Day 12 - Norseman

Ok so this travel thingy is meant to be exciting! Not today, we travelled from Madura to Norseman without turning the steering wheel. The road is long & straight. We travelled the longest straight section of road in the world today. Nearly 140km without a corner.

You know I reckon they should liven roads like this up a bit, get artists to build roadside sculptures, put up some signage that stimulates you….like a moving trivia quiz, a question on a billboard then 2km up the road the answer? What do you think? Send through your suggestions for making the road “Interesting”.

The Dream Pot was an outstanding success today, because we are pushed for time Ness decided to prepare dinner before we left this morning. So she threw 6 chook drumsticks, a couple of onions, a tin of tomatoes, half a cup of soy sauce, garlic, chilli & a packet of chicken noodle soup, bring to the boil in the pan & simmer for 10 minutes, then put the pan into the dream pot & leave it to cook in its own heat & juices. Unpacked it at 5pm (9 hours in the Dream Pot) & heated up some rice and Ooh La La…… the meat just fell off the bone & tasted amazing! It is also your lunch tomorrow. :)

Hey I was looking through some old blogs last night & I reckon I should get sponsored to do these blogs & endorse products for companies…. Think about it, I constantly praise Land Rover & Trakmaster, Dream Pot, I do caravan park critique’s and road reports. How do I get a job just constantly travelling & not doing too much work? (If any of you reply & say I already have that as a job I’ll retaliate via the blog & it won’t be pretty!)

Got a special mention tonight, Fern & Judy read the blog, last night their son Gerard & his wife Asher had a baby boy called Paddy. Welcome to this weird & wonderful world Paddy.

Can anyone enlighten me on this one, is there a Peeing etiquette in the bush? I mean sometimes when you gotta go….you gotta go. Today we pulled into a roadside rest area, it had garbage bins but no toilets. I needed to do number ones so I went for a roll into the bush & found a nice spot. But while I was doing my business I started to think “Hmmm I wonder where it is best to pee in the bush?” I mean I’d hate to think that my wee was going to kill a bush or a tree or some animals! So c’mon you greenies & wee experts, give me your suggestions on where to go!

Some readers comments & questions

Meredith’s partner Nathan is on a boat in the middle of the ocean without a sail! I seriously question some sailor’s mentality…. Why would you go out into a place that you know is dangerous with a piece of equipment that is known to fail? Doh! I’ll keep two wheels firmly on dry land thanks. Merry Berry…my husband is harsh but I know you can give as good as you get.

Tereasa thought of me the other day, she was in Aldi & they were selling wheelchairs! I’m a bit disappointed T, you have as much chance of seeing me in an Aldi wheelchair as you do seeing me in a Great Wall ute…..they are both pieces of crap!

Heather we are doing this trip for you & for all the blog readers, we often think of family & friends when we do something on our journeys…..it goes like this “Hey Ness….. ????? (insert name of family member or friend) would really love to be here doing this…… Bad luck they are not!!!!”

Brad A, don’t start picking at me for my grammatical discrepancies, if I say the whales were frolicking they were bloody well frolicking! And how would you know what they were doing? Were you there? No…you were in your office finishing a 14 hour day in front of your computer! When you finally buy your caravan and come with us on a real road trip I’ll take you to where the whales frolic!

Nikki commented on me letting the car run almost out of fuel, she never lets her car run with under 100km of fuel left….. Nikki there is a great Seinfeld episode where Kramer takes a car for a test drive and it runs low on fuel. The adrenalin rush & excitement of not knowing exactly when it is going to stop!.....you should try it one day! And Tell Rob your BMW has a great fuel filtration system, any crap in the tank will be stopped long before it gets to the engine.

Oh and as for ringing ahead….. We are in the bush love! Sometimes mobiles & all the gadgets we get so reliant on just don’t work in the bush!  

