Around Australia in a 4 x 4

By John and Pam Da Costa

We left Sydney on 11 June in our SWB Pajero, towing our very comfortable off-road camper-trailer, and got back home 211 days later on 8 January, having driven some 30,500 kms. We had only relatively minor car/trailer problems along the way: an electrical short in the car horn circuit and a fractured trailer spare wheel mounting while in the Kimberley (rough roads); a crack in the trailer water-tank; and two punctures (one car, one trailer) after getting back onto the bitumen roads in W.A.

Show a sailor a bit of water … the Da Costas white-knuckle a ford in an outback river.

From Sydney we travelled north to Narrabri to spend a few days on the property of friends; then to Uralla for a few days with another old friend. We find that travelling in country-NSW in winter can be a bit of a test, although the warm friends and open fires make it worth the pain. Thence north to the Gold and Sunshine Coasts to visit, stay and go camping, with Pam’s rellies and pilots course-mate Barry Orr, and to catch up with ex-navy friends at Mooloolaba/Buderim. We stayed on a yacht with old fighter-pilot mate Brian Dutch and his wife Susan. (Please do not read anything into the fact that since our visit they have sold the boat and moved to Adelaide.) We also saw Ian Lawson, the “Mickey” Moretons, the Batemans, the Barry Dalys, Jerry Lattin and Rosemary, wife of the late Col Patterson.

From the Sunshine Coast we drove inland through Kingaroy, Biloela and Moura to the gem-fields at Sapphire/Rubyvale, just west of Emerald.

Fossicking

We had wanted to try our hand at fossicking for some time and this was our chance, even though the nights were still cold up in The Great Divide in mid-July on the Tropic of Capricorn. The Blue Gem Caravan Park provided everything we needed (including instruction, advice and a sack of gravel from the gem field). In the two days, we collected a large number of souvenir sapphires, several of which were large enough to have cut and polished. We did not find a fortune (although many people stay for months and do find large stones) but we thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were thrilled with our cut “jewels”. Fairly quickly, then, via Longreach and Cloncurry, we made our rendezvous with our Tag-along Expedition guides and other members of the group in Mount Isa.

John and Jan Tait (4WD Escape) tag-along tour operators had been our guides on a previous, greatly enjoyed, trip through Arnhem Land so we had no hesitation in joining this tour to the Kimberley. We were not to be disappointed with any aspect of the trip. From Mount Isa our convoy of nine (UHF-radio-equipped) vehicles, some with trailers and others tent-camping or set up for sleeping in the back of enclosed 4WD utes, headed north on the dirt roads and tracks of the Queensland Channel Country to beautiful Lawn Hill National Park. A lovely half-day was spent canoeing up the spectacular narrow gorge to a small portage, then up to the next level of the small lake system and a paddle further to the end before heading back. The rest of the day was available to walk some of the trails overlooking the gorge. Some of the party had a closer look at the fossil site at Riversleigh, which we had glimpsed on the way to Lawn Hill.

Beautiful Lawn Hill National Park.

Next day it was further north for morning tea at Bowthorn Station with author Kerry McGinnis (Pieces of Blue) and then a delightful camping spot at King-Fisher Camp (sign-posted KFC!) on the Nicholson River. In the morning, we drove north to Hell’s Gate (not far from the Gulf of Carpentaria). In the “bad old days” this used to be the last point of police escort for traders and travellers heading from Queensland to Darwin. Now it is a roadhouse with reasonable camping sites behind.

Borroloola

Next day we travelled through the Aboriginal settlement at Borroloola in NT (time-zone change) for a visit to Caranbirini Conservation Reserve (the “Lost City”), with its fantastic rock formations suggestive of ancient city ruins. Then we went on to our camp next to the famous Heartbreak Hotel at Cape Crawford (nowhere near the coast!). We were now seeing the first of the many different wildflowers that would be with us for the rest of our journey, particularly the pink/purple mulla-mulla (about the only wildflower that we could consistently get right!). We were still seeing it across the Nullarbor in November.

The next day, we lunched half way across NT at Daly Waters. We had not appreciated that the airfield here had been a major USAAC B-17 bomber base for operations against the Japanese during WWII, as well as a staging field for fighters and other aircraft heading for Darwin. Some relics remain. We passed the gigantic Victoria River Downs cattle station, with its squadron of light aircraft and helicopters by the hangar, before turning north through Jaspers Gorge to Highway 1. We stayed for a pleasant couple of days (fully-catered luxury) on Sara Henderson’s Bullo River Downs cattle/tourist station and got to speak with Sara and daughter Marlee and son-in-law Franz. (They were on different sides of the enormous dining-lounge room, not speaking to each other, because they were in the middle of a battle in the courts at the time.)

