Hi Everyone,

Our last day in Broken Hill yesterday was spent checking out some of the local shops and gallery’s around town before visiting the Broken Earth restaurant for dinner. Broken Earth is located on top of the old mine over looking the town. Earlier in the afternoon the boys and I went up to the “Big Bench” to take some pictures and watch the sunset.

This morning we left Broken Hill for Dubbo, the last stop before heading home tomorrow. We had an interesting day stopping at Willcannia for a coffee before lunch in Cobar and we reached Dubbo at 6pm.

We have had a great trip, visiting some amazing and beautiful parts of Australia and I hope you have all enjoyed reading the blog, the pictures and following us on our journey.

Until the next trip bye for now,
Tom, Karen, James and Matthew

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog as we have been out of coverage while we have been travelling from Coober Pedy to the Flinders Ranges. We are now in Broken Hill and still trying to get use to the cold weather and would like to head back north to somewhere warmer……but I digress.

We had a great time in Coober Pedy, which was the greenest it has been since the early 1980’s according to the locals. Check out James’s post below as I have added some new photos.

The Flinders Ranges where amazing with beautiful vista’s where-ever you turned. We went on a fantastic 4wd trip call Skytrek, as suggested by our friends the Nicholson’s, and it was one of the highlights of our trip. It was a 6 hour drive through a wonderful property that included some great views and testing driving. We managed to survive and the car performed perfectly. The SkyTrek in Willow Springs is a must do for anyone who is visiting this area.

Our first day in Broken Hill has been busy. We toured the Daydream Mine and visited Silverton, where they are planning to film Mad Max 4 in February next year once the desert has returned as it is as green here as it was in Coober Pedy. Finally we went to see the Desert Sculptures, just outside of Broken Hill, at sunset this afternoon.

Tomorrow we are going to enjoy Broken Hill before preparing to leave for Dubbo on Saturday and then back home on Sunday.

Enjoy the photos and we will be back home soon
Cheers,
Tom, Karen, James and Matthew

Hey,

I’m back,I want to tell you about the Mala walk it’s a story about the Mala people of Uluru.
The Mala people set up a special stick that tells you they have started a ceremony or a celebration. After they set up the stick a man from a tribe in the west came to them to ask them if they wanted to join them for a celebration, but they said no because they had the stick up and could not stop doing the celebration. The man left and told his tribe that they didn’t want any thing to do with them. So a shape shifter went after them to attack them. A man from the Mala tribe ran to go warn the others and he knocked over the stick with his foot. So now if you go to Uluru it will be there and they call it the Kangaroo tail.

Coober Pedy is a great place to go if you’re looking for an easy bit of money. Because when we went on a tour into an opal mine, they were every where. The tour tells you about how Jim O’Neil found opals in Coober Pedy. So after the tour they let you go in a noodle pit and that is where you find left over opals.

See our photos

See ya,
James:)

Hi Everyone,

Check out James and my updates below, with some great new photos.

Cheers,
Tom.

Hi,

It’s me James
These past two days I have learn’t alot about Uluru. Like… one, it is not just a big ‘red’ rock it actually changes colour at sunset and sunrise. Two, …it has formed over 450 million years. And three, I can climb it. First you climb up the edge of Uluru (it’s pretty steep but you get a chain to help you up). Then you have to climb to the top over bumps and steep hills. Finally you have to climb all the way back down (but I think going down is the hard part because your feet are really saw). I hope to do it again one day. Check me out at the top with my family in the photos below.

Hope your having fun like me,
James:)

Hi Everyone,

Well we have had a very energetic last few days doing alot of walking and climbing (see James’s post above).

As mentioned by Karen in the earlier post, we arrived in Alice Springs, after stopping at Wycliffe Well to look for some Aliens, and we managed to have a quick look around town in the afternoon. We were able to go up to Anzac Hill and watch the sunset over Alice and the MacDonnell Ranges. The next day we visited Simpsons Gap in the MacDonnell Ranges before heading into town to view some of the indigenous art galleries. Back we went to the caravan park, which is the biggest park I have ever seen (over 395 sites/cabins), to prepare for the trip to Kings Canyon the next morning.

Before leaving for Kings Canyon we joined most of the other people in the park for a free pancake breakfast, yum! – full of pancakes we left for Kings Canyon. We arrive at the Kings Canyon resort in the afternoon and setup the van and then watched the sunset over the canyon. At the resort we went to the Outback BBQ restaurant to watch the entertainment – “The Roadies” – they got the kids and adullts involved, as you will see in the photos.

The following day we completed the 6km Kings Canyon Rim walk, which is on of the most memorable things we have done on the trip. The walk takes you from the base of the canyon to the top, through the Garden of Eden and around the rim of the canyon before returning to the carpark. Check out the photos.

The following day we left for Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) National Park. We arrived at the Yulara Campgrounds and had a quick look at the resort shops before I went out to take some photos of Uluru sunset.

As James mentioned in the post above we climbed the rock this morning after getting up at 5.30am to get some sunrise photos. The temperature was only 2 degrees. All I can say is this place is amazing and hope the photos speak for themselves.

Tomorrow we will visit Kata Tjuta before preparing to head south to Coober Pedy on Friday.

Cheers for now,
Tom, Karen, James and Matthew.

Hi again,

We have added some photos to the last two posts below, so check them out.

Cheers,
Tom.

We quickly stopped for groceries at Tennant Creek & I say this because the locals are a bit scary. Now we head south for Devil’s Marbles, they are a magnificent sight, check out Tom’s pics.  Especially the rocks the boys & I are reflecting upon.
The boys had fun at Wycliffe Wells it’s a quaint overnight site.  There were some real characters here. Check out the pics.
We woke up to a mere 2°C (is this what we are coming home to?). Alice’s temp will range from 0°-17°C today……we might head back to Darwin.
Alice Springs is a decent size city with bigger retail shops & loads of quality Aboriginal art galleries.
More interesting days on our journey, hope you like the pics and the stories.
Love KP
XO

Hi
We arrived in Bitter Springs Territory Manor around 2pm and quickly set up the van so could swim in the thermal springs only 2kms down the road. It was a natural oasis about 1km long with a constant current and approx 34°C . Didn’t take long for it to get crowded so we headed back.
The next morning we went to Mataranka Springs (about 4kms away). It was clean & warm but far more commercialised, with concrete sides & steel ladders.   Not many people (yet) but we still prefer Bitter Springs…..as Matthew says it had turtles & bigger fish.
The afternoon was spent at the van park; tossing the Boomerangs, feeding Barramundi and Peacocks.
After yummy Lamb Shank dinner (sorry Hope) & a real cappucino we went Cane Toad Busting! Yes the park owners give you a pair of gloves & garbage bag, you grab your torch & go hunt for the nasty vile creatures.  They are a destructive problem in WA & NT (not just QLD). We bravely caught 10, but could have spent hours there were so many of them .  The boys got certificates and the toads got binned, CO2’d (puts them to sleep) & they are burnt.
Who you gonna call? “Palmer Family – Toad Busters”- (sung to the Ghost busters tune).
Tomorrow is a long trek to Wycliffe Wells – the UFO Capital of Australia. 🙂
Till I next blog, take care, we miss you all,
Love KP xo

Hi Everyone,

We have added some more photos. Please check out Karen’s post below about Darwin, including Crocosaurus Cove and Mindil Sunset markets as well as Litchfield National Park.

We are leaving Mataranka for Tennant Creek tomorrow morning and then head to Alice Springs. Keep and eye out for more updates soon.

Cheers,
Tom.