Loz & Luke's Trip around Oz

Pics!

2008-01-19T10:25:00.000+11:00

The Busselton jetty

The big Snapper

Snapper, cod and Nanigai

Miners hall of fame

tasting @ Barossa

on the Nullabor

Nullabor clif

London Bridge on the Great

Ocean Road

12 Apostles

The 'Ava'nator

Swim time

Lovin it

Christams day

Perth to Melbourne

2008-01-19T09:39:00.000+11:00

Hello everyone,

Hope you all had a great NY. We haven't posted a blog for a while due to laziness and limited access to decent computers so this is quite long.

Our Christmas was spent on a beach in Perth eating fish and chips washed down with a bottle of champas. It was bloody hot with a heat wave of 40 degree plus days. Boxing day was spent at Hillary's Boat Harbour cooling off on some waterslides.

From Perth, we left for Busselton, a few hours south. A very nice spot with a long jetty that we jumped off. Crystal clear waters but lots of flies.

Margaret River was next and we spent NY here also. We went on a wine tour which included over 50 tastings. I think Luke had every one of them! We met up with some of the people we met on the tour for a NY celebration at the local tavern. The surf here was pretty big and we managed one session at Redgate Beach. Very messy waves.
We had a nice lunch on NY day with a guy who we had previously met at Pardoo station (he was working with the mines). He and his wife lived on a very nice acreage there and it was here that we had to call RAC (NRMA) for the third time (getting the value out of our membership). Car battery was flat which meant we couldn't even get into the car because of the computerised key.

From here we went to Esperance where we were booked in for a full day fishing charter. It turned out to be very successful with Luke catching the fish of the day, a 70cm snapper and various other big fish. A seal started hanging arouns the latter part of the day eating people's fish as they were bringing them in. It was at this time that i was tangled with another line. Upon untangling it and as quick as a flash the big hook went straight through my finger, in one part and out another. Boy, did i scream. The seal had grabbed on to that other line's fish and that had caused the hook to do what it did. Luckily the barb hadn't gone in and the deckie was able to unpierce it. Ouch!

Kalgoorlie was next and it proved to be a good detour. We saw the super pit (a large open cut gold mine), went underground in an unused mine and saw some gold pouring. There was an old hotel there with skimpies (bar girls who wear lingerie and bring out a titty kitty later on in the night so they get their jugs out). It definately gets the guys in.

Nullabour Plain was next and for three days we crossed it into SA. We've never driven on such a boring road. At one stage for 146.6km it is dead straight, the longest in Oz.

Bypassed much of SA due to time restrictions (wanted to spend most in WA as we it is so far to get to). However, we did check out the Barossa. We didn't think it was as good as Margaret River but it was still a good day.

Again, we passed through most towns and got to the great ocean road. Very nice and will definately come back and take our time with it. We ended up in Melbourne last week and have been staying with Luke's sis, Louise, brother in law Paul and niece Ava. It was great to see them after so long esp Ava who is 11 months now. Luke and i went to the Aus open which was good and we have all been to St Kilda, the city etc.

We leave here tomorrow morn and make our way home via the coast.

The 16 weeks are coming to an end and as much as we have enjoyed every bit of it, we are looking forward to going home.

Bye for now,

Loz n Luke xoxo

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2007-12-29T14:04:00.000+11:00

Hi everyone,

Hope you all had a great christmas. Luke and i celebrated in Perth, living it up in a hotel in the city. We spent a very hot christmas at the beach with fish and chips and a bottle of champas. We will be heading to Maragaret River today after spending two days in Busselton, a very nice place with a jetty that stretches 1.8km. We will download some photos in the coming days.

From exmouth we travelled to Coral Bay and stayed right on the water in a nice caravan park. It was then on to Denham/shark Bay where we visited Monkey Mia and saw the dolphins being fed. Geraldton was passed through for a night before we stopped at Cervantes where we saw the Pinnacles at sunset and encountered our first semi-road kill on the way home. Unfortunately it missed the nudge bar and the quarter panel copped it. The kangaroo must have been pretty tough as it hopped away when Luke went to give it a love tap.

Anyways, have a happy New Year! We will.

Loz n Luke :)

Pics From Pardoo to Exmouth

2007-12-14T13:46:00.000+11:00

The open air cinema in Broome,
the oldest operating in the world

Our last day of work! in front
of the general store

Me with Mika, th family pet.
She chewed right through the
christmas light cords that Luke
and i had just put up

Our favourite toy on the station.
We drove down to the beach on
it one arvo after work

A mining truck @ Wickham

A happy and scary moment!
This black tip didn't want to
stay still. There were bigger
ones circling our liv baits. Hooked
up to a couple but broke our lines
off.

