Outdoor travel...HolidayOutback Diary
Part1 with Doreen Bowka

My Aussie Outback Diary...

There she stood, white, competent, near as new.

My new chariot and home. The 4 wheel drive, Toyota hilux, diesel utility truck, filled with all the necessary camping and survival gear to cross deserts, streams and small mountains.

We were passengers in the "Desert Girl" as we christened her, and she never let us down. Together we would travel physically, 20,000 kilometers Emotionally and spiritually, we would emerge so totally changed that we would give up our former lives to search out more deserts and life changing events.

It was with great trepidation that I climbed into the Desert Girl with my husband Lyndon to begin my unsuspecting transformation.

Lyndon's dream was to circumnavigate Australia by automobile; under his own control rather than waiting until he needed the aid of sticks, while gazing from a tourist bus window.

So as usual I was dragged along kicking and screaming.

Here I am an ex pat Canadian girl from Flin Flon, a small mining town in northern Manitoba/Saskatchewan always content to sit at home in Auckland, New Zealand.

Happy enough with package tours to Fiji, Australia, Canada or Europe. Satisfied enough to stay in motels, while dining out in pleasant restaurants.

This new adventure in which we would be dependent on ourselves in potentially hostile territory did not flame my excitement. Adelaide was the starting point and I fell in love with its flat , beautifully laid out central district which was girded by beautiful parks.

Captain Light, Adelaide's founder, town planner and surveyor left a stunning legacy. Always looking for a winter retreat the only drawback for me would be the winter which could be colder than Auckland.