*WARNING* - THIS IS LONG
(so grab a beer first)been a while since I started this thread... so I thought an update was in order...
LEAVINGwe left Sydney in mid December, headed to Melbourne to stay with the inlaws for a few weeks. But even this section of the trip wasn't without it's problems...
we only got the ATM on the van upgraded a couple of weeks before we left. (the
week before in the end) So there was much running around and finalizing things the week before we left...
Then the day
before leaving, *both* batteries in the cruiser were dead as a doornail. Turns out the 20+ year old isolator was dead and the dual zone in the back killed both batteries. (we were able to get the starter back to life... but the 2nd, the deep cycle... never really came back to life) Found a local Blue Mountains auto electrician at 4.30pm on a Friday arvo and fitted a new Redarc isolator on the spot.
Then
the mover screwed us over totally and showed up with too small a truck. This is despite him coming out and doing a walk around of the place first, before quoting. So we didn't get to actually *leave* our place in the Blue Mountains until
three days later than planned. (there is a hell of a lot more to this side of the story... but honestly... I can't be arsed now)
THE DRIVE TO MELBOURNEThen on the way south after picking up the bois, the air con belt in the cruiser died. At 4pm in the Southern Highlands. I was able to find a guy to replace it that day. But our plans of making a late night two car, plus one caravan and one hire trailer drive to Melbourne evaporated on the spot. We grabbed an onsite van in Goulburn as our van was jammed packed to the roof... This also gave the poor cruiser a very saggy rear end... and very light steering which led to some scary moments on the trip down to Melbourne.
(once we got to Melbourne we dropped the cruiser at Pedders to get some Airbag Man airbags fitted and they discovered that one of our rear Old Man Emu springs was snapped clean through. Heavy Duty springs and Airbags fitted. (and OMG, the van tows so much better now!)
The next few weeks in Melbourne were a blur of packing things in the van and the cruiser and then preparing the "uplift" (NT Ed, pays for a set amount of gear to be moved to Yarralin for us. In our case... 25 cubic meters. (we ended up with 28) The rest had to go into storage in Pakenham. We had two storage units for this period. One with the "keep" stuff in it and the other with the "uplift" stuff in it.
We sold Kyria's Xtrail in early Jan' then left Melbourne in mid January.
HITTING THE ROADFirst few days on the road were lots of driving, and a couple of nice camps near Portland and then on the SA coast. (now there is a place I want to visit again!)
Then up to Burra to stay out front of a friends place and the obligatory pic with the Midnight Oil house.
then up the middle. (after a brief, very rushed, stop at 4.55pm at Allingtons in Adelaide to buy two Akubras for ourselves) All was smooth and we were looking forward to some *well* off-the-hwy (so that the bois can be off lead) freecamps that I had tagged north of Alice.
THINGS GET DAMP
All was going well until just shy of Tennant Creek. The skys opened and rain dropped in sheets. We were trying to get to Three Ways to catch up with another teacher (Jessie) who was driving from the Central Coast to Yarralin too.
She was stuck at Three Ways with the roads north and south flooded. The caravan park at Three Ways was closed as the toilets were backing up, and the park at Tennent creek was underwater too. So we grabbed a motel for the night and waited. The next morning we got a message from Jessie at 6am that trucks and 4wds were coming through from the north and she was heading out ASAP. We jumped in the car and did the same. The bridge out of Tennent Creek was partially under water. (one side only)
Just north of three ways we drove through a fair bit of water. I think the deepest was 0.5m. I was on the UHF talking to a truckie that was heading south through it and he guided me through from his better and higher vantage point.
That day was a straight drive to Pine Creek (north of Katherine), though we did swing into Lamimah for the obligatory pics...
next day we made it to Darwin so that Kyria could do her teaching induction.
One week later were once again in a caravan park in Katherine as the Victoria Hwy west was closed and the road to Yarralin was also closed.