This one didn't get away! Luke
caught this at night. Measuring
1.7m this black tip was put back.

Jumping off an exmouth pier.
Water is crystal clear and the
perfect temp

Luke staring out at his dream boat

Finally! Plenty of fish dinners.
The trevally is 56cm and four
emperors about 30cm. Caught
from the zodiac

Ningaloo reef. 5m from the
shore, shallow enough to see
it all snorkelling. Saw a few
sharks, white tip this time.

Just hanging around

Absolutely love this photo of

Luke looking through a cave

opening.

Went turtle watching last night.

This is their breeding season.

As you can see from the pic below

we saw absolutely everything

One experience we'll never forget!

Broome to Point Samson

2007-12-09T13:43:00.001+11:00

JUst a quick note on what we have been doing. We worked for a week on a cattle station called Pardoo. 500,000 acres and 5000 head of cattle. We didn't do too much with the cattle though as they only get mustered anually. Our jobs included moving the sprinklers on the quad bike, mowing, cleaning, maintenance etc. We got paid pretty well on top of our keep. There was a chef there, cookie, who was employed by a mining company as Pardoo is also a pace for the miners to stay. Her meals were awesome. A good break from cooking also. The temp barely dropped below 40 in the day and last WEdnesday it topped 43. Very hot when working outside.

The experience was awesome and the people we met couldn't be nicer. On one of the arvos after work, Luke and i took the quad bike to the beach via a very sandy 4wd trail. Lots of fun andd lots of cattle, Kangaroos and other wildlife.

I will attach some photos when we get to a better computer.

Point Samson is nice. Great swimming, still no surf. Great snorkelling, saw turtles, fish and rays. Been fishing quite a bit. Hooked on to a big one last night but it snapped us of afer about 5 mins. Will go back tonight. Will headto Dampier tomorrow.

LOve loz

Pictures

2007-11-29T13:44:00.000+11:00

Arriving at the NP entrance

The view from Ubirr lookout

Barra fishing on the East Alligator

River near the border of Arnhem

Land. Lots of crocs here!

Taking off on the scenic flight

over Kakadu

One of the views from above

Edith Falls

In one of the spa plunge pools

formed by the rapids. We had

this whole area to ourselves

Watching the sunset after our swim

One of Luke's prize cane victims.

The biggest pest in QLD and NT.

This was caught among many others

at Katherine.

A Boab tree used as a holding cell

for travelling prisoners near the
town of Derby

We drove the car on to the beach,

watched the sunset and the camel
riding.

A Broome sunset

At Broome Port

Broome

Kakadu to Broome

2007-11-27T16:45:00.000+11:00

We have travelled over 10,000 km in total now and we are in Broome. It was a long stretch from Katherine (NT) to here taking 3 days and averaging about 500- 600 km a day. Not much to see in between.

In kakadu, we enjoyed an hour scenic flight over the whole region including parts of Arnhem Land. So many winding muddy rivers with crocs and rock cliffs all around. We tried our hand at some more Barra fishing, fishing right on the border of kakadu and Arnhem at the East Alligator River (also full of crocs). It had been in the papers earlier that a big barra jumped right out of the water and landed in the lap of the river tour operator in an attempt to get away from one of the crocs. There were a few other people fishing there also and most locals said it was the right tide but a lot of us had no luck.

After a few days in Kakadu, we left to head down to Katherine, stopping for two nights before it at Edith Falls, a part of Katherine Gorge NP. Definately one of the nicest places we have been so far with a series of waterfalls that drop into giant freshwater plunge pools. It was good to be able to swim again but it really is hard to get those salties out of mind when there are freshies in the water. We walked up to the top of the falls in the arvo (the only time the temp would drop below 40) and had to ourselves more waterfalls, little spa pools (from the water flowing) and the gorgeous sunset over the hills.

One of the downsides of being in the Top end is finding it really hard to refreshingly cool off in the water ways and tourist park pools as the weather just warms them up so much.

After Edith we travelled to Katherine, did the whole gorge tour but again even at 9 in the morning it was 43 degrees. It was here we were looking forward to that coastal breeze again.

Heading to Broome we stopped at Kununurra for two nights (the start of the Kimberly region), travelled to Wydnham (a town in the gulf, with not much else) and on to Hall's Creek. The car had been sluggish for the last few days and we thought it was because of the heat and the km. In Hall's creek, a place you DON'T want to be stuck in, the car wouldn't start after we had fuelled up. We waited for a bit, but again no luck. It was getting later in the evening and noone was willing to help us out. Luckily, the NRMA guy was around the corner and after a new battery we were outa there. The amount of people coming in and out of the fuel station that were drunk and abusive was unreal. These outback towns have been a real eye opener for how a lot of the Indigenous really live.

