Big Changes

Well we have made a few decisions and had a few adventures since our last post.

Firstly I have quit my job at the bookshop and David took some time off owed to him and we went on a road trip to Brisbane. We didn"t take the van as we had a limited time to do it in.

But we had a great time, we spent a few days in Charters Towers to visit our Daughter Shantelle and our friends Karen and Chris.

Then we popped into see David's Sister Leonie at Moranbah before heading off to Emerald.

Then onto Brisbane where we spent the week with Peter & Glynis - the old owners of our van. We even helped out at the Brisbane Caravan & Camping Show at the Spinifex Caravan Site where Peter was showing his Caravan.

Then it was time to head home to Darwin so we stopped off at Longreach and visited the Stockman's Hall of Fame - very good. Then onto Winton to see the Waltzing Matilda Museum - that was excellent!

We made it back to Darwin on the 31st October after 17 days travel and 7700kms!!!!!!!! But we loved it.

David went back to work this morning, but only for 3 days as they are having a shift change. then he comes home for 5 days and goes back for his FINAL 9 day swing at the Granites Gold Mine! Yes he is leaving too! But he is staying with HWE Mining and they want him to do some relief work in Kalgoorlie starting the middle of December.

So we will be packing up the van and heading back to Mandurah and then David can Fly out of Perth.

But more news, before we leave Darwin - I have won a return Flight to the Gold Coast on a radio competition. So we have to use that.

We fly out on the 19th Nov and come back on the 26th Nov. We have booked our Accomodation and theme park tickets as well as the Outback Spectacular and Dracula's ( our daughter Bec thoroughly recommends it).

When we get back from the Gold Coast we will have to pack up and go straight away to make it back in time. We are planning on going across the top as far as Port Headland than down through Meekatharra.

Well I think that should do for now!

We will post more after our Gold Coast trip - we are really looking forward to that.

Bye for now.

Happy Travels.

Dave & Shell

Hi All,
Well just got back from Perth/Mandurah. Yes we did freeze it was very cold for us.
We caught up with everyone and enjoyed quite a few meals out as well.
Mandurah is so big and busy now we hardly recognise it.
After spending 5 days in jeans, jumpers and coats it was great to come back to Darwin and put on shorts and t-shirts :)
It is the " Build Up" here at the moment, the lead up to the wet season, so it can get pretty humid. Not that I will be complaining about for a while, I would much rather be hot than cold!
Dave has flown straight back to the Mine (Granites) so he won't be home here for another 9 days.
The Caravan Park still has quite a few vans in it - this time last year it was nearly empty. I guess they want to stay warm as long as they can.
Well that will do for now, I have to catch up on the washing :(
Bye for now.
Happy Travels,
Shell

Welcome To Our Blog

Hi Everyone,

This is very new to us, so please forgive us if we ramble on too Much!

I am Shell and I will be doing most of the posting - that is unless Dave gets the hang of it and wants to take over!

Firstly a bit about ourselves, we are in our mid 40's and absolutely love the Caravanning lifestyle. We started our travelling in January 2008 leaving Charters Towers Qld - where we had spent the previous 2 years. We went down as far south as Albury/Wodonga (our Birth Place) to visit relatives and we travelled as far up as Cooktown Qld stopping at some beautiful places along the way.
Then Dave got offered a good job Flying in and out of Darwin to the Granites Gold Mine in the Tanami Desert - too good to pass up. So we took 2 weeks to get to Darwin, stopping at some great spots along the way including: Normanton & Karumba, then across to Lawn Hill with us Kayaking up the Gorge - a first for both of us! A bit scary but very enjoyable.

Our Kedron handled the road in and out very well but we had red dust through everything!

Then it was time to head down south towards Cloncurry and onto the Barkley Highway.
We were both nervous and excited about heading to Darwin, we had never been there before so we thought of it as a new adventure.
We stopped at the Barkly roadhouse for a night and were amazed to see so many caravans there. It was mid May and Nomad season was in full swing, so we decided we should keep moving so we could get a site when we got to Darwin.
We did of course have to stop at Daly Waters Pub for the night and see "The Chook Man's Show". Which we thoroughly enjoyed with a lovely meal of Steak and Barra and a few Bundy's!

Daly Water's famous "Chookman"

Then it was off again.We spent 2 days in Katherine - where we gave the van and car a good wash - but I did spend the next couple of weeks cleaning out red dust inside the van.
We had been told by many travellers that the best park to stay at in Darwin was Lee Point - but they didn't take reservations, it was pot luck when you got there.
So we arrived here on 5th June 2008. The park was nothing like we expected - very run down. We got an Ensuite site with a laundry area. So we brought a washing machine and put up a few shelves, watered our grass and now it is very comfortable.

Dave started work a week later, flying out for 9 days and home for 5. I just pottered around until November and decided I needed to get a job as well as I was going crazy. I got a casual job at Big W for 3 months and now I am working fulltime in a bookstore.
We have done many trips since we have been up here, but we leave the van as it is all set up with the annexe and all the other extras you accumulate when you are permanents.
We have been to Kakadu 3 times - great place. Heaps to see and do. Love seeing the Crocs in the wild. We went back to Katherine and did the Gorges tour - very worthwhile.
One of my dreams has been to go on a cruise, so while we are both working we have booked an 11 day cruise to Vanuatu for April next year. So we will continue working until March and when we return from the cruise we will hook up the van and decide which direction we wish to head off in.
O.k I have got you all up to speed. Next week Dave & I are flying over to Perth as we are spending a week in Mandurah - the place we call home! We will be catching up with 2 of our Daughters - Bec and Teigan. Getting our tax done and socializing with friends, sounds like a good break. But we will have to put up with the cold weather - one thing about Darwin, you really get used to all this lovely warm weather.

Happy Travels - Shell