Caravanning Camping Touring
Let me share some of our stories with you. I'll try to keep it fun and interesting, with heaps of photos, hints, tips and reviews all relating to life on the road.
Three Medical Crises
I wasn’t sure if I would write about this, but my blog is all about ‘life‘ on the road. And while most of our experiences have been of the fun, adventurous kind, we have also had some that have not been so. This is one of those.
I’m not a drama queen by nature, and I don’t wish to scare anyone who hasn’t heard of our latest ‘adventure’, so let me say right now, everything is fine. In fact, everything is great. But, over a crazy five-week period, I have been diagnosed with throat cancer, ran a gamut of tests, had major surgery, and have been proclaimed a ‘Cancer Survivor’. It’s a lot I know, and I’m still trying to come to terms with it.
I’d been aware of a lump on the right side of my neck for a few months, and made plans to get it checked out as soon as we arrived in Adelaide, which we did on the 26th September.
The following day I was told that I had cancer in my lymph gland. Additional tests revealed cancer in my tonsils, and tongue but, the cancer had not spread anywhere else in my body, and that was an enormous relief.
I was admitted into St Andrews Hospital 21st October, where my brilliant surgeon, Dr Suren Krishnan, used the Da Vinci Surgical System, (Transoral robotic surgery – TORS) to successfully remove both tonsils, some tongue, soft pallet, and a couple of other areas in the back of my mouth/throat that showed signs of cancer cells, all with sufficient margins to ensure he ‘got it all’. After that, Dr Krishnan picked up his scalpel and removed the lymph gland from my neck. Job done! Truth be told, he could have removed the lymph gland first then the other stuff, I mean how would I know? I was asleep.
A week after the operation, we got the results from the pathology, Dr Krishnan did indeed get it all! There is no need for any radiation or chemotherapy treatments. To quote my doctor, “This is the best possible outcome.”
I was released from hospital on the 1st November and am continuing to get better each day. I have some nerve damage, most likely temporary, to my face, neck and shoulder, and a magnificent scar down the side of my neck from that pesky little lump. But I am alive, I am cancer free, and I am eternally gratefully to all involved in achieving this for me.
I’m sure that the food in St Andrews was excellent, but I wasn’t able to make the most of that.
I’m hankering for a pizza but it would probably go off before I managed to suck my way through it and I doubt it would look very appetizing pureed. It will be a while before I can eat normally again, but I will.
I cannot speak highly enough of the healthcare system in SA. From my very first appointment with a local GP, to the ENT specialist, my surgeon, the nurses, and hospital staff at St Andrews, including a speech pathologist, and nutritionist. Couldn’t fault them, not one. the communication between all these services was open and clear, and everyone is just so darn friendly here.
Now of course I have written this from my perspective, me this, I that, but of course it wasn’t just me involved. I chose not to tell anyone about this until I had a better idea of what the situation was, but from the very beginning Peter has been there with me, every fearful step of the way. Supporting me, worrying about me, loving me. He has had to deal with getting the van in for repairs by himself, arranging accommodation for us, and running between home and the hospital a couple of times a day. In truth, I think there were times when he was more exhausted than I was.
I guess the only other thing to comment on is how Peter and I are coping with my recovery in the caravan. It has been perfectly fine. Let’s face it, we have everything in the van that we would have had at home. It’s just, everything is a lot closer. 😊 We’ve also been very lucky with the caravan park we are staying at, Levi Adelaide Holiday Park. They have been very obliging in extending our stay, it’s only fifteen minutes from the city, in a lovely quiet suburb and with an oval at our doorstep, we have a nice exercise space available to us.
So, Peter had his quadruple bypass in NSW, then my ruptured appendix in QLD, and now this, throat cancer in SA. Maybe we shouldn’t travel to any more states. 🙂
That begs the question, where do we go from here? Well, I need time to recover, and have some follow up appointments, so we will be at Levi until 22nd December, and while we are here, we can finally get out and explore more of Adelaide and its surrounds. And yes, next year we are going to go to WA. Let’s hope for an ingrown toenail. 🙂
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
Adelaide
So, we finally made it to Adelaide, and what a lovely city it is. We booked into the Belair National Park Caravan Park, which is right next door to, you guessed it, Belair National Park. The drive up to the caravan park was interesting, with narrow winding roads (though nothing like Tom CAT Hill) offering glimpses of the city below us through the grey drizzly sky. I enjoyed it, Peter was too busy driving 😊
Its quite a small caravan park and after all the bush camping we’ve been doing it seems strange to have neighbours again. I’m sure we’ll get used to them, especially those little fluffy neighbours.
