This is where the wheels fell off - almost literally!

Ok, we set off from Daly Waters, heading for a little place called Longreach Waterhole, near Elliott (which is halfway between Darwin and Alice Springs).  On the way there, we stopped for fuel, where someone asked if we had the van handbrake on, as they could smell the brakes burning behind us.  Trevor checked, and there was no problem, so we continued.  

We arrived at Longreach Waterhole, which was off the road along an 11km dirt road, and it was just beautiful. However, Trev noticed that one of the wheels on the van looked a bit 'scrubbed' so he went to change it, put the jack on, and as he did so, the whole of the van moved backwards instead of upwards!  On further inspection he found that the axle had totally come away from the chassis, and had pulled the steel away from the chassis!  Not good at all - in fact, very serious!

We realised we had a real problem, and that our little van was not going to proceed any further.  We drove into Elliott to see if anyone could bring the van out and fix it.  We found a vehicle repairer with a tow-truck, Bob from Elliott Mechanical - he agreed to 
come out and have a look at it the next morning and tow it into Elliott if necessary.  We slept in the van that evening, after witnessing a spectacular sunset over the water, with lots of birdlife around.  Next day, Bob arrived and took our little van away - he had a look and said that this was not a problem he could fix, and we ended up contacting our insurance company.

After speaking to them, paying our $200 excess, they gave us a claim number and said that they would be in contact and they would possibly write off the van, or arrange for it to be transported to a location where it could be fixed.  We spent a further night at Longreach Waterhole in our tent, but it was one of the windiest, coldest nights so far of our trip, so we were not very happy next morning.  Next morning, we went back into Elliott (we had no phone reception at the waterhole) to again contact the insurance company to find out what our next step would be.

We finally got onto another claims person (each time we called we got a different person and had to go through the whole scenario again), who then threw in the fact that they were neither accepting nor denying that there was a claim, until an assessor had seen the van.  Needless to say, this did upset us somewhat!  Up until then, we had no qualms that there was indeed a claim, and it was just a matter of time until it was assessed and determined what the outcome would be.

We decided to leave our van at Elliott and head south, and our whole way of travelling had changed - we now had no van, no home, and had to decide what we could take in our Disco, and what had to be left in the van.  This was a huge job, and quite upsetting.  Our Disco ended being packed to the rooftop (and beyond), with our clothes and essential belongings shoved into whatever bags we could find.  A total mess, really!

Carole and John decided to head east, as there was no point staying with us, as we would now be staying in hotels/motels rather than camping areas.  So off we went to Threeways Roadhouse where we stayed for one night in a pretty poor 'motel room' for $115pn.  It was very ordinary, and a bit dirty, but it was the only spot around.

Next up, we arrived at Alice Springs, where I had booked 4 nights at the Desert Palms Resort, so we could at least have a good look at the Alice and the MacDonnell Ranges while waiting for info from the insurance company.  Alice Springs is an interesting town, with lots to see and do, and the backdrop of the ranges is brilliant.  We made the most of our time there, while still waiting for the bloody insurance company to let us know what was happening.  

We went out to the East MacDonnell Ranges one day, took in Emily & Jessie Gaps, Trephina Gorge (which was lovely) and did a really good 4WD track out to Ross River and N'dhala Gorge.  

Then we had to do a very quick trip back to Simpson's Gap in the West MacDonnell Range to go on our Sunset Camel Ride (which we'd booked previously).  Got there just in time, and it was great.  First time either of us had been on a camel, and I was amazed at how far off the ground we were - it was a long, long way to fall!  I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, despite that the fact that I ended up with blisters on my behind.  And the ranges in the background at sunset were just beautiful.

Next day, we tried contacting the insurance co yet again, and still got no joy.  As far as we knew, the van was still at Elliott, and no-one had yet seen it.  This was getting sooooo frustrating.

We went for a drive out to the West MacDonnell Ranges, drove all the way out to Glen Helen, and found that there were helicopter flights available there.  So, off we went - a 20 minute flight over Glen Helen, the ranges and Ormiston Gorge for $149pp - it was brilliant, and the views of all the rock formations were spectacular from the air.  On landing, we went for a walk to the Glen Helen Gorge, then drove out to Two Mile Camp (a free camp on the river which had been pointed out to us by our helicopter pilot).  It would have been perfect for us to stay there if we'd had our van, but we made do with having lunch there, overlooking the river with the MacDonnell Ranges as our backdrop.  Pretty special!

