........ HOMEWARD BOUND ........

Hi to All,
It is with very much regret to say that we are now heading down the east coast of Qld on the final leg of our wonderful journey. We  stayed  in  Lucinda with Sergio and Rhondda for nearly a month so now we have to admit to ourselves that its nearly over...

We left Brisbane on the 8th Feb, so it  will be close on 10 months since the start of our fantastic trip around this great land,  by the time we arrive home early Dec. This  trip  has been  a  fantastic journey and i feel really sad that its coming to an end....       .When i left home i could not get my head around the fact  that  i would be travelling around Australia in less than 18ft of space with my very large and very opinionated husband,   how would i ever cope?
I now have to say we enjoyed every bit of our experience....Yes, i had a few home-sick days and missed my 2 beautiful daughters  but even if i was at home, they have their own life to lead......                                         I also had a little melt down when Trish and Brad left but apart from a couple of episodes i decided to make this trip something that i would look back on and smile, and have no regrets... .. We have had so many laughs....                                    
Living in this 18ft of space i learnt a lot about Mick, even though we have been married nearly 37years......I have learnt that Mick will go out of his way and do anything for anyone, friends and strangers, it does not matter to him,   how very kind and generous he is,    how much he just loves his country of birth,   how much he loves looking at every   tree,river, mountain,gorge,ocean,animals and creatures of any description  and so on...........He would even  wake me to  point out lambs in a paddock- numerous times --   may-be that was so he had someone to talk to........When we first left home Brad, Trish  and I called Mick   "The Walking Atlas"   and the nick-name has stuck.......His knowledge of this wonderful land is quite amazing,   he rarely forgets any of the towns and places that  we have passed through,   the  roads we have travelled,   he soaks up the local information like a sponge loving every bit of  the geographic information by talking to the locals,  and  the best part is, he  remembers  it all.........Look out everyone he will chew your ear off when he gets home.....Yes, he is still opinionated but i hate to admit it, a lot of times he  knows what he talking about....Got to love my Baggy.....
     
At the moment we are in Bundaberg catching up with Robyn and Noel for a few days before we keep on heading south,  slowly .....Thanks guys for your hospitality.....  In Skip Point and Rainbow will be another port of call down the road a little and hope to catch up with Trish and Brad if at all possible....

   We have made a lot of great new friends on our travels and will stay in touch for sure with them all.We also have caught up with a lot of old friends and relations on our way around this vast country and loved seeing them all.......
Thanks to all  for being part of this amazing journey....

We will catch up with who we can when we get home in early  December, but first we will have a house that needs to be put together, furniture and box's from the garage and start un-packing....Do we have to go home? Yes, it is time but  one thing is for sure, we will not forget this fantastic  ride in 2010.....

We have enjoyed   toooo  many drinks,   and enjoyed   toooo   much  food , and had   tooo   little exercise and we both have put on  tooo much weight.....BUT   would we do it again ?  YOU BET WE WOULD!!!!
Lets dream the dream again one day....
Over and out  for the  last time,                     Love to all   The Baggy's

Is it time to do a trade with the van?

Mick having a chat to one of his many new found friends

HOMEWARD BOUND

   

QUEENSLANDERRRRRRRRRRR

Leaving Lightning Ridge we travelled through  a little town called Hebel on the border of N.S.W and  QLD then onto Dirranbindi, then to our overnight stop   at Nindigully where we set up camp on the Moonie River....Nindigully is known for its historical hotel and the happy hour at the old local was a must ...We enjoyed our stay on the river bank and the locals tell us that the country folk fill the place to the limit on long weekends,once again no fish for us....Next  port of call was St George which  we thought  was a pretty little town settled on the Balonne River, then onto Surat where we set up camp for 2 nights also on the Balonne River and once again no fish.....After our 2 nights in Surat it was onto to my old  home-town of Roma....
Arriving in Roma we spent  a night with our very old mates Jill and Roy and had a great time catching up, then it was on to my nephews place Darren, Sam and Ryan....We had a great time there and they looked after the old grey nomads, also  the league grand final  was on too, so that was a afternoon of get togethers at the neighbours...Nothing like the life of country folk.....Thanks to all the Roma crew.....
     I spent a few days reminising and doing drive bys on all  places that i spent  my  first 17 years,checked out the old farm house or what i could see of it through the trees, Grandmas's place ,Uncle's place, Cousins place ,schools, churches etc....and took flowers to the cementry....  The Roma floods took a toll on many and some are still suffering, house's still not repaired and insurance companys still refusing a lot of people....Check your insurances everyone the word flooding is a dirty word when it comes to paying out......
 
