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In Hyden we stayed at the Wave Rock caravan Park. Very busy, but because we chose to stay in an unpowered site, it was actually not too bad. Amenities good and clean and because it was chilly in the evening everyone went to bed early. Wave rock itself is very impressive and certainly worth a visit. Amazing that nature can create such a rock. Of course also visited the rock called Hippo’s Yawn. The children simply enjoyed the walk and liked to climb on the rocks and pick up rocks etc.

Hippo's Yawn Wave Rock.. amazing

Laid back... the aussie way...

From Hyden the Holland track really becomes a track. The managers of the Wave rock caravan park said that it was certainly not a good idea to take the trailer up the track and they doubted if we should do the track at all, because it was very narrow and scratches on the paint of the car inevitable. And probably not very wise to do the track alone. If we decided to go alone on the track they insisted that we would inform them on departure and call back in on return. Simply for safety reasons. Big big disappointment! We drove all the way and really did not want to hear that. We decided to have a look at the track and decide for ourselves (without the trailer). And of course they were right. After only 20 minutes on the track we decided to turn around. Too risky for the paint. We took the detour over the normal dirt road to Mount Holland and did drive to the top. Fascinating to be at a place where those men camped more than 100 years ago in very difficult circumstances. We had lunch at a Nature Reserve nearby before retracing our steps to the Wave Rock campground. In the evening we met a Dutch guy from Nijmegen who was cycling around Australia. He just started and was on his way in the direction of Brisbane. Good luck, but we like the comfort of the car in this country.

Holland's marker John Holland's track

Start of the Holland track

Because we still wanted to taste a bit of the country John Holland had to cut through we decided to follow the John Holland Way which is a route on a normal dirt road suitable for 2WD’s. We set up our first camp at the Breakaways around 12 o’clock. A nice sheltered place which was necessary because of the strong winds. Beautiful rock formations and so peaceful. The children didn’t mind the short drive of course and enjoyed themselves in and around the trailer.

The following day we continued our trip and had lunch at Mount McDermid. An intriguing rock/mountain which we climbed and we followed the interpretive trail on the rock.

Rock art

resting in a natural chair... nature has its own strange ways...

We set up camp around 4 somewhere between the Cave Hill and Holland track turn off. Just in the middle of the bush. From the time we set up till we left the following morning not a single car passed our camp……. We were really on our own.

Familiar sight... we just loved it... everytime again..

The next day we arrived in Coolgardie where we had lunch and the children played in the local playground till some teenagers came who were a bit too rough for our kids. Coolgardie itself is tiny, but with interesting history. We decided to push through to Kalgoorlie. There we stayed in the Kalgoorlie Discovery campground. Busy, unfriendly staff, no grassy sites, very noisy, and…… close to the airport. Shortly: got out of there as quickly as we could. We did the laundry, had a shower, stocked up on groceries, bought some trousers for Rogier and left very early the following morning to make a start on the Nullarbor.

Tuesday, September 30st, 2008

In the mean time we crossed the Nullarbor, bush camped, stayed at a station, spend some time in Adelaide and had a lot of fun.

Man were those things big!!

We were very relieved to leave Kalgoorlie. The caravan park was just not the right choice for us. Because we didn’t enjoy our stay there we only visited the Superpit lookout: the gold mine site of Kalgoorlie. Pretty impressive to say the least. Especially because we know how big the trucks are that work in the pit and how little they seemed to be from the lookout.

Open mine at Karlgoorlie

We left Kalgoorlie early in the morning and had lunch in Norseman. They children played in the local playground and Rogier filled the car till the rim with petrol. The first part of the Nullarbor was interesting, but slightly boring. We spend the night at the Newman lookout hidden away in the bush. Good place to be and the laundry (which we did in the morning still in Karlgoorlie) was dry in no time because of the strong wind.

The next morning we continued and had coffee at the nearest roadhouse and much to our (better: the children’s) delight they also had a playground.

