Lake Argyle

28/8/11
Today we booked another night and we booked a sunset cruise on the lake.  Dad cooked pancakes for breakfast, They were yummy.  We went for a bike ride to the Dam Wall, it was cool, but it was so hot we jumped in the pool when we got back.  At 1.45 dad went to the office and watched a documentary on the making of the Dam wall, it went for 1 hour.  We left at 2.45 on the tour bus and stopped at the boat ramp and jumped on the big orange boat.  The cruise was awesome!!  We got to swim in the croc-infested waters, it was cold but still warmer than the pool!  The sunset was beautiful!The cruise was awesome, it was one of the best things we did this holiday so far.

Lake Argyle

26/8/11

Today we left Katherine and headed to Timber Creek.  We stopped at a few Gas stations on the way and gas prices got upto $1.50 a litre!!  We reached Timber Creek and had lunch, dad decided it was too early to stop so we kept on driving. We arrived at the Western Australia border at 3.00 and had to stop for a quaratine check.  The guy said we had to turn the clock back to 1.30, We stopped at Lake Argyle van park and booked a night.  We went down to the pool, it was freezing in the pool.  After tht we went to the restaurant to listen to a chick called Fina sing.  Dad chucked a dollar in the guitar case and requested a song, and she made him and mum get up on stage and dance. It was funny.

27/8/11

Today we booked another night because we loved the place.  We just lazed around the pool and relaxed all day. It was good.

Katherine

24/8/11

Today we headed to Katherine from Daly Waters.  We stopped at the Mataranka Hot Springs for a swim and to have lunch.  The springs were nice and warm.   

When we arrived at katherine we booked into the van park for 2 days then we went next door to the gas station to buy milk and bread.

25/8/11

Today we just did a really big shopping spree to stock up on food and supplies, then we went to the car wash and dad washed the car because it was really dirty.  

Transport hall of fame.



One of the best museums I have ever been to would be the Transport hall of fame in Alice Springs.  We got to see heaps of old buses and trucks and learn about all kinds of different transport from the olden days.  We even got to see the first Mack truck ever to be built in Australia. It was really cool.

Daly Waters



Some of the bras on the roof!



Mums burger.



The thong tree.



Today we stayed at Daly waters Pub caravan park.  It was a really awesome place, it was a really small town with pretty much just a pub, van park, a small handmade gifts shop and a few houses.  For dinner we decided to go to the pub for a change.!  In the bar there were bras and undies hanging off the roof and peoples licences stapled along the top of the bar.  It was cool.   Outside there was Australia's first thong tree, it was cool.  for dinner mum and dad had a burger while Shae, shelby and i had a pie and chips, it was yummy.  we sat there and listened to a couple of guys sing and tell some pretty good jokes.  it was a really good night.



Chilli, one of the singers and the joke teller.



Alice Springs

Today we left and headed to Alice Springs, we stayed in a freebie camp because the caravan parks were full because of the boat races.

The next day we booked into a van park, set up the van and set off to check out the attractions.  We stopped at Glen Helen gorge resort and had lunch, we took the Cobb and cooked bacon and egg rolls, It was yummy!  Then headed off to some lookouts and Gorges.  My favourite was the Ochre Pits because there was bright colours and they looked like giant lego blocks. 

Ochre Pits.

Ayers Rock.

We setup the van at the Ayers Rock resort and headed off.  We bought our 3 day park pass and drove to Ayers Rock to climb it but it was closed because of the wind.  So we went to the aboriginal culture discovery centre.  Then went to check out The Olga's they were awesome!!  We walked through a gorge and The Valley Of Winds, the view was spectacular!



The view from The Valley of the Winds lookout.



The next day we went back but the climb was closed again.  So dad, Shae and I walked around it, it was about 10kms and it took about 3 hours to walk around it.  We were almost back to the carpark when we saw a pack of wild dogs that some idiot was feeding.  It then attack Shae and dad jumped in an kicked it so it ran off and the rest of the pack followed.

