Category: General

Its nearly a year since we arrived back in Brisbane. Paul went back to work, we sold our house, planned the next Big Lap and moved back into our caravan.

We are now ready to set off again on March 24th 2021. Please see ‘2021 Map’ for the plan which is another figure of eight. However, we miss out on WA south-west and the Nullabor Plain because of needing to get to the north in the dry season:

• Starting in QLD (March 2021) going west through Queensland, Northern territory and Western Australia through the “Outback Way” to Geraldton WA.

• Then north along the WA coast to the top of the Dampier peninsular.

• Across the top starting June which is the dry season and the rivers should have dropped to allow access (fingers crossed).

• From mid August 2021 we will be travelling south down the centre to South Australia.
• A Spring (Sept/October) run through Victoria high country before turning north to NSW and then home in November.

As before I will update the blog with our travels depending on connectivity. I hope you will enjoy our travels.

So we are heading back to Brisbane. We had to have the car repaired in Port Augusta today so we will not make the border closures. No idea what will happen at the borders as information is sketchy.

We are heading back to Newmarket Gardens caravan park (our start point) who are expecting us and will assist in self-isolating if required (some businesses are really stepping up).

We’re not going to rush as we can’t make the QLD border before it closes. Our plan is:

• first night in a ‘rest area’ at Broken Hill (New South Wales: border not closed)
• second night in Cobar in a caravan park
• third and final night at Narrabri Showgrounds

Presently they are all open but there is word that caravan parks are closing. Anyway, don’t worry if you don’t hear from us for a while – we may not have much mobile reception on the route back through central NSW.

Stay safe everyone!

We have absolutely loved our time in Tassie. We are so pleased we visited the ‘Holiday Isle’ State of Australia. Here’s our ‘best of’ list:

Walk: Cradle Mountain Dove Lake. We were lucky enough to see the mist burn off the mountain top and then the reflection in the lake.

Historical site: Port Arthur. It deserves the UNESCO World Heritage listing.

Art: not that either of us are art lovers but MONA was amazing in terms of the venue. The Wall on the other hand was an amazing sculpture.

Locations: Wineglass Bay with The Nut as a close second. However, there were many many other stunning places and we only scratched the surface.

Town: Launceston. It has all the facilities whilst retaining its country feel. Having a Gorge in the centre of town helps!

Wildlife: Obviously the Tasmania Devil is top of the list but the wildlife has been amazing e.g. did you know that Wombats have square poo…. who’d have thought. Platypus, echidnas, quolls and pademelon to name but a few that we saw.

And we have to mention the scenic and exciting roads……

1. Gravel road between Arthur River and Corinna: Great gravel road as long as taken slowly with correct tyre pressure. Lots of incredible views with hills and bends!
2. A3 Tasmin Highway: VERY narrow lanes. We breathed in each time a road train came towards us!
3. Marlborough Highway: ok it was a ‘B’ road but we didn’t think it would be gravel! Yup it was, for 31km, in drizzle so van and car were covered in mud and we engaged 4wd to stop the wheel spin.
4. Roads in and out of Queenstown: up and down, narrow and winding with many many hairpin bends.
5. Jacobs Ladder: one track hairpin bends with passing on hairpins only,

I have to admit to not doing much towing in Tasmania. It’s been down to Paul who has been learning on the job and luckily enjoying it.

So the adventure begins… the plan had been to move into a local caravan park beginning of November 2019 but as our house did not rent, we delayed the move. The house is still not rented but we had to move into the caravan to allow for set-up time before we depart Brisbane on December 5th.

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