    Leaving Roma we travelled  north through Injune and Rolleston ,then  heading towards Springsure   the old green machine (Mick calls her the Immortal) got rather tired and broke down....Did not take very long and we were travelling into Springsure with the tow-truck,  that sure  was a thrilling over-night stop...Springsure is really the place to hang out...(LOL) We were on our way the next day by mid-day  so it wasn't that bad...       Next town was Emerald which i thought was a nice country town, then onto Charters Towers and Townsville...Called in a had a cuppa with our old best-man and bridesmaid Sam and Evonne at Blue-Water on the way up to Ingham...                                                                                                                             We are now  in Lucinda staying at Sergio and Rhondda's and had been having a great time....Thank-you to Rhondda and Sergio for having us and spoiling us.....Just come back from doing a 5 day trip up to the Atherton Tablelands ... We stopped and had a cuppa with Ernie and Ros south of Cairns,  and i must mention we were very sad that we were not able to have a stop over with our dear old buddies Chris and Robert....Robert has to under-go more treatment in Sydney so we had to miss seeing them...Good luck Robert and I hope the time goes quick so you can return home to Cairns  ASAP....Next stop over, was  Micks nephews place,Steven, Julie and Sara...They have land at Ravenshoe on the Millsteam River where we spent the night overlooking the river and watched many  platapus frolic in between drinks and yummy food.....Next  day it was down to  Wondecla to their  roadhouse where we spent another 2 nights and played tourist around  The Tablelands....Lake Barine, Lake Echam,Lake Tinaroo Dam,Yungaburra,Mareeba,Kuranda, Herberton,Atherton....Just loved those Tablelands.....We keep repeating our-selves about the green rolling hills but The Tablelands are just a beautiful picture of  everlasting  green........                                                                                                                                                  

  Back in  Lucinda we are now having a battle with the weather, Mick is dying to get a trip to the reef for a fishing trip....We have the boats, we have the reef  but now the winds are up to 20-30 knots and  no-one can get out....We can wait a little while longer to see if he can catch this  fish that never happens.....Oh!!!! by the way we are down another mobile phone, First one got burnt and now we had to replace another one as the second one ended up in the river mouth while he was trying to catch the fish that got away....Managed to save his rod though...                                                                                                                                              We spent a lovely day in Innisfail with Mick and Sergio's brother Robbie and Coreen ,we all enjoyed our time together catching up, it was great for the boys to  be able to sit around  together as  the opportunities to have  these get- togethers do not come about very often......Thanks Robbie and Coreen  for the lovely day, once again good food and good company was enjoyed by all.........  I think i should dedicate this blog to all the rellies and friends in Qld thanks for all the invitations guys, the old grey nomads will have to head home soon ....   Now that is a  scary thought--- going back to the suburbs......   Love to all    
TheBaggies

 

Great nephew Ryan enjoying the thrills of country life in  Roma

The Immortal decided to have a rest

The 3 Bro's - Sergio,Mick and Robbie

Wonderful Cairns Esplanade

Great niece Sara enjoying the Millstream River

Lamb shanks in the camp oven (good times had by all)

The beauty of The Atherton Tablelands

Sergio, Mick and Steve at Lake Tinaroo

The Boys and their Toys

  

Windmill in the middle of the road heading to Irvinebank

Calm water  in The Hinchinbrook Channel

  

5 black cockies at Taylors Beach

Crabbing with Sergio up the creek

Taylors Beach and the one that didn't get away

and 2 that didn't get away

Breaking dawn Hinchinbrook Island in background

Lucinda's jetty   (longest in the southern hemisphere)

Is this Crocdile Dundee? or Billy Connelly?

