Narribri NSW

Well we made a big mistake here. I booked on line after seeing the place on the web it looked OK. (Narribri Motel & Caravan Park) Wrong, getting in the dip of a drive way should have been a warning, went into the office, quite nice and friendly young girl. We paid straight up instead of having a look, The layout of the park looked good on paper, on paper every thing looks good!!
Drove through and around the first corner, very tight with a bigger van, where are all those sites??? Gone to make way for cabins, there were 10 van sites (drive through) in total, 3.4mts wide and suitable for an 18ft van only. Went back to office and said you have got to be kidding, they allowed me to take up half of one of three tent sites as well, that helped a bit. These tent sites were in the middle of the van sites.Power was a mile away, only taps for 8 sites!! It did not get any better from there. It was bloody freezing for the whole week we were there. Not the owners fault I know.
All the tiny cabins were booked out to mine workers, and this little park, which the owner emailed, was very quiet and peaseful, buzzed all night with the coming and going of the workers and taxis. Hell it was noisy, the toilet had not been cleaned for a week and the facilities, BBQ areas etc had not been cleaned for a year. The toilet block had raised panels off the floor separating the toilets and showers, ie when some one had a shower the spray would come under the wall, great again, wet pants. One good thing was Queensland winning the State of Origin again Yea!!
On a positive note the town was very friendly and clean, Fae did a couple of talks and was very warmly received. We had a wonder around the place and found some great shops and cafes.
I must admit that we could not wait to leave and head on to Roma.

Dubbo

Arrived at Dubbo on Saturday afternoon as planned. We have stayed here before and had prebooked our site, near amenities. The people here are very friendly and welcomed us back again. Dubbo is a very busy place and again there is a lot to see with the western plains zoo etc. Night telescope viewing and shps galore. Plenty of places to test the budget. We stocked up on supplies and fuel. Very pissed off on that front. I wanted to do a fuel check so had to fill the empty tank up to full. 131ltrs. At $1.52 per litre. Averaged 15.4 liters per 100 klms. Very happy with that. Two days later fuel dropped 6cents a liter or 10 cents with fuel docket. Not happy jan. Never mind, Fae is doing two talks in town then we are off to Narribri thats further north so it has got to be a good thing
Bye for now

Spring Hill

Free camp tonight on way to Dubbo. The free camp at spring hill is very nice. You know the thing that stood out most was as soon as we crossed the NSW border the road side stops had toilets. This one boasts, BBQ, fire pit, toilets, water & a fenced play ground. There was a very nice, clean table chair set up on three sides of a covered seating area. We met some nice fo.k there, George & Dot in their motorhome. Some other folk all came and said hi as well. Every one seems much friendlier in the free camps. We left the next day around 10:30 and headed to our next free camp at Meadow Glen. On the way we leapfrogged George & Dot at a couple of rest areas where they or us stopped for lunch or coffee. Again the areas were very well kept and clean. We went on arriving at Meadow Glen out of Cobar arond early afternoon. What a very busy place, by happy hour we had 16 vans and motorhomes pulled up in the various sites. The area was around 5 acres, toilets, fire pits, etc were all around, a great spot. George and co joined us for drinks, as it got colder we were invited in the motor home to sample a Webasto diesel heater at work. Got to get me one of those very toasty and warm. Bugger had to go back to our van to sleep
On to Dubbo tomorrow.

Peterbrough

What a nice park. Sites are level, most drive through. Amenities very clean and well maintained. Soap and air driers supplied.
A very interesting town, based on the railway from years gone by, the East West still passes through. I guess i have not seen a town that caters so well for the traveller, there are parking areas a plenty set up for vans etc. A great info centre built in an old sleeper railcar. The volunters that opperate the info center are a very happy and knowledgeable group. There is much to do in town and see, from self guided walks to light shows, all free. Ther are four pubs in the msin street all offering cheap meals, so no need to go hungry. Some local drives were terrific too! Magnetic hill, does your car get pulled up the hill??
Also found a litt.e town called Terowie, this is where General MacCarthur uttered his famous 'I will return". I tjought he said that in Darwin, learning all the time i is

