So I had another night at the Killcare Surf Club, always a good place to park ... ... and then - I no longer remember why - drove north before heading south ... ... a month later I was back at Santi, for several nights parked down below somewhere secluded. After the it was back home to Gosford, not really sure where Bertha and I might go next.
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I spent my 78th birthday at Patong with Bertha, of course bookending that with visits to both my kids. One night at Copacabana ... ... and then a wonderful weekend at The Entrance for the Giracool Blues Festival, staying at El Lago Tourist Park ... ... followed by a couple of nights at Blue Bay, in the Blue Bay Caravan Park ... ... then back to my favourite place, Fishermen's End at Putty Beach. Unfortunately they've banned overnighting here, so I had to move on before dark ... Meanwhile Bertha and I spent the night together in a number of places. We finished up at January Camp on Dave's birthday. We had one night at Ocean Beach, and another at Killcare. And then we went to Santi Forest Monastery at Bundanoon for two nights right at the end of January. And we were back there again on 25th Feb. After that ....
Night 327: Lions Park Woy Woy Night 328: Fisherman's End Nights 329-332: NRMA Ocean Beach Holiday Resort Central Coast (H) I got back to my flat (apartment) on Day 327. I unloaded a bit, but I didn't stop to sleep. I knew that if I stayed the lift (elevator) wouldn't be working the next morning. The lift replacement was a bit overdue thanks to the Pandemic and I'd hoped it would all happen while I was away: but no, it started the very day I got back!! ... I didn't want to engage in that amount of stair-climbing, so I simply took off again. Sometimes I stayed with family or friends, but what follows is a brief account of where Bertha and I slept together: away from home after my return! I spent two nights sleeping in Bertha very close to home! Next it was the annual Summer Camp that I missed in 2022. I wasn't going to climb up and down six flights of steps every time I wanted to go out, so I set off again ....
I got home safely. After resting in Dorrigo for a few days I headed to Bellingen, where I picked up my pre-pandemic January routine. This meant attending Camp Creative and heading slowly down the east coast of NSW in time to join my kids and grandkids for a few nights at the beach (stopping places below the maps).
I didn't know if I'd get as far as Broken Hill, but I crossed the Nullarbor in both directions, and took in a large number of other places along the way. Departed eastern NSW: 4th January 2022. Reached the westernmost point of Western Australia (on Rottnest Island): 12th August 2022. Returned to the NSW Central Coast: 18th January 2023. Time taken on journey: 12mnths 2 wks. Total nights away: 382. Nights slept in Bertha: 332. Total distance covered: 20,000km. Google's estimate for time and distance Gosford-Perth-Gosford: 84hrs and 8,000km. I FEEL SO PROUD WHEN I READ BACK OVER THIS !!!!! (10/9/23)
Nights 315, 317-323: Bellingen Showgrounds (1A, 2 white dot)
Night 316: Burdett Park football field (1D) Fernmount (close to Bellingen) Night 324: iKew Visitor Information Centre (2A) Kew Night 325: Bulahdelah Bowling Club (2D) Night 326: Morisset Showgrounds (2 blue dot) Night 327: Lions Park Woy Woy Night 328: Fisherman's End Nights 329-332: NRMA Ocean Beach Holiday Resort Central Coast (H) Not managing a secluded Christmas meditation break and deciding not to overnight at White Cliffs (map 1 white dot), I became moved to head east as fast as I could.
