MATCH STATS

We have finally made it back home after 6 months on the road.

Thank you to the 6 families from the Port Macquarie 4WD club who trekked out to the Warrumbungles for the long weekend, to meet up with us and see us get home safely. It was a great weekend with friends - chatting, drinking, eating, drinking, watching the football grand finals and drinking. And the Sydney Swans and Melbourne Storm got up... yeah. (Damn Wallabies let us down for the trifecta though).

So here is a run down of our trip:
6 months, 179 days / 178 nights

we set up the camper 87 times (and packed it up 87 times too)
only spent one night in a hotel room in the West MacDonnell Ranges when Gavin was sick
visited 6 farmstays
camped in 34 national parks
stayed at 44 caravan parks (most expensive being at Anglesea on the Great Ocean Rd in Victoria)
stopped with friends in Port Hedland and Adelaide (thank you Biscuit & Rob and Jan & John)

drove 30,144km
4 states and 1 territory
71 tanks of fuel (average diesel price $1.72 per litre)
most expensive fuel was $2.33 at Kings Canyon in Central Australia (also the most expensive beer at $9.90 for a schooner - and yes I was thirsty)
Gavin says I need to mention fuel economy average 16.9L/100km (whatever that means??)

iconinc 4WD roads:
Mt Stirling Rd to Craig's Hut (Victorian High Country)
Great Ocean Rd (Victoria)
Googs Track (South Australia)
Oodnadatta Track (following the old Ghan railway South Australia / Northern Territory)
Merinee Loop Rd (Cenral Australia)
Gibb River Rd (Western Australia)
1,200 km across the Nullarbor Plain (Western Australia / South Australia)

iconic locations:
Victorian High Country
The Grampians
Lake Eyre (with some water in the south)
climbed Ayres Rock
Kakadu
Arnhem Land
jetboat through the Horizontal Falls
sunset at Cable Beach (highly over rated)
snorkelling in Ningaloo Reef
WA wildflowers

1 fishing charter - boys only
numerous fishing days in the tinny (Janet only had one)
2 helicopter flights (Janet only had one)
2 jetboat rides (Janet only had one)
2 sea plane rides (well of course I had two - I had to get home from the Horizontal Falls)

total fuel bill = $8,662.48
total accomodation bill = $5,137.30
the box it came in - PRICELESS

TOILET HUMOUR

We have had to use a great variety of toilet facilities throughout this trip. Anything from pit toilets, to digging our own hole in the bush, to elaborate glossy tiled bathrooms with piped music in caravan parks.

The pit toilets are usually analysed by Hugh within the first few hours. Last night's report was "gee Dad, this one is really deep" .

Most pit toilets throughout WA have a bucket of disinfectant cleaner and a toilet brush chained to the floor. Not sure who would want to steal them?

Often there are signs in toilets asking that you don't steal the toilet paper. But with the rolls locked in dispensers that are bolted to the wall, I couldn't see how this is a problem. I tried to picture grey nomads or backpackers smuggling out toilet paper sheet by sheet and selling it on the black market. Not sure of the value of sheets that aren't quite one ply, have no absorbing capacity, and don't rate on the softness scale.

In many toilets across the Top End there were signs warning of various dangers. Many signs ask you to "close the lid after use". This is generally to keep the frogs out of the water. But the main problem is that frogs attract snakes, so the main hope is to keep snakes out of the toilet. (Lights left on attract insects for frogs to eat too, so it's also good to turn off any lights.)

Jacinta would often do fauna surveys of an evening. Reporting on the number of frogs, geckos, and snakes - yes we did see a few.

I have mentioned the "don't flush foreign objects" in a previous post. But another interesting one near the Mitchell Falls states that "if you didn't eat it don't put it down the toilet - this includes baby nappies and sleeping bags" signed by the rangers.

It was really good when we got back to civilization near Carnarvon. A sign asked "please flush the toilet" this was a timely reminder since we had been in the bush with pit toilets for some weeks.

FOREIGN OBJECTS

We have seen a lot of travelers from other parts of the world, doing various routes around Australia. A lot of Europen backpackers and even some family travelers in RVs. Many wicked vans are keeping us amused (bemused?) with their crazy artwork, and often even crazier passengers.

We have spoken with families from England, France, Holland and Germany. They were nearly all on whirlwind tours of the Top End during their 6 week summer breaks from school and work back home overseas. The kids were trying to talk, but often the English translating wasn't too good. Hugh found soccer a good tool of communication - and you don't even have to talk.

Gavin conversed with many of the young backpackers. Usually late in the night when he was telling them to shut up. They seem to have a habit of congregating at picnic tables close to our camp. Often with endless supplies of alcohol, and  no need for any sleep. (well actually they often slept on grassy verges, or on warm rocky outcrops around waterfalls and gorges during the day.)

While camping at Cape Range NP there were some enterprising young pommy chefs. Obviously they were traveling on a budget. They befriended some of the more successful fishermen, offering to cook their catch of the day, then sharing the meal with them.