After that we went back to the van and made lunch. Then headed back and the climb was open!!!  Dad and I climbed to the very top of Ayers Rock!!  It took us about 2 hours. 

Dad and I on top of Ayers Rock!!

Coober Pedy.



Fayes above ground pool.




Fayes underground bedroom.

 Info of Coober Pedy:

• The first opal miners called the place Stuart Range Opal Fields, but in 1920 it was renamed Coober Pedy after the indigenous words 'Kupa' meaning 'white man' and 'Piti' meaning 'hole in the ground'.
• Coober pedy is known as the Opal capital of the world because more than 75% of the worlds commercial opal is mined there.
• More than 70% of Coober Pedy's population lives underground.
• The largest opal found was the olympic australis stone from the 8 mile field in 1965, it weighed 3.5kg.

Today we drove around to all the tourist places, the first place was Faye's underground house.  Faye was a young lady that came to Coober Pedy with 2 of her friends, they bought a block of land and started dig out a house.  It took them 10 years to complete it.  The only part of the house that was above ground was the indoor swimming pool.
After we went to the Umoona Opal Museum and Mine, The first part of the tour was to watch a information video called 'The Story of the Opal', it was interesting.  After that we went down an old mine, it was cool to see the tools and the machines that aer used to dig mines and underground homes.
The tour ended at about 3pm, we then headed to The Breakaways.  We waited for a few hours for the sun to set and see The Breakaways change colour.  But then the clouds covered the sunset and we didn't see the colour change.

Clare to Woomera (Area 51 shhhh)

In Clare there was Kangaroos, Emu's and deer.  We fed the kangaroos, Max really liked it.

This morning we fed the emu's before we left and headed to Coober Peady.  We drove through Clare Valley, there was lots of old towns and great scenery.  We had lunch at Port Augusta, scenic but smelly!

Drove through miles of desert, dead kangaroos and cows, the scenery was great but!

Staying at Woomera tonight. They have rockets and missiles here.  We took a few photos around town, there was also a great sunset here and the moon is really big, Must be the aliens.

Mildura-Clare SA

We left the Grampians and headed to Mildura.  We stayed there 1 night and we left and arrived at Clare, in South Australia.  We leave tomorrow and we will be out of range for the internet.  My blog wont be updated for a while as we will be out of service.

The Grampians

On Thursday, we went driving around the Grampians.  The first stop was Beehive falls, it was a long walk so mum and my little sister stayed in the car.  The falls were beautiful, we took lots of pictures.  The water was freezing.  

We then stopped at Mckenzie Falls.  While we ate lunch, the magpies swormed around us and one tried eating my shoes.  We walked around to a couple of lookouts, but the track to the base of the falls were blocked because of storm damage.

Then we headed to Lake Wartook, it was really full from the floods. 



Mckenzie Falls.



Boroka Lookout.



We started to drive back to the caravan park and stopped to go to Reids lookout and the Balconies.  The view from the lookouts were amazing!  You see for miles and we were able to see the Grampians.  On the way to Halls Gap,  we stopped again at Boroka Lookout.  The view was awesome, we could see the towns and the caravan park we were staying at.  On the way to the caravan park the road was closed so we had to drive all the way back through the hills and we almost ran into some deer that were standing in the middle of the road.



Beehive Falls.



The Grampians.

We left phillip Island on Wednesday, and headed to Halls Gap in The Grampians.  We went to the information centre to see what we were able to do.  It was to late to go four-wheel driving so we just went to Brambuk and went on a bush walk, on the way we ran into a red belly black snake.  It was cool. 

For dinner we had a campfire and we cooked sausages, baked potatoes, tomatoes and onions.  Then we boiled water in the billy to make hot milo, It was awesome.

Phillip Island- Day 2,

Today we just caught up with family, saw a few cars at the race track and went in to the winery for a cheese platter, yum!!

Phillip Island.

We left at 3:15 pm after soccer finished, the first stop of our trip was Phillip Island.  We set up the van at Grandpa's place and got noodles for dinner.  We are going to spend 4 nights here to catch up with family and friends.