The final few weeks....

While staying at Gisborne we helped with the renovation of a rental property. Brandt painted the interior walls. I helped a little in the gardens.
One weekend we met up with Grey nomad friends at St Kilda beach. We used the garmin (GPS) to direct us. One problem was that it was difficult to know which turn off to take at a spaghetti junction. I know that on the way home we took a wrong turn, but got there in the end.
It was the first fine day for a while and lots of people seemed to have decided to visit the beach too.


We made another day trip to Greens Lake and said our good byes to the nomads there.


Then on Thursday 28th November we flew back to NZ


We will be here in NZ until sometime in April, when we will return to Melbourne ready for another 6 or 7 months of travelling around.
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Some birds at Gisborne

The bird life round here is amazing. Our hosts buy "wild bird seed mix" and feed some to, in particular, the king parrots. I have learnt their chirp when they come and ask for feed. In fact they are fairly tame. I have a video of one on David's arm and trying to eat the seed mix directly out of the container.


The crimson Rosella also likes the bird mix and often appears on the back porch rails too.





One day Brandt and I were here on our own. I heard the king parrot asking for food, so gave it some.


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Greens Lake revisited

After 7 weeks in Port Augusta we were finally able to get on the road again. We now had a new motor under the bonnet and the automatic transmission had been serviced.
First night we stayed in a small caravan park in Morgan, second night in Euston. Both are on the banks of the Murray River.
Monday 4th November we arrived to free camp at Greens Lake. The lake is fuller this year than it was last year. The grass has been mown regularly. So the place looked lovely.


Now we know that some of us live as cheaply as we can, but going through the rubbish??


Tuesday was Melbourne Cup day. So of course the ladies had to wear beautiful creations on their head.


We were planning to leave on Wednesday, but one grey nomad said, "you can't leave yet. We haven't had our pav or the rest of your menu"
We obliged, staying another night. I made a pav and Brandt made a camp oven casserole and a trifle.
Once again it was a good gathering at Greens Lake.


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Another week or two in Port Augusta

We have joined in to some of the activities in the Anglican hall.
Last Tuesday (and again this Tuesday) I played table tennis. I suffered with my knee aching for almost 24 hours last week, but no such after effects this week.
On Wednesday afternoon I enjoyed playing beetles, a game I hadn't played for years. Brandt busied himself clearing around the church grounds.


As we have travelled round we have noticed many many people have their pets with them. There have been birds and cats but mostly dogs. A week or so ago a couple came into the caravan park and they had two teacup poodles. These dogs are 14 years old and both are slightly deaf. The owners have set up a dog flap (in the wall of the slide-out), a ramp covered with artificial turf and a safe enclosure under the front of the fifth wheeler. They can go away knowing the dogs are contained and that they are safe.





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Filling in time

While in Port Augusta we were visited by three members of The Grey Nomads forum.
Brandt regularly made date scones and pikelets, which were shared amongst fellow campers. We even bought a can of instant whipped cream, made by Tatua dairy co-op Morrinsville NZ. We bought it specifically to go on the pikelets. Trouble was, the flies thought the jam knife was just for them.


Just like when you bring out the fly swat, the flies disappeared when I brought out the camera.

Brian and Cheryl paid us a second visit, having changed their minds as to the route they would take from the Flinders ranges to Broken Hill. This time we remembered to play Mexican Trains with them. Sadly I didn't win a game (sob, sob), but it was still fun.
A couple of days after they left for Broken Hill, we received this from Molly

Greyhound Races

Neither Brandt nor I had ever been to a greyhound race meet. The walk to the shops takes us past one such venue. The date of the next meet was September 28. As we were still here we decided we should go along and take a look (free admission also encouraged us).


While waiting for the second race (we missed the first one), I took photos of the starting cages from the front


and the back


The dogs are put into their allotted starting cage


And the "fox" is ready to be chased


And here they come








We found it an interesting exercise, staying to watch three races before going on to do a small amount of shopping
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Port Augusta

Brian and Cheryl (grey nomad friends) also stayed in Port Augusta for a couple of days. While Brian and Brandt worked on the caravan's power supply Cheryl took me to the local Botanical gardens.


The Flinders Ranges are in the background.


