Travel to South Australia, Hawker.

Marg and I decided to have a look at both the Elder Ranges, north west of Hawker and Wilpena Pound north east of Hawker over two half day journeys.

Wednesday morning, we decided to walk to town and then on up Policeman's Hill to a lookout over Hawker and the surrounding ranges. Well worth the climb to get a sense of the area. Hawker itself is rather like an oasis of green in the brown/red plain of arid farmland.

On Wednesday afternoon we drove north to Parachilna at the top of the Elder Range, and as it happens, in line with the north of the Wilpena formation.

The day was fine and the cruising easy along great sealed roads. There are a few lookouts and pointers to settlements long since crumbled, and to various current farm homesteads.

The country side is relatively poor, but dominated by the Elder Range which is long and rugged with interesting formations showing the mighty uplift that has created the angled layers of rock and sediment.

At Parachilna, there is a famous outback Pub that sells feral burgers - camel, emu and kangaroo. As it happened, we
The water station remains
But no thirsty trains travel this way nowdidn't try the delicacy but did take the photo. What else is there at Parachilna? A sort of caravan park, some motel rooms, a disused railway station and FLIES. Seems they want a lift back to civilisation, and jumped into the motorhome as quick as a flash. They clearly missed the trains not stopping here anymore. We advised the flies that we were not a passenger service and managed to shoo many of them out the windows. But some remained.

These were small flies, about half the size of our domestic flies. Their brain was also scaled down, and were not smart enough to avoid capture with a paper tissue. Once captured, they flew away when shaken out the window.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/

Travel to South Australia, Streaky Bay.

Streaky Bay, is quite a big place, we found the caravan park, booked in and found our site without a blade of grass. Started to set the camper up and were amazed at how hard the gravel/limestone/WTF. It is like trying to drive blunt tent pegs into a block of concrete, after bending 3 of these sturdy steel pegs, we eventually finished setting up. It is the biggest park we have been in so far this trip, with nearly more boats than caravans.

The waters here are a brilliant blue and extremley crystal clear, but we have been warned that it could be a tad too exciting to swim with the white pointers. There is a netted swimming area off the main jetty. Just for your info, all the paraphernalia in the gift shops are all shark related......

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/

Travel to Australia, South Australia, Adelaide.

My time in Melbourne was very busy but I have now moved on to Adelaide and with the heat here being in the high-30's, I have decided to hide out in my hotel room and catch up with a few things. As there's quite a bit to update you on, I'll probably do at least two separate postings about the past five weeks.

So, a few months ago I pre-booked a two-week stay in a 'serviced apartment' in Fitzroy in Melbourne for the duration of the Australian Open because I knew that accomodation convenient for Melbourne Park would be hard to come by. However, when looking for somewhere to stay for my first 3 days in Melbourne the same apartment was much more reasonably priced so I booked it. Once I'd been there for a while and liked it a lot, I then negotiated a good rate for the rest of my stay in the city. It is so much more pleasant having a fixed base rather than having to pack up and move every few days. The apartment had everything
Fitzroy Gardens
Old bandstandI needed, it was close to a park, close to trams and only a 20 minute walk to Melboune Park for the tennis. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful and I felt really comfortable there. Also, rather than staying in a hotel it meant I could self-cater which is so much cheaper than eating out all the time.

My arrival in Melbourne started with a bit of tennis star spotting at the airport. Waiting for baggage I saw Daniela Hantuchova, Sania Mirza, Fabio Fognini, Marinko Matosevic and veteran Peter McNamara all waiting around for their many bags and sports equipment. My first few days were spent getting my bearings and finding out about transport etc., buying food, washing clothes - the unglamourous side of travel! I also managed to fit in watching the rest of the Sydney tennis tournament which was finally won by Bernard Tomic, the talented but troubled young Aussie, and Agnieska Radwanska, last year's Wimbledon finalist.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/