Rab & Lesley's Big Trip

Days 78 to 83 - Robe to Alice Springs

Day 78 - 16th February 2016
Robe - South Australia


Yesterday towards the end of taking the pictures at Port Fairy I became aware of something amiss with my left eye and we made our way to the local hospital and I was seen to straight away. It was more of a cottage hospital so the doctor on duty was not an eye specialist and his best advice was to see an optician first thing next day. So no pictures of our journey as it was a case of getting to the opticians asap. Again very pleased with the service - seen straight away even though I had no appointment.
Seems part of the vitreous membrane on the retina came away but thankfully there is no retinal tear. I will have some distracting floaters in the eye for a time but most should dissipate over the next few months. And I'm OK to fly.

Having got this 'good' news we drove on into South Australia and managed to do a bit of sight seeing around Robe where we are camped tonight This is Long Beach and the caravan park is just peeking in on the right

The Obelisk at Cape Dombey

A Black Faced Cormorant - a crop from a shot at 300mm at extreme range

This is an un-cropped shot at 300mm

A Little Pied Cormorant in the Marina


Last full day with the Camper van tomorrow - haven't decided where we are headed but it will be on the outskirts of Adelaide

Day 79 - 17th February 2016
Robe to Hahndorf


The most boring days drive yet. 100 miles of scrubland followed by another 100 of grassland with virtually nothing to see.
We followed the coast road from Robe that runs through scrubland and occasionally there was a break and you could view the spit that runs up the coast. The trapped water will eventually dry up and the scrub will expand
One of the gaps with the spit in the background


Another gap but this time on to lake Albert

Can you spot Wally?

A Mynah bird

Lake Albert

The duck pond in our campsite near Hahndorf

A Spur winged Plover on the duck pond

Hahndorf itself is a pretty little town - we drove through on the way here. Claims to be the oldest German settlement in Australia and there are a few photogenic buildings but regrettably we are too tired to go back into town on foot and we have a busy day tomorrow - van goes back and we fly to Alice Springs


Day 80 - 18th February 2016
Adelaide to Alice


Before we left Hahndorf this morning we took a little drive into town and visted the Memorial garden which is dedicated to Dirk Hahn (a Dutchman) who was the captain of the ship that brought a group of German settlers to Australia and who negotiated the purchase of a tract of land near Adelaide for them.

The gardens

The Lutheran Church


We saw very little of Adelaide - though we saw some great views of the city as I followed a funeral cortege down a very winding and steep hillside road - but again with nowhere to stop

We then dropped off the van and went straight to the airport for our flight to Alice Springs

Flying across the Red Centre


view from our hotel room in Alice Springs

I prefer the view from the car park

Uluru (Ayers Rock) tomorrow with a very early start and very late return

Day 81 - 19th February 2016
Uluru


And a very long day it was. Bus picked us up at 6am and dropped us back at the hotel at 1am this morning (day 82)
The main object of the day was of course Uluru, Ayers Rock as we used to call it - it reverted to its Aboriginal name in 1985 when ownership was handed back to the Indigenous population.
The weather was perfect

We went for a walk around

Visited the water hole

And the other side where there is a chain walk to the top - closed today - too hot 40 degrees

We returned later in the day hoping for a good sunset shot - the cloud cover was not looking promising

But it brightened up as the sun sank below some of the cloud cover

And we got our sunset with a rainbow to boot

And got the iconic Red Rock - still with the rainbow

Behind us the sunset skies were also good




Day 82 - 20th February 2016
Alice Springs


After yesterdays marathon outing we took it easy today with a gentle stroll in the Botanic Garden in the afternoon
These two had been using one of the parks sun shelters for their siesta and were non too pleased when we came along - hence the nasty look


This believe or not is the Todd river across the road from our hotel - it is a tad dry

and then up to the War Memorial on Anzac Hill that we were told was a great place to get sunset shots


The sunset was however not quite as nice as last night at Uluru

But the moon was looking good

Day 83 - 21st February 2016
Alice Springs


Quiet day today repacking our cases for the train to Darwin tomorrow. Most airlines have a bag limit of 23kg and we struggle to keep within that. The train has a limit of 20kg! but allows more than one case per traveler. Luckily we had brought along an extra case that folds up to a 6x4 pack and can redistribute the load.
Mrs D then went off for a swim and I went on a bug hunt on the Todd river.






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