We decided to go down through Gippsland, as I hadn’t been down there since I was a kid, and Matt had never been down there. I have a lot of family history there and lots of family in Gippsland. 

We were amazed at how beautiful it is down there. It was March so the weather was warmish which made us liked it even more. 

The caravan air conditioner had to get fix, so we left the van for the day in Warragul and headed out to Nerrium South to find where my dad had gone to school. We also found the farm where he grew up and the farm my parents shared farmed on. 
    
I was quiet surprise by Nerrium South it was a great little town, very tidy and pretty and had an awesome playground for the kids.

We then went in search of the Ada Tree which was left during the harvest of the old forest and is now one of the biggest trees of its kind. Boys were amazed at how big it was. 
  
  
We then went to the Noojee Trestle bridge. A beautiful old wooden bridge that was used to cart timber out of the forest. It is amazing. 

  
  
  
So beautiful green and dense forest down here. We picked up the caravan and then camped Wirilda Environment Park at Yallourn North. It was a great little camp spot. With creek running through and weir a little way up and the pump house. Was perfect. On the way there we past the Yallourn Power Station boys were very impressed by the process which gives us power. And all the steam. 

  
The next day we were very lucky to be able to camp at my cousin/god father’s beautiful house. The boys were in heaven. I was stressing to the max, a brand new house and 2 untamed boys. It was so lovely, we were made very welcome. We had a family dinner to see everyone, which was fantastic. 

The next day we left van and drove to Lou Yang power station to see coal mine and power plant together and operating. It was amazing the size of it all. 

  
We then drove to Tarra Bulga info centre and took the walk over the suspended bridge. It was drizzling but made the walk pretty cool as it felt like a rainforest. There were so many cool trees and different tree ferns. Matt of course shook bridge, so then Nate didn’t want to cross but eventually he did it. Was great spot. 

  
  
  

  We then decided to keep driving around out there and we found Tara Falls which was a beautiful little falls. We then came through some little towns that were in such a beautiful place. Then up on to farm country. 

That night we caught with some of Matt’s friends that he work with in Darwin. They were so lovely and they let the boys trash their shed so the boys were happy.

The next day we said goodbye to my cousin/god father and his family. It was so lovely reconnecting with them after so long between seeing him. I will treasure it forever. 

I can’t believe we have never been to Gippsland before, it was so beautiful and so different from the parts of Victoria we normally visit. I loved it down. The forest and timber mill history, to farming countryside and then these power stations and massive coal mines. 

If you’ve never been do yourself a favour and go explore Gippsland. 
Take Care xo

It’s been a few weeks since we were in Coober Pedy and the Flinders Ranges but thought it was time to do a blog.
We arrived at Coober Pedy and it was hot, dry and nothing but dirt to see. It’s a weird place when you drive through as it’s pretty much dirt and junk laying around. Buildings that look old and out dated. When you look past the main part of town there isn’t heaps to see but pipes sticking out of the ground and old shacks. 

 The things that we soon found out was that Coober Pedy, in a good year will receives 150mm of rain, otherwise there is not much water. So that explains the dirt and why things look so out dated. The dust and harsh environment just ages everything so quickly. The pipes sticking up are actually underground houses and the shacks are the front of them. When you realise that you see how big Coober Pedy is.   

 It is a unique place, out of this world. There is no place like it. It’s quirky and on the surface boring but once you start looking lots to do.

We were super lucky that our friends were caretaking Faye’s underground house and mine so we got our own personal tour which was so amazing to see how people live underground, the boys loved it. And the amount of effort gone into the mining and building of Faye’s place was crazy. She did it on her own. What a truly remarkable woman.

  We drove out to Crocodile Harry’s place which is quirky and creepy at the same time. But a must do while in Coober Pedy. We then drove to the Dingo fence and on to the Breakaways. The breakaways were amazing. The colours were incredible purples, oranges, whites and browns. In the middle of nowhere beautiful coloured soil.  

 
  
We had a look at the Serbian Church which was incredible. They have carved sculptures into the walls amazing.

  We went through the Desert Cave Hotel as they have a museum there which had lots of information on the aboriginal culture in the area, the making of the Stuart Hwy and of course Opals and it’s formation and mining. 

We walked through the Umoona Opal museum which covered formation and mining of Opals but always the fossils found in the area which was pretty interesting. 

Both had opal shops which I tried to talk Matt into buying me one but no such luck.

We did all this in one day which was information overload. My brain hurt at the end of it. You definitely need more time in Coober Pedy to explore it. We also found out that ground temperature there gets to 65 degrees. No wonder the van was hot.

We really enjoyed our time in Coober Pedy.

