Day 369 – The Dog on the Tuckerbox @ Gundagai

• Narranderra – Canberra
• 335kms
• 15°c

As we pulled out of camp this morning I couldn't help but wonder how many enquired about the cheaper option. Once again we were surrounded my canola fields, how different our opinion is of them now, than it was 12 months ago when we first caught sight of these fields of yellow that went on and on.

Last night I was looking forward to doing a slight detour through Grong Grong today to see "The Big Guitar" (playable). However it was after we'd been on the road for about half an hour and I picked up the map did I realise that we had missed it! Neither Steve, nor I had remembered this morning and it was too far to back track, oh well, wasn't meant to be.

My disappointment soon disappeared when we passed the sign to Gundagai! I was so excited about going to The Dog On The Tuckerbox. Ella & Oscar couldn't understand what was going to be so good about a dog on a lunchbox and I still can't really explain it. Perhaps it's one of those great Aussie icons or maybe it's just nostalgic, I went as a child, probably a bit younger than Occy and I have a photo of us four kids in front of it. Either way I felt somewhat emotional being there?! 

Oscar wanted to buy the Ned Kelly hat for Skipper, but it wasn't available in his size!

Just awesome!

Crossing the state lines into the Australian Capital Territory makes it the 4th State in 3 days!

We appear to be camping next to a racetrack and I'm not sure what is going on when there is a car towing three horses?!

E.P.I.C Campground, $40 a night, power, water, amenities

Day 368 - Hello New South Wales

• Ouyen – Narranderra
• 450kms
• 15°c

Oh my goodness, it's still cold! I was hoping to  cross the border and be greeted with sunshine and warm weather? But noooo! The sign welcoming us to NSW was so well posted that we missed half of it. Our tea & toilet stop was on the banks of the Murray River which had a nice little playground for Ella & Oscar to stretch their legs.

After setting up in Narranderra, it was so cold that it was declared no one was to go outside, so, much to our delight Ella & Oscar decided to spend the evening playing Lego.

Narranderra Showground, $15 a night, power, water, amenities

Day 367 – Just Passing through

• Glenelg – Ouyen
• 383kms
• 20°c

Goodbye Adelaide, we're hitting the road. Well not before we attend to a few housekeeping matters! Whilst Steve was waiting in queue I noticed a big fifth wheeler type van across from us and being curious I had to hop out and take a look. It was The Queensland School for travelling show children aka Carny folk, how awesome is that, just goes to show that school is not limited to a place or a time! I had a bit of a sticky and was busted by a student peering out the window and a teacher who was more than happy to answer my questions.

We crossed into Victoria, but we all knew it was only a transient visit as we cut across the corner into NSW.

Ouyen Caravan Park, $39 a night, power, water, amenities

Day 366 - Happy 1 Year Anniversary Karma Bus!

• Glenelg
• 16°c

12 months on the road for The Karma Bus and what an experience it has been! We have travelled over 41,595kms and seen so many amazing places and met so many fantastic people. It has been an absolutely awesome adventure and one we are so glad we've embarked upon.

Oscar and Ella chose The Sushi Train as our lunch spot in the heart of Adelaide today and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

In Adelaide we checked out Rundle Mall and were quite surprised at how big the city actually is! We haven't been in the big smoke for quite some time now. Then it was back home and a chance for one last play before we pack up and move on tomorrow. Steve went out for dinner with Freshy and had a great time catching up, many a yarn and a laugh I bet! Ella, Occy & I had pancakes for dinner as a treat and I managed to improve on the best pancake ever by making them even healthier!

Day 365 - Wow 365 days!

• Glenelg
• 22°c

It was another cool day in Adelaide today, we spent our 365th day just chilling at camp, with a spot of shopping thrown in.

Day 364 - Trust your intuition!

• Glenelg
• 25°c

It was nice to not have to get up and move today, after being on the move for so many days in a row.

We had an easy day around camp, I made milk! Now when that little voice called intuition tells you to "put the lid on the blender" before putting it on the base, listen to it! The switch must've been knocked on and as a result we had oatmeal from one end of the van to the other! So the cup of tea I was hanging for had to wait another hour till I cleaned up my mess and made more milk.

