A few flights & a 5,000km Outback Adventure from Adelaide to Darwin

[RB]

I enjoy reading the various trip reports that pop up on AFF & have enjoyed posting some of my own on here. I don't recall many Aussie based trips being detailed so I thought I would provide a report on our recent Aussie adventure.
We have seen a bit of the world and indeed more "mainstream" parts of Australia. Our normal "style" of travel is to go as a couple & find our way around using a variety of flights & public transport. We usually stay at apartments, B&B's & small hotels rather than Hiltons etc. Like quite a few people we know we have often been put off visiting parts of Aust because of the relatively expensive offerings by tour companies. Our readings of the net uncovered an 18 day trek from Adelaide to Darwin with 3 nights in Alice Springs. This trip offered the chance for us to see bits of South Aust (we had only seen around Adelaide & surrounds to the south) & the Northern Territory (we had only ever been to Darwin airport) and the associated highlights.
We don't own a 4wd vehicle & we were unlikely to do this trip under our own steam. Now a 20 seater bus with strangers while also doing some camping was a big step for us so we seconded a couple of mates from Sydney to join us on the jaunt. We were reassured by the prompt reply to any of our questions and really looked forward to seeing some Aussie highlights.

QF 2165 ECONOMY 23AUG12 PORT MACQUARIE/SYDNEY
Run of the mill flight with nothing of note - took off a few minutes late although the plane was loaded early. Pilot was apparently on his last flight before transferring to QF in Melb. Landed in Syd then had the long taxi into T2 terminal. We were met at the short term parking by our friends.

QF 741 ECONOMY 24AUG12 SYDNEY/ADELAIDE 737-800
Did online check in & able to see a variety of seats (bronze status only) & opted for A & C seats & we were fortunate enough for this to hold & we enjoyed a spare seat between us on the flight over. In contrast, our friends who also have no status were stuck in their allocated seats much further back in the plane and with no options showing at the time they did online check in-odd considering the tickets were all purchased online, all with no status & all did online check in at the same time.

Another run of the mill flight - loaded on time & landed pretty well on time. A snack was offered & I filled in the 2hr 10 min flight listening to my Ipod. The plane was pretty basic but comfortable enough for the short flight that we had scored during the constant sales QF have been having. Very easy arrival, bags were available promptly & there was no queuing for a taxi for the short ride into town.

I have posted a review of the Grand Treasury Adelaide here http://www.australianfrequentflyer..../grand-treasury-adelaide-2-bedroom-43624.html

I know I enjoy seeing photos in the trip reports so I will try & post some relevant ones during the report. This photo is of Mutonia Sculpture Park, seen on day 3 of our trip

 

[samh004]

Sounds interesting so far

I tend to do a lot of outback travel, but don't post reports here. I'm actually procrastinating selecting photos and writing up a report now.




 

[Princess Fiona]

Checking in and looking forward to the TR

 

[RB]

Around Adelaide
[FONT=&amp]Adelaide seems to cop a bit of criticism but I have found it an easy city to get around with a relaxed atmosphere-something I like in a city. We just spent time wandering on foot. Adelaide was experiencing a very cold snap. Lunch was a counter meal at the Elephant & Castle hotel-I had read a recommendation on here or the facebook page and it was worth the walk. The front bar had a friendly atmosphere & we enjoyed meals of pasta, steak & pizza. We enjoyed the variety of architecture & were greatly impressed by the bustling Central Market on our way back to the CBD - purchased some cheeses, meats etc for snacks later on and fruit for the next day breakfast. The ladies had a short look at the shops & then joined us at the Casino where my mate wanted to add to his collection of casino chips (casino seems to have lost a bit of its former charm). We enjoyed take away Asian from a small, busy café in the Central Market, watched the NRL, had a few more drinks & had a relatively early night in preparation for our early start on the Sat morning[/FONT]
.I seem to recall this was a school on the way to the Elephant & Castle

Zoom in & you will see an interesting use of saw horses on the roof

City view to our hotel

 

[Sprucegoose]

Thanks RB. I agree we have a lot in our backyard as well. Instead of the usual European soujorn at this time of year we have decided to do the top end.

