Well it's been two years since we started our trip. Although we are not quite home yet, our trip is done. Geoff is enjoying his job, the town is nice, the park is quiet and friendly. Although we are all a little homesick it is important that we do this for Geoff to get experience to be able to work anywhere, especially closer to home.

We've done over 51 000km, spent $9 780 on diesel, $11 264 on accommodation or roughly $15.40 per night. If I exclude the weeks where we were staying in a caravan park for work and only include travelling stays, this figure drops to an average of $3 per night for accommodation, shows how much you can save on accommodation alone if you're planning a holiday. Of the 104 weeks since we left home, Geoff has worked 36 weeks and I have worked about 22, not bad for an extended holiday. We have only needed the credit card once and that was while we were looking for work near Perth. In retrospect, we probably could have found work much faster if we'd used a postal address closer to work prospects instead of closer to our location.

Thankyou for following us and we hope to be reading about your own adventures in the near future.

Bye for now

Shelley, Geoff and Erin

As Erin had had such a good time at Campania, we headed back there for Friday and Saturday nights. She attended another youth group meeting, this time at Richmond Maze, and spent the night at Sam's house again. I don't think we saw much of her at all on Saturday.

Geoff and I went to the local orchard again and re-stocked up on apricots, nectarines, peaches, and cherries. All the fruit is so much tastier than Woollies, etc and heaps cheaper too. The nectarines, peaches and cherries were $6 a kilo and Apricots were $1.50kg for seconds or $3kg for good ones (both are yum though). We gorged ourselves on fruit the last time we were up here too.

We are now in a caravan park and it's not bad. There is a mini-golf course and wood fired pizza shop here and chest-high hedges between the sites giving that illusion of one's own space, I think. The toilets/showers are converted water tanks, there are four at this end of the park and each one is a bathroom. The shower is on a timer allowing a 5 minute shower and then the water shuts off, it's not too bad though because if you're caught out (ie still soapy), you wait 15 seconds and turn it back on for the next 5 minutes. 5 minutes is heaps of time though unless, like Geoff, you come home stinking of fish food. He's working at Skretting where they are dismantling something or other and he comes home smelling like a gold fish's best friend. One of the guys he is working with couldn't get rid of his dog the other day. I'm glad I have the washing machine in the van, but I can't seem to get the smell out of his clothes, I've even tried using the eucalyptus wool wash with the detergent. Still stinky. Yuk.

We woke up at Port Huon to thick fog and couldn't see the wharf anymore and the road looked a bit hazardous too. It didn't lift until mid-morning but that was okay as Sid had a broken clasp on his fridge that needed repairing before we were able to move on.

We had planned to go to Cockle Creek and camp for 3 or 4 days but we got down there and weren't very impressed. The road was corrugated and potholed and the camp sites were boggy with no views of the water. There was also lots of other vans and humungous horse-flies. We turned around and made our way back out to Southport where we had stopped on the way in.

Southport was beautiful, we stopped right on the beach, almost stepping out straight onto the white sand. Much nicer than Cockle Creek. We spent two nights there and Geoff tried his hand at fishing again. Sid caught a couple of squid and a couple of fish and Geoff caught a fish but it was too small and he didn't have a clue what it was anyway.

We are spending tonight at Franklin before heading back up towards Cambridge for Geoff to start work. Yes, he got the job. He spent some time at the Wooden Boat Building School today while Erin and I caught up on some school work. We are not too far behind though so it wasn't too bad. Geoff came back with paraphernalia for courses on boat building and a renewed energy for constructing something. Oh dear.

We spent 3 nights at Kingston and amazingly didn't get moved on; there is a 'no camping' sign there but it doesn't say penalties apply so we pushed the friendship a little and stayed. It was a nice spot overlooking the beach and Derwent River and it had good internet coverage for Erin to do her on-line lessons. She has 10 one-hour lessons each week for 6 subjects and has to attend, with her headset, and she can communicate with her classmates and teachers. We have found this very difficult in some locations due to limited coverage, sometimes it's okay for email and internet but not strong enough to connect to the school. We have also found Year 10 to be a lot more time consuming than Year 8 and 9 were and we're struggling to get most days finished by 5pm. I know that this would be about the same as mainstream schools if you take into account homework and assignments.

