.........The End

Time is a funny thing. In some ways it flies, and others goes slow.  This Adventure has been better than we thought. We have loved being together exploring all things new to us. Did we tire of the road, and packing up all the time? Not at all. In fact we got very good at it! Are we ready to sell up and do this long term? Very tempting ha!

So, thought I would share some of the stuff that helped us along the way, that we couldn't have lived without!

The Waeco fridge and freezer! Ticked over perfectly the whole time. All food fresh and cold and not floating in ice. Not to mention our refreshments. Perfect! 

Water. Man! We drank gallons of cold water, thanks to the Waeco and the bottle holders in front of the air-con vents to keep it cool.

The loo and shower! No need to say more. A necessity. 

One of the "boy" jobs!

All the gadgets, and the charging "station" to keep it all going!

Our BIG very comfy bed!

My camera and 'handbag'. Or should I say my right arm? One night Dez made me go out without it, and I felt lost ha ha!

Fly net hats. You may laugh, but I tell you, flies will drive you to insanity in some places without them.

And fly swat. Dez would have been completely bored, I'm sure, without it to play with. When he wasn't doing what he does best!

One of the wonderful "little things". A letter from Jaxson :)

So....it is finally the end....of this adventure.....and we can't wait to hug and squeeze and kiss our beautiful family and friends again.  If we had to sum it all up in one word it would be   FREEDOM. 

This Blog is a journal for both Dez and I, but everyone knows I wrote it all. So for me the best part of this journey was sitting next to this man for three months and seeing him smile.

See ya....

The Last Leg

Goondiwndi for lunch, fuel, coffee and a super yummy vanilla slice!

Another storm brewing, and we were heading towards it. Luckily we were the chasers not the chasees!

Started looking for another freecamp, and came upon this wonderful spot!  Just out of Inglewood, on the banks of a river. It would have been perfection, if only the Cunningham Highway wasn't at the back door. Nonetheless, we spent two nights here being completely lazy. Reading, sleeping and generally doing nothing.

Sunset on the river.

Camp amongst the trees, and we were the only ones here.

Dez getting excited 'cos there was something finally on his line. Turned out to be a turtle ha ha ha!

Back he goes.

Couple of goannas about the place. And snakes!

Finally cold enough to have a fire again. So Dezzi got to break out the new chainsaw and sort some wood.

Read instructions. Check. Fill with fuel. Check. 

Go for it making sure you are wearing your safety thongs and hat!

Little rippa!

So had a wonderful lazy couple of days here. But time for the final few days. We thought Lake Moogerah Dam. Do a bit of fishing and yabbieing. While away the time. Planned to be there Sunday afternoon to give all the noisy ski and jet boat folk a chance to pack up and go home, to leave us in peace. Hhhmmmmmm! We didn't know about Pupil Free Day did we. They were mostly all still there. We did a drive around, but, naaaaarrrrrhhhhh! And then to make matters worse, Bevy forgot to slide the fridge back in and shut the back door -  ooooowwwww! So, broke the plastic around the handle, and the lock now is dodgy. 

Also finally broke the stone guard off, which had first cracked back on the Savannah Way, and progressively gotten worse on every dirt road we have been on. Oh well! Stick it up on the roof!  I cried. Dezzi said don't worry about it, and cuddled me. What a guy!

Anyway, back to the Road Atlas and headed down to Boonah for the night. And to sooth my misery Mr Whippy was there. One giant cone with a flake thanks :) What a lovely little town. The countryside in the Scenice Rim is so green and rolling, after all the flat and red dirt that we have seen it seemed strange.

Made camp at the Showgrounds, and pondered what other dams or camps to move on to. Only four days left. Gotta be somewhere! Look - Wyaralong Dam. Only canoes allowed. Beauty. Get there next morning, only tents allowed. Aaahhhh!  

O.K. How about Tambourine Mountain? Bingo!

Happy to set up camp for our final stay.

Camp complete with Kookaburra's being harassed by Noisy Miners.

Excellent! Nice bush setting. Fires allowed. Not crowded. Can do some walks (Dez very happy about that?). Some lazy time round the pool.  Aahhhh! 

No one else there all afternoon but me. 

