Shaws Five State Adventure

  Thursday 22/5/25. This morning was clean up and jobs day. We did the washing and then Bob and Keith went and sorted out tyres. Bob bought 2 new tyres and had them fitted on the back.  He then was notified of a dentist appointment after someone cancelled so the rest of us had a look around town while Bob went off and had a root canal done. It wasn’t a very cheap day!! Whilst we were in the Todd Mall we checked out the Flynn Uniting Church where we were married. We then walked around town looking at various places of interest. The Residency. The original courthouse. We then checked out Nathalie Gorey Preschool and Ida Standley Preschool where Barb had worked in the early 70s. Nathalie Gorey Preschool is now the senior citizens centre and the Preschool has been moved to east side. In the evening we all went to the Gillen Club for dinner and were met there by Kate Dobie and her daughter Charli. We had a really good catch up. Friday23/5/25. This morning we had a slow start and th...

  Wednesday 21/5/25.  In the morning headed off towards Erldunda stopping at Curtin Springs to make some phone calls as we had some signal.   We passed Mt Ebenezer which is now closed and looks very sad. Just before Erldunda we stopped and helped some Japanese tourists who had run out of fuel. From Erldunda we were on bitumen  when suddenly there was a bang and we knew we had blown a ttyre. How’s this for a blown tyre!!!! We did a pretty good job !!! After changing the wheel we drove on to the Finke River for lunch. The flies were awful so we ate our lunch in the truck. The mighty Finke. One of the oldest rivers in the world. Driving towards Alic Springs. The Gap just south of Alice Springs. We arrived in Alice Springs and settled into the Alice Springs Tourist Park on Larapinta Drive. We werereadyfora good clean up. But

  Tuesday 20/5/25. Day 4. Our first stop this morning was at Lasseter’s cave. A gold prospector called Lasseter said he had found gold and went back to find it. He perished in this cave despite help from local indigenous people. Many people have gone out looking for his gold but no one has ever found it. We then drove on to the Kata Tjuṯa (Olgas) for lunch and had a good look around. We have been here quite a few times but it was good to be here again. View from the lookout. Driving towards Kata Tjuṯa. Valley of the winds. We decided to drive on to Yulara.  As we had all been to Uluṟu a few times before we decided to give it a miss. Uluṟu as we drove past. We stopped for fuel in Yulara and then continued eastward. We stopped at the Mount Connor lookout. Mount Connor is often mistaken for Uluṟu on your first visit. We topped up the water for some birds here. That afternoon we took a while to find a campsite. We discovered that Wikki  Camps offline is not the same as the on...

  Monday 19/5/25 Day 3. Today we drove on to the Warakurna Roadhouse. On the way we stopped for smoko at a roadside stop and Keith and Rhonda got a flat tyre because they had run over, would you believe a broken pair of nail scissors. The tyre was changed and we were off again.   Before stopping antWarakurna we went into the Giles Weather Station. This is one of the few manned weather stations left. Most are now automated. On a previous trip we had been given a tour and saw the weather balloon being launched in the morning.  There are no tours now but you can still watch the balloon if you want to be out there at 7.30am. We were able to look around the site and see a small museum which has been set up for travellers. The old radar set up to monitor the weather for the Woomera Rocket Range. One of the towers with the remains of a Blue Streak Rocket in front of it. Len Beadell’s road grader. He was instrumental in opening up the area by building roads all around the NT and ...

  Sunday 18/5/25. Day 2. First stop today was the Warburton Roadhouse where we all fuelled up. The price was $3.15 for diesel. The poor locals have to pay this price all the time so we really don’t have anything to complain about do we!! The man in the store told us that he hadn’t seen a grader on the road in 2 years and we can well believe it. We continued driving for many klms  and when we drove into the next shire the road improved as it is readily maintained.  We stopped at the Heather Highway turnoff as this was the furthest west we had come on a previous trip. This road goes north and joins up with the Gunbarrel Highway. You can see the standard of road condition in this area for a Highway. Again this is what the locals have to put up with. We continued on until we found a campsite set up by the local indigenous community. There were information bays and a long drop loo.  Local art Cultural information of the area. It was a very nice camp and we enjoyed sitting...