The Turning Left Tour - Part 1.1: The Red Centre

So, why, having called this The Turning Left Tour, did we Turn Right at Adelaide I hear you ask?Well, having calculated the number of kilometres left to drive, from Adelaide to Darwin via Perth (around 7000 km), and the available time before the birth of our grand-babies in Mackay, we made the momentous decision to avoid Western Australia altogether, and cut straight up from Adelaide through the Red Centre.  Our apologies to Western Australia and we will definitely visit in the future, but will make this our only destination (in other words, no going via Tasmania this time).

Little did we know what a momentous decision this one would be.  After a quick run across Victoria and South Australia (and again apologies for not including all the wonderful places we visited along the way, which of course are all in previous blogs) we took the road north from Port Augusta through Woomera and Coober Pedy to Alice Springs.

Coober Pedy will be remembered mostly for its flies, as well as the moonscape leading in and out of town for several kilometres; muck heaps abound but hopefully there were also lots of opals found along the way.  We found not only flies, but their antidote.  We were told about a cream, which we found in the local IGA - Desert Blend Rosemary and Cedarwood Fly and Insect repellent - which we also found in Alice Springs.  We "donated" our first jar to an interesting Arante woman at Standley Chasm.  We took a cultural walk through the Chasm with her and had lots of interesting discussions along the way about Aboriginal culture and history.  She bemoaned the fact that the she spent so much time doing the "great Australian wave" while taking groups on walks, because of the flies, so I gave her our small pot of magic cream.  It not only works a treat, but mystifies all those around wearing fly nets!

The road (and basically there is only one) going north from Port Augusta should be the Eighth Wonder of the World.  It's so long and so straight, and with a speed limit of 130 km/h, that there are signs along the way warning of "Crest" and "Bend" - no doubt if you weren't paying attention after 50km of straight, then you may be tempted to keep going straight ahead!  Despite our expectations, the road was excellent, and the B-trebles and cattle trucks not a problem at all.  We all seemed to be travelling at around the same speed anyway and we only had one instance of overtaking and being overtaken by a road train.  Sadly, we saw not one wild emu, camel or kangaroo in the whole of the Northern Territory.  We did see 4 dead cattle off to the side of the road early one morning. They must have been hit by a road train during the night; evidently where there are no fences they wander onto the warm road to sleep at night; not a wise decision.  It's a wonder there weren't more of them.  I suppose that the reason we didn't see any wildlife close to the road was the recent rain which had produced a lovely sheen of green on the landscape, so wildlife didn't have to risk their lives by venturing too close to the road for grass.

Using Alice Springs as our base we travelled to both the West and East Macdonnell Ranges.  It's easy to see why the local Aborigines have the caterpillar as their Dreaming.  The beautiful ranges undulate their way west (and east) as far as the eye can see, and were covered with a light coating of green from the recent rain.  Locals commiserated with us for not seeing the "real" Red Centre but everywhere we looked we saw green, and even some early wildflowers encouraged to bloom by the rain.  I simply can't imagine a more beautiful sight than the West Macdonnells and will always remember our time in this part of the Centre with gratitude.  We could so easily have missed out on all the experiences we now so treasure.  We're even laughing at Ray's 2 bike tyre punctures in 2 days from the broken glass along the bike paths in Alice Springs (well, perhaps Ray's not laughing yet, but he will eventually!).

Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) were truly spectacular, but we both feel that Kings Canyon was the top experience for us in the area.  Perhaps it was the eerie sound of a pack of dingoes howling at first light, or too, the privilege of being in an area which has been such a special place for Aboriginal people for such a long time.  Taking a side trip from the Rim Walk into the Garden of Eden, a place of great cultural significance for the Aborigines, we were pleased that the few people who made the trek treated the place with great dignity and not a sound was uttered.  It was an awesome place and deeply moving.

Again, we were fortunate to meet two of the friendliest people you would ever wish to meet, in our G'Day Mate campground in Alice Springs.  She is a quilter (tick) and he is a mechanic (also tick for Ray, and he helped repair our water tank), and all round nice guy.  Unfortunately as with so many friendships made while travelling, we live at different ends of the country, but these two will remain friends, and with the miracle of modern technology, we can communicate easily.  So, one new friend in Tasmania and 2 in Perth - we'll definitely have to continue our peripatetic lifestyle to keep up with them.