We were close to the city, twenty to thirty minutes to the CBD, depending on traffic, so this was a great spot for us to to begin to organise our admin, repairs, purchases (our coffee machine broke, and we simply cannot live without that) and our medical stuff. In amongst all that we did have time to explore and do a couple of walks through Belair National Park.
We were told to look out for Koalas in the national park, we’ve been told things like that before, pah! But this time. We saw not one, not two, but sixteen individuals. How great is that? I’ve only ever seen two in the wild before and to see this many in one area was a real treat.
Of course it wasn’t all about the Koalas. The park itself was quite pretty, with a couple of gentle waterfalls, the odd bird, and it was green with little bursts of yellow, white and mauve wildflowers.
Another little walk, just around the back of the caravan park, led us to a group of Kangaroos just lazing around enjoying the day. Perhaps five full grown males in the group, I’m not sure how many of the younger ones were male, but the fact that there were so many males surprised me. I didn’t think the blokes hung around together like this. Anyone have any ideas?
We had seven days at Belair before moving to the Levi Adelaide Holiday Park, which is only fifteen minutes from the city. Civilisation here we come. First stop…Woodfired Pizza!
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
Broughton Valley & Worlds End
Our drive from Lake Hart to Broughton Valley led us through acres and acres of canola fields, and unlike the earlier fields we passed through, most of these were in full bloom. I don’t need to tell you how pretty they looked.
It was a bit hard to find the campsite at Broughton Valley, even with help from Wiki Camps. In the end, we simply followed the river along a dirt road until we could go no further. While Peter checked the water level, I wandered away and as luck would have it, I found the campsite. We would have driven straight past it if we hadn’t had to stop.
We spent a couple of nights in idyllic surrounds camped on the banks of the gently flowing Broughton River. We were surrounded by lush green meadows and really happy sheep. I mean with this much food and these views…why wouldn’t they be happy.
We’re suckers for an interesting signpost. That’s how we got to the Centre of Australia. I mean who could resist a sign saying ‘Centre of Australia’? Not us! 😊 So we really had no way of avoiding a sign that said ‘Worlds End‘.
Not only was this a great place to stay (we were there for four nights) but it’s super popular, and with good reason. Worlds End offers a large areas for camping, with many fire pits scattered around, a few walking tracks to keep you busy and plenty of hills to keep Peter happy.
Of course it’s not all about keeping Peter happy, I was taken care of too. While he was out striding up hills, I was out stalking the local birds and I was thrilled to spy another first. A family of Adelaide Rosellas, along with some Galah’s and White-Winged Choughs (pronounced cough).
So, where to from here? Well, we’re heading into the big smoke, sort of. Our next stop is Adelaide, and we are really looking forward to it, and to getting the caravan fixed. 😊
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
Lake Hart, Woomera and Andamooka
Out of necessity, Adelaide is our next destination. We have car and van repairs repairs and we’ll take advantage of the big city to catch up on our regular medical check-ups. Ahh, the joys of getting old(er). 😊
But there’s still plenty to see and do on the way.
Not least of which was Lake Hart.
My oh my, what a pretty spot this is, if you haven’t been there…go!
Like Lake Eyre, Lake hart is for the most part a large (16,000 hectares when full) dry Salt Lake. However, it is far easier to get to than than Lake Eyre. Just a short way off the Stuart Highway, you can park your RV in the large rest area (overnight stays are permitted) then a short, easy walk, including a tunnel under the railway track, to bring you to the very edge of Lake Hart.
We walked onto the lake for quite some distance and apart from a few pockets of water, the lake was dry, though damp underfoot. We presumed that Lake Hart was in the process of drying out after all of the rain. After an hour or so exploring we enjoyed a very pretty sunset, and went back home.
I think the most intriguing thing about these salt lakes is the “moveable” water. Do you recall I spoke of the water in Lake Eyre moving? This is due to the fact that the water is so shallow and the lakebed so flat that the wind actually changes the position of the water. Well, if you ever doubted this, I now have proof.
