The home stretch.....!!

After leaving Tassie we managed to drive all the way to Griffth in NSW! We had to stay for a few days as we has some problems with the truck.


We celebrated Luke turning 11 on the 17th December! We managed to catch up with my cousin Catherine who lives at Leeton this year, it was wonderful to share dinner and cake together.


At Eugowra we connect back up with my Aunty and Uncle and here we have now completed a loop of Australia, very exciting! After Eugowra we did a huge drive back to Armidale, arriving on the weekend.


We were all so excited to be back and just so happy we have had such an amazing journey this year! Looking forward to catching up with friends and family over the next few weeks!


Thank you so much to all our friends and family that have supported us during this year, for taking the time to read our blog and those of you who left comments or just enjoyed reading.


Thanks, take care and wishing you a wonderful Christmas! xxxx

Tasmania!

Chocolate House

Port Arthur

Salmon Ponds

The trout!

Luke Rowing

Feeding the Kangaroos at

Wildlife park

At Dad's 70th

Bay of Fires

Maureen, Cooper and Jacinta

Cradle Mountain

Luke's sandcastles

Yesterday we arrived back at the mainland from Tassie! We have had a wonderful time in Tasmania, it is such a beautiful state!! The Spirit of Tasmania was a great treat, we managed to get a room with a port hole and the kids loved looking out the window!

We arrived in Tassie on the 23rd Dec and stayed with my friend Maureen in George Town for a few days! Hi Maureen! It was lovely to catch up! After George Town and Launceston we then travelled east to St Helens, it was such a beautiful drive. We managed to visit the Bay of Fires and the kids had a ball playing in the sand. Hobart was our next stop and we all really enjoyed it here, it is such a pretty city. We stayed at Seven Mile Beach and had a great time sightseeing. After eating too much chocolate at Cadbury's chocolate factory we spent the afternoon at a great park. Also had a day at Port Arthur, it was wonderful to visit, we all enjoyed the history and the old buildings.

Dominic and I actually flew back to Armidale for a very quick trip for my Dad's 70th, it was lovely to be there! Looking forward to a few weeks at Christmas to catch up with friends properly though. While Dom and I were away Benn, Luke and Jacinta went fishing on the Great Lake in central Tassie. They caught a brown trout, so exciting and delicious eating!

Once we were all back together in Hobart we headed for the West, as the roads are very windy it took us most of the day to drive to Cradle Mountain/Lake St Claire National Park. We visited The Salmon Ponds on the way, a great place to see and feed the fish. The weather was rather cold and we also had alot of rain, but such a pretty place on the Lake. We then moved on to Strahan (west coast) going through the mining town of Queenstown. Strahan was a great spot, back on the beach, we stayed for a couple of days. Next stop was Cradle Mountain, while the weather was cold it was great to see it! There are many walks you can do, we really enjoyed a short walk around Dove Lake, just beautiful.

Our last stop in Tassie was Devonport, getting ready for the boat trip the next day. We had a chance to catch up with Maureen and Cooper again! We had a lovely day, the kids played, we went to a chocolate place, House of Anvers, seriously the best hot chocolates ever! Also visited a Cherry place, delicious ice cream all round!

We managed to drive all the way to Griffith from Melbourne, we are having some trouble with the clutch on the truck, just found out it will be a few days to fix! So will be here until Friday at least.

Albany WA to Port Lonsdale Vic!

Once again the time is just going too fast! A month has now passed since I last wrote!! Where did that go? We have now crossed the Nullabor, SA and are currently in Victoria. Only a little over one month till we are home now!!

A few weeks ago now we stayed at Balladonia and then Eucla as we travelled the Nullabor, and did a huge drive on the third day making it all the way to Streaky Bay! Went to the Head of the Bight, but just missed the Whales by 3 days! It was quite challenging adjusting to the time difference of 2 hours forward, it took us a while to adjust. While at Balladonia we met up with a family we met at Monkey Mia, the kids had a great time playing together.

Streaky Bay was a lovely place, it was a bit windy while we were there. We also had some rain which we haven't had for a while. While at Streaky Bay we drove down south towards Port Lincolin to have the afternoon with a lovely family we met while in Katherine, NT. We had a wonderful day, had lunch and a drive around their beautiful farm. Hello to the Fatchens!!

While at Streaky Bay we also went to Baird Bay and we all went swimming with wild seals and dolphins, it was absolutely amazing, the water was rather cold though. Dominic only stayed in for 3 seconds! Benn lasted the whole time, swimming with 7 dolphins at one time. After 6 nights at Streaky Bay we then moved on to Port Augusta, reminded us a little of Port Hedland. We stayed two nights, great coffee shop and playground for the kids. Last Thursday afternoon we arrived in Adelaide. The first two days I came down with a virus, very dizzy and couldn't get up on Friday at all. Saturday I recovered just enough to make it to the Adelaide Zoo, which was great. The highlight was the Pandas!! While in Adelaide we drove down to Victor Harbour when on the famous Horse pulled Tram across to Granite Island where we saw Fairy Penguins in their natural habitat. We also visited Benn's Uncle Paul in the Barossa Valley, which was wonderful, it is such a lovely place. Visited a few wineries too!

