Gray Nomad,  gray with an a for active seniors lifestyle.
 
These are images of my two oil paintings of The Rainbow Valley in Central Australia.
It was two years ago that Reg and I took the desert road drive over the sand dunes towards Rainbow Valley an area of scenic sandstone bluffs, a part of the James Range, beautiful during the day time, We went for a long walk around the base off the free standing cliffs, admiring the effects of Weathering and erosion responsible for the valley shape.

Sandstone blocks have eroded away and the rock face forms many squared towers.

There were pools of water on the desert floor and sandy rises covered with yellow and white daisies that seemed to be made from dry waxed paper, these are the everlasting daisies, much loved Australian wildflowers.

I have painted the coloured rock with its bands of red iron dark on the surface and white where the cliff was weathered away.

I love this sandy desert country with its grey green foliage and wildflowers. This sort of country is spellbinding to jog in using my couch to 5 K program in ipods.

In this sort of country, I am on an exhilarated high.  I know I must write about these places and the people the indigenous Australians, the desert dwellers. I need to return to the outback. 
 
 
90km south from Alice Springs, you will see a large sign at the Stuarts Well Roadhouse.
 FREE CAMPING. 

The red desert sand dunes made way for interesting ridges of weathered rocks and mountain views, this is Jim's Place.' 
It has been a couple of years since Reg and I stopped off at 'Jim's Place', so costings may have changed, I cannot guarantee there are still free camp sites there, but we have also stayed in the caravan park in shady drive through sites and they were great value. Good laundry facilities very much appreachiated too after a week driving up from South Australia. This is a great place to freshen up before heading into Alice Springs. 

Showers for campers were $2. each when we stayed there.
The road house is spacious and friendly though very basic, no modern faux wood blinds here.

Jim Cotteril loves to spin a yarn if you have the time to listen.

Dinky the central desert dingo entertains tourists by playing on and singing to the sounds of the piano.

While not a huge fan of performing wild animals we learned that Dinky was the sole survivor of his family from dingo bait, he is lives with rather than is owned by Jim Cotterill who runs Stuarts Well ad it is quite obvious he howls or sings to the piano by choice when anyone plays it.. It is a great place to stop and take a tour into Rainbow Valley.
 
 
The migration of gray nomads heading from colder winter climates towards the sunshine and warm winters of the tropics, happens around the globe and especially here in Australia.  
Some understanding of the roads and service available is needed before choosing your route.

In Australian, it is common for the senior mobile, residents of Perth and southern WA to tour the north west coast to Broome, creating a congestion of tourists there and a serious shortage of accommodation for a short time, midyear. In Western Australia, once you leave the south of the state, there are good bases for automotive products and vehicle servicing at Karratha, Geraldton, Broome, Derby and Kununurra. There are long distances where no service is available and an accomodation and caravan park shortage, so it is important to tour the west with a vehicle in top condition and self sufficient.


When touring north through the center of Australia, via the Stuart Highway, there are excellent service centres, for automotive products at Port Augusta,  Coober Pedy, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine then Darwin in the North.  Remember there can be distances of 800 kilometres between service centres on these trips.

The safest trip if you are not confident of touring long distances  away from mechanics, vehicle  service centres for  automotive products, is to stick to the heavily populated south east of Australia, you are very safe, touring the coast, from Adelaide all the way around to Port Douglas in the North, knowing roadside service is easily accessed.

Reg and I love touring ‘outback’, well outside of the roadside service access area and we strive to stay on roads that are travelled daily by truck drivers, carry a lot of water, and have a powerful 4 wheel drive vehicle and some funds on us to ‘tip’, any truck driver who might have to assist us in an emergency.

The photos are of Port Douglas, about as far north as the average gray nomad, tows their caravan on the east coast of Australia.

 
 
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping