Signage
for the local pub - Aussie food 
And now? We sit close to a lovely warm fire, have a good glass of wine bought in Clare Valley and simply enjoy life. Life’s good. Way too good!
From Willow Springs we took the tourist drive to the north and stayed one night in one of the national parks bush camps. A lot of flies... so not a place we wanted to stay for long. Then we headed up towards the northern Flinders Ranges, at the Parachilna hotel we had a coffee and off we went, going the dirt way to the Gammon ranges.
Signage
for the local pub - Aussie food
Kangaroo, Camel and Emu burgers available
We camped overnight at one of the gorges, which was beautiful, but those flies were shocking, with some aboriginal art site located a stroll away from the camp site. Then off towards Arkaroola, which we found not to be very pleasant (expectations were certainly not met, as it was a very cultivated place). We decided to check out the national parks camp site, but with 40 degrees outside and the sun burning down on us, without any shade available, we decided to turn around and continue towards Leigh Creek, our next stop to stock up before Strezlecki desert track. On our way we passed an aboriginal cultural centre where we decided to spend the night. One night became two nights. Iga Warta is a very nice and relaxing place and we caught up with some other campers. Then it was time to continue to Leigh Creek to stock up for the Strezelcki desert (Strezlecki track: track used by cattle thieves that stole a few thousand head of cattle and pushed it through the desert to sell the cattle up north - on foot).
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Because the first bush camp on the Strezlecki track was a bit out of reach we decided to spend the night in Copley Caravan Park. Next to the through road, but we found a spot which protected us a bit from the hard wind and we had the opportunity to fill the water tanks with reasonable tasting water. Also gave the interior of the van some cleaning and did some body scrubbing as well because we expected that we wouldn’t see a shower for a long, long time.
The following morning we started and were very excited to ‘do’ the Strezlecki track. Our first stop was at the mine just north of Copley where we could see a big kipper and some other mining equipment and of course could see the pit.
We visited the Aboriginal ocre pit just north of Lindhurst and had lunch with the local artist Talc Alf. A very extraordinary character with his very own view on the development of words and sentences. Definitely worth to visit him and listen to his view on the world.
Ochre mine
After
that we hit the dirt on the Strezlecki track. We spend the night at the ruins of
Blanchewater homestead. The flies were killing us, so as soon as we set
up camp we fled into the trailer. Which was not bad of course.
Our first pit stop was at the only permanent water bore on the track. An abundance of corella’s and other birds took advantage of the permanent water in an otherwise very dry country. The real desert was intriguing despite the sandstorm that hit us.
Normal warning signs
We followed the old Strezlecki track till Innamincka
where we set up camp in the National Park at 
Kings
Camp. A beautiful spot right on the river and we were there completely alone.
Again lots and lots of flies, so we spend most of our time inside. But we also
visited the famous Innamincka hotel where we had fantastic coffee and a warm
welcome. The children thought it was fantastic that they could watch ABC kids on
a real television and we had a nice chat with some other travelers. And of
course we had a look at the sites where the famous explorers Burke and Wills
spend their time and died subsequently.
better get some fuel mate
The road out of Innamincka towards Corner country was appalling with enormous rocks on the road, so after 2 nights in Innamincka we decided to retrace our steps on the old Strezlecki track before turning left towards Corner Country. A fantastic drive through arid land which took us through 3 time zones: SA, QLD and NSW time. Weird!!!!!
The do have humor in the outback (there are no elephants in Australia)
The Corner store is definitely worth the visit and of course we had something to drink there before taking the obligatory picture at the 3 corner stone.
Corner
country - bridging three states 
Going to NSW (you know - where Sydney is)
We ended up in Sturt National Park at the Fort Grey campground. And amazingly enough we were the only ones there. A huge campground just for ourselves! Despite the drought there were a couple of water points so we took advantage of that and washed ourselves and the kids had lots of fun in our own bath tub.
Bathing
-the bush way! 
Dust
Tibooburra was our next pit stop after an appalling road with lots of corrugations and bull dust. According to the owner of the local hotel the roads were actually pretty good at the moment, so we could only feel sympathy for people who have to travel the road in even worse conditions than what we encountered. We had lunch at the hotel and the children ran around in the hotel.