'The Nullarbor' (South of Perth to Adelaide 1986 km) - long stretch of road named after the plains it passes through, the nullarbor plains. It has the longest stretch of straight road - 90 miles - in Australia

Not much to say about the journey than just that we of course did the 140 odd km of dead straight highway which is part of the Nullarbor.

Tom Tom will not very often say take a left after 1187km

We spent the next night just before Mundrabilla roadhouse in a bush camp. A bit away from the road and because there was less wind we could light a fire which was quite nice of course. The following morning we filled the petrol tank at the Nullarbor roadhouse with a bit of extra juice to make it to the end of the Nullarbor. We were not looking forward to the Nullarbor, but it wasn’t too bad in the end. Very boring and not much to do along the road. They could make it much more interesting we think by having more side trips to interesting places which are certainly there. The children behaved fantastic and just watched DVD’s, slept or played with the toys in the car. A big achievement to sit still for more than 5 hours when you’re 2 and 4!

Of course whilst driving on the Nullarbor, we also crossed the WA/SA border. Our 5^th State/Territory!

Entering south Australia.... after roughly 2000km of plain (nullarbor) plains don't you just love those road signs

Because we had been on the road for so long we decided to try to find a good campsite and stay there for at least 2 nights. People in Perth recommended us to go to Cactus Beach near Penong. And they were so right. It was a fantastic place. The amenities were clean, the owner of the place very friendly and the sites very nice. We did some 4WD tracks on the property, visited the Woolshed and just enjoyed our day without too much driving. The peninsula is really worth visiting and we enjoyed the beach and the nature.

Nothing but nature

Because people told us that Lake Gairdner was really worth a visit, we headed in that direction. It was a bit too far to go in one hit, so we stopped at Gawler ranges Ntl Park. An interesting place, but because the weather wasn’t too good and information boards warned that tracks would be closed during wet weather we just continued to Mount Yve station. We arrived very early in the morning and were looking for a sheltered spot because the wind was very, very strong. Most of the morning we stayed in the rec room, because we couldn’t set up the trailer. The children enjoyed that very much because they could watch DVD’s! In the afternoon the weather cleared up a bit and we went to Lake Gairdner: an enormous salt lake. A couple of times a year they do speed trials because of the flat surface. Well, it is magnificent! We thought it was fantastic.

First time I saw and got on a salt flat..... mind blowing experience. They hold speed trials on these salt flats..

Also went to Kath’s organ pipes, which are interesting rock formations. Funny enough Ykki had completely wet pants at the start of the walk because her nappy wasn’t correctly fitted and Quentin decided to do a wee in his pants half way the hike so Rogier had to walk back to find dry clothes. Nevertheless the hike was worth the effort!

The people at Mount Yve were extremely friendly and helpful. We also had a ball because whilst we were on our way to Lake Gairdner a whole busload of retirees had arrived and they decided to spend all their time in the rec room for tea, dinner and after dinner……. You can imagine that several of them needed to go to the dunnie during the night, which wasn’t too far from where we had our trailer. Would be nice to sound proof the trailer!

The next stretch of road was slightly boring and we ended up at Mount Remarkable National Park. A great park with lots of long, long hikes. Because we cannot do long hikes with the children we thought it was better to leave and go to Adelaide. After visiting the tourist information centre we ended up in the Brown Hill Caravan Park. We stayed at the very far end of the park under a beautiful tree. And even though there was a road close to where we camped it wasn’t a very busy road and we thought it was a really nice campground not too far from the city centre. A drive into the recreation reserve nearby surprised us with lots of koala’s. Really nice to see them in their natural environment, instead of in the Zoo.

Don't you just love them

We tried to get in touch with Keryn Kondoprias (a former colleague of Martine), but unfortunately her child had to go to hospital the night before we were supposed to meet up. Not very good timing unfortunately!

