The Long Fence

We have had a day of very long driving. Mum and Dad say that there is not much to stop in between. We have crossed the boundary of the longest fence in the world, the dingo fence or dog fence. Since then, I haven't seen any more dingoes!
In Coober Pedy, we have to pay extra for showers. The owner of the camp ground tells us that the water in Coober Pedy is the most expensive water in Australia. It is pumped from underground, then filtered. It is all drinking water, but there is no free tap anywhere in town. But you can take your caravan to a "water refill" station where you pay 20 c for 40 litres.

The dog fence is over 5000 km long.

This feels like real desert - we can't do a "bush wee" any more: no more bushes!

Coober Pedy has lots of warning signs

Mum and us after a "bush walk" up the hill. You don't have to be here to feel thirsty: looking at a picture should be enough

I took this picture from the outback night sky from the hill above.

Up the rock

We went up the rock today. That is: Jonas, Mum and I. Grandma and grandpa feel too old for the climb, and Dad is respecting the wish of the Aboriginal people not to climb it. But Jonas, Mum and I are prepared with good grip shoes (school shoes are the best!), food and water. When we arrive at the base of Uluru we see many orange tractors on their 2015 reunion. The tractor drivers are also steady companions on our climb, and the photo of the three of us was taken by a tractor driver.

Tractors at Uluru

Up and up we climb

A rest stop, photo taken by a tractor driver

I am now a professional in long bush walks

A few days ago we walked Ormiston Pound, and I thought it was a serious bush walk. It took us 4.5 hours to finish the loop walk.

Today, we walked Kata Tjuta's Valley of the Winds, a walk that snakes through the domes and valleys of the giant red rock domes. Well, this one was an easy walk as it only took 3.5 hours to finish the loop walk! I think I am slowly transforming into a rock wallaby, hopping between the rocks of the Red Centre without ever getting tired :-)

Kata Tjuta up close

Our car with a camel warning sign

First night at Uluru

Yesterday we arrived at Uluru-Kata Tjuta caravan park where we are going to stay for 4 nights. Jonas and I played soccer while mum and dad set up our tent and an awning. While they were still working galahs came flying by, so I asked for the camera to take photos of the galahs.

This morning we started to climb up Uluru, but it turned out to be too windy, so the climb was closed soon after by the rangers. A while after that we did the ranger-led Mala walk instead where we learned about the aborigine story (“Tjukapa”) of Uluru. You wonder what a mala is? A mala is actually a rufus hare wallaby.

Hi-Way Inn

We are at a road house in Daly Waters. They have a filthy pool that I don't like. But the sign says: "OOL Rules - Remember, no P in Pool" -- this is a pretty cool sign :-)

Rock paintings and crocs

We went to Ubirr, our turn-around point for the trip. Ranger Ben gave  a great talk about Aboriginal culture, stories and the dreaming. We have learned about kinship, language and the law, and stories, lots of stories. One is about two girls who liked to play crocodile to scare people. One day, they transformed into crocodiles themselves. They have transformed into the lumps behind the crocs' eyes, to remind all people of their sad story.

The thylacine is extinct on the mainland for 4000 years. This painting must be older.

I bet this one is a girl croc: dressed up for the party with a nice hair-do!

Our cool camp site in Cooinda. Read the croc warning on the yellow sign in the background.

Lelyn (Edith) Falls

We have found Paradise! So that we can stay longer here, we will not go into Litchfield National Park. This waterfall is simply too gorgeous! Find me in the picture below!

Me in the big blue tube that I took out to the waterfall. At sunset.

Mataranka Hot Springs

We are arriving at the Top End. We left the dry - and super dusty - Centre behind and have made it to Mataranka in Northern Territory. After days and days of camping in the dust and seeing nothing but scrubs and grasses, after playing not “foot”ball but “dust”ball in the brown, stinky dust, there is suddenly water and trees!

Our lunch stop is at Mataranka hot springs. The nearby Roper Rive is closed for swimming due to crocs. But the little Rainbow Spring that puts out warm water of 34 deg C is open for swimming! I plunge in and can’t get enough of it! The water is a clear turquoise colour. They have dug out a pool so that it is easy swimming. Mum couldn’t get me out of here!

Back into road train country

We are pushing on from Barkly Homestead to Banka Banka Outstation. This is the end of our trip west, we are now heading north. I am keeping a keen eye on the road trains on the Stuart Highway. At our lunch spot in Threeways, we saw six road trains with three containers. They are up to 53.5 m long. They have got a sleeping cabin overhead for the drivers to rest. Lots of them are loaded with zinc ore or copper ore. Others transport cattle. Some carry fuel for the road houses. Some just mention “chemicals”.