Night 304 - beside the Barrier Highway at MacCullochs Rest Area, between Wilcannia (1A) and Emmdale (1B): very nice, beautiful sunset. Night 305 - beside the Barrier Highway at the Florida Rest Area, between Cobar (1C) (I stopped for a swim here) and Nyngan (1D): even nicer, easy to get away from the main rest area. I was amazed by the size of Nyngan Solar Plant. Night 306 - beside the Oxley Highway at Marthaguy Rest Area, a bit west of Gilgandra (1E): ok but a bit exposed. Night 307 - beside the Oxley Highway at Redbank Rest Area, between Coonabarabran (1F) and Gunnedah (1G) (where I stopped for another swim): very green and leafy. The next day I stopped in Tamworth (1H) to visit the Regional Art Gallery. Night 308 - Armidale Tourist Park, Armidale (1I & 2A) (visited another Regional Gallery). The tourist park was good; it was so nice to sit on the grass and use town water liberally. Google Maps says that White Cliffs to Armidale takes eleven hours yet it took me four days. Go figure! Night 309 - Ebor Sport and Rec, Ebor (2B). Looking at Ebor Falls was nice, but the "Sport and Rec" was just another roadside stop not suitable for a meditation pause. Nights 310-314 - Dorrigo Showgrounds, Dorrigo (2 white dot): this was much quieter and very spacious. Much better. While I was here I noticed the one year anniversary of my departure from Araluen come up. I'm not home yet, but in a way, the trip has taken exactly a year. The next day, feeling very well rested, I did the half hour drive down Dorrigo Mountain to Bellingen (2D) ready to pick up my customary January routine. YouTube: Journey Back East The first place I visited in NSW was Silverton. It's been a ghost town for over a hundred years, but it manages to hang on with its museums, movie credits and bits of tourism. I visited the Day Dream Mine, which was one of several small silver mines that used to operate. As a township it almost ceased to exist once ore was discovered at Broken Hill; apparently many miners moved themselves, their possessions, and their houses twenty kilometres to Broken Hill. The large gaol was built of stone and today serves as a substantial museum for the Broken Hill Historical Society. Penrose Park was a delightful place to stay, being a piece of history in its own right. From the 1880s to the 1960s it was a place of resort for the people of Broken Hill who travelled there in open railway trucks. In 1915 a Turkish camel driver opened fire on the picnic train to support the Turkish effort in World War I. I parked Bertha between an old tennis court and a disused basketball court and experienced quite a significant dust storm. Actually, I assumed it was par for the course when my shoes blew away and my meal filled with red dust and I was surprised to hear locals talking about it three days later.
Silverton still has camels. I enjoyed a ride one evening. YouTube: Silverton I planned to spend a quick night in Broken Hill to finally inspect its mine, see some of the galleries, take in the History Tour, and a few bits more, especially the Afghan Mosque. I hadn't reckoned with the extent of the tourist slowdown in the hot weather. I only managed the Pro Hart Gallery on Xmas Eve, although I did manage to see the mosque through a locked gate on Christmas Day.
When I reached the second major creek there was water over the flow way and three people were pushing a ute out of the water; there was a line of utes not daring to cross in the other direction. So I headed back to the safety of the city side of Stevens Creek. I was surprised to find that it had come up during just thirty minutes and was flowing vigorously beside and under the road. There was a derelict café/gallery there, which made it a good place to camp. In the morning I was happy to find that Stevens Creek had dried overnight, so I headed north again and found the second creek similarly dry. I was driving along happily reflecting that flash floods end as suddenly as they start, when I came to a very wide puddle on some flat ground. I was confident that I could steer Bertha round the edge ... that is, until she stuck. I rang the road service but I didn't have to wait for them this time as two boys, bound into town for Christmas lunch, towed me out backwards. This time I too returned to town and, after locating the mosque, considered my options. I particularly wanted to visit White Cliffs, near Wilcannia, for both the opal mines and the historic solar power station. Boxing Day wasn't a good day to visit. Although there were lots of OPEN signs the reality was that everything was closed. I decided that I needed to get to another part of NSW as fast as possible. YouTube: When Xmas plans don't pan out Nights 298-300 - Penrose Park, Silverton Night 301 - Broken Hill Tourist Park Night 302 - (Xmas Eve) at Stevens Creek on the Silver City Highway, north of Broken Hill Night 303 - (Xmas Day) a return to Warrawong on the Darling, near Wilcannia where I stayed back in April It was time to think about the fact that I'm due back on the east coast by 8th January. So what did I do? I had heard good things about the Brachina Gorge, so I turned north again. This gave me two more nights roadside (A & C) and - between them - a drive through archeological time and along the most challenging road of the trip, with some wonderful scenery: Brachina Gorge (B). Archeology features are signed, but I think I missed some signs and due to a breakdown in their numbering system I couldn't work out which was what. However I didn't need to worry because later I discovered that there's full information here.