In Adelaide we visited the city centre and of course the Zoo. The Zoo was nice, but not as spectacular as Taronga Zoo. Nevertheless the children enjoyed it very much and that was the whole purpose of the visit. In the city centre Martine bought some new sunnies, because the old ones were very scratched.

We also drove around in the Adelaide Hills. A fantastic drive with lots of beautiful vistas and fantastic houses. Oh, we could picture ourselves in several of them!

One of the days we went to Hahndorf, the oldest German settlement in Australia. Even though we did recognize a few German characteristics it was merely Australian. We had coffee with great Apfelstrudel in a Biergarten and Martine couldn’t resist buying some Dutch licorice. We continued our drive through the hills towards MacLaren Vale where we visited some wineries. And of course bought some good wines.

Quentin wasn’t feeling too well which became clear after he threw up at the lawn of one of the wineries….. oeps…… We went quickly back to the trailer but he didn’t have a temperature so we didn’t worry too much. He threw up a couple of times more, even when there was nothing in his tummy anymore. Very sad to see to be honest. He had a good night sleep and the following morning his breakfast went in very well. Seems to have been a dirty stomach or something. Might have been from the fudge (which was gluten free according to the lady we bought it from, but now we’re not so sure anymore) we bought in Hahndorf or perhaps the very dirty toilet we visited along the way to MacLaren Vale. We’ll never know, but thank goodness it did not last long.

After 4 nights in Adelaide we thought it was time to go further. Victor Harbor was the next destination. We choose the Conservation Park just west of Victor Harbor to spend the night. Waipinga beach looked good and nobody around and we set up our camp there. Well, we did an attempt to set up camp, because with a loud bang one of the supporting poles of the roof lifting system decided to break……… which meant that we couldn’t set up camp! Bummer. Initially we went to Victor Harbour to find a cabin to spend the night before heading back to the Jayco dealer in Adelaide. But in Victor Harbor nothing was available. One of the caravan parks advised us to go to Middleton, a few kilometers to the east. And they did have a cabin available, so after we transferred a lot of stuff from the trailer to the cabin we went to the local tavern to have a meal. They were fantastic and catered very well for Quentin’s special dietary needs. The meal itself was average, but we were so relieved that they understood what coeliak disease was, that the quality of the meal didn’t matter very much. The children thought it was very special to have a meal in a restaurant!

And the following morning we drove back to Adelaide to rock up early at the Jayco dealer. And they were also very accommodating and promised to repair the broken cable of the lifting system before the end of the day. We faced another day in Adelaide and went to Glenelg. We skipped Glenelg initially because people told that it was much like Bondi Beach in Sydney, but that proved to be wrong. It was actually a really nice, busy bustling place where we had a coffee and had lunch at the square.

Because we had to kill some more hours we decided to drive via the Adelaide Hills back to the Jayco dealer. Again a great drive with beautiful views and places to see. Amazing that just 20 km outside a busy city life can be so tranquil.

Of course we still wanted to go to Waipinga beach, so that is what we did at the end of the day. This time there were other people around, but despite that we did set up camp. However, after a few minutes we heard loud music and voices. Bummer! Because we were too late to find another place we continued to set up camp. Half way through cooking dinner Martine was really fed up with the overkill of music and decided to ask our neighbors to shut up. Surprisingly they turned off the music immediately! Despite the loud voices till around 11 o’clock we haven’t heard any music. We slept good, even though it was really cold (5 degrees). This morning the loud music started again………. And again Martine went to have a chat. They didn’t agree that the music should be turned down (not off, just down), but after some arguing they did follow our request.

After we had some coffee we went to Waipinga Beach. An average beach, but the children loved to play in the sand and look at the waves.

A little bit of a kiss to make up after a fight - brother and sister family stuff

When we were about to leave the car park a few youngsters came running at us and asked us if we had jumper leads because their car was stalled. We thought it was hilarious, because they were the teenagers making so much noise the previous night and this morning. Of course we were really proper gentlemen and helped them to jump start their car. They were very grateful and apologized for the inconvenience we caused them the night before and this morning……mmmmm

With a smile on our face we headed for Deep Creek Conservation Park. We’re now staying at Tapaninga campground. After we set up camp we headed for the 4WD track to Boat harbour which was a nice drive and a short walk afterwards.