I think this is called a fan flower (above and below)


And then there is my all time favourite Australian wild flower


The Sturt Desert Pea. It makes a beautiful showing


While walking back to the car we came across a shingle back lizard walking across our path. It is also known as a sleepy lizard and is one of the blue tongues


The above photo is a copy from the internet, but the one below is one I captured on my mobile phone as we walked back from town one day.


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Alice Springs to Port Augusta

We left Alice Springs and continued South on the Stuart Highway.
We stayed that night at the border. First thing I noticed was that there was actually a big sign welcoming us to South Australia.




As I walked back to the caravan I noticed a line (left to right) across the roadway, clearly showing where Northern Territory ended and South Australia began.




Also the parking lanes were well defined, so next morning it was easy to leave the free camp and get back on the road.




Another thing we couldn't help but notice when we arrived was the number of flies intent on settling on our face, up our nose, in our ears. No wonder the only people sitting outside we're those wearing nets. At this stage we did not have any so we sat in our van until after dark.
Next morning we set off once more. Oh no! It was not long before we heard a weird noise coming from the motor. Pulled over to the side of the road, Brandt looked under the bonnet and I heard him say, "it's not good".
Slowly we made our way to a roadhouse at Marla. At least there we could hook up to power and get mobile phone coverage.
To cut a long story short RACQ (the equivalent of AA in NZ) paid for us to be trucked to Port Augusta 774 km South, where there may be someone who could help us.








So instead of spending a night in Coober Pedy, we stayed there long enough to have lunch.
Luckily we intend to visit there properly next year.
So here we are at Port Augusta. The flies are bad here too so, even though I was given some netting to make my own, I went and bought two fly nets



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Alice Springs

We used the five nights in Alice Springs as a recovery time. Brandt had the 12volt batteries tested. This confirmed his diagnoses that they had "died".
We purchased a new pair (for less than we were expecting), and Brandt duly set about installing them. Horrors!! Sparks flew - there was a direct short to earth somewhere in the wiring. This occurred on Friday, and he, plus a friendly and helpful neighbour, tried in vain to find the short. The services of an auto-electrician were called in. He was only able to confirm the diagnoses of the "amateurs". So it was off to Bunnings to stock up on AA and AAA batteries. I also found a cheap LED lantern there too.

The new batteries were a smaller size than the originals so a bit of Kiwi ingenuity was called for:


Wood etc was scrounged and after a short while the batteries were once again snug and fitting in their possy.


So with minds finally off the power supply the clean up began, inside and out.


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Halls creek to Alice Springs

First night out of Halls Creek stopped at a roadside spot just before the turnoff to Kirkimbie Station, the furthest station from Halls Creek on my mobile kindergarten run in 1976.
Brandt set about setting up and I went inside to put the billy on......no power!! No fuses blown. We had set up the caravan for this kind of camping. - not even the solar panels showed any sign of life. Oh dear. The batteries appear to have died! So it was out with the torches and luckily we had water in containers as we couldn't access the caravan tank water.
Second night at Top Springs we plugged in to power and water so were able to shower there.
Our route took us via Duncan Highway, Buntine Highway, and Buchanan Highway to the Stuart Highway.

We passed the Devils Marbles (and took heaps of photos)












We stayed that night at Ti Tree where we were visited by a peacock and his harem of peahens









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Halls Creek

I wasn't expecting Halls Creek to be the same as it was when I left in early 1977, but I was still amazed at how much it has changed. Of course there is no one still there that I knew. The kindergarten that was purpose built and opened on 1974, is now Centrelink and my flat has been completely removed. However the two boab trees I planted are still alive and well. The following photo only shows one of them.




So with the town so different it was time to go to our recreational sites. Caroline Pool - I am sure there used to be much much more water, but the wet seasons have not been as wet for the last few years.




Palm Springs looked a little over grown - but there was still water there and a spring was bubbling out through the bank.








Then on to Sawpitt, another disappointment water wise. But still beautiful.








Old Halls Creek is also not the place it used to be. The ruins have been protected by an "over building". We used to be able to walk through the ruins. I realize that if nothing had been done all would have been lost. But it just didn't have the charm I remember.




China Wall has not changed apart from the fact that there is no water at the base - another swimming hole that's gone.








Next day we drove the 145 km to Wolfe Creek Crater.








There just happened to be a "track" heading down the slope. The temptation was too great. He just had to go down and walk to the centre, taste the white stuff, and confirm that it is indeed salt.