We spend the night in Mutawintji National Park at the homestead camp ground. Flies everywhere and we were unfortunate that we arrived Saturday after the tour finished (people told us that it is definitely worth to do that tour which explains a lot about the history and culture of the camp). The walks were too long for the kids and the only short walk we did was spoiled a bit because of the flies. But the shower was fantastic (amazing how luxurious a shower can feel after so many days on the road without access to it!).
We continued our journey towards Broken Hill where we set up camp at the City campground. The only 2 campgrounds in Broken Hill are situated next to the through roads to Adelaide and Sydney, so lots of road trains! Nevertheless we spend 4 nights in Broken Hill. One of the reasons was that we had a puncture in one of the tires, and a new tire needed to come from Adelaide. Which of course took a little longer, because the truck broke down……. Lucky us. Broken Hill is a nice town, good to stock up and lots of things to see. Unfortunately for us the mine tour was no longer possible, but we did have a look in the open pit. Also bought a silver bracelet for Ykki in one of the shops. You kind of have to do something like that in the Silver City! Hopefully she can wear it for some time, but our little lady is fast becoming a big girl.
Beautiful and funny - but it did work, we did not touch him.... scary pointy
creature!
A
sneeze could have been disastrous... 
Initially we wanted to spend a night in Silverton, but this was a complete disappointment. The campground looked nice enough, but there were thousands of flies and way too hot. The village itself was not very interesting, especially because with the children it is simply no fun to visit museums etc. Maybe under different circumstances it is nice to visit Silverton, but for us it was just not it!
So we quickly headed out of Silverton and drove up to White Cliffs. Never seen something so weird. People live under the ground where there is a constant temperature of 22 degrees Celcius. Which is of course very nice in summer when it can be up to 50 degrees there (can you imagine……). Because we also wanted to experience life underground, we decided to spend the night at the local motel, which has lots of rooms underground. After we were allowed to have the trailer hooked to electricity we had a nice swim in the pool and did our own bbq. The meal at the hotel was a bit too dear for us, and besides that with Quentin’s special diet we prefer to cook ourselves.
Living underground... our hotel inside the opal cliffs!
The following morning we were slightly disappointed that we had to pay for the electricity and the use of the bbq, but that was quickly forgotten after we visited the bed and breakfast facility just around the corner. A magnificent place and a great host. We should have stayed there, but that would have blown our budget even more.
The local pub provided us with a good lunch and off we went again. In the direction of Sydney. Very exciting and sad at the same time to get close to the end of our trip…..
Near Cobar we spend the night in a bush camp close to the road. Not much fun, because the entire night road trains passed by. Nevertheless we had a relatively good sleep and the following morning we were the last to leave camp. In Cobar we topped up our supplies in the local supermarket and had lunch close to the playground. The children love these playgrounds, because usually they are well maintained and under shade sails. Ykki simply climbs in everything, no matter if it’s high or low, steep or simple to negotiate….Quentin is more careful and won’t go down the slide unless he has done it a couple of times with one of us. After that he is usually fine.
When we wanted to leave to continue our journey, we discovered that our battery was flat. Even an attempt to jump start from the second battery wasn’t successful. A very friendly person jump started us, so we could drive to the nearest service station in Nyngan……..the next village roughly 150 km down the road! Of course there is also a service station in Cobar, but on Saturday everything closes after 1 o’clock. We decided to keep driving to Nyngan.
In Nyngan we stayed 2 nights at the Riverside Caravan Park. Not really because there is much to do in Nyngan, but because there were no water restrictions in Nyngan, so we could wash the van inside out. It took us a whole day to do the inside and a whole morning to do the outside. All nooks and crannies were cleaned and the van looked like new once we were finished. A hell of a job, but worth the effort. Why did we want to clean the van all of a sudden….. well the ad on E-bay paid off and someone wanted to have a look at it the following Saturday. We later learned that about 30 people wanted to have a look, even over bidding our initial selling price, but we already promised this guy that he could be the first to have a look…… Lesson learned!
In Nyngan we stocked up on supplies again and the children played in the local playground whilst we had lunch.
I really wanted to see Mudgee, so we followed the tourist drive towards Mudgee. But before reaching Mudgee, we spend the night at the rest area in Mendooran. A really nice place, away from the road and right near the river. Even (very) simple facilities available. A good place and for free. Always nice.