A drive through Brachina Gorge After that I stopped in Hawker (D) for a cup of coffee and some fresh veggies, then drove straight to the town of Cradock (E). The publican said that there's a permanent population of 14, with seven living in the pub: I think he has a large family. There's camping available around this friendly pub, which just happened to be serving Christmas dinner that night. What good fortune for me! To get onto the Barrier Highway towards Broken Hill meant going through Peterborough (F), which is the most interesting town for railway enthusiasts, and which was throwing a number of Christmas parties. Whilst here I turned back a second time to explore Magnetic Hill (G), where there's supposed to be a strange optical illusion in which you think your car is going uphill backwards while you are rolling downhill. Or vice versa. It didn't work for me ... but I've since realised that's because I should have pointed Berth up the hill and rolled backwards rather than forwards. ... Maybe? Yunta (grey spot) was the next town and I was puzzled that every house has a huge shed, so I asked the bloke having a beer outside the pub and it turned out that people work as contractors on the surrounding sheep stations and need to store their own equipment. Here I turned back a third time, tho more briefly: I was so disappointed to find that Centenary Park, where vans stay overnight, is squished between the highway and the railway line with all the attendant noise, that I left before breakfast. I headed two blocks to the edge of town where I spent the morning gazing along the backroute to Arkaroola, a route so rough that I had been counselled against taking it when I left there. ... Anyway, if I had I would have missed out on a lot of good stuff. A few hours later I crossed the border into NSW (I). From Cradock to NSW Night 292 - Hucks Lookout, a little north of Wilpena Night 293 - somewhere beside the Outback Highway Night 294 - beside the Cradock Hotel, Cradock Nights 295-6 - Peterborough Caravan Park, Peterborough Night 297 - Yunta Centenary Park rest area This section of the journey turned out to be one of the best sections of the whole trip. It tired me but not the redoubtable Bertha. It started with a final look at Port Augusta, then another northern turn, but this time keeping to east of Lake Torrens. Soon I was driving through a tight gorge up into the Flinders.
Quorn (A) welcomes tourists, as the nightly light show on the silos and the great choice of cafés indicate. It still has its nineteenth century aspirations on display in a number of built-to-last public and private buildings and the extremely active railway society that runs tourist trips through the Pichi Richi Gorge. The caravan park was really relaxing. There was a public pool (too cold to swim), cafés, great discounts for seniors on pub lunches, and a bush tucker garden being developed. Hawker (B) also welcomes tourists, tho with fewer resources in the town it makes up for it with the stillness of the wide valley. There is the Jeff Morgan Gallery with his close-to-photorealistic panoramas. The public pool is at the caravan park, and very welcome since the weather had turned temporarily hot. The valley beyond Hawker was compelling in its stillness, the beauty of the surrounding mountains and the remains of stone farm houses: monuments to failed attempts at farming. Leigh Creek (C) is a coal mining town beside a defunct coal mine in the Northern Flinders. From 1943 to the 1980s it was a state government mine with a closed town. Then the mine was sold to a private company and the town was opened to public visitors. The mine was closed in 2015 and unwanted houses crushed and buried in the mine. A small close-knit population remains. Copley is a small town just up the road. It was where I turned onto unsealed roads. For pictures of my drive north see: Port Augusta - Quorn - Hawker - Leigh Creek Iga Warta (D) felt like visiting family, such was the welcome! It was a chance to really meet some Adnyamantha people and to learn about how they have been oppressed on their own land, and to be shown the country that they have cared for over centuries. I was taken to an ochre pit from where they traded red, yellow and white ochres to people who came down from the north and to see ancient rock paintings. The Welcome to Country was special, as was sitting beside the campfire every night. There is a museum, art gallery, and swimming pool as well. Most impressive was was the illustrated Adnyamantha-English dictionary compiled by owners Uncle Terry and Auntie Josie Coulthard and talking with them about it - also meeting Uncle Cliff Coulthard, who this month is receiving an honorary doctorate of archeology from Flinders Uni. Iga Warta - Camp peacock struts its stuff - Exploring Mount Searle When South Australia was colonised, the government surveyors mapped out all the land they considered 'useable' leaving the most remote areas alone. Arkaroola (E) is so rugged that it lay unsurveyed just beyond the most