Canberra, ACT

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Well, well, well. Here we are back in our own house. A few statistics for those interested in these things:

Days away: 138 or 4 months, 18 days
Total kilometres driven : 24,740
(BMW: 19,390, Various hire cars (4) 4,350)
Total kilometres covered by the van : 12,300
Photos take: In excess of 5000
Blog posts made : 119
Blog views, and not by us! : 4318 and counting

Best thing: Just doin' it!!!!!! For me, this was as close to an adventure as I'm likely to get. Make arrangements for the cat, house, bills, letters. Get car and van ready as best as you can. Pack up all the things that you think you'll need. Put half of them back. Have a last meal and drink with the family and then just literally, drive away into the sunset, knowing that you wont be back for at least 4 months. Transport run out across the Murray, done it all before. Had a fabulous couple of days in Mildura, Dinner in Stefano's restaurant and a whole day being shown all over Lake Mungo national park by the last of the traditional owners. This was a taste for things to come.

First time we turned our rig northward and into the unknown at Berri in SA was a buzz and we had an inkling that we were on our way. Saw Wilpena Pound and explored the Flinders Ranges, the likes of which we hadn't seen or experienced before. Now that was going to be hard to top.

I had a 'moment' as we left Port Augusta heading west and you come to the intersection with the Stuart Hhighway that heads north for 2,700 kilometres to Darwin. Now I knew we were truly going to do it and this was the start of something big.

What a place, travel for hours through apparently barren plains, visit legendary places like Woomera and the Breakaways north 'o Coober. And travel, and drive, and drive. Stay in a real dinki-di Road House. Sat up at the bar and had a drink with the locals and a few fellow tourists.

Turn left after a weeks travel and drive another 300 uninterrupted k's to a bloody big rock called Uluru, which to me was truly awe inspiring, well at least until I saw its cousin just a bit further out, Kata Tjuta. Soaked up all the Aboriginal stories and yarns and culture and law. Loved it, gave me a whole different perspective. Enough rock? I don't think so: another 300k to Kings Canyon, 'just up the road' and you see more great big rocks you and love it.

Meeting Lyn & Ray on top of a hill in a van park in Alice was pretty special and I need to thank them for their hospitality. Good on yas.

Getting sick on the road in the outback is not a pleasant experience, but hey, we were learning fast to take the good with the bad, and so, you push on, all the way up to Mataranka. Even the name sounds adventurous. And then Katherine and finally Darwin. Having to get the car fixed wasn't really a low, we got to meet Josh the mechanic who used to work for our mechanic in Canberra, and we had Russell and Josh and another Josh who fixed the gearbox itself  doing all they could to make sure we were looked after: and I have to thank them all for that as well. Like I said, we had started to learn to adapt and adapt we did. We saw more of Darwin, and loved it, than we might have. We hired cars and trucks and saw Kakadu out east and Kunanurra way out west.


We saw crocs up close and scary as hell. We saw aboriginal paintings thousands of years old, we saw landscapes as old as time. We took a ride in a tiny plane out over the Bungle Bungles, Lake Argyle and the Argyle diamond mine. The landscape is truly fantastic. We swam in rock pools, under waterfalls, in thermal spas and swimming pools on the edges of the ocean. We did all we could to immerse ourselves in the history, culture, land, people and a way of life previously unknown to us.


Pick a highlight? Not a chance.
Go again? Bet your life on it, can't wait.

Next time we'll go a bit more bush, take a few more chances. We need to taste that spirit of adventure again, to live a bit more on our own resources, to take nothing for granted in our daily life. everyone should do it, it's a transforming experience.

Worst part? That's relatively easy. Leaving the outback and crossing over back into civilisation, which started for us in Emerald in Queensland. Nice place, but too crowded, too civilised, too urban.

Biggest mistake? Taking too long wandering down the coast. Should have stayed 'out there'.

Cheers, from us for now, stay safe wherever you roam.
Brian & Judy