After Adelaide we travelled to Penola, were Mary MacKillop started her schools. A beautiful place also with many wineries. From Penola we travelled to Warrnambool another fantastic place. Here we stayed 3 nights and visited our friends that we met at Alice Springs, we have managed to stay in contact since we first met, so it was wonderful to catch up. The kids are such good friends. We were all sad to leave Warrnambool and drove to Point Lonsdale in one day, visiting the Gibson Steps, Bay of Islands and 12 Apostles on the way. We arrived at Point Lonsdale late, but are having a lovely treat staying in house, very nice to have the space! Thanks to Benn's Aunt Annette!!

Busselton to Albany

Superpit at Kalgoorlie

Wave Rock
Lookout at Windfarm Albany

Flowers view at Albany

Jumping on the beach at Esperance

Inside a Tingle Tree

Hello! We have been in Albany for a while now as the Toyota broke down Friday before last! Still waiting for it to be fixed, we are all getting itchy feet to move on!

After Busselton we drove through Pemerton where the kids climbed some of the way up the Gloucester Tree. We then went on to stay at Walpole which was a beautiful area, the land of the Giants. These giants are huge red and yellow tingle trees and just amazing to walk the tree top walk. While at Walpole we also got a chance to take the tinny out on the Franklin River and saw a huge stingray which we feed with the remaining bait left over from Benn catching two south western black brim.

We spent 3 nights at Walpole then moved on to Albany. Really enjoying it here, we visited Whaleworld and the wind farm (in a hire car as the truck broke down by now), and have met many lovely people.

After we realised the truck might take a while to fix, we took the hire car up to Wave Rock near Hyden. It was amazing to see, the kids even were filmed by a TV crew filming for Travel Oz which will air Monday night 22nd November at 6pm, very cool.

We then went on to Kalgoorlie spending two nights so got to have a good look around. Saw the superpit gold mine, just massive. The streets are so wide and lots of red dirt once again. Very interesting place.

After Kalgoorlie we went through Esperance and then back to Albany. Loved Esperance, beautiful town and beaches. The kids had a great morning jumping down the sand dunes to the beach (photo). We should be heading off acrosst the Nullaboor in a few days!

Exmouth to Busselton

In the last three weeks we have driven from Exmouth to Busselton. What a change of scenery! We have gone from red dust desert to green grass and trees again, love it! We just loved Exmouth and Coral Bay, went snorkeling and enjoyed the beach. Benn went diving again, this time with Grey Nurse sharks etc. After Coral Bay we then drove to Canarvon, a one nighter, then on to Monkey Mia. Had a wonderful time with the Dolphins, Jacinta even got to feed one. We meet a lovely family at Monkey Mia, they have been on the road for 2 years! After Monkey Mia we then moved down to Geraldton. Absolutely loved Geradton, fantastic playground and beaches. Definitely would like to come back to visit sometime.

After Geraldton we made it to the long awaited Perth/Fremantle!! Took us a while to get used to the 'city' again, we arrived in peak hour traffic it was our lastest arrival yet at 6 pm! Not good to get set up then dinner on at that time! During our time at Fremantle we visited museums, parks, beaches, walked the Fremantle coffee strip, Markets, and Scitech (similar to Questacon in Canberra). We even went to the Perth Royal Show. We had a wonderful time.

We arrived in Busselton on Wednesday, fantastic caravan park! As is school holidays heaps of kids here, so it has been great social boost for us all. Kids are loving having friends again, we had 8 kids visit us in the caravan yesterday..... sausage rolls for all. We went to Margaret River today, absolutely beautiful. Managed to visit a winery picked up a couple of bottles of wine, also a chocolate company, bought some delicious chocolate! Also visited Mammoth Cave, similar to Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mts (but smaller) just fantastic!

Broome to Exmouth

At the Turtle Centre Exmouth

Emu at Exmouth

Iron Ore Train at Port Hedland

Jake and Dom

Jacinta with her Brim

Aboriginal Artwork

Sam's Island

Sunset at Barn Hill

Playground at Dampier

Lunch stop on way to Exmouth

Writing now from Exmouth......

We have spent the last 2 weeks travelling down WA's north west. So vast and can travel hours before reaching a town or roadhouse. When we left Broome next stop was Barn Hill a small caravan park that is part of a cattle station. It was right on the beach and absolutely beautiful. We met up with a family we first met at Airlie Beach, and again at Kakadu, pretty cool to meet up three times on our travels. Our kids had a great time playing together on the beach. We also saw a few humpback whales spouting and breeching in the distance, turtles and sea snakes.

After we left Barn Hill, I had not checked the distance to the next fuel stop!!! After travelling half an hour we realised didn't had enough fuel get us to the next roadhouse 160 kms away......so we stopped in at a property off the highway after Benn contacted them on UHF. Luckily for us and property owner was home and we were able to buy diesel from him. Turns out he was a student from The Armidale School, Kane, finished school the year before me. He growns watermelons and sweet corn in the Great Sandy Desert, and also owns property at Mataranka. Rather amazing hey!

