Up the Centre

 The centre of Australia is dry and yet beautiful with contrasting colours and spectacular salt lakes, rocky outcrops, and changing scenery.  The rocky desert near Woomera makes it a perfect place to test bombs and not much else.  The common theme in all of these photos however is every one reminds us of a place where the flies were bad.  Still you can't have everything in one place.

South Australia's Wave Rock - Pildappa Rock - a good overnight spot with views of the Gawler Ranges from the top

one of many salt lakes north of Port Augusta - this one with an island

the Breakaways outside Coober Pedy

underground Serbian Orthodox Church, Coober Pedy

Ulluru at sunset

in the Olgas

another view of the Olgas

spectacular Olgas showing some of the weathering breaks

inside the Olgas

another of Ayers Rocks' colours

you can never get enough sunsets

....or sunrises

resting chair beside one of the waterholes at the foot of the rock

not near the top but still a long way up!!

some people sat and then continued on and some just sat and waited for their family to come back

on the edge of Kings Canyon with the campground near the shoes

a tree growing out of the rock on the rim walk of Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon from the campground

ghost gums in the Canyon

Stanley Chasm west of Alice Springs at 1 minute to noon

an interesting shaped tree still alive and growing

West MacDonnell Ranges

a huge gum in Ormiston Gorge

Ellery Creek Big Hole - permanent water through the west ranges

Trephina Gorge east of Alice Springs

dwarfed by the largest Ghost Gum in Australia

underground at the Arltunga Gold Mining site 145kms east of Alice, hand dug, not a drop of water for miles around

we were pleased to see many Wedge Tailed Eagles between Port Augusta and the Alice, often in groups of 5 or more

another impressive western desert sunset at Lake Hart; a good and popular free camp south of Woomera.

Last of the West..

The south coast area of Western Australia surprised us with its beauty and diversity from huge trees, big mines, and the most beautiful white sand / blue water beaches we could ever imagine.  We saw a lot of the west coast of South Australia being based on the Eyre Peninsula for a few months.

Pemberton tram ride through the tall hardwood forests

hardwood awaiting milling - sprinklers to keep it moist so it doesn't split before sawing

115m high tree with a ladder to a Fire Lookout platform - Carol made it up, Garry took the photo

big trees in the natural forest

Valley of the Giants

Albany - our van park was the other side of the golf course

Albany Harbour - twice home to dozens of ship loads of soldiers off to fight in WW1 and WW2

Natural arch outside Albany - note the blue water

Blue Whale skeleton once hunted in Australia's SW oceans

The harbour where soldiers gathered before war.

white sand, clear water, pristine coastline

looking south towards Antartica

our favorite beach - Hellfire Bay

Kalgoorlies big hole in the ground..

one of the 'flash' buildings in Kalgorlie, sign of a once gold rich community 

hard to imagine a manmade hole 4km long, 1.4kkm wide, 700m deep 

beautiful golf course in the desert - the start of the Nullabour Links, the longest golf course in the world at 1450km

Limestone cliffs of the Great Australian Bight

beautiful sunset through the storm clouds.

a great feed of blue swimmer crabs awaited us at Ceduna the day we finished crossing the Nullabour

a quick trip back east and dinner at a Mudgee Winery for Fabians Birthday

Murphy's Haystacks on the Eyre Peninsula of SA - solid rock after the surrounding countryside has been eroded away

a very nice beach outside Elliston, looks inviting until you dip your toe in the freezing water

Memory Cove at the bottom of Eyre Peninsula below Port Lincoln

large sandblow in the same National Park

the view from our van of the Streaky Bay Pier with ducks, pelicans, seagulls, porpoises, and seals all  swimming close in at times

Streaky Bay foreshore 

sea lions sunning themselves at a colony at Bairds Bay, SA