From Kingston we ventured down the coast to Woodbridge for a night then onto Gordon for 4 nights. There is a jetty at Gordon and Geoff managed to catch 5 squid before losing his favourite lure. The locals that were fishing with him went home empty handed so he was pretty chuffed. Sid and Bing collected blackberries from along the road for stewing and bottling.

Today (Monday) is a public holiday in Hobart and we found the Port Huon wharf deserted. We have camped just up the road and made use of their hot showers, lovely, we don't have to heat water up tonight. Mind you, having said that, I should point out that the said showers were in the men's loos and Geoff stood guard while us girls had our showers.

We've just spent the last 3 nights at Campania and 3 nights at Oatlands before that. We took a day trip up to Campbell Town and saw the Red Bridge and the convict trail as well as some fantastic historic buildings. It is incredible how much history Tasmania has managed to keep, the majority of the towns down here have at least something older than 100 years. Campbell Town has a row of bricks along the side walk with each brick representing a convict, labelled with their name, age, crime, prison term and the ship they came on. Some of the terms were pretty severe for the crime – 7 yrs for stealing linen.

Last Friday, Geoff went for a job interview at Kingston for a 3 week shutdown at Cambridge. He got the job pending a medical which he has to go for on Tuesday in Hobart. The job doesn't start until the 21^st so we still have some time to go sightseeing.

While we were at Campania, they had a youth group at the hall we were camped behind and the organiser invited Erin to join them on Friday night. She had a great time, they played Laugh Olympics and she made a few friends her own age. On Saturday night she was invited to stay at one the girl's places and even joined her for her morning newspaper run this morning.

We drove through Hobart today, picking Sunday as the least busy day to drive through the city towing a 23' van. There is no going around Hobart. We drove through last Friday without the 'van and managed to end up in the wrong lane and had to turn left when we didn't want to. That lane didn't get us again today – we were ready. Even the huge logging trucks drive through the city everyday; it's madness.

We are camped tonight at a park just north of Kingston where people walk their dogs. I can't keep Erin away from them, she comments on every dog as it goes past, some she's even asked the owners if she can pat their dog.

Well we've done some km's this last week, nothing like what we'd do on the mainland though. We travelled through the central plateau and couldn't believe how dry it is, compared to the coast and how small Tassie is, it's remarkable how little rain the centre gets.

We spent a few nights at Hamilton and caught up on essentials, like real showers and laundry. Unfortunately not a free camp but at $5 a night plus $1 showers who's complaining, and a power point in the bbq area to charge the laptop and camera batteries, bonus.

We also spent a couple of nights hidden behind the community hall at Maydena and arrived just in time for their Australia Day celebrations and sausage sizzle, another bonus day. From there we did a day trip out to Gordon Dam and saw the 2000 yr old Huon Pine log at Strathgordon, unfortunately some dirty bugger had set up camp around it and had stored his booze in the hollow as well as other rubbish in and around it. There was a fishing tournament nearby so we assume he was with that. Sid cleared the hollow so we could take pickies and wonder in awe at what it represented. The rings are labelled with what took place at some of the tree's life stages, for example "Romans leave Britain 411", "Battle of Hastings 1066", "Joan of Arc burnt at stake 1431" up until the tree was felled in 1975. I think it also had "Birth of Christ" on it but someone stole it.

We've just camped the last three nights at Hobart Showgrounds ($12 a night plus $1 showers) and went by bus into Salamanca Markets on Saturday. That place is huge, it just went on and on, but much of the same thing over and over again – wood stall, hat stall, fruit stall, lolly stall, another wood stall, jewellery stall, etc. We bought ourselves some lollies and a bit of lunch but everything else was really expensive, we still enjoyed the day though.