We crossed the border into WA (time-zone change and fruit-fly and honey inspection) and cruised on to Kununurra, in the middle of the Ord River irrigation fruit-produce bowl. We took a light aircraft flight over the extraordinary Purnululu National Park (Bungle Bungles), the huge Argyle open cut diamond mine and the vast Lake Argyle behind the Ord River Dam. Mind-boggling sights. We also did a boat trip down the fast-flowing Ord from the dam back to Kununurra after a look over the old Durack family homestead, which had been relocated on the banks of Lake Argyle before the valley was flooded. We stocked up here for the next two weeks in the Kimberley proper.

Bungle Bungles.

After a diversion to Wyndham with its outstanding Five Rivers Lookout over the Cambridge Gulf flood-plains, we headed for the notorious Gibb River Road (GRR) via the old Karunjie Stock Route along the base of the Cockburn Range. This is, arguably, the most spectacular escarpment in the Kimberley.

We dwelt an overnight pause at El Questro station (the camping ground, not the five-star “ranch” accommodation) before heading west along the suspension-testing GRR, fording the Pentecost River at low tide in the morning, then turning north just before Gibb River Station onto the even rougher Kulumburu Road. Here, in early August, we camped on the Drysdale River. The nights were still quite cold (4 degrees C), although the mercury climbed to 35 degrees in the afternoons. There were many wildflowers everywhere. We recall silky grevillea, rosella bush and Kimberley Christmas bush. Most were unknown to us, although (looking at our album) we think we photographed them all!

About 100 km north of the King Edward River, we turned onto a horrendous road (track) to the Mitchell Plateau, River and Falls. Many bumpy kilometres later, after driving through endless Livingstone palms, we arrived at the Mitchell Falls camping area. A long hot walk down to the river was worth it for the cooling swim above the falls and the wonderful sight of their three stages. Our wimpish forethought in booking a share of a helicopter return to camp (five minutes flight) paid off, particularly when we saw the other walkers arrive back.

Theda Station

Next stop was Theda Station and a visit to the sites of the intriguing Bradshaw paintings, unique to the northern Kimberley. No one knows who painted them; the local Aboriginal people call them “rubbish paintings” and have painted over them. But they are very old, and distinctly different from the (later) Aboriginal paintings we are used to. We were told that the latest thinking is that they were done by an early Aboriginal group, before the last ice age. Because of the changing climatic conditions, that group left the Kimberley area and never returned. They either did not paint elsewhere or their work did not survive. This was fascinating stuff, and an attractive style of figure painting, rather African in appearance.

Camping by the Timor Sea … a glass of wine in hand … sunset ...

Long drive back

It was a long drive back down the dusty Kulumburu Road and the GRR to a camp at Manning Gorge, behind the Mount Barnett Roadhouse. Unfortunately, we missed seeing the falls because of the need to secure a fractured mounting for the trailer spare wheel. This was a casualty of the GRR; fortunately not a serious one. The road improved somewhat as we travelled west to Bell Gorge in the King Leopold Range. We walked down to a beautiful swimming hole and the falls – we just had to have a swim. Ever westwards now, we passed through wildflower country and kurrajong trees to Queen Victoria’s Head gap in the Napier Range, which is all that remains of an old Devonian coral reef. The large natural rock in the gap has a remarkable and unmistakable profile of QV. Shortly after, we turned off to Windjana Gorge National Park in the Napier with its population of 70 allegedly harmless and disinterested freshwater crocodiles. We saw about 50, many dozing on the bank of the river, apparently oblivious of our photography from only a few paces range. We also visited the nearby Tunnel Creek that flows waist-deep right through the mountain. Foolishly, we had taken neither torch or sandshoes, so didn’t get to walk through it like the proper tourists do.

Then it was on to Derby and the end of the GRR. We, and the car, had survived (like most do, these days), albeit suffering from some battle damage from the rough ride. After an R&R dinner in the Derby “Resort” Hotel, we headed off on the last part of our Kimberley Tag-along. About 50 km west of the Fitzroy River bridge, we turned off the highway onto a 4WD track to cut the corner to the Broome-Cape Leveque road near Beagle Bay, thence north up the very rough and sandy road to the beautiful Cape Leveque Kooljaman Resort, Aboriginal-owned but “white”-managed.