We left Coober Pedy and got to Lake Hart which is a salt lake and is pretty spectacular. It was really white this time. When we went to Darwin it wasn’t as white so I’m assuming that it has to do with water. There was even rain on the other on the horizon which was pretty cool. 

  We then continued on to The Flinders Ranges which was closed due to vermin control so we went and stayed in the Parachilna Gorge. It was a great spot. Some water flowing so the boys could play in it beautiful scenery. We took a drive to Blinman which is the highest town in South Australia. They use to mine cooper there. 

   

 Once the goat cull had finished we moved into Teamster Campground which was actually a four wheel drive track but we got the van through with care and great skill by Matt. We drove the Brachina Gorge drive into Wilpena with a detour to Stokes Hill Lookout then we drove back to campground by Bunyeroo Road. The views on each track were similar but also different. We were so glad we did these without the van attached as I don’t think our poor Jayco would’ve made it.  

 The guy at information centre told us that you can see fossils in the rocks where we were camping. So we went exploring and found them. And a cool Cave.

   
 The following day we checked out Sacred Canyon which was interesting and a bit of fun then we walked to Wilpena pound lookout then took the scenic route back to campground via Moralana drive which was to the south of the Flinders Ranges and was so different. It was more sort of grazing country, undulating hills and stations. Was great to see the differences.  

    
 The next day we left but we stopped at Hawker on way out and checked out Jeff Morgans panorama art gallery which was amazing. He is one patience and talented man. 

  While in the Flinders Ranges we showered alfresco which the boys loved and we made pet in a yellow footed rock wallaby which we all loved.
We love our beautiful, diverse country that is forever changing around us. 

Take care xo

 

Not many people travel the “Red Centre” in Summer. It’s dry, it’s hot and everything is dead and dusty. We loved it. Hardly anyone around except backpackers, caravan parks had deals on so it was perfect for us to find our feet again freecamping and caravan parking til we got our groove again. It was perfect.This part of the country was amazing and boring. Miles between spectacular place. And a town called Alice Springs with a river named Todd that runs through it. The perfect combination just like our friends Todd and Alice that we had many great times with in Darwin. We choose to stay at Macdonnell Ranges Big 4 they had pay 3 stay 4 which was perfect for us a bit of power to run the air conditioner of a night to get good sleep while exploring through the day. But of course our air conditioner once again decided not to work. We contemplated getting it fix in Alice but decided because we were heading out freecamping and hopefully going to be getting cooler weather we’d wait til we get to Victoria where we can freeload while it gets repaired. So we thoroughly enjoyed their pools and not to forget to mention free pancakes on Sunday morning. Winning.

  
We drove up and looked out over Alice from Anzac Hill. Was a great view with a great memorial. We also did truckies hall of fame where we learned so much about Shepparton and some of the great truck drivers that came from there. It was fantastic. We also took a look in the mall and some of the aboriginal art it was great to see. We stocked up on supplies and struggled with the limited alcohol buying time. All just a learning curve.  

 

 
  
The MacDonnell Ranges both east and west were truly amazing. I’m no geologist but the rock formations were worth the hot, tiring walks. There was some water in the waterholes that made the walks a bit more enjoying knowing that you got to cool off in them. 

 

 
Where we camped at Elery’s Creek big hole which had some warm spot and cold spots in the water. We found out that it was 9 metres deep and you could soon feel the water spring releasing water from below. The rocks here have a curve in their formation absolutely spectacular.

   

 
  
We moved on to Uluru staying at Yulara which had a good deal pay 2 stay 3. Yes thanks and with a pool. Perfect. 

The dirt/sand here was no word of a lie rusty red colour. I loved it. According to my non geologist national park rangers the red here and in Katherine is actually from the rocks rusting. Due to the oxidisation of the iron particles in the rocks. 

 The Rock was breathtaking, every single time we drove to it and from every angle … breathtaking. Even the boys were gobsmacked by it. We didn’t climb it due to extreme heat it was closed and the chance of rain. We did the Mala guided walk with ranger and it was full of great information and aboriginal stories and culture.

  
We also checked out Kata Tjuta/The Olga’s. We walked to the first lookout and down to the creek in the valley of the winds they two were just as amazing. But we really enjoyed the Walpa Gorge. There was water in it, lizards, rare wattle species and a cliff face apparently higher than the Rock and it’s completely vertical. I got dizzy looking up it.  

   
We even got to experience rain in the red centre it was lots but we can say we saw it rain in the red centre. 

 

 
So much to see and do. We rush through it but I could go back and spend more time there exploring it more. Maybe in winter though. 

xo