The Hobart Showgrounds hosts a Sunday market so that was an easy walk from camp – one side of the showgrounds to the other. A good size market but a bit of a garage sale really, lots and lots of junk, probably treasure to some though. Erin bought herself another necklace and I got a small shoulder bag that's ideal for holding my water bottle when we're hiking. We had to laugh, Sid bought an exercise bike for $20 and spent the afternoon disassembling it so he could fit it in his motor home.

School started back for us last week, Tasmania is on school holidays until 16^th Feb as they only have three terms down here so it's a bit hard to get motivated. We are gradually getting back into routine but we have only heard from two of Erin's teachers and it's week two already, I feel for the school as they were surrounded by flood waters so things are a little hectic as they get back on deck.

We've finally made it away from the western side of the Apple Isle and into the centre. We are still trying to take the roads less travelled but hit two more road closures and had to back track – 20km yesterday when the road to Mole Creek Karst from Gowrie Park was closed and 6km today when one of the roads between Westbury and Poatina was closed, this back road also scored us another flat tyre, we had a huge piece of glass in one of the van tyres, luckily it wasn't the one we just bought. We are getting lots of comments on our shredded tyre hanging off the back of the van – "Nice tyre", "Wow, which road did you go on so I can take another?"

The road from Poatina to Great Lakes has a stretch that resembles a heart beat monitor, quite a few hairpin turns going steeply up hill. We had to stop part way up to let an echidna cross and then try and get our momentum up again. Fantastic views from the top and finally a clear day to enjoy them.

We camped last night at Deloraine and enjoyed a walk through town yesterday and their many op shops. We were good though, Geoff and I bought a book each and Erin found a small leather backpack that she had to have.

We are still managing to free camp everywhere and haven't been charged since Riana. We haven't hit a bad spot yet, though Deloraine was a little noisy being next to the train tracks.

We've spent the last 4 nights camped behind the Wee Georgie Wood Steam Railway at Tullah and day tripping to Queenstown, etc from there. It's still raining on and off so any hope of getting a good view from the lookouts was pretty slim.

Queenstown was very much the mining town I expected, I thought a little depressing too. Lots of for-sale signs and closed shops, the rain probably didn't help boost its spirits either.

Strahan, Zeehan and Rosebery also had empty shops and for-sale notices around. We tried to do our bit and supported the bakery economy at Queenstown and Rosebery, both had good vanilla slices but their pies weren't that great.

It continued to rain while we were at Dip Falls and many roads were flooded when we made our way out to the coast again. We had planned to go to Hellyer Gorge via Yolla but the bridge was underwater so we had to stay at Wynyard overnight and hoped that the water would recede by the following day.

We made use of our waiting time by going to Somerset to get a few tyres repaired (one on the van had a slow leak and the one we punctured near Julius River) and a new tyre for the van to replace one of the spares as it had no tread left. We were very lucky as it was Friday afternoon and they fitted us in straight away. It probably helped that the road to Burnie was also cut so no customers were coming from that direction. 2 repairs and a new tyre for $130, pretty good I think, it would've cost a lot more at home.

Finally made it to Hellyer Gorge today and it was worth it. Absolutely beautiful. Different to Julius River though, not as much moss and lichen. Erin and I saw a few pademelons around sunset and heard more thumping through the undergrowth. We are staying here tonight and continuing further south tomorrow.

We ended up spending three nights at Julius River because it was just so nice. The ranger, Warren, came around everyday for a chat and brought the newspaper for us to keep up with news of the floods in Queensland. There was also quite a storm through here last night which brought down lots of trees and blocked some of the roads. He was out with his chain saw making sure we could get out today. Lovely guy, loves his job and doesn't look like retiring anytime soon, he's 66 now.

We tried to take a back road to Mawbanna from South Forest to enjoy a different route but got within 12km and had to turn back due to the road being flooded at Black River, a tight area to turn around in when you're towing 23 feet and being followed by a motor home.

We finally made it to Dip Falls at about 4 this afternoon and were greeted by huge roaring falls. We got Erin to stand near the bottom for a photo and she was nearly drenched from the spray. I'll have to buy a postcard to see what the falls normally look like because you're supposed to be able to see volcanic rock formations and at the moment we can't see anything for the massive waterfall.