What a great spot it was. There was a lovely beach, an excellent camping ground and restaurant, all with brilliant orange sunsets over the Indian Ocean and a glass of wine in hand. It’s tough being a traveller in this wonderfully remote part of Australia, but then someone has to do it.

Next day, we took a light-aircraft flight over the Buccaneer Archipelago (880-odd islands), King Sound and Collier Bay and saw the tremendous tidal surges, manifested as “horizontal waterfalls” through the narrows between islands and gaps in cliffs. We also flew over the old BHP iron ore mine on Cockatoo Island. (It was later turned into a resort by Alan and Eileen Bond, who painted it pink!) The colour contrast between the turquoise sea and the reddish-orange land/dark green vegetation was brilliant from the air. After all of that, it was hard to leave this place, but there was more to see, so we started off again south. The next stop was Middle Lagoon with its long sandy beaches and fascinating exposed reef (at low tide) for our last night “on the road” with the group.

Beagle Bay

Next day, 16 August, we drove to Broome via the Beagle Bay Aboriginal community and its mission church elaborately decorated with pearl shell. Suddenly, we were in Broome – our last tag-along destination and first encounter with traffic lights, roundabouts and pedestrian crossings since Mount Isa. It took a bit of adjusting, even though you would hardly describe the traffic as heavy. From here on we would be “doing our own thing”, but not before we had a last dinner with the group at a restaurant overlooking Cable Beach and another glorious Indian Ocean sunset. It had been a great trip and we had made a lot of new friends. The trip is to be recommended.

Camel rides at Cable Beach, Broome.

This has been somewhat of a “novella” but we thought you may have been interested in a detailed account of a journey through one of the more remote parts of Australia (and the world?). We will try to be more concise regarding the rest of our journey, but if you have had enough, ditch it now. We spent a few more interesting days in the historic pearl-fishing town of Broome, where it was the week of the annual Shinju Matsui pearl festival.

The phantom W-Ws

We also had the GRR minor war-wounds to the car and trailer repaired. The first of our chance encounters with old navy friends Rowley and Elaine Waddell-Wood (W-Ws) also occurred here, literally as we were driving out of the Cable Beach Caravan Park. The second was when walking through the sandhills at Eighty Mile Beach, about 150 kms south of Broome; the third in a seafood restaurant at Kalbarri, between Carnarvon and Geraldton in WA and the fourth in the tourist information centre at Port Augusta, SA. Their location had been unknown to us on each occasion, and vice versa. Scary, isn’t it?

Because we were in no hurry, we decided to go back along the Gibb River Road a bit to have another look at the Windjana Gorge fresh water crocodiles and to walk through Tunnel Creek, a great experience. From there we cut across to Highway 1 to visit the commercialised Geikie Gorge at Fitzroy Crossing (not, in our view, as spectacular as the more remote gorges in the Kimberleys, but pretty good nonetheless).

We continued east to Halls Creek to see the remains of the gold rush town of Old Halls Creek and, 114 km toward Alice Springs on the Tanami Desert road, Wolf Creek Crater National Park (NP). The park has a one km diameter, 50 m high crater formed by the impact of a meteorite, either two million or 250,000 years ago, depending on which brochure, map or signpost one reads. It was a most impressive sight, irrespective. There were lots of wildflowers here and all the way back to Broome along the highway.

September

From the Roebuck Bay Caravan Park in Broome, we headed south for a few days at Eighty-mile Beach, only to find the W-Ws there. We had four days of free camping on the beach 100 km south at Cape Keraudren, with the W-Ws, fishing and laying about. This is where the old rabbit-proof fence to Eucla on the Great Australian Bight commenced. Remains of its foundation sea wall jutting out from the cliff-face are still very obvious. From here we acted as back-up for the W-Ws limping to Port Hedland with a serious auto-electrical problem, fortunately fixable.

We parted company there (we thought for the last time on this trip) and headed inland south on the Great Northern Highway to the Pilbara region. We camped and walked gorges in the fantastic, must be visited, Karijini NP which is near the notorious asbestos mining town of Wittenoom.

Dale Gorge, Karijini National Park.

On, then, to Newman and the giant BHP iron ore mining complex and nearby Aboriginal rock carving “galleries”. We free-camped at the strangely named Ophthalmia dam in the ranges of the same name, then back to the rival Hamersley iron ore mining town of Mt Tom Price on the other side of Karijini NP. Then we headed north to Millstream- Chichester NP, via the excellent company road alongside the Hamersley iron ore rail track. We found a lovely campsite on the banks of the Fortescue River in the NP after an overnight in an idyllic, but very lonely, free-camp in Gregory Gorge, some distance downstream on the river. This was at the end of a very tenuous 4WD track recommended to us by a couple of miners at Tom Price. They may have been having a lend of us, but it was a lovely spot. Nearby was a very prominent pure white talcum-like hill that is still spiritually significant to the local Aboriginal people.

