The Final Wave - From the Coast to the Desert and Home

May 2013

 

Coolum Beach

 

Just down the road from Noosa is this great spot Coolum Beach with a beachfront caravan park. It was just what we needed for our farewell to the Pacific Ocean and a final swim and surf before returning to an Adelaide winter.

Riley's little surfboard turned out to be one of our best investments and is a pursuit we are sure he will enjoy for life.

With an average age of 65, this crew of early-morning surf swimmers were inspirational.

Last beach play - our little Archie went away a baby and has come back a boy. Let's hope he has some memories of his great adventure. We are sure it has at least helped shape the fella he will become.

The Final Wave - no more beach for us until the next Adelaide summer. Boo hoo.

Spending a night with our good friends Mark and Jenny Luft at their lovely Brisbane home was like staying in a resort. Our last luxury before the run home through grazing land and desert on route to Innamincka in the north-east corner of SA.

In a rare move, we drove well into the night to get some kms under our belt and decided to get a motel room at Goondiwindi in southern Queensland. We were suprised to see the `no vacancy' signs up at every motel until we snared the last room in town and were told we had arrived on the eve of their biggest event of the year - the Goondiwindi Show.

Well, we could hardly leave without taking the kids to a true-blue Aussie country show, so off we went to pat pigs and goats, watch some amazing cowboys and sheepdogs in action and eat country-baked scones. It was beaut!

The cowgirls were no slouches on horseback either.

One of the highlights of Riley's entire trip was when he won this camel ride as part of a pig-naming and pig-racing event.

The last of the campfires - pretty sad for the mushy marshmallow masters.

So near, yet so far. After a pretty good run on some of the roughest roads in the country (not even a single blown tyre), we finally came unstuck on an Outback road near Innamincka losing our rear window to a rogue rock that ricocheted off our trailer. There was nothing we could do but lament the copious amount of dust that coated our clothes tubs until we hit the bitumen four days later.

But the kids didn't care one bit if their clothes were dusty because.......WE'RE COMING HOME. The excitement about seeing family and friends again reached fever pitch as we crossed the border.

But, we had one last mission and that was to explore some of the unique and beautiful country around the Cooper Creek - and to visit the graves and Dig Tree associated with Burke and Wills' tragic expedition in 1860. Riley was particularly touched by their brave but unlucky endeavour shedding a few sympathetic tears.

But the discovery of a rope swing over the Cooper Creek soon had them shrieking with laughter again.

Until Riley flung off a thong that proceeded to drift into the middle of the river. So, it was dad to the rescue with an unplanned (but not unpleasant) swim to retrieve the favoured footwear. Lucky it was about 30C. 

It was quite an idyllic camp beside the sandy-banked, gum-lined Cooper in beautiful weather with abundant birdlife. We must go back - any takers??

 Some scenes of the Cooper Creek, which has had some healthy flows from the Queensland channel country.



Rowdy Moments

The Good: The fab memories of an amazing year-long adventure, and the thought of going to bed in our own home with no fewer than three doors separating us from our children.

The Bad: The realisation that our journey is ending and that we will soon have to work like everybody else.

The Ugly: Our beautiful?? daughter transformed into a Vampire as she loses one of the biggies. A fitting end to her GAP year, ha ha!

 

 

The Last Great Drive - the Strzelecki Track

 

The wide, dusty road from the top of SA to the start of the Flinders Ranges spreads before us.



But we had to share. Gee, how fortunate we are to have no rear windscreen - the dust will hardly get into anything at all!!

The last time Leanne will wear khaki, for a long time, or wield a compass (to ensure optimal shade for the outdoor kitchen).

Oh, that's right. There aren't any bloomin' trees out here anyway.

To most people this would appear to be a stock standard floodwater and access tunnel beneath the defunct Old Ghan Railway......but to a special group of 14 souls, this was the gateway to the open-air dancefloor beneath a billion stars at the Doof in the Desert music festival - to mark the Solar Eclipse in 2002. We had to go back for a quick squizz.

Riley-proof fence.

 As sunset approached, we came accross the Dog Fence, just North of Lyndhurst. We turned off the dusty main drag and followed it for a few kilometres until we came across a little rise. A great expanse of gibber plain stretched for miles around us in every direction. It seemed a fitting end to be camped in the middle of nowhere beneath a billion stars - just us and this great continent of ours.

The End.........well, almost. 

 

A Baptism of Fire.....Welcome Home Craigies!!

 

This was the view that greeted us at the top of our driveway as we arrived home to bushfires in Cherryville on May 9, 2013.

 

And, it was quite a big one.



Very nice of the locals to put on such a spectacular home coming for us.

 

Water bombers to the rescue the next day.

 Fortunately, no real impact on us. We'll just call it one last wild adventure on the Rowdy Roadtrip.




The End.