Annie’s Blog

I got this travel thingy all worked out, I know what to do to get my mum to come sit in the back with me, I know what to do to get my dad to pull over and get me out of the car for a break, I know what to do to get a biscuit or a drink….Too easy, I am Queen of this bus and what I say goes!

This road we were on today was sooooo straight, my dad told me it was the longest straight stretch of road in the whole world…..Ahhhh but what about other worlds Dad, what about the sixth galaxy behind the milky way just to the left of the black hole?.....or am I getting carried away?

My dad amuses himself, today when we pulled up he looked in the soft dirt for tracks, he thinks he is like that Bear Grills guy on TV, he saw some paw prints & some dried Poo, Mum dared him to taste it to see if he could work out what it was from but he didn’t. Then me and mum saw him out in the bushes taking photos? Mum asked him what he was doing and he said he was taking pictures of wheelchair tracks leading into the bush!..... Me & Mum just shook our heads.

Why am I still so tired, it is only 6 o’clock and I’m pooped, I don’t know it must be the West Stralian air that is making me tired. Elise when you get here I hope you don’t get as tired as me.

Lots a love from

AnnieInAVan

Day 11 - Madura Pass

We left Fowlers Bay after a pleasant night, that is a place that Ness & I both reckon you could come to and really unwind. There is no distractions at Fowler Bay, the fishing is awesome (not that I went fishing) there is access to the beach for 4WD & Quad bikes and some amazing sand dunes to play in & on. You could come here for a week and do absolutely nothing! Or do everything!

We had to drive back to the highway via another dirt road, this one was a little rougher than the one on the way in, quite a few mud puddles from recent rains but the Land Rover & the Trakmaster handled it easily.

Once out on the highway it was just dead straight roads, so we decided to amuse ourselves. Annie was in the back with her multitude of items….. a couple of books, soft toys & the occasional biscuit to keep her happy, Ness asked me some Quiz questions, but the book was stupid so that didn’t last long, Ness then went to Soduko & left Annie & me to fend for ourselves! After a while Annie got bored, so we decided to put some music on, whipped out the CD holder & found a classic “Best of Air Supply” which we whacked into the player, for the next hour Annie was in the back humming and laughing to Air Supply’s best efforts & Ness & I were in the front laughing and cringing.

We turned off the main road at the Head of Bight, this is where you can go and see the Southern Wright Whales during breeding season, when we arrived there were about 6 or so frolicking in the water close to shore. There are timber walkways that you can go on to get to viewing platforms, it is amazing, you have to see these things playing in the waves, can’t believe we almost wiped them out!

We called in here on our last trip and I took photos of Vanessa jumping off a seat, have a look at the latest pictures where Ness tries to recreate the same photo….With Annie attached!...Cool.

We also saw a Dingo on the road to the whales, he stood & posed for a couple of photos before sneaking away, excellent, wild dingo & wild whales all in the same day, tick that off my bucket list.

I know some of you think you know Vanessa, but have a go at this. Today we were driving along the Nullarbor Plain and coming towards us was this guy on a pushbike. He had saddle bags on and racks and he was also towing a little trailer. I love people that do stuff like this, challenge themselves for whatever reason. I was just about to say to Ness, isn’t that awesome when she turned to me and said “Look at that F^#*ing idiot!.... Why would you do something stupid like that.”

So if you think you know Ness….. sometimes she just surprises me!

Tonight we ended up in a place called Madura Pass, it is basically a service station, some cabins and a really simple caravan park. It is in WA so it is 1.5 hrs behind SA time. So when it was 5pm it was really only 3.30pm. We decided to keep Annie up as late as possible, to try to adjust her clock slowly and we went up to the service station/hotel for tea. Ness ordered roast of the day & I had fish. Real pub food cooked by a real pub cook, he actually served it himself. These are the experiences that make a trip like this really worth it.

Annie’s Blog

Still got the yummy green stuff coming out my nose….. hope it lasts for ever! It is only clear Annie…don’t exaggerate.

