The Final Word

Isabel :-

Wow, three months! It only seemed three weeks. It's hard to believe that we did all those things in three months. The first thing I did when we got back was I ran in the house ('cos I couldn't run in the caravan) . Then we went to school. Everyone was so excited.

Louisa :-

It is nice being home so I can catch up with my friends and family. I also love the space. It is absolutely fantastic being home! I loved traveling with my family! I HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE!!

The Final word.

After 2 days of unpacking, restoring the house, cleaning the caravan and the car – it was a strange experience to have everyone hop back in and take the rig back to Kalorama. There is an old adage which says something like “the hardest part of the journey is to take the first step”. There needs to be a new one “the most difficult part of an eighteen million meter journey is the last 10”.
This was proven by ripping the van awning on the edge of the carport roof as we came down the driveway…….

A quick trip cost summary :-
Total KM’s ----------------– 18,075
Fuel ----------------------- $4226.85
Camping ------------------- $3446.10
Car (tyres, servicing etc) --- $2,000 (approx)
Days on road --------------- 86

Benefit to family------------ Priceless (The girls even learnt to wash dishes without being asked).

This is it – the end of the blog. For the actors it has been a wonderful experience, for the chief writer it has been a tiring one at times - but mostly fun. The whole blog experience was made worthwhile by all you Dear Bloggers out there. Knowing you were watching was inspiration to keep composing for all of us. A big THANK YOU to everyone who made the effort to comment – we had a lot of fun every day seeing what comments we would get, so whilst we didn’t always answer your questions (this isn’t the medium for that) it was always great to know people were watching.
Comments or not, we hope you enjoyed following our journey and gleaned a taste of what we experienced – it will certainly live with us forever.

All successful journeys come to an end….

And so Dear Blogger – does this one.
It was a mild warm day to glide down the hills from Ballarat into sunny Melbourne, where in three months the only things that have changed are some advertising billboards, the days are warmer and the garden flowers are starting to bloom. Life on the roads seems more frantic - but that’s probably a perspective thing.
Arriving to a pristine house and garden was a wonderful welcome as were the pre cooked dinners supplied by the Inlaws.
The girls headed off to experience the last hour of the school term (and why wouldn’t they – it is the best) and Mum and Dad started the long task of unpacking and cleaning. Whilst Mum is glad to have unrestricted access rights to the laundry (elbows now only for Dad if he gets in the way) the amount to get through is daunting.
Stay tuned all you Bloggers out there – we still have some unfinished business to attend to….

Into Sunny Victoria

A warm sunny morning greeted us as we packed up and left South Australia and headed into our homeland – where the speed limit drops, the roads are bumpy, oncoming drivers don’t acknowledge you and those behind you are really impatient (even though they have to drive slower!). At least there is the smell of spring in the air and the sun is shining.
Stopping along the way to scratch a big Koala, we arrived at a luxurious Caravan park in Ballarat, where the kids rediscovered jumping pillows, decent playgrounds and home delivery Pizza for dinner. A very pleasant and relaxing last afternoon.

To the Border

Another long day on the road saw us leave the dry desert landscape of the top of the Spencer Gulf and into the fertile areas around Adelaide. Helped along significantly by a strong NW tail wind we ended up at a remote caravan park in Coonalpyn. This seemed a bit too remote and eerie so we pushed onto Bordertown.
Possibly not the best choice as we now have the constant roar of passing trucks as they whiz over the overpass the park is set against. There must be a least 100 an hour – makes one wonder what sort of money, fuel and resources society could save if they put them all on a couple of trains.

Question of the day:- What do you do when the park doesn’t have a playground to entertain the kids ?
Answer:- Let them total the sandpit ! – (especially if they put a tap right next to it!)

Closing of the loop.

6 hours on the road saw us back to the starting point of the circuit around the Northwest of Aus.
Port Augusta is at the cross roads of every destination in the continent and so we finally leave roads that have not been previously traveled by ourselves and start the journey towards our homeland.
It’s nice and warm up here at the top of Spencer Gulf and we have had a quiet couple of hours relishing the warmth before we head back down south again. The Girls had fun on the playground and a fabulous stir fry cooked up by Mum finished off the day superbly.

Quote of the Day:- (at the lunch roadside stop) Dad can we stay here ? – it’s much more comfortable than the car !

An extra day in Coffin Bay

A family vote and a very thorough “Decision based on fact analysis” was performed to see where we should spend our last free day of the trip. Based on the weather forecast we decided that Coffin Bay on a warm day was the winner.
Subsequently we slept in late and with sun streaming in through the red dust stained curtains we moved slowly out of bed and headed off to the local national park to enjoy the day.
Needless to say we had a delightful trip into a wonderful part of the world. Lunch on the dunes overlooking a completely isolated expansive beach with entirely surfable waves and warm winds washed away the cold of the last week or so.
Dad and the girls went exploring for sand dunes (photo’s for Dad – rolling down the slopes for the kids – was a very successful expedition).
Back to the warmth of the Caravan Park to start packing up and a movie for the kids to watch was a great way to wind up the day.

