Travels on Hiatus

As alluded to in the last post, I did myself a mischief and managed to break my neck while holidaying from my holiday.

Originally I was going to keep the updates here, but think it's better that they have their own site. I am now blogging injury-related news at Hello Hello Halo.

I will resume this blog when I resume my travels. Greg is going to drive the Troopy back down to Perth, and he has brought my camera, so hopefully he takes some good photos on his way

Kakadudledeux

After getting the car started and stopping by Jabiru for supplies (but not laundry, sadly), we proceeded to Red Lily Billabong. This is now one of my favourite camping spots ever. Red Lily looks beautiful during the day... but at night when we turned a torch on the water, we could see FOUR pairs of eyes staring back at us!

Fortunately this was the largest wildlife I had to deal with.

Kakadudleduu

After our 2-day detour, we hit the Stuart Highway again, passing through Tennant Creek and Katherine, on the way up to Kakadu National Park. Katherine was a bustling town with it’s on Target Country, so you know it’s hit the big time.

In Kakadu, we took a 60km detour for a hot shower (worth it) then pulled up at Sandy Billabong for a couple of nights. Plenty of signs warning about crocodiles, but no crocodiles yet.

Irony!

The Lost City, and Butterfly Springs (15-16 October)

Driving in the NT is a lot of fun, with long stretches without a speed limit. I laughed every time we hit a “limit” of 130, since the fastest the Troopie can manage is 125! The minor highways were less fun. We spent a lot of time on the highway through the Tablelands to get to the “Lost City” in Limmen National Park, which turned out to be a single lane dual way road. So there was a fair bit of getting off the road to make way for road trains.

The Devil's Lost His Marbles (14 October)

Drove along the Stuart Highway until a natural formation called the “Devil’s Marbles”. Stopped to camp overnight. Amazing views.

Attacked by wildlife, and things you can and can't do with shirts.

Stayed for two nights at a waterhole which surprisingly still had water in it. We managed to get an excellent spot at the end, judging by how many cars made a beeline for it and then drove away in disappointment.

Greg was chased out of the tree by a goanna, and we were also visited by a dingo in the night who kindly licked our plates clean. No dishes, yay!

The NT Rocks

Upon arriving in the NT, we went on an early morning 3.5 hour stomp around the Olga’s, which were amazing and awesome.

Great Central Road, from WA to the NT (08-10 October)

After the detour to Yeo we hit the Great Central Road again. It was a long, straight, repetitive drive but there were some features to break up the monotony.

Randomly discovered rock art.

Wedge Tailed Eagles and a not-quite abandoned homestead (7 October)

Leaving Laverton, we found a couple of Wedge Tailed Eagles feeding off a carcass on the side of the road, and stopped to harass them. The big mama in the photo was HUGE, with a wing span that could have been 2 to 2.5m.

 We finally got onto the Great Central Road, and officially left civilization and cheap diesel ($1.99 at Laverton, $2.33 on the road!) behind.

Unexpectedly good condition of the road.

Wave Rock, the way to Kalgoorlie, and a plane crash (5-6 October)

After the hassle of Mt Hassel, we ended up staying 2 nights outside of Lake Grace, then proceeded to drive to Wave Rock using only back dirt roads. Unlike on the drive down to Denmark, passing drivers waved constantly. Probably locals. Not sure if it was much of a shortcut, but it was a nice drive.

Not pictured: Me sliding down the rock face.

Albany and accidentally doing the Stirling Ranges (03 October)

Dropped into Albany. Checked out The Gap and walked Nature's Bridge

Decided not to tackle Albany highway and accidentally found the Stirling Ranges.

Thought we might have a bit of a romp and stomp.

Denmark, 01-02 October

Two days in Denmark with Ben, Dana, Sienna and Jahmin.

Remember the brush fire from earlier? Had an interesting effect on the light.

Balingup 29-30 Sept

Finally got started on 29th September, a week after our proposed date. We drove down to Balingup to spend the with Lucy and Aiden. Meant only to stay one night, but it happened to be Lucy's day off, so we spent two.

Driveway camping

The most important step.

Now I can drive the troopie without flashing my L for Loser plates. 

The Beast

After months of deliberating and searching, we finally found a suitable car to be a home! She's a Toyota Landcruiser Troopcarrier, and she's just grand. We still need to do some work. The home-carpenting job going on in the back needs to be ripped out to be replaced with a sweet dual set of drawers and double bed.

Still lots of work to do!