There are a lot of little worlds out there!


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[Simo]

Less and less people are holidaying in our own country.

Good to see you doing it.

 

[RB]

Well here I was in my mid 50's & had never been on an organised bus trip since my school excursion days. I had my wife & another couple that we have known for a long time but that was it. I guess I also had an open mind & a positive attitude & I was determined that this was going to be a great hoiday even if the possible problems & conflicts of travelling with a group did occur.
Truely Tribal-18 day Trek from Adelaide to Darwin
Link to their web site is here- Adelaide to Darwin Australian Outback Adventure
Day 1-
A 7am pickup in the 20 seater bus with a tag along purpose built trailer. There were actually 18 paying passengers-our 4, 2 other couples, 2 older males travelling as mates, 2 pairs of females travelling as friends & 4 "single" ladies. Ages ranged from around 50 up to early 70's. There was limited leg room (varied between rows) but comfortable seats & great windows for viewing. Obviously some passengers were more compliant to the request to stick to small bags with a stated limit of 15kg per person (some people later revealed other trips they had been on overcame overpacking by supplying a main bag & cabin bag & only allowing those bags to be used). The heavy bags reminded me of other travel where I have seen those with the most overweight bags were those most unable to lift or control them.
Our host/driver/organiser Flick outlined that casual rotation of seats was to be the aim as the trip progressed, although this failed to materialise as some people preferred not to rotate and some were intent on making it a process and asked would it be in a certain order!
The outskirts of Northern Adelaide provided fantastic rural scenery with plenty of greenhouses for vegies. The new highway north apparently had meant some farm land had to be resumed but there was an excellent road surface.
Morning tea was enjoyed at Claire in a public park near a great looking caravan park. Muffins were the start of great food to be enjoyed throughout the trip & people had their first chance to mingle - the plan of allocating a numbered cup for the duration of the trip met limited success for much the same reason as people did not always move in the same direction when filling their plates!
We stopped at Laura and saw a dedication to CJ Dennis & enjoyed a walk around town.
Lunch was toasties & scones & jam at Quorn –good home style food from a café in the historic railway town with heritage buildings. There are still a surprising number of pubs operating and the purchase of a $39 bottle of Jonnie Walker red was made (including prices so it gives people an idea of what to expect if they do something similar) along with a local beer before returning to the bus.
Afternoon Tea was enjoyed at Hawker and our visit coincided with a large contingent from a Variety Bash rally group who were having a great time. We had a stop to see a distant view of Lake Torrens, a plaque for the Overland Telegraph Line and a rock pile/cairn that was a geographical pointer for future surveying.
Our first 2 Nights were at Augorichina Homestead Camp in the Parachilna Gorge – an ex TB hospital with various rooms, some doubles and a separate wing for the single ladies. The tour supplied sleeping bags and 2 small pillows each. Where tents are used it will be 6 man tents per couple with either swags or large portable stretchers and a fold up matress. Augorichina has an onsite shop with booze available - $52 carton of chilled Extra Dry, $12 & $13 bottles of wine were also available (along with dearer options) and some pre-mix options - very fair for a shop 17 km in on dirt road and a long way from towns. There are 2 gas powered showers & 2 loos for each sex & they were well maintained. Dinner was BBQ marinated kebabs, sausages & salads cooked by our guide Flick & enjoyed in a big common room with an open fire. Policy was that no name tags are given & drinks encouraged people to mingle-each person was required to select an adjective that started with the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] two letters of their Christian name and described their character-not sure how many adjectives were remembered by Darwin but all names were learnt by then. All in bed by 10.30pm
CJ Dennis at Laura

Our bus at Claire
A favourite vehicle from the bash group
Plaque for overland telegraph line
Distant view of Lake Torrens

 

[RB]

