Burra to Woomera

9th September 2023

Distance: 404 Km

Fuel: 43 Litres

In the Woomera Prohibited Zone

Had a slight problem leaving this morning, Andrew’s car wouldn’t start, the battery was only showing 10 volts, jumper leads solved the problem but hopefully it won’t be an ongoing problem.

Drove steadily to Port Augusta in convoy, Andrew went through a car wash to remove the mud caking his vehicle, a leftover from four wheel driving. Then a quick visit to Coles for supplies followed by a coffee bought from a nearby tourist information bureau before setting off for the rest of the journey to Woomera.

Checked into the Woomera Caravan Park before having a look at the town with its history as a rocket range.

It is still in the centre of the Woomera Prohibited Area where vehicles are not allowed to leave the highway.

Dale and Andrew are staying at a free camp site at Pimba about 6 km away at the turn off to Woomera township from the Stuart Highway. Not a bad facility with showers on a time payment basis and toilets – no power or water. Roadhouse and fuel stop for the town – I filled up for tomorrow’s drive.

It looks like Katie and Geoff will be joining them later this evening after an epic trip from Canberra in only two days.

Wentworth to Burra

8th September 2023

Distance: 373 Km

Fuel: 49 Litres

NSW, Victoria and South Australia in One Day

It was still windy early this morning which made it feel much colder than it was. We had decided to leave a bit earlier than usual so we could meet Andrew at a rest area on the way, we first crossed the Murray River into Victoria.

Andrew sent a Google location of a rest area – to cut along story short Google’s idea of the location and Tom Tom’s differed greatly and it was only after a phone call that we finally met up. We were in contact over the UHF radio much earlier surprisingly while still 15 km apart however reception at this distance is a bit sketchy.

We travelled in convoy until the South Australian quarantine post at Yamba where, as a caravan we were delayed by a search for fruit and veg. Andrew decided to carry on to the kennels where he was dropping off Ollie, his dog, for a fortnight. While we were delayed anyway it seemed a good time to fill up with fuel and have a toilet break. We met up with Andrew again at the turn off to Morgan and Burra immediately after he left his dog at the kennels.

There was not much traffic most of the way. (Dashcam – sorry about the reflections)

Eventually arrived at the Burra Caravan Park at about 1.30pm but South Australia is half an hour behind NSW so it would have been 2pm for us.

We had an unpowered site so Andrew got one for $10 next to ours – to be honest I think the owner thought Andrew was in our car. I drove into the town for fuel and some bread

A few hours later we were joined by Dale who had driven from Narrandera in one stint in his Jimney.

That evening Andrew cooked us Chicken Sausages which was very nice of him.

Hay to Wentworth

7th September 2023

Distance: 349 Km

Fuel: 36 Litres

On the Banks of the Murray River

I don’t know why I chose the caravan park at Wentworth, if anything it is a bit out of our way but I haven’t stayed there before and it cost no more than the others in the region, so there you go.

As usual set off at about 9.30 am. This is not an exciting ride, we are crossing the Hay Plain, it exactly that, plain and featureless, why the road even has bends in it I don’t know, it could have been driven straight across the plain. You can see trucks coming from miles away.

We only made one one stop on the way when it started to rain, I put my new rain protection plan into play (don’t ask).

At Mildura filled up with fuel because the skies looked black ahead, turned out to be a good move because shortly it poured with rain and didn’t stop until we have been at the caravan park for over an hour.

The Fort Courage Caravan Park is owned by the local fishing club and is right on the banks of the Murray River. Unfortunately the La Nina foods has taken a toll of their fishing infrastructure.

But it was still a lovely place to stay

Andrew contacted me during the afternoon to say he was on his way to Mildura too, we have made arrangements to meet at a rest area on the Sturt Highway in Victoria in the morning. He will stay at a free camp place similarly right on the banks of the Murray

After the rain disappeared it gave way to a sunny afternoon, unfortunately it was also still quite windy and therefore quite chilly but the caravan park and the river side is a nice place to wander about.

Cootamundra to Hay

6th September 2023

Distance: 332 Km

Fuel: 36.7 Litres

A Cold Morning!

Woke to a very cold morning in Cootamundra, the dew had frozen on everything. You can see it here on the table.

After a quick shower, a coffee to warm me up and some cereal, settled down in my warmest clothes soaking up the morning sun. Once the ice had melted took the opportunity to clean the bugs off the windscreen, make sandwiches and prepare to leave, there was no rush – it was 9.30 before we got away.

