrated. Although I do have a spare bearing with me, the job will have to wait until the caravan is hocked up to car so I can pull down the jockey wheel.

Having been here twice before, we know Port August quite well and went straight to the supermarket to restock with fruit and vegetables, filled up the car and back to the caravan to settle in for the night.

Here is the link to today's travel map.

Nullarbor

This morning was very fresh, only 3DegC, but we braved the cold, got going early and were on the road by 6:45am.

After only 90km we stopped at Balladonia and refuelled. The cloud cover in this area kept the morning temperatures to a more reasonable 10DegC but we were still using the heater in the car.

Our next refuelling stop was Cocklebiddy roadhouse and then Mundrabilla. We went straight past Eucla and crossed the border into S.A. around 1pm. A short distance after the border we had our lunch break at a rest area that overlooked the Great Australian bite.

It was only a couple hundred km's to the Nullarbor roadhouse where we pulled up for the night. To our great surprise we found phone reception and hence this blog update.

Today I also discovered the reason for all those motorbikes on the road. Apparently they all go to the Border Village on the SA/WA border, have a drink, and then drive back the next day. This event is attended by riders from SA and WA. I suppose it's an excuse for 4 days motor bike riding.

Although we've been at the Nullarbor roadhouse before we never stayed overnight. As we rolled up we saw something rather novel - there was a small single engine aeroplane taxing around between trucks in front of the [car] fuel bowsers. If you have close look at the 2nd picture you can see the plane.

From our caravan window I can see the sun setting over treeless plain and the sky taking on a golden coloured glow. We are now in the S.A. time zone and I have adjusted all our clocks forward by 1.5hrs. I just wish it was as easy to adjust my body clock!

Fraser Range #2

This morning was a cool but not the 3DegC they mentioned on the radio. We had Baked Beans and Eggs on toast this morning but still managed to get going around 8am.

Today's track took us South to Norseman where we saw a lot of motor cycles which seemed to be on their way somewhere - I wonder if they're going to Victoria.

At Norseman we start to retrace our track and basically go back the same way we came over. For this reason we wan't be stopping too much and try to get to Port Augusta as soon as possible.

The total distance of the Nullarbor is a bit over 1600kms which is stretch of road between Norseman on the Western end and Port Augusta on the Eastern end.

After refuelling in Norseman we turned East for another 100km and pulled into Fraser Range station before lunch. We stayed at this station for a couple of nights in May, so this is really our 2nd stay on this holiday.

Today we only travelled 280km so we can have a good rest before we get on the Nullarbor in earnest. We're planning on an early start tomorrow with the intention to cover about half of the Nullarbor distance.

Here is the link to today's travel map.

Boulder

This little caravan park at Menzies is one of the nicest we've seen and by far the cheapest at $20 with no extra charge for the kids. They had really well thought out showers and everything was still brand new.

We left the park around 8am and had a short drive to Boulder, the twin town of Kalgoorlie. By 10am we arrived at the caravan park and got the only available site. Unfortunately, the previous nights' occupants were a bit slow and hadn't left by checkout time so we have to wait a little bit before we could park our caravan.

After a quick setup we went shopping to Woolies. This was our last shopping trip in W.A. as there are n more super markets until we get into S.A.

We have to do a bit of food planning now as we'll be crossing the S.A. border where we can't take fruit and veg. Furthermore, there will be no more shopping until we get to the other end of the Nullarbor.

This morning was quite cold with only 9DegC and a top temperature of only 15 DegC during the day. I think back home the forecast today was 20DegC, somewhat warmer than over this side. The light summer covers are now stowed away and our warm sleeping bags are back in action.

Our plan is to stop at Fraser Range station tomorrow night and then head across the Nullarbor on the weekend. With a bit of luck we'll pop out the other side sometime next Monday.

Although there is no phone/internet across the Nullarbor, our current position will be available live by clicking on this link.

Here is the link to today's travel map.

Menzies

Those clouds we saw yesterday turned into showers during the night but it wasn't quite as cold as I expected. We had breakfast and hit the road at 7:30. To our great surprise we pulled out just in front of the two 6.5mt wide loads we overtook yesterday. They stopped just up the road at Cue and got going at first light.

We pulled in at Mt Magnet to refuel and so did the wide loads. That's where we found out that they are going to Norseman where the haul packs are to be used in a new mine. We pulled out of the service station before the wide load and then turned East onto the Sandstone road.

Once we were on the Sandstone road all the trucks and other traffic was gone only a car or road train every now and then but we mostly had the road to ourselves.

We were driving under puffy clouts today and I never saw the temperature gauge go above 17 DegC. We've come long way South since leaving Broome three days ago, nearly 12 Deg of latitude has now taken us well and truly out of the tropics. We travelled from the Kimberley through the Pilbara and Gascoyne and are now in the Central Western Goldfields region.

