Tinshed's Travel Page

Friday, 23 April 2010

Location: Australia

11th April
Melbourne lived up to its name, it was cold, wet and windy when we landed and we just drove onto that Westgate Bridge and headed for Ballarat. We had had a text from a friend we had met on our travels in Tassie and Jo said she would love to catch up with us and she would be in Ararat on Sunday and was staying at this great free camp spot near a lake just out of Ararat. So here we are, we have been chatting nearly all arvo, she is a very nice lady and travels full time in a mobile home chasing the sunshine. Needless to say she is on her way up towards Queensland. The wind is bitterly cold here but we did go for a little walk around the lake which is teeming with birds of all types including the black swan. Tomorrow we will do about 500 kms to travel up to Berri to see our friends, Dave and Shirley and spend a couple of days with them before tackling the might Nullabor.
17th April
Had a nice time catching up with Dave and Shirley and stayed a few days longer than intended. We had travelled up through Pinnaroo where we came across plagues of locusts. Boy did they take some washing off. Didn’t have to do any sight seeing this time but did make a visit to the Berri factory where you can buy seconds of all Berri Angus Park and SPC products at really good discounts. Needless to say I bought lots of dried fruit, nuts, tinned peaches, tomatoes and tomato soup.
Dave helped Glen make a locust shield for the radiator out of shade cloth and also they fitted a gas fitting on the caravan and some support legs for the bed. Busy little bees they were.
Left Berri this morning after Dave loaded me up with 2 of his beautiful loaves of home made bread. We aim to do about 400kms a day and we had a very pleasant drive through Burra, Pt Pirie on our way to Pt Augusta. We found Baroota Rodeo Ground to camp at for $10 a night, which includes hot showers and portable toilets and a nice bush camp ground of mallee trees. Not too flash but it has a caretaker and is well off the road and railway line. Looks like it wants to rain but we will wait and see, also have internet reception so we camped up early and are listening to the footy. TV would probably work but we can’t be bothered putting up the aerial. Glen spotted a mouse under the bonnet at the Rodeo Ground in SA and we bought a mouse trap in Ceduna and have caught 2 mice since! They seem to be little marsupials but unfortunately they have to go! Will we catch 3 out of 3 tonight? No luck but let’s hope we have caught them all.

So my friends, that’s it for now, we are on our way home, see you soon. Xxxx

April 18th
It didn’t rain, but apart from the mozzies it was quite a good camp and I was able to have a shower in the morning, hot water supplied from the donkey HWS. We took off at 8.00am and headed up to Pt Augusta and then turned towards the West and home. We have found a very good camp spot 45kms from Ceduna and well back from the road amongst some nice trees. You can tell when you are in SA, the flies are really sticky and there are lots of them. We got here a little bit before 3.00 and will have a rest and listen to the footy. I think we will be able to hear the Docker’s match at 7.00pm tonight, have very good radio reception at the moment, no telephone or internet reception though.

April 21st
Well once again we have tackled the mighty Nullarbor and won. The Nullarbor was in great shape this year. The results of rain on the plain is clear for everyone to see. The trees have all regrown from their bases and the plains are thick with salt bush and in places you can see a sea of green grass. The countryside is particularly beautiful between Balladonia and Norseman. Have never seen so many new Gimlet trees and mallee bushes and the stems of the Gimlets seem twice as red as before, reflecting the bright red soil which has been highlighted by recent rains. Fuel prices are as dreadful as usual. $1.74 for diesel at Cocklebiddy was the worst we came across but I did swing us a free shower which should have cost $6. The fuel bill was $84, so I cheekily asked if that included a free shower. The guy replied that he didn’t mind just so long as no one saw us, so there is some justice in this world and the shower was hot and very welcome. I awoke at 4.00am to the sound of pit a pat on the caravan roof. Oh no, not when we are so close to home. We were 120km north of Southern Cross, parked in an overnight camping spot where we had found a secluded spot at the back of the camping area. We were aware that when this red dirt gets rain on it, it very quickly turns to mud and you become stuck. I could not bear to think of spending another couple of nights waiting for the red clay soil to dry out before we would be able to move, so I was not able to get back to sleep. At 5.30, my restlessness must have become too much for Glen and he was awakened too, to the sound of rain on the roof. We decided to have breaky and be ready to move out as soon as it was light. By 6.15 we were on the road again and before we knew it, we were back in civilisation again.
So ends our epic journey, 11,440 kms and thanks be to god, it was trouble free and incident free. Glen had driven all those miles and returned us safe and sound to our loved ones, without mishap. Well done Glen!!! Hope you have all enjoyed our notes on our trip to Tassie and back and we thank you all for your messages of love and support. Till next time, love to you all from Roz & Glen xxxxxx

