THE KINGS TOUR

[humpty2]

Sharing those few days on the road with you during the Meander, makes me realise how good it would be for you............. and especially for me to keep going....and going.....and going......instead of being back here at work.
Love all the pictures .........keep them coming.
Can't wait for my turn......it WILL come!!

[MRFJ55]

5/24/10 at 2:24, mrfj55 wrote:

p.s I BET KAYBEE BLOODY GOT EM
well willya look at that!....his CAPS LOCK does work

.......and no,I didn't.....but I left a pair on the Effjay when I launched it ,new owner took them off when he painted it, you've reminded me I should chase him up and see if I can get 'em back......

HEY COL , HOW YA GOIN !
YOU CAUGHT ME OUT , YEP THE CAP LOCK WAS WORKING BUT IT LOOKS LIKE ITS BROCKEN AGAIN ....... OOOH BUGGER !
HEY............... BUDDYOLDMATEBESTFRIENDCOBBERANDDIGGER.............. IF YOU DO GET THOSE FENDER DARTS CAN YOU KEEP ME IN MIND .
I HAVE BEEN AFTER A SET FOR ONE OF MY HUMPIES FOR A WHILE .

REGARDS MAURIE.

[kaybee]

May 26, 2010 17:39:46 GMT 10 MRFJ55 said:

HEY BUDDYOLDMATEBESTFRIENDCOBBERANDDIGGER IF YOU DO GET THOSE FENDER DARTS CAN YOU KEEP ME IN MIND .


REGARDS MAURIE.

.....oh, well....gee...I dunno....I don't want to get in trouble with your "hot water bottle" like I did over the rear door darts........ ;D ;D ;D

[kingy]

G'Day Gang, well alls well........in fact can't believe how everything is going so smoothly, especially the car. HOPE i'm not about to regret saying that ;D
Made it to Tennant Creek yesterday, thats about 2700 k's since we left you guy's at Mildura.........those K's soon mount up.
Not much to report here, other than to say that like Coober Pedy, the Alice and Barrow Creek the Aborigines out number the whites quite noticably, and they are a tad darker than the ones we have back home In fact their dark black. Mez is quite scared of them, but thats Mez ;D
Here's some shots since we left you last

Hundreds of K's between van parks ( i love it) so it's under the stars in the desert ;D ;D there were about a dozen vans that stayed here overnight on the side of the road









No shortage of red dust









HHHmmmmmmm Not go'in there












Does''nt pay to break down out here......this is one of about the dozen we've seen














That's it for now guy's, probably won't get any service now till katherine .........Cheers till then
Kingy & Mez

[cobber]

Hard to beat the sunsets out there aye ?....or the stars at night, can you give us a photo of them ?

SLOW DOWN..YOU'RE GOING TOO FAST

Cobber.

[kingy]

May 28, 2010 15:43:18 GMT 10 cobber said:

Hard to beat the sunsets out there aye ?....or the stars at night, can you give us a photo of them ?

SLOW DOWN..YOU'RE GOING TOO FAST

Cobber.

Yeah, i know Cobber......did'nt intend to get this far so soon, but we are behind everyone else , there's new people rounding us up every day......i think being less to see and towns so far apart, people tend to move on quickly out here

Stars & sunsets........next post ;D

[kingy]

Hey Humpty,your turn will be here before you know it, better start gett'in organised.........how many more months ?? ;D
Kingy

[humpty2]

only 617 days till I retire.....but I'm not counting!!

[Daggsey]

Hi Kingy & Mez,

Good to see those photography lessons I gave yous weren't totally wasted..... ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D......awesome photos guys.........you're just making me a tad jealous ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Daggsey

[humpyboy]

At least you can start the count down Humpty2, I'm to scared to even thing about my starting figure .