In Mendooran we found free wireless internet and when we finished downloading our e-mails and wanted to drive away…… the battery was flat again. Lucky for us the NRMA was at the other side of the road, so the mechanic had a look and declared our starter battery as faulty. Nothing else we could do, but buy a new battery. Well, all better than to have the risk that we would be without battery in the middle of nowhere. But of course not nice to have to invest just before selling the car.
Mudgee is a really nice town with lots of wineries and vineyards. We did not stay in one of the caravan parks, but decided to drive a little north east to stay in a National Park. The camping area was at the Research Flat and initially we were not sure if we were at the right place, but when the ranger passed by early in the morning he didn’t say anything, so we assume that we were right.
In the morning we drove back to Mudgee and walked around town. Bought some new DVD’s for the kids from Dora the Explorer and of course the kids played in the local playground again.
We couldn’t leave Mudgee without visiting some wineries and buying some local wines. Always nice to do!
Just 50 or 60 km South East of Mudgee is a campground called Dunn’s Swamp. In the National Park and beautifully located near a dam. When we drove to Dunn’s Swamp we thought we would be the only ones there, but more people discovered this beautiful place. We had a camp just next to the lake and thought it was a really nice place. There is even Aboriginal Rock Art in the campground, so definitely worthwhile to do the short camp walk. The other walks were a bit too long to do with the kids but looked very promising.
From Dunn’s Swamp we continued south towards Lithgow. Of course we’d been in Lithgow a couple of times, so after refueling we continued towards Jenolan Caves. The road to Jenolan Caves is unsuitable for caravans and trailers, so we set up camp at the Jenolan Forest. A nice place, not too far from Jenolan Caves and again for free. No facilities though, because these were vandalized. Stupid people who spoil it for others. Also lots of rubbish everywhere, so the children were not allowed to play too far from the trailer.
After leaving the trailer in the Forest we drove further south to the Jenolan Caves. We hadn’t been there before and of course it is one of the must see locations in the Blue Mountains. And it was really interesting to take a tour to one of the caves. A beautiful cave. The children thought it was wonderful to walk through the cave and behaved really well. The village itself feels very German/Austrian. A nice place to be, although very touristy. We had lunch in the village before we drove back to the Jenolan Forest to pick up our trailer.
The next camp was closer again to Sydney at the Euroka campground in the Blue Mountains. Much to our surprise we had to pay 10 dollars per adult for this National Park campground. Usually National Parks are somewhere around the 5 dollar mark, but apparently so close to Sydney they can ask whatever they like. Also just 2 sites to choose from for camper trailers. When we came to the to us allocated site we found a car there and a couple lighting the fire. They did not mind to move to the next site, but according to them their battery was flat. They would move if we could jump start them, so Rogier got the cables out and just before connecting the cables he saw that there was a loose connection on the battery…. Fixed that and the car started easily! We also found that thecouple was from the Netherlands, from Swalmen to be precise. What a coincidence.
After a long night at the camp fire chatting we left for Sydney the following morning. So weird to drive in familiar territory again. We quickly visited the Jayco dealer in St Marys so they could have a look at the small holes in the fly screens of the trailer and off we went. To Lane Cove caravan park. Back to where we started 7,5 months ago!
The guy from the Gold Coast who wanted to have a look at the trailer called us already early in the morning and wanted to have a look straight away, but we first wanted to set up, have some lunch and buy some groceries. At 4 o’clock he had a good look at the trailer and decided to buy it. Pfiew! A relief to have it sold. And at the same time sad to know that we have to say goodbye to our trailer which served us so well in the past 8 months (even though we knew in advance!).
In the evening we had a fantastic meal at Mandy’s place. She had invited us over for dinner and also invited Sue and Tim. So nice to see everyone again! Great to chat. Of course it was late again, but the children kept really well and enjoyed watching television. The following morning we did some shopping in Chatswood and bought shoes for the kids. We had expected to have to wait for shoes to come from the warehouse because of course we wanted to buy winter shoes in anticipation of our return to the Netherlands where we will arrive in the middle of winter. But they had lots of choice for both children, so that was good. In the afternoon we met Marjolijn, a niece from Rogier in Darling Harbour. We walked around a bit, had a drink and an ice cream, before going back to the trailer where we had a simple barbie.
