Up before sunrise & I disturbed lots of rabbits walking around the homestead yard, then after sunrise I sat in the warm sunshine putting some more words into our blog.  We had a good chat over breakfast with Chris & Gill before Chris headed off to work, then stayed outside birdwatching (we saw a Spotted Harrier) & chatting with Gill (an avid birdwatcher).  Craig & Ben had a very heavy weekend, their friends (about 18) from their boarding school came to stay on the farm & they were so exhausted that they slept almost all the time we were there but they got up to say goodbye.  We left at 10am.  The roads in western NSW are the worst sealed bitumen roads we have been on in all of our travelling, the Western Australian roads are the best.

Narromine was our turn-off point & it seems a prosperous lively little town, the journey down to Parkes was uneventful apart from some roadworks we had to stop for.  We turned off at Parkes to head through Eugowra before stopping at Cowra for a late lunch.  The countryside is so green & lush with all the dams full & water laying around in lots of places.  There is also lots of canola in flower & the brilliant yellow still hurts our eyes it is so intense.  Cowra had a cold wind blowing & it was a bit chilly sitting in the park eating lunch, (preparing us for home) we were joined by a hopeful magpie looking for a handout.  Some of these old towns have some beautiful old buildings in them, some in really good condition & others sadly neglected.  The traffic was building up more & more the closer we got to Canberra, we’re not used to driving with so many vehicles on the road.  We refuelled at Calwell before finally arriving safely home at around 5.30pm after 20,006 km.

The grass was lush green & very long, the weeds are plentiful.  Our dear friend & neighbours Anji & Andy have been keeping an eye on our place.  It was such a wonderful welcome to find a beautiful bunch of flowers & a bottle of bubbly.    They are the best neighbours anyone could wish for.  Our beautiful friend, Margie sent us a lovely card to welcome us home.

Now for the fun (not) of unpacking, washing, cleaning then back to work on Friday.  Back to reality.

Monica, Jackson, Austin & James will come over tomorrow – we missed them so much we can hardly wait.

We had a wonderful trip.  Mother Nature laid out her best for us – good weather, green desert & wonderful native flowers in bloom.  We travelled a long way but we had great adventures, a few mishaps, some terrible roads but at the end of it you come to something wonderful – the long distances & bad road dim.  Ron has been the best travelling companion in the world.  On a trip like this you must have someone you really get on well with because you are together 24/7 & most of the time in small confined spaces (car, caravan).  You have to plan well for the time you have.  Someone has to be handy to repair things that go wrong (they will), someone who can cook – you can eat very well – there are no shops or restaurants for days & at the borders you can lose all your fresh vegetables & fruit – must plan well & cook things up & have a double ration before crossing over (after the border you may not be able to buy any fresh food for a few days).   Road Houses are a blessing (you wonder who on earth would want to live out there hundreds of kilometres from nowhere) they provide petrol/gas/diesel, sometimes road service & repairs (usually very ordinary) basic food but welcome when there isn’t anything else.  We will miss the many (often nameless) fellow travellers who were always nice, friendly & generous with good road advice & must see places.  There are people on the road always but as nice as it has been on the road it is good to come home and to have our children & grandchildren (every time we talked to them we got our fix).  There are days when you really feel isolated – there is no phone reception.

It was very good when Sue & John joined – we couldn’t have had better travelling companions, on the long lonely tracks, when we had problems, wonderful meals with great reds under the beautiful big starry nights, meaningful conversations & a lot of laughs.  We parted from Sue & John…………they went to see the flooded Lake Eyre, then Clare to visit Sue’s sister & mum & they arrived safely home last Saturday.  We had a great time & we will have to plan another one for next year.

Caravan:               Kimberley Karavan Limited Edition

Vehicle:                 Mercedes Benz GL 320 CDI (diesel fuel)

Tires:                     Pirelli Scorpion ATR – zero punctures the whole trip

Total distance:     20,006 kilometres

Total fuel:            2,696.97 litres

Fuel average:     13.48 litres per 100km

Total fuel cost:  $4,099.15

Cost average:    $1.52 per litre

Most costly:       $2.30 per litre – Rabbit Flat (NT)

Least costly:       $1.27.9 per litre – Waikiki (WA)