Mum & Dad put this really weird music on in the car today, I think they were men singing but they sounded like girls! And they sang about all this mushy lovey dovey stuff! Mum & Dad must have really liked it though coz they were singing the songs at the top of their voices in the car!

I saw the biggest fishes in the world today, they were splashing and playing, I wish all my mum’s group friends were here and we could go swimming with them.

I also saw this red dog, Dad said it was a Dingo but I think he is mistaken, it just looked like a red dog to me.

Tonight we went to this place for tea, Dad said it was a Pub…. I kind of liked it, maybe one day I’ll spend time in pubs? They look like fun places. Mum let me crawl on the ground in the pub, it was lots of fun, do you have any idea what you can find on the floor in an outback pub!

The time feels different tonight, I feel like I should be asleep, but mum hasn’t fed me or read me my stories. I think I’ll go to sleep now and hopefully it will be normal time when I wake up.

Goodnight from

AnnieInAVan

Day 10 - Fowlers Bay SA

Now this is what travelling is all about. Today we left Elliston and it was quite miserable & wet. Headed up the coastal road to Ceduna. This is our last chance to stock up before we head across the Nullarbor, but we can’t stock up too much as we have to throw out fruit & veg when we get to the WA border.

Not much to report about the roads, this part of SA is mainly farming & coastal, but the road runs far enough away from the coast that you can’t see anything.

Got our groceries back to the van & had some lunch, had a laugh because we had parked outside the local CentreLink office, I was out the back of the van & saw one guy sculling his can of Rum n Coke before going inside! Some people are just destined to be losers their whole life!..... Ness & some of you will go crook at me for saying that!..... My blog & I can say what I want!

There was also a local lady standing outside the service station flagging down cars to try & get a lift, we would have given her a lift if she was clean…… and dry…… and sober….. and didn’t smell like a test subject for a deodorant factory!...... I know I know….Sorry!

Ok so today we went off road, well not really we had to travel 10km down a dirt road to get to Fowlers Bay. It was great & our first taste of Off Road for this trip. Fowlers Bay is basically just a fishing community, there is a jetty, a kiosk, caravan park and a few fishermen’s houses but not much else. It was discovered & named by Mathew Flinders.  I had planned to go fishing today but by the time we got here & set up I’d lost the urge! Oh well another day.

Ness & Annie have caught the  flu or a bug or something, Ness has a sore throat & has trouble swallowing & Annie has a runny nose and is grumpy & grizzly. It was a quiet time in the car today, Annie slept a lot & Ness was resting in the passenger seat. I was amusing myself by waving at other vehicles, cars, trucks, motorbikes….. It’s fun trying to get them to wave back at you.

The start of the boring bits tomorrow, ask me some questions as I’m running out of things to write about! 

Annie’s Blog

Today I felt funny, I had a pain in my tummy, I got these two massive bits of hard white stuff pushing through my gums and this really yummy green stuff keeps dripping out my nose right onto my tongue! Mum & Dad kept saying “Poor Annie, you must be feeling terrible” ….Aw Duh!!! You try having a big poo in your tummy, two big things growing in your mouth and a nose that mum keeps trying to wipe dry with a cloth that feels like sandpaper!

Hey speaking of that green stuff that comes out of your nose…… I never knew we could feed ourselves, I’m going to eat as much of this stuff as I can, it tastes awesome, it’s better than some of the baby food mum gives me….. How do I make more of it?

Come to think of it, I’ve never really tasted the brown stuff that goes into my nappy! Can we eat that too? Annie I have taught you better than that…no it can’t!

Dad was annoying me today, he was waving at other cars & trucks….. How embarrassing! How much longer do I have to put up with Dad being silly?

Love to you all 

AnnieInAVan

Day 9 - Elliston

After a somewhat noisy night in Pt Augusta, why would you build a caravan park right next to the busiest north/south truck route through central Australia? Trucks were going past alllllll night!