DRIVING FLYING TO YARRALINAfter a week there... NT dept of Ed decided to
fly us into town. So the cruiser and the van were put into government lock up in Katherine.
And we flew in... dogs and all. (but not before Monty "unloaded" on the floor at the airport) As to the flight... the bois thought it was a just a louder Landcruiser with less to see out the windows and they both slept for most of it.
We (and the other three new teachers), settled in as best we could with only a few bags of food done in a rushed 9.45pm shop at Katherine Woolies the evening before and sleeping on borrowed sheets etc.
THE BUCHANAN "HWY"
The road to town remained closed for the next 3 weeks. But two weeks ago I was able to hitch a ride on a flight back to Katherine and pick up the cruiser. On the way back to town, and being unsure of the state of the road into Yarralin... I dropped the van off at the Vic River Roadhouse. (it's now parked out back with the caretakers van) Had I stuck to my guns and brought it in on the day... I would have got it through no probs. There were some muddy patches... But only one real
mud hole and that could be skirted. Took me just on three hours for the drive from the hwy to town. (the road to town is known as the Buchanan "Hwy"... google it)
However just 4 days later... after some rain... that same 126klm track took 5 vehicles 5+ hours. Two days after that, on the way back into town... it took us 6+ hours. I feel the need to mention that on the trip back in... only one vehicle made it all the way without use of Maxtrax, winch or snatch straps... yes. the
mighty 105 1HZ...
and a day after our return... the Police
closed the road again. Not scheduled to re-open for about 3-4 weeks and just this morning we have flood warnings again thanks to the cyclone in the Gulf area...
YARRALIN LIFEso what about Yarralin?
well... like pretty much everyone "down south"... my knowledge of towns and communities in the NT was tainted by mainstream media. Crime in Alice, Katherine and Darwin. Crime in some communities... and so on. And while we *had* done research into the town before committing... we had our own concerns.
What can I say... Yarralin is a true revelation. The community is dry and it's run very well thank you by the town elders.
The town has a garbage collection twice a week. The kids all love and have immense respect for the teachers. and the only crime according to the local constabulary... is a domestic (sometimes) once a month.
Every evening, the local families all go for walks around the town. Everyone stops and chats or waves and says hello. If we're out front with the bois... they cause a commotion as everyone wants to pat them.
THE DOGS
Everyone LOVES our bois... They escaped one day and half the town was contacting us telling me where they had seen them. (they were 2-3 klm out of town on their way up the muddy track to the hwy, 136klm away) By the time I took off in the car after them, they had clearly decided that the wandering life wasn't really for them and had turned around and were heading back to town. to food, water and air conditioning... hahahahahahahaha
Oh speaking of the bois... They've acclimatised wonderfully.
They get red paws and bellies if they dig holes in the
damp red dirt, or they turn beige if they roll around on the
dry red dirt. But they have Teflon fur and it just brushes out.
FOOD AND WATER
Food supply
is an issue right now as the supply trucks can't get into town and we can't get out. (there are the
absolute basics... but the stores shelves are pretty much empty at the moment) The community store is about the size of a suburban FoodWorks or similar.
We also can't drink the town water. (it's bore water with lots of heavy metals and arsenic) We have cask water when required... but we also have a tank fed from rainwater (see the last pic) we fill up bottles every few days, then boil them, then put the boiled water into a filter jug in the fridge. We've all been fine so far. This is just a facet of daily life now.
The dept of Ed has been a huge help with a couple of flights of food specifically for the teachers. We have a massive supermarket sized chest freezer in our house and the entire bottom level is loaves of bread. Two of the top baskets are full of meat the third basket is mainly Zooper Doopers, butter etc. (almost legal currency here)
SUMMING UP
In short... other than not being able to get our van (and fatbikes) into town right now due to the mud... We love it here. Couldn't be happier.
If they'll have us... we're here for the long haul.
5 years at least.
If you're thinking of something like this... just do it. And if you, or your other half, is a teacher and have questions... ask away.
Really wish we'd done this years and years ago...