Alice Springs is a really interesting place, with lots to see and do (and quite a few good coffee shops too).  I'll never forget sitting outside our favourite coffee shop one morning, next to an Aboriginal man of around 50, and his white wife, with their coffee coloured granddaughter.  She was a real cutie,  dressed in the usual "princess" outfit, wearing a plastic tiara, and very animated.  Apropos of nothing, she leaned over to us at one stage and announced very loudly "I've got nit cream in my hair"!  Well, that's certainly one to treasure; her grandmother explained that the only thing that works for the endemic nits among the kids is Frontline!  I still laugh whenever I think about her!

So many experiences, so many places.  Without going into details, I'll just mention Daly Waters Pub (a fantastic night of music and dancing), Mataranka Springs (a fantastic Italian backpacker who was kind enough to speak kiddie Italian with me), Katherine (a fantastic Woolies - the biggest in Australia with all the travellers going through), our fantastic morning and evening cruise on the Yellow River at Cooinda, and the fantastic Aboriginal art at Jabiru and Ubirr Rock (Kakadu National Park).  Then there's the Camooweal Billabong, Richmond's Krokosaurus, and Pairie honey which, sadly, we have long ago finished, with no hope of a replacement other than returning to Prairie!

Wangi Falls in Litchfield National Park has to be one of the best places we stayed.  We arrived planning for a night or two, and stayed until our power and water started running out - 7 nights!  There's a great campground there, but it's hard to get into.  There's no booking, so people drive around starting around 8am, waiting and hoping for another camper to leave.  Each campsite is separate and surrounded by bush so it's quite private.  I must admit I did feel a little guilty watching the passing parade but with all our awnings out and chairs and tables under them, most people didn't even bother to ask if we were leaving soon.  The Falls themselves were just spectacular and the best part about the area is that, apart from other campers, there's no-one around before about 10 am and again after about 3pm.  During the day, of course, there are hundreds of day-trippers, but we did the Falls walk every morning and then swam in the lagoon before breakfast and then went down again in the afternoon when most people had left.  There were loads of beautiful birds to try and identify, and wallabies of course.  We were even surprised to see a large sow wander through the campground a couple of nights; the Rangers were about to try and trap it as we left.  Not such a frightening sight by day, but it's eerie hearing it snuffling around at night.

So after our Litchfield and Kakadu experiences, it was back south to the Three Ways at Tennant Creek and another Turn Left, and we were headed to Queensland.  The rest, of course, is history, with two beautiful great-grandchildren added to the family in July and August.

The dash across Queensland seems a blur at this stage, but we did travel the Barkly Highway via Camooweal, Cloncurry, Julia Creek, Mt Isa, Hughenden and Charters Towers to Townsville, where we popped out onto the coast for the first time since the Great Ocean Road all those months ago, and saw the welcome sight of the clear blue water of the Great Barrier Reef.

So, after more meanderings down the coast to Sydney, and back, here we are in Kingscliff, northern NSW on the last day of our 18 month adventure.  We've had a week of hedonistic living in one of the best caravan parks in northern NSW, with our large back window facing onto a great beach, with every facility close by, including the best coffee at the Choux Box just across the road.  Unfortunately there's also a Woolies, a gelato place and terrific dress shops to explore, but so far we've managed to resist all but the supermarket, gelato, and coffee!

It's been a great trip - the not so good parts of it have already receded into ancient history - and we arrive back home on 1st December.  We're really looking forward to settling down for a few weeks and enjoying the family and Christmas before we leave on a 10 day sailing trip in NZ, but that's just an aberration and we don't have any further plans until the end of 2015.

So, as the sun sinks slowly in the West, we plan to say goodbye to our trusty motorhome, Raptor.  We've already put an advertisement in Gumtree, and we hope someone just like us will come along and take her away on another odyssey.

Thanks to all of you who have followed our journey over the past 18 months.  We've appreciated your interest and comments and it's been great to hear from so many of you.  The blog statistics tell us that we have readers from as far away as Russia and South America.  Even if we don't know you, we do know that strangers are only friends you haven't met yet!