We could see the lake from Chunky Bum, and the next morning I was surprised to see what looked like reflections. Could it possibly be water? I quickly grabbed my camera, went back to the lake and yes, where we had been walking on a dry salt bed was now covered with about two centimetres of water. I was gob-smacked. Its one thing to be told of these things, quite another to actually see them. The water moved by no less than a kilometre.
It seemed the wind had changed directions overnight and had blown/pushed the water back towards the shore. I got a big kick out of that, and still do. Quite extraordinary!
Peter finally dragged me away from Lake Hart and we made our way south. We called in to Woomera, which is an operational rocket and missile testing site. Peter loved it there, he pointed out the Jindivik, Ikara, Malkara, Bloodhound missiles and even a WF 44 weather radar that he used to look after (ancient past, ancient technology, ancient …) well, you get the point. But I have to say, it surprised me how much I enjoyed it – very interesting to say the least.
At its peak Woomera played a vital role in the development and testing of rockets and missiles and was somewhat of a pioneer in launching satellites. Properly known as Woomera Rocket Complex, it’s still carrying out important defence and astronomical work. The town is now open to tourism and is a very interesting place to visit. Unfortunately the weather didn’t want us to play, so we missed out on using the powerful telescopes there.
Andamooka is billed as an astronomical observatory but this is a bit misleading. You can use a telescope here but you have to phone a mobile phone number and if it suits the volunteer you might be able to arrange something. Andamooka has a street named ‘Pick Street’ but it would take a lot more than that to get us back there again. To be frank it didn’t impress us. It’s a working opal mining town and they are anything but attractive. It was very, very quiet and even the local pub didn’t appeal. Still glad we went there, we’re all about seeing this great country and places like Andamooka are a part of what makes it great.
Now Roxby Downs is a different matter all together. Travelling the Outback a lot we see all kinds of downs, Marion Downs, Davenport Downs Brunette Downs… But Roxby Downs is different. It’s an unexpected, pretty, well-kept oasis in the Outback. It has a really nice feel to it. It’s well-watered and green and the caravan park was really nice too.
We joined the Stuart Highway at Kulgera and headed south towards Adelaide and this is a great drive. We’ll carry on from here all the way to Worlds End.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
Coober Pedy was our next destination. We had both been looking forward to this, it is another opal mining town, but bigger than Lightning Ridge and White Cliffs. In fact, the mining area of Coober Pedy is quite extensive, and still growing.
The population of Coober Pedy is around 2000, and of those about 80% live partially, or fully, underground in dugouts. The soil here is very sandy, gravelly, and lacking in nutrients. This, combined with the scarcity of water, means that Coober Pedy as very little vegetation. Instead of garden plants the locals decorate their gardens with things that can survive this harsh country (but mostly, things that failed to survive).
We checked out a couple of caravan sites in town, and they all looked pretty basic to say the least. Besides, I had decided months ago that we were going to stay at Tom Cat Hill campground; a bare, exposed campground dug out of the side of a large hill. It was also a pretty basic campground, but what a view!
I’m still having trouble resizing videos, but if you can put up with a bit of rendering, this’ll show you the drive up to our camp.
Now I don’t often mention the weather, unless it’s extreme. It gets hot, cold, wet everywhere so it’s not worth mentioning. But here at Tom CAT Hill, the wind blew to extremes and because of the exposed nature of our campsite and the terrain, we got sandblasted for the three days, this was made worse by a sandstorm on our second day there. I try not to exaggerate too much, but in this instance I don’t have to exaggerate at all.
We don’t often do the usual touristy stuff, but we did visit a few of the underground buildings while we were here. They really were quite interesting and they varied from stylish and functional to downright weird. The buildings are not dug vertically down into the ground, but dug horizontally into the side of the hills. The climate in Coober means that these dugouts are pretty much the optimum way to live. Blistering heat in the summer, cold temps during winter and that dust storm that we experienced is a common thing here.
I think the highlight of Coober Pedy was the Breakaways. This is a series of lowish hill formations that we could see from Tom CAT Hill, and I nearly said, Ahh let’s not bother. But I didn’t and I’m so pleased we did go. The landscape is quite extraordinary, with the Breakaways seeming to pop up out of the otherwise flat landscape, and we spent a good four hours exploring the area.
We were both especially impressed with the “Brown Dog, White Dog” formations, we couldn’t see the “dogs” but were impressed by the formations and the stark colour difference.
