No Internet or Phone Service

Hello followers of Mum and Dad’s blog.

I have been given the job of updating you all with their current plans.

For the next four weeks Mum and Dad will have no phone service or internet access as they are working on a station at Mt Dare just over the border of South Australia.

Dad will be doing General maintenance and Mum will be a kitchen hand and help with cleaning the pub accommodation.

LOL, Mum cleaning a pub or drinking them dry!!!!!

I will do my best to keep you update.

Signed one of their daughters  

Gemtree 21st August

We left Devils Marbles and now heading to Alice Springs. Had morning tea at Aileron about 60km south of Ti Tree. Aileron is known as the big aboriginal man on the big hill with a spear is looking out over his country as boss of his tribe. We turned left off the Stuart Hwy onto the Plenty Hwy and headed east for 70k into Gemtree caravan and tourist park which is 140kms NE of Alice Springs.(www.gemtree.com.au) they have their own take away store with basic groceries, limited fuel,pay phone, as no coverage for mobile phones. Plus a Gemstone gallery selling 9 carat gold and silver rings, necklaces and ear rings. After setting up camp we decided to buy a bucket of dirt that had beed dug out from the mine for and $30 to practice looking for garnets after getting shown what to do and some help didn't take long to get the hang of it. Two hours later and only half finished the bucket we packed up and took the bucket back with us to finish off tomorrow. We decided to book and pay for a guided tagalong fossicking tour to the nearby ziron and garnet fields. We left the next morning at 8.30 about drove a further 34k east into a mining claim and each couple where given their spade, pick, buckets of water and 4 Sieves and shown what to do then left to get digging. It was Blowing a gale and the dust when sieving went All over us so we Got down and Dirty. We had to be back at the gem cutting room By 2:30 so that our gems could be sorted out into gem quality and then sized, bagged and labelled. We had fun and found our share of garnets and once they were Sorted we had several that were suitable for ear rings and rings and a big bag of "show and tell" flawed gems. We need to finish sieving the half bucket we had left over from Tuesday and get them sorted as well.
Had dinner with our new friends Ken and Marguerite whom we met earlier in our travels at Tennant creek. Ken has limited mobility due to health issues and Marguerit his wife and full time caree. They are traveling full time While
Ken still has some Mobility and he is
able to drive the car. Ken is inspirational to talk to and as he says
He just gets on and copes as best as he can. Marguerite sets up the van and does all the other jobs that need doing.
24th August
After saying goodby to Paul & Judy who we went on the tagalong fossicking tour with us, only Marguerite and Ken we left. Called into the shop and payed for a $12.00 tea and scones for Ken's birthday today hoping he gets a nice surprise.

Tennant creek

24kms south of Three Ways
506kms north. Of Alice Springs
Climate max temp 24-38
Min temp 11-25
Average rainfall 371
Population 3,100