We packed up the van, had brekky (Cornflakes & honey…..Mmmmmm) and then headed out of the caravan park. I looked at the fuel gauge and it said that I had 130km to go to empty. Now for those of you who know Pt Augusta you will be aware that the caravan park is North of the town & to get fuel you have to actually drive back towards town to the nearest service station. So I said to Ness, “is there fuel at the next town?” Have you ever done a Youi (U Turn) with a 20ft van behind you? 

Ness quickly pulled out our trusty Michelin Truckies Road Atlas, supplied by Pete Appleby (Thanks mate) who works for Michelin. And she said that the next town we were heading to was Iron Knob (more on this later) and there was fuel there according to the Atlas.

So off we head, a beautiful sunny morning, Annie snoozing in the back, Ness doing Sudoko & me lost in my thoughts whilst concentrating on the road. We passed the refugee camp that is just out of Pt Augusta, I’m going to call in there one day & say g’day to a couple of new arrivals…. Sorry getting sidetracked…

We turn into Iron Knob…..(Why do I smile every time I type that?) and we see the abandoned shell of what used to be a petrol station! Definitely no fuel there. I say to Ness, don’t worry it will be in town. Only to spend the next 15 minutes driving around Iron Knob (Hehehe…) looking for a fuel station!

By now the fuel range is down to 65km & I know that Whyalla is 55km away, so we make the decision to head to Whyalla & fuel up. Now I was not really worried as we carry 2 Jerry cans with us with 40 litres of diesel, so we could have used this. But it just goes to show, you can’t always trust what you read.

Pete, your map book is in the post back to you…..you know what to do with it!

Iron Knob…..Hehehe, funny isn’t it? Did any of you see Billy Connolly’s World Tour of Australia? He rode through here and spoke about it. So I can’t say any more than the great man except that it is a great name for a town that now does not have a fuel station!

Our Country

Today on the way to Elliston we saw some of the most amazing terrain, huge fields strewn with white rocks, it almost looked like snow, there is no way that grass could grow to support sheep or cattle. We saw several paddocks with Goats? Maybe that is all that can survive down here? Imagine the early settlers coming down from Adelaide to establish farms and their disappointment when they find out that their 100 acres is covered in rocks! Check out the pics when Ness puts them up.

Customer Service

Now I’m not whingeing here but have a listen to this, I know a lot of you work in hospitality or customer service, have a think about how people see you. Today we arrived at Elliston Caravan Park, Ness jumped out of the car to check us in and pay. She said when she walked into the office it stank of cigarette smoke….(for the smokers out there if you take offence….Bad Luck!) but then she explained that I was in a wheelchair & if they had an accessible bathroom. (Now I don’t need it as the van has a shower & toilet, but if I can use theirs it is much better) He said to Ness, Yes we have one but because the park is fairly quiet I’m not opening it as I will have to turn the power on to it & then have it cleaned!

He just didn’t give a hoot! So guess what, we won’t be staying here again & I’m asking you to make your own decision if you ever get to this part of the world. (Don’t stay here he is a dickhead!)

My Aunty Liz,

Aunty Liz rang me the other week, she asked if I could make it to England for a few days as she was having a Shindig to celebrate her doing the same job for 60 years. Imagine that, she has worked at the same place for 60 years, never gone on strike or got shitty with her boss!

I had to tell her that we couldn’t come as we would be on our road trip. She said it wouldn’t be the same without me there, But keep yr chin up Aunty Liz, have a fun week & say G’day to Uncle Phil. Kinda glad we can’t go, Cousin Charley is a pain, but his wife is ugly as! You are a shocker Mr Wood!

Special Mention

I just want to say hello to my friend Jack Allan, Jack comes out to visit me, Ness, Annie & Panda at our house, and he loves his dad taking him for a ride on the Quad Bike. Jack fell over on Friday and broke his leg. Now he has a big plaster on his leg so it will get better. Hi Jack, we can’t wait to see you when we get back. I hope your leg gets well soon and you can come and see us all at our house.

