The Catweasel tour took us from Melbourne, through Adelaide, up to Ayers rock before limping into Alice in 3rd gear (which she had been stuck in for the last 350k's!).
Catweasel belongs to Neil who we met in Melbourne
and is a VW Camper. On the 31st of May six of us set off from the Exford
hotel in Melbourne, waving goodbye to all the good friends we met there.
We drove for 3 hours. Stopped in Lorne for the night. We had a bowl of chips in the pub, and then sat in the van for a bit, dropping off one by one. In the end we didn't pitch the tent, far too much effort required for that!! so we all slept in the van. I was a bit of a squash!! The three lads slept on the top, and we slept in the bottom. I think we got the best end of the deal. The next day was a day of seeing the sites. 12 Apostles, London Bridge etc. that was cool. I also had my first drive of the van. On the Thursday night we got a slab of beer in, and a cask of wine and all played Neil's Didgeridoo. Was well funny, all giggled lots (but Neil the most!!). We even managed to get the tent erected. A bit of a feat that. Was good though. Much better sleep. We stopped somewhere on the road between Waranbool and Port Fairy, at a truck rest stop place. Friday we drove all day, and finally hit Adelaide around 9pm. And everyone jumped straight in the shower. We'd all been waiting for that all day. It was nice to have a bed last night I can tell you!!
We left Adelaide on Sunday the 4th of June . None of us liked it very much, it had an aggressive ambiance, and was full of boy racers! So we hit the road around midday and drove to the Barossa Valley. They make lots and lots of wine there. We stopped at several wineries, and tried out lots of free samples. We even saw the creek Jacobs Creek wine is named after. We all bought a bottle each, for later when we had parked up. The wines were lovely, and we all pretended we knew what we were talking about, noses etc.! So that night we all got nicely sozzled on nice wines! The next day was windy and cold and we just drove all day.
We passed through Port Augusta around 6pm. Passing through was all that was needed there really, bit of a one horse town!! We then drove about 50Ks north, found a truck rest stop, and set up camp. Neil and Rich lit a fire, and we sat around with a few beers and looked at the stars. They were amazing. We could even see the Milky Way. Yesterday was another long day of driving. I drove all day, it was fantastic. We did about 500Ks in about 7 hours. The weather was great, the sun was out and the scenery amazing. It puts a whole new perspective on the phrase middle of nowhere". Makes you realise just how insignificant you are!! Everyone waves at you driving in the other direction and sometimes you don't see another car for half an hour or more! Didn't see any live kangaroos though, only dead ones scattering the side of the highway.
That night we stayed in an underground Hostel in
Cobber Pedy. We explored the town a bit on Wednesday afternoon. It is a strange
strange place. Most of it is underground, which rocks. It may be weird, but its
dead friendly. And i really like it (although not to live, you understand!). We
also went to visit Crocodile Harry. An old geezer who lives underground, and for
the paltry fee of $2 you can go check out his home. He used to wrestle and kill
crocodiles for a living. Reading some of the newspaper clippings and stuff, he
has lived an amazing life. However, it has to be said he is a very dirty old
man!! But well worth a visit. The Area around Coober Pedey is where they filmed
Mad Max 3, and Pitch Black - there is a remnant of one of the space ships they
used in the film in the town. At present they are filming Star Wars Episode 2,
and Mad Max 4. Although we didn't witness any of that, it's out of town a bit.
So we left Coober Pedy quite late that day really, we only drove for a
couple of hours before we set up camp, and it has to be said (without going into
detail!) that this night was definitely the most drunk night we had on the road.
Our fire was also magnificent!! (nice one disco dick). I learnt where the
Southern Cross is, and Rich, Neil and I slept outside by the fire. Which was
fine when we went to sleep, but i had very cold feet in the morning!! The
morning also had it's moments! Neil let me cut his hair for him. Perhaps not
wise (sorry mate!). It was a bit shorter than expected, and not particularly
straight either. But its ok. I sorted it out a few days later. Possibly should
have waited 'till i sobered up a bit, who can say!! Thursday was relatively uneventful
(apart from Paul shrieking like a girl at a grass hopper - You Sherry
Drinker!).
Friday we arrived at Curtain Springs. The "town" where the last free campsite was before Ayer's Rock. We had a chilled out afternoon, and another night in front of the campfire. Crocodiles Neil and Paul managed to blag 6 cheap tickets off of people who were on their way out of the park so we didn't have to pay full price. They cost $15 and last 5 days, but most people only stay for 2 days at the most, so we got ours for a mere $5. Nice. So Saturday 12th of June, , the Rock. It was amazing. Especially when it first came into view, breathtaking and somehow magical. Its hard to describe. We all climbed it apart from Rich. It took 1h 20mins to get to the top. And it was fairly painful!! The about 45 mins to get back down. It was well worth it.
After we were done, we went to the sunset viewing
place, and watched the sunset over it - fantastic. A wicked day. Sunday we were
planning to go to the Olgas and Kings Canyon. But Cat Weasel broke! Which was a
real shame. We drove it to Alice in third gear!! Took a while. Don't know if
she's fixed yet. I'll keep you informed. So we had our last couple of days
together in Alice Springs. Strange little place. But we had a laugh. And failed
to get all the desert dust out of our clothes - i don't think my jeans will ever
be the same again!! Our last night together (Monday) was a very drunken affair!
Filled with dancing on the tables and lots of group hugs!! Tuesday was a very
sad day. Clare and I were to catch a coach to Hervey Bay in the afternoon. And
we were both extremely sad when the time came to leave. We'd had such a
fantastic time on the road. I can only hope that we manage to have our Cat
Weasel Tour 2000 reunion next year. Or at least that we all meet up again at some
point. Cheers everyone, hope you are all sill having good travels.
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