Monday 13th we left Katherine heading to Tennant Creek. Decided to stay a couple of days at WW11 airstrip once again at Daly Waters where we stayed with the B's one our way up north. First night a couple from homebush not far from our house in Sydney, arrived and camped next to us so we had a good old natter. They left the next morning and we walked down to the Daly Waters pub for lunch.
Tuesday 14th
Left Daly Waters and headed onto Tennant Creek. On our way there we came to a road block in a small town called Elliot with the cops and vehicle inspectors doing D.U.I testing both ways. The young and happy policeman wanted to know if we wanted the good news first or the bad news. Good news was we can stretch our legs after pulling onto the side of the road.Bad news we are getting a Defect Label on our windscreens due to a large crack we got about 6 weeks ago. We need to get a new windscreens in tennant creek or Alice Springs and have 28 days to do this, also after the windscreen has been replaced the car also has to get another pink slip just in case there are other defects. I explained we had just got pink slip in May for rego. Obviously he was not interested in my comment and i thought about telling him the bloody rock that cracked my windscreen came from the NT but thought better of it. We were not the only ones with this problem as at the three ways servo while we were having our lunch another guy told us he got defected due to a windscreen crack as well. We were going to get on fitted in Tennant Creek but got quoted $560 fitted, and then we got a quote from Alice Spings at $350.00 so it was a no brainer. Hoping to stay at Mary Ann dam stayed there on our way up north with the B's. Not to be, a big sign saying no camping and a tree had been taken out and one big clean up happening. Next stop a caravan park in Tennant creek called the "Outback" @ $22 a night unpowered staying for two night waiting for mail Melinda has forward on. After checking with the post office we found out it can take up to 10 working days for mail from Brisbane to Tennant Creek.snail mail!!
Friday 17th
Left Tennant Creek after stopping at post office to forward our mail back to Alice Springs. Will more than likely pass the mail truck on the road some where between Alice Springs and Tennant creek. We stopped at the Devils marbles 110 south of Tennant creek ( 400+km to Alice Springs) and Have decided to stay for a few nights. Camp fees are $6.60 per night for two so cheap enough. We have decided to Stay till Monday as Alice Springs is packed out with some boat racing along the main street, you know the one that they stand up inside the boats and run like hell. Will find out more once we get there. After having lunch Warren and I had fun walking around our back yard(photo) had fun trying to lift the big marbles pictures below.
Awoke after a good night sleep in spite of the French family that camped next to us who insisted on sliding the Britz rental van doors opened and closed until all hours. Our resident lame dingo continued to do the rounds of all the camp area looking for scraps of food that had been thrown out. He is quite tame and sleeps in the middle of the car park during the day. Had a camp oven cook up yesterday casseroles rump steak with all the veggies in, bloody yummie. Warren is getting dam good at cooking with the camp oven and he seems to be enjoying doing the cooking.
Sunday 19th
Today we will use the camp oven again to cook up curried chicken. There was a push biker in the camp this morning and he was from the Netherlands and started biking from Adelaide and he is heading to Darwin. We gave him a cup of coffee and some apples to help him on his way. He left Alice springs 2 days ago so has covered 410 ks in the two days so he is going ok. The bike he is riding is from the Netherlands and called a "Gazelle" and it's just a standard riding to work type bike that appears to be very sturdy.
Monday 20th
Left Devils marbles just after 9.00am and heading south. First stop Wycliffe Wells. It's a service station,and the centre of Australia and also a few years ago they said the UFO landed there of cause we have to stop.photo's tell the story. Talk about a looney this guy is from outer space i reckon. Next stop, Barron Creek that where Joanne Lees got dropped off by a road train after her boyfriend Peter falconio had been shoot by Murdock and she managed to escape, What a eye opener the pub needs a bloody good clean up or a match put to it so dam dirty inside and junk outside. I was wanting to buy a bottle of wine and Warren a Beer sorry no take away to anyone and it's a pub. So we will just have to go without which is good for the waste line and pocket. We found a great spot to camp for the night and a bonus there is also grass,something we haven't seen in a few weeks. We are camped at the Ti Tree roadhouse about 200km north of Alice Springs.

Katherine 10th August

Arrived in Katherine just after 2:00 and we found a coffee club so enjoyed our lunch as not many coffee clubs in the northern territory. After the fix we went about restocking our supplies as getting low on basic items such as fruit and vegetables that we run out over a week ago. Now we had to find somewhere to camp for a few days and after ringing around a few van parks decided on the Mandullo caravan park as it was remote at 12 ks from Katherine on the Victoria highway and reasonable priced. Population of Katherine is 11200 and temperature ranges are; Max temp 24-35, Min temp 14-31. Today temp is dam hot at 36•c. After setting up camp we went for a walk down to the Katherine River which is only 5mins from the van.Warren put the net in for bait.
Saturday 11th August
Had a sleep in,should say we tried but the guy at the back of us decided to water the lawn well after 9:00pm then up the crack of dawn dam whistling the same dam song,sure can't wait to free camp again,don't have to put up with this. Warren checked his pot this morning and sure enough bait for catching Barra. After lunch walk down the river fishing after spending 3 hours with no luck we made our way back to camp. We sat outside having happy hour and cooking curry sausages. We have booked a cruise on the 3 Gorges cruise tomorrow morning @$91 each. Sure it will be a one off at that price. Good night all
Sunday 12 th
Up early catching the 9:00 cruise. Well what a great view so many different colors. The black color in the pictures is caused by the wet seasons continuos waterfalls pouring over the sandstone walls etching out the iron. The photo's I took show the trees all growing on a lean also caused by the flooding each wet seasons. The cruise took 4 hours and they used three different boats as there are three different gorges. You have to walk from the first boat about 800m until you can hop into the second boat so gave one time to just stand and take it all in. Met a couple from NZ that were having trouble with their Maui VW motor home, he said he was unable to start so had to be jumped started to get to the Katherine gorge and the problem was likely battery trouble, Warren tested with multi meter and battery was reading correct volts so not that, after several attempts to start warren finally got it running then tested the charging system which indicated the alternator was charging ok so intermittent fault in starter motor or wiring. I made them ring the Maui 24/7 phone number. Now the van was running they decided
To head back into Katherine to get sorted out. The yellow flower (photo) Is how the aboriginals tell the seasons I.e. When the flower is blooming it's The time The fresh water crocodiles Are Nesting, when the flower starts to fall it is time To head to higher ground as the wet Season is coming.
13th leaving Katherine this morning and heading south towards Tennant creek.