December 20, 2015September 25, 2018 by Vic

Lake Eyre Trip – April 2011

A group of four vehicles travelled from Adelaide through the Flinders Ranges via Marree to Lake Eyre, then back via William Creek, Coober Pedy, Lake Gairdner National Park, the Gawler Ranges, Baird Bay then back to Adelaide.

When: April 2011

Who: Vic & Leonie, Mark & Kylie, Angus & Jack, John (Whippet) & Marian

It’s taken 4.5 years to get these photos up, so Kylie, here they are in time for Christmas 2015!

The 12 days of Christmas from Lake Eyre…

Map showing trip area

To see the photos on Google, click here.

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Angus & Jack on Lake Gairdner, South Australia

December 9, 2015September 25, 2018 by Vic

The Twelve Days of Christmas from Lake Eyre

This is for you Kylie!

Lake Eyre photos from April 2011 in time for Christmas 2015!

On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me…

A photo frooooom Lake Eyre

Kylie, Mark, Leonie & Vic - Gawler Ranges, South Australia

On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me…

2 bro’s a handstanding
and a photo frooooom Lake Eyre

Angus & Jack on Lake Gairdner, South Australia

Kennewells, Ratnieks and Scheepens on Lake Eyre

On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me..

Three people wandering

Two bush mechanics

and a photo frooooom Lake Eyre

Leonie, Whippet and Marian at Lake Eyre

Angus and Jack

Lake Eyre

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me…

Four people pondering
Three rock climbers
Two love birds
and a photo frooooom Lake Eyre

Kylie, Angus, Mark & Jack

Jack, Angus and Vic

Leonie and Vic

Lake Eyre

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me…

Five people lost
Four flying flags
Three lake dwellers
Two spiky plants
and a photo frooooom Lake Eyre

Jack, Kylie, Whippet, Mark and Angus wondering where they are!

The convoy!

Jack, Angus and Kylie on Lake Eyre

Spiky plant at Lake Gairdner National Park

Mark in Lake Eyre

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me…

Six sleepy campers
Five foot steps
Four bush walkers
Three life savers
Two bird watchers
and a photo frooooom Lake Eyre

Whippet, Leonie, Kylie, Angus, Marian and Mark

Five foot steps

Angus, Kylie, Jack and Leonie

Three life savers!

Marian and Whippet

Lake Eyre Basin

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me…

Seven tired travellers
Six million flies
Five wild brumbies
Four creek campers
Three more photos
Two bros chillin’
and a photo frooooom Lake Eyre

Seven tired travellers

No flies on Leonie!

Wild Horses

Mark, Angus, Kylie & Jack

Mark trying to out shoot Vic!

Jack and Angus

Gawler Ranges

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me…

Eight happy campers
Seven spectacular sunsets
Six thousand fish
Five O’Clock drinks
Four paw prints
Three brilliant hues
Two pink ladies
and a photo frooooom Lake Eyre (Lake Gairdner actually)

Kylie, Jack , Angus, Vic, Leonie, Marian, Whippet, Mark

Sunset at Baird Bay

Dead dried fish at Lake Eyre

Whippet and Marian

Wild dog prints

Sunrise near Marree

Kylie checking under the bonnet...yes it's still there Kylie!

Leonie, Marian and Kylie with Jack, Angus and Mark in the water

Lake Gairdner

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me…

Nine thousand cockatoos
Eight spider legs
Seven stumps for Kylie
Six cooks
Five lake explorers
Four wheel driving
Three fire lovers
Two inch ants
and a photo frooooom Lake Eyre

Cockatoos

Spider

Mark tying down firewood

Angus, Kylie, Whippet, Jack, Leonie and Marian

Marian, Leonie, Angus, Kylie and Jack

Whippet

Whippet, Kylie and Angus

Two Inch Ants

Marian, Whippet, Angus, Mark and Kylie

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me…

Ten toe pushups
Nine yards
Eight rock obelisks
Seven scorpions
Six morning teas
Five highs
Four cows
Three inch lizards
Two master chefs
and a photo frooooom Lake Eyre