Blood red sunsets

We drove to Roebourne via the Roebourne-Wittenoom Road, past Mt. Herbert and Python Pool with their associations with the cameleer traders of the early days. At Roebourne, we took advantage of the excellently organised free day-tour of the Robe River iron ore-processing and loading facilities on Cape Lambert. This included a visit to the beautifully restored old buildings in the historic town of Cossack. Then it was only a short drive to the large and well-serviced mining town of Karratha and nearby Burrup Peninsula with its port of Dampier, Woodside liquefied natural gas plant, blood-red sunsets and a whole peninsula of Aboriginal engravings, so prolific that they are (mostly) not marked on maps or brochures. This must surely have been a special place for Aborigines in the past.

From Karratha we drove to Exmouth/North West Cape and encountered the first nontropical weather since Mount Isa; strong south-westerlies that would be with us until we left Kangaroo Island, SA, in December. We did a whale watching cruise (very up-close and personal), snorkelled on Ningaloo Reef and ate lots of local prawns. I had visited NW Cape Communications Station on duty in the 1980s when it was full-on US Navy, with a small RAN presence. Now, the only uniforms are RAN and civvy contractor overalls. A lot of the onbase ex-USN facilities are now being used as local and tourist clubs, restaurants and hostels.

We had decided to do an 840 km diversion inland to Mt Augustus, as it was advertised in the local brochures as “The World’s Biggest Rock” and “twice the size of Ayers Rock” (Uluru). So, we headed south over the Tropic of Capricorn, again to the turn-off at Minilya Roadhouse for the long day’s drive (635km) over mostly graded dirt roads.

Crossing the line, Capricorn-style.

The campground was in a marginal condition because Dick Smith’s 4WD “Bush- Bash”, which had overloaded the facilities, had finished their final few days there only the previous evening. There was nowhere else to camp. We climbed some of the mountain next day, but there was no doubt that, for us, Mt Augustus had none of the “magic” of Uluru. It was just a big hill, mostly covered in trees. Apparently, it is truly the world’s biggest monocline, different geologically to a monolith like Uluru. Chalk and cheese, really, from many aspects, but we were glad that we went to see it. Now we know.

The 480 km journey back through Gascoyne Junction (the only town in the Shire of Upper Gascoyne – population fewer than 50) to the coast at Carnarvon was rougher than the trip in, but Carnarvon, at the mouth of the Gascoyne, was a sub-tropical green paradise, particularly after the long dusty drive. It was a lovely town with a pleasant climate, large fruit producing and prawn-fishing industries and bougainvillea all over!

Hamelin Pool

Our next destination was the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, encompassing the Hamelin Pool rock-like stromatolite “living fossils” (oldest life forms on earth; the original producers of oxygen for our atmosphere), Shell Beach, Monkey Mia and its famous dolphins and Francis Peron National Park.

It was most interesting, but quite cool and windy, although that did keep down the ever increasing numbers of pesky Western Australian bush flies. From Shark Bay we headed further south to Kalbarri through the most prolific and colourful wildflower stretches we had yet seen, perhaps not entirely unrelated to the significantly cooler, but sunny, weather we were now experiencing.

Murchison River

We had definitely left the warm/hot northern dry season and were now well into the southern spring. Kalbarri, at the mouth of the Murchison River, was a jewel and we stayed a week. There was so much to do: sitting about, touring the spectacular Kalbarri National Park, having a seafood restaurant dinner and having the W-Ws walk in on us yet again.

We also checked out the nearby Hutt River Province. Prince Leonard was off at the doctor’s so was unable to show us around. A scruffy, unshaven but polite and apologetic son (Duke/Prince?) did the honours. We played golf on the excellent local nine-holer at Kalbarri and generally did the tourist thing. Lovely Geraldton, together with nearby settlements, is an attractive and historical area. However, we had spent so much time further north in the warmer weather that we were now beginning to worry about our time-scale for our ferry booking to Kangaroo Island on 1 December. We felt that we had to keep moving after only a brief stay.

So it was on to Jurien, a very nice spot halfway between Geraldton and Perth – a rock lobster (crayfish) port and tourist spot with National Parks nearby, including Nambung (Cervantes) with its famous “Pinnacles” formations.

