Having fun in Port Augusta

G'day mates!! Did you had a nice Christmas?? And did you notice my blog's new look??  

OK, lets go on;

After we came back from Victoria, Fred as Aussie in a 4WD haha, we stayed a few days with our friends Harry and Elaine. We've had a great time, nice drinks, dinners and laughs together.

In the mean time I had put an ad on the "Grey Nomad" site as we were looking for a place to stay for about 6 weeks during the school holidays, to stay out of the hustle and bustle, expensive caravan parks (as they raise their prices during holiday seasons), busy roads and kids. We were looking for a free spot on a caravan park and do some cleaning and/or maintenance instead.

We got a few reactions but that were all serious jobs and not for a few weeks but more for months or even definite. Suddenly I got an e-mail from a farmer on Kangaroo Island, if we would like to do some farm work for a free stay on the farm and maybe a hand sometimes in picking lettuce when he would be short of pickers.

We had to think about it because the ferry to that Island is very expensive but after consider about spending some time on a farm, which is something different, we decided to go and so we now are stuck on an island haha! Of course I'll come back later with stories from and of the island.

We didn't do much in Port Augusta except working on the car. A lot of things had to be done and we also had to let it have a service because in Victoria they had only made it roadworthy but fortunately Harry discovered that there was hardly any oil in the engine and he saw more things that had to be done. Everyone who knows Fred now think, “ how can that happen to Fred, no oil enough in the car”,  well the car has two gauges and he checked the one closest by but that was of the gearbox, the other one you have to stand on a stool to reach it so that's not really logical.

One of the most important things that had to be done was the electrical break for the caravan had to be installed again. Fred had taken that out of the Ford but before we could drive with the caravan it had to be reinstalled in our "new" car so Fred and Harry ended up laying under the car surrounded with wires and tools. 

Fred's English is reasonable but of course with all this technical stuff they communicated with hands and feet which was funny and because Harry told me Fred's English was better when I was not around I was being dismissed from helping haha! But that didn't matter, I had things to do myself f.i. preparing the trip to the island, booking the ferry, looking for a caravan park in Adelaide, cleaning the caravan etc. 

In the meantime we also enjoyed the view of this gorgeous spot;

Dear Harry and Elaine, thank you very much for your hospitality, we really had a good time and we hope to see you again somewhere soon!

On our way to Adelaide we passed this beautiful pink lake;

 This was the first time we drove with this car towing the caravan and after Adelaide, where we spent 1 night at a very good caravan park, towards Cape Jervis where the ferry goes, there were a lot of hills and the temperature of the engine went up and up till in the red zone. We had to put the heater on and all the windows open, otherwise we would have melted, to lower it a bit and we could hardly get on top of the hills but we had to catch the ferry so we had to keep on going. Pff it was scary but we made it JUST on time.

So guys, that's it for now, next time I will start with our Kangaroo Island adventure. When I write this we are already a few weeks there and I can tell ya, it's funny!

Cheers

And Now......our Victoria story!

Sorry Guys, I first have to apologise for a stupid thing I have done; in my last story about Coober Pedy I forgot to make the movie public so you most probably couldn't open it, PLEASE try again!


So and now you wonder what we did in Victoria hey?? Well, you remember we had to make the decision not to go to the West but South?? That seemed to have had a purpose after all, because when we were in Alice, Fred got the message that he was accepted as an Australian citizen and that he had to come to the ceremony in Warragul as we have our postal address there and to do the pledge. We called the immigration to find out if he could do the ceremony somewhere else but that was not possible.
If we had gone to the West it would have been a major problem because we had to be in Warragul on the 18 th of November.

We already had a appointment to stay a few days in Port Augusta at nice people we had met on our trip and we got the idea, if they didn't mind, to leave our caravan behind and go just by car to Victoria and that was no problem at all.

and so we left our little house on wheels behind on this spot, but I'm sure it didn't mind at all, look at the view it had!

So we rushed in two days ( it was approx. 1100 km) to Victoria and we stopped somewhere in between in a small village Dimboola. There was a regatta going on and so nearly all cabins were booked out. But fortunately we found a place where they had a few cabins and we were happy as we already had driven more then 600 k's. 

The cabin was very old fashion inside but clean, the owners were very friendly and we had some nice entertainment from a guy who  also camped there with his own camper trailer and he liked to sing.

listen to this nice song....

Next day we drove further and the idea was first to go to Berwick to stay one night with family and then to Warragul for the ceremony. Before we got to Berwick we stopped in Dandenong at a car sales where a nephew works, to ask if they sometimes have cheap 4WD trade ins, you remember we want one don't you??
Bingo!! He had one came in the day before and despite the fact that it was worn out as well inside as outside, it looked as it wanted to say: "take me"!
My nephew would arrange the garage to look at it, if it's a good car and he would let us know.

After a good night sleep in Berwick we went to Warragul were we had a nice dinner with the family;

Next day, the BIG day, we had some time for doing shopping and relaxing over a cup of coffee as the ceremony was at 6 o'clock....

