GLEN HELEN GORGE

 
 
 
 

After a quick trip we got to Glen Helen Gorge – we were the first of the Pradopoint group to arrive, so we set up our caravan and worked out which gorges we were going to visit.

First, we went to Big Ellery Creek Hole where we found a water hole. We wanted to go in for a swim, but it was a bit cold and a bit dirty.

We then decided to go to a place called ‘Standley Chasm’. We climbed over big boulders and under trees. It was hard work and very steep. Coming down was much harder than going up! I really liked walking through the Chasm because there were rocks around me on each side. Lots of people encouraged me to keep going because they could see that I was only little.

We then went to the Ochre pits – I fell asleep in the car after such a bog climb, so James and Dad ran down to the pit and took a photo. They use Ochre to make face paint. The boys said that the rocks were very colourful.

I woke up and we travelled to Ormiston Gorge. It had a water hole, but we didn’t see any animals around. We climbed up a few rocks (James loves to climb) and then got in the car to go back home.

We had dinner at the lodge – sausages, salad and bread. We went back to the van and had some white chocolate for dessert – Mum is very sorry she introduced us to the chocolate she likes!

WEST MACDONNELL RANGES CARAVAN PARK

 
 

Today we travelled to a great caravan park- it had a huge jumping pillow and a small one next to it. We had lots of jumping time today which was good fun. You can hire bikes and buggies to move around the park and each night they have some entertainment. The toilets and showers are the biggest we’ve seen yet!

Mum did three loads of washing – all our sheets, towels and clothes and Dad fixed the van and car (he put corflute on the back of the car window to stop the stones from breaking the window) ready for the next few days, we spent our time doing more jumping on the pillows and playing on the equipment.

At night we went to Desert Park on a Nocturnal visit. We got there at 7 p.m. and were given head lamps to wear. The light was red so that it doesn’t scare the animals. Other colours on the head lamp were white and disco!! I liked seeing the Bilbies, Echidnas, Mala and other animals. To enter the area we had to carefully walk though an electric fence – we had to be careful not to touch it. Our Guide, Pamela, was very interesting and knew a lot of information about the animals, what they ate and how they lived. We saw lots of their burrows and nests. In the middle was a water hole where we found a lot of the animals as they come there to drink at night – they were so cute

There was a huge full moon and was saw satellites going across the sky. There are so many more stars to see out here – it is beautiful.

ROSS RIVER

 
 
 
 

DAY 1:
On the way to Ross River we went to the Devil’s Marbles. We climbed up really high and I was a bit scared! They are so huge and quite smooth. There are lots of them to see – a few hundred! We loved climbing over them.

Our next stop was Ti Tree where we played in the park – it had a very high slide which was a bit scary, so I made James go first! He survived, so then I went down.

We finally made it to Ross River where we set up our caravan next to some of the other Pradopoint people and had dinner. We haven’t played with other children in three weeks – there are none to be seen in the caravan parks – only lots of older people so we are looking forward to seeing some other children soon.

DAY 2:
Today a lot of people arrived in their Prados – some have trailers and some just sleep in swags – I am thankful for my comfortable mattress. There is only one other caravan here. Finally, some children to play with. Some of the children we are playing with are named Brittany, Jessica, Samantha, Hannah and Hayley. We help Mav and his wife Dale set up the red, white and blue decorations as we are helping the two American men celebrate the 4th July. We had a Sausage sizzle and Hamburgers for dinner plus some fizzy drink. We got to play while the adults talked, but unfortunately I got a splinter in my hand which hurt. As part of the event we were all given a beanie to wear with the Pradopoint emblem on it. Mum and Dad also got a black and orange t-shirt with the same emblem. Some of the people got some camp fires going – the biggest one had huge logs so they poured diesel over the logs to get it going!


DAY 3:
We set off early with a long day of 4wd ahead. As there are 30 Prado cars, we split into 3 groups to travel. We were in group C and our leader was Sean. We were the second car in line. We tuned our UHF radio to channel 18 and off we went. Sean took us to some interesting sites so that we could have a walk around and a toilet stop before heading into Ruby Gap.

After a few tourist sites we started into Ruby Gap. It was pretty rough driving and no toilets to be seen (nothing like squatting in the dirt – I wasn’t too happy about that and was quite embarressed). The driving was great because we went over big rocks and through sand and dry river beds. There are 43 speed humps over the kilometres we travelled so we had to keep the speed down ( Sean asked us to count them along the way – that’s about the only maths we’ve done while we have been travelling – sorry Mrs Willis and Mrs Robinson).

Once we got to Ruby Gap we started looking for ‘rubies’ which are really only garnets. Two fossickers came to Ruby Gap a long time ago and thought they had struck it rich. They travelled back to Alice Springs to show everyone their riches but were so disappointed that one of them even killed themselves!

We collected lots of garnets and then went for a walk though the gap. It was beautiful! I have collected lots of rocks along the way – especially to give my friends at school.

We returned home and had some toasted sandwiches for dinner and then sat around the fire until about 9:30. We toasted marshmallows and listened to stories that our new friends told. Mum says we can buy some biscuits and chocolate so we can make S’mores for the next campfire!

