Overall

We have had 79 days away and experienced all types of environments and weather.Someone commented - "...only in Australia". Our great South Land!

From the The Great Barrier Reef,to the Outback deserts and scrub lands,salt lakes,lush pastoral districts, wild rugged coastlines, and rivers like the Murray.
From Tropical heat to dry heat, cold and rain, to freezing cold temps that result in white-outs on the road.
We have experienced the Gold Coast theme parks,snorkelling, scuba diving, gem fossicking, Aussie historical sites and museums, Nature Parks, amazing geology and the bushwalks to see them,a flight over Uluru and Kata Juta, many one of a kind towns like Coober Pedy,the School of the Air and Royal Flying Doctor service,and learnt how amazing Australians are -inventive, resilient, courageous etc, and seen much more too hard to list.

What an amazing trip in our own backyard !! and we have only been 'half way around the block'. I would encourage all to do some of it at least once!( this has been our 2nd or 3rd time for different sections and we have still come away saying 'next time...')

The Facts:( for those into these things)
We have driven 11,200 km's in 79 days, Spent $2,800 on fuel and oil, used 2050 L's of fuel.
Free camped 1/3 of the time( probably would be more without a teenager on board tho' Jess didn't mind one way or the other), spent $xxxxx on caravan parks and $xxxx at the supermarket. We had budgeted $100 a day and finished over budget by about $75 a week. Not bad in my opinion. One thing helped,we had saved our 'Rudd money' for our extra,big day trips.



P.S: For those reading this post as a first post I encourage you to look at some of the following post's photos or maybe even read some and be encouraged to travel a little of this land.
If you have children,do not be afraid of travelling with them, they are more resilient than you think. The time spent together is so worthwhile. School you may ask?? Our girls from 2yrs to 14 yrs of age have always gained so much more when travelling. Jess has a sense of the everyday real world things (like where things come from)and a real knowledge of our countries heritage and geology etc. There are families out there doing it.
Our belief, never leave till tomorrow what you can do today, as tomorrow may be too late.

Enjoy!!
Lynne

Days 75 -78(Sun -Wed14/10)

Well it's Wednesday morning and we are slowly heading back home today. We stopped about 2 hours from home at Mossvale. (We had intended to camp at Bundanoon in the National Park but they wanted $7 park fee, $10 an adult and $5 a child. We pay less in C'van parks with full facilities.)We will spend the day browsing around Mossvale and Berrima,and stocking up on jams, chutneys and lollies, before heading home early tonight. No point rushing these things.

We have spent Monday on the Murray Valley Highway,where George sampled different Brewery beers and some wines, and wandering down back country roads. Many of the other produce stops were shut as it was a Monday.Tuesday was spent mostly on the Hume Hwy.

For those of you wondering why we are heading home a few days early it is because George begins teaching a Yr 6 class on Monday for all of Term 4. So... he needs to get home to meet with the Yr6 teachers for term planning on Thursday. He will be very busy at school Thursday and Friday. Jess has taken the opportunity to have a sleep over on Thursday night, and all the family is coming Friday night so.... we will quickly be back to our busy selves.

Will post nitty gritty info of trip soon for those(mainly men) who like that kind of thing.
See you all soon.
Love Lynne

Days 70- 74 (Wed 7/10- Sun11/10)

Hi All ! Thought I posted Wednesday's before heading in to our bushcamp on the Murray on Thursday. Sorry!

Wednesday arrived and the day was rainy. How unusual!! We travelled across country and up the back roads to Ballarat, Creswick(where we visited the woollen mills) and Bendigo. We free camped out of Elmore on the Campaspe River at the old Field Day site. A beautiful grassy spot!

We had emailed(last week) a few friends we had intended to visit on the way home but in the wonderful retired motorhoming way they were all off enjoying life!! One couple were enjoying the Murray,the slow way, so we rang to see how far they'd driven and if we could meet up. Luck was with us,so we organised to meet at Echuca on Thursday morning and bush camp till Sunday together. Had a wonderful time talking, walking, bike-riding,relaxing, and had a campfire each night. Jan even cooked a fruitcake in the campoven(the cheat's way).
For those travelling, we stayed at Christies Beach on the Victorian side of the Murray not far out of Echuca on Simmies Rd(site 316 in Camps3)Very large, fronts the river for at least 5km's, heavily wooded so lots of shade.

Days 67- 68 ( Mon 5/10- Tues 6/10)

Monday in Port Campbell was as usual over the last 2 weeks - sunny till 9am and then rain. Luckily most afternoons it has cleared. After the morning washing ritual we set off for the hinterland and Timboon to sample the home made ice-cream and distilled malt whisky and spirits. You can guess who sampled what!!
We then completed the tourist drive with views of the 12 Apostles, Gibsons steps and the Loch Ard Gorge circuit which included a Blow hole and Thunder Cave.Beautiful scenery! But that was the end of that as it began to rain.