Day 2
Breakfast was porridge, yoghurt, fruit, toast etc on a fine sunny day, some morning cloud & a cool breeze but a great day to hike

Blinman Pools-walk approx 12 km round trip. People dropped out at various stages & 8 passengers made it to the end with Flick. The second pool was totally dry & the end fall was a trickle into a pool of approx 30 metre width. We only saw 1 other group of 4 walkers. The walk back with a few drink stops took us 2 hrs. [FONT=&amp]This walk involved a fair bit of walking over a rock base & sand-apparently there had been no rain since March & the stream had had a major flood in 2010 that had unearthed a previously covered rock base. [/FONT]A lazy arvo was had with some people snoozing, some sitting & yarning & resting weary bones. Dinner was Mexican wraps.



Day 3
A 7am start with the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] stop at the Ochre cliffs - chance for good photos in the favourable light. Refuel and a toilet stop at Lyndhurst & then next stop at the abandoned town Farina, sad but enlightening.
We also passed a new monument to mark the 150[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary of the crossing by Stuart.

Marree –where the Birdsville Track meets the Oodnadatta Track. We took photos of the Lake Eyre Yacht Club and a mud brick mosque used by the Afghan cameleers.

Lunch was at the Pub - bbq lamb shish kabobs washed down by a beer. Locals were organising themselves to leave later in the week for the Birdsville Races.
Onto the Oodnadatta Track with 204km to William Creek
During the day we also saw the Woomera protest area (Alberrie Creek/Mutonia Sculpture Park) and listened to the Len Beadell Shepparton Talk-great for helping pass the time. Our products - Len Beadell Books and Tapes
South Lake Eyre - we parked at the lookout & walked towards the receding shore. Apparently now around 35%, considerably down from the peaks of the last couple of years but still an amazing spectacle
Pub dinner at William Creek pub - choice of shanks, fish & chips or chicken parma. We had an interesting discussion with the current owners-ex N’zers
Stayed overnight at William Creek campground - basic bunk house style rooms with shared (1 other room) bathroom facilities - all clean enough with artesian water facilities.
The general consensus was that currently the Oodnadatta Track was in bad condition
General view of the Blinman Pools walk
Changing base of the walk
Pool at the end of the walk

View of the [FONT=&amp]Augorichina camp area & natural landscape
[/FONT]
Ochre Cliffs

 

[RB]

Farina the abandoned town
Lake Eyre Yacht Club
[FONT=&quot]mud brick mosque used by the Afghan cameleers

[/FONT]
204km of rough as guts road coming up
[FONT=&quot]Sth Lake Eyre justoff Oodnadatta track
[/FONT]

 

[RB]

William Creek pub
Sunset from the campground

Another William Creek sunset shot

 

[RB]

Day4
First up was a Wrightsair flight scheduled for 7am flights-Cessna 210. The holiday included a 1hr flight of Lake Eyre with the option to extend to 2hrs-either Painted Hills & Lake Eyre or Lake Eyre & Warbuton Inlet and Kalaweerina Inlet. We opted for the extended Lake Eyre & were haappy with our decision. Takeoff was delayed when it was found that the weights that had been supplied months ago were wrong so a shuffle of people had to take place. Various sightings of camels, pelicans and dingos along with the natural habitat that was awesome in its vastness. We saw where Donald Campbell set his land speed record and the wreckage of the ABC camera crew crash was pointed out. We had a very smooth flight with the wind only picking up as we were about to land-subsequent landings came in from the other direction! It was then back to camp for breakfast- vanilla soy milk brown rice & variety of fruit, yoghurt etc. We were then ready to battle through wind & dust to Coober Pedy

Attached photos are taken from our flight

 

[RB]

More photos from various points over Lake Eyre, [FONT=&amp]Warbuton Inlet, Kalaweerina Inlet[/FONT]. With the lake drying up the pelicans have aparently mostly moved out-some in last photo of previous post

 

[RB]