On the way back to Alice we stopped off at Ormiston Gorge, the Ochre Pits (brilliant colours ranging from purple to red to orange to yellow), Ellery Creek Big Hole (wonderful swimming area) and Simpson's Gap.  It was a great day out, and took our minds off the problem of our van for a little while.

We booked another night in Alice Springs at the Swagman's Rest Apartments, and the next way we visited the Old Telegraph Station which was immaculately preserved and most interesting.  We also went to the Desert Park (a bit expensive at $25pp, and they wouldn't take National Seniors cards), and this was really good too.  The nocturnal house was excellent, and I saw many native Australian animals I had never seen before - quolls, bandicoots, bilbies and many more).  We listened to a talk on dingoes, and watched the 
free-flying birds show - whitling kites, boobook owl, wedge-tailed eagles, stone curlews - they flew so close to us, and the ranger was most knowledgeable.

Our stay in Alice Springs has been most enjoyable - it's a great little town, and there is still so much more to see and do - we'll have to come back on another trip.

After 5 nights in Alice, we set off for Coober Pedy.  We have booked into the Underground Motel, which is really quite different to anything we've stayed in before.  Our room is basically a cave hewn out of the rock - we have a little bedroom area, with a lounge/dining/kitchen area and separate bathroom.  It's very solid, and although the wind is howling outside and very cold, we are very snug inside here and can't even hear the wind!  We had dinner at John's Pizza Bar and Trev order the 'Coat of Arms' pizza - yes, emu and kangaroo - and it was delicious.  I had a very good chicken fettuccini.  

Over the past few days we have been in and out of phone contact, but have tried to find out what's happening with our caravan claim - it has now been 8 days since our problem, and we are still waiting for clarification - to say we're getting a little angry is an  understatement.  We'll have to see what happens tomorrow......

Douglas Springs to Daly Waters Pub

We caught up with Carole & John at Douglas Springs campsite - a very large, dry, dusty camp.  But the springs were HOT.  And I do mean hot!  Around 40 degrees in some spots, and they were in a lovely bushland setting, with lots of birdlife around, and plenty of good-sized fish in the water.  We only stayed one night, before heading down the road to Katherine to restock.

Unfortunately, we had a car problem at Katherine - Trev had a warning light on his alternator, so we had to book into the Riverview Tourist Park so he could check it out.  He found it was serious, but fortunately he had a spare alternator that he'd brought along, so with John's help he was able to pull it apart (after several hours of fiddling and cursing) so he could reinstall it the next morning.

After fixing the car we set off to revisit Bitter Springs before going on to Daly Waters. Again, Bitter Springs was delightful, and this time we had a 'noodle' to float down the river on - wonderful.  Along the way we passed heaps of trucks transporting enormous tanks up towards either Katherine or Darwin, and we were forced to move off the road and down into the culverts at the side of the road on several occasions - not easy when towing a caravan.

We finally met up with the others at Daly Waters Pub, where they had also caught up with friends Les & Gill, and their friends Celia and Steve.  We booked into the very dusty caravan park for the night, and ordered a 'Beef and Barra' dinner at the pub for that evening.  Trev and I went over to the pub for happy hour, for $3.50 drinks - not bad.  Our dinner was served at 7.00, it was very good, and we had entertainment for the evening.  We even got up for a dance, and finished off with 'Nutbush City Limits'.  What a good night.

Litchfield National Park - compact and fabulous

Carole and John had moved on a day before and held a spot for us at Florence Falls campground.  They had tried to get the more popular one, Wangi Falls, but it was way too busy so ended up here.  And it was the perfect location from which to see most of Litchfield.  It also had flushing toilets, hot showers for $6.60pp per night, so can't complain about that.  

On the way into Litchfield we stopped off at the Magnetic Termit Mounds - so called because all of the very thin mounds are aligned North-South, so that at all times one of the sides is in shade, giving the optimum living conditions for the termites.  Very clever. They also looked a lot like gravestones.