Whyalla

We had booked into a park by the airport on the West side of Whyalla. We turned into the drive and pulled up to the office. Luckily for us no one was around, the place looked very sad and run down. We did a quick u turn and left.
Went in to the Forshore Park, this was left as it was supposed to be expensive. The staff were very friendly, asked if were sight seeing etc, gave us maps, pointed out local attractions, best eating places etc. Charged us the same rate as quoted by the other park, great! We were offered a seaside site but we asked if we could go up the back of the park amonst the cabins. Much quieter, less wind, that was the kicker as the wind was freezing on the water front. The amenities were great, soap, paper towel, air driers and shower mats. Great free BBQ and camp kitchen and as i said great staff could not do enough for you. We had a week there and did the touristy bit before heading off to Peterbrough.

We're back continued

We Arrived back in Adelaide around 4pm, raining and cold, we rang the gent at the Airport Motel and he came and picked us up and took us to our vehicle. A quick trip (not, peak traffic) to Golden Grove to stay with Wolf & Merilyn again. What a beautiful hotel Wolf supplied a great dinner. (again) On Sunday we were taken for a drive to One Tree Hill area and we found a great old pub, it was raining and misty but inside we had a roaring fire, a band playing and quite a few ladies enjoying the music & well on the way to having a head ache. Wolf booked us into the dining area later in the evening and we had another very good meal. The atmosphere was terrific, we would love to go there again during the warmer months. Once again thanks to Wolf for picking up the tab.
On Monday I had booked the tug in for a service, $360 later, but much cheaper than Ford.
Tuesday morning found us on our way back to Port Lincoln, we went straight to RSPCA to pick up Misty. The guys at RSPCA Port Lincoln went above and beyond in their duties. They were well aware we were very worried about leaving Misty; whilst we were in Bali, on several occasions they sent us a text message complete with pics, from Misty of course, letting us know what fun she was having. Our very heartfelt thanks go to Narelle, Mel and Morris for looking after Misty so well ( sorry re name spelling, if I got it wrong) I would recommend this place to all who visit Port Lincoln, they were great and Misty was very well Looked after.
We had another couple of engagements in the area then off to Tumby Bay for a couple of hours for Fae to do another talk. We then went on to Lenny's place for a couple of days before heading north towards the elusive sun.

We're Back

Wow it's cold in Port Lincoln We have just returned from our trip to Bali. I admit We do love that place. It was just like being home, weather wise that is. Beautiful days with warm barmy nights. Lots of Bintang ( the local beer, for the uninitiated) food & more food. The Balinese people are very friendly to Australians and love to practice their English with you. We struck one guy that had obviously been mixing with the wrong crowd. I had to explain that some of his language was wrong!!*****### you know what I mean.
We visited the Bali Safari park again, beautiful place to visit, the bird and reptile park were also on the agenda.
We had a very good friend with us for the first 5 days. I don't think Jo quite knew what to expect, it was her first trip to an Asian country, but she says she loved the place. She certainly got plenty of pics to show her friends
It was very quiet over there this time, probably tourists were scared off with the Bin Laden affair. You could get hit by a truck in Adelaide!!! I would recommend Bali to any one thinking of a break. Yes it is a bit basic, on the roads etc but our hotel was quite nice. Very clean, very friendly staff, right on the beach and safe. It was only three star, With three pools and two restaurants, you can go all out to 5 star, if you wanted but then you might as well go to Darwin.
Bali is, by nature, a slow place, it might not happen straight away, but it does happen. You just have to learn to Relax and chil out. Go with the flow and enjoy another culture, away from Kuta. try the highlands and northern parts of the island. Anyway back to reality.
We had to go via Melbourne then to Adelaide as there were no flights direct to Adelaide until the next day. I did not realize that Darwin is classed as a regional airport.