Finishing up, Broome is quite nice. The colours of the red dirt running into the white sand leading in to the aqua blue ocean makes for a great picture. Will do some more fishing tonight . Luke's gone into town to buy a gaff as last night's fishing proved there are some big fish.

Until the next blog, keep well.

Loz xo

Some pics finally

2007-11-16T12:38:00.000+11:00

Hey,

We are now in Kakadu, Jabiru to be exact. Very nice caravan park. Going on a one hour scenic flight tomorrow morning to get a better view of the area.

Still quite hot and heavy down falls of an arvo with the Top end starting its wet season.

Loz n Luke

Daly Water Pub

Luke and Lorraine at Buley's
Rock hole @Litchfield NP

This rockhole was 5m deep

One of Darwin's nice sunsets

A jumping croc at Adelaide River

Baby bull shark caught in

Darwin harbour by Luke

Lorraine hooks on to a reef shark

The catch of the day goes to Graham

with this nice Bluebone. Great eating!

Kicking back on the sunset cruise

@Darwin harbour

Just before the sun goes down

Happy moment

Got here yesterday!

Computers are f@#!$

2007-11-13T16:18:00.000+11:00

Trying to load pictures on and every time we seem to have trouble with the computers that we are on. Will try later!

L n L

some pics

2007-11-13T15:58:00.000+11:00

In front of Lisa & Ryan's house @Mt Isa

Crossing over QLD/NT border

Our little companion poses for a photo (under sign)

Relieved after the croc jumping cruise

Mt Isa to Darwin

2007-11-13T11:28:00.000+11:00

It's been a while since our last entry on the site. We have been up to a lot of interesting things. From leaving Mt Isa along the road to Darwin has been a most adventurous part of the trip. From Cammoweal where we had our last beer in QLD and crossing over to the NT, there were long strtetches of driving and overnight stops at various roadhouses which catered for caravans. A few to name include Barkley Homestead, Renner Springs, Mataranka and finally to Darwin.

Mataranka was certainly a highlight with the Bitter Springs crystal clear water at a constant 32 degrees proved great for snorkelling and relaxing. At Mataranka thermal pools, we enjoyed swimming and playing with Aboriginal kids who were from Arnhem Land visiting family here. The little ones some as young as three were trying to swim and hanging off us.

At the caravan park up the road, Luke caught a Barramundi with his hands by feeding it a pilchard. The park is renowned for hand feeding the Barra and with a little practice, Luke was successful. Me on the other hand, could not overcome the speed at which the fish would take the bait.

Getting to Darwin was just as we expected. Bloody hot and humid. Picked up Graham and Lorraine (Luke's folks) from the airport and enjoyed 5 days with them. We visited Litchfield NP where we swam in various waterholes and waterfall areas. Went fishing in the Darwin harbour where Graham caught a blue bone fish, one of the hardest fish to not only hook, but to land is a great feat. Up there with the best eating fish around and we enjoyed every bit that night.
Lorraine and Luke caught a shark each.

Saw some great sunsets of an evening and enjoyed some nice dinners in the balmy nights. We also enjoyed a trip out to the Adselaide River where we experienced seeing crocodiles in the wild on a boat. The crocs would jump out of the water to retrieve the meat that the tour operators would hang out on a string.
Going to the movies that night was quite ironic as we saw the movie Rogue, which features a man eating jumping crocodile set in the NT. Definatley an added motivator to be wary when swimming anywhere in the top end.

Going on a sunset cruise tonight and a spot of fishing at fishermans wharf to round off what has been a great stay in Darwin. We will head off tomorrow to the Kakadu NP.

Will post the next blog a little sooner.

Stay well, Loz n Luke

P.S. Kaz, no more turtles but does Toni's reptile licence allow for her to have a croc?

Pics from Karumba and Lawn Hill Gorge

2007-10-31T13:52:00.000+11:00

Townsville to Mt Isa via Gulf of Carpentaria

2007-10-26T12:34:00.000+10:00

Hey to all,

We have certainly dome some k's in the last few days. Travelling from Townsville to Mission Beach where we stayed for two nights going whitewater rafting down the Tully River. Enjoying the long quiet beaches with Dunk island in the background. Moving further north we cut in west at Innisfail and headed past Innot Springs where we swam in different thermal pools.