Becoming an Aussie is not just something, Fred was nervous as hell and had been practising on the pledge for hours haha. But as you can see he did it and became an Aussie of which he is very proud.

First have to sign in and give some details......

The pledge, it might be a bit to soft to understand but he really did it....

a beautiful plant (kangaroo paw) was handed over and some more Australian things...

together with some guests we enjoyed some real good snacks, offered by the council

After the ceremony we went to my aunt and uncles house in Warragul where we stayed the night after having a little party first, a few people were invited and we had some good laughs. Fred got an Aussie survival kit with all nice and funny stuff in it.

having a toast on a new Aussie;

Then we had a few days of visiting family and friends and then had to wait till the car (Yes! we bought it) was ready. But that seemed to be a major job, the delivery was postponed every time and we had to pack our things out of the car again and ask our family if we could stay another night, of course that was no problem. Our Ford was sold to family in Newborough and when we finally got the car (here it is);

we drove, me in the Ford and Fred in our “new” (its 14 years old) 4WD to Newborough. It was immediately a big challenge for both of us because it started to rain and not just a little bit, NO it was POURING! I don’t drive very much so I was a bit uncomfortable driving on my own and Fred had to find out where everything, like lights and wipers, were. The sight became very bad and the highway started to become a river, crikey what a disaster! But finally we made it and we first took a drink, pfff. Anyhow we are glad with our “new” car and the family is glad with our Ford.

The last night we were with a good friend in Patterson Lakes and next day we loaded the car with groceries, especially from Aldi’s because we hadn’t seen an Aldi for months, and hit the road back towards Port Augusta.

And OMG, we had to fill the tank up, us were told and we have seen it to, that our car has 2 tanks, one original and one extra tank. The original tank has 75 litre and the extra 100 ltr!!

OK, we are living on bread and water now after filling up the tanks haha (Joke of course).

Again with one stop somewhere just over the border,.... talking about the border, Djee I've been angry!! I had be given a whole bag with lovely lemons and a grapefruit from family and friends. When we came to the Victoria/South Australia border there was a sign, and I know there are more restrictions at borders but I hadn't seen it from South Australia into Victoria, that you were not allowed to bring fruit and vegetables into South Australia, fine would be $ 340.00, well I didn't dare to take that risk and throw the bag, with pain in my heart, in the bin.

Because we were nice on schedule we stopped in Hahndorf, a little German town and had a nice roll with a sausage and sauerkraut;

OK, I hope you enjoyed this story again. Next time I have to change the Blog picture as our Ford is no longer with us, I am very glad though that it stayed in the family because we had done so many k's and adventures together!

Cheers and till next time!

Coober Pedy

We left the beautiful Olga’s and Uluru and heading down South quickly, not alone because there is nothing in between except Coober Pedy but also because we are in a hurry as you will remember I have told you we have to go to Victoria, still don’t know why hey!! well I still not going to tell ya haha, first we have to go to Coober Pedy so you have to be patient.

On our way we passed a border again, we went from Northern Territory to South Australia, we had a free camp just behind this sign, yes! there were more people there fortunately....

Coober Pedy is a opal mining town and as soon as you come near, you can see hundreds of humps, which looks very impressive…..

We have been here before but then is was terrible hot and so much flies you were black when you came out of the caravan. The only thing you could do was sneaking from one cave to the other. This time we had a lovely 24 degree so we could explore the town a bit better. 

Still it is very nice to go underground and see how they live. Yes you read it well, a lot people live underground and also shops, churches, restaurants, bars etc. are build underground which has of course to do with the heat! the temperature underground is always constant. 

Very interesting things to see in this "building", it is an underground hotel with a museum, bar and more entertainment......

Scary isn't it!!

Except for the mining fields there is really nothing around Coober Pedy, I wouldn't want to be buried there (but actually I wouldn't want to be buried anywhere, haha ).
And because it's so hot and hardly rains , the water is very scarce, on our caravan park were no water taps at the sites, you could buy water for 20 cents to fill the caravan tank and also we had to pay 20 cents for 3 minutes shower. This is the first time we had to pay for showers in Australia. There was also a water fill up station in the town centre, special for caravans and campers. 

A few more interesting things we passed......

an underground church.......

We had a beautiful renovated caravan park and guess what, we were the only ones there the second night which you know from the free camps, we don't like! But there was no use of moving, just be brave and keep your ears open. Most probably we are just a few scary chickens.

Before we got to Port Augusta, where the normal life is beginning again (I mean NO outback anymore) we had to do one stop, also a free one and it was really in one word gorgeous!! Lake Hart, which is a salt lake, look at our nice spot;

We walked down to have a good look, it looks like you are standing on snow, or ice....

Back to the caravan.....

we had a nice relaxing evening.....

with a great sunset.......

The mysterious Victoria story is coming near, next time you'll know!!

So......keep on looking!

Cheers,