Brad was here :))))

Murray River to Canberra to Lightning Ridge

After leaving the Flinders Ranges behind us we finally came to the Murray River... This River has always been a fascination for Mick and it was one of the places that was a must see on this trip....We spent many nights camping on this amazing river and i needed to be educated about all these locks and weirs,and the best part of all was, the river was really flowing after the big flood around that area....We travelled the Murray from Morgan  in South Australia where we went to visit a  retired work mate of Micks (Ty Daly from  Wagstaff) he lives in a beaut  cottage thats about 130 years old and has settled in  well and knows half the town. .... Next stop was Renmark,Mildura, Echuca, Yarrawonga,Rutherglen,and then  we left the Murray at Albury-Wodonga....This drive was very scenic and we stopped at all the old paddle steamer towns and played tourist....We drove from one state to the other continuously crossing over the connecting bridges through-out the days of travel. I got rather confused at times and would be asking "Are we in N.S.W or Victoria?" .  We checked out the old town of Wentworth where the Darling River joins  the Murray...  I think Mick got his Murray River fix as we followed it through 3 different states.......
 

Next on our agenda was to head back to Canberra to have a stop over once again at Cassie and Will's place at the Royal Military College at Duntroon.....Will was away on a army exercise when we first arrived so we were able to keep Cassie company....Cass also had other visitors too as Sergio and Rhondda (Micks brother and wife from Lucinda  Point ) were there  on there way back from Tasmania....We had a good couple of days together   and shared some good pasta that Sergio cooked for us.....They were not able to stay to see Will come home but we ended up staying about 10 days and it was great to see our  son-in-law  as we missed him on the way through.... oh! and he does look good in uniform (ha-ha) .
We also went to Floriade in Canberra to check out all the spring flowers -  what a display that is......Markets at the bus depot is a must on a Sunday morning too,plenty of deli type foods----breads,olives,cheeses,etc....
                                                                                                                                                                We went for a night over to Ulladulla (about a 2 hour drive from Canberra on the coast  north of Batemans Bay) to see our mates that we travelled with and spent the night there, was a great catch up, lovely company and good food,  also a beautiful part of Australia...The coast-line south of Sydney is  awesome....beautiful......pretty....wonderful...whatever you want it to be....just love it........ 
  
  You can't be in Canberra at this time of the year and be so close to the snow fields with-out going for a look...We were at the Snowy Mountions in March and was able to see The Snowy in the summer so it was a must that we go back and see what charm the Mountions could turn on for us ....We were a little late in the season but for us Queenslanders who never get a chance to see the snow we were very excited to see the white mountions..Mick and I had a great play around for the afternoon and was able to get some funny photos.....Mick even fell into a big slush hole right up to his bum and took me down with him, camera and all.  I really don't  think we were suppose to be in that area but you have to excuse us old Queenslanders,new to the game of snow fights...We had to make  a quick change of clothes as we were both very wet and  very cold....We laughed about it on the drive back to Canberra  but in hindsight it really was a little scary...........

Leaving Canberra was sad,saying goodbye to our loved ones-  --but we still had plenty of things to do,  and places to see,  so we headed  off inland from Canberra to travel up the  country roads.....What a beautiful drive this   has been, we cannot believe how green everything is....Is it because we are used to seeing red bull-dust for 2 states? Really this is  the best drive we have been on ...inland N.S.W and coastline N.S.W. south of Sydney  have been the best....Locals people have been telling us they have had good rain--hence the green valleys and hills....Many happy sheep and cattle and the paddocks of golden canola flower are  something else......You  can understand  how much we appreciate this scenery after  many miles of desert country that we have been through.......You have to love this wonderful ever changing country......