An easy journey the first part on country roads with little traffic before joining the Sturt highway where there was more traffic including B Doubles, Semis and the occasional road train but nothing you’d call heavy traffic. The wind is having an effect on fuel economy, am probably using just over 11 litres per 100 km.

Because it was a relatively short journey only stopped after midday for a chance to stretch the legs and have a bite to eat at a quite well appointed rest area, some local councils/shires create very nice facilities for motorists often in the middle of “nowhere”. Not a great fan of long drop (composting) toilets but what else can they do?

Arrived at the caravan park at about half past one and immediately after setting up drove a couple of km down the road for fuel. It wasn’t anything like as cold as yesterday.

The only complaint about this caravan park is that it is right next to the highway so there is a fair bit of traffic noise but personally I didn’t find that a problem and it is very well run.

Red Centre Trip – 2023

5th September 2023

Distance: 358 Km

Fuel: 39 litres

Why and Where?

Am setting out on a trip most of which I have done before. There is one notable exception, on a previous visit to Uluru (Ayres Rock), over a decade ago, I missed out on a trip to Kings Canyon due to time constraints. This trip is partly to rectify that omission BUT, more importantly, to share my kids’ first visit to the red centre of Australia. After the success of our trip together to Camerons Corner this trip is something I am looking forward to very much.

Setting out.

The car and camper were packed on the weekend so there was little to do on this first morning apart from load in the milk, lunch and other perishables.

Left home at about 9.40am to avoid the morning crawl on the F6 leaving the city via Mount Ousley and Picton Road before heading south on the Hume Highway.

Apart from being very windy it was an uneventful drive, only moderate traffic with no hold ups – stopped just after the Canberra turn off at the Mundanoon Rest Area for a cheese, tomato and pickle roll and a toilet break.

Came off the Hume Highway at Jugiong and meandered along the back roads to Cootamundra where we booked into the caravan park and set up for the night.

It took a while as I haven’t used the camper for over year but eventually got things reasonably well organised.

Went for a stroll to the Cricket Captains Walk in Jubilee Park, adjacent to the caravan park, a collection of bronze busts of Australian Cricket Captain’s set beside an oval walk. It celebrates the fact that Don Bradman, the most famous of all Australian cricketers, was born in Cootamundra.

Once the sun set it was a cold night in Coota with temperatures hovering about freezing just before dawn.

Kampung Agong

29th May 2023

Another day trip to a tourist attraction and another that was almost impossible to find using satnav or Google maps. Google maps took us to the middle of a farm of paddy fields on a road really only suitable for motor bikes and it was only by sheer luck that we eventually found the place. Another failure for technology.

Whereas I have found my Tom Tom excellent in Australia, in Asia it has been next to useless, the POIs are poor and sparse, even entering street names was very hit and miss, it has found the correct location of hotels but that is about it. This was the first time I have brought it with me and also the last!

On the drive to Penang we encountered many rain showers but, while it was overcast most of the day it didn’t rain again, if anything the rain cooled the place down a bit though it was damp underfoot.

The park, in the state of Penang, was devoted to coconuts and rice paddy fields, it had food shops, photo opportunities, a mini zoo, picnic areas etc. Entry was reasonable RM10 for Malaysians, Rm18 ($6 Aus) for foreigners. We spent a pleasant few hours there including a large serve of Durian ice cream.

Probably my last excursion in Malaysia on this trip as I leave in a few days.

That evening we went to an Alor Setar Thai restaurant where we were treated to a very nice dinner with friends.

Rainbow Village

28th May 2023

A day trip to Kuala Perlis and an area of the port (Kuala means “port”) where the houses have been painted bright colours to attract visitors. It turned out to be quite difficult to find exactly where it was, neither Tom Tom nor Google could find it directly. So we just set off with the intention of getting to the right area and asking.

It appears that they are aware of this problem because when we did eventually find it there was a Google maps sign and a name (KG = Kampung). It is on the other side of the river from the ferry terminal to Langkawi.

The village itself is very colourful, to be frank so much colour that I didn’t know what not to photograph. Some of the streets were too narrow for a car. I really enjoyed wandering round, there was even a cooling breeze off the water.

Don’t forget if you click on an image you get a larger version.

