Gorges and Waterholes

We have been busy exploring the West Macdonell Mountain range, just out of Alice Springs . Have seen some beautiful places and had some fun, the kids are loving the climbing but it makes me extremely nervous, especially Harry who has to match his sisters!

Mamas Little Helpers

These tea bags were my hidden armory against three children in the back of the car for long hours and then when you get there, three kids in a confined caravan. There has been just the tiniest but of squabbling, bickering and yes full blown fighting.Who was I kidding- the car DVD player( impulse buy the day before we left) and the wine at the end of the day are the real Mama's little helpers!

The Olgas

What an amazing day we had today! Did a Huge walk through the Olgas(Kjata Tjuta) the valley of the winds. It was only 7km but up very steep rock sides, down deep chasms and across slippery rubble. The views were amazing, constantly surrounded by mammoth walls of rockand bright blue sky in the background.
The kids enjoyed this walk a lot more than the circuit of the base of Uluru which was a flat route, give them climbing and adventure any day. What also made this day so great was the amazing family we ran into who have been traveling around Australia for the last year in a converted bus, the kids had a play in it at the end of the walk and didn't want to leave. Having other kids to walk with made the walk a lot easier for ours and I also managed to persuade them to do another gorge with me ( and the other family)!
(Sorry about the lack of photos but was pre-occupied with my "real" camera today, only seem to be able to upload photos to the blog from my phone)!

We have arrived

We finally made it to Uluru( I've now got the spelling right)! It feels like we've been on some sort of caravan pilgrimage and we have reached the sacred spot. It truly is an amazing, awe inspiring place nothing can prepare you for the real thing. We watched the sunset over Uluru tonight with a champagne(thanks Leah ) and cheese platter picnic. It really was a special moment watching the rock as it moved through the red color spectrum to browns as the sun slowly went down. We now have annual passes to Uluru (they were $7 more than the three day pass) and as we couldn't decide if we were going to spend 3 or 4 days here we thought they were a safe bet!Pete also played the didgeridoo today and we saw some tribal dancing, it's been a good day.

Bye bye Coober Pedy

We're off to Erldunda today, one stop removed from ulluroo! Woo hoo!

Coober Pedy

Dust, dirt, dry sort of sums up Coober Pedy. It's a pretty unusual place with mounds of dirt, all over the otherwise flat, dry, gravelly landscape. The mounds of dirt are from opal mining explorations . Went on a tour today, the lazy way to see the sights about town, check out the golf course, (apparently has reciprocal rights with St Andrew's in Scotland)!Harry's favourite part of the day was putting on the hard hats.
Oh ,and a lot of the population live in these crazy underground houses to escape the weather extremes in Summer and the freezing nights in Winter.

Our brush with "fame"

Well it's funny how things happen, as we were leaving Adelaide this morning I mentioned to the rest of the family how I'd discovered a really good suburb with great shops on my way home from Pilates last night. So as a family we decided to go and have a look, despite the fact that it was in the opposite direction and we are on a caravan trip, not really a shopping one. Anyway, the shop was even more amazing when it was open and you could go inside, Kidzone in Hyde Park, it's one of the best kids shops Ive seen and they have an online store. Anyway we continued to wander down this great strip and came across an amazing looking patisserie, so of course we had to go inside and order a quiche for dinner, and a few amazing looking macaroons and then Pete needed a coffee- so then I felt justified asking to use the toilet which was out the back through the kitchen. After I came out Emma and Maddy are whispering that's Emma from Masterchef- and sure enough it was her cooking in the kitchen. We had a chat about her MC experience , she was very lovely and apparently Matt Preston is a very nice guy. So, the lady behind the counter suggested a photo which we very gladly participated in. And that was our exciting morning.
Got back to Roxby Downs at about 6.30pm after the long drive. Off to Coober Pedy tomorrow.

