All good things must come to an end...

It has been over a week now since we arrived back home in Colac. We left Carol and Allen's on Wednesday the 17th November and got to Bordertown early that afternoon. Spent the night there, much to Laura's disgust as she wanted to keep driving and get home that night. She kept asking "are we really going to get home tomorrow?" over, and over, and over again until we said if she asked it again we were going to turn the bus around and go back the other way!! Poor kids, we have dragged them here, there and everywhere for the last 2 years so they don't really think we will ever take them home. But of course we did, slightly earlier than originally planned but perfect to sneak up on the family. Not surprisingly we were all up and ready to go very early on the morning of Friday the 19th of November. Sent a text message to Nanny and Poppy (who were staying in Portland) that we were not stopping in to visit and would be home in Colac that day instead. Took a small detour in Ararat while the navigator was not reading the map (NOT my fault, the driver told me he knew where we were heading!) and took the scenic route home. Parked the bus and after a quick hello to Donk and Sam we headed into town to surprise Shas. Yep, got her a bewdy! Tans and family came in for tea and Gerard cooked a lovely BBQ. Froze my butt off but wonderful to be home and see everyone. Kids have all grown so much and had a ripper of a time running around the back yard like crazy people.

Anyway as the saying goes "all good things must come to an end" and this trip has sure been a good thing. Would not have changed a minute of it and would do it again in a heartbeat (not that we are going anywhere Shas, not for a long while, I promise!!) We went with the main intention of spending some quality family time together and we got to do that whilst also enjoying the beautiful scenery of our amazing country and the wonderful company of the people we met along the way. I can honestly say it has been one of the best experiences of my life and it's all thanks to my darling husband who drove a 40 foot bus (and trailer) all those thousands of kilometers without complaint (except for those couple of times I almost got us stuck, whoops!) and my beautiful children who trusted us to keep them safe and get them back home and who made great friends of each other (because frankly there was noone else most of the time!), I will always treasure this special time we've had together. Love from Deb (Mum) XXX

And a big thanks to all our friends who have followed our adventures and left comments along the way. Cheers to you all xxx

Drinkies with Carol and Allen

Having a wonderful time here in Edithburgh with our friends we met way back in Mirani last year, Carol and Allen. But, boy oh boy, my "healthy eating plan" has taken a battering since we arrived here! Not only am I drinking every night, I am having nibbles before an enormous meal, then dessert afterwards. So much for the 2.5kg I had gotten rid of. I will wait until we get home and have had a party or two, then start again. No good stressing about it now :-(

The kids are having a lovely time being spoilt terribly with all the attention, good food and lots of movie time. They are also helping to care for some new additions to the Reid family, their 6 new chooks. They have been saved from a chook farm and although they are a little bald in places now, I'm sure they will soon be looking proper flash!

Kids and I have spent a few hours at the local parks over the last few days. Chris and Al have been out in the boat fishing and have brought home a yummy array of goodies for us to try; King George Whiting, garfish, snook (which Chris loves to catch) and some squid. We have had fish plain, crumbed, smoked and even pickled and still have a few bags in the freezer to bring home. Not a bad effort!

But the best time of all is the evening, well more like 4pm when Carol calls out "drinkies" and we all head out to the porch area for a yack and a laugh over a few drinks. It's a very nice way to be ending our holiday. Not long to go now...

We've been everywhere man

In the last week or so we've been making our way across from the WA coast to visit some friends in Edithburgh SA. No wonder I can't remember half the places we've been, there are so many! It brings back memories of that good old Slim Dusty classic...We've been to Dongara, Dowerin, Merredin, Southern Cross, Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie, Norseman, Balladonia, Caiguna, Mundrabilla, Eucla, Nundroo, Laura Bay, Streaky Bay, Poochera, Kimba, Port Augusta, Port Germein, hell we've been everywhere!! A lot of these places were just for a fuel stop or to stretch our legs but we have been to them all.

The Nullabor was interesting (for want of a better word!). It was fantastic and mind numbingly boring all at the same time...the scenery was very bland...mainly just scrubby salt bush with a small shrub thrown in every few hundred yards and a handful of dead trees, then out of nowhere would be a tree covered in all manner of paraphernalia. For instance we saw a shoe tree, a thong tree, a glove tree, a teddy bear tree, a hat/bag/scarf tree, a few mixed-bits-and-pieces trees, a cap tree, a bra tree, a knicker tree and even a nude tree with nothing on it, just a sign saying "the nude tree". It was brilliant and made us laugh and most importantly keep us awake and alert on an otherwise very painful trip, especially the longest straight stretch of road in Australia which is something like 146.5km long!!! If we had realised there would be so many funny trees we would have stopped and taken some photos but each time we whizzed by we thought it would be the last one and Stevo doesn't like to stop the bus for just anything you know.

One time we probably SHOULD have missed a photo opportunity was when I dragged us into Laura Bay so I could get a shot of our girl and her scenic namesake. Seemed like a good idea at the time, until the road got smaller and smaller and Stevo said "where the hell are you taking us Deb?" Well we got to the end where the little car park was and then had to do a slightly stressful 4 point turn in the bus with the trailer and 4WD on the back. But I got the photo and promised never to make Stevo take me places in the bus again without knowing we can get in and out OK. Naughty girl Deb!
Ooh look, it's the sign to Laura Bay...doesn't look like a tiny dirt track from here, does it?

We stayed in Coolgardie for a couple of nights and drove Jimny to Kalgoorlie for the day to have a look around and learn about the old mining history. It was a highlight for me and we all loved the "Super Pit" where you can stand on the edge of the massive open cut mine and see the way they mine for gold today. The trucks look so tiny but they are enormous and you can hear the constant rumble of their engines as you stand at the veiwing platform. This is the richest area of land for gold deposits in the world and this particular spot was called "the golden mile" because so many gold nuggets were discovered here. Amazing!
We could see the remains of old mine shafts running into the cut edges of the pit in certain places. Imagine how times have changed from then to now!

Stayed a night at Eucla and went to check out the old telegraph station, or what's left of it that hasn't fallen down or been covered in sand. I love looking at old buildings, especially those made of rock and stone, I think the workmanship is brilliant. The kids on the other hand just loved climbing on it and after a few minutes said "Mum, this is boring, can we go to the beach instead?" So off we went to the beach where Will misbehaved and lost his DS and playstation privileges for a week. Ha, that's karma for you, should have stayed at the boring old building!!
Old Telegraph Station, Eucla

Have I mentioned how cold it's been getting, especially of a night? This is the kids all bundled up for an early morning shift of camp. They are fully dressed in long pants and jumpers and have 2 blankets over them and Laura is under the beanie and Will has a towel on his head!!
Will has his mate "porky" on his lap, a fluffy bear he got at the op shop.

Had a couple of days in Streaky Bay which was a nice friendly little place. I found a great walking track going straight past the caravan park and made good use of it. Then on to Port Germein to meet up with Mum and Dad for a few days. Kids were very excited to see Nanny and Poppy and be spoilt for a little while. We all went for a walk (or 3) out on the jetty, which is the longest wooden jetty in Australia.

I was already half way along the jetty when I took this photo. Can you see Chris and Dad almost at the end of it? They were "patiently" waiting for the tide to come back in, alas no water equals no fish. We did however catch a few crabs and ate them on crackers for a snack, yummy!

Here is Nanny with the kids enjoying a nice relaxing beverage :-))