Now in defense of myself & for the girls side of this camping trip, once again, here is my version. Well to put it bluntly i have had to endure, 2 wks without a hos shower, 1/4 of a bucket of cold water or occasionally some heated water from the kettle, standing stark naked, behind the car, in the dark, wind blowing a gale, freezin to death, shivering so much that my teeth r chattering instead of me, not been able to wash my hair & just sucking it up princess powder puff as precious Darren would say, i think i have survived quite well. I think overall in this month that we have been away, we have only had about 10days worth of hot real showers. Darrens tolerance of me not being able to keep up hiking pace, rock climbing, crossing raging water ways, crawling into dark caves, cross country thru grasses & shrubs taller than me, prickles of all sorts stuck all over me, leeches crawling in my socks, shoes, trousers, mice & possums, getting into our food, scropians & redback spiders at our camps, gale force winds, sand, rain, freezing cold nights, but i still have managed to survive & stick it out. Mr Precious has still got the nerve to ak at the end of the days, what am i cooking for dinner. He sooks about the packing of the gear & that he cannot find anything, but is happy that everything is easily accesable. The cold mornings do not register for precious & he is incapable of functioning, I have been the one to brave the cold water & go swimming first, before precious sticks his toe in, then he cant last the distance or have the staying power in the water. I have managed to take in all that he has dished out to me, so girls & guys, i have tuffened up & taken it all in my stride. I am sure this little black duck, has got what it takes to out last precious Darren & this road trip. I think that he would totally miss me & my fantastic company/chats & oh yes, lets not forget, cook, doing the laundry, keeping things organised & keeping him motivated to use all his tech devices & help him use them. At the end of the day he is such a man, with all his little habits that u cannot change & have to just tolerate ( i know who really is the patient one).
On the flip side, we r having the time of our lives, so much fun, heaps of laughing moments, g8 conversations, educating precious on the female versions of life (boy is that a challenge in itself), meeting fantastic characters & travelers & appreciating the simple things in life. What a blast & what Darren doesnt want u lot to know is that he really is just a big kid at heart, a fantastic traveling companion, such a softy & is more than happy to help, so long as u feed him. LOL Anyway, enjoy the antics & the some of the photos.
Keep smiling everyone, Cheers
Saturday 31 March 2012
Hi Everyone,
Especially all the Brissy people that r carefully keeping track of us & our antics & understand our warped mind, sense of humor & understand Darren & Josies characters, all u other dear friends, please forgive us if u dont quite get where we r coming from, but hope u enjoy some of our journey & photos.
It has been a month now on the road, camping, exploring, enjoying the freedom of stopping when, wherever, with only having the pleasure of the journey. We have discovered that there is so many little places on the way to WA to enjoy that we had no hope of catching up to the other group of 6 people that we were going to travel with. So here we r, just going it alone & having the time of our lives, just enjoying the simple life of camping, exploring, meeting travellers & just taking in the moments of each place that we stop at. Places like Wooli NSW not far from Grafton on the coast. G8 caravan camping spot, met two characters called Bruce & Yvonne, they were stone mine fossickers & made there own jewelery, (saphires, garnet, etc), they had g8 stories to tell & loved nothing better than sitting having a yarn with u about yester year in there lives. They made us laugh & good value, a fantastic couple. We stopped a an Ancient geological Historical Glaciers Rocks/River outside of Barraba NSW on the way to Mt Kaputar. This place had brilliant rock formations, huge bolders, of all shapes & colours, beautiful crystal clear water running, lizards that swam thru the water, large fish & was a peaceful part of nature to enjoy exploring. We have experienced lush, wet rainforest, to dry, hot, arid, almost desert like places, such as Mungo Nat Park, u cant imagine that it was once full of lakes, pastures & families, dwelling in these harsh conditions nowadays. Lake Albacutya, that only had sand, no water, redback spiders in the toilets, but the most amazing night sky, full of stars, because the place was so pitch black, so different & diverse. Then enjoying places like the Grampians, with a spectacular view of the Mckenzies Falls, very steep,step climb down to the bottom & a hard walk back all the way back to the top. Across to the beautiful coast again, Port Fairy, heading to Portland, camped at a little hidden gem camp called Fitzroy river camp, where the mouth of the river meets the beach. Freezing, windy, cold night, but in the morning, a perfect misty morning over the river, to a clear sunny morning, but a very chilli breeze. The water crystal clear, sand so clean, we were all rugged up, but couldnt help ourselves, but to take a swim, so cold on our bodies it hurt, but worth every bit of pain to swim in. Taking in all the sights along the coast, walking the steep cliffs at Cape Bridgewater for a 2 odd hr return trip just to see the fur seals, playing, arguing, lazing around & definately worth the effort. Mt Gambier, had Cave Garden, & the Sinkhole cave, right in the heart of town, such a treasure for tourist, interesting cave formations & the history of these limestone formations, just imersed u into what life was about all those yrs ago. Then places like Beachport had the longest peir if have ever seen or walked on. The Halite Salk Lake was a site to be seen, its array of shade colours from white to shiny pink crystals. To Goolwa which was a Port stop for steamers from Adelaide to Melb, a real tourist town, fantastic stone buildings. Then while heading to Cape Jervis, we discovered a Mine site called Taliskers mine, this place held our interest for over an hour, with mine shafts, building ruins, kiln, boiler/ crusher building. They mined lead, silver, arsenic. We spent 4nights on Kangaroo Island, which some of the pictures that will be posted, speak for themselves. Such a g8 island, we r so relaxed, soaking up the sun, beaches, wildlife, friendly people & mother nature at her best. (As i always say "aint life grand").