Because I did not have a chance (with all those appointments and things to do) to do all the laundry we also stayed in Lane Cove on Monday night. Rogier and Quentin had a hair cut at their favorite hairdresser in Hornsby and we also had lunch in the shopping mall. Bought some nice summer clothes for the kids (for next year) and the following morning we packed everything again.
Our aim was to go to one of the big national parks, just south of Canberra. We decided to drive south, just east of the Blue Mountains. A road we never took before, so it was nice to take the scenic route. We ended up at one of the campgrounds in Morton National Park. A relatively quiet place, but unfortunately not too far from the railway. Which was a pity, because with flush toilets and hot showers this could have been a place to spend a couple more nights.
So the following morning we packed up again. The National Park just south of Canberra is a bit out of reach for us. We don’t want to drive hundreds of kilometers anymore, so we decided to go to the coast and try to find a camp place near the beach. Pretty Beach sounded good, so that is where we went…… much to our surprise we found ourselves again on familiar grounds. Not too long ago we stayed here with my parents who looked after the children a couple of days before we picked them up again here.
This afternoon we spent on the beach and the children simply loved it. Playing in the puddles, building sand castles and simply have fun. What more do you want?
We probably won’t stay here 2 nights either though, because you have to pay 1 dollar for each shower…… this is the first time in all those months that we have to pay for a shower. It wouldn’t be that bad, if is wasn’t that the shower only lasts 4 minutes before the little bit of water turns ice and ice cold and which isn’t even nice because it does not stay at one temperature all the time so the only thing you do is continually adjust the temperature and jump in and out the shower. Quentin did not even want to spend a single second under it…..and he loves showers. We’ll see in the morning what we’ll do.
Thursday November 13th, 2008
Before we forget also a little bit about our day to day routine of the past months. Although we didn’t have a fixed routine, during the weeks of traveling we established some sort of routine which was very flexible (contradiction in terminus I think!). Each morning when we got up we more or less knew whether we would pack up and go to the next place or stick around. This was very much determined by the following factors: did we like the campsite, was the campsite quiet (especially traffic noise was a definite no stay, unless we had necessary things to do locally such as service of the car or trailer), was the weather good (rain and strong winds were often a reason to try to find a better place), were the neighbours friendly and quiet or did we have a certain destination in mind that we wanted to reach before a certain time (hardly ever happened).
In the morning usually Ykki woke up first. Very often singing or playing with her dolls and fluffy toys. Once she noticed that we were awake, she climbed out of her bed herself and literally dove over Rogier in between the two of us and non stop chatted about everything. Cute, but when you’re not fully awake yet a tiny bit tiring (kidding). Often Ykki asked Rogier to prepare breakfast (“Papa, Ykki pap”), because she is certainly a hungry little girl. By the time Rogier managed to get out of bed after lots of cuddles and kisses from Ykki, she already had the plates and spoons on the table. Quentin was lifted out of bed by Rogier and Martine and Quentin snuggled back in the big bed whilst Ykki and Rogier prepared brekkie.
If we were not going anywhere with the trailer, the kids were dressed, the dishes done and coffee prepared (start up the day with some good old aussie plunger coffee). The children often chucked their buckets and spades out of the trailer and played together for a while. Campsites with lots of loose sand are of course favourite! Around 10 we had a snack, around 12 lunch and again a snack around 3. In between we went to the supermarket, the beach or an interesting place to visit. The kids usually slept for an hour or so somewhere between 1 and 3. Usually in the car (sometimes we had to get them in the car and drive a couple of kilometers to get them to sleep).
If we did decide to break up camp, the kids were dressed and put in the car (their own special request, because they loved to sit in the car and watch a DVD). In the mean time Martine did the dishes and organized the things inside of the trailer. Sometimes we had coffee, other times we decided to have coffee in town. Rogier dismantled everything outside. Together we winched the roof down and connected the trailer to the car. Rogier has done 99% of the driving and Martine 99% of the map reading. Both occasionally challenging!
Around 12 we started looking for a good place for lunch. Very often the local playground, so the kids could run around and enjoy themselves whilst we had some sandwiches. Sometimes we had lunch at the local pub, café or hotel, but that happened seldom.
