A family holiday for 6 months around Australia. Switching off for a while to remind ourselves of why we are doing what we do. Enjoying time with our little family that we have created. Creating some great memories and taking some awesome photographs as well.
After being in the Red Centre its going to be nice to chill out at the Alice for a while. The kids need a break from being on the road so we made sure of a nice van park for a few days...
During our stay we catch up with Brian & Merrilyn for a quick tour of The Local Botanical Gardens. Decided to capture some of the outback Flora
If you go to the centre of Australia it is guaranteed that you will watch the sunset at Ayres Rock. It will not disappoint you in any way. Every car will park at the designated parking area for the best view and then it's just a waiting game.
This 30-minute video is sped up to 1 minute to show the dramatic change of light that happens at sunset. In the last few moments, you really are freaked out by what the Rock does.
An amazing place to be in the afternoon
Heather goofing around with the camera
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The clearest skies without any clouds what so ever
On one side of this huge sign, you stand in the Northern Territory
And on the other side you're in South Australia
We Stand Divided. One foot in Either State.
None of us has seen anything beyond this point in our lives so it's rather exciting for every little detail along the way. Curtin Springs is one of the last stop-overs for most travellers heading to the Rock. The distance is too far so everyone tends to stay here and leave in the morning for a fresh start.
The Boomerang Entrance sign
Funky Street Art
Main Street Sign Post
There was a guy who had ridden the entire Stuart highway on this posty bike. What a nutter!
Town Amenities were what you can expect here at Curtin. Very Dusty too. They did have internet here but WOW... i think we paid $5 (per 10 minutes) into some sort of vending machine and the screen looked 100 years old. but the speed was dial-up and took me 15 minutes to even check emails etc. obviously for desperate people only.
Thought I might walk the town with the girls to get a couple of photos in. feeling quite anxious about seeing Ularu and having the girls with us for this fantastic family adventure
Little Lily is always smiling
And Mia is the chatterbox.
So Its 'keep the van attached' and get a nights sleep here till the morning. Next stop. The ROCK!
We are definately not missing the work and running a business. As for real estate photos, i cant see anything worth taking in Curtin Springs. haha
We made it to Agnes Creek today. Travelling alongside our good friends from Western Australia. These are quite long journeys without much to see but flat dry roads and land. On the way we spotted a couple of huge wedge tailed eagles and so stopped to capture some footage and some photos for the travel log.
With a wing span possible of over 2 meters these big birds must get pretty hungry so they watch the roadsides for road kill.
Not a nice photo but very true of the middle of Austraila.
Its time for some wood collecting as we love our campfires by the roadsides.
Brian & Wayne
Time for a quick photo and then decide what to have for dinner.
Merrilyn
Wayne & Heather
We became very quick at our roadside setups for the nights on the road. Find some wood and light a fire, then grab a beer or wine and settle in.
me and the kids loved our compfires
These road train truckies were everywhere at the homesteads along the way. Fuelling up and moving on.
They always seemed to need a coat of paint or something
Our rig was always identifiable due to the kids pink bikes always on the roof racks. people would see us for miles and know it was the Robbos.
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A day out today in Coober Pedy. We started at the feeding of the orphan kangaroos which was great fun for the girls (see video) and saw some aboriginal artwork at the gallery.
It was mothers day today and we sat for lunch in the underground hotel and enjoyed brunch.
Coober Pedy was a dusty hole of a place with no real comforts to speak of but a tone of character, a definate must see if travelling Australia... We stayed at the Riba's underground caravan and camping park which included a Mine tour in the evening it was very cool. We did some water divining and learnt about staking our own claim in the opal business. girls were terribly bored after 10 mins but it was their bed time and both were sleepy. This caravan park also caters for campers who want to camp underground in the hillside dugout tunnels..
Learning about how to blow the earth away with high explosives
Water divining is key to finding opal in the ground
The chicken man - strange travellers starting to appear
Coober Pedy from the Big winch Lookout area
Coober Pedy landscape
The Big Winch
We desperately wanted to find some opal and for people keen to try their luck there is a noodling area near the main street of town. It looks like a big pile of diggings from opal mines that you can noodle through and if your lucky and look hard you can find opal... we were lucky and found a few bits to bring home.
We bought the girls some opal earrings to remember their trip to Coober Pedy.
This is our final night at Coober Pedy tonight and since it was mothers day.. no cooking for mum so we bought one of their much talked about pizzas . Heading off in the morning leaving all the street drunk aboriginals behind. The only downfall to this town is the local aboriginals scattered through the streets drunk and sitting in the gutters... not a good site for tourists.
Noodling & The Breakaways
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