If you are one of the many thousands that has been reading all about our
travels for the last... wow, its nearly 2 years, then you probably want to know how its
all going to end.
Sunday 26th December 1999
We had planned to leave Sydney today but as we drove through a set of
traffic lights after saying farewell to family in Turramurra we thought to drop in on Lisa
and Scott out of the blue. They were home, we caught up for the first time in a year and
things just clicked. They were going to the family farm in Gilgandra the next day and
asked if we'd like to come too - it was on our way, or nearabouts in the scheme of things
so we agreed.
Monday 27th December 1999
The intensity of the build-up to New Year's Eve was boring us completely -
we were taking the view that nothing would happen. (Yeah, you say we write that now in
retrospect but it's true). We hadn't really decided on a plan for where to spend NYE but
we sure didn't want to spend it with millions of drug-crazed kids, pushing and shoving
through crowds or paying exhorbanant prices for a glimpse of the fireworks. We were just
as happy to be in the bush. Our wish would have been to spend NYE in Birdsville with the
100 residents that are still warm in our memories but that was quite a diversion from
Perth!
As it turned out, we heard that Wolfgang, Kersten and Andy were going down
to Innamincka to spend NYE with Dylan, Ann and Dave at the Innamincka Hotel. This we could
just manage with a little short-cutting through the back of Burke up through Tibooburra
and Cameron Corner after leaving Gilgandra.
It started to rain in Gilgandra around 7pm. There had already been a far
bit further north. It was all dirt roads west from here so we weren't too impressed. It
turned into a big night with visitors, drinkies, whip cracking and stories.
We slept in our 4WD on the farm beside the chook pen and woke up with a
pet Llama trying to make friends at the back door.
Tuesday 28th December 1999
It rained all day. We used clippers to cut Scott and David's hair. I got
food poisoning from eating left-over octopus from Xmas Day (Mum had wrapped it up but our
fridge obviously wasn't cold enough). I couldn't sleep with the cramps, Lisa was upset and
no one had a good night except for the farmers that love the rain.
Wednesday 29th December 1999
We had a lot of kilometres to cover to get to Innamincka by Friday and it
was finally sunny. We checked the Bureau of Meteorology website and listened to local
weather reports but felt confident that we'd through to Burke today and Tibooburra
tomorrow and finally onto Innamincka on Friday, NYE.
We passed through Walgett, Brewarrina and Bourke and camped out on a
slushy Bourke Road 70kms past town. There had been some rain but nothing to worry about.
The sky was blue and there appeared no chance of further weather.
Confident that we'd got this far, we rang Dylan to give them the news that
we'd be there to spend NYE. Dylan said the entertainment would either be the Moomba Lights
(if the gas lines exploded at midnight) or just the Dolphin Disco (Dolphin torches
strapped to the ceiling fans). Sounded like a big night in Innamincka was being
prepared...
Thursday 30th December 1999
We had a long morning drive to Wanaaring on soft red dirt that was flooded
on both sides of the road. It seemed that the further west we drove the wetter the
conditions (yet, still the sun was shining at we expected it would all evaporate soon
enough). Just after lunch, after 6 hours of driving we came to a sign showing ALL ROADS
CLOSED to the North, South, East and West of where we were. Never had that before... we
backtracked to the Wanaaring Police Station to have it confirmed that all tracks to
Innamincka were impassable. We were told to backtrack and head SouthWest to Cobar,
Wilcannia, Broken Hill then up the Silver City Highway. That was just too far to go in 24
hours and we guessed we weren't going to make it to Innamincka in time. In fact, we only
got as far as a truck stop outside Wilcannia for the night.
Friday 31st December 1999
Eve of the New Millennium... we were driving to Broken Hill and not sure
of what we'd be doing tonight. We arrived at BH a bit after lunch and decided we were
somewhere interesting after all so we set up camp, tuned into JJJ, bought heaps of yummy
food from Woolies (oysters, pate, cheeses, pistachios, smoked salmon) and then walked into
town for the fireworks.
Saturday 1st January 2000
Well, we survived... did you?
We drove on today but only made 150km (bit tired). Ate more oysters, drank
champagne and David cooked steak topped with blue cheese and bacon! Slept under a tree.
David found that our snorkel was broken and couldn't be successfully repaired to risk
river crossings (hope we don't find any).
Sunday 2nd January 2000
Continued driving. Got stopped by fruit inspectors and had to eat about 10
plums (couldn't bear to see them thrown out). We drove 520km today and stopped just
outside Ceduna. Now that the excitement of NYE is over and there's no chance of getting to
Innamincka or Birdsville this trip we've decided to get to Perth as quickly as possible. I
just want to get it over with. Had a bit of a cry because I realised how hard it was going
to be settling down and not having family around.