We didn't stop in Sandstone as we've heard from another traveller that they got dirty diesel there and ended up with a blocked fuel filter. We did stop in Leinster for diesel and then turned South again, continued through Leonora and pulled up at 2pm in Menzies' brand new caravan park.

Menzies is a very small settlement and most people stop there to visit Lake Ballard where artist Antony Gormley placed 51 sculptures on 10sqkm of this salt lake. However, the lake is 51km's away from Menzies and with recent rains has turned into mud. We decided not to go and have an easy afternoon.

Our total travel distance today was around 550km.

Here is the link to today's travel map.

Mt Whaleback

This morning was our tour of the Mt Whaleback iron ore mine. At 9:30 we left on a bus which took us into the mine site and to a lookout which provides a great view over the largest open cut iron ore mine in the world.

Mt Whaleback was named by it's shape but since then well over 600ft have been taken off the top and a huge hole dug beside it, so today it bears no resemblance to the back of a whale.

The large dump trucks ("haul packs") carry 240,000kg of ore and have all up loaded weight of well over 400,000kg. They use 380 lt of diesel per hour on idle. The whole mine site uses 5 Million litres of diesel every month and that doesn't include the diesel for the trains. No wonder the mining industry doesn't want a carbon tax!

The ore in this mine varies from high grade (68%) to low grade (60%) all of which is crushed and screened, the mixed together and shipped out at around 65% on 2-3km long trains. The carriages are loaded with 125,000kg each and a train with 230 carriages carries $5 million worth of iron ore. Every day 12 to 14 trains leave this mine site. That $60-$70 million turnover every day.

Mining is an expensive undertaking with wages for haul pack drivers starting at $112,000 per year and train driver around $200,000 per year. OH&S is big and there are many layers of safety to prevent injuries.

At the end of the tour we were allowed to fill a bag with the various type of ore mined on this site. I took a little rock of hematite which appears blue and contains the high grade iron ore. It's a very heavy rock due to the ore's high specific gravity of 4.

After the tour we hitched up the caravan and continued our trip south around lunch time. There are big expansions going on at mines around Newman and the road South of Newman is the main transport link to Perth. The road was stacked full with road trains and oversized loads most of which were travelling to Newman.

However, the widest load we encountered w

as two trucks loaded with haul packs and measuring 6.5 meters wide. They were travelling the same direction as us and believe me, there is not much room left on the road when 6.5 metres are already occupied. With lots of instructions over the radio we managed to sneak past but the overtaking manoeuvre was an adventure by itself.

We tried to go as far South as possible today and, although we only had half a day, managed nearly 600km. Our timing for stopping tonight was very much borderline and relied on twilight as we weren't able to stop before sunset.

The caravan park at Cue had no powered sites available so we rang ahead to Mt Magnet only to find out they were full too. About 5km North of Mt Magnet is a rest area called "The Granites" and we arrived there just as we were loosing light and by the time we parked the caravan it was dark.

Tonight we are the only caravan in this parking area and there is no water or power, but we are not far from Mt Magnet and we do have phone reception.

We are now well below the tropic of capricorn, and today we have had a top temperature of only 24DegC. Driving towards Mt Magnet we have seen clouds for the first time in a few weeks.

Here is the link to today's travel map.

Heart of the Pilbara

The kids got up early and went outside to crack open some of the red rocks that are so plentiful in this region. Almost everything on the ground is iron ore or contains some form of it.

By 8am we got on the road which winds through the undulating landscape of the Pilbara. The hills in this region have a very distinct shape and a lack of trees. Some of the soil surface shines in a deep purple colour and has a almost oily look about it.

There is a distinct lack of wildlife in this area, we didn't sight a single Kangaroo, not even a dead one on the side of the road. However, there are countless mines in this area and the roads are filled with mining vehicles and trucks.

This morning's trip was fairly short, only 180km and we arrived in Newman. Mount Newman towers prominently over the landscape on the approach into the town. We drove straight to the tourist information and booked in to attend a tour of the mine tomorrow morning.

Then onto the caravan park for a site, tonight with power and phone reception so we can update the blog and check emails.

Ilse did a load of washing and we had a bite to eat before going off to explore the town. Newman is quite large and everything has BHP Iron Ore plastered all over it - I guess BHP basically own the town.

We drove to the Radio Hill Lookout to get an overview of the town - it is situated right next to the Mt Newman mine which towers over Newman is many times the size of the town.

We met some fellow travellers at this lookout and as we got talking found out they come from Rutherglen!

Some more chatting to travellers at the caravan park and the day was over. Today was the first day of August and we are counting the days left till we have to return back home.

Here is the link to today's travel map.