Roo vs mum vs chair..... chair!

Interestingly enough our next door neighbors are again teenagers making a lot of noise. We were dreading the night……However, the ranger came by and warned them not to make too much noise. The girls just came around to apologize and ask if we could please let them know in person if they made to much noise because they would be kicked out with another warning and they already had some beers and were on their P2’s……….. which means 0 alcohol. Now it is silent, except for our neighbors at the other side who are Dutch and try to speak English to their friends. ….. Also funny to listen to! Makes us wonder that our colleagues probably also often had to laugh about us!!!! J

Friday, October 3rd 2008

Even though it’s just a few days since I last wrote…… again lots to tell. We slept again in a closed trailer, had trouble finding a camp spot and now it rains already the entire day…. Sounds like a bit of bad luck?!

Our plan was to stay 2 nights in Deep Creek Conservation Park, but our first night wasn’t very successful. During the night the weather changed dramatically. Very strong winds made us decide to close the trailer in the middle of the night and Martine and the kids slept in a closed trailer, whilst Rogier slept in the car. We did not want to damage the trailer and with the strong winds it was rocking way too much. Because we heard on the radio that the wind was supposed to calm down during the day, we thought we leave the trailer at the campground and have breakfast in Cape Jervis. Nothing in Cape Jervis except the ferry to Kangaroo Island, so we had breakfast in the car. Interesting experience, but the children managed not to spill anything of their porridge. We returned to the National Park and did the 4WD track to Blowhole Beach before returning to the trailer.

Because the wind was still very strong we decided to leave to Victor Harbor. We still wanted to go to Granite Island with the horse drawn tram, so it wasn’t a bad idea. Except…. The wind was also extremely strong in Victor Harbor and we could not find a caravan park which could offer us some shelter. Okay, not to worry we thought. Let’s go a bit more north to Cox scrub conservation park. Is also free because we have a National Parks Pass for South Australia, so actually not bad. First, we could not find the right road to the campground and when we finally found the right road it was half way closed because of an enormous mud pool in the middle of the road…… Bummer!!!!!!!

We were getting a bit tired (also because of the broken and not very comfy night), but continued more north to Kuitpo Forest. Initially we couldn’t find the campground, but after asking around we finally found a spot to spend the night at Chookarloo campground. Because it was in the middle of the forest managed by SA Forestry the firewood was freely available! There was no wind, it was dry and quiet, so we were relieved to be there. The night was uneventful and the following morning we continued more north because we wanted to visit the Barossa valley the coming days.

The campground in the Forestry was a good place so we decided to go for another one in Mount Crawford Forest. We had coffee along the way, sun was shining, and the sky was perfect blue, so our luck changed again to the positive side. Initially we drove to a campsite that was closed, but we found another one called The Rocky Paddock campground. It is beautiful here and despite the school holidays actually not too busy. But,……….now it rains cats and dogs. Today we went to Gawler and Williamstown because it hasn’t stopped raining the entire day….. the children enjoy it very much because they are now allowed to watch DVD’s for the greater part of the day and we even bought an new Winnie the Pooh DVD for them in Gawler. In Gawler we had lunch and they even had gluten fee pies for Quentin. And …. He liked it. We also bought a new camping chair at BigW because Rogier broke one a couple of days ago.

We visited the Whispering Wall, which was quite fascinating: stand at one end of a dam (build early 20st century) and whisper a message and someone at the other side (140m) will be able to hear it clearly. The children thought it was fascinating. We also visited a Recreational Park nearby, which was a bit boring although we did see an emu with young chicks.

Hopefully the rain will stop tonight; otherwise we will have to leave with a wet trailer….. not too nice.

