Despite the high fuel prices we managed a year of extensive travel exploring this great land. The only thing that suffered was the travelling account, which has now been drawn down to its lowest level in years
January saw us coming back from a visit to friends on the east coast via some of the High Country Tracks including McKillops Track and then a few wineries of Victoria including that of Brown Brothers at Milawa April and we had a family gathering on the outskirts of
Melbourne. Then a great scenic trip north along the Barry Way to
Canberra where we enjoyed visiting the Turner to Money Impressionists Exhibition at the National Gallery in
Canberra. The homeward journey took us southwest via Brindabella, Tumut,
Tumbarumba, and Jingellic, to the mighty Murray and back home following the river, visiting classic wineries along the way. Yeah the wineries are a most important cultural feature of any trip!
In May we met up with ExplorOz mates and others in
Alice Springs from where I led a trip out along the
Gary Junction Road turning north at
Mount Webb and striking over bush tracks to Dwarf
Well via
Lake Mackay. Then it was cross-country driving for 420km skirting the salt lakes of
Lake Hazlett,
Lake Wells,
Lake White and
Lake Dennis. In the process we came across some evidence of previous travellers to the region and camped near the fabled Labbi Labbi
Waterhole. We came across an existing track again at
Ngulupi Outstation, which lies in
ruins after being run successfully for many years by Palotine Monks on behalf of the aboriginal people of that area. From there we made it to Balgo for snacks and a refuel and then back to
Alice Springs via the Tanami Road. Read about it
here.
Having recently acquired a metal detector we arranged to meet up with other prospectors who frequent Australian Goldfields Propector’s
Forum and had a great time near Dunolly, Victoria over the Queens Birthday Weekend in June and formed new friendships from that encounter.
In July we made for
Innamincka via the Strzelecki Road and the ExplorOz National Gathering and enjoyed some quality time and good winter weather with old friends and new ones. On the way south we skirted the eastern flank of the
Flinders Ranges camping in
Wearing Gorge and visiting Chambers Gorge and
Blinman.
August saw me doing a solo trek to Mount Browne near
Milparinka in western New South Wales, to search for some elusive colour. I became more experienced with my detector but the colour still eluded me. Found some treasures and drove some new roads and tracks.
At the end of September it was back to
Alice Springs by car(Xtrail) where Judith attended Art At The Heart National Conference. Along the way we stayed in the Underground Motel at
Coober Pedy. I spent my days in Alice helping a friend resurrect his Range Rover and also caught up with ExplorOz mates from Alice.
This recent trip started in the last week of October and took us to the Waanyarra Forest near Dunolly where we met up with fellow ExploroZ and AGP
Forum mates for a week of prospecting. We camped at the Waanyarra Picnic Reserve for a week. Unfortunately the colour still eludes me but I have located lots of ‘treasures’. We also attended the monthly Dunolly Market, which was an experience in itself! Then we attended to a great two-day party on the outskirts of
Melbourne with ExplorOz mates and copious amounts of ale and snags were consumed, not to metion cheesecake and the chocolate fountain!!! After that it was a trip across
Melbourne in the rain visiting friends and rellies. A Ferry Ride from Portsea to
Queenscliff ($102 for GQ and trailer..ouch!) was included and then on to
Anglesea, Corio and
Timboon to visit family and friends. Last Friday we made for
the Pyrenees ExplorOz Gathering in teeming rain. We set up
camp with the help of friends in between showers. Over the next few days we drove some great
trails and listened to some good campfire yarns. A day visiting a few wineries were not to be missed and so we returned home with a car full of grog and had a leisurely trip along the Murray Valley Highway despite the B-Doubles tailgating us when the head wind brought the speed back to 85kmh!
This summer and autumn we are staying home to tend to the garden and some house repairs and prepare the GQ and
camping rig set-up and to save some money for a winter sojourn to the Northwest of Western Australia
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Cheers