Tooth fairy

Finally, after a lot of wobbles, my second top front tooth fell out. In Barkly Homestead, in the middle of nowhere. This is endless country of nothingness: no road trains, no trees, no toilets, no fellow travellers. Only dead cows alongside the road, dry grass, dry grass, and more dry grass. Occasionally, a little scrub. Or a little rock. But all featureless. Good country for reading thick books (I have just finished the third book of Enyd Blyton’s Mystery Series about the find outers). We have also posted three postcard to Sydney, one to our class 1/2 T.

Croc tour

In Cape Tribulation we went on a croc tour on the Daintree River, where we saw at least 10 saltwater crocodiles. This includes Alpha, the biggest croc in the river. Also a 3 year old croc had red blood-stained teeth. I spotted a 1-year old croc that the guide hadn’t seen.

3-year old crocodile with a red tooth

Alpha

1-year old croc that I spotted

Whales in the Bay

Today we took a whale watching boat into the wide bay of Fraser Island. It was cold and windy, and our captain said that the chances of seeing whales are only 50-50 as it is very early season. It was rough outside and the boat was going up and down in the waves. After a yum morning tea, our captain heard on the radio that whales were spotted near Woody Island. We got there and found them! They were two giant black-and-white whales. Our captain said that they were only two years old. We followed these two whales for a couple of hours. They happily swam by the boat. Suddenly, one of them breached right in front of our bow. Everyone cheered.

Humpback Whalte

Hide-and-Seek-Tree

Today we drove from Glass House Mountains to Scarness (Hervey Bay). We stopped at Maryborough for lunch. They have a park in the town centre with the most giant tree that you can imagine. The tree takes 3 minutes to walk around! It has lots of roots that Jonas and I climbed on. Also, we played hide and seek in it. Grandma and grandpa had trouble finding us in the many tree roots. Some of the roots had spaces that Jonas and I could get through, but grandma and grandpa couldn’t. That was funny.

After arriving in Scarness, I played at the park next to the camping ground. There were two men playing footy. They had a red, soft footy ball, so we asked if we could play with them. We had so much fun kicking the ball to each other. They called me a “natural kicker”. At the end of the day, we got the footy ball as a present.

Australia Zoo

On Wednesday grandma, grandpa, Jonas and I went to Australia Zoo near Glasshouse Mountains. We learned all about animals. Did you know that every marsupial baby is called a “joey”? Joeys are born the size of a jelly bean; they are tiny.

We went to lots of shows. At one of them we saw two people telling us how to deal with saltwater crocodiles: Don’t go near the water’s edge. Don’t splash around in the water. If you are camping where crocodiles live, stay at least 50 metres from the water’s edge.

I also fed lots of wallabies and Eastern Grey Kangaroos. At the zoo shop, grandpa bought me a stuffed Eastern Grey Kangaroo with a joey in her pouch. I named her “Miss K.”.

This is Miss K. with her Joey

Our first night in Queensland

When I woke up this morning in Springbrook, I heard whip birds, so I went to grandma’s and grandpa’s caravan to wake Jonas up and play with grandpa. Then we asked about the Chicken National Anthem and Jonas suddenly sang it though we didn’t know that he was awake.

On our way to Beerwah we passed lots of rollercoasters, Wet’n’Wild and Movie World. Tomorrow we are going to visit Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo, which is only 2 kilometres from here. Perhaps I will climb one of the Glasshouse Mountains.

Our camper trailer under the Milky Way

This is our grandparent's camper van

The day up in the mountains

Last night, I slept in Oma's and Opa's camper van and not in Mum's and Dad's camper trailer. They have got one additional sleeping space under their roof top. I slept in my sleeping bag and stayed nice and warm.

Today we went up to the mountains in Dorrigo National Park. There is a huge world-famous rainforest. We went into the rainforest for a 3-hour walk. Guess what? When we were half way, and still had 60 min to walk, it started to RAIN. Is that why they call it a rain forest?

This is a photo of Crystal Falls from behind the waterfall

Fighting kangaroos

When I got up this morning in beautiful sun shine, I found lots of Eastern Grey Kangaroos around our tent. I took Mum's camera and took lots of videos of their fights and kicks. Then, Dad gave me his camera and I took more photos. He told me how to hold the camera, how to use the zoom lens, and how to focus. I show you one of my favourite pictures here:

This is one of the photos I took of a Eastern Grey Kangaroo eating grass

Observatory at home

Mum and Dad put our binoculars on a tripod to look at Venus and Jupiter. The lens is good enough to see 4 moons of Jupiter. I love it! Looking forward to the outback sky!

Last day of school

I was very sad today that I cannot go to school next term. I was trying to convince Mum and Dad to stay in Sydney.

Winter Solstice

We went to the Sydney Observatory for Winter Solstice. It all started with pizza. I saw Jupiter and four of its moons, Saturn and its disc, and Alpha Centauri through the telescope. The photo is a test how to upload photos to this blog. I took it myself with Mum's Lumix camera.

Today's School

We had a lock down at school and Fab Fri. We had another rainy day.