Hello all,
Just got home from our 3 week, 7000km tour of duty from
Adelaide, through
Leigh Creek,
Marree,
Birdsville,
Windorah,
Longreach,
Rockhampton,
Maroochydore,
Surfers Paradise,
Tamworth,
Bathurst,
Canberra,
Mildura and home. Would have liked a longer holiday but work commitments took priority.
Anyway, have complied a brief list of what I believe to be the good, the bad and the ugly.
The Good....
WINDORAH! I seriously underestimated this town. I condsidered it as not much more than a
rest stop and wasn't expecting much. Although sight seeing opportunities are limited, the town itself is very clean, green,
well laid out and picturesque. Stuff heading north out of
Birdsville, head ENE and visit
Windorah.
The BAD....
Marree Hotel!!!! We booked our accomodation 10 months in advance. The gent who took our booking enstilled little confidence in us at the time of booking so I made a point of popping in and paying for it when I did a recon trip up to the
Cooper Creek in June. When we arrived, the cabin we were meant to have had been re allocated to a bus load of tourists. The best he could offer us was an upstairs room (we weren't exactlly travelling light) and the three kids would have to share a room out the back on their own. The room out the back was dirty, unmade and stunk of ciggy smoke. In the end we settled for a 2 person cabin for 5 of us. Kids slept on the floor. No offer of a partial refund, (the town was booked solid so he had us by the proverbials) and when we questioned why the bus tourists couldn't be accomodated upstairs, we were told that "their arses were higher off the ground than ours".
Well excuse me. No apology, and little care factor. Thanks for nothing Laurie.
The UGLY...The weather! Although I love the contast this great land throws at us and the opportunity to see arid lands in full bloom, it would have been nice if the weaher was a tad warner for us in Surfers nd
Canberra. It rainned 4 out of the 6 days we were in Surfers (and I'm not talking a little sprinkle either - 350ml in 24 hours) and in
Canberra, there was talk of snow.
Other random comments.... Qld drivers always speed.
Adelaide drivers ARE the worst. Adelaidians are bleep s when it comes to respecting the use of UHF channel 40 for truckies, Holden Captivas can make it up Big Red...very easily I might add, averaged 8.5 l/100 over the whole trip, I want to live in
Birdsville, Outback Spectacular is a must do for anyone considering it,
Canberra - take your GPS!,
Bathurst - more than just a race track, SW Qld truckies - super courteous, NSW speed cameras actually target black spots unlike SA ones which target revenue spots, Cooper Ferry - drop ya coins in the RFDS collection box, and last but not least........
Spend your tourist dollars in Outback Australia. These towns rely on the tourist trade and hence will generally welcome you with open arms. Make a point of driving the few hundred yards off the main roads when buying fuel, snacks etc...these businesses often miss out on the lion's share and the operators of these businesses know it so will treat you like royalty.
Enuf said....Fab.