Replies & Responses

Marg sent through her endorsement of the Dream Pot, she used one for years & then when she was finished with it sold it on Ebay! Hope there was no Porridge left in it Marg. Hey thanks to you & Norm too, we always love your responses to the blog, I’ll share today’s message with the readers in a future blog, it made me & Ness smile.

Heather & Arama are both envious of our travels…..Hahaha suffer! We will try not to rub it in too much ladies…. (No way!)

Heather also reminded me that my Dad used to make up stupid lines to well known songs, so that is why Ness & Dan go crook when I say “All the boys & girls want a pumped up Kitchen…a pumped up kitchen”

Egg you are now officially on the list, sorry but for some reason your email disappeared? Maybe it was due to the fact that I didn’t want you to hear about every time the old Land Rover broke down?

Rob suggested that Ness go dreadlocks with her hair? No thanks Rob if I woke up next to her with dreads I’d not know whether to kiss her or fight her!

Annie’s Blog

Today Mum & Dad had one of “Those” discussions! Dad left the place where we slept last night and said to Mum “We’ve got enough fuel to get us to the next town” Mum said “Are you sure?” and then checked in this book thingy that tells them where you can get stuff. (She always double checks stuff Dad says)

But when they got there the shop that sells the fuel stuff was closed and all the windows smashed. And there was nowhere else in town to get the fuel thingy. Dad drove around for a while, I could tell he was hoping there was a fuel shop somewhere else just so he could be right….. but there was none! Mum got that look on her face that says “Why didn’t he just get fuel before we left!” apparently she got the same look on their last trip when the car said they had 83km of range and the next town was 90km away!

Anyway Dad said he would just drive to the next town & in the end we got there and found a Fuel thingy shop. It’s fun watching my Mum & Dad work together like this.

What’s the deal?

When we were driving today Dad kept looking at these fields that had heaps of rocks in them, he was getting soooo excited, he kept saying to Mum look at those rocks, nothing would grow in there, how hard would that be to farm!..... What’s the big deal Dad, its just rocks! It would hurt my knees & hands to crawl on & it was just boring! Parents are silly some days.

We stopped at this place called Cowell, Mum & Dad bought some fish and chips and guess what happened? The Magic Flying Fairies turned up!.....See they really are Magic, wherever I go they know and keep following me. A bit like the box on wheels, we can’t get rid of that either.

Bye till tomorrow….I’m tired tonight. So tired that you went to sleep immediately after I put you down…Bliss.

Love AnnieInAVan….Kisses & hugs

Day 8 - Pt Augusta

5 minutes & 3 seconds! That is how long the light stayed on for today! So yesterday I went & complained & they got someone to look at the switch & add an extra 16 seconds to it! Thanks very much!!!..... South Australians.

We left Christies Beach this morning & headed north to Pt Augusta, one of the major roads into the city is closed so the traffic was pretty bad leading into the city, I thought about skirting around the edge of town and missing the city, but we probably would have ended up on that road through the Bullshit National Park again so decided just to stick with traffic.

Adelaide is not a bad town, it is fairly clean & smaller than other cities. The houses here have a very distinctive style, lots of large bricks & intricate stonework, very nice.

Vanessa has had this thing with her hair for the last week, apparently the water down here is very “Hard” and it makes her hair dull & lifeless…… Sounds like an ad for a shampoo huh…. “Is your hair dull & lifeless?… use new Oxy wash for bright & lifey hair!.” Quite frankly I have not noticed any difference! And how can your hair be lifeless? Its dead isn’t it? Or am I missing something. I said to her “It still looks good” and she gave me “The Look” you know the one where they don’t have to say anything but you know exactly what they are thinking!

