My Aussie Travel Guide | Other
My Aussie Travel Guide
Reviews
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24.01.2022 Have you ever heard of Maralinga? It's the site where the British Government conducted a series of atomic tests during the 1950s/60s and located 400kms northwest of Ceduna in SA's desert region. Not one, but seven full scale atomic bombs were detonated with hundreds of smaller test explosions in the area! At its peak, there were a few thousand staff stationed at Maralinga village while testing was conducted. Security is still tight here after all these years, so to experience... the place you need to jump on a tour with Robin from Maralinga Tours to learn more about this amazing destination. Robin is very passionate about the place and his knowledge is exceptional. He's only too keen to share the history, some stories and a few secrets of Maralinga's past with visitors. It's a full day tour (arrive the day before the tour and leave the day after) and you get to visit a range of sites including the airport, burial pits, detonation sites plus more. Camping is available at the village - there's plenty of old building slabs where you can set up camp with good quality amenities, fire pit, camp kitchen and washing machine (free), or in one of the onsite cabins. It was a real highlight of our trip being able to visit Maralinga to learn more about this part of Australia's history. See more
22.01.2022 Kingoonya is less than 50kms off the Stuart Highway and sits alongside the east-west railway link. It's such a top spot to use as a base for a night or two as we found - the Kingoonya Hotel serves good meals , there's the Kingoonya Caravan Park with super clean amenities out the back of the pub , you can get fuel in town, and there's plenty of plans in place to attract more visitors to this resilient outback town. There's also lots to explore - catch a glimpse of the incredibly long trains as they pass by, check out some old gold ruins, travel west and head down Goog's Track, or take a backroad down to Lake Gairdner and further south. If you're looking to get away from the bitumen, this is a sensational part of South Australia to experience!
21.01.2022 It's almost the weekend! Who else is ready to fire up the bbq
20.01.2022 Hey folks, we’ve been a bit quiet on socials of late, but running around like headless chooks behind the scenes . But the time has come finally come . The 79 has been serviced and given a good dust off and is raring to go as much as we are. So it’s time to hitch up and take a bit of a drive....just a tad over 3,000kms to the Kimberley
18.01.2022 This is Grant’s version of relaxation . It’s dusk and we got well and truly bogged in the blackest, thickest, stinkiest mud I’ve ever experienced just outside of Wyndham. TWO HOURS it took us to get ourselves out. By then it was dark, we were smashed by mozzies, covered in mud, and stunk like sh#@. All I can say is thank god for MAXTRAX as we had even considered leaving them home!
17.01.2022 Yesterday is one of those days we won’t forget in any hurry. Late morning Grant comes inside and tells me he’s stepped on a brown snake and saw it slither away while he was working in the garden. Holy crap. I quickly made a call to 000 for an ambulance as we knew it wasn’t something we should be treating lightly. Talk about stress levels going through the roof (especially mine) when he’s lying on the lounge room floor and I can see him breaking out in a sweat. Come on ambulan...ce! I’m definitely no first aid expert, but I applied a snake bandage from our snake bite kit which funnily enough we’ve got for when we’re travelling. It may not have been the prettiest bandage application going around, but the ambos didn’t complain when they arrived so it couldn’t have been all that bad. Although they did add a few more bandages over the top of mine. Grant was bundled up into the ambulance and headed for a local country-style hospital while I followed behind in our car. Thinking that everything was now going to be under control after reaching the hospital, that relieved look on our faces soon drained when the hospital turned the ambulance crew and Grant away because the hospital didn’t stock any anti-venom! OMG. Bundling Grant back into the ambulance it was off to another hospital this time the RAH. It was a long day and night while a number of blood tests were taken which had to be repeated for the best part of a day. Talk about being an anxious time and just a waiting game to find out exactly what's going on when symptoms don't always appear immediately. No doubt Grant was anxious with his ordeal and when I finally got to sleep last night I was even dreaming about snakes! But with everything that happened, the story has a happy ending After being kept in for obs for nearly 24 hours, thankfully the snake didn’t envenomate (so good of it) and sort of just head-butted Grant’s shin in retaliation for being stepped on. You could say he got off pretty lightly. This isn’t the first snake we’ve seen at home of late with another three being spotted during the past few weeks. So they’re certainly on the move during this warmer weather. Grant’s now back home and the ambos (volunteers) were incredible while taking great care of Grant. The same goes for the staff at the RAH. They all did a top job. You could say we’ve had a bit of a wakeup call and won't be taking things for granted when we're outside. We’ve always been the type to have a couple of first aid kits at home and in the car and they're completely worth their weight in gold after this recent event. Our kits are from Survival and we’re also thankful one of the kits is specifically a snake bite kit which has a range of stuff especially for snake bites. So please learn from us. If you don't have a first aid kit, please get one! See more
12.01.2022 Taking the backroads has so many benefits when you come across something as gorgeous as this old wagon . Bet it would have a few stories to tell!
11.01.2022 LAKE ARGYLE How good is it when someone else does the cooking while we sit back relaxing and soak up this speccy view . We’ve been showing Grant’s brother and his wife some east Kimberley highlights over the past few days, and our camp oven dinner with Lake Argyle Adventures really hit the spot. Thanks Josh & Tamsyn for making it such a memorable night
08.01.2022 It's always a bit of an eerie feeling driving into a ghost town. Tarcoola is located on the east/west railway link in outback SA and it's just like the residents upped and left town. Besides a bit of gold mining being resurrected in the area, it was very quiet. If only those buildings could talk!
08.01.2022 Ahh....an outback sunset. The perfect way to melt any stress . Bring on the weekend! #maralinga
08.01.2022 Earlier this year we visited the Quarantine Station in Victoria and it was interesting to learn how things were dealt with then when there was an outbreak. Back in the day (more than 100 years ago), just imagine you've arrived by boat or road transport, you (and about 50 others at a time) would be escorted to the station and females/males separated. You're each then shuffled into a bath/shower cubicle and the door locked behind you. Here you were stripped, scrubbed in hot sho...wers, medically examined and vaccinated. All your hand carried belongings and everything you were wearing got placed into a numbered wire basket and linen bag, and you're given a disc to wear around your wrist that corresponded with your bath cubicle and the basket/bag number. These in turn were all fumigated and treated with formaldehyde gas. All your other baggage underwent the same treatment. Once you and your belongings were deemed "clean", you're allowed to dress. But you're not allowed to leave the station because you'll be settling in here for a while to ensure you're really clean...not for 14 days, but 40...or as long as needed to meet the satisfaction of the authorities. And for the accommodation - well that was your typical basic barracks style. Aren't we glad times have changed. See more
07.01.2022 This time last week we had a snake visit, and now we have a portable lawnmower that comes with automatic fertiliser. Anyone like to borrow it? #abcmyphoto McLaren Vale Visit Fleurieu Peninsula
06.01.2022 Now for some down time
03.01.2022 It’s been such a dream run up the Stuart this trip! Perfect weather with blue skies and plenty of sunshine . We’ve hit the tropics, swung by the Devil’s marbles for a peak and now edging closer to WA.
02.01.2022 Here's the close up of our pic from yesterday . Hundreds of these bottles lie at the site of what was an old hotel in a gold mining area around 100 years ago in outback SA. They sure had some good get togethers!
