Precious little gifts!

I mentioned at the start of this blog that our original plans were to head north west first and then head south to Perth as the weather warmed up.

The reason for our anti-clockwise direction on the half lap was upon us before we knew it.  Jen and I jumped on a plane from Adelaide to Brisbane for the christening of our oldest friend's three precious bubba's.   I was given the honour of being godfather to one of the triplets, their only son, Damon.  My biceps weren't feeling so lucky after holding the big boy for the beautiful hour long ceremony! ;-)

The Greek orthodox church in Brisbane is an impressive house of worship - no matter what your faith is.  The artwork is amazing!

The christenting happens in the order of which the babies were born.  The girls, Zoe and Ruby were first.

Then it was the big boys turn.

Mum and Dad bookend the God Parents.

One of the best things about any Greek celebration is the food!

Everything in triplicate - even the cakes!

This little one is going to be trouble - Ruby "the party girl" had energy to burn at the end of the day without taking a nap.

Jen and I with Damon.

More to come.....

Nana comes to visit!

Adelaide was the next stop on our 1/2 lap of Oz and the place the kids had been counting down to for a couple of weeks.  A few times a day I would get a reminder - "Dad, Nan gets here in X days". It seemed the kids were more interested in catching up with Nan than spending time with Mum and Dad.

We made a quick pitstop to the Adelaide shores Big 4 to drop of Nan's luggage before ducking up into the Adelaide hills to visit the little german hamlet of Hahndorf.  This place is dangerous if you're watching your weight, damn theres is some amazing food on offer.

Everyone having a laugh at Nana's ear muffs!

The kids tucking into their chocolate coated strawberries for afternoon tea.

Our choice for afternoon tea.

The moment before we got a word in while the girls tried there hand at gobstoppers. 

This is the view at sunset, 20 metres from our site at the Van park.

We couldn't go to the Adelaide without visiting the Zoo,  I would've been happy to watch the Panda's for hours.

The king.

The city of churches.

The kids had a ball wandering through the Zoo with Nan.

More to come.....

Flinders Ranges and Merna Mora station.

On the way down to Port Augusta from Coober Pedy we pulled in to grab lunch at a roadhouse in a little place called Pimba.  We were surprised when we opened the door to be greeted with about 30 of South Australia's finest.  This place had more police than Alice - turns out about 400 officers were setting up camp in the area to welcome the protesters who were on their way to the Uranium mine.

After an overnight stop in Port Augusta we made our way into the Flinders Ranges to a property named Merna Mora Station.  Great spot to kill a few days.  Just as we finished setting up our digs the owner came over to let us know there wasn't a bad sunset happening if we wanted to have a look.  Seth and I wandered up to the airstrip to be greeted by one of the best sunset views i have ever seen - breathtaking.

This is the bad sunset pic - I got a cracker of a pano which is going on my wall when we get home. 

Million star view

The next day we went for a wander through the Flinders Ranges national park, it didn't disappoint, another picture perfect location.

The kids freezing off their proverbials at the spur lookout.

On the last day of our stay we joined another family for a drive on one of the station's many self guided 4wd tracks.  What a great drive with magic views from Lake Torrens in the west to Wilpena Pound in the east.

One of the steep descents that Jen enjoyed immensely ;-)

Jen adding her rock to the cairn at the highest point on the Wowee track.

                 

Some of the locals.

A bush apricot tree.

We met some great people at Merna Mora station, the Yeo families and their friends from Newcastle.  They invited us to join them for dinner on our last night at the Parachilna hotel.  What a pub!  The food is as good as you'll get anywhere and I'd highly recommend the Feral mixed grill.  Camel sausage, Emu fillet mignon and Kangaroo eye fillet...nom nom!

More to come.....

Gremlins and Detours!

You know what they say about best laid plans - the rain caught us on our second night on the Oodnadatta track.  Jen and I noticed a few cars coming from the south in to Coward Springs the same afternoon that were covered in mud.  I didn't grab a pic but i don't think I've ever seen cars with that much mud on them - it was THICK,  4 or 5 inches thick and it was everywhere.  Jen wasn't to keen on going that way for a look and upon hearing of a couple of road trains had been bogged further south I got THAT look.  After having a yarn with a couple of guys that came in the day before we thought it'd be wiser to back track a little rather than cutting up the track unnecessarily.  That was our first detour - a  snappy 1074km's as opposed to 275km's to get into the Flinders ranges, good thing we're on holidays and don't have a deadline!

And now for the gremlins.....

A lucky escape on the Painted Desert road...I noticed the shovel had vibrated loose on the corrugations and got it just before it ran away!

A rock took out the electric brakes on the van - quick and easy fix.

After fixing the brakes I wandered in to grab a drink and sit down only to find out we didn't have any power - no worries, check fuses....all good, battery terminals....fine, battery levels....plenty of charge.  Now I'm running out of ideas until i think to pull out the setec fuse box to check all of the wires and sure enough the corrugations had vibrated some of the connections loose.  Push and click....we have power!

A stone managed to dodge my flash shade cloth stone guard under the van to take out one of the drainage pipe.

Our detour saw us backtrack to Coober Pedy via William Creek.  All of the brochures i had seen for this little town described it as unique - that's one word for it.  The kids were amazed to see the dugouts that people live in.

This thing is parked out the front of a local business....it had nothing to do with the accommodation house, i just think the bloke wanted his own Millennium Falcon!

The kids having a go at "noodling"....looking for opals.

A fun pose while in an underground opal mine ;-)

Coober Pedy turned on an awesome sunrise for our departure.

Another first for us - having to pay for water.  It's pretty dry out this way and they had a filling station at the caravan park - 20 cents for 40 litres of H2O...not bad value, if only fuel was this cheap.  You also had to take a couple of twenty cent pieces with you when you went for your coin operated shower...kids loved it!

More to come......

Oodnadatta track

The next leg of our lil half lap saw us crossing the border into South Australia and making our way down the Oodnadatta track.  I've been keen to drive this bit of dirt for a few years now and wasn't disappointed.  The scenery out here is amazing.

Airing down at the start of the Painted Desert road.

The road through Arkaringa station.

The Painted Desert.

The famous pink roadhouse at Oodnadatta.

A pic of a section of the old Ghan rail line at Algebuckina.  

The campsite for our first night on the Ood.

The kids hamming it up.

On the road.

The happy travellers!

A quick stop to grab up some firewood for the night.

The bar at the William Creek Hotel - love the pubs out here!

A Lot Burger from William Ck.

After William Creek we continued south on the track to Coward Springs for the night and decided to chuck a roast in the weber before heading down to the springs for a dip.

Coward Springs.

Nothing like coming back to camp and having dinner cooked.

More to come.......