Are we there yet?

It almost that time … we head off on our next journey into the outback Australia … land of sweeping plains, of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains.  I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea, her beauty and her terror – the wide brown land for me!

That about sums it up for me!

It seems like such a long time in coming … maybe we are just anxiously awaiting until we hitch up the Tvan and head off on the highway …

We have had to make a few adjustments to our plans largely due to the rain that has occurred in record falls throughout central and northern Australia.  Initially, we had planned to head due west to Birdsville.  However, mother nature had other ideas and dumped record quantities of rain over this area that still sees many communities and the roads that connect them still impassable from flood waters.  This is particularly so in the Channel Country as Lake Eyre begins to fill in what is being lauded as the largest fill in 50 years!  The water is still travelling to Lake Eyre with many communities not expected to be accessible for some considerable time.  At one point, the ABC news reported that the flood area of central Australia was 4 times the size of Victoria!

Road closures are one thing; but opened roads can present other challenges such as water damage to the roads as well as traffic damage caused by vehicles accessing roads while they are still damp leading to ruts and further damage.

The upside is that the countryside has a plethora of colours and animal and birdlife.

Stay tuned and follow us.  We will continue with our blogs.  This trip will be grander than the last and will now include Tasmania.  There are some awesome bucket list items in this one … Arnhem Land, Binns Track, Chambers Pillar, Gibb River Road

… heck  … it is all bucket list stuff!

By Monday we should be enjoying a hot artesian bath at Charlotte Plains ... we have booked a private hot artesian bath for right on sunset ... let the journey begin!