[kingy]

May 28, 2010 20:05:43 GMT 10 Daggsey said:

Hi Kingy & Mez,

Good to see those photography lessons I gave yous weren't totally wasted..... ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D......awesome photos guys.........you're just making me a tad jealous ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Daggsey

If it was'nt for you two Guy's we would'nt be where we are today FACT, your stopovers at our place convinced us to head off, for which we are forever gratefull. It took a lot to say ''stuff it'' lets do it, allways wondering if we were doing the right thing.
NO regrets here what so ever
Only trouble here is Mez don't wanna go home i'll soon have to find a job, and i miss me shed ..........but this has been a great trip and i don't want it end
Anyway we're heading your way, so look out ..........might do things in reverse and get yous back out here, wadda ya say
Kingy

[kingy]

Hi Gang, here's another update of our trek up north........the further we head up the better it gets

We have had near no rain........except for our last day in Tennant Creek . Not many photo's here, because there's nothing here , in fact we were glad to leave
Sorta reminds you of Bingara hey Reddo ;D



Next stop was Daly Waters, which is in the middle of nowhere......but is a must for travellers for an overnighter



Notice the hangings from the ceiling........Mez donated the blue ones ;D ;D





A man and his chook



There's heaps of WW11 history up here, this hanger/airstrip is facinating......just like it was back then



Here it is during the war



You can even camp in the hanger



It's been untouched all this time







Stayed overnight at King River at a rest area........as did 20 other vans







Time to hang on ;D





More to come shortly
Kingy

[Deleted]

Hiya Kingy..
It amazes me that they would let you... or anyone else camp in the old hangar.
Heritage listed ..
Would only take some d!ckhead to have a campfire in there and the lot would be at risk of being destroyed.
Also risk of ppl soverneeing " bits and pieces, graffitti etc, etc.

Gotta love those outback pubs... loads of character with tons of local history... and bras

Good to see Mezz doin her bit to support ( or is that losing a bit of support to ) the local tourist industry ;D

Keep on truckin
Reddo

[sutcac]

.......hey Kingy,Mez...................if you get this in time and you intend staying at Mataranka......

......don't stay at the big main touristy thermal pools place ...

....there is a great lil park .................turn right just thru town................cant remember the name ...............

........but it's got its own little creek with heated pools .............a short walk from your site....

...........stayed there last year and was good...........

Cheers Sutcacs

Mataranka Cabins and Camping......pets welcome

[kingy]

G'day Clyde, We drove through Mataranka a week ago and stopped at Kingy's river rest area as was mentioned.......about 50 K's further on.
Driving through Mataranka we noticed around a dozen ''locals''...with their starving dogs........ asleep on the footpaths and in the park.......sorta made up our minds for us , whether to stay or not ...........but thats the way it is up here, it's just that some places are worse than others, especially on ''pay day'' ...........Coober Pedy was the worse we've seen
BUT also the most interesting town we've visited.
Cheers Kingy

[kingy]

My thoughts exactly Reddo. The hanger and surrounds has no security what so ever, yet there is no sign of any vandalism what so ever ..........i actually made comment of it back at the pub.
We did'nt actually stay there, but it's common knowledge that you can camp anywhere at the airport.........even in the middle of the old airstrip , which still has a good surface.
We thought staying behind the pub was a better option ;D, a couple of K's from the hanger
Kingy

[kingy]

Time for another update Gang, on leaving Daly Waters we headed towards Katherine (June 1st) and once settled we headed to the gorge.........now renamed Nitmiluk National Park.
We took a heap of photo's here's just a few........this place is spectacular













We saw a few crocs along the banks, but they ''blend in'' so well with the surroundings it's hard to get a clear shot
Here's an empty croc trap





We spent a couple of days in Katherine enjoying it very much................still getting used to the heat though, if this is winter ...around 30 every day, can't see us being here in summer ;D

After Katherine it was off to Grove hill, for somthing totally different





The Grove Hill pub......come Museum



The front enterance ;D





The pool room



The museum bit





Accomadation



This collection was alongside the pub





This sign was inside the pub........a money spinner for charity, who can work it out, it reads both ways........the winner gets a clap ;D





See Ya's soon
Kingy

[Geoff & Jude]

hi kingy and mez

great piccies - looks like you're still having a good time out there.

keep them coming.

for all those who want to know what WYBMADIITY means.

if you want to know, click here, but you have to pay the price.

geoff 'n jude

[kingy]

Back again, well after Grove Hill (Mez was'nt keen on staying overnight ;D) it was off to Berry Springs..........another top spot We stayed at ''Tumbling waters van park'' @ $25 it's a bargain, certainly makes you realise your in the tropics ;D
Here's what we had to put up with



View out the back window





The park also has quite a few freshwater crocs on show, we got to see them being fed chicken pieces. They are fed once a week





We stayed here for a couple of days, and while there we headed a few K's up the road to The Berry Springs..............Another top spot .These springs are open to the public at no cost, and as you can imagine are very popular. Water is body temp.