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

Already another fortnight gone by. Time flies We visited several wineries in the Barossa and Clare Valley, went back to Adelaide, did some great 4WD tours and again spend time at several Stations.

But let’s go back to the forestry first. During the second night it hadn’t rained, so we could pack our gear relatively dry. We were looking at a long weekend and decided to drive to Kapunda, which is situated between the Barossa Valley and Clare Valley. Both wine regions, so very interesting to do.

On our way up to the Barossa we stopped at Jacobs Creek and had a picnic at The Grand Burge. Really nice, till a bus loaded with youngsters came who already had a few too many wines.

Something for the kids and something for mum and dad... what an unfortunate combination

Of course we couldn’t leave Jacobs Creek without tasting and buying some of their wines. The children kept theirselves busy with the toy box, Rogier did the tasting and Martine watched everything and stayed alcohol free so we could drive around safely. We continued more north and ended up at Kapunda.

The Kapunda campground was a surprise for us. We drove past one of the campgrounds in the Barossa itself which was packed and close to the main road, so we were bracing ourselves for something similar. But Kapunda campground is a really nice one, especially the non-powered part of the campground. The facilities are good and it is allowed to have a fire! We ended staying 3 nights, simply because we thought it was a good quiet place and also because there was lots to see and do. In Kapunda itself we did the tourist drive around town, which was pretty fascinating with the route instructions which we got from the very good Information Centre in town. Of course we also couldn’t pass the playground which was also very nice (with a big Thomas the Tank engine).

The first full day we went to the Barossa Valley. First we visited the Whistler Wines where the October Fests were celebrated. The family had organized a bbq, live music and had invited everyone to come along. We certainly enjoyed it. Also visited the Peter Lehman and Saltram’s east of Nuriootpa. Tanunda Chateau couldn’t be missed and of course Seppeltsfield was added to our list of visited wineries. Rogier did all the tasting, Martine did all the driving and the kids…… running around on a winery is very nice! Especially if there is a swing, a toy box or a lawn…….

The following day we drove to Clare in the Clare valley. With a bit of a detour we finally arrived in Clare. At the Clare playground we had lunch and the children played whilst Rogier did some tasting at the Knappstein winery. It was brutally cold, so we hopped in the car again and drove southwards. Visited the Mintaro winery and Annie’s Lane winery. From there we went cross country back to Kapunda (shortest route with Tomtom) which gave us a good idea of the Clare Valley.

After the 3^rd night in Kapunda we got up very early in the morning, because we had to be back in Adelaide at the Jayco dealer for the 10.000 km service. We didn’t really make the 9 o’clock mark, but that wasn’t a problem at all. Very capable people and very service oriented. Our goal was to go shopping for a warm doona (people warned us that it would be freezing in the Flinders ranges) and organize our trip to Malaysia. The doona was found quickly in the Marion shopping centre and a travel agent (Escape Travel) as well. But it took really long to do the actual booking because we had to check with the travel agency who originally booked our flights to the Netherlands if we were entitled to free local flights and if they could book them too. The original agency (TravelEdge in Sydney) wasn’t very willing to cooperate, Malaysian Airlines had a very long waiting list to check. Booking the ‘free’ flights with the original agency would cost us $920 dollars (excl. accommodation), booking Air Asia flights with the Adelaide agency costed us in the end $860. Since we prefer to spend our money wisely we let the ‘free’ flights go and booked with Air Asia. Of course also stocked up on groceries and fuel and in the mean time the Jayco called that the trailer was ready for pick up.

The repairer showed us one of the electric break controls which he had replaced…. He wondered what had happened because they looked very bad. Most likely Pratt NT in Darwin hadn’t done their job because otherwise it wouldn’t have looked this way. Also no proper grease in bearings….. again something on our list for our letter to Jayco about Pratt NT.

Because we could pick up the trailer only at the end of the day we decided to stay in Adelaide at the Brown Hill Creek caravan park again. They were nice the previous time we were in Adelaide. Filled our water tanks to the rim and off we went to the north again.