Ella & Oscar wanted to go in the pool to play with some friends they'd made, after about ten minutes of cold water they decided to get dry and regroup at the jumping pillow. Steve was happy watching the footy outside and I  managed to get the TV cover sewn up and even put a remote control pocket on the back. Now if we could only find the remote... we'd never lose it again!

Day 363 -Nearly back to where we started

• Bolivar - Glenelg
• 28kms
• 19°c

It was a very short drive today, we had stayed on the outskirts last night as it was just around the corner from Ringa & Michelles. But seeing as we're going to stay a few days in Adelaide we decided to stay at the Big 4 again as Ella & Oscar enjoyed it and we thought they were probably in need of a playground!

I found a Spotlight woohoo and took full advantage as it's been a long time between stores! 

We found our Rock Collection (in Ella's Bag?) that we were given by the gentleman that lived in the underground house in Coober Pedy! There is Jasper, Moonrock and the big one at the front is over a million years old, it's a fossil of a sea animal. We saw one almost identical in an opal store and the price tag was shocking, I felt that we should give it back to the man!

Adelaide Shores Big 4, $64 a night, power, water, pool, jumping pillow

Day 362 - What are you wearing?!

• Port Pirie - Bolivar
• 532kms
• 16°c

They're called shoes dear! Yes, that's right we are wearing shoes again, oh my and jeans and jackets too! It just doesn't feel right.

We spent a lovely evening catching up with Ringa, Michelle, Georgia & Aiden. It's hard to believe it's been almost a year to the day that we were here last! 

Highway 1 Caravan Tourist Park, $46 a night, power, water 

Day 361 - Crabs and Fish, Oh bugger

• Port Augusta - Port Pirie
• 161kms
• 22°c

Our destination today was Point Lowly, just east of Whyalla, we had been there last December and met up with our Grey Nomad friends Gary & Shell. About 20kms in Steve decided that perhaps we'd try Port Germein or Port Pirie as they're supposed to be great for crabbing too and we haven't been there yet. Well needless to say we pulled up in Port Germein and kept driving, we stopped in Port Pirie and someone was kicking themself that we had turned around and not kept going to Point Lowly!

Port Pirie Caravan Park, $48 a night, power, water

Day 360 – Port Augusta again

• Coober Pedy – Port Augusta
• 532kms
• 37°c

It was another long day on the road, I still can't believe we camped at the OpShop caravan park and I didn't get to go in and check it out on account of the fact we were heading out early and it didn't open until 10am.

Although we only stayed one night, I'm so glad we stopped in, it was really interesting and worthwhile.

Port Augusta Big4 Holiday Park, $42 a night, power, water, pool, playground, night watchman

Day 359 – Coober Pedy

• Marla - Coober Pedy
• 237kms
• 35°c

I think today topped the scoreboard in the "spot the burnt out car" game with a score of at least 15!

We were looking forward to Coober Pedy, there is something intriguing about a town that is 80% underground.

It became quickly apparent that we were nearing the town by the piles of dirt & rocks that lined the roadside, filling in the holes is not required.

I have to say the highlight for us all was definitely the visit to "Faye's House", we were given a tour by a lovely gentleman, the current tenant. This was the first underground building in Coober Pedy and was originally the garage for the postie when he came through town.

Faye dug out the house over a period of ten years, all by hand and with the help of 2 other women that decided they would like to live underground too. It was amazing the size of it, he explained that the further underground you go the larger the rooms could be, the house is around 25 degrees all year round.

Faye was employed by the Mine as a cook for the miners, but was soon fired as she refused to cook "green meat". The miners stopped her from leaving town and helped her get set up in a cafe where she then went on to provide accommodation and tours of the area. It is said she is responsible for bringing tourism to the area.

The house was amazing and Ella & Occy loved that if the furniture didn't fit, they just dug out around it to make it fit! The same went for if they needed a shelf, just dig one out wherever you like, as Faye did in her bedroom for her dogs as she was sick of them getting on her bed. 