Tuesday we left Port Campbell, where we would have chosen to stay longer if the weather was better as it was well positioned on the bank of a river inlet, and headed for the Otway Tree Fly. But it was 2007 all over again, then it was closed due to strong winds , today we decided it was raining way too much to pay$55 to do it. Oh well - next time!! We continued our drive down from the Otways and back to the coast in terrible weather down Turtons Track, a road newly opened and developed for tourists. A little way in I decided we shouldn't have been there, mountainous, twisty and narrow. To top it all off we had white road as it was sleeting/ snowing?? But as you can see by this post we - George - drove it safely with all cars moving over quickly on seeing us. Besides it was a 20k speed limit for all. George stated after,"it only said ,no coaches, no caravans." I said, " well don't you think we're a bit like that!!" His answer, "NO!"

Nothing but rain and temps between 8 and 15 degrees most days for last 2 and half weeks. We have done a bolt for better weather, headed to Murray River to catch up with some friends.So are enjoying 4 days(Thurs- Sun) camping on the Murray in a secluded camp spot with them.
Will have no more power on laptop till Monday. So will post again then.

Days 65- 66 ( Sat 3/10- Sun 4/10)

Saturday saw us visiting a local market before leaving Mt Gambier and driving across the border into Victoria, our 5th and final state. We drove along the coast road through small fishing towns and villages, having a closer look at Nelson before heading into Portland. Here we drove out to the lighthouse about 18km's out of town on the point. The lighthouse was closed for the day but it provided us with some spectacular views of the coast at the lookouts and others on the road on our return to town. This was the beginning of the rugged coastal cliffs we would be viewing over the next few days. We decided to stay here overnight and not push on to Port Fairy having only driven 130km's.
Sunday :We began the day with a Strawberry farm visit which saw us buying 500gm of Strawberries, chocolate, and a bottle of Strawberry Liqueur(love using it in Trifles). We continued on to Port Fairy where we walked along the fishermans wharf viewing the boats and historic dockside homes and bought fresh bread ready for lunch. Next stop was Tower Hill Game Reserve, which is down inside another volcanic crater, where we had lunch and looked around. Typical of many places, when the settlers arrived it only took them a decade to decimate the native flora and fauna leaving the ancient crater bare. It became the first national park in Victoria and has taken the local people many decades to regenerate and reintroduce native flora and fauna using a painting from 1855 as a starting point.
We completed our day by beginning our way along The Great Ocean Road. We viewed The Bay of Islands, Bay of Martyrs, The Grotto, London Bridge and The Arch. Each of these are accessed from separate parking bays on the GOR from which there is short walks to viewing platforms. The beach can be accessed from The Bay of Martyrs only. There are other parking bays but we were too big for them.
This has been the calmest we have ever seen this coast in our 3 trips and though very beautiful and impressive in the sunlight, we believe it was more impressive on the windy wet days previously as the seas were rougher and the forces of nature more impressive.It is still one of the best coastal drives in our opinion. We are currently staying in Port Campbell for a couple of days.

Will post photos tomorrow

Days 63- 64 ( Thurs 1/10- Fri 2/10)

Thursday : Left Robe and drove along the coast as far as Beachport,then headed in towards Mount Gambier pasiing through the town of Millicent. Here we drove out to look at the Wind Farm on the Canundra Development Road. A wonderful local property owner has left a gate open so you can drive up onto a hill on his property and stand right beneath a wind turbine(local Information Centre gives out info). They are massive!(Have kept pamphlet with details but can't remember offhand and it is packed away - unusual for me - hey!)There will be 123 when completed and they will supply 1/8th of SA's power!
We arrived in Mt Gambier at lunch time so spent the afternoon exploring the shops and The Cave(a small volcanic crater in town which supplied the early town with water).Leaving the tourist 'stuff' for tomorrow.
Friday: We spent the morning exploring the volcanic craters in Mt Gambier: Blue Lake(filled with a mysterious blue water which supplies the town water), Valley Lake,Brownes lake and the Devil's Punchbowl which shared another crater , and above this crater was The Centenary Tower. All these are accessible by car, bike or walking tracks.
The Tower was accessed by an 85m walk which I thought wasn't long! I'll do it with Jessica and George! Problem - it had a 1 in 4 gradient - really too steep for me but by the time I realised that and decided to stop we were half way up.It was a very slow ascent and I was worried about the descent(the caretaker even offered to drive me back down at the end of the tour but I was too stubborn).
At the top, was the Tower and you could do a tour up to the top of it. While sitting outside waiting for George and Jess the Caretaker decided I shouldn't miss seeing it after walking up,and talked me into going up too. Once more I had to bum it down a few stairs and take it slow but the caretaker made sure I did it. Beware, this walk is for the able bodied. Most people found the ascent difficult. I found the descent difficult as well. But well worth the effort for the 360 degree views.
PS it was very cold and windy at the top!
We had lunch in the Valley Lake crater beside the lake - an excellent spot for young children with a flora and fauna park, boardwalks and a massive playground. Finally we finished off the afternoon with a visit to the information centre which also has a 'historical discovery centre'. We were interested in seeing the 3d display which features a 3d person, Christine Smith, telling of her life in the early days as a missionary. We have now seen 4 of this type of hologram display. We thought the centre was quite good, though it may be dependent on others interests and willingness to read displays. Altogether it was a busy and interesting day.

Will post photos soon