The Last Post

So, that’s that then. 

Over the last six months we have travelled more than 32,000 kilometres ‘around’ Australia.  We’ve visited all of the mainland’s states and territories, some more than once.  We've made camp 112 times in 186 days and seen, literally, thousands of amazing places and things. We’ve spent over $9000 on fuel, but less than $4000 for camping fees (we couldn’t bring ourselves to calculate the cost of food, drink or repairs!) and we've met many fascinating and friendly people.

Of course there have been some difficult times:  Long hours of travelling. Getting bogged (more than once). Brutal corrugations. Dust. Heat. Cold. Storms. Lightening. Floods. Flies, midges, mosquitoes and scorpions. Tinned ham for dinner. We’ve suffered through them all.  But in hindsight, even these feel like good times.

We shattered our rear windscreen and cracked the front, we drowned two starter motors and snapped four UHF aerials.  We curved side steps and scratched paintwork.  We replaced brake pads and discs and CV joint boots on two separate occasions.    With all the new parts we've added to the car, you could argue that it has arrived back in Sydney newer than when it left (though it doesn't drive like it.)

As for the good times, of course there are too many to mention, but we won't forget sitting around a campfire in the desert under huge starry skies, or camping all alone on white sands and helping the kids to catch fish for our dinner in the azure water (or seeing pods of dolphins fish for theirs’), or watching a big red sun set over an even bigger red land, or drifting with the current through schools of brightly coloured reef fish, or navigating deep creeks and log bridges, or hiking and swimming through those gorgeous gorges or, or, or...

We all learnt a lot on the trip; about the county, the wildlife, the people, but also how to tell a black headed python from a tiger snake in the dark at twenty paces, how to live together as a family, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in the close confines of a camper trailer, and how to fix almost anything with gaffer tape and fencing wire.

And we had an excellent adventure.

So the question is now:  What’s next?

Homeward Bound

We spent out last week of travelling by winding our way up through New South Wales.

It was a Pretty Beach

After laboriously snaking over the Great Dividing Range we spent a few days at the aptly named Pretty Beach, in the small coastal national park of Murramarang.  The camp site was busy and expensive and the weather for most of the time was average, but it didn’t matter a bit because we were there to catch up with Deb, Gary, Ditmar and Jo, for a reunion of three quarters of the group that tackled Cape York at the beginning of our expedition.  We had a great time staying up late and reminiscing about the trip and then clearing our heads each morning with a swim in the bracing water of the Pacific Ocean.

For our next stop, we continued the theme of catching up with family by heading over to Canberra to visit Adrian, Robyn and family.  It was great to see everyone and with this visit we added the final state or territory of our journey (it's a shame we never made it across Bass Straight, so we can’t claim to have visited all of them on this trip).

Elliot. A little angel (!?!)

Whilst we were in the capital, we took the opportunity to visit ‘Questacon’, Australia’s National Science and Technology Centre to give the kids one final science lesson.  Though they were dragged away from the Xbox kicking and screaming, both the little kids and the big kids had a fantastic time working our way through the interactive exhibits.  Some of the highlights seemed to be the roller coaster simulator and the enormous sticky, iced doughnuts served in the cafe.  Probably not a good combination but we all emerged more or less unscathed.   Dare I say it was even more fun than the Gravity Discovery Centre in Gin Gin?

Staying cool in the cool caves

With two nights and only a few hundred kilometres to go before we were back in Sydney, we wanted to spend a couple days taking it easy.  We picked the campsite at Wombeyan Caves.  We’ve been before and knew it was a good place to get a camp fire going and kick back by the creek.  As it happened, the day we arrived a total fire ban was put in place and the creek had dried up, but it didn’t stop us relaxing amid the gawping kangaroos, stalking lace monitors and squawking king parrots.  The weather was warming up so we spent some of the afternoon exploring the cool caves.  The balmy evenings made us feel more like we were in the Top End than in New South Wales.  It was a good way to end the trip.  On the last day, Elliot told me that he could only vaguely remember what our house looks like and that he was probably ready to go home now.  So we did.