remote pastoral leases. The managers of these properties pushed feral animals beyond their boundaries, where they were disturbed only by a few itinerants. One of these was fossicker RW Greenwood who happened upon a strange greenish mineral, and sent a sample down to Adelaide University for identification. There Sir Douglas Mawson (not long back from the Antarctic) used an instrument Mme Curie had given him when he was studying with her in Paris to identify it as uranium. Thus Arkaroola, at the same time as it was becoming overwhelmed by feral goats and camels, became the focus of sporadic mineral hunting by both government and commercial parties. The state government granted a lease to Greenwood's sons with the brief of bringing the feral animals under control. Mawson continued visiting the area and brought students on field trips, one of whom was the notable geologist and conservationist Reg Sprigg, who ended up purchasing the property and lobbying the state government to grant it protection. Meanwhile no commercially viable quantities of precious metals have been found and many significant geological treasures have been. There are six sites on the property under consideration for World Heritage Listing. Around Arkaroola - Arkaroola Campground It was a relief to get back onto a sealed road again on reaching Blinman (F). The township now has a population of just over 20, but that has shrunk from a one-time high of 1500. The town is proud of its heritage and has preserved the history quite beautifully. There is a lovely miner's cottage and the tour of the old copper mine is second to none. The road south through Blinman I remembered Wilpena (G) from a previous visit about twelve years ago when one was allowed to drive into the Pound, which is completely surrounded by a circle of mountains and then still had open paddock areas. Now the Ikara Flinders Ranges National Park covers a much wider area and entry into the now wooded pound is only allowed by foot. Visitors must stay at the Wilpena Pound Resort, which has accommodation to suit all budgets. I have never seen petrol bowsers inside a national park before, nor has a camping fee included free boxed drinking water. The Indigenous Rangers Program appears to work well; Ikara is the Adnyamantha name for the Pound, which was a traditional meeting place. At Wilpena Pound Nights 266-269 - Quorn Caravan Park, Quorn Nights 270-271 - Hawker Caravan Park, Hawker Night 272 - Leigh Creek Caravan Park, Leigh Creek Nights 273-280 - Iga Warta Campground, Iga Warta Nights 281-283 - Arkaroola Village Caravan Park, Arkaroola Nights 284-285 - North Blinman Hotel Campground, North Blinman Hotel, Blinman Nights 286-290 - Wilpena Pound Caravan Park, Ikara Flinders Ranges National Park Woomera (A) is actually a RAAF base. It was established in 1947 so that the British could test rockets they were developing over the desert. There was a joint project with the Americans at one stage. The public have been able to visit since the 1980s and there are a number of displays, of which the most interesting is the open air display of rockets and aircraft. Many of the houses and flats are empty, as are most of the shops. The school had just 12 students in K-12 in 2022. There is free access to the observatory on Friday evenings. I saw one of the planets enlarged to the size of the moon. Roxby Downs (B) is the dormitory town that serves the nearby Olympic Dam uranium mine (D). In the main street there is a small but efficient shopping mall on one side and facing it across a bright green nature strip is a hub where all the services are gathered: early learning, high school, library, sports centre, pool, visitor information, gallery, café, medical service. It reminded me of a Canberra suburb in that most of the streets have been designed to lead nowhere, and the nature strips (covered in bark) are all planted with eucalypts. Andamooka (C) was the end of the road for me. I drove to the end of the asphalt and decided that continuing on to view Lake Torrens without a spare tyre (a new one having been ordered for me in Roxby Downs). It is a fascinating town, with a collection of small businesses operating within the community hall; a museum, motel and souvenir shop gathered around the post office; and the bottle shop doubling as a general store. Some original miners' shacks still stand, but what marks the town are the piles of pink and white dirt that miners dig out of their shafts and dump in piles. Here are photos from the trip.
Nights 256-259 - Woomera Travellers' Village and Caravan Park. Nights 260-263 - Andamoooka - Apoma Camping Ground at the skate park and picnic reserve. Nights 264-265 - Woomera again. After that I spent a few more hours in Port Augusta and then pointed northwards again to the east of Lake Torrens. |
AuthorIn mid 2018 I started recording each night I sleep in Bertha: sometimes just for myself, sometimes to share with friends and other travellers. Archives
June 2023
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