We travelled on the Savannah Way which would take us to our first rest spot, Georgetown. We enjoyed a quiet night after encountering many road trains on the way. In the morning we were off to Karumba, in the gulf of Carpentaria. Staying for only one night we managed to squeeze in a few hours of fishing in the late afternoon and early morning. The sunset was spectacular. Previous to that we had stopped in at Lake Belmore near the country town of Croydon where Luke hooked on to a 3kg black bream.

Heading on and parting with the gulf to head to Mt Isa, along dry and endless roads with many a road kill and extremely large hawks and eagles devouring these carcusses we would stop at Burke and Wills roadhouse. After refuelling our car would not start. Pushing the car and van away from the bowsers for a well earned rest we had some lunch. Fortunately, the car started and we were on the road again.

Got to Mt Isa in the afternoon to be greeted by Lisa and Ryan. Great to be in a house having a very nice home cooked dinner. We are ath moment being taking around by our tour guide, Lisa, whilst Ryan is working at the mine.

Looking forward to our trip to Lawn Hill Gorge in the days to follow.

Will post some photos soon.

Love Lauren, Luke and Lisa!!!!!!!

Airlie Beach to Townsville

2007-10-19T17:53:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone,

We both really loved Airlie Beach. Since the last blog we ended up doing a 3 island tour, Long/Daydream and Hamilton. Hamilton was unbelievably beautiful. We got to use all resort's facilities and you will see in the photos attached how pretty it is.

We met with two guys, Glen and Stacey (girls name for sure) who were from Country Brisbane staying in our caravan park. They were on the island tour also and we further met up with a mum and daughter from south London. The girl, Lauren, was celebrating her 21st that today so we had some early drinks at Hamilton. We all met up again that night for dinner at a nice resort they were staying at. Lots of champagne and a few flaming Sambucas. Learnt a new party trick by lighting your mouth when the sambuca is in there.

We proceded to a few nightclubs thereafter and needless to say we weren't feeling too good the next day. We had to get packed up that morning also to make our way to Townsville to pick my folks up at the airport. Got there in time. We are staying next door to each other at the moment, we are in a caravan park next to the Mecure Inn. So we are loving being able to use their facilities.

Went to Magnetic Island and hired a moke. Lots of fun but bloody windy which was okay in a way as it was at least 30 degrees. Mum, Luke and i climbed up a steep track to get to some forts, a world war 2 historical site while Dad slept in the moke. Great views from the top also. All up it took us just over an hour and we even saw some Koalas in a tree. A first for me in the wild

Lazed around the pool today and we make our way to Mt Isa on Sunday

Loz n Luke:)

P.S. if you want to see this photos in a bigger size, just click on them!

Bundaberg Rum Distillery Capricorn Caves Tate-this is for you

Airlie Marina Long Island

Hamilton Island

Whitsunday Paradise!

2007-10-15T18:06:00.000+10:00

Arrived at Airlie Beach Yesterday, the gateway to the Whitsundays. It is as beautiful as i imagined. We were going to stop at Mackay but there isn't much there. We are here until Wednesday when we head to Townsville to meet up with my folks. Looking forward to seeing some family. Went out on the town last night. Very good night life. Lots of very drunk tourists keeping us enetrtained. Will ride our bikes in tomorrow night so we can both have a drink or two or three. Went to the marina today and saw some big y boats and yachts. Definately a place for the rich and famous. Going to bike ride tomorrow to Shute Harbour.

Luke's getting the fishing gear ready at the moment and we are going to have a night fish at the marina.

On the way to Airlie we stopped in at the Capricorn Caves just north of Rockhampton. Pretty interesting, they are above ground caves and there was a chapel inside. We had to exit by candlelight (the olden day way) through some tight sqeezes (fat mans misery).

Will attach some photos tomorrow. On a really old computer.

Hi to all at home and thanks to those who have left a comment, congrats Amy and Clare for making the team.

Loz :)

Even more pics

2007-10-11T11:41:00.001+10:00

Holding the turtle after Luke dived in and caught him in the afternoon at Lake McKenzie

This snake didn't move for the two days we were at Lake McKenzie. A bit sick maybe. This didn't stop Luke from grabbing his tail though.

At Kingfisher enjoying the bubbly and good food!

Back at the Hervey Bay Marina. This boat had 1200 hp. Awesome!