The Turning Left Tour - Part 1: Tasmania

Retrospective:
1.   Looking back on or dealing with past events or situations:
2.   An exhibition, or compilation showing the development of an artist's work over a period of time.

So, definition No. 1 seems appropriate in this instance, although I'd really like to be able to use No. 2.   Neither of us is an artist, but Ray has taken some fabulous photos over the past 18 months.  Perhaps he can take care of Retrospective No. 2 some time after we get home and has time to sort through his almost 6000 photos!

Apologies to all those places we've visited which don't get a mention here; not from a perspective of being dull or unphotogenic, but simply that I'm aware of not trying the reader's patience!

So, these places are but a few from our 18 month trip.  Please forgive me if your town isn't mentioned (yes, that's you Jan!)

New Norfolk, Tasmania, 32km north west of Hobart.  Not only is New Norfolk beautifully situated on the picturesque Derwent River,  but the town is home to Tasmania's oldest Anglican church, St Matthews (1823), and the oldest hotel, The Bush Inn, trading continuously in the same building since 1815 using the same licence, dated 29 September 1825!  There are numerous beautifully preserved historic houses, oast houses and antique centres.  We particularly enjoyed staying at the caravan park along the river, as the park was so clean and well run, and the managers friendly. and used this as our base on our meanderings around the south east of Tasmania.

Mt Field National Park, 64 km northwest of Hobart.  Mt Field is Tasmania's first National Park.  Despite being so close to Hobart, and so well loved (this is probably the easiest National Park to access), we found the camping ground to be exceptional, and the short walks to Russell Falls, Lady Barron Falls and Horseshoe Falls rewarding, along with wonderful walks through fern and massive mountain swamp gum forests.  On top of all these attractions is a well run Visitor Centre with (blush) the very best chocolate cake I have ever tasted!

Bicheno and Bay of Fires, east coast.  I guess picking these two out is not really fair to the rest of the east coast, but Bicheno (185km north east of Hobart) is undoubtedly the prettiest town along that coast, with sparkling water, a small harbour enclosed by massive rock formations, and lots of magnificent houses.  It's probably the one place I'd consider moving to, if only for its crayfish and scallops and wonderful deli (oh and the nightly penguin parade, the superb ice creams, and coastal walk!)   Red lichen gives all the granitic rocks along that coast a wonderful red/orange sheen, and this is particularly so in the Bay of Fires, where the campsites are all situated along beautiful beaches stretching from Binalong Bay to Eddystone Point, and named for the Aboriginal fires sighted by Captain Tobias Furneaux in 1773.  We were there early in our trip, before summer started and I particularly remember going for an early morning walk along one of the beaches, shoeless, as one does, and having to run back to the motorhome for my shoes as the sand was icy cold!  Needless to say Ray declined the walk and stayed in bed with the diesel heater going.

Stanley, north west coast. Stanley probably wins the prize for the prettiest town in Tasmania, for us anyway.  Stanley's main street is a patchwork of tiny, multicoloured settlers' houses rising up the hill to the small main street, and includes Joe Lyons Cottage, a restored nineteenth century settler's cottage in which Tasmania's only Prime Minister, Joe Lyons, was born in 1879.  Despite the number of times we passed through Stanley on our way east or west, we never managed to find the Cottage open!  Stanley is dominated by The Nut, which towers over the town, and provides a great exercise walk in the morning - almost straight up!  Once on top of the 143 metre Nut there is a walk of several kilometres which begins and ends at the chair lift (just in case you don't fancy walking back down again).   Despite its tiny population (around 500) Stanley boasts some great coffee shops and providores, gift shops and excellent fish and chips - you can't miss Hursey's Seafoods on the way into town; its building is topped by a gigantic crayfish!

Cradle Mountain.  Not including Cradle Mountain in a list of outstanding Tasmanian places would be tantamount to forgetting to mention the Sydney Harbour Bridge in talking of Sydney.  Despite only having walked a few of the tracks (we figure we'll leave the 6-day Overland Track for another lifetime), we've stayed at Cradle Mountain campground a number of times, both with and without family.  We have wonderful memories of the time spent with Katrina and Dave in the warmth and welcome of the camp kitchen, complete with roaring fires and camaraderie with other campers, to the long night crawl at around 20 km/h in the motorhome on a deserted, winding road, with Ingrid in the front seat wallaby spotting for Ray.  We didn't set out to drive this road willingly, but were forced out of a free camp along the road by gunshots and screaming arguments from a local house.  When we finally found a place to stop we fell gratefully into bed, camped right under the "No Camping" sign!