We stayed a few days before heading inland to Moora on the Great Northern Highway and south to New Norcia, the Benedictine Monastery town, which looks as if it was plucked straight out of Renaissance Spain and plonked down in country WA. We were lucky enough to get a room in the monastery accommodation wing because of a cancellation and so, after a conducted tour of the extraordinary town with its colleges, chapels and domestic buildings, we had dinner, bed, bells to wake the monks at 4 am and breakfast before driving to Perth.

Perth

We had a wonderful two weeks in Perth, staying with our close friends Brian and Marlene Poole. Brian was on my Naval Airman Aircrew Course No 14 (1955), and Marlene was serving at RAAF Uranquinty when NAAC 14 joined RAAF No 23 Pilots Course. We spent a few pleasant days in a cottage on Rottnest Island with them, wined and dined in the Swan Valley, checked out the fabulous wildflower display in King’s Park, viewed the excellent Maritime Museum and other beautifully restored buildings in Fremantle and generally enjoyed ourselves.

Perth skyline.

In Perth, we caught up with many relatives and old navy friends: Anne Hickey (Kennell), her sister Mary O’Donnell and David Orr, who had recently suffered a stroke but is recovering well.

Travelling down the coast past Bunbury and through the Tuart Forest, we spent a few days at Busselton on Geographe Bay and visited Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse. (HMAS Swan is sunk nearby as a recreational diving site.)

Then we drove inland through Donnybrook (home of Granny Smith apples), huge jarrah forests and rolling agricultural country near Boyup Brook, where we were made very welcome and were entertained royally by friends on their property Faraway. We made this our base for a few days’ camping trip to the lovely Margaret River and Augusta areas. We saw more jarrah and immensely high karri forests, right through to the southwestern tip of Australia, Cape Leeuwin, the meeting of the Indian and Southern Oceans. Then we returned north to our camping base just past Margaret River (town).

The next few days were spent touring around the most interesting local area with its lovely wineries (and wine), historical sites and natural beauty. There was a lot to see and do, but the weather was a bit dodgy at this time of the year (cool and rainshowers). We headed back to Faraway via Busselton and Bridgetown for another couple of days of being spoiled rotten.

Valley of the Giants

We finally left Faraway for the south coast: Walpole with its nearby tingle and jarrah forests, including the giant tingle tree (2.4 m diameter) and the treetop walk in the “Valley of the Giants”. All this was spectacular, but showery. We saw the old whaling port of Albany with its 1916-1918 Desert Light Horse war memorial overlooking King George Sound where the large WW I convoy of Australian troopships gathered before the journey (tragically one-way for so many) to Gallipoli, the Middle East and the battlefields of northern France and Belgium. Then there was Esperance, with its lovely coastline (we think the best we saw in WA) and its power-generating windmill farm (indicative of the nature of the winds on this coast). It was getting quite rainy now, but it decreased a bit as we headed north to Norseman. The wildflowers also began to reappear in the drier prevailing conditions.

We decided on a quick trip up to Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Kambalda before heading across the Nullarbor, just for the experience of seeing this historic gold and nickel-mining region. An excellent mining museum, an enormous open cut mine and the (in)famous Hay Street brothels in Kalgoorlie were really the only points of interest on this detour. We stayed overnight and then headed back south toward Norseman and the increasing rain.

From Norseman we turned east and for the first time felt that we were heading home, although we still had almost two months to go. There was continual heavy rain, so we decided to stay overnight in the motel at Balladoni, a roadhouse about 195 km along the highway. There is an excellent museum of the history and geology of the area in the roadhouse; it was well worth a look. Next morning, still raining, we headed off on the longest straight section of road in Australia – 147 kms (90 miles). Not for the first time on our outback journey, we noted airfield markings on widened sections of the road, indicating emergency landing strips for Royal Flying Doctor Service aircraft.

Miserable weather

The miserable weather continued. It was too muddy to drive off the highway to Cocklebiddy Cave and there was no view at all at Madura Pass because of rain and mist. The Hampton Tablelands were barely seen in the murk off to the left and, although there was a temporary pause in the rain, a blustery cold wind was blowing when we went to look at the ruins of the old Eucla telegraph station, almost buried in the drifting sand dunes.

More rain was coming, so we again overnighted in a motel (Border Village). Fortunately the rain eased to just the odd flurry next day (SA time-zone change) and so we were able to lean against the wind and see the fantastic Bunda Cliffs at the head of the Bight, being smashed by the Southern Ocean.