Most of the time we knew more or less where we would like to end that day, but there have been numerous times that we knew where we would like to be in a couple of days time, and only somewhere between 2 and 4 o’clock started to look around for a suitable camp spot along the way. During the day we tried to visit as many interesting spots along the route. Depending on the time we set up camp, we either stayed with the trailer and the kids played in and around the trailer, or we went to some interesting places in the neighbourhood. If there were walking tracks that we could do with the kids (usually a round trip less than 2 km easy grade because especially Quentin cannot walk that far with his hip and we had to carry him on the shoulders which is pretty heavy), we did that. If there were beaches that we could go to…. Of course we couldn’t skip those and the children played on so many beaches that we lost track of it.
Around 6 o’clock Martine (or Rogier - sometimes) prepared a meal. We usually had some choice of cryovacced meat (Rib Eye fillets, mince, chicken or beef strips vacuum sealed to keep fresh), some fresh veggies (usually broccoli, cauliflower, long beans, carrots, tomatoes, capsicums, zucchinis or chinese veggies) if available otherwise canned veggies and potatoes, rice or pasta. Because Quentin has coeliac disease we had a large amounts of various types of gluten free food in the trailer and most meals were prepared gluten free (except bread and pasta meals for us, in which case Quentin had his gluten free pasta or bread). The Gluten Free stuff is quite dear, so no need to have it when the gluten containing stuff was cheaper. Just one extra billy on the stove and you are good). We had dinner in a restaurant only once, simply because it is easier and less stressful to have a meal at home. Kids are not designed to have meals in restaurants we believe.
We’ve made several little mudcakes (gluten free) in our oven/grill if we were somewhere where there were no shops to buy gluten free treats. The kids loved those cakes.
Conclusion
After spending A$5,590 on camping fees, parking and permits (incl NP permits), A$9.304 on groceries, A$1,166 on Coffees, A$4,029 on parts and service,A$1904 on trips and entrance fees and A$10,760 on fuel, we were back in Sydney. Total mileage was 35,800 km for the trip. Spending that amount of dollars, driving these huge amount of km's was worth it.... double worth it!
So even if you spend most of your time bushcamping, without having to pay fees (other than NP entrance fees and maybe small camping fees), we still averaged $21/night overall, which is still high. Mainly due to the big cities and their high camping fees, and the parks passes and occasional stay in a hotel.
Fuel prices have not been very kind to us, as the price of petrol went up big time during our trip (remember the USD100+ prices per barrel in 2008? That's when we drove around Oz). We averaged around $1,58/liter, paying as much as $2,10/liter at Bulman (Arnhemland). But even that can be put in perspective, with prices at the bowser in The Netherlands of around A$2,60/liter on normal highway petrol stations.
So all up we spent $43/day on petrol, $37/day on groceries, $5/day on coffee, $16/day on parts and service and $8/day on trips and entrance fees. This for those math gurus reading this and wanting to know how much is costs per day. We budgeted around $100/day, which we found challenging, so our average spent, without souvenirs and purchases, was $131/day for 4 people. This also excludes depreciation on the vehicle and trailer and other equipment.
So hope you have enjoyed our log of our travels in Australia. We look back at a great trip and a great time in Australia (Sydney) from mid 2005 to end of 2008. This beautiful and vast country has made a lasting impression on us. It is only too bad that Quentin is not allowed to stay in Australia because he has down Syndrome and therefore cannot obtain permanent residency. So for us that means we need to go home to the Netherlands until that day they let him in......... the moment that day will come..... we will be back Down Under!
We have now been back home in The Netherlands for a while. We find it busy and restless... but at the same time we feel we have come home to our family and friends. Life moves in misterious ways, and we enjoy it one day at a time. Quentin has given us challenges....challenges that we have and will overcome and we want to make sure he will be able to live a life in an environment he feels comfortable in. Whether that be Australia (which was kind on his respiratory system and has contributed significantly towards his knowledge and personal skills), or whether it is somewhere else (The Netherlands, where grandm's and grandpa's reside).... where he at least gets accepted the way he is... and not discriminated against because of this tiny little thing that went wrong when his cells split and split and split...... to become Quentin.
DAMN IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT.... can't you see Quentin LOVE'S OZ (and we do too)!
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Page last updated: 15-8-2009