Evandale, Central Tas.  Evandale sits on the banks of the South Esk River, 18 km south of Lauceston.  Apart from its Pennyfarthing Championships in February, it also boasts one of the biggest and best little markets outside Hobart (yes, I know I haven't included the Salamanca Markets; I apologise).  Selling everything from cheap jewellery to expensive antiques, we appreciated the fresh local produce on offer, particularly the wonderful fresh apples, such as Cox's Orange Pippin, which I can't remember tasting since my childhood.  Unfortunately we didn't bank on the supply running out between one market and another; had I known I would have bought every apple on offer!  We also ran into one of Ray's cousins, with her husband.  What are the chances of finding someone you know in a place you frequent so rarely?

Maria Island.  It seems such a long time ago that we arranged a 4-day walking tour on Maria Island, and being so early in the season, we were the only walkers - but with a guide apiece!  What a magnificent island this is.  The whole of the mountainous island is a National Park and has such a checkered and interesting history, from its beginnings as a penitentiary in 1830 to its later incarnation in 1880 as a winery set up by Diego Bernacchi and then a short-lived cement factory.  By1929 all these ventures had failed, leaving the island to farming for another 40 years.  The island abounds in Cape Barren Geese, Wombats and Tassie Pademelons, and the scenery is spectacular.  From the Fossil Cliffs and Painted Cliffs to the 620 metre Bishop and Clerk and 711 metre Mt Maria, there is great walking, swimming,  biking, and bird watching (think the Forty Spotted Pardalote).  We thoroughly enjoyed our guided walk and would certainly recommend it.

Flinders Island.  Perhaps not strictly Tasmania, but needs to be included here.  The island was first colonised at least 35,000 years ago when people made their way across the then-land bridge which is now Bass Strait.  Flinders Island forms part of the State of Tasmania and is the only island in the Furneaux group with more than one permanent settlement (Whitemark with 170 inhabitants and Lady Barron with 130).  The islanders refer to Tasmania as "the Mainland" which can be quite confusing to someone from the Mainland Mainland!  Obviously if you've already read our Flinders blog you will already appreciate this beautiful little island, just 54 kilometres from the north eastern tip of Tasmania.  We spent 3 weeks there in a little "hippie" van, without all the comforts of our Kea, but were blown away by the beauty of the place, from magnificent Strzelecki Peak to the wild beaches and headlands to the north of the island.  Camping here was freeform and fluid - wherever we stopped the night was the campsite, and most of these were on lonely but beautiful beaches.  It was always interesting in the morning to trace the animal tracks on the beaches - mostly wallabies and the occasional wombat!  We were told that if there was someone on "our" beach, just find another one, and that was true.  Only once did we have to find another one!  Apart from 1 lovely campground which was provided with a camper's hut and new showers and toilets (1 of each plus a Disabled), our ablutions consisted of a bucket of (usually cold) water poured over one another, or if we were fortunate, there was a water tank and stand.  On the not so warm mornings I catered to Ray's aversion to cold weather by heating the water in the bucket; such a good woman he has!

There are so many places which I haven't included here: Port Arthur, Sorrel, Smithton, The Edge of the World, St Helens, Deloraine, Bridport, Georgetown, Oatlands, Beaconsfield.  To all these towns I apologise but refer the reader to previous blogs.  Hopefully I've done all these places (and more) justice there.

We couldn't leave Tasmania without mentioning new friends.  We met so many great people in Tasmania and had so many interesting experiences, but the best of all was a chance meeting in the aforementioned New Norfolk campground of a lovely lady from Richmond.  She not only shared her wine and nibbles with us, but later took us in as orphans of the storm when we had to leave our motorhome overnight in Hobart for a service.  It's chance meetings such as this that make life so interesting, and we now converse almost daily (over Scrabble) and will always remain friends.  We're hoping to lure her for a holiday in Brisbane on our return, though think she'll probably prefer to wait until our Climate Change changes - perhaps in March or later??



//Part 2: The Red Centre.