1st Week of Simpson Desert - Birdsville to Alice Springs

Okay this is going to be a big one.   Just our first 7 days of the trip.  Second 7 days to come.   We met up with Gold Class Adventures tour guide Shane http://www.goldclassadventures.com/ and our group of 6 cars and 14 people in Birdsville Thursday morning after the Big Red Bash.   Crazy seeing a road train with 4 tanks on it for the gas station.  We all got going and headed out to Big Red the biggest sand dune in the Simpson Desert.

After Big Red we traveled down the QAA Line and stopped for camp just before the Northern Territory border.   The wild flowers were incredible.

Day two we kept on the QAA Line taking a detour to Poeppel Corner where three states meet.  NT, QLD and SA.   Then started heading North on the Hay River Track. 

Day 3 more Hay River Track which was a lot of winding roads.  Poor drivers were very tired at the end of the day.

Day 4 more Hay River Track and a stop at Lake Caroline where we got good and truly stuck!!!

Day 5 and Day 6 we traveled on the Hay River Track until we reached Batton Hill and we camped there.  We passed the Tropic of Capricorn and some secret meetings of the men's club over vehicles.  Had our first showers in 5 days.  It was rainy so we didn't stay for the two nights we had planned.

 Day 7  and 8 we were in Alice Springs.  We traveled down the Plenty Highway to get to Alice Springs  So much to see we could have done another week easy.   We did some day tours to Standley Chasm and Simpsons Gap while getting showers, fuel, and some more food.   It also was the coldest in history in Alice Springs at minus 3.9.   And some of us were in tents not upgraded to cabins!!!!  The pipes were frozen in the morning.    Saw our second  dingo. 

Vacation - First 5 Days - Beginning of July

A big adventure.  24 days , 5000km from Parkes to the Simpson Desert, thru it and back.
Here's the start of the adventure just making our way to Birdsville to meet with our tour group.

 Cobar, you live there for 4 years and don't take photos in front of the sign but every time you go back you stop. Weird.

 Broken Hill morning

 Lunch stop on the way up to Flinder's Ranges and emu party welcome

 Flinders Ranges

 Marree stop for lunch before camping for the night.

Lake Eyre, no water though.  

End of Week 3 of June

 The highest the creek got.   Lots of water around here.

 Bacon and Waffles for Sunday breakfast.

The girls using hair chalk to colour their hair and take photos

Owen finishing up his school project on gardening.  He was given a gnome and made to answer question and take some photos around the gardens with him. 

The Last 10 Days

It has been raining and raining and raining.  Which is good and bad in this country.  Australian's always want rain but it can soon go just a little bit too much and then floods start.  Which is what is happening now.
The cat has been hanging more and more inside with it so wet.  The garden has seen no frost so our hot peppers continue to produce and I am running out of ideas to deal with them.  Going to make a big batch of paste to put in the freezer for later use.
Eric's photo from Elvis is now a very big photo blown up and put at the airport for all to see when they arrive in Parkes, NSW.  He has mixed feeling about it.  Enjoy the photos of our creek rising.  There is a shot of Hannah the night before ,  the next morning and then 24 hrs after that.  We have a river and a bridge underwater causing road closer.  It has been fun.

First Two Weeks of June

Well the weather is starting to cool off and we are starting to hibernate a little.   Baking cakes,  Sunday pancake breakfasts,   bugs showing up in the house,  stove top cookers breaking, fixing things and finding Canadian beer.   We are just doing the day to day stuff.