Day two. Nice little walk down to Cedar Creek Falls. Very nice except for all the rubbish left behind. Absolutely disgusting. Dez picked all this up, and could have got more if we had a bag! In all our travels we have not seen this. Very disappointing.

Cedar Creek Falls.

Next stop the Skywalk. This was great. Walk up in the tree tops, and down in the understory. Very peaceful. 

The Skywalk.

Looking down!

Lots of lush rainforest.

Very illusive butterflies - but I gotcha!

Then on to the village to the cheese factory for some goodies, and a decadent ice cream. mmmmmmm!

All three nights by the camp fire.

Off we go again...destination....Victoria Point for family cuddles......yeah:) 

Alice Springs and beyond...

OAlice Springs for a couple of nights to do the shockies, and anything else that didn't survive the drive.

All done and dusted in a morning. No other casualties. All wine glasses, wine bottles and eggs intact.

So while Dez had a bit of R & R, I headed to town for a wander.  Only the second time we haven't been joined at the hip. Bit strange.

The Todd River. Pretty much dry all the time. The water actually flows underneath!

The Mall! Yes, Alice has a Mall! But don't get too excited. Tried to get a coffee on Friday afternoon from a cafe at 2.30 pm and they were closing!!!

No afternoon coffee :( lucky I found another one still open :)

They got the  PO-leeeece everywhere! They get to ride their dirt bikes through the Mall!

Adelaide House. First Outback Hospital.

A look around the Flying Doctor Centre. Very interesting.

How 'bout that. The medical kit from 1958. What a great year!

Not a great photo, but it shows how the telegraph equipment was run by peddling.

Communications room in the early days.

Also had a look around the shops and did a bit of Bevy shopping for my birthday :)

Spoilt morning! My very favourite brekky. Pancakes, maple syrup, bacon and a black brew. Yum Yum. Dez even did the washing up :)

Hit the road for a big big driving day, once Dez did some fine manoeuvring out of the camp spot. With excellent guidance from Verity and moi !

We have already "done" this drive, so only a couple of points of interest to show, not previously blogged.  

Well there is the Big Pineapple, the Big Banana, the Big Prawn, the Big Mower, but at Aileron Roadhouse they have......the BIG ABORIGINIES,

Complete with the accompanying Big Goanna!

A stop much anticipated was the Devil's Marbles. Mind boggling and spectacular!

Big day - 680 klm - and ended up at Barkley Homestead, on the Barkley Highway, heading east.

Set up on yet another lovely patch of dirt, and headed into the Roadhouse for my birthday dinner. Staffed by more foreign backpackers with no customer service skills! At least the steaks were great. And you will all be pleased to know Dezziz rare steak was just that!  Whew!

On the road again. We have got packing up and down to a fine art. First photo opportunity of the day........Welcome to Queensland. Thank you N.T.  for the amazing waterfalls, gorges, plunge pools, birdlife, swimming springs, breathtaking landscape and brilliant roads ( well the bitumen ones) ! It has been an adventure. No thanks for the flies and the Apollo and Britz driving foreigners.

Who needs a tripod, when you've got the car bonnet?!?!

A typical lovely picnic spot. One of the many, many we have used!

Red, red dirt as far as the eye can see.

A sign said Cattle Crossing. We have seen that sign so so many times, but this time it was right. Caught in the middle of a muster. It was great! And a cowgirl!

Brekky in Camooweal, refuel in Mt. Isa, and decided to head down the Diamintina Developmental Road. And it certainly needs some developing!  

You don't see that everyday? In the middle of nowhere seems to be the place to get rid of your old bike?!?!

About 70 klm's out of Mt. Isa we could see a massive cloud on the horizon. Haze? Brushfire? Getting closer.....Dust Storm!

The land is so incredibly flat and dry, and the wind so strong, that's what you get. So we drove to Boulia for two hours battling strong winds and the dust storm. It was an adventure for sure.  

Sunset through the dust. 

Arrived at 6.00 pm and the wind was howling. No way we could raise the camper, so had a night of luxury at the local Motel! Our own bathroom, T.V. Big bed, lounge, everything! Felt like the Sheraton ha ha!

Have never appreciated good old fashioned country service sooooo much!

