Motorhome Travels - February 2010

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01/02/2010

We are still in New Zealand - but with a bit of luck we will both be back in in the bus in a very short time.
I am scheduled to fly back to Perth on the 8th of Feb and depending on what the specialist says, Tracey (and Tivoil) will follow in a few weeks time.

Tracey is feeling really good, her headaches have all but gone and there does not seem to be any major side effects from the surgery (We are extremely grateful to the entire surgical team at Auckland hospital - you are amazing and absolutely world class).

We still do not know if follow-up treatment (either drug based or radiation based) will be necessary - but we feel that we can deal with either of these in Perth if required.

As promised in the last entry, we would like to share a couple of our favourite camp sites with you....

Just about everyone we meet asks us "What's your favourite part of Australia?"
That is such a hard question to answer! If we were to choose an area of Oz that we enjoy the most we would have to say "the outback". We love the solitude and peace that is found away from the cities and crowded coastal areas, and that is reflected in camp-spots that we class as "favourites".

As we are currently travelling the west coast here are a couple of camp spots that we love in this part of the country...

14 mile - Warroorra Station (pronounced Warra). Lat 23 17 23 S, Long 113 47 40 E

This is a magical camping area right on the beach, with the Ningaloo reef just 1km offshore. There is camping available on the sand for caravanners and campers, and those with larger motorhomes can park in the more spacious areas along the ridge. The fishing here is great, with regular catches including Spangled Emperor, Trevally, Mackerel, Groupers and Cod. Your boat can be launched straight off the beach at the camping area, or you can throw out a line off the shore and be reasonably sure of a catch on any day.

The waters are very well protected by the Ningaloo reef, so swimming is very safe, and if you enjoy snorkelling then the fish and coral life on the reef is just spectacular. There is a cost to stay here - $25pp/pw or $5pp/pn. There are no toilets - you must have a chemical toilet and there is a dump point and rubbish dump on site. Bore water is provided from a tank situated approx. 3 kms from camp - it is too salty to drink but drinking water can be obtained from Coral Bay.

Although the cost is a little high for the lack of facilities, we find for our lifestyle it is worth the money to be able to enjoy all that the area has to offer. Dogs are permitted.

14mile is 14 miles south of Coral Bay (as the Galah flies). Take Warroorra Rd 15km south of the Coral Bay turnoff on the Minilya - Exmouth Rd. Travel this (sometimes heavily) corrugated road for approx 6kms, take the track to the right (signed 14 mile camp). This track, at first glance, may look a bit daunting, but is very solid and easy to travel. It is approx 6ks to the coast. There are also several other great camping and caravan areas on Warroorra Station, however they require a 4 x 4 to access.

RAAF Quarry (also known as the Oscar Range Mine). Lat 17 54 54 S, 125 18 04 E

This spot is a not so well known camp in the Kimberly Ranges. It is at the site of an old quarry which has now been flooded with crystal clear water. There is a very large area around the quarry for camping and the landscape around here is quite spectacular.

The area is covered with Boab trees and awesome rock formations, you could spend days exploring and photographing through the area. It is safe to swim in the quarry; there is easy access to the water and it is fresh with no crocs (last time we looked!).

We spent several days here last time we were in the Kimberlys and saw one other camper the whole time we were there. It is also a good stepping stone into the Tunnel Creek / Windjana Gorge National Park.

Take the Leopold Downs (Windjana Gorge) Rd 44kms west of Fitzroy Crossing. Travel this corrugated road for approx 11 kms, take the right hand fork in the road, the quarry is about 700ms further on.

05/02/2010

I think it was Rowan Keating that sang "Life is a Rollercoaster" - we certainly have a good understanding of what he was talking about. A little over two months ago Traceys failing eye site led to a diagnosis of a pituitary brain tumour, Within a few days of this revelation I was sitting in in Auckland hospital waiting to hear how the endoscopic brain surgery had gone. We were told quite a few times that this was unlikely to be a "quick fix" and that a long and possibly complex post surgical series of treatments would with all likelihood be required. To everyone's enormous relief, the surgery went very well.

We have just left today's third appointment back at Auckland hospital and were presented with the great news that "no further treatment would be necessary for now". This is really about the best possible outcome that we could have hoped for.

I am booked on a flight back to Perth on Monday the 8th and Tracey (and Tivoli) will now follow very soon after. To say that we are pleased and relieved is perhaps the understatement of the decade. Once again we extend our thanks to the amazingly talented neuro, ENT and endo teams at Auckland hospital.

We can now get back to the (far more interesting) task of exploring Australia by motorhome.

15/02/2010

I just can not tell you how nice it is to be back in Hobohome! I arrived back one week ago today and have just over a week to go before Tracey and Tivoli returns as well.

The bus is currently parked at my sisters property about two hours north of Perth. With the three buses currently parked on the property, I am sure that the neighbours must be thinking that the circus has come to town!

An opportunity has presented it's self for us to deal with our household goods that have been in storage for 6 years (more or less) and that is now costing nearly $2,000/yr. Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, we should have sold almost all of it - but who ever knows what is around the corner? Many of the items in storage are now so old (TV's DVD players etc) that they are not worth storing.

We are both fairly sure that we will not be living in a house anytime soon - so it is time for a garage sale! The plan is to vastly cut down on the amount of gear that has to be stored.

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