tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-121875842011-08-16T23:01:11.784+10:00We are travelling around Australia in our Fifth Wheeler.Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.comBlogger201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1156577178467149562006-08-26T17:26:00.000+10:002006-10-28T11:51:27.596+10:00

Team Port smith has four important members. Helen is the team Coach. She is a sprightly 63 years old and keeps the team going at top performance. Her first big hurdle is to get the Team up by 5.30 am and out at the meeting place at 6, when the sky is light enough to start the walk. Team Motivator is Merryl. Every morning she extols the beauty of the sun rising and sometimes the full moon is

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1151994521604311802006-07-04T16:28:00.000+10:002006-07-30T19:16:57.676+10:00

Suburbia comes to BroomeThe red sand meets the blue sea. They call the red earth pindan. The sea is a soft turquoise colour. On Roebuck Bay you camp right on the edge of the beach. There is a million dollar view of the sun rising over the mud flats and in the evening the pink and orange sunsets reflect across the bay. If you are there in the wet season, the sky is an ink black and the streak

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1143879583243584522006-04-01T19:19:00.000+11:002006-04-26T12:38:28.023+10:00

What are a couple of old Mexicans supposed to do in the cyclone season? We didn’t really plan being in the north in the wet season. But that is half the fun of being able to travel and go slow if it suits. We thought we would stay in Cairns for a couple of weeks and that turned into a couple of months. The residents of Cairns assured us, “Oh we don’t worry about cyclones here. They get them over

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1143334881853335722006-03-26T12:00:00.000+11:002006-03-26T12:02:39.346+11:00

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1140655871009733262006-02-23T11:51:00.002+11:002006-03-26T11:32:13.910+11:00

The vivid green of the landscape was set against the ink black stormy sky, streaked with rain in the distance. A dramatic introduction set the scene for things to come. Darwin should be a good place to get treatment for a persistent cough. Bill read in the local paper that 20,000 of the population of Darwin vacated the outpost to escape the wet season. “Why are we heading in and the locals

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1143335089802054602006-01-30T11:04:00.000+11:002006-03-26T12:05:38.590+11:00

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1143334368450753062005-10-08T10:52:00.000+10:002006-03-26T12:05:58.606+11:00

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1128644327145315322005-10-07T10:18:00.000+10:002006-03-26T11:22:23.276+11:00

The fish are still biting, but the park is almost empty. It is October, and the lead up to the wet season has begun. Humidity is 98 percent and it is 35 degrees. The sun rises and sets like a great red ball in the sky and clouds are beginning to appear in the sky. In the morning the dew around is almost like rain. Most days there is a cool breeze from the sea. This heat has got me thinking about

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1127637522183747632005-09-25T18:38:00.000+10:002006-03-26T11:50:06.950+11:00

With a beer in hand Mel mingles with other campers in the Park, working his way systematically through the ones with boats. It is nearing the end of the tourist season at Karumba. Most of the tourists have gone south leaving a few doggedly determined remainders with one thing on their minds – FISH and that elusive barramundi. The time to catch them is from late September until late April when the

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1123198972688117822005-08-05T09:42:00.000+10:002006-03-18T22:45:36.306+11:00

It's convenient, light, folds down, easily stored and manoeuvred. One problem - it feels like you are sailing in a paper boat. The hull is made from a flexible material so that it bends a little as you climb aboard and hit some waves - a bit disconcerting when you are travelling in crocodile country. It's no good waiting for the calm in Cooktown. Every day you get what the locals call the

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1121423937021092852005-07-15T20:38:00.000+10:002005-07-20T14:31:43.046+10:00

"This is Paradise," say the caravaners. You can drink and chat, drink and chat endlessly. Join the people in the big tent for cards, movies, craft, cheap fish and chips, sausage sizzles and happy hours that become more risqué as the night goes on. They check you out beforehand to make sure you are the right type to laugh at a skit that involves an old duck dropping the dacks and gyrating to

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1118295326817528312005-06-09T15:35:00.000+10:002005-06-11T19:30:35.736+10:00

First he watches one of those fishing programs on the telly. They make it all look so easy, relaxing and almost a metaphysical experience. He gets motivated to go out and buy all that expensive tackle - one rod for surf, one for boat, one for brim, one for snapper and all kinds of tackle. The list is endless.He has to choose one rod to fit in a car. It just fits only dangling in her ear

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1115860688761140832005-05-12T11:18:00.000+10:002005-05-27T13:41:02.246+10:00

We have traveled this road from Dubbo to Cairns. We took 2 weeks to get here but we could have spent months exploring more interesting places on the route. In the past we have always bypassed Dubbo as we always thought it expensive. We had already been to the Zoo, so this time we got out the bikes. An off road bike track took us to a winery near the town. The Dubbo Pipe Band entertained [I cannot

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1115798285689129352005-05-11T17:58:00.000+10:002005-05-31T15:06:31.830+10:00

Carnarvon Gorge tested not only the rig but our legs as well. The road in, was sealed halfway and the final 20 km was rough and dusty with cattle grids we had to creep over. We arrived safe, sound and with very little dust inside, not like our neighbours in a motor home who had to shake the dust out of their bed covers. The camping area was very green and fertile contrasting to the red dryness

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1115798231501531842005-05-11T17:57:00.000+10:002005-05-12T11:00:58.703+10:00

No flowers! No special lunch! No kids! No grandkids! It's a bit gloomy to have Mothers Day when you're out in the outback. Thank goodness for the mobile phone. "Hello mum. I'm at work." Giggle, giggle. Another voice chimes in. He's at work too but at a different workplace. I eventually got what all the giggling was about. We were having a Mothers Day phone conference. How extraordinary! "How cool

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1114764916318802612005-04-29T18:55:00.000+10:002005-05-31T15:19:15.906+10:00

What a great place for silly old buggers to camp, yap and relieve their aches and pains. This is Burren Junction near Walgett, near lightning Ridge, near Narrabri. This a free campsite at a hot mineralized bore pool out in the middle of nowhere. There are about 20 various vans and buses camped here, with many people coming here regularly. The water continually runs from the Great Artesian Basin,

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1114384530940917302005-04-25T09:15:00.000+10:002005-05-31T15:03:00.476+10:00

I have never been to an Anzac Day dawn service. 6 am at the Dubbo cenotaph – bit early for retirees!! 5.45 am I wake, just enough time for ME to get there. But HE decides to come too. There’s the thorough wash, the care to dress, the snack, the ritual checking locks and the ½ hour toilet stop. We get there and it’s all over. The brilliant red sunrise is a consolation. Ok then, the RSL club

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1113694799341528122005-04-17T09:39:00.000+10:002005-05-31T15:18:21.123+10:00

Our fifth wheeler backed very conveniently into our relations flat sunny drive at Blighty NSW . ”You look a bit too comfortable there, with space and sun for the solar panels”, they remarked. “Just a final goodbye and we won’t outstay our welcome.”The countryside is stark and withered with an occasional flash of a crimson parrot against the bright sky. This is echoed in the humour at the Blighty

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1113539199820801812005-04-15T14:26:00.000+10:002005-04-15T14:26:39.823+10:00

This is just me testing the Email post facility. Nothing interesting toreport.

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12187584.post-1113537942304813262005-04-15T14:04:00.000+10:002005-04-15T14:05:42.306+10:00

Today I set up this blog. I will try and update it with our travellings as we go along. Please check back every week so you can see what we're up to!

Gray Nomadsnoreply@blogger.com2