Travelling from Canberra to Yass, Cowra,Wellington, Dubbo,Gilgandra,Coonamble,Walgett we have now arrived at Lightning Ridge........Lightning Ridge is the only place in the world where the  exquisite black opal is mined in quanity and sold in the rough....People come from all around the world to try and find there fortunes here, and many succeed--some say the cash flow at the local bank is  the largest in Australia....(I think that could be a big white lie for the tourist trade ) We have found in our travels that they  has been quite a lot of  tall stories told to hype the towns up....The Ridge as it is known to the locals is different to Coober Pedy as they do not live underground here, but still it looks like Little Egypt with mounds and mounds of diggings every-where..Apparently  too much clay in the rock to go under-ground...Thats my little geo lesson for now. Baggy had me out doing a tour of the mines today and they leave open holes every-where....Some have just a mesh covering, me being scared of weird things like that, i made sure i did not stand too close to any hole...Think they need a safety  officer.....Oh  well !  we  have to go to these strange places and strange  towns  so we can  form our own opinion....   
  Next stop on our agenda will be Hebal on the border of N.S.W. and QLD and then onto St George. Surat and my birth place Roma.....Will check out a couple of relations  there and a couple of old mates and keep moving onto North Qld .....Over and Out for this one ....     Love to All        The Baggys...       xxxxxx

    Black line--- -Follow our travels -

                                                           Mick and Ty (Morgan - S.A)                          

 

Wentworth N.S.W (where the Murray and Darling Rivers meet)

Canola in flower at bottom of the Flinders Ranges S.A

                                           Mick doing his nightly chores for the bush camp on the Murray

                                                    Ahh!       The Serenity

                                               Flood Waters around Murray River region

                                                Paddle Steamer at Echuca

                                       Pasta dinner with all the Basaglia's....Oscar had to be in on it too.

                                                             Perisher......

                                                              Fun times

                                                           Just before the slush hole

                                                                   Wildflowers S.A

Floriade---Canberra City.

                                                            Goodbye to Cass

                                                        Duntroon Royal Military College

Our scenic drive in central N.S.W

                                                               Canola in Flower -wonderful drive

                                                             How good is this !

                                                              North and South of Dubbo N.S.W

Umm ! What to say.......?

You have to experience these things  !!!!!!!

Open mine-shafts at Lightning Ridge

Landscape around Lightning Ridge

                                                                         
                                                          
                                                         


 



  

 

Alice Springs.....Uluru......Coober Pedy

Arriving in Alice Springs we knew it was time once again to go deep into the cupboards and  find the Doona's...Not at all happy about that but we have decided to grin and bear it because there will be no getting away from the cold from here on,we are taking the southern run when we leave Uluru so I guess we will be heading right into the cold weather and lots more of it...   

Leaving Matranka the next stop was Tennant Creek where we stayed on a horse farm,very country, but really preferred that to the option of   staying in the township....Tennant Creek is a very sad town and it seems to be in a state of bad repair with lots of buildings and shops left empty and boarded up..... Only one Foodland store in the town where you can get supplies,  and Mick and I were witness to a full on brawl in the supermarket with a couple of females...Not a pretty site thats for sure but i could not help looking...Its not something you see in the city when you are out getting the grocerys,    2  females rolling around on the supermarket floor........
   
   We passed through Devils Marbles on the way to The  Alice and according to aboriginal lore,this is the site where the rainbow serpent laid her eggs...They are pretty big eggs so will post a photo  or two.                                                                                                                         .                                                   Situated  in the heart of Australias Out-back , the Red Centre has at its core the town of Alice Springs....   Alice  Springs is framed by the stunning Mac Donnald ranges and is one of Australia's  most   famous out-back towns....It is also the home to more indigenous art galleries per capita  than anywhere else in Australia... (The galleries seem to be on every corner)   We think Alice  its a pretty town with the ranges  all around it.....The Desert Pea flower is out too ...(very pretty)....Will need to get some photos of that  before we leave, as we missed the wild-flowers in W.A. as we were too early...   ......... Later much later....What we thought was the Desert Pea flower is not the Desert Pea but its still very pretty so i still will post the photos...
       