We came across some French boys at Ningaloo Reef - a marine sanctuary within a national park. Most snorkellers were just in bathers with mask and snorkel swimming around the coral. These blokes had full wetsuits, net carry bags and underwater cameras. They came out of the water with a beautiful spider shell, and proceeded to put it into their backpack. Gavin confronted them about this and they went the " no understand English" tactic.

Gavin then followed them to the carpark and got their rego. We went to the ranger station and reported the incident. Later that day the culprits were found with a whole box of creatures living in their shells from the reef. Not sure if they were charged or just evicted from the national park.

You can understand my amusement then when I walked into a toilet block and the sign behind the door requested 'please don't flush foreign objects down the toilet'. "Why not?" I asked myself.

We left WA at about 6.30am this morning. Well, about 8am once we changed our clocks to Australian central time. This allows about 12 days to get home, and 7 days to get to the Warrumbungles to meet up with the PM 4WD club welcoming committee.

It has taken us 2 days to cross the Nullarbor, from Norseman WA to Ceduna SA, approx 1,200 km.

So we were in WA for the past 12 weeks. Doing approx 13,000 km. It was all marvelous.

Tonight we are back in Ceduna. We left here 5 months ago, heading north up through the centre. We came in this arvo from the west, off the Nullarbor Plain - about 21,000km later.

Apparently Nullarbor is derived from the Latin 'nullus arbor' (meaning no trees). Jacinta thinks it is actually just a slang abbreviation of 'another boring road' - the notherbor.

FARM FRESH

We knew we were getting close to the Dring family farm when we passed Dring Rd.

When we arrived at the farmhouse all was quiet. The local footy team had won the grand final the previous day, so there hadn't been much sleep in the household that night. An early night was followed by a big day out on the farm.

The kids started the next day at sunrise. They were in the vegie patch collecting fresh salad and vegetables for lunch and dinner. Then they pulled the weeds to feed to the ducks.

So off to the chook pens to feed the ducks, chickens and geese. And collect all the eggs. Some eggs were for eating, and others were put into the incubator to produce chicks to sell at market.

Before we knew it, we were all in the ute ready for a farm tour. Kids were loaded in the back with Arnie the dog, some water bottles and a bag of fruit - grown ups in the front. We drove around the paddocks learning about wheat, barley, canola and sheep.

Gavin stuck to Roger like glue. Chatting for hours. Checking out all the very big, very expensive, very green machinery in the shed. They even went to town for some supplies, so Gavin got to meet some more of the locals (although most were still recovering from the footy). It must have looked cute as they are about the same build, and had matching hard yakka shorts and kharki shirts on.

Late afternoon the boys all went out shooting. The hope was to clear the paddocks of a few Roos, hence providing the farm dogs with some food. But the Roos were hiding, so they just did some static target practice.

Dinner was served. Fresh lamb chops and chicken, accompanied by fresh vegies from the garden.

KANGAROO PAWS

ACT 1
Driving into Kalbarri NP we came across our first real landscape full of amazing colours. There was masses of wildflowers including red and green kangaroo paws. The wildflower display was with us for days throughout the whole region.

ACT 2
We ran into a family at several national parks up north. After a few beers around a few campfires, we were invited to visit their wheat farm. So when we got near Carnamah, we called in for a few days.

Within minutes of being reunited, the boys were outside playing, riding, bikes, etc. Then they brought a kangaroo paw in from the freezer. The whole kangaroo leg was in the freezer for dog meat, so the boys used a saw to cut off the foot. Jacko appeared in the loungeroom (interrupting our AFL finals viewing) with the false hand, saying "look at me I'm Captain Hook."

The offending hairy digit with a big black claw was only removed from the house when it defrosted and started to bleed onto the coffee table. It was thrown out onto the back lawn to a very grateful farm dog.

While on the farm the men went out roo shootin' . There weren't too many Roos, so Hugh learnt to shoot a Big M container.

ACT 3
A last minute change of plan saw us head to Perth. Our whirlwind 6 hour tour took in the city and Fremantle. The drive through Kings Park allowed us to see the best floral display of kangaroo paws yet.

HOMEWARD BOUND

In the past 5 weeks we have travelled over 6,500 km from Cape Leveque to Cape Leeuwin, along Australia's west coast.

On Gav's birthday we were camped under the Cape Leveque lighthouse in sunny 30 degree temperatures. Enjoying many cultural experiences with the Bardi Jawi people around the One Arm Point community.

Last week we were standing at Cape Leeuwin lighthouse on a windy 16 degree day. We did the lighthouse tour, climbing to the top of WAs tallest lighthouse ( however only the boys ventured out onto the balcony to view the meeting waters of the Indian and Southern Oceans).

On the way we have seen a lot of great stuff:
Iron ore mining, rail networks and shipping ports.
Gorges, coral reefs and wildflowers in numerous national parks.
Memorabilia of a NASA tracking station.
Spent a few days on a small 20,000 ha wheat farm.
AND even 4WDrove to Steep Point, the western most point of the mainland.

Anyway ... when we got to the southwest corner we had nowhere to go except east, so we are on our way home.