Next leg, Boulia to Winton - 360 klm. A fabulous outback drive. Lots of super flat country which is spectacular in its own way.

We even had five minutes of rain.

It was quite a novelty.

Then out of nowhere the most amazing hills, or, jump ups, as they are called.

Dezzi lovin' it!

Stopped for a "wee" break at this roadside rest area. It was hilarious. It had a fence and a turnstile. Go figure?

Halfway along and came to Middleton ( fancy it being called that), and the Middleton Pub. WOW, You wanted the epitome of the outback pub, and this is finally it. We almost didn't stop, but needed a break. So so glad we did. After all this time, we found old mate Lester and the Mrs. True Blue Auzzies! A great steak sanga, a cup of black instant, and a beer, topped off with plenty of yarns, we loved it!  Lester was a treat in his t-shirt and stubby shorts, minus his top teeth, and the Mrs was just as typical outback.  Not a backpacker within cooeeeee :)

Lester debating with Dez if it was gunna rain. The verdict? Nah!

Dez loves these bumps of grass.

Overnight in Winton. Ten bucks to camp behind the pub. But not "our" pub.  Across the road to Tatts that we loved last time.  Another great publican and great food. Also caught up with the Collins family who showed us around at the start of the trip. A very jolly night.

The Collinses - Graham, Brendan, Rhianna and Janelle. Salt of the earth, great people.

Hit the road Jack! Picnic lunch at Barcaldine to look at The Tree of Knowledge. Loads of birdlife here.

These parrots were so sweet. All smoochy!

Couple of galahs keeping a sharp eye on our lunch.

For all you Labor Party faithfuls,  there it is!

Overnight at a freecamp at Tambo. The best freecamp yet. Set back 500 metres from the road on the banks of, albeit, a dry river. It was soooooooo peaceful. And more wildlife than any of the National Parks.

You can just make out Dezzi with his trusty fly swat. He would have been lost without this the whole trip.

Pretty!!

Wallabies.

Kangaroos.

And at least three possums, two of which had  babies on their backs!  So cute. We only fed them celery and corn cobs. Two of them had a fight for supremacy at my feet!!!

And plenty of birds, too.

Next morning, coffee pick up from......

Dodged the emu crossing the road, who didn't know which way he wanted to go ha ha!

To the right.

No, no, to the left.

Next night back to Charleville, which was our first main stopover at the start of the trip. Didn't get to go to the Cosmos Centre last time, because it clouded over. Not tonight! It was great. No photos obviously. We were looking through a telescope. 

Had a look at Venus. Which we found out is that bright evening star.  M6, which is a globular cluster, and can't be seen without a telescope. Very pretty. Tucana 47, which is another globular cluster and consists of 100,000-120,000 stars. Very, very pretty. And because the moon was almost full, we looked at it. Fantastic to see it so clear, and all the craters. A great night.

Brekky and coffee fix at Fat Freddy's - the best take away anywhere. 

Checked the Road Atlas for a destination, and decided on St. George via Cunamulla. About a 420klm day. Not much to report but plenty of wild goats and crazy emus.

Well......until a typical Queensland storm decided to develop! 

Quick check of the free camps book for an overnight stay. Nindigully Pub looked good!  Got there the same time as the rain, like everyone else. What else to do but have beers and dinner 'till the rain passed.

Pouring rain...haven't seen that for a while. What a novelty.

What a great pub. The second true blue Auzzie pub in a week. Everyone was in high spirits because of the fun of the downpour. The wind and rain finally let up, and we could raise the roof on the Eagle and get some sleep. We woke to beautiful blue skies. This would be in the top three of free camps! 

Morning view. The free camp is HUGE! We had a sleep in, so almost everyone was gone. Except the mob of 5 vans from Caboolture ! 

Great pub.

On the banks of the Moonie River. 

Looks good now, but it was mud puddle city last night!

The bar.

Thumbs up.  On the road again. Another check of the Road Atlas and decided on Moogerah Dam via Goondiwndi for our last few days!  Hopefully do some fishing and catch some yabbies. They both have been elusive all trip :(

It has been quite a week, and we have covered a lot of road and seen some country. Fantastic!