Christmas in the Desert

Things couldn't be more different.... Our last Christmas was in a city of just under 20 million and in almost freezing condition. Today, we are in an Australian outback town with under 20 people and 40 degrees heat.

With the day off, we decided to visit the Cullyamurra Waterhole where one could find ancient aboriginal rock carvings. Having made friends with the local rangers and getting their consent and directions, we started early on Christmas morning, 5am! With CB rally driving skill, the drive out to the waterhole was short and speedy. It was then on foot along the creek to get to The Choke, the narrow part of the river. This is where our search began. 5 pairs of eyes started looking around for the carvings. After several minutes, our driver found the area. We saw rocks with engravings, which wasn't obvious at first but realised that they were all over the rocks around.

After our morning adventure, it was pancakes for breakfast, thanks to EG, our resident chef. An hour nap later, it was Christmas lunch, followed by mini putt-putt and finally karaoke. With an open bar, it was a wonder everyone lasted till 7pm.

 Although we were not with our families on this day, we still had a good Christmas, especially with the opportunity to see the ancient rock carvings up close.

Oversize

After a couple of weeks of not having the same day off, we were finally rostered together for the day. We went for a drive looking for M, who we met at the pub and had agreed to let me have a go at driving the grader.

The grader is a big machine, relative to my size. It is used to smoothen the corrugated dirt roads. After a 5 second briefing on how to operate the machine, I was off. There is not much to it. Just remember where the brake pedal and the accelerator are, keep the vehicle in a straight line and that the dirt is shoveled. While it was fun driving for a short period, I don't fancy being in there going at 10km/hr, having to grade 30km.

Wills and King

On our day off, we took a drive to a couple of local attractions. First stop was King's Marker. This is the place where they found John King, the sole survivor of the four men from the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition who reached the Gulf of Carpentaria. The expedition was the first to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from the settled areas of Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria. King survived with the help of the Aboriginals.

About 7km away, we visited Wills Grave. William John Wills was an English surveyor who also trained for a while as a surgeon. He was the second-in-command of the Burke and Wills expedition. He died alone after he was too weak to continue with Burke and King.

Dust Dust Dust

We experienced our first dust storm today. The morning started off really hot. Then the wind hit and started gusting by mid-morning. At times, visibility was no more than a few meters but that could be an illusion on my part when I could hardly keep my eyes opened! Having to run in and out in my housekeeping duty, I was handed a pair of eyewear and disposable mask. One would think I was handling hazardous linens!

Storm approaching

TJ meanwhile, had the task of unloading the delivery. I was told he had to take cover behind the forklift when a big windy gust blew up the dust.

TJ securing the door

The day ended with a sprinkle of rain, just enough to stain and smear everything red! Gotta work to earn my keeps, I guess.

Coongie Lake

On our day off, we went to Coongie Lake, about 2 hour drive from the hotel. Coongie Lake is part of a freshwater wetland system in north-eastern South Australia, which includes lakes, channels, billabongs, shallow floodplains, deltas, and interdune swamps.

It was my first time doing 4wd driving including going over sandy dunes. The lake is shallow, up to just a bit over the ankle. We saw a wild pig in the distance and loads of ducks, pelicans and birds.  There were plenty of mussels in the muddy ground, which we were told are edible. To date, we have yet to try it.

The Roster

Unlike our previous jobs, we get assigned various areas and jobs here, hence our title, 'All-rounder.' The roster is set weekly where we get the schedule of our assigned  jobs and time. We have been on housekeeping, "dixie-bashing", as TJ calls it, bar, breakfast and outdoor yard.

 I now have a new-found skill, folding hospital corner when making the bed.

Local Watering Hole

The Cooper Creek is the river that supplies the water to the area. There are a few local spots along the river and after 6 days of work, we hit one of the spots called Ski Beach. Don't let the name fool you as its far from a beach.

The cool water feels great on a hot day. Met some work mates who had a couple of kayaks and a rubber tube. Brought back memories when I was young holidaying in Port Dickson, where our family went almost each school holidays. You see locals renting out rubber tubes.