More Fraser Island Pics

2007-10-11T11:05:00.001+10:00

Arriving at Kingfisher Bay and waiting for our 4WD taxi to take us over to the other side

Preparing dinner, night one Basin Lake all to ourselves, nice swim

Luke at Central station. Beautiful swim in Woongoolba Creek

Clowning around at our first campsite, Lake Boomanjin

Nice ham and salad sanga! Buggered after a big uphill sand section leading to Wongi Sandblow

Jarred, Des and Blake over for a BBQ and swim.

2007-10-11T10:57:00.000+10:00

Some pics

2007-10-10T20:26:00.000+10:00

Fraser Island Engagement

2007-10-10T18:14:00.000+10:00

I think most of you have all heard the news now that we are engaged. On the fourth and last day of our hike we had Lake McKenzie all to ourselves (a rarity as it is such an icon of the island due to its beauty). We were walking along the beach when Luke got down on his bent knee and asked me to marry him. The ring is very beautiful and i couldn't have picked a better one myself. We hope the photos attached do it justice.

The hike itslef was a fantastic experience. The best we have ever done. We had many lakes to ourselves and the weather was perfect. Not many people on the track either.

We walked 35km in the four days, the hardest being the uphill soft sand sections. And there were quite a few of them. The food we cooked up was great and we didn't go too much without.

We celebrated our engagement by cracking a bottle of sparkling when we arrived at Kingfisher Bay Resort (the conclusion of our hike). The staff even gave us some more complimentary glasses. We caught the fast cat back to the mainland at around 2pm. Quite choppy but very hot.

The photos attached will tell of our recent trip to Fraser more than what can be put into words. No dingoes but each campsite was fenced and we were provided with cages and metal boxes in which to house our food. A scary night at Lake McKenzie with what sounded like a Yetti stumbling heavily around our tent. A sleepless night for me anyway.

Played a bit of tennis today with Luke winning the tie breaker. We had Jarred, Des and Blake over for a BBQ and we are about to go to the place they are staying for some dinner.

See you later and all keep well,
Lauren n Luke xxxooo

Surfers to Hervey Bay

2007-10-05T11:36:00.000+10:00

The Big Pineapple @ Maroochydore

Stopping @ Mooloolaba for lunch and swim

Luke coming off the giant Jumping Pillow @ Yamba

It's Friday the 5th Oct. Endured a loooong drive ysterday from Surfers to Hervey Bay. Didn't have time for Wet 'n' Wild but stopped in at Mooloolaba for a nice swim and some lunch. We are finding it quite difficult to get transferred out to Dili Village (the start of our 4 day Fraser Island walk) but have now got in contact with a 4wd taxi service. We leave the mainland tomorrow at 7:15am and get picked up from Kingfisher Bay Resort to Dili. We are both gald that there will be no driving for a week. There will be plenty of walking though.

Wont leave a blog until we get back from our walk which will be on Tuesday. Plenty to show and tell after that hopefully. Hey to all at home!

Here are some Pics of our trip so far

Love Loz n Luke

The Trip Has Begun!

2007-10-03T12:13:00.000+10:00

Wed 3rd Oct

Hi from Yamba,

We are now day three into our trip and already we have done quite a lot. We enjoyed a nice morning swim at South West Rocks yesterday, bike rided along the esplanade here at Yamba, surfed along the breakwall here at Pippie beach on sunset last night and another this morning.

The Avan has treated us well so far requiring little effort to set up, pack up and tow. The roads north have been quiet making for smooth travels. Looking forward to the days ahead, leaving here now and heading to Gold Coast. May go to Wet 'n' Wild, we'll see. Then onto Hervey Bay on Thursday for our three day Fraser Island walk starting on Saturday.

Anyway, hope everyone is enjoying themselves now that it is getting warmer in Sydeny. Those on school holidays, Enjoy!!!!

Love Loz n Luke :)

1st October,

2007-10-01T09:47:00.000+10:00

2007-10-01T09:33:00.000+10:00

Goodbye from the fam- have a great trip! can't wait to hear all of your stories from your adventure. Luv always us xoxo

Were Off!! Hitting the road on 1st Oct

2007-10-01T09:24:00.000+10:00

Getting Set To Go

2007-09-18T20:38:00.001+10:00

Thirteen days until we depart for a much anticipated adventure around our homeland which begins on Oct 1st. The Avan (our little caravan) is ready to go and the car is getting some final touches for the long trip ahead. Our aim is to travel the whole way around, heading north fisrt, in 16 weeks covering all states and territories bar Tassie (maybe next time).

On the first month of the trip we are both looking forward to hiking on Fraser Island, diving on the barrier reef and seeing Lisa and Ryan (Luke's sis and brother-in-law) at their new home town of Mt Isa.

We hope to keep you all regularly updated with photos and blogs on this site so keep posted!