Australia #5 - Outback adventure - Tibooburra to Sydney via Balranald

Onward ho! It was time to leave Tibooburra and head towards Balranald for Rach and Paul's wedding.

We got up early to drive out of Tibooburra.








Howard was fascinated by these yardsticks. The one on the left is at a little creek somewhere between Tibooburra and Broken Hill. It reads 2m (~7ft). The one on the right is on the Darling River in Pooncarie, and it's big. When it rains out here, it really rains out here...





The Darling River - note the complete lack of flow. The Menindee Lakes were pretty empty too.







But the flies were bad. There was only one solution for nap-time...








Some friends we met along the way...

Shingleback lizard (cute!)








Shingleback lizard (scary!)










Central bearded dragon











And look! There are some exciting invertebrates to find (brine shrimp, water boatmen, beetles, mosquitoes...)







Rachael and Paul's wedding at Paika (Balranald)
Suddenly, we were back to spending time with people! It was lovely to see Rach, Paul, Deana and Matt again - and catch up with a few more people. And what a beautiful couple!

Hooray! Congratulations Rach and Paul Alderuccio!!










Hello Sydney and farewell Australia
We were back in the big city again. {Well, after a monstrous drive up from Balranald, that didn't actually seem too bad after a couple of weeks on the road.}

We left the worn-out campervan behind, and went into Circular Quay to check out the local sites...

The Harbour Bridge










The Opera House








See you next year Australia!! Thanks for a wonderful honeymoon!

Australia #4 - Outback Adventure - Tibooburra

Tibooburra was the ultimate goal of our Outback Adventure. My Pa had been here to look for gold, and I always wanted to come out and see what he was talking about. It seemed like the perfect destination to take Howard, so he could see what an empty desert is really like.

We went up to Sunset Hill for sunrise (and later for sunset). It was really quite beautiful and a relief from the heat. Did I tell you that it was 42C (108F) that day? That's hot.

Is there gold in them there rocks???






























These are the famous Sturt's desert pea - they only bloom after rain (or, if the garden tap is leaking beside the hospital - which is where we found them). A local told us that she had only seen them bloom twice in seven years - kind of gives you an idea how often it rains...






Did I mention that it was hot? After a night sleeping in our campervan/sauna/mosquito cage, I decided that we should splurge on a room at the Family Hotel with air-conditioning!!!!







Yoga on the mountainside - what better way to wake up from a nap?

Australia #3 - Outback Adventure - the desert

Driving in the desert...
Howard tells me that this is the most remote has ever been. On our drive from Wentworth to Broken Hill, we passed about twenty cars in three hours (~300km). On the way from Broken Hill to Tibooburra, we passed about ten cars in seven hours (~300km).

The beautiful desert...








More beautiful desert....











So much beautiful desert...








OK, so there was a lot of desert...








You're kidding me! The road is going to get rough?!?! (At this stage, we had been driving for about three hours, on some pretty rough roads. And we weren't even halfway to Tibooburra yet...)







Occasionally, there was a patch of bitumen on the road. Ah, it was like heaven....








Crazy spider nests (?!) - see, I told you we looked for bugs.









A much needed rest stop at the Packsaddle. Ice cream and beer and a shady porch - who could ask for more?








Is that a lake I can see on the horizon? Maybe it's the infamous inland sea that Charles Sturt was searching for...








Wow. There's still more desert.









We made it! This is out the back of the caravan park in Tibooburra. I'm trying to adjust to not being shaken to pieces in the campervan, at the same time as dealing with the sweltering heat and the flies... But, gee, was I glad to be there!









This is the front page of the menu from the Tibooburra pub. What you probably can't read is this:

Great home style cooking about as far away from home as you can be!!!

[note the fly on the menu]

Australia #2 - Outback Adventure - Victoria

For our honeymoon, we headed off in our little campervan and drove from River Bend to Tibooburra, stopping to bushwalk and climb rocks and look for birds and lizards and bugs and fish along the way...


The Grampians
Heading off to go bushwalking near Mt Zero.








Howard climbing rocks. One day he wants to bring all his gear back and climb Taipan Wall.









The view from the top of Mt Stapylton. A lovely spot for lunch.










Hattah-Kulkyne and the Murray River

Our home away from home, nestled in the tall Red Gums beside the Murray River at Hattah-Kulkyne National Park. (We later moved the van because of concerns about tree limbs falling on us in the middle of the night...)









The Murray River at dawn...







On the road...

Big Lizzie! What an incredible machine...








The confluence of the Murray and Darling Rivers. These are the two major rivers in eastern Australia. Unfortunately, they're not really flowing at the moment - we were told that they only look so full because water is backed up from the weirs downstream. [Thanks a lot, Cubbie Station!]

Australia #1 - Wickliffe and Melbourne

As promised, here are a couple of photos from our trip home/to Australia.

Hanging out in Melbourne

A pirate possessed Elyjah. Aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!








George, our official wedding photographer, enjoying the sites in Melbourne (i.e., Cathy and me).








The Brandenburgs in humid Melbourne, the day they all flew in. This photo is taken at Southbank, after a lovely dinner on the banks of the Yarra. We had to run inside to shelter from the late summer thunderstorm.






Wickliffe
Narrapumelap! You can see the marquee in the background where we held our reception. Beautiful.










The view from our bedroom/campervan window the morning before the wedding. Howard loved the fog in the sugargums.








I think Dad is laughing at Howard trying to climb rocks on the side of the hill...








The good ol' Hopkins River.











Howard in action, driving a truck full of hay to feed the sheep.

We're back!

... and Australia was fabulous! We had a great time visiting everyone, getting married again, and going for our honeymoon/outback adventure.

I promise that I will post photos soon, but in the meantime, you can go to George's Constructed Images website and check out his photos.

And if anyone has some photos that you would like to share with us, please please please email them to me (or send me a CD if you have heaps!). We would love to include as many different views as possible in our wedding album.

Honeymoon plans

After our wedding in Australia, we're planning a tour of outback NSW for a week or two (hopefully two). Details are yet to be determined, but we'll probably hire a van or small bus and borrow a tent and then head north from Wickliffe. We hope to visit Broken Hill and Tibooburra (where Ayesha's grandfather used to travel to pan for gold) - and hopefully catch up with a few old friends along the way.

Any suggestions about where we should go or what we should see?

We know that there is a lot of cool art in Broken Hill and we are already planning a counter meal at the Tibooburra pub...

If anyone is looking for ideas for a wedding gift, we would love some help to pay for our trip! Here are a few ideas of things we might like/need to buy with your gifts:

• petrol to keep our campervan going
• snacks from the service station to keep us going
• a visit to the supermarket before heading outback
• postcards and stamps
• a counter meal in Tibooburra
• a night out in Broken Hill
• lunch at that nice place in the Blue Mountains
• breakfast in Sydney before getting back on the plane
  
• a night in a nice B&B
• a site at a caravan park
• some more songs for our iPod
• a road atlas
• anything else that you think is essential for a long road trip...