There were also a group from the Innamincka Station on jet ski doing tubing. The cattle station owns majority of the land in Innamincka.

We are 'Innaminckans'

According to our resident chef, we are calling ourselves 'Innaminckans'.

When we told people we are going to Innamincka, most commented - where? Good question. To make it easier, this is the extract from Wikipedia - 'Innamincka is a tiny settlement in north-east South Australia. It is 1065 km northeast ofAdelaide and 459 km from Lyndhurst up the Strzelecki Track. It is situated on the banks ofCooper Creek in the state's Channel Country, and surrounded by the Strzelecki, Tirari and Sturt Stony Deserts. It is situated within Innamincka Regional Reserve.'

The town

The hotel/pub and the general store

Running in the Desert

Finished work at 3 and had too much adrenalin to rest. Decided to try running since it has been more than a month since I ran. It was hot and I lasted only half hour. It was enough to get to the air strip and back. Stopped to take a breather at the top of the dirt road and captured the entire town of Innamincka.

Humble Abode

Having arrived at the hotel, we moved into our "home" while we are here. Its my first time in a demountable home as they called it. I called it shipping container homes. While it might not look like a proper home, it is. Has two rooms on each end with the living space and bathroom/toilet in the centre. Fortunately, we are not sharing with anyone for now.

We are slowly settling in and catching up with TV shows and news now that we have internet. Hope to sort out our camper trailer's park and cover it on Sunday, our first day off.

The Wave

At stadiums, we get the Mexican wave. The Queen has her signature wave. On country roads, we have the driver wave. Yes, you practically get a wave each time you see an oncoming vehicle or one passing. This only happens on country roads as I cannot imagine drivers waving at each other in the city. If so, I would suggest a career as a physiotherapist.

As we travel further and further away, we saw less and less traffic. We saw only 2 cars during an hour and a half drive. We also amused ourselves with tracking the distance of a straight road. The longest straight road we drove on today was about 18km. Eighteen kilometers of straight long road, no turns nor bends. That's the Outback.

Where the Frogs Live

After packing up at Noccundra, we drove to the town (of one building) to use the toilet. It is definitely not the best I have seen. Heard a flush from the gents next door and a yell. It was TJ yelling out that 3 frogs had jumped out from the toilet. He later found frogs living in the toilet cistern system. Where else could a frog get water in the desert?

Camp at Wilson River in Noccundra

Telstra?

The biggest telco in Australia is also the most expensive and unpopular among city folks. It is however, the best provider if you are in remote Australia. Since we left Brisbane, I have had coverage in almost all areas as opposed to TJ's Vodafone, where the last coverage was in Dalby, 2 days ago! Word of advice, if you plan to travel regional Australia, get Telstra.

Mining Money

We were surprised by the good condition of the Innamincka Road. There is basically nothing for over hundred kms except gas and oil fields and plants. You might get a few large pastorals. We were wondering if the road and power lines would be built here if not for the oil and gas.

Mining is huge here, just like in other remote parts of Australia. We realised how big an operation it can be to move from one mine to another. As we drove towards Dig Tree, we came across a convoy of miners moving on to another site. It was a convoy of about 50 vehicles including road trains, trucks and utes towing caravans and mobile homes. It was quite a sight watching a long line of vehicles kicking up dust as they run along the dusty dirt road.

Flies and Mozzies

We finally hit the Outback area. You can tell when you see plenty of nothing. There are large farms/stations with unfenced cattle and other livestock roaming about including emus.

We set up at the Wilson River Camp, a free area in Noccundra. TJ felt obliged to get a couple of four Xs from the hotel, which is the only building in town. We were greeted by army of flies. Fortunately we brought our fly/mozzie net, which fits over our hat. Bought those in US for our trip there but never had to use it. The flies were replaced by mozzies come night. We escaped into the comfort of our Podd. Now I get why the grey nomads settle into camp early and finish dinner before sunset. As per TJ, we follow daylight time.