Especially all the Brissy people that r carefully keeping track of us & our antics & understand our warped mind, sense of humor & understand Darren & Josies characters, all u other dear friends, please forgive us if u dont quite get where we r coming from, but hope u enjoy some of our journey & photos.
It has been a month now on the road, camping, exploring, enjoying the freedom of stopping when, wherever, with only having the pleasure of the journey. We have discovered that there is so many little places on the way to WA to enjoy that we had no hope of catching up to the other group of 6 people that we were going to travel with. So here we r, just going it alone & having the time of our lives, just enjoying the simple life of camping, exploring, meeting travellers & just taking in the moments of each place that we stop at. Places like Wooli NSW not far from Grafton on the coast. G8 caravan camping spot, met two characters called Bruce & Yvonne, they were stone mine fossickers & made there own jewelery, (saphires, garnet, etc), they had g8 stories to tell & loved nothing better than sitting having a yarn with u about yester year in there lives. They made us laugh & good value, a fantastic couple. We stopped a an Ancient geological Historical Glaciers Rocks/River outside of Barraba NSW on the way to Mt Kaputar. This place had brilliant rock formations, huge bolders, of all shapes & colours, beautiful crystal clear water running, lizards that swam thru the water, large fish & was a peaceful part of nature to enjoy exploring. We have experienced lush, wet rainforest, to dry, hot, arid, almost desert like places, such as Mungo Nat Park, u cant imagine that it was once full of lakes, pastures & families, dwelling in these harsh conditions nowadays. Lake Albacutya, that only had sand, no water, redback spiders in the toilets, but the most amazing night sky, full of stars, because the place was so pitch black, so different & diverse. Then enjoying places like the Grampians, with a spectacular view of the Mckenzies Falls, very steep,step climb down to the bottom & a hard walk back all the way back to the top. Across to the beautiful coast again, Port Fairy, heading to Portland, camped at a little hidden gem camp called Fitzroy river camp, where the mouth of the river meets the beach. Freezing, windy, cold night, but in the morning, a perfect misty morning over the river, to a clear sunny morning, but a very chilli breeze. The water crystal clear, sand so clean, we were all rugged up, but couldnt help ourselves, but to take a swim, so cold on our bodies it hurt, but worth every bit of pain to swim in. Taking in all the sights along the coast, walking the steep cliffs at Cape Bridgewater for a 2 odd hr return trip just to see the fur seals, playing, arguing, lazing around & definately worth the effort. Mt Gambier, had Cave Garden, & the Sinkhole cave, right in the heart of town, such a treasure for tourist, interesting cave formations & the history of these limestone formations, just imersed u into what life was about all those yrs ago. Then places like Beachport had the longest peir if have ever seen or walked on. The Halite Salk Lake was a site to be seen, its array of shade colours from white to shiny pink crystals. To Goolwa which was a Port stop for steamers from Adelaide to Melb, a real tourist town, fantastic stone buildings. Then while heading to Cape Jervis, we discovered a Mine site called Taliskers mine, this place held our interest for over an hour, with mine shafts, building ruins, kiln, boiler/ crusher building. They mined lead, silver, arsenic. We spent 4nights on Kangaroo Island, which some of the pictures that will be posted, speak for themselves. Such a g8 island, we r so relaxed, soaking up the sun, beaches, wildlife, friendly people & mother nature at her best. (As i always say "aint life grand").