TENNANT CREEK

 
 
 

DAY 1:
Tennant Creek was where we were headed today but unfortunately we broke down and the NRMA had to come and help us. He towed us to a Toyota dealer where we got an ice cream – a splice, while Dad and Brian the tow truck man talked to the Toyota dealer to see what was wrong with the car. They thought it would take a week to fix it because they thought the fuel pump had broken. It was only a petrol problem and after we filled up we were on our way. I was a bit scared being stuck out in the middle of the outback, but we played eye spy and I felt better. Some of the things we spied were: Spinifex, sky, cars (very few) and termite mounds!

We arrived at our caravan park and ordered pizza which was delivered to the caravan park! We also bought a fizzy drink to have with it. At night we sat outside and watched the beautiful fireworks. I had never seen fireworks like that before! We went to bed late (but I went to bed a bit later that James because I could see the fireworks out of my window!!

DAY2:
This morning we went and bought a new Gerri can to help us store fuel in case we run out again. Mum was a bit scared sitting in the car with us so she locked the doors while Dad went inside! There are a lot of Aboriginal people here – they didn’t have many clothes and most did not wear shoes. We saw young children pushing babies in prams and lots of dogs with them. They like to sit in big groups on the ground and chat together.

After our quick trip to get the Gerri can, we went to the Battery Hill Mine where we met our guide – Ray. It was so cool. We got to wear ear muffs and a hard hat so that if a wall fell in we would be O.K. We were able to carry big torches too. The best thing I liked in the mine was touching all the machinery – especially when Ray turned it on and we got to use it. He was interesting and told us many stories of when he worked in the mine. He was funny!

When we left the mine, we panned for gold but didn’t get anything. Ray told us where to find the gold and we started noodling and found heaps. He showed us a car park where they had dumped a lot of the gold so we went and washed it off and found lots of little pieces.

We had a swim in the afternoon – a bit chilly, but we had fun anyway. I wonder why no one else came in?

Mount Isa

 
 
 
 

Today we went to the Underground Hospital. It was very dirty and dusty. It was build in case the Japanese bombed Mount Isa because of the mines. The man gave us a quick tour before we went underground. He weighed us on a very old weighing machine. Inside the hospital we saw bed pans for people to go to the toilet in, beds for new born babies, beds with a straw mattress, old glass bottles, a bed for people who had injured their backs (it could rotate). We even saw some children’s play toys which were tiny soldiers made from wood which the children would bowl over with a marble.

The passage way was narrow to walk through and was forked into two passages – one lot of beds for men and the other beds for women. I was trying to imagine what it would be like to sleep on a bed of straw and on a wire frame. I am thankful for my bed!

After that we went to a park which had a man-made lake in the middle of it. We saw lots of different animals – eagles, kookaburras and peacocks. We had some lunch there and also played with the vortex and the football. We really enjoyed watching the eagles swoop and soar in the air around their nest. James taught me how to kick the football - I'm getting better!

On the way home we found a Cold Rock ice cream shop, so Mum and Dad bought us one each. I had Vanilla icecream with a crunchie mashed up into it. It was yum!

Wonderful Winton

 
 
 

Melanie Hall is a poet who tours around Australia – she is wonderful! For the two nights that we were at Winton, we went and watched Melanie perform. I was in two plays – the first night I was dressed up as the boy from the Bush Christening and got wet by her drink bottle as she ‘Christened’ me.

On the second night I was a red back spider and bit Dad (who was a sheila) on the bottom !!!

Banjo Patterson wrote “Waltzing Matilda” in the Winton area and there is a statue of him in the main street as well as monuments about the actual song.

The musical fence was interesting as you could grab a stick, a hose or a piece of pipe to bang on the fence wire. The sound boxes above the fence made the sound louder.

Dad found a green tree frog in the power connection box and he was cute. Dad wanted to name him Fredrick or Fredo, but I chose Fred. I wanted to bring him home as a pet, but Mum and Dad didn’t think this was a good idea, so he stayed in Winton. On the day we packed up, he was no longer in the power connection box. James and I looked everywhere for him, but we couldn’t find him anywhere.

There was a crazy man named Arno who had made a crazy wall out of junk !!! We had quick look at it, but couldn’t quite work out why it was on the “must see” list of things to do in Winton.

We had a great time in Winton and have just arrived in Mount Isa for a bit of a rest before we travel to the Northern Territory (Tennant Creek).

The Stockman's Hall of Fame

 
 

So far we have been looking at everything BIG but today we have been looking at things that are so OLD! First, we saw a cart that sold things to people living in the outback. Outback people had animals such as cows, horses, sheep, camels and much, much more.

They lived in house made of wood (not quite like the three little pigs) which had hard chairs, an open fire place for cooking their food, hard wooden beds which had no mattress, some glass bottles and it was very dirty and dusty. I don’t think I would like to live in it at all. It makes me thank God for all that I have.

I saw lots of maps – my favourite was one where you could push a button and it would light up where the explorer went throughout Australia. It was COOL!

Life was hard because they had to work on the land from when the sun came up, until the sun went down. They had problems with mice, locusts, drought, floods and rabbits.

I liked this place a lot.