Dunley's Down in Dubbo with Dunn's

One of the brilliant things about this trip has been the people by far, and one of the not so good things has been the rain. 

So when it came to all dirt roads in NSW and VIC closed due to the rain (has the drought broken yet?), and we couldn't go to the places that we wanted to (Lake Mungo NP...etc), plans had to change again.  Good to be flexible.  If we kept heading south, we would have arrived in Melbourne very quickly with nowhere to stay, so it was time to head east. 
Dubbo Zoo was a dot on the map, and we had met some great folks from Dubbo all the way back in Norseman (then Esperance, Perth, and Kalbarri).  They had said that if we get close to Dubbo, pop in, so time to give them a call. 
"No worries",  they said, "come and camp on our block, we've got 100 hectares"

Beauty!

On the way we enjoyed the delights of reverse parking, knitting socks, playgrounds in rest stops (!), big things on the way to harvest, more great sunsets and a town called Never Tire.

Time for a taste of the farm life.

Lucky too, as when we came over the hill to see Dubbo, we were a little overwhelmed at the size of it!  It was probably the biggest centre we have come across for a while.

Sheri and Anthony made us feel very welcome at their farm, and it was great to catch up with them after they had been home for 2 months already.

We took Luke, their son, along to the zoo with us.  It was good, the kids loved it, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting it to be.  The "drive around" bit made Matt & I think that it would be a bit like our Werribee zoo, more of an open plain zoo, but it reminded us more of our Melbourne Zoo, just perhaps a little bigger.  In the end, we were all a little tired of getting in and out of the car. 

The boys all loved the new playground at the end with the flying fox.

The museum in Dubbo is really worth checking out.  It is really well done and Lyn, a lovely older lady, showed us around, telling us stories about the older Dubbo.

We also checked out the op shops (as we do...).  There are 9 in Dubbo!  A sign of the size.  Temptation to get a few things here and there...

A swim in the local pool, until we all realised how cold it was! (They said it was heated, but we are now used to warmer waters)

We popped into ABC Local Radio to pick up free stickers for the kids journals (great to do if you are on the road), and they decided to interview us...

But I think the best fun was had was back at the Dunn's property. 

Matt helped Anthony out with getting starting on putting in his new solar system.  Digging in 8 holes to hold up the massive panels, and getting the positioning right.  The boys all helped out.

The boys also loved collecting the eggs from the chickens, playing with Layla the dog and talking to the steers. 

We had a ride around in the ute (apparently, it has to be done), and chatted with the neighbours about, well, stuff.  We cooked, in an oven!!!  Then we left, as it was time to go.  Dubbo, only 800km from Melbourne.  Just up the road.

Finally onto the Oodnadatta...and finding a magnificent camping spot

Slow start to the day in Coober Pedy, which turned out in our favour, the road to William Creek opened at 11.45am.  Hurrah!  Refuel, restock and the rest and we were on our way.

It was obvious as we went through the Dog Fence and the Woomera fence that someone had been on the road when they shouldn't have been - it was cut up pretty bad. 

There was a lot of water beside the road the whole way as well, and birds flying this way and that.  We had to remind ourselves that this was normally a desert!

After turning onto the Oodnadatta at William Creek, the road did get a little easier, we've certainly been on harder tracks.  We kept moving as we suddenly realised that in our rush to get out of Coober Pedy, neither of us had got cash out!  Free camping for the Dunleys from here to Maree! 

We pulled in at the Curdimurka Siding, having no idea as to what it would be like.  It was brilliant.  The boys had a great time playing imaginative games in and out of the buildings (where the welcome swallows were nesting) and we sheltered behind the corner of the building from the wind. 

A pair of brown falcons flew around, as well as the many galahs, cockatoos, orange chats and welcome swallows.  What a delight.

The flatness of the land provided the most brilliant of sunsets that I could capture.  What a delightful place.

A little bit of the mud that we picked up on the way...

and the wires from the trailer broke...again...

art along the way...from people with great imaginations

From here, we headed towards Lake Eyre.  We were not lucky enough to see actual water there, or in fact to get a picture. 

These were the only pics we got before the last of the batteries ran down...

When we got to Lake Eyre South, all photographic devices stopped working...and those who know me well enough will understand this...I curled up in the sand dune and cried.  Such a beautiful place, and no way of taking pictures.  Anyway what I can say is that it was incredible, soft sand dunes leading down to the salt lake.  The dune were covered in poached egg paper daisies and pig face and grasses.  It was all green, with yellow, pink and white flowers.  The plants were moving around in the wind and making sand patterns on the dunes. It was peaceful and quiet.

Whilst I was crying and feeling sorry for myself, Matt accosted the only other traveller we had seen that day, and asked if I could take some photos on his camera (it was way too flash to put my memory card in).  He was so kind to let me.  I am not sure if A) they turned out B) I will ever see those photos, however, it did stop me crying and it was terribly kind of him.

At Maree (I was still a little sulky about the no photo thing, but had managed to now delete enough photos off the phone to start taking some photos), we made the decision that as we had been travelling for a very long time (We left Darwin on 3 October and it was now 1 November with only a maximum of 2 nights stop anywhere) that we were travel weary.  Time to stop somewhere.

 Matt pointed the car to Parachilna Gorge at the top of the Flinders Ranges, and there we went.

time to rest