Sunday 25 March 2012
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| Mungo Nat Park old homestead, Darren in underground cellar food storage |
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| Grampians Vic, as usual Darren being a mountian goat & rock climbing |
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| Mouth of the Fitzroy River Vic, Cold morning, but fantastic camp spot where the river meets the ocean, went for a swim in the icy cold water, (made our skin nice & tight, lost all our wrinkles real quick |
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| Enchanted forest on the way to Cape Bridgewater outside of Portland |
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| Cape Nelson lighthouse station building outside of Portland |
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| Gannot Rock where a Maremma Dog gaurds the Gannot colony, behind a high wire fence |
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| Gannot Rock on the edge of Portland next to the aluminium smelter |
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| Cape Bridgewater walk to the seal colony, very steep, long, hot, walk, but worth the views & sweat |
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| swimming in the cold crystal clear water at Cape Bridgewater |
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| view down while walking to the seal colony |
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| could only view the seals from a very high steep cliff viewing platform, Cape Bridgewater |
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| Blowhole Cape Bridgewater nearly at sunset |
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| Petrified forest, the whole cliff was all stone with these fossilised stone trees as they called it |
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| Discovery Bay coastal park, full of sand dunes, another wild night of camping, gale force winds, rain, freezing, bucket of water for shower, but was a fantastic place, with g8 views of the wild ocean |
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| Princess Margaret Rose Caves |
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| sheep mustor at Burcher NSW |
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| Mungo Nat Park NSW |
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| Mungo Nat Park NSW |
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| Old Woolsheds at Mungo Nat Park |
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| Lake Mournpall at Hattah Nat Park, copped a storm, wind, rain, cold shower from a bucket, so much fun (i think) |
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| sunset at Lake Mournpall Hattah Nat Par NSW & yes everybody i do drink beer & eat potato crisps |
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| Lake Albacutya NSW, but now water, dry, arid, sandy, hot, found a mouse hitch hiking a ride, Darren turning me domesticated cooking again. (mmmmm need to do something about this scene) |
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| Mungo Nat Park NSW old homested property with sheep shed |
Thursday 22 March 2012
12 March 2012 Mungo national park rough dirt road into park Josie thinks road should be smooth ,welcome to the desert Princess .Lots of bugs a scorpion ,bats and a feral cat all in camp ground .Threw scorpion in Josies tent and she s still here at breakfast must have nine lives .13 march Mungo self drive tour lunette, sand hills,and explored farm sheds .14 march Mildura Josies tent has broken $10 and she gets upgraded to a better one, body bag would have been better .Josie s sat nav takes us 22 km to do a u turn i want to throw it in river and see how it recalculates that .We wrestle with sat nav Josie won so its still in car another useless piece of computerised crap .14 march Hattah Kulkyne national park camped at lake Mournpall 15 march lazy day around camp removed road kill one top knot pidgeon in classic dead position with both legs up in air .Walked around lake picked some poison berries would you like some Josie No there pretty colours No there organic No She s moody again must be PMT or some sort of girly problem .Storm halfway round lake matched Josie s mood perfectly got a little bit wet .
16 March Camped at Lake Albacutya which is dry and has trees and grass growing in it 17 march Josie starts talking to ranger there goes half a day bet he regrets that conversation.Whilst Josie is talking i notice mouse in car Josie takes everything out of car looking for mouse all i can think of is hitting her on head with shovel but ranger hasn t left yet . I think this was part of Josies plan because i cant find anything and again i need her help .
17 march Duck hunting season starts in Victoria gave Josie duck caller and sent her out in paddock no luck no one shoots old ducks .So off to Grampians for Josies favorite activity climbing .
18 march Grampians tourist drive Mac Kenzies falls ,lookouts and lake Wartook
16 March Camped at Lake Albacutya which is dry and has trees and grass growing in it 17 march Josie starts talking to ranger there goes half a day bet he regrets that conversation.Whilst Josie is talking i notice mouse in car Josie takes everything out of car looking for mouse all i can think of is hitting her on head with shovel but ranger hasn t left yet . I think this was part of Josies plan because i cant find anything and again i need her help .
17 march Duck hunting season starts in Victoria gave Josie duck caller and sent her out in paddock no luck no one shoots old ducks .So off to Grampians for Josies favorite activity climbing .