Burke and Wills

We arrived at Dig Tree around lunch. It was the earliest we have ever stopped to set up camp. There is a fee of $11, which goes to the Burke and Wills Historical Society. The two men were European explorers seeking to find a route from Melbourne to Gulf of Carpentaria. Due to the ruggedness of the area and series of errors and confusions among the expedition parties, the men died of vitamin deficiency and exhaustion. Both were buried at Cooper Creek near the Dig Tree, which was their camp 65.

The tree where the party had their supply, camp 65

We set up camp here for the next two nights before we head into Innamincka to start our next 6 months of work at the hotel.

Double "R"

We left the bigger towns towards St George. The road had much less traffic than the coast. This is where we started seeing road kills and road trains, the double "R". It is sad to see the number of dead kangaroos and wallabies. Some were right in the middle of the road, which many vehicles cannot avoid going over.

Road trains were also common along this route. There are signs warning drivers of road trains over 36m and further out over 53m long. We had our first experience when a rock from one of these monsters hit our windshield, resulting in a chip and crack. Luckily its smaller than a $1 coin, which I was told should be fine. We will have to get it repaired when we are next back in Sydney. Thank god we took out the windscreen insurance cover.

We settled into a free camp area in Bollon, which has water. Made use of this and the early time we stopped by washing some clothes. I learned that we should wear running or hiking clothing as they are easier to wash and drip dry. Absolutely no jeans or cotton tees.

Its steak dinner tonight with potatoes and broccoli prepared by TJ. A family of 3 ducks are keeping a close eye on us the whole time.

Leaving the City

With the list of defects we wanted fixed more than what we thought earlier, we got the Podd back at 3.30pm. Thanks to the after-sales service at Conqueror Australia. We headed out West towards Toowoomba. Found a free camp spot at Bowenville Reserve. We arrived later than usual as we did not have to prepare dinner. We had our lunch for dinner as we had lunch in Brissie with a good friend, T.

Defects

It rained on our second night at Mt French National Park. We found the carpet on one side of the door a bit wet. However, we could not identify the leak. Also found a few issues with the door step scraping the side when pulled up and had a loose bolt on the door which caused the lock to slip. Hope all these defects can be fixed tomorrow at the distributor.

Camping at Mt French NP is free as there are no facilities except for toilets. We had our first shower under the stars. Since there are no other campers around, we forgo setting the shower screen.

It rained almost all night. We woke up to grey skies but no rain. Took us a while to get everything organised and packed. We have yet to master taking down the kitchen awning. Given a choice, we would not set it up for just one night.

We left after 8am. At Boonah, we were stopped by the traffic control guy who told us one of the doors was opened. It was the same door with the loose bolt. The 2nd lock has also loosen. We had to secure the door from inside for the rest of the 40 minutes drive to Brisbane. Fortunately, we found this problem before it was too late.

Unfamiliar Territory

12 October 2014 is the day we started the next chapter of our lives. Having had jobs and financial security almost all our lives, we are off in our camper trailer to explore Australia and hopefully get work along the way to finance the trip. Our first job will be at The Innamincka Hotel.

We left Sydney at 9.30am after a lovely breakfast of bacon, eggs and pancakes cooked by my sis-in-law. We both like to thank S, L and M for their hospitality during our 3 months stay at their home. It would have been extremely difficult for us to prepare and embark on our journey without their help.

It was a 6 hour drive to Point Plomer, near Port Macquarie, including a short ferry ride. We did not expect the ferry crossing nor the 5km of rough and sandy tracks. Once again, we took the hard way in! We had to let some air out of the tyres due to the soft sandy track. Our first challenge and the Landy did the job again. Credit goes to the driver as well.

Point Plomer Campground

Point Plomer Beach

We arrived at the campground right next to the beach and set up the Podd. We would have preferred not to pay the $20 but had no other option. At least its next to the beach and has toilets/showers. No hot water, though.

Walked on the beach after chicken stir fry dinner. Learned how to cook rice on stove. My first attempt wasn't a complete failure but could be better and quicker. Might increase the heat and get it boiling quicker. On the beach, we found loads of blue bottles washed up the shore due to the strong windy condition. Anyone in the water today would definitely get stung.

Its now 8.45pm and time for bed. Rising bright and early tomorrow.