We then headed out to the Town mine fields for a spot of "noodling", it was hot and the flies were determined to be annoying even though we were wearing our uber cool flynets. After about 45 minutes of digging in the rocks and a few sparkly bits that were either ponch or gypsum we decided to call it a day.

Ella & Occy tried out their didgeridoos and made a noise of sorts, I think a bit more practice is needed! We found a vintage store in town and scored 11 awesome books for our library, even better is that Ella is absolutely engrossed in "Dead Famous - Queen Victoria" history books sure have come a long way!

Some travellers we had met in Ayers Rock put us on to this camp spot and happened to be there today, so the kiddos thought they would do some mining in their own spot.

The Clothes Barn Op Shop Caravan Park, $15 a night, power, water, dump point

Day 358 – Crossing the Border

• Kings Canyon - Marla
• 523kms
• 35°c

Today was another long day of driving, which usually means an ice cream stop somewhere along the way!

Ella & Occy had much delight doing a bit of time travelling across the state lines, that was until Steve reminded us that the time line goes East West, not North South!

Goodbye Northern Territory, Hello South Australia!

Marla Travellers Rest Caravan Park, $36 a night, power, no water, amenities, pool

Day 357 – Kings Canyon

• Yulara – Kings Canyon
• 304kms
• 32°c

Happy Fathers Day! Ella & Oscar awoke Daddy with beautiful kisses and snuggles before getting up to make him a special breakfast and coffee in his new Kombi mug.

We packed up camp and bid Ayers Rock farewell as we drove East again before turning off to Kings Canyon. A fairly quiet drive, other than a moment of concern for the vans new tyres, when on a very narrow stretch of road a truck approaching decided it wasn’t moving over at all and so sent our tyres into the crumbled side of the road. We pulled over to check and thankfully they were still looking good.

Kings Canyon resort is the only place out here that allows camping other than a station we passed about 30kms earlier and with almost no difference in price we chose the resort. After checking in and grabbing a bite to eat we drove out to Kings Canyon to have just a short stroll, seeing as the shortest walk is about 1.5kms and the walk around the rim is about 6kms. 

Despite the heat, the flies and Ella’s sore ankle, curiosity got the better of us and so we climbed what is noted as the steepest part of the climb (they should try Ayers Rock) the steps leading up to the rim of the canyon. It was a fairly easy climb on the manmade unobtrusive natural looking steps to a lookout that allowed us a pretty awesome view of the canyon and the landscape on the horizon. The clouds seemed to be getting darker overhead so we decided to head back to camp, seeing as we were out of water we couldn’t go on any further anyways.

The Outback Bistro was our destination for dinner and we were treated to a show as well by the in house performers: The Roadies. Reuben & Petrea came up for a weekend 13 years ago and have been here for 8 months of the year every year since. Petrea spent some time chatting with us and told Ella & Oscar that she would really appreciated their assistance up on stage later on in the evening, they were happy to oblige and were paid in kind with a giant ice cream sundae!

They played country music and were great entertainers, they had a group of kids up on the stage performing with them and had the adults chuckling when she got one of the kids to play the “seweridgeridoo” made from a piece of pvc pipe and a joiner and she assured us that it was not a bong!

For their next act, they got the Dads up on stage for a little performance, being Fathers day and all, or so I thought… because the next thing I knew it was the Mums turn. All of a sudden there was a really strange sound… it was rain! We haven’t seen or heard rain in months, the kiddos found in quite novel to stand out in it.

In true travelling style we got chatting to the parents and spent the rest of the evening swapping stories and experiences whilst the kids played, happy to have other kids around. As “The Roadies” were getting ready to leave Petrea told me there was a paper bag under the table and not to leave without it? Earlier I had asked her about the small didgeridoos in the shop next door & whether they were any good. In the bag were two didgeridoos! she said they’d had them out the back and they didn’t use them in the show. I couldn’t believe the generosity we were shown but yet at the same time I wasn’t that surprised. Karma is amazing!