18 march Grampians tourist drive Mac Kenzies falls ,lookouts and lake Wartook
Monday 12 March 2012
3 rd march 2012
I hope you have all finished reading Josie s blog and just like her conversations it goes ON and ON on on on never stops keeps on going etc etc etc. As you can see by the photos its going to be a slow process to get josie used to camping still using hairspray before a walk . Waddles of to shower block with two suit cases of product and equipment only to return two hours later looking the same Josie still wants to do big walks but as you can see in the photos princess powder puff cant handle it and has to lay down .Then tells me i lied about the time it takes to do walk i try to explain that i did my calculations with out princess powder puff rest stops . Boonoo Boonoo national park over night light rain walked to creek . Whilst packing up Josie placed water container with tap facing door and closed door brilliant car becomes a bucket .I refrain from choking Josie as she has worked out how to upload photos and i need her to help me find things in the car as she has wrapped everything in plastic bags.I think she has obssesive compulsive plastic bag disorder . Josie says i need her for finding things and uploading photos i quickly remind her that those problems came with her and if i dispose of Josie that would be three in one .Im smiling Josie is having one of those girly bad moods .Josie found great spot to camp at Mann river i feel i have to be nice to her she s smiling im not .
4 th march
Washpool national park great rainforst walk lots of leeches princess makes me flick them of her shoes .I walk slow Josie gets a little ahead and i sprint for the car but somehow she gets there before i get car started .I smile just kidding Josie she looks upset i feed her she s happpy now.Beats me how it takes two and a half hours to get ready for a walk but try to leave without her and she somehow keeps up .Will try harder.
5 th March
Wooli and its time for sun and surf Josie seems happy here try to encourage her to swim to islands 5 km out at sea but she wont be in it .6 th rain again packed up and off to Coffs and Dorrigo bought tarp in coffs no more rain funny that .Dorrigo took back road great scenery did walks princess powder puff can handle up to 3 km and before lunch .Josie needs constant feeding and ice cream dont expect to see a thinner Josie .I expect that by WA border i will need trailer with couch in it for Josie though she will have a great tan .
7 th march
Back roads to Manilla Josie squealed thought i was going to bump cow with car .8th march Split rock dam overnight bit cold here. Drove to Waa gorge not all that impressive 9th march Mt Kaputar national park overnight i walk to lookout while Josie is in shower block again .
10 march
Warrumbungle national park we are advised that there will be aerial shooting taking place. Dont worry Josie it will be fine. Walk over split rock yes another one going uphill and Josie s breathing gets heavy i think she s having too much fun so i walk faster so she can have a private moment by herself .Josie wont need to practice her fiddle tonight she s so lucky.After that short walk we go to the grand high tops walk and then it starts the whining its too hot ive only got liddle legs im hungry you walk to fast princess cappacinno and cheese cake has obviously never walked more than the length of a shopping mall and has not been exposed to a non climate controlled environment the frothing at the mouth drooped shoulders is not a pretty sight .So i save the moment and tell Josie that in that open grassy paddock over there is a cappacinno and chocolate cake i have hidden .But first you have to put on this goat suit she is so blonde out she goes and perfect here comes the helicopter and shooter oh goody .He s lined her up tee hee hee hee and then i hear him say what the furry cats is that and they bank away NO NO NO . Josie comes back says she cant find cappacinno and cake i tell her i was only kidding and the whining starts again .If that shooter knew the suffering i go through he would have shot her .He would have shot her till her body weighed the same in lead .And life goes on .
11th march Drove to Burcher not much of a town but it has the biggest mosquitos so far .
4 th march
Washpool national park great rainforst walk lots of leeches princess makes me flick them of her shoes .I walk slow Josie gets a little ahead and i sprint for the car but somehow she gets there before i get car started .I smile just kidding Josie she looks upset i feed her she s happpy now.Beats me how it takes two and a half hours to get ready for a walk but try to leave without her and she somehow keeps up .Will try harder.
5 th March
Wooli and its time for sun and surf Josie seems happy here try to encourage her to swim to islands 5 km out at sea but she wont be in it .6 th rain again packed up and off to Coffs and Dorrigo bought tarp in coffs no more rain funny that .Dorrigo took back road great scenery did walks princess powder puff can handle up to 3 km and before lunch .Josie needs constant feeding and ice cream dont expect to see a thinner Josie .I expect that by WA border i will need trailer with couch in it for Josie though she will have a great tan .
7 th march
Back roads to Manilla Josie squealed thought i was going to bump cow with car .8th march Split rock dam overnight bit cold here. Drove to Waa gorge not all that impressive 9th march Mt Kaputar national park overnight i walk to lookout while Josie is in shower block again .
