Sunday end of August, still on Magnetic Island

Here I am again. had to have another look on the blog once Huw had explained about comments being posted...der... So thanks for your feedback and your titbits of news, Palmer move to Devon, dinner, Jak and Ed's wedding news, sorry I'm not up to posting pics yet but will work on it.

I am aware that I could have included a bit more info about the early part of our trip, but as there was no e-access out there I had to keep it brief.

1st night Great Central Rd (GCR) at the Pines, a lovely bush camp, time to swot up a bit on what we could expect to see, and to find out what we had already missed! IE geocaches - these are hidden boxes containing small tokens; the idea is that you improve GPS skills by playing this game. The GPS coordinates can be downloaded, or like us, you forget and have to pay $30 at the visitor centre. You then hunt the caches, and when you find them you can exchange tokens in the boxes and record your find in the log in the box. Some we found, some we didn't, but it was amusing, gave a sense of achievement and improved the GPS skills.
This was when we discovered we had already missed 3 of the 25 sites!

We moved on to Camp paradise the next day; Aussies love to name things opposite to what they are, eg Niagara Dam, Henley-on-Todd. You can imagine the rest...

Camel tracks everywhere, also bungarra tracks (very large goannas, 2nd only to Komodo dragons) , but we didn't see even 1, tho we have seen them on other trips.
We moved the clocks forward as we neared the NT border, to give outselves more evening light.
Gnamma holes are water holes in granite, very important, and travellers are asked to keep them clean and sand free. we found several but couldn't find any with the tripod frames called patjarr spiders, which prevent animals from falling in.

Took a side trip of 30kms each way to a noted waterhole. for a swim??? Just more dust, rocks and hardship, but suddenly you get a sense of overwhelming isolation and realise how far you have come and how you must rely on your own skills and planning. Its quite humblimg. Also there may not be much water, but there are birds everywhere, zebra finches, honey eaters, raptors, so there must be water and life.

Giles met.station was a great treat. For years we have seen it on the tv weather reports and wondered where on earth is that? We were well entertained by the afternoon tour and watched the launch of the hydrogen ballon. Hydrogen is made on site, all sorts of risks and restrictions.

After this we crossed into NT and bought fuel at the only Aboriginal community we had been allowed into. Most roadhouses are on the outskirts of the communities and you cannot enter. This place was sad-looking, so much litter, about 30 dogs loose outside the shop, everything caged to prevent theft, but some amazing art work on display and available for purchase, so we did the decent thing, met the artist and got it signed. The fuel man has lived there all his life, has a good job and wouldn't live anywhere else.

We moved from the Gibson desert to the Gt Sandy Desert at this point and red sand dunes became evident, and as we neared Yulara and Uluru we started to feel anxious about merging once again with society, it can be quite daunting, usually because it means making decisions and spending money!

We are off walking and snorkelling again today, back to the mainland tomorrow and heading for Airlie Beach and possibly the Whitsunday Islands for a sail. Had to buy new shorts and T's because the red dirt had ruined what we had.

peter and Di as further south, but we are in text with them, and Barbara is now home in Shoal;water at 16degC!
Till next weekkk cheers from the tin can on wheels (oops sorry Rita, didn't mean to hurt your feelings)