The drive to Coober Pedy was through very dusty conditions - people who got out for a photo of the dingo fence were quickly back on the bus.
Lunch-BBQ chicken sandwiches made fresh from the bbq chooks from the supermarket.
Tour of Opal Museum – short movie and opal cutting demo, tour of underground house & former mine was well presented & the lady who was a local gave an insight to the challenges & enjoyment of living in Coober Pedy
We again stocked up & jagged a special of $48 carton of extra dry - remembering Sth Aust has a deposit scheme on bottles, not that we traded back in.
Many people walked up to the close by lookout for great sunset photos

Dinner – John’s Pizza – a busy setup that catered well with several groups eating at the same time. Big pizzas & salads spread along the tables.
Sleeping underground - Umoona Opal Mine Bunkhouse - separate booths with curtains but poor noise insulation, plenty of getting up during the night, plenty of early starters & then plenty of stragglers with their bags. There were 2 other groups also using the same facilities but different bunkhouses-communal showers & toilets that were well maintained


Golf is cheap at William Creek
The Dingo fence
Entry to Coober Pedy
Umoona Bunkhouse
Sunset from lookout above bunkhouse

 

[Princess Fiona]

Fantastic photo's I have seen Lake Eyre several times from a great height on QF but never up close.

 

[RB]

Fantastic photo's I have seen Lake Eyre several times from a great height on QF but never up close.

Photos would show up better if I could post them as a bigger size but I am trying to provide a variety & keep to my overall upload limit on the site

 

[RB]

Day 5
This was a long drive approx 790 km-Coober Pedy to Kings Creek Station, approx 10 hrs with stops.
Morning tea was at Marla at the Shell roadhouse. We also stopped at the SA/NT border for photos. Lunch at 1[SUP]st[/SUP] & last NT hotel Kulgera – fresh sandwiches, leftover pizza, leftover kebabs. This was also our 1[SUP]st[/SUP] meeting with a group of bike riders using an old Magna as their base camp-we saw them several times at Uluru.
Our after lunch stop was at the cnr Lasiters & Stuart Highway Erldunda Desert Oaks-they a huge carved echidna & lizard for peoples viewing. We encountered air conditioner problems with the bus & these ended up being fixed in Alice Springs. We moved on & as we were moving into a National Park we collected wood from side of highway for our camp fire.
Kings Creek Station for 2 nights – We had a bonus here with staying at permanent tent village-all with stretchers & mattress. We enjoyed a dinner of pasta & then few drinks around fire. Excellent clean toilets & showers although some people thought the max 50 metre stroll was a long way to have to go!-maybe camping doesn’t suit some
I have boosted the photos up 1 size-hope it provides a better view


Dual sided signage of the border crossing
Kulgera pub/roadhouse
The permanent tents at King Creek station
Petrol prices at King Creek Station

 

[Magpie10]

Thanks so far RB can't wait for the next instalment. I think we can sometimes forget how beautiful our country is...V

 

[Stoopidsteve]

Thanks RB, nice pics of the great place we are lucky enough to live in, yet most of us never see what you're touring. Thanks.

 

[RB]

Thanks for the encouragement folks-I enjoy doing the trip reports but juggling the photos becomes a bit of a chore-hope everyone is enjoying
Day 6
2 Walking groups - 6.30 start for the Kings Canyon rim walkers (including a view of Garden Of Eden) & then 8.30 start for Kathleen Springs & Kings Creek walk-basically the base.
Lunch at Kings Canyon Resort - burger bar & Thirsty Dingo bar - Stella on special at $10 a beer! There were $20 burgers & chips-choice of beef, camel, fish, chicken & veggie – all good.
After lunch we enjoyed a short helicopter flight by Scenic Flights Australia over the canyon-this was spectacular, certainly in the top 5 of the trip.

Bean lentil curry was cooked at camp for tea-not what I would normally consume but was enjoyable.


Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon
Kings Canyon

Helicopter out to the canyon
Getting closer

 

[RB]

More photos from the helicopter flight over Kings Canyon, last one heading back to land near the Kings Canyon Resort