After setting up camp, we walked to the Florence Falls viewpoint which was quite spectacular - a series of three waterfalls dropping into a large plunge pool.  Then we walked down to the pool to cool off - 126 steps down and back, but well worth the effort. The water was cool and refreshing, and there were huge fish all around us.  It was quite rocky in the water, but wearing watershoes made all the difference.

Back at camp, travellers were coming in thick and fast and fighting to get a spot - so much so that a group of young French people asked us if they could pitch a tent in our area, as no-one else would allow them to.  We said yes, of course, and they joined our little area.

Over the next couple of days we visited Buley Rockhole, Tabletop Swamp, Blyth Homestead, the Tin Mine, The Lost City, and Wangi Falls.  

There were some spectacular swimming holes, and all of the waterfalls were flowing, unlike Kakadu which had lots of dry falls.  

On our last two nights there we shared our camping area with a young Dutch couple, Emma and Moos, who had been travelling Australia for about 14 months.  They were great fun, and on our last day there (Carole and John had moved on to our next spot) we took them for a trip into Blyth Homestead and Tjaynera Falls, which were on a 4WD track.  They were travelling in a rented motorhome and they were excluded from driving on designated 4WD tracks, so they were really happy to hitch a ride with us.  The road to Tjaynera was winding, corrugated, and had two quite deep water crossings, so they were most impressed.  The walk into the falls was 3.5km return, but quite easy, and the falls and swimming hole were gorgeous.  It was a great day out.  Our last night we also shared the camp with a French/Belgian couple, who built a fire, and we had a really interesting little 'united nations' evening with them all.


Litchfield was quite different to Kakadu in that all of the places we wanted to see were within easy reach, lots of waterfalls, but not as much wildlife to be seen.  Using Florence Falls as our base was a great idea.  Next up, we were heading to Douglas Springs.

On to Darwin

We booked into the Oasis Caravan Park for 2 nights, about 35kms out of Darwin, as there were no real options closer to the city.  It was a small, friendly park, and it was fully booked, but they managed to find two sites for us.  As we arrived in the afternoon, we didn't venture into the city that day, but stocked up on groceries etc at the local shopping centre.

Next morning we drove into the city, drove to Stokes Hill Wharf, and saw a huge US warship at the harbour with helicopters and aircraft on the deck.  It was certainly impressive, and it seems that that the marines were in town - lots of them!  They were everywhere, and carried themselves well, were neatly dressed in civvies and very polite.  

We had fish and chips at the wharf, then headed into town to check out the visitor centre.  We bought tickets on the 'Hop-on-hop-off City Tour Bus'.  It cost $30pp, and is a good way to get a feel for the layout of new places, as well as listen to a commentary on the history of the city.  We stopped off at the Darwin Museum, which had some excellent exhibits, in particular the Cyclone Tracy and the Ocean Mimic exhibits.  And there was a display of paintings by Ben Quilty, who went to Afghanistan for about a month as the official artist to document our soldiers - it was very powerful and moving, well worth seeing. 

After finishing the bus tour we went to have a look at the 'wave pool' at the esplanade area, then had a drink at one of the bars overlooking the swimming area, killing time until the Mindil Beach Markets started.  We caught up with Carole and John at the markets, wandered around and had some good food, enjoyed the entertainment, and missed - yes, missed, the sunset!  We were too busy buying things, and thought we had plenty of time. Ah well, there's always another day.

I was desperate to get my hair done, and Trev had seen an ad at the laundry area at our caravan park, so I called Janis, who lived just 3km from the park, and she squeezed me in.  She was lovely, did a great job, and gave me lots of info about Darwin.  She recommended that we try Seafood on Cullen Bay, where we could watch the sun set over the sea while dining.  

We took her advice and tried it that evening.  It was a huge restaurant, with wonderful views, and the food was great, too.  Yes, we both overindulged (translate that to 'pigged out') on lovely fresh prawns, spicy mussels and octopus, crab, salt and pepper squid, as well as tender pork with scrumptious crackling, and a variety of other options.  And - they had a chocolate fountain!  I had a banana covered in chocolate and it was delicious.  All of this for only $39.95 per person - what a bargain.  And I did get to watch the sun set over the ocean!

Next day we were off to Litchfield National Park to catch up with Carole and John who had left the day before.