Mungo National Park

Amongst all the "dramas" we have been having we have had some time for a spot of sight seeing. /we took a day trip from Mildura to Mungo National Park, home of Mungo man and Mungo woman, now for those of you in the know they are the oldest cremated remains ever found in THE WORLD, dating the time the aboriginals roamed our country back to more than 40,000 years! Now unfortunately we didnt't get to see the remains or the place they were found but we did get to see some pretty impressive rock and land formations.

A bad day

We have come to a standstill in Roxby Downs after our tow bar snapped off the Land Rover today. Which has left us stranded in Roxby Downs a town built to service, Olympic Dam a huge mine nearby which you may have heard in the news recently as protesters have been active trying to close it down. We are not sure where to from here, possibly a trip back to Adelaide for a new towball and bar? A road trip definitely throws challenges at you- a lot ,which either makes you stronger or sends you home....we're going to keep tracking !

Roadside amusement

You spend lots of hours in the car on a road trip- sort of goes without saying and small things become amusing like these great South Australian road signs - there is a series, I'll try to get photos of the others and post them before we leave this state behind oh and also rubbish bins- check out the orange!

The Barossa

We are back on track- spent today checking out the Barossa Valley. A very beautiful place, we were overwhelmed at the enormity of some of the wineries, they were on huge scale productions! But they haven't got the kids entertainment factor sorted half as well as a lot of the wineries on the good old Mornington Peninsula, I mean a playground anyone?
We also visited Maggie Beer's farm shop/cafe which was pretty special, lots of yummy produce and the best soy chai latte I've had since leaving Melbourne!

Sick and tired

We are tired of being sick in Mildura. Harry has had bronchitis which I proceeded to catch, not surprising given that I'm the one he's been coughing and spluttering all over. Today was spent alternating between the couch and bed, though after all that rest , I think I am starting to feel better. We want to move on from Mildura, not that we haven't enjoyed Mildura but we want to go and have adventures not rest in apartments. It hasn't been all bad though, here are some highlights:
1. A Paddlesteamer ride down the Murray, reclining in a deck chair with the afternoon sun on my face watching the Gums on the riverbank pass us by.
2. The hospitality of the locals, I think they are feeling for us too- from bringing the remainder of our Stefanos 6 course degustation meal to our room as Harry was too sick to stay at the restaurant to the lady that owns the apartment we are staying in giving us enormous bowls of oranges *to aid our recovery
3. The amazing park our front door opens onto
4. The farmers market we were able to go to yesterday, lots of yummy fresh produce
* the irony of us being stuck in a town famous for oranges when we are all sick hasn't escaped me!

We hope to get to Mungo National Park tomorrow

Maddy in Mildura

Hello everyone, well I know what you're thinking this is not a caravan park, well we had to go to the Grand Hotel because Harry has bronchitis and he has to be kept in the warmth to get better because if he doesn't it could be a bad trip for him because he'll be in bed all the time and will never see beautiful Australia, poor Harry, but it's quite nice the Grand Hotel. How nice does that pool look. By Maddy

Sickness

We have come to a grinding holt in Mildura. Harry came down with a sickness the Friday night before we left, his fever has continued on and off and his cough has got worse, so today I took him to a doctor and ....Bronchitis!!So I've checked us into the Grand hotel( not that our room is that grand) so we can be warm, have a TV so he can rest and a bathroom in the room- what luxury!
Oh forgot to mention Maddy had a 24. hour virus yesterday and I've come down with a cold. Em remains unscathed and is currently out shopping with Pete while the rest of us sickies rest in this warm, spacious room.

Apprehension

There are a few little things that worry me about our impending adventure:
1.The ability to obtain good, fresh healthy food- I don't want to end up like the family we saw at Inverloch caravan park eating toast and jam for tea with lollies for desert...
2. The ability to get sleep in this "double" bed (more like king single) that Pete and I are going to share for 3 months
3. The midnight walks to the loo
4. Snowflakes survival, contending with "Roughy" Tracey's cat( Tracey is kindly
looking after him while we are away)

That pretty much sums it up for now..
We had our first day on the road today it went well and not so well, Harry is sick, water tap on van not working, we nearly ran out of petrol.....stay posted xx