Swimming with the fish









We left Berry Springs and headed for Darwin, arriving last Sunday..................Very Impressive so far, should have some good photo's to share.
We're staying here for a week........so far , then it's decision time ......Head West, or WORK.......The latter is looming ;D

Kingy

[sheppo]

Great photos kingy, reminds me of my trip round the block as i have some of the same snaps. I camped on a few of the old aerodromes up there and found some interesting bits and pieces. Have you noticed in the roadside stops the lack of ground dwelling wildlife? Take your torch out after dark and see how many wild cats you can see, we saw litterally hundreds and the annoying thing is the backpackers who don't know any better feed them. Leave a Panadol in milk away from your van and do the country a favour by maybe getting one. Another activity we where taught in QLD was to take a plastic bag with Dettol in it and go pick up Cane toads, in one place near kakadu we had 18 people wandering around looking for them, was good fun and did our bit for the enviroment. Dettol kills the buggers, you have to bury them when dead as they can still kill lizards and snakes if they eat them. It's a fab country and if everyone thats travelling helps well ....... The other thing i noticed at the stops was the amount of toilet paper blowing around behind the trees, you'd think people would know better. Well thats my rave. Keep on keeping on guys, have a great time, your a long time dead.

[kingy]

G'Day Everyone, well we're still here at Darwin....been just over a week now, Mez likes it lots and prefers to stay on a little longer..........we're taking it day by day at present. Sure is a nice place, could easily live here..........BUT the heat ;D. The first thing you realise in the city is the lack of high rise buildings, it's well spread out and very tidy........and quite touristy with lots travellers walking the streets.
We went to the Museum yesterday, mainly to see the cyclone Tracy exhibit, and well worth the trip........hard to believe it was back in 74'. I don't think one caravan would have survived with 97% of buildings destroyed
Here's some of what we've seen
The wharfs are a good look ........pretty much all open to the public








Customs having a breather



Here's an interesting look......during the war these tunnels were built to house fuel/oil, huge job..........but they were never used a s such....Why .......The war ended before they could be utilised.













The bottom figure reads in Mill. Ltrs.






Then it was off to the ''wave pool''



Thats me, third from the centre ;D



Couple of yachts heading through the loch









Now what are these fully clad people on the beach all looking at you ask..........
Another magic sunset at mindil beach










Cheers for now Kingy

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Kingys,

Good to see you're enjoying Darwin and showing the rest of us some more of Australia at the same time. Win, win for you and us, eh?

Those tunnels are amazing - something I'd never heard about, although we're now beginning to hear more about the impact of WW2 on northern Australia. As you no doubt know, there were bombing raids not only in the NT but also Queensland and WA. We heard a bit about the Broome raids when we were there a couple of months ago.

I was also a bit intriqued by the lock. I presume that's not just to keep the crocs out? Why is it needed?

Don Ricardo

[bobandjacqui]

G'day Kingy's,
You have certainly put a few miles on the EH since you left Mildura. Darwin is a very nice place with plenty to see and do. Fanny Bay jail is worth a look also I think there was a military museum near there as well.

Thanks for sharing the piccies.

Cheers Bob and Jacqui

[cobber]

G'day Kingys,

Thanks for the memories....I'm pleased you discovered the party at Mindil beach, some things never change aye?....and Berry Springs, a top spot is all you say ... we thought it was one of the bestest top spots (after Lawn Hill N.P.) we came across... and so close to the big city.... and FREE !

Keep enjoying the ride, shame you can't light up the camp fire though.... no need aye?

Cobber.

[kingy]

Hi Don Ricardo, your right re. the tunnels, they are certainly worth a look.........we only stumbled over them while walking the streets . and we were amazed at the size of them.........it's a bit scary walking through them though , and to think all that work was in vain
The loch was something i did'nt look into, i too could'nt figure it out .........the two yachts both come offshore into the loch, the loch then filled with a couple of feet of water, they then headed into the marina. The marina is above sea level........for why
Kingy