Sunday, 11 April 2010

Hello everyone,

9th April
This was our last night in Scottsdale so we decided to have a BBQ for tea. I had been for a walk down to where Lee had spotted some mushrooms growing and picked a lovely feed of nice big, clean mushies which we would have on our steak tonight. Bev had bought a nice bottle of Yellow Tail Cab Sav which we had had with our dinner at the pub the previous night and we both just loved the soft berry flavour. We had a nice night, good food, lots of laughs with a touch of sadness that we were leaving the next day.
Sunday morning came and we packed up the caravan and after a final cuppa, we left Scottsdale feeling a little sad and headed for Lilydale and Exeter and Devonport. We were really taking the scenic route and it was beautiful except for the rain that seemed to have set in. Not far from the famous bakery at Exeter we received an SMS to say the boat was going to be delayed 2 hours, so we went in to the bakery and had a lovely pastie and an apricot danish and a lamington. Yum!! We took our time and drove down to Devonport where we parked up and Donny and Kaye arrived to have a coffee and say goodbye. We then set in for the long wait until we could board the ferry at 7.30pm. Everyone else seemed to be having a beer or wine whilst waiting in line, so we did too. There was a pizza shop just 50 mtrs away so at 6 oçlock I went over and ordered one and we ate that for tea as it would be too late to eat once we had boarded at 9 45 pm.
11th April
Melbourne lived up to its name, it was cold, wet and windy when we landed and we just drove onto that Westgate Bridge and headed for Ballarat. We had had a text from a friend we had met on our travels in Tassie and Jo said she would love to catch up with us and she would be in Ararat on Sunday and was staying at this great free camp spot near a lake just out of Ararat. So here we are, we have been chatting nearly all arvo, she is a very nice lady, aged 60 and travels full time in a mobile home chasing the sunshine. Needless to say she is on her way up towards Queensland. The wind is bitterly cold here but we did go for a little walk around the lake which is teeming with birds of all types including the black swan. Tomorrow we will do about 500 kms to travel up to Berri to see our friends, Dave and Shirley Moritz and spend a couple of days with them before tackling the might Nullabor.
9th April
This was our last night in Scottsdale so we decided to have a BBQ for tea. I had been for a walk down to where Lee had spotted some mushrooms growing and picked a lovely feed of nice big, clean mushies which we would have on our steak tonight. Bev had bought a nice bottle of Yellow Tail Cab Sav which we had had with our dinner at the pub the previous night and we both just loved the soft berry flavour. We had a nice night, good food, lots of laughs with a touch of sadness that we were leaving the next day.
Sunday morning came and we packed up the caravan and after a final cuppa, we left Scottsdale feeling a little sad and headed for Lilydale and Exeter and Devonport. We were really taking the scenic route and it was beautiful except for the rain that seemed to have set in. Not far from the famous bakery at Exeter we received an SMS to say the boat was going to be delayed 2 hours, so we went in to the bakery and had a lovely pastie and an apricot danish and a lamington. Yum!! We took our time and drove down to Devonport where we parked up and Donny and Kaye arrived to have a coffee and say goodbye. We then set in for the long wait until we could board the ferry at 7.30pm. Everyone else seemed to be having a beer or wine whilst waiting in line, so we did too. There was a pizza shop just 50 mtrs away so at 6 oçlock I went over and ordered one and we ate that for tea as it would be too late to eat once we had boarded at 9 45 pm.
11th April
Melbourne lived up to its name, it was cold, wet and windy when we landed and we just drove onto that Westgate Bridge and headed for Ballarat. We had had a text from a friend we had met on our travels in Tassie and Jo said she would love to catch up with us and she would be in Ararat on Sunday and was staying at this great free camp spot near a lake just out of Ararat. So here we are, we have been chatting nearly all arvo, she is a very nice lady, aged 60 and travels full time in a mobile home chasing the sunshine. Needless to say she is on her way up towards Queensland. The wind is bitterly cold here but we did go for a little walk around the lake which is teeming with birds of all types including the black swan. Tomorrow we will do about 500 kms to travel up to Berri to see our friends, Dave and Shirley Moritz and spend a couple of days with them before tackling the might Nullabor.
That's all for now, will talk to you later. Love, Roz & Glen xx

Wednesday, 07 April 2010

Location: Australia

Hi everyone! Well we have only had about 5 days where it has drizzled for a couple of hours but this morning it fairly bucketed down. Bev and I had decided to go to town for some grocery shopping and the roads were just like raging rivers. We had to sit in the car for quite some time until the rain eased off and then we had to straddle the overflowing drain to land on the footpath, most unladylike I must tell you.
Yesterday I was a mechanical TA for Lee. The tractor had run out of fuel on the side of the hill, overlooking the dam, with a big round roll of hay on the forks at the back. Lee asked if I would drive the motor bike back after we had started the tractor. We loaded two jerrys of diesel in the little trailer behind the quad bike and Lee gave me a brief lesson in how to drive it and off we went only to discover when we got there that the 2 jerry cans had fallen off on the trip down the hill and over the rough patches of road we had to negotiate. Lee went back up and retrieved the diesel and returned to bleed the old devil. While I was waiting I looked around and spotted a patch of nice mushrooms, which I picked and also had a munch on some blackberries. My job was to watch for escaping air bubbles whilst Lee climbed up on to the top of the tractor and started blowing into the fuel tank. Poor thing I thought she was going to pass out, the air bubbles just didn’t seem to stop. Try as we may, we could not get the old girl going and finally Lee had to call the mechanic to come and help.
Glen finished making the step into the shed, safe and secure and did a couple of . on the caravan in readiness for our big trip home. The coffee table has had its final coat of wax and looks beautiful. Glen thinks it could be more shiny though, so we will wrap it up and store it under the bed till be get home. At this stage it looks like we will go to Berri and see our friends for a couple of days, seeing as we will be so close.
Time is fast running out and just as well, as the coldness is starting to creep in pretty quickly. The paddocks are lovely and green and the gardens grow like crazy without and extra watering needed. The apples are all ripening, one variety after the other and it is so nice to go out to the garden and pick a bag of apples off the tree. We cook a pot full every other day and eat the stewed apples on our cereal every morning, very healthy! Sad part is I won’t be able to take more than half a dozen with me because of the fruit fly restrictions in Victoria, we would end up having to hand them over. If I buy fruit and veg in SA, I have to be careful not to buy too much as we have to hand fruit and veg over again at the quarantine stop near Eucla. So there will be no munching fruit on the Nullabor, will have to resort to eating lollies instead.
I’m looking forward to getting home and seeing all of my family and friends again, so see you soon. Love, Roz & Glen