Crabbing in Coffin Bay

Well the sun must’ve taken the hint and came out in fine fashion. To celebrate Dad and the kids went fishing off the Town Pier. With the tide low there were not too many fish swimming around. We spotted some large Spider Crabs combing the floor of the jetty waters and promptly started to try and catch them. After some time Dad and Louisa gave up and stated trying for fish instead, both catching small Tommy Rough which we threw back as we had our sights set on bigger targets.
In the meantime Isabel persisted and actually manged to hook 2 crabs. The first one escaped but the second – Dad scaled down the jetty and scooped it up in the bucket.
After much deliberation and photos’s we let it go (not that good eating apparently).
In the afternoon, the Girls played mini golf and Dad went for a photo shoot into the Park – spectacular stuff.
A late afternoon walk to the golf course to spot Emu’s was successful yet uneventful.

2 more flats to contend with.

For those Bloggers out there wondering why we have had no more flats – well you can rest easy – today we had two…
We’ll O.K. they were batteries this time but the impact is the same (not moving). So after a jump start we headed off to Port Lincoln to resolve the issue and do some other shopping.
Upon returning to Coffin Bay we sat around in the caravan doing more school work (yes on a Saturday – weekends don’t mean much on the road). Dad took the kids for a late afternoon drive to look around and ended up in the National Park, dodging families of emus and lazy Kangaroo’s on the road. We ended up at the top of a cliff throwing rocks at the setting sun (that’ll teach it to hide behind clouds all day!)

From one bay to another

From Streaky Bay to Coffin Bay down the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula was a pleasant and easy drive (after what we’ve been through). The skies are still grey and the wind cold but the scenery is wonderful.
As we headed southwards the grass got greener, the trees taller and mountains started to appear. Canola fields began to glow in the greyness and as we approached the southern reaches we saw yellow fields running into sand dunes.
We hope to be here for a few days and the forecast is for the days ahead is to get warmer so hopefully we will get to enjoy this fantastic place in which we have arrived in a pleasant atmosphere.
We went to dinner the local yacht club which was really cheap and yummy and the girls got to watch Home an Away (although apparently they don’t know what happened as they couldn’t hear it – what a shame!).

Fishing in Streaky Bay

This place is a fisherman’s paradise ie. Our intrepid neighbor launches his boat from his annex. There is an under cover fish cleaning table (with running water and a high pressure hose to shoo away pelicans and seagulls) between our annex and the water line.
The girls had fun enticing the pelicans in even when they didn’t have fish scraps to give away.
Everyone fishes – even the fish fish (think about it….).
Louisa has caught the fishing the bug and had us up early to hit the jetty before breakfast. Unfortunately a non-starting car put those plans on hold for a while. After some time Mum took the kids fishing and Dad took over once he’d had an ineffective time with the car.
After lunch, we went for drive to check out the beaches on the coast (very rugged and spectacular) and then Dad and the Kids went fishing off the pier again.
Isabel caught the biggest eater and we all had fun (especially once we started using Uncle Garry’s techniques)!.
Dinner was (yes you guessed it…) fish.
We also had the biggest dish wash episode of the trip so far (mostly due to the fishing and subsequent cooking).

A day in Streaky Bay (words by Ro)

I guess it is time for me to pen a few lines on our blog!
What can I say??
Life on the road, in a small caravan has been an incredible experience for all of us. It certainly makes one reassess what is important. Apart from the daily challenges, and a number of unexpected ones from bossy territorial grey nomads in laundries of various caravan parks!! It has been a wonderful time together.
Exploring…..learning an enormous amount about this “beautiful country” and people along the way. The girls are amazingly adaptive, they have gained so much and become very independent. Neil and I could do this for another three months however, we have to work!! The girls will be ready to see family and friends.
I will now handover to one of the three experts I am traveling with to add a few words about Streaky Bay other than it is COLD AND WINDY!!! The gorgeous shade of brown that was acquired up North has GONE!!!!

(Wessa’s words)
We went fishing with hand lines off the pier this afternoon. We caught nine things in total;
Five Trevalleys (one we did not keep ‘cos it was too small) (caught by dad)
One poisonous fish (we think) (caught by dad)
One Collingwood fish (well the Collingwood colours) (caught by me but we did not keep it)
One old fishing net.
Our fishing rag which was blown in by the wind.
We had a good day fishing!