     What can i say about the wonderful Uluru.....Just love The Rock, I am sure i will bore you all with the photos but we both enjoyed our visit...The day was full on with us driving about 100kl's to Yalura and booking into the van park, next on the agenda was a quick drive to Uluru to catch the 10 am ranger talk...The ranger talk went till 11.30 am and then we started our 11kl walk around the base of the rock...Lunch was next and then a drive 45kl to The Olgars, then back to Uluru to watch the sun set over the rock...Quite amazing how the colours change...Up the next morning at dark to drive to The Rock once again to see sunrise..  Our first look at the rock was before the ranger arrived and at that stage it was closed for the climb....(too windy).....We both thought that we got out of that easy....Then   as we walked  with the ranger he went to a great amount of explanation about the traditional owners  not wanting people to climb the rock as its a sacred site,but....people can make up there own mind....He( the ranger) also stated that 41 people have died climbing the rock and the latest as early as April this year when he was working and he had to help with the body retrieval while the  mans wife watched from the car park....Now  Baggy and I  looked at each other and thought thank god its closed today....After our walk around the base the wind had dropped and by this time the climb was open...We sat and watched the climbers while we had lunch and before you get to the chained part of the climb you need to get down on all fours and crawl because its so steep....I kept hearing the words of the traditional owners and we decided it was all too much for us...(heart attack hill)  A good time was had by all while we were there. ...
   

   Leaving Ulura area we had a hugh amount of miles to cover to head south to Coober Pedy, we took a couple of stop overs before we arrived...Well i think i am still in a state of shock...I never knew about how  this town was set out,.. so it all came as a bit of a surprise...The Coober Pedy locals  (80%) of them  live underground ..Its quite amazing how  it all works so we did a couple of tours to check out the area...We were told that the fresh food only comes to town on a Thursday and we would see most of the town folk on that day as they come up out of there holes that day for supplies, other days they are happy to be in the homes  (dug outs) as the temperature is at a even 20 to 25 all year round....We went to a home that was dug out by 3 ladies,to a hotel, to a church,  to shops, to a opal mine.  I think its all very weird and i also think the towns folk are weird too... (hope i don't offend anyone by saying that)..Those who live above the ground are Greeks,Asians and Aboriginals, as  they do not like to live below the ground...Lots of cultures in Coober Pedy too but they are still weird.....Grubby lot, they don't throw anything away so the yards that are above the ground look like a tip...Old machinery,  mining gear  and scrap metal for miles...
I am going to put up a couple of photos that we are very proud of....It may not look much to all you guys but if you knew how many times we stopped car and caravan and i would sneak back to get that magic shot only  to have these beautiful wedge-tails  fly off on me...They are very shy..We have a bit of a standard joke and yell to each other EAGLE ! EAGLE!..  Now  i have some photos ...


Today after a few days on the road since Coober Pedy we were thrilled to see the rolling green hills of the Flinders Ranges of South Australia.......What a different site that was compared to when we were heading across..It was so dry back in  late  March   ..   Till next time      Love to all  The Baggy
                                                                           

The 3 Ways

The Devils Marbles  N.T.

Statues between Tennant Creek and Alice Springs

Wild-flowers at Alice

Alice Springs look-out

Truck Parade Alice Springs...(Baggy in his glory )

We have a burglar in the house...

The Wonderful Rock

Half way round the base walk

Sunset at Uluru

Sunrise at Uluru

Just love this photo

You don't see this every-day

The house that 3 ladies dug out

I think Baggy misses his job....

Underground Hotel...Coober Pedy

St Peters Church... Coober Pedy

This is Stuarts Desert Pea

Moon Plains...The movie Mad Max was made around here.

Someones home  ( Dug Out)

Space ship from movie Pitch Black...(made at Coober Pedy)

  

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