10 march
Warrumbungle national park we are advised that there will be aerial shooting taking place. Dont worry Josie it will be fine. Walk over split rock yes another one going uphill and Josie s breathing gets heavy i think she s having too much fun so i walk faster so she can have a private moment by herself .Josie wont need to practice her fiddle tonight she s so lucky.After that short walk we go to the grand high tops walk and then it starts the whining its too hot ive only got liddle legs im hungry you walk to fast princess cappacinno and cheese cake has obviously never walked more than the length of a shopping mall and has not been exposed to a non climate controlled environment the frothing at the mouth drooped shoulders is not a pretty sight .So i save the moment and tell Josie that in that open grassy paddock over there is a cappacinno and chocolate cake i have hidden .But first you have to put on this goat suit she is so blonde out she goes and perfect here comes the helicopter and shooter oh goody .He s lined her up tee hee hee hee and then i hear him say what the furry cats is that and they bank away NO NO NO . Josie comes back says she cant find cappacinno and cake i tell her i was only kidding and the whining starts again .If that shooter knew the suffering i go through he would have shot her .He would have shot her till her body weighed the same in lead .And life goes on .
11th march Drove to Burcher not much of a town but it has the biggest mosquitos so far .
Yeh, this little black duck has only taken 4hrs & is now 1am in morning, while Darren is getting his beauty sleep, to finally figure out how to put captions on these pictures & sort out more of this blog workings out.
Goodnight, hope to write a better blog next time. We r in a country town called Burcher near West Wylong NSW, while the rest of the group that we were supposed to be travelling with has already reached the WA border. Darren, keeps on getting sidetracked & wants to always stop at Nat parks on the way. So we r getting a good look at lots of different places.
Keep smiling everyone & keep in touch. We really enjoy ur comments back.
Lots of Love from Josie & Darren
Goodnight, hope to write a better blog next time. We r in a country town called Burcher near West Wylong NSW, while the rest of the group that we were supposed to be travelling with has already reached the WA border. Darren, keeps on getting sidetracked & wants to always stop at Nat parks on the way. So we r getting a good look at lots of different places.
Keep smiling everyone & keep in touch. We really enjoy ur comments back.
Lots of Love from Josie & Darren
Warrumbungle Mt
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| yes Darren climbed all these rock formations on his own. Told u he was a mountian goat |
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| Darren had been hiking from 8am, i left him around 2.30, he got back to camp just after 6pm after hiking up these very steep rock walls. I hiked back alone, enjoying the lower levels & creek beds |
Warrabungle Mt, Camp Blackman base NSW
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| Darren hard at work studing our hikes for the next day at Warrabungle Mt near Coonabarrabran NSW |
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| Yes we did climb split rock, to the very top & over the other side, did tell u Darren was a mountian goat |
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| we climbed to the top & Darren went rock climbing even higher in the next picture while i stayed at the lower level. there r just some places that i draw the line at climbing |
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| u might be able to see Darren if u put ur glasses on as he continued the climb up a very steep rock wall |
Split Rock Dam Reservoir
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| How beautiful is the sunset, while we were driving to our next camp |
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| Split Rock Dam Reservoir first thin in the morning NSW |
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| So here we are, trekking all over the place & Darren is feeling like he is part of a married couple, camping, cooking, washing up, doin the laundry, packing up gear & for me (Ahh aint life grand) so much fun watching it all unfold |
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| The Glaciers on the way to Narribri |
Sunday 11 March 2012
Hey everyone, us 2 nuff nuff's r having a real hard time working this bloody blog system out & darren's polite language is not so polite anymore, everytime we try to logon & work on this blog, we spend heaps of time just trying to figure out how we can make it easier for us to upload our mess & pictures with captions. Anyway we will do our best to get better & try to get with the program & become more computer savvy. We r zigzaging all over NSW trying to dodge the flooded areas. For my part, i have since discovered that i am now travelling with a mountian goat, explorer, endurance hiker, definately not a normal guy, who decides that the walking pathes that r mapped out for u, r just there for the wooses hikers as he calls them & he prefers to go cross country. He also fails to recongnise that he has a much less fit female, with shorter legs, vertically challenged, unable to hang from steep rocks, short legs, that cannot jump over huge bolders with deep crevercis or raging torants of water below me, have to take 4 steps to his big strides & always informs me, thru the heat of the hot sunny day that it is not much further & we can make it, then it takes us another 4 or so hrs. Hence why i come back into camp absolutely unconscious, body totally non functional, dehydrated of fluids, scratches, prickles scratched & stuck all over me, plus please remind me that this is fun. If i dont come back looking like Elle as he keeps on saying, i think i will hang him for the torture that he is putting me thru. But on a more serious note, we r or at least i am having a ball. Darren is really an angel, so much fun to travel with, has shown me so many gorgeous places, is very tolerant of my antics & mishapps, is a wealth of information, fantastic to hike with, cracks me up laughing till it hurts, hasnt thrown me off a cliff yet. Oh & girls, yes he makes me breakfast most mornings, always turns the kettle on, (we could be mistaken for mar & par kettle, LOL).
Tuesday 6 March 2012
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