Morning Tea with Jack, Mark, Angus, Kylie, Whippet, Marian and Leonie

Kylie and Mark

Cows

Lizard

Whippet and Mark preparing the spit

Gawler Ranges

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me…

Eleven flying birds
Ten gallon hat
Nine sunrises
Eight breakfasts
Seven million year old rocks
Six lost people
Five sea lions
Four legged bearded dragons
Three excited travellers
Two cicada shells
and a photo frooooom Lake Eyre

Birds

Whippet

Lake Gairdner at Sunrise

Whippet making breakfast

Rock

Jack, Mark, Angus, Kylie, Marian and Whippet

Seals at Point Labatt, South Australia

Bearded Dragon

Kylie, Mark and Vic filling up day 1

Cicada shells

Leonie and Vic

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me…

Twelve million stars
Eleven great campsites
Ten fingers flying
Nine engine inspections
Eight great spits
Seven thousand saltbushes
Six kilometres that way!
Five cool dudes
Four drinks later
Three bush walkers
Two best friends
and a photo frooooom Lake Eyre

Stars

Jack, Angus, Mark, Leonie and Whippet

Mark and Kylie

Kylie checking the engine!

Jack fixing the spit

Saltbush

Mark

Jack, Angus, Vic, Mark and Whippet

Leonie

Mark, Jack and Angus

Kylie and Leonie

Angus, Kylie and Jack

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January 9, 2015September 25, 2018 by Vic

Albany Trip Dec-Jan 2015

After spending Christmas in Adelaide, we decided to drive across the Nullarbor to surprise Leonie’s sisters Marie and Helen in Albany. We’ve done the trip across from Adelaide to Albany about four times now, leaving 5am and stopping just before sunset, travelling about 1450 Kms. We camped just past Madura off the highway at a marked camping spot where there were plenty of sites to choose from.

GPS Location of campsite near Madura

Near Madura 29 Dec 2014

View from our campsite near Madura

Sunrise

Cooking brekky near Madura

WA Christmas Tree - Nuytsia Floribunda

The next morning we headed off very early about 4am. You know you’re in WA at Christmas time when you pass some bright orange flowers known as WA’s Christmas Tree, or Nuytsia Floribunda. We had to stay in stealth mode so there was no texting or facebooking to be done on the journey in case we let it slip that we were on our way. We arrived at Marie and Ian’s place in Kendenup, near Mount Barker around 8:30pm. We just took pot luck that they were home. They were very surprised to say the least. Not wasting any time, Ian and I headed off to catch some marron from his dam. Marie had teased that they were eating Marron pizza on Christmas Day so the joke was ok, you want some, come and get it! We did!

Leonie and a very surprised Marie!

Sunset from Kendenup

Ian trawling for marron

A nice size marron

Lots more to add…the story will continue later!

In the meantime, see all the photos on Google here.

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View from our campsite near Dingo Hill Track, Victorian High Country

June 30, 2013September 25, 2018 by Vic

Dingo Hill Track – Alpine National Park, Victorian High Country – June 2013

One very cold night on Dingo Hill Track near Higgins Hut in the Victorian High Country

On the June long weekend in 2013, we drove to Licola and headed north up Tamboritha Road, then north west into Dingo Hill Track. We found a nice campsite just before the road crosses Shaw Creek on the hill with breathtaking views. At 7pm we knew it was going to be a cold night as the table had already frosted over and the car temperature gauge read -2C. We cooked a couple of steaks on the gas stove but the gas was struggling. Lucky we like our steaks medium rare. Even the fire was struggling so we went to bed in our Oztent RV4.

Our sleeping bags were getting old and only rated about +8C and we felt it. About midnight we both woke up to put extra clothes on, gloves and beanies. Vic’s Mount Franklin Water bottle was already frozen rock solid! Somehow we managed to fall asleep but it was a night that we’ll never forget. At one time the grim reaper knocked on our tent but we daren’t upzip it!

We were up before sunrise and stoked the fire back up which took some effort. Walking around the campsite we stood and jumped on solid frozen ice that were just puddles the night before. It must have been so close to snowing but it didn’t. The temperature gauge in the car read -7C at 7am. As tempting as it was to stay another night as the surrounding landscape was breathtaking, we decided to head on. The next weekend we bought new Black Wolf sleeping bags rated about -8C.

To see all the photos on Google, click here.