To Port Augusta. September 12, 2013.

Thursday, September 12th

Still internet, albeit very slow. No photos, would take forever to upload.

The drive from Adelaide was uneventful. Best stop was in a place called Port Germein. It's claim to fame is that it is 'possibly longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere'. Apparently it used to be 1.7km long. Not too sure how long it is now, but we walked it to the end and it was impressive.

Tomorrow we will stock up on some extra supplies and head for the Central and Northern Flinders Ranges.

** Back in internet at Yulara (Ayers Rock Resort) so uploaded a few piccies.

The Pier at Port Germein. Looking out.

The Pier at Port Germein. Looking in.

Heading to The Outback. September 12-21 (approx), 2013.

Thursday, September 12th

Today we are leaving Adelaide and will start heading towards Lake Eyre (Kati Thanda).
Our route will take us via Port Augusta, through The Flinders Ranges where we may spend 1 or 2 nights. Then onto Marree and Lake Eyre.

The internet situation for this part of the trip is unknown: we may have access in certain campgrounds and in Marree, but then again we may not. We certainly won't have any of the days we head out to Lake Eyre proper.

We expect to be in Alice Springs around September 21, give or take a few days, where we'll have internet again.

See you in Alice Springs! We'll post anytime we do have access.

Caroline and Stephen.

Aspendale to Adelaide, September 10-11, 2013.

Tuesday, September 10th

After a photo-op with the Hall-Konstandakos family - before the girls went off to school, we set out for the 2-day drive to Adelaide. Pleasant enough.
Given we reached our destination for the day, Mount Gambier, around 3:15pm (there was a half hour time change), we had plenty of time to visit the local South Australian 'Transport, Travel and Motoring' Department, to get the necessary paperwork for our car in SA. We had called them some days ago and were told to do this upon entry into the state. So there we were.

We presented our issue at the counter and were assigned the 'number 2' in the office. She had never had this query before and she promptly went to work finding out what the requirements were. Shortly after that the 'number 1' (Tony Wilson) of that particular branch was involved and we couldn't help but sensing that they were all a tad excited about getting one of these :). We were amazed with the level of good service we received. After learning that we did already have the necessary documents for Victoria, they dug a little deeper and told us that because of that we didn't need anything extra for South Australia. We suspected that already but it wasn't very clear on their website. Tony confirned that particular info was not on the website. He then printed out a copy of the relevant laws for us to keep, in case we'd encounter police who weren't aware of this. Very nice! Thanks very much to Tony and colleagues for making this one of the best experiences in a registration office anywhere!!!

We stayed the night in the Blue Lake Holiday Park campground.  This was the second night of camping in Australia and clearly we are still working out our systems.  It bucketed down during the night but our tent held up and we stayed dry inside.  A very good test.

Saying goodbye to our wonderful hosts for 2 nights.
Gaby, Jono, Amelia, Patty and Bella.

Camp 2 at Mt Gambier.
Everything deployed for wet weather.

Wednesday, September 11th

The remainder of the drive to Adelaide was easy and the roads good.  We arrived in the city center of Adelaide before the banks closed and in time to pickup our Australian banking card.

Unfortunately Sterlin decided to breakdown, right in the city center.  We were stopped in a no-stopping zone and Sterlin was not starting.  Stephen quickly diagnosed the issue as a bad battery and proceeded to swap the dead main battery with the working auxiliary battery.  Ten minutes later we were on our way again, albeit with only one working battery.  If we had to have this issue Adelaide was a good place for it, as there hare Battery World shops which sell batteries in the same size as we have in Sterlin.  It took three stores mind you, but we found a replacement. Sterlin's battery is not stock standard in Australia. The new battery was installed in the basement of the Hilton Hotel. The hotel's basement can accommodate cars that don't fit the height restrictions of the standard car park. We weren't the only 4WD with stuff on the roof in there.

Robe.  Beautiful coastal township.

Aspendale (Melbourne), September 8-9, 2013.

Sunday, September 8th

Jono and Patty welcomed us into their home when we arrived there Sunday late afternoon.  It was very good to see these long time friends again and see how much their three kids had grown. Stephen kidnapped Jono for about 40 minutes to adjust the mounting bolts for the roof top tent with the job being completed in fading light. Lovely evening chatting and catching up.

Monday, September 9th

Monday was spent getting more supplies for the coming trek into the outback. Patty took me food (and related) shopping, while Stephen kept himself busy getting an actual print-out of our 'non-registered vehicle transport accident cover' from Victoria Roads TAC. Naturally we never received a fax back the other day. I suspect he also went browsing in some auto/4WD accessories warehouses :).