This time we headed for Red Banks Conservation Park. Finally peace and quiet again. A beautiful campground, camp fire, dry weather, not too cold….. nothing we wanted more. Amazingly enough there were only 2 other campers there, so it was good.

Trees help...... to make a campfire (dead ones than)

imagine yourself in this chair!

After a good night’s sleep we drove to the oval, but the walk there was a bit too long for us. We decided to buy some last forgotten groceries in Burra. Very charming little place, but they should get rid of the fee you have to pay to visit the historical sites in town.

From Burra we did the scenic drive via Spalding, Jamestown and Booloroo Centre towards Mount Remarkable National Park. Because there are no campsites for trailers at the eastern side of the Ntl Park we drove via Melrose and Wilmington to Spear Creek. Recommended to us buy campers in Kapunda (who gave us a bucket of oranges by the way. Really nice oranges!). Spear Creek is a working cattle station with bush camps. We decided to go for the private bush camp which was quite nice situated. Because it was nice we decided to stay 2 nights, so the following day we drove to Mount Remarkable Ntl Park, had lunch in Wilmington and drove up the Hannock lookout. At Spear Creek itself it is not possible to do 4WD or other types of tours, and because we wanted to go to Flinders we continued north after 2 lovely nights.

Via Stirling and Quorn we ended up at Argadyle station. Recommended by one of the 4WD magazines. We rocked up and there was nobody at the homestead so we gave them a call on the satphone. No worries mate, find yourself a spot in Cockroach Valley and see in the morning……….. We found a great spot and set up camp. This time the full set up, including the awning and the side walls, because we wanted to make some pictures for when we sell the trailer. The advantage was also that we didn’t need to worry to much about the flies inside the ‘tent’. Thank goodness flies are night blind and only fly during the day. What a nasty little creatures.

Bush camping on Argadyle station... seclusion at its best

Piekabooo

The following morning we drove to the top of Mount Arden (on the Argadyle station property). Boy what a view. Absolutely stunning, fantastic, impressive.

On top of mount Arden; rough, no road, barely a track

The drive down hill was what you call rather interesting: steep, loose rocks, slippery, but very beautiful. And the good thing was that the children slept through it without a problem. In the afternoon we did some reading, and the children played. Just lovely to relax.

Because we needed to stock up a bit on groceries we packed everything after 2 nights and drove back to Quorn. Nice IGA, but…… no Karicare for Ykki. Mmmm, we might need to get some tins a bit more to the north….hopefully.

From Quorn we drove via Hawker to the Willow Springs station. Several people had recommended us to go there and avoid the Wilpena campground (too big, too commercialized, too busy, too many caravans). Well, we’re now at Willow Springs and it is absolutely fantastic. We’ve got a campsite completely for ourselves, private privy, it is allowed to make a fire, and yesterday we did the Skytrek. A 60 km 4WD drive (appr. 6 hours) over the property to the highest mountain: Mount Caernarvon (920m). Detailed route descriptions give some background information (historical, flora, fauna and cultural). We added our pebble to the mound on Mount Caernarvon (all visitors add a pebble to a mound and sign the visitor book), and loved the drive. It was a bit long for the kids though, so they were really happy to be back at the trailer again and play in the dirt.

And my wife did the gates

We were tempted... but no..

Signing in at the top of Mount Caernarvon (920m)

This morning we drove to Skull Rock which is a 15 km round trip (4WD) to a skull shaped rock. Fascinating to see.

And this afternoon we went to Wilpena pound. Of course it is not possible to go to the Flinders and not go to Wilpena pound. We took the bus close to the entrance of the pound and walked the remaining kilometer. At the old homestead we did a 1 km round trip to one of the lookouts of the pound. Impressive and a tough climb. Ykki did most of the walking herself, Quentin used Rogier as his personal mule.

Wilpena pound Shingleback

Wilpena pound markette, looking at the pound (in between those hills)

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Page last updated: 15-8-2009