Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Farewell Australia

Our original plan was to ship the Trakka to Durban, South Africa and then continue our Adventure in Africa. However, best laid plans.... Once back in the United States Annie got very sick and we thought our travels were over with! So, we had Martin sell our beloved Trakka for us. Again there was a huge trust involved as we gave him all the authority and he could have said or done anything, but in just a few short weeks he had our camper sold for a very fair price and we had the money in our bank account. Thanks again Martin.

Some final photos from our Australian adventure and it truly was an exciting adventure.

OMG:





Around every corner is another surprise:

Piano in tree marks the exact spot where one landed during a 100 year flood!




Only dingo we saw in 3 months.

On the road to Emerald.


Australian possum visited our camp.
We were lucky to see tons of Koala bears in the wild.




Guess what he is selling!

Wide variety of noisy Australian birds:









And some not so noisy birds:

Family of ducks came visiting.




Saturday, October 8, 2011

Australia First

We thought before we posted our travels in The XP we would post some of our travels in Australia in our Trakka back in 2008. We had a 4 Motion VW T5 Trakka which we wandered around in for about 3 months. In 2007 we went to the Brisbane Camping Show to find a camper for our Australian travels and that was where we met Martin Poate of Trakka and struck up an amazing relationship of trust which resulted in us buying the Trakka while we were in America all by email and bank transfers. Martin is a remarkable fellow who, when we look back, we were lucky to meet and do business with.
We went to the factory in Sydney to pick-up our Trakka and there it was all shiny and new waiting for us, which is quite a relief when all you have in your possession is a couple of emails and some bank transfer transactions. Thanks Martin.


The Australian Adventure begins





Fridge to left, stove above dish cloth and sink above the fridge. What more do you need?

A bed all made up! Snug as a bug in a rug!


Speaking of bugs, we had just left our camping spot when I rolled up my window and with the glass came this huge (OK huge to us) spider! In our exictment we couldn't tell if it was on the inside or the outside of the glass, so we rolled the window back down and then back up, and there it stll was...... We pulled over to the side, it jumped off just as Annie jumped out, she shrieked, it ran away and Annie jumped back in and off we went laughing hysterically. The Adventure continues!

Pretty scary company, hey!


The world famous Road Trains.


We met up with quite a few of these guys in our travels and they were all very considerate and really not a problem at all.

Count the wheels. I come up with 70.

Somehow everyone gets by.

This trumps any Road Train.
Some camping spots:

Beside a stream in Tassie.


Dinner

Waiting for the sunset.



Well worth the wait.


 Some signs:

Guess what they sell here.

This sign was miles from any port of entry. Just a reminder I guess.

Australian humor.

Speaks volumes.
Some wildlife shots:

Female Fairy Wren. Just steals your heart


White Wallaby in the wild

Part of the same gang. Finds his tail very interesting.

Australian Robin dwarfed by a Gum tree. 

Big lizard!!!

Wedge Tail Eagle. Often feed off carasses of road kill.

Wedge Tail Eagle

Baby Tasmanian Devil sunning himself at a sanctuary. The year we there the population of Tasmanian Devils was being decimated by a outbreak of cancer.
Hundreds of White Cockatoos invade a cricket pitch.



Annie just loves Wombats!
 Other shots:





Idyllic Tasmania



Opal mining town in the middle of the Outback. Opals at the best prices anywhere.

Deserted road in the Outback.

Tasmania

If we remember correctly a guy and his family of 6 lived under/in this tree for a number of years!

The Murray River.

They do love thier Harleys in Australia even if they can't spell. Then again maybe its just another example of Australian humor!
Another amazing sunset.