Coober Pedy was an interesting place to visit, and we’re pleased we ticked it off our list, but the phrase – Been there done that. – inferring no need to revisit, sits well with us.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
By the time we left Dalhousie Springs, the roads were mostly dry, our tyre pressures were lowered for more protection, both for them and us, (we were running out of fillings to shake loose 😊) and we were eager be on our way.
We had been following the mud map we had picked up in Oodnadatta. We knew it wasn’t to scale, but it hadn’t led us astray so rather than heading back the way we came, we thought we’d follow the map to Kulgera.
Kulgera is just a small town on the Stuart Highway, not a lot there, but we loved the sound of this word… highway. Any highway would do and this was the closest. We were keen to get off the dirt roads and back on the black. It was a slow drive from Dalhousie, the cars that had gone before us had made a fine job of churning up the dirt, but we soon made it to our first stop; Mount Dare.
I’m not saying Mount Dare is small, but after a coffee in the pub, we had seen it all. So, back on the road we went. We had only been driving a short while when we saw a sign we had not expected to see.
It seems that our little mud map didn’t show state borders and shortly after leaving Mt Dare, we crossed over the Northern Territory border. It didn’t really matter, this route would still get us off the dirt roads quicker and by now we both wanted that. Since leaving Port Augusta on the 14th of August to arriving at Kulgera on the 4th of September we had travelled 1,646 kilometres and of that, 1,240 were on dirt roads and some of these roads really were the worst we have ever seen!
But I digress. Still following our mud map, we drove quickly past Finke, an aboriginal settlement that didn’t look particularly welcoming. This is aboriginal private land anyway and you can be fined for going in there – so we drove on towards Kulgera. Then we saw another sign.
The road to Lambert’s centre was a very narrow, rough, dodgy track, and the skies were promising rain again, but we didn’t turn back, mainly because we couldn’t. We got a lot of tiger stripes (scratches on the car and van) as we squeezed past trees and bushes, but in the end, we did make it. I don’t know, maybe we’re strange, but it felt really good to be at the Geographical Centre of Australia.
However, that really good feeling didn’t last long. While taking photos, I happened to notice something wrong with the van. I called Peter over and said,
“I think we have a problem.” And indeed, we did.
One of the steel straps that held one of our water tanks in place had snapped. Judging by the drag marks behind us, we had been dragging it for the last hundred metres or so.
Now for a man who isn’t mechanically minded, Peter is fantastic at fixing problems on the go. After assessing the situation, we decided the best course of action was to sacrifice the tank. To do this he had to disconnect the water hose from the damaged tank, but that of course would result in loosing all of our water as the tanks are connected. So, Peter fashioned a plug from a tree branch, cut the remaining strap on the tank, disconnected the hose, rammed the plug in tight, and applied a liberal amount of gaffer tape. Job done! And we still had one full tank of water left.
Because these posts are back dated, I can tell you that we have been travelling like this for over three weeks and his repair is still holding strong.
We weren’t going to leave the tank (we pick up other people’s rubbish, we don’t leave any) but the tank weighed a ton. We thought it must still have some water in it, as I helped Peter lift it up so we could empty it I heard something, but it wasn’t water sloshing around. While it was being dragged it had split open and was collecting sand.
Apart from the tank, the lock mechanism on the drawer on the back of the canopy had shaken loose. That was an easy fix and the bolt that held one of the caravan chains in place had shaken loose, so we had been dragging that. I decided we needed a cuppa, that was when I noticed the water pump didn’t work, (so much for one tank of water left) I also noticed the table leg was missing. I found that on the floor, beside the bed. Stuff the coffee, we had a beer! When we finally made it to Kulgera, yes we did indeed make it, we discovered that the inverter wasn’t working. So, no power, unless we stayed on a powered site and of course…we didn’t.
And that is why we will be spending quite some time in Adelaide. Once more WA will have to wait.
Conclusion – corrugation and caravans can’t coexist. Well, they can you just have to keep an eye on things. 🙂
You might be thinking that we were perhaps a little silly to take the caravan on a Journey to the Centre of Australia, and perhaps we were, but consider this. Had we not made this detour, we would have been travelling faster on dirt roads to Kulgera, or worse, travelling at high speed on the highway when the tank strap decided to break. Now that would have been a whole different story.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
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