At Ceduna, the eastern end of the Nullarbor, we returned to civilisation and fine weather. In celebration we bought huge Ceduna oysters for our dinner and headed for our camp at Streaky Bay. There we discovered that our trailer had leaked in the driving rain and our carton of photo prints of our journey to date, and all of our books, had sucked water up from the wet carpet, and were dripping wet. We decided to stay put for four days in the fine weather to dry things out.

The prints were saved but the bindings and some pages of our best books were ruined. We cheered up by telling ourselves that if this was the worst thing to happen on such a once-ina- lifetime trip, then what was the problem? Dried out and smiling, we meandered down the lovely west coast of SA (Eyre Peninsula) to spend a pleasant couple of days in Port Lincoln with relatives. I had not seen these cousins for many years, although our families had been close when we were all young, so there was a lot of talking to be done.

Port Augusta

Local contacts through Greening Australia allowed us access to the Wilderness Area for a lovely day on the southern tip of Eyre Peninsula. A very hot day’s drive north, past a high and dry HMAS Whyalla to Port Augusta at the head of Spencer Gulf (and an amazing chance meeting with the W-Ws) saw us well on our way to for a couple of nights before we headed for Kangaroo Island.

The WWII-era corvette HMAS Whyalla, hard aground just outside the township.

Although I was born in Adelaide, had lived there for 20 years before joining the navy, and had made many subsequent visits, I had never been to Kangaroo Island. We travelled across Backstairs Passage on the vehicular ferry from Cape Jervis, south of Adelaide, and headed to the far south-western end of the island (Flinders Chase National Park) to camp for a few days.

From this base we drove to the park’s scenic delights at the once-isolated Cape Du Couedic lighthouse and associated landing and steep cutting for hauling up stores. We saw the spectacular Admirals Arch and fur seal colony and the weather-sculpted granite Remarkable Rocks. We also traveled to Seal Bay for a conducted walk on the beach alongside the sea lion colony, then to the northwest corner of the island to see the unusual, square, Cape Borda Lighthouse.

The rare square-shaped Cape Borda Lighthouse, Kangaroo Island.

We travelled back to the “capital” of Kangaroo Island (Kingscote) along the very corrugated northern coastline road. From that base we visited the local special industries: sheep’s milk dairy produce (excellent cheeses and yoghurt), marron farm (fresh-water lobster), eucalyptus oil distillery, and Ligurian bee honey (the last pure strain of this Italian bee remaining in the world, hence very heavy penalties for taking any bees or honey products onto Kangaroo Island from the mainland). We also drove to Gantheaume Conservation Park on the south coast of the island with its spectacular views of the Southern Ocean and coastline.

Eastern endShifting camp to Penneshaw (ferry terminal port) we checked out the eastern end of Kangaroo Island, particularly the excellent restaurant (lunch only) at Cape Willoughby. Penneshaw has French connections as the explorer Baudin in Le Geographe replenished with water here, on the recommendation of Matthew Flinders, whom he had met in nearby Encounter Bay.

The Napoleonic War was clearly unimportant to these explorers as they exchanged charts and navigational information and carried on with their charting of the Australian coast. Penneshaw is also noted for its fairy penguin colony, very evident at the end of twilight as they return to their nests, right in the middle of town. We enjoyed our stay on Kangaroo Island, but the bush flies aggravated more than somewhat.

Then it was back to the mainland and to Adelaide after a stopover at McLaren Vale. There, we enjoyed fine wine and a tour of the region, including Victor Harbour, very English Strathalbyn and the interesting mouth of the River Murray at Goolwa, including the notorious Hindmarsh Island Bridge. We stayed with relatives for Christmas- New Year and saw a lot of the “Adelaide connection”.

We also caught up with old (sorry to keep using that term – we are all still quite young) navy friends Brian and Susan Dutch, Graham and Marg Rohrsheim and fellow visitors Marg and Mike Astbury. On 5 January we headed for home via Rutherglen, Victoria, and enjoyed few days with relatives and friends in Canberra. And so we came home, on 8 January, after a trip of a lifetime. Long distance 4WD driving is off the agenda for a while but we consider that it was a fabulous experience and nary a cross word spoken. That’s my story and I am sticking with it. What a great introduction to retirement it was.

Just the highlights

The story has been much longer in the telling than I had planned, but I truly did stick to the highlights. There is much more to tell, as a look at our photograph albums (note plural) will show if you get to be cornered by us and have a few hours to spare.