13th JULY, 1985

It is now 25 years (wow, quarter of a century) since my friend Lois and I took off from Mum's cottage at Bowral to Uluru (Ayers Rock) in my farm 4x4 King Cab Ute - (we named her the yellow lady)!!!. The deal was - DEC was holding a Sales Meeting at the newly developed Hotel at Uluru - our husbands were going there for the week, and the wives were to be flown in for the weekend. Fly in - why not drive in, says Lois and I (together). So the plans started.!!!

Huge plans, with some restrictions - no camping - I had already travelled in 1969 in an old Ford Falcon through the red dirt corrugated roads of Queensland and the Northern Territory to Darwin, picking up 2 hitch hikers in Queensland (an Australian Chemist and American Psycho-analist - it was safe to do this 40 years ago) AND WE CAMPED out in the open all the way, unfortunately a snake crawled under one of the sleeping bags one night - so that destroyed any repeat attempts for the rest of my life!!!. I also climbed Ayers Rock in 1969, damn scary!!!. No problem convincing Lois about the "no outside camping"!!!. We agreed our finances would be a shared kitty, (oh and I wouldn't smoke in the truck etc - it's now 13 years this month since I kicked that habit) and the next restriction was to give each other a rest at night - therefore not sharing rooms,; we did stay in some very amusing places to say the least!! Glad we didn't share, as the words on this water tank below, in the middle of nowhere are "Lesbians are everywhere:" Yep, we were in the outback!!!

First night Mildura Grand Hotel ($18 for a caboose!)- not that grand then, incredible now!!! . Anyway Lois and I take off on the same day from Bowral as the wonderful LIVE AID Concerts organised by Bob Geldof, throughout the world, and after 10 hours of driving, the incredible music through the walls of this hotel all night sort of left us wondering where were we going, but good on them, they raised a lot of cash!!

The Murray River was a picture at dawn.

The next night was Mintaro Mews in the Clare Valley Wine District of South Australia, en route Lois wanted to try a great germanic Clare Valley lunch, of course we found a wonderful restaurant, we were serenaded by this young man, and we did lift our glass to all those who had doubted our endeavour. It was getting better via the minute!

Then once we arrived at Mintaro Mews our hostess let us loose - just the most incredible food and service - dinner and brekky.

Yet another decision!!

And her porridge was incredible!

Then on to Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges for the next night, including a good climb around the Pound.

Our climb/walk was at the crack of dawn!!

Our next port of call was the town of Marree - we had a few stops on the way for coffee, checking out some local art made of talcum powder, and many other amusing things.

Security

The Cafe

Oh no!

Well Marree, it is a funny, interesting place, and just by coincidence as I type this blog, 2 of my cousins, Susan, Roslyn and her husband David, are actually staying there tonight and tomorrow night, while they look at Lake Eyre - which is quite full right now, and exploding with wild life. I trust their rooms, and that wonderful "ladies" bathroom have been upgraded by now!!!

Lake Eyre was all salt when we were there !

After that, we drove up through William Creek (3 people live here) and stopped at the Pub for the best hamburger!

Playing with a blue cattle dog at the W.C. Pub - and I have b----y Ugg boots on - goodness me!

Next across to Cooper Pedy - roads were just red corrugated dirt and on many occasions disguised as part of the surrounding terrain - (we questioned a few times - were we still on the road???), no signs, just nothing but the red centre and at times some lovely wildflowers breaking the colour of the earth.

At the dog fence en route to Cooper Pedy!!!

We stayed at Radeka's Underground Motel in Cooper Pedy - the Opal world, incredible experience with everything that doesn't work - we just couldn't stop laughing about our rooms..

Yep, underground!!!

Lois at Crocodile Harry's - part of Mad Max 1 - we think!!!!

After that - on to Marla Bore - interesting stay there, got to chat to the local police!!!.

Then on up to Ularu (the roads were still dirt and corrugated then), when we reached the Northern Territory border, the road changed to bitumen, no we didn't like that so we took a left across Victory Downs Station's dirt roads towards the ROCK!!.

We arrived at exactly the same time the other wives were being downloaded from the Airport bus, they were spotlessly clean, and Lois and I and the yellow lady, were "outback" red, and so very happy with what we and the truck had just done in 7 days. A few years after this trip, Lois wrote about it, I reckon she was in that room of hers every night noting down each day about our incredible experiences. We laughed every day, in fact each day was better than the next, and that was basically all to do with those we met and laughed with, including ourselves, we used to say every night - can it get better, and the next day it did!!!. Some notes from Lois's wonderful reminder of this wonderful journey. The notes started 2 months prior (May 9th, 1985)- "I am flying across Australia en route to Singapore. Beneath me lies the vast Simpson Desert. For three hours we jet over the endless barren landscape, undulating red sand hills, stretching in parallel lines to infinity, punctunated now and then by grey-white patches of dried-up salt lakes, by occasional dots of scrub and trees, and by narrow ribbons of tracks - some leading to an isolated cattle station visible as a cluster of shiny tiny roofs and a small air strip, most just disappearing towards the horizon. This is the "red centre" the "dead heart" of Australia. This is what Liz and I will be traversing by truck in two months time. I am awestruck by its vastness, its desolation, its apparent lifelessness, and for a fleeting moment I question the wisdom of this great scheme of ours. But in the end my enthusiasm is not shaken. On the contrary I feel myself being drawn to this remote land with a compulsion that is stronger than ever. " Lois's words again "Together we discovered that the important thing is not the destination, but the journey." AND WAS THAT THE TRUTH - incredible - not sure our trip home with our partners was as much fun - the yellow lady came back from the Alice on a carriage on the ole Ghan "train" to Port Augusta - back to business and no more adventure".

LOIS AND I ARE REMEMBERING THIS SPECIAL TRIP - SHE IS TOASTING RIGHT NOW IN "BOISE" - IDAHO, USA, and ME ON THE GOLD COAST, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA!!! CHEERS KIDDO!!!