On the way down we pulled in at Pt Wakefield, just to have some lunch & a nappy change. While we were there this busload of aboriginal kids (Boys) pulled in for lunch also. There were about 15-20 of them & they got their lunch and went to different parts of the park to eat it. But they started yelling to each other in their native language. I said to Ness it’s great to hear that they still communicate in their language…..because one day it will be lost!

I stand by what I said the other day; the drive from Adelaide to Pt Augusta is as boring as! I don’t know what makes it so boring but there is no visual stimulation. Apart from trucks & other traffic there is very little to see, when you get close to Pt Augusta you catch glimpses of the Flinders Ranges but apart from that not much else. I still reckon there should be a barge across the Gulf! Cut out Pt Augusta…

This caravan park is a gold mine! It is at the junction of the Sturt Hwy north, the Eyre Hwy heading west & the Princes Hwy heading south. So from around 3PM there is a constant stream of caravans pulling up for the night. At a rough count there are currently between 80-100 vans here (there are 160 powered sites) and they charge $36.40 per site…… Do the maths, that is over $3500 per night! Just for parking your van on a bit of dirt, using $3 worth of water & maybe $5 worth of power! And it is only 2/3 full, during peak season this place books out. Anyone want to buy a caravan park with us? Yarra Glen really needs one!

A couple of years ago Ness & I went to the Caravan & Camping show, we watched this guy do a demo on a thing called a “Dream Pot”, it works by cooking in its own heat, you get all your ingredients together, partially cook them in the pot, then you put the pot inside the Dream Pot and seal it up and it is meant to cook in its own heat & juices.

Initially I thought it was a gimmick, but Ness thought it would work & would be great to make dinner in the morning, let it cook while we drive & eat at dinner time. So we bought one.

Well to cut this story short, we have used it several times now & I’m seriously impressed! Tonight we put 500g of beef, 800g tin of tomatoes & a packet of soup mix into the dream pot and a few hours later we had a gourmet meal! Boiled up some cous cous & bon appetite. Don’t knock it till you try it!

And don’t get me wrong, Ness’s culinary skills are not slipping, its just some days you need an easy quick meal.

Readers comments & info.

Tom & Andre’ are celebrating their 10 years of coupledom. Well done, have a great celebration, Rob will be there to fill us in on the night. Ness will raise a glass of Chateau Cardboard tonight in your honour.

Mel from Qld has joined us on the blog again, great to have you back Mel…..How’s Tom? He must be due for trade in soon????

Ally sent a message trying to explain the Poo thing! Just don’t make sense to me Ally, as her Dad I just can’t help but look at her when she puts the “Poo Face” on, it is hilarious. It brings tears to my eyes. And as for checking the contents of her nappy to see how creative or brilliant she is!.... You gotta be joking!, between dry retching & wrapping the foul mess up so it doesn’t escape the last thing I want to do is check it out to see if I can see Jesus’ face on her nappy! If she ever wants to be creative, please let it not be with Poo!

Annie’s Blog

Yayyyyy my friend William messaged me, that means William, Jack & Erica have all messaged me now. It’s so cool that I am so far away in the box on wheels and my friends are still keeping in touch with me, thanks guys. And William don’t worry about the tooth thing, it only hurts for a little while, and then you can bite your Mum & Dad, I got him a beauty the other day.

My neighbour Ally also sent a message saying that My Dad & Mum will always do weird stuff…. Ohhh Man, I’m only 8 months old and they already make the strangest noises and faces…. Oh and Dad makes up his own words to songs! What is with that? Oh and don’t worry about the Pony thing, I’m only little but I already know how to get what I want from Dad, I just put on this little smile and look slightly sideways at him and he just melts, I reckon I’m on a winner.

Flick sent me a message saying she was going to teach me to Fart….. Dad what is a Fart? I hope it is fun Farting, I think when Flick teaches me I will be the best Farter…..

Another day on the road tomorrow.

Love AnnieInAVan