Monday evening we caught up with yet another of the 'Bevin cousins', Sylvia, and we got to meet her beau Luke, which was a bit of a scoop in the family!

Cousin Sylvia, Stephen and Luc catching-up in a pub.

Sydney to Melbourne. September 7-8, 2013.

Saturday, September 7th

In the morning we said goodbye to our good friends Fiona and Phil and their kids Sasha and Jonty, and set out towards Melbourne. We decided to do the drive in 2 days and stopped in Eden, NSW for the night. Eden is where Fiona grew up. We spent most of the day driving and got to the camping ground just after dark, but not before some local fish (flathead) and chips. And we left again early in the morning, so no time really to actually see the place.

It had been a while since we'd set up our tent and it was good to see that all was still in good order.
We realized that the first days/week of driving we'd be adjusting and re-adjusting some of the storage arrangements in the car to make everything as easily accessible as possible at the right time of day.

Fiona, Jonty, Charlie, Sasha and Phil.

Stephen on Aslings Beach, Eden.

Sunday, September 8th

Another long day with the second half of the drive to Melbourne.  The roads were good and the traffic was light so we made good time arriving before sunset.

Apart from getting to Melbourne, one of the other main objectives of the day was to replace the "white spirit" fuel purchased the previous day with "Shellite" another fuel.  A camping shop sold us white spirit claiming we could use it in our Coleman stove.  However, it turns out that white spirit is in-fact a Dry-Cleaning Agent and not a stove fuel.  Shellite is the Australian version of Coleman fuel or what the americans call white gas.  And Shellite is very hard to buy in Australia for some reason.

** When the guy in the camping store said 'white spirit' I was wondering why that name sounded vaguely familiar.... it later dawned on me that that was the stuff used to use to clean things like paint brushes... I should've know better.

Bad White Spirit

Good shellite

Sydney, September 5-6, 2013.

Thursday, September 5th

We have just been told that our car will clear customs and will be released and ready for pick-up at 1:30pm tomorrow. Woohoo!!!

We are looking forward to being reunited with Sterlin after 3 months!!!! 4 for me actually. The plan is to drive to Melbourne this weekend, taking 2 days, via the coast road.

Meanwhile it's been lovely staying with Fiona and Phil, spending time in the city, with gorgeous weather I might add, and catching up with friends: Ian & Leah, Deirdre, Nick.
Fiona has the most amazing blog: Lilyfield Life. Definitely worth a look!

Stephen spent today ringing around various offices to try and organize insurance for the car while in Australia. Turns out that each state has different requirements. Victoria Roads needs us to fax them some paperwork. Not email mind you; fax. Do you realize how difficult it is to find someone with a fax machine these days? We couldn't even find a good old fax service in the neighborhood. I mean really? Fax? In this day and age? In Australia?

This afternoon I popped into the Australian Nat'l Maritime Museum to see the 'Ansel Adams: from the Mountains to the Sea' exhibition.


Friday, September 6th

Last night we had a lovely dinner at La Grande Bouffe in Rozelle with Fiona and Phil.

Dinner at La Grande Bouffe.

This morning we were reunited with Sterlin, woohoo!!!!!!!! It all went without hassles and it only took 5 days. He needed a bit of a jump start but apart from that he's running well. After picking him up from customs we went to pick up our Carnet and other paperwork from the Freightnet Int'l and then drove into Sydney to have lunch with Ray and Andrew.

Now Sterling is parked outside Fiona and Phil's house where we will check, clean and arrange everything, ready to leave tomorrow. First stop: friends in Melbourne.

Repacking Sterlin for travelling.

Sydney, September 1-??, 2013

Monday, September 2nd

Arrived in Sydney last night! Yay! Back on track, albeit a bit later than planned, but hey.

We are staying with our friends Fiona and Phil and will be in town for however long it takes to clear Sterlin through customs. To get the process started we visited the offices of Freightnet International this morning to drop off the 'carnet de passage' for the car and fill in the necessary paperwork. We've been dealing with Maria, who has been very helpful. This whole process with customs can take anything from 5 to 10 days.

For lunch Fiona took us to Nielsen Park, which has a lovely small beach and cafe. We bought some maps to keep us on the right roads and tracks for our Australian Outback adventure.

Nielsen Park Beach, Sydney.

In the afternoon we headed to the State Library of NSW for a little research on a trip to Mt Bevin in Antarctica.  We watched a video of some crazy Australians who made a successful, albeit convoluted ascent of Mt Minto some 25 years ago.  The video did however provide good insight to conditions in the region.

Researching Antarctica at the State Library of NSW.

Recently purchased maps of Outback Australia.