ACROSS AUSTRALIA Grey Nomad Tales PROUDLY SUPPORTING THE NATIONAL BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION 1 Acknowledgements I was aided and abetted in the production of this book by Mike, my loving husband and soul mate. I had the bright idea that a map of Australia at the beginning of each chapter, showing the track we took during that particular trip, would help readers see where and how far we travelled. Well, it was all too hard for me so I enlisted Mike’s help and he did a fabulous job. Thank you, darling. Thank you also to Hema for allowing us to use their wonderful maps. A special thanks to my dear friends and voluntary proofreaders Dawn Brodie and Jan Thorpe. Thank you to Raelene Boyle at Breast Cancer Network Australia for agreeing to be part of my story. Thank you to Kate Brett at National Breast Cancer Foundation for smoothing the way for us to donate all profits for breast cancer research. Before my breast cancer was diagnosed, I worked at two private hospitals in Brisbane, one fully and one partly owned by the Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters. During that time I became acquainted with several of the nuns in that Order. One of those nuns, Sister Sponsa Gosciek, wrote to me following my surgery. It was such a comforting and supportive letter. Sr Sponsa continues to keep me in her prayers. I feel honoured and wish to thank her, from the bottom of my heart, for her unwavering support. Finally, I thank my official editor, Alex Mitchell, without whose advice and suggestions I would have been struggling to bring this book together. ACROSS AUSTRALIA Grey Nomad Tales Fingers Crossed Across Australia - Grey Nomad Tales Author – Lorraine Wise Copyright © Lorraine Wise 2013 www.milowise.com The author and other contributors specifically disclaim any responsibility for liability, loss or risk, physical, financial, personal or otherwise, that occurs as a consequence of the use and application of any of the contents of this book. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or part, stored, posted on the internet or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without permission from the author of this book. Editing by: Alex Mitchell www.authorsupportservices.com Book cover design by: Jeanne Treloar www.witchwords.com Typesetting by: Jeanne Treloar www.witchwords.com Printed and Bound by: Lightning Source Inc. Distributed by: Lightning Source Inc. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Wise, Lorraine J. Title: Fingers Crossed Across Australia : Grey Nomad Tales Lorraine J Wise ; edited by Alex Mitchell. ISBN: 9780987227959 (pbk.) Subjects: Wise, Lorraine J.--Travel. Older people--Travel--Australia. Retirees--Travel--Australia. Cancer patients’ writings. Other Contributors: Wise, Michael Mitchell, Alex, (Alexandra) Dewey Number: 919.40846 Preface No one will ever convince me that something other than stress brought on my cancer. I was coping with a very demanding job and my stress levels were through the roof. Early morning meetings, late evening meetings, no time to stop for lunch, week in and week out - it’s not supposed to be like that! When I had started in the job some years before, I had loved it, every bit of it. Gradually though, more and more duties were added to my list and I started to hate going to work. I felt overwhelmed with jobs and deadlines. I became terrified I’d overlook something important and find myself in deep doo-doo. Eventually I called it quits and not long after, found out I had breast cancer. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. When the lump was found, my husband Mike and I were busy planning a guided four wheel drive camping trip across the centre of Australia. The lump was malignant though, and once it was removed we found ourselves taking a very different kind of trip: one that involved chemotherapy, radiotherapy, long-term medication and constant check-ups. The future was uncertain. We found out there were no guarantees, as all who have had to confront their own mortality will know. Those months and months of treatment were not an easy time for either of us. I had to face the possibility that I may soon die. At the same time I was praying that I would live long enough to see my grandchildren grow up. The day after I was released from hospital my darling grandson was born. He was number five. Mike couldn’t have been more supportive during my illness. He was wonderful, accompanying me to every one of my treatment sessions, but also worrying about the future. When I finally emerged from the last therapy session, hairless and weak, looking like death warmed up, we sat down and replanned that trip across Australia. My oncologist encouraged us to travel - he believed it would be therapeutic for us to keep busy and not have time to worry about the future. Of course, he was right; worrying was definitely not going to help, so we consulted some financial gurus to see if we could afford to retire early and join the grey nomads. It was a stretch, but possible. We put our suburban Brisbane house on the market and went shopping for a caravan. It’s truly amazing how your outlook on life changes with your circumstances. I would never have in a million years believed I could so easily give up my home base, my roots. I wanted to make the most of the life I had left. Our bucket list wasn’t long. Mike and I had always planned to travel before we died - Australia first and then other parts of the world. So we got on with it. These days Mike and I are grey nomads with a passion for travel and fishing adventures. We have put this book together after much encouragement from family and friends who were bombarded with our travel bulletins over the last eight years. That’s how long we’ve been travelling—not all of the time, but a good part of it. During our adventures we have covered much of Australia, concentrating on faraway places in the belief we could do the closer bits in shorter bursts later. Please travel with us as we work our way through most of Australia on our eight year journey. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 - A Tagalong Trip across the Middle .............................................3 I Diagnosis Malignant ...............................................................................................3 II From St George QLD, west across the desert to Carnarvon WA ......................7 III From Carnarvon, north to Exmouth, then east across the desert and home to Brisbane .............................................................................................14 Chapter 2 - Our First Trip as Grey Nomads ..................................................19 I Emotions running high .........................................................................................19 II Griffith, Menindee Lakes, Broken Hill ................................................................21 III Flinders Ranges, Oodnadatta Track .................................................................... 25 IV Stuart Highway, Alice Springs, West MacDonnell Ranges, Elsey NP, Katherine and Daly River .................................................................................... 30 V Darwin..................................................................................................................... 36 VI Kakadu, Mary River, Crab Claw Island, Big Horse Creek ................................40 VII Kununurra, Spring Creek Station and home ......................................................45 Chapter 3 - Our tour of Western Australia ....................................................55 I A Family Fix on the Way ......................................................................................55 II Narrandera and Griffith, Burra, Port Germain, the Eyre Highway, Streaky Bay and the Nullarbor ............................................................................ 57 III The Nullarbor, the south coast and south-west corner of WA .........................61 IV Wave Rock, Kalgoorlie and the Northern Goldfields, Wheat Belt and Perth 71 V Moving up the Coast ............................................................................................. 76 VI Fishing the Kimberley by Boat, Horizontal Waterfall and more .....................86 VII Gibb River Road and Spring Creek Station Revisited .......................................90 VIII The Bungle Bungles, Marble Bar, Geikie, Wittenoom and Hamersley Gorges, Karijini National Park ......................................................... 97 IX Search for Wildflowers ..........................................................................................104 X Heading East, Temora Air Show, Lightning Ridge Bush Bash and home ......106 Chapter 4 - Heading for the Northern Territory ...........................................115 I Cameron Corner, Strzelecki and Birdsville Tracks, Diamantina National Park ....................................................................................115 II Lawn Hill National Park, The Savannah Way, Borroloola, and King Ash Bay then home ...................................................................................... 122 Chapter 5 - Our trip to Cape York Peninsula ................................................127 I Deepwater and Eungella National Parks, St Helens and Taylors Beaches, Broadwater State Forest Park, Henrietta Creek, Lake Tinaroo, Cooktown, Lakefield National Park, Old Telegraph Track, The tip of Cape York Peninsula ......................................................................................................