Monday 3rd January 2000
We had a windy arrival at Fowlers Bay this morning after stopping in
Ceduna for shopping, email and phonecalls. The shops were only open for 4 hours and we
timed it right. I wasn't keen to windsurf (tired, lazy) but we fished from the jetty and
caught a huge squid that weighed 500g after cleaning.
Tuesday 4th January 2000
Dave went windsurfing - I took photos and videoed a big family of
aboriginal children who were keenly watching the sailing. They were very enthusiastic.
After packing up we went to talk to the owners of the Fowlers Bay Caravan Park and told
them about our concept for ExplorOz. They were keen to be involved and so we now have a
bit more motivation to continue with this business concept.
We have had such an enormous response from travellers reading our website,
often requesting more detailed information about a place, venue or attraction or want help
with trip preparation that we need to find a way of providing this information and making
a living out of it. So we have a plan to make a website called www.ExplorOz.com that has everything a
traveller needs from the one site. To do this we need to get all businesses to be listed
by region and category with links to their own websites where users can make on-line
bookings, send direct email or research the area. We provide all the trek notes for the
regions best 4WD spots and detailed write-ups for each location. Most of the information
we can migrate across from the this site but there is still so much more we can do if we
both focus on it full-time. This has just been a "hobby" so far.
Wednesday 5th January 2000
It's amazing how much work you can do while driving. Our ideas over the
last year have finally come together and we can't wait to get to Perth, setup a home
office, buy more computers and equipment and start developing....
We love the Nullarbor, the Eyre Highway and because this is our second
trip across we found new places that we hadn't seen on our previous transcontinental trip.
We went out to Koonalda Cave and had a difficult rock climb down into the main pit. The
gate was unlocked so we went in and found some exploration work is taking place, but no
water. Back at the car we found our Engel fridge had died for the 3rd time in 2 years. A
pipe had snapped and the gas escaped - so now we have no fresh food, no cold drinks.
At Eucla we went down to the dunes and saw the ruins of the Old Telegraph
Station slowly becoming engulfed by drifting sand. We thought we'd get enough time to get
to the Eyre Bird Observatory today too but found it is a 3 hour return trip.
We took a different approach to find Cocklebiddy Cave after enjoying it so
much last year. We had our GPS point we took last time and drove cross-country to find it.
On the way the air-conditioner broke and couldn't be fixed. All the gas leaked out. We
were very disappointed because we had planned to head up to the Trans Continental Railway
after visiting the cave and taking the route all the way into Kalgoorlie. So, with no
fridge, no aircon and no snorkel things were pretty grim. A bad record for 5 days.
Thursday 6th January 2000
We were certain that our run of bad luck with the 4WD was a message that
we needed to stop a while and do some maintenance and work on our business plan for
ExplorOz. With that idea firmly in our minds we kept driving to get to Perth.
Friday 7th January 2000
Just out of Northam we rang Glen, our friend from the Yungarra Estate in
the Margaret Valley we met last year. He was now living in Scarborough, Perth and our
first point of contact. We celebrated our arrival with him and camped in our 4WD in his
driveway while we figured out where to start.
After a quick windsurfing trip up to our favourite spot at Cervantes (2
hours north of Perth) and another 2 weeks living in a caravan park while madly
house-hunting we settled in to place near the Hillarys Marina and Pinnaroo Point (popular
windsurfing beach). And work on ExplorOz began.
The travelling is over - for now at least. We've committed to 12mths to
build, market and sell ExplorOz. But our love of the Australian outback is still strong
and we want to get back out there. For the moment we need the city infrastructure to build
our internet business. We are working hard to build you a website that utilises the travel
experiences and research over the last 2 years so that you can continue to have access to
an informative and ever-updating dedicated 4WD travel site. We plan to add lots of new
features such as an online bookshop too. Please support us and look at our new site www.ExplorOz.com
Our aim is to make this site as comprehensive as possible within a short
timeframe. To do this we are embarking on a large-scale marketing campaign that will
include TV, radio, direct mail and sticker promotions. Please contact info@exploroz.com if you wish to distribute stickers
to potential customers, would like to display a promotional sticker on your 4WD, or would
like to be a member of our travelling sales team (an ideal way to earn income as you
travel). Hopefully, we can get out there again soon and travel and promote our website in
time for the 2001 season.
Once again, thank you to all of you for your support over the last couple
of years - by the way, this site will remain active.