More time on the road to Streaky Bay

Waking to what sounded like rain drop drops on the roof, we looked out at our wonderful view to sight grey skies and approaching storm fronts. Luckily we were getting up early anyway in preparation for a long day on the road (combined with loosing 1.5 hours at the State border).
South Australians are so thoughtful they provide roadside pictures of the scenery with the sun shinning, so if it’s not – you still know what it looks like – just in case that when you do see it it’s really cold and windy.
With dark skies to south and bright skies to the north – it was as if we were driving between the warm and the cold climates which separate the country.
After viewing the steep cliffs at the top of the Bight we found true Nullarbor country (Null meaning “no” Arbor meaning “trees” – see, we did learn something whilst we were here) .Then we headed south into trees and the gloomy weather.
We ended up with a beachfront site which means if this wind keeps up and there is a high tide, we may wake up in Tasmania.
Now that will be a view worth contemplating….

And so to Eucla

The many hours spent on the road today was broken by 2 events :-
1. We left the Nullarbor to drive down an escarpment to another plain (with slightly more vegetation – hard to tell though).
2. When we go to Eucla we had to drive back up the escarpment to get to the town.

This may sound boring – but the very sparseness of this country is it’s beauty – at least Dad did not get tired from having to steer around bends all day!

We were first into the Caravan Park and as such managed to get our first site on the whole trip with a view – which we protected with our wit and cunning. And now we get to wake up in the morning to look out of bed at the Southern Ocean in the distance (tough life ain’t it?).

Speaking of wit and cunning - Rosemary can now write a book on how to gain and then protect ones territory in Caravan Park Laundries. We’re open to suggestions but we think the title should be “An elbow is far more effective than a sharp tongue”

On sunset Dad and the Girls went down to the old Telegraph station which is now being taken over by sand dunes (had to get a photo for the Blog….)

Blogging in the Desert

As this is written I am sitting next to the crackling fire which warms my back - I contemplate the surroundings in which we find ourselves.
Here we are in the middle of the Nullarbor Plain – set up in a roadside 24 hour rest area which could cater for 50 vehicles but only has 5. The sky is cloudless and the air is just starting to get chilly. The half moon lights the area up effectively enough to see by and the stars are faded somewhat by it’s brilliance.
It is totally quiet (except for the giggles of happy kids coming from within the caravan).
Occasionally the noise of a passing road train dominates the evening and then fades away into the distance.
Totally quiet – no noise at all.
Ultimately serene.

We spent all day on the road to get here (stopping at Norseman for Lunch – where the kids found a horse to annoy) doing school work whilst we traveled (Isabel is now looking at the changing environments as we pass through them). We got held up by miles and miles of road works and started along the longest straight stretch of road in the country (146km!!) and will spend the 2 days or so crossing the “Paddock”.

Another day – another new ocean

We all got to experience a brand new ocean today. The Southern Ocean looks cold and forbidding in the distance. Closer in it interacts with the continent in ways which delight the senses. They reckon they have the best beaches in the world here. It’s hard to argue with when you look at the photo’s. We couldn’t swim (too cold) and it’s always windy (apparently) so beauty is obviously in the eye of the beholder in this case.
After a spell of shopping in the morning we did a short tour of the local coastal route and were very impressed with the whole place.
Vowing to return when the weather is warmer we went back to our caravan and prepared for the journey across the “paddock” ( a co-travelers colloquialism for the Nullarbor plain).
We hope to experience a few outback adventures (not the Russell Quoit type) and as such may miss a day or two of blog updates due to the blogless land we are about to enter…….

A Birthday on the road

We started today by celebrating Isabel’s Birthday with Apple Pie for breakfast and a surf down Wave Rock. It seemed appropriate that we got wet whilst doing this.
Pack up and then 4 hours to Esperance where it is cold but the rain is slowing somewhat. It’s early spring here, the roads are lined with golden wattle, blooming white heath and the occasional other wildflower to brighten our day. Endless miles of bright green young wheat and brilliant yellow canola fields reminded us of driving through country Victoria - as do the grey clouds and spots of water on the windscreen.
Upon our arrival we set up camp (getting pretty good at this by now) and Mum did the inevitable load of washing (which seems to always entail some sort of territorial conflict with other users of the facilities) and then we headed out to a local Chinese restaurant to celebrate the Birthday Girls 9th successful circuit of the sun. The restaurant we chose was so popular locals don’t bother going there because they know they’ll never get a seat.
We figured this could be the only possible explanation for us being the only people in the place.
We will stay here for a whole day before heading further east – If you (Dear Blogger) whish to call us on the phone – now is your chance, as we may not have phone reception for quite a few days once we get into the heart of the Nullarbor.