In the centre of the village was a pedestrian bridge over the river it too was brightly painted. We met a lady who had travelled from KL just to visit the bridge.

After exploring the village we stopped to take some refreshment in the form of an ABC. ABC =Ais (ice) Batu Campur (mix) in Bahasa

On the way home came across a giant pink bear. Make of that what you will.

Jerai Hill Resort

24th May 2023

Decided to spend a couple of days at Jerai Hill Resort perched on top of Kedah Peak an isolated mountain close to the Kedah coast used as a landmark by sailors.

That morning went to a local stall selling sticky rice and a fish based accompaniment so we had a suitable lunch or snack for later.

The resort itself, because of its unique location, is ridiculously expensive by local standards at about AUS$124 a night, when we went it was nowhere near full with a lot of people who came just for the day and didn’t stay overnight. It offers paintball, artificial climbing, hiking and many other activities – even using the pool is RM10.

Our big mistake was not driving up to the resort, it turns out that the road up is no worse than Macquarie Pass, perhaps with a couple more tight, blind corners but nothing the average modern car can’t cope with. The local transport is expensive at Rm100 per van for the trip up or down, we got him down to Rm80 but still too expensive.

The resort itself is very well maintained with an army of workers looking after the grounds. It even had a coffee shop serving very good coffee, cheesecake, croissants and cake.

We checked in at about 3pm and found our room, the rooms are chalet style in blocks of four. It was a nice room but no air con because of the cooler climate so high up.

There was a lot of screeching outside for a few minutes as we arrived at out room, turned out to be a few monkeys fighting.

After settling in went for a walk to explore the property and its views over the paddy fields of Kedah (Kedah is known as the rice bowl of Malaysia).

There was even a strawberry farm where I bought some very nice strawberry ice cream.

For dinner we went to the restaurant where we had a very nice meal.

In the evening we enjoyed the sunset.

25th May 2023

Breakfast is included in the price, they offered all the usual inclusions but Mary said it wasn’t as good as the Heritage Hotel in Tanah Rata though personally, as I have said, I don’t really like a cooked breakfast so it seemed OK to me.

Check out was not until noon so there was plenty of time to wander around the resort.

Called the driver of the van to come and pick us up to return to the heat of the plains and our visit was over.

On the way home bought some Durian for later (I like Durian very much).

Taiping to Jitra

22nd May 2023

Set off early, just after 8am to get back to Jitra, I drove most of the way. Mary has to get back for her work and I have run out of clothes to wear.

Actually I don’t have an International Licence though I carry my Australian licence but paying over $50 for what is a mass-produced booklet with a couple of stamps in it is an absolute rip off. Let’s hope I don’t get stopped.

We arrived back before lunch with only a couple of stops on the way.

Kuala Sepetang and Taiping

21st May 2023

Today didn’t start off very promising with low clouds, rain and thunder but as the morning progressed the weather cleared to a warm, sunny afternoon.

Because of the possibility of rain we first drove to the Charcoal Factory at Kuala Sepetang. It appears that you are just allowed to wander round freely. It was interesting to watch one person loading 40kg logs into the kiln, carrying them from stacks of them outside to neatly fill the kiln with several thousand of them, each standing on a brick. He must have the stamina of an ox.

The entrance to the adjacent kiln was being being bricked up in preparation for firing.

The kilns take a month to complete their work, about a fortnight of firing, then sealed up to finish the job for another fortnight. The charcoal is exported to Japan. The wood arrives by boat along a narrow tidal creek, it is Mango tree hard wood from plantation timber approximately 30 years old.

We learned all this from a Chinese fella in one of the factories (factories is a bit of misnomer they are just giant blackened sheds). He was saying that he is no longer a guide and just does odd jobs because he doesn’t speak Mandarin only English, his dialect and Bahasa, the modern Chinese kids don’t want to learn many languages and dialects any more so they only learn Mandarin.

After visiting the factories we drive to the fishing village for food.

Talking to the lady in the shop she organised a boat trip to see the Eagles and the fish farm just for the two of us. It was only an hour and we saw lots of the Eagles swooping on the fish stirred up by the boat as well as holding a baby puffer fish. I was very pleased with it, most boat trips last far too long, it only cost RM60 ($20)

Driving back to Taiping we headed for the Taiping Lake Gardens where we parked and spent a few hours exploring before returning to the hotel pretty worn out. In the park you could hire bicycles, tandems as well as pedal boats on the lake.