Fun Monday May 26

Alison from rdhmom is our host today.

http://rdhmom.blogspot.com/

Here’s da rules.

Vacations...this is the time of year when most of us go on vacations. Show us and/or tell us about your favorite vacation - where you went, what you did, etc. Pictures would be great. Let's all take a trip around a the world via our FM friends!!

Way back in 1979 we (I was married then) took a year off to do a “Trip around Australia”, this was, and still is, the aim of every active Australian (yeah I was “active” at that time).

So we bought a Ford F100 pickup and a lovely new caravan and off we went, well for a while anyway, we soon discovered that lots of the places we wanted to visit demanded a FWD vehicle and also that our beaut caravan was too big to allow access to said places we wanted to visit.

So we downsized to a Toyota 4WD and a tiny caravan and off we went (again).

Now that we had our rig sorted out we could do all the things we wanted to, I hope the photos will give you some idea of what we did and where we went, I have just had a think about that remark and decided that as I have about 2500 slides taken while on this trip I'm really not going to be able to show you much of what we did/saw, so here are a few odd bits that may be of interest, come visit and Ill show you a slide show that will either enthrall you or put you to sleep.

click on all photos to enbiggen them.

This was the Ford F100 and 20 foot caravan we started out with.

This was outfit number two, a Toyota Hilux 4WD and a 12 foot caravan, The rocks
behind us are known as the Devils Marbles and are in the Northern Territory near Alice Springs.

Rather than spending an hour or so sorting the photos into order, which wouldn't make
them any more interesting... here they are in random order.
This is Wave Rock a formation that has been carved from the sandstone by wind and
water erosion over the years. Wave Rock is in WA, about 500 miles from Perth.

These are wild flowers near the base of Ayers Rock as it was known then... its now
known as Uluru and is managed by the local indigenous people, it is located in the
Northern Territory about 900 miles from Adelaide SA.

This is the most photographed Rock in Australia, as the sun sets there are often dramatic
colour changes, from Brilliant red to a deep purple.

This is the view from the top of the rock, as can be seen its a huge formation, the largest
monolith in the world, from memory its about 3.5 miles around the base.

This is a small Hairy Nosed Wombat strolling around the sand dunes at Wilson's Promotry Vic.

A huge Boab Tree near Derby in WA, this tree is hollow inside and was used as a temporary
lockupin early years when the police were taking prisoners to Broome, it held 15 adults.

St Mary's by the sea is a lovely little church at Port Douglas in Queensland.

Sturt Desert Pea, a native wild flower found mainly in SA.

The Golden Wattle is Australia's national flower.

A water Buffalo, once found in the hundreds in the Northern Territory, they have since
been eradicated as they were spreading TB and Brucellosis to the beef cattle in NT.

A large (64 foot diameter) radio telescope at Parkes NSW, this was a major link in communications
with Apollo 11 in 1969

The Pinnacles are petrified rock that protrude from the sand in sizes ranging from inches
up to several metres over an area of several acres near the WA coast 100 miles from Perth.

The first half of our coat of arms, a grey Kangaroo.

The other half is the Emu, this flock were in central NSW

One of the many beautiful beaches in North Queensland, this one at Port Douglas.

This is a Kookaburra (sometimes called a laughing Jackass) because of the peals of
laughter that are their call, they are a member of the king fisher family and become quite tame.

Lake Argyle in WA about 2000 miles from Perth, the largest fresh water lake in Australia.

Cradle Mountain/ Lake St Clair in Tasmania, the highest lake in Australia.

Nerada Tea Plantation in North Qld. this was the only tea plantation in Australia at the time,
I have no idea whether there are now others.

The Hammersly Gorge in WA. our mini Grand Canyon.

Julie seated at "Natures Window" near Kalbarri in WA.

Wild flower known as Kangaroo Paw because of the similarityof the flowers to the Paws.

Probably our most endearing wild animal the Koala... They are NOT Bears.

Chateaus Tanunda Winery located in the Barossa Valley in SA.

Craig's hut constructed as a set for the movie "The Man From Snowy River" this hut was
burnt down in the 2007 bush fires but has since been rebuilt.

Part of our heritage being engulfed by drifting sand, the Eucla Overland Telegraph Station
in WA was part of the early network of radio communications.

A fire spottinng lookout perched in a huge Karri tree in the south west of WA,
we climbed to the top of this tree via a ladder consisting of spikes driven into the
trunk that wound its way around the tree about 12 times.... VERY HIGH.

A flower spike from one of the many different Banksia Trees that grow here.

Beautiful waterfalls in Bell Gorge WA 300 miles from Broome.

A Sea Lion at Point Labbat (not very far from Wudinna where I am currently.

A street scape at Charters Towers Qld. one of the many very rich gold mining areas
from our past.

I hope you enjoyed the quick look around Oz.... there's lots more to see, come and visit.