Port Hedland was our next stop, here we had the Hilux serviced and got a good taste of a mining town. The price of houses is so expensive here, many people are permanent residents of the caravan parks. The average price of a three bedroom house is $650,00! Apparently, a house is usually part of the employment package for the mine employees. We went on a bus tour of the iron ore setup, no mine here (that is at Newman - 400 kms away). We saw the world's longest train at nearly 8 kms long, just amazing.

Point Samson was our next stop for 3 nights, lovely place on the beach. We all did lots of bike riding, walking, fishing and eating fish and chips! The caravan park was excellent, showers and toliets were spacious and clean. The kids enjoyed watching builders put in some changes to the playground area. Benn and Jacinta went fishing, Jacinta caught Brim, Snapper, and a few others, very happy.

We also visited Dampier, a very strong mining presence here as also in Karratha. While at Dampier we visited the North West Gas Project, it was huge. At the vistor centre we all found the information about the project very interesting. Just down the road from the Gas Project centre are hundreds of Aboriginal artwork on numerous rocks. We were told they date back to 40,000 years ago. Just amazing, we spent hours here walking over the rocks and enjoying spotting different pictures of animals and people. We were also able to take the boat out to visit Sam's Island. Just off the Dampier coast and Sam built his own house and lived alone on the Island with his cat for 40 years, only passing away a few years ago. Luke said the cottage remindered him of the cottages at Wyoming, at Nan's place.

We then had long drive to Exmouth, very close to the Cape Range National Park and Ningaloo Marine Park. There has been a small amount of rain and wind, but absolutely beautiful beaches. On Friday Benn went scuba diving at the Navy Pier, absolutely loved it, he swam with Grey Nurse Sharks, huge Cod, Angel, Brim and many schools of colourful fish (and many other sea life but I don't know what they are called!). Yesterday we went to Lakeside Beach, the water is turquoise. Benn went snorkelling, we saw a couple of turtles. We also went to the SS Mildura Wreck, Lighthouse lookout where once again we saw whales in the distance spouting, and we visited the Jurabil Turtle centre. This afternoon we are all going on a whale watching cruise, very exciting! Tomorrow we are travelling to Coral Bay.

Litchfield Park to Broome

Cable Beach

Gantheaume Point

Ord River Dam

Dinosaur Footprint

Sandy Creek Falls

Cathedral Termite Mound

Five Rivers Lookout

The last two weeks we have visited Litchfield Park, had one night at Katherine before making our way across the Kimberlies to Broome!

Litchfield Park was lovely, we went walking and swimming at Buley Rockhole, Sandy Creek Falls and Wangi Falls. While at Sandy Creek Falls we meet a lovely German couple who lost their car keys somewhere in the water, certainly not much chance of finding them. After looking for an hour or so we ended up giving them a lift, all 7 of us swished in the Hilux, back to our caravan park were they could get some help. We also visited Blyth Homestead ruins near a old tin mine and the rather large cathedral and magnetic termite mounds.

After four nights at Litchfield Park we then headed to Katherine for one night, the next day travelled over the WA boarder into Kununarra. While at Katherine we read though the Quarantine guide and very disappointed to learn that we couldn't take Dominic's geraniums over the boarder. Dominic was very upset as Granma gave them to him for his birthday before we left Armidale in January, and they have survived the trip very well. We were lucky that the caravan park owners were happy to look after them for us. We also had to get rid of all fruit and vegetables also.

Kununarra was very busy and hot, the max temp while we were there was 36 -37 c. The pool at the caravan park was always very full, even so we needed a dip everyday. Benn and I voted at Kununarra taking it in turns, Benn waited 2 hours in the line at 8 am in the morning, and I waited 1.5 hours at 4 pm! Just so many interstate voters! We went out to visit the Ord River Dam and Lake Arkyle, just massive. We had a lovely picnic in the shade, after Benn and the kids rode their bikes over the dam wall. Also visited Wyndham, and had picnic lunch at the Five Rivers lookout - just beautiful!

The 650 kilometre drive from Kununarra to Fitzroy Crossing was hot, and we were glad we had A/C. We only had two stops, at Halls Creek for cold drinks and Diesel, then on side of road next to massive Boab tree for lunch. Kids did very well, thanks to DS games and DVD's! After a lovely stay at Fitzroy Crossing we made it to Broome via a sightseeing visit to Derby. Saw the prison Boab tree near Derby that travellers and Aboriginal prisoners often had a rest at on their way through back in late 1800's early 1900's.

Broome has been fantastic! We went straight to Cable Beach after setting up, we arrived just in time for the sunset! Just beautiful, the sand goes for miles before the water, we had dinner on the beach and kids played in the sand for hours! While in Broome we have more visits to Cable Beach, Town Beach and waterpark, visited the Willie Creek Pearl Farm (learnt how pearls are farmed!), historical museum, visited the Dinosaur footprints on Gantheaume Point and were lucky to be here to see Staircase to the Moon which only happens once a month with the full moon. Tomorrow we travel to Barn Hill 1.5 hours south, a station on the beach for a few days.

Bye xx