We have been free camping in the picnic areas of the reserves with no problems and have actually been joined by others camped in "swish bangs" (for those who don't know what a swish bang is, they are the campers with the sliding side doors that go swish…bang in the wee hours of the morning, also known as wiz bangs).

I hope this finds all those who are near the floods, or may have family affected, safe and well and out of harms way, our thoughts are with you.

We went on the 1 hour walk to the sinkholes this morning and managed to stay reasonably dry. It was like walking through the forests of Lord of the Rings, everything was mossy and green and so peaceful. We saw lots of burrows and hidey-holes but no animals, I imagine it would be thriving at night with Tassie devils and quolls, it was too rainy last night to go spotlighting. Besides, it's still light at nearly 10pm. The sun goes down just before 9 due to Daylight Saving then there's ages of twilight.

This afternoon we went for a drive around without the 'van to see further up the road at Lake Chisholm and Milkshake Hills. Lake Chisholm was lovely, it's a large sink hole that is permanently filled with water. It had more of the same sort of forest – massive trees, tree ferns covered with maidenhair ferns and ground covered in moss. The bridge to Milkshake Hills looked a little dubious to cross as a few large logs had hit it during previous flooding and it was sitting at an odd angle. There was a track next to it through the riverbed that looked like it was being used as an alternative crossing but it was a little deep and water was flowing very quickly so we decided to give it a miss and turned back.

I think Geoff thought he was a rally driver on the way back to camp, he had Bing rather concerned in the back seat with Erin and I and Sid reading the road turns off the GPS screen, lots of turns and some decent size pot holes. It wasn't until about an hour after we got back to camp that we found we had scored ourselves yet another flat tyre. This was the same tyre we punctured on the way into Mum's driveway when we got home in October. Geoff removed the offending piece of blue metal and hopefully we'll be able to get it repaired again as it's not really that old.

So far I am very impressed with Tasmania, there is so much to see and, to date, it's all been beautiful and rewarding. We stopped for lunch at Table Cape and admired the views. We camped at Sisters Beach, just past Wynyard, and the view from the beach reminded me of the crystal clear waters of the Whitsundays, white beaches and a little island off shore. Some of the new houses in the area were a little on the nose, boxy, flat roofed, eyesores.

We camped at another beach the following night, not as protected or pretty but still good. Godfreys Beach at Stanley looks straight up at the Nut, a big round hill on the point, they've even built a chairlift up there if you can't walk up it, we did neither the walk nor the lift, too windy. It was so windy there we had to stop at Smithton to wash the salt off the car and caravan, it was caked on all the windows.

We camped two nights at Green Point near Marrawah. It's a popular surf spot and was quite crowded while we were there, unfortunately for the surfers, it was pretty calm and there were a lot of disappointed guys standing around. Most only camped for a night then moved on to try the next best spot. We could see the wind farm at Cape Grim until this morning when the surf picked up and the seaspray made it hard to see that far.

Today we drove through Arthur River and stood at "The Edge of the World". A plaque there reads:

I cast my pebble onto the shore of Eternity.

To be washed by the Ocean of Time.

It has shape, form and substance.

It is me

One day I will be no more.

But my pebble will remain here

On the shore of Eternity.

Mute witness for the aeons.

That today I came and stood

At the edge of the World.

The rocks and beaches are stacked with logs in piles washed ashore, I could imagine great bonfires out on the rocky points looking awesome.

Tonight we are camped at Julius River Forest Reserve, and the rain has caught up with us, this was to be expected, we are after all, camped in a rainforest. I am hoping the weather will clear enough for us to do some of the walks, the mossy myrtles, moss covered ground and fallen logs look very inviting.

Happy and prosperous new year to all.

We are now making our way into the north-west corner of Tassie for a look around.

Last Friday, new year's eve, we went up to Cradle Mountain and had crystal clear skies and a rather warm day, this was surprising as it had snowed up there 5 days before. Knowing it had been that cold, I was prepared – beanie, jacket, jumper, yep, carried them all day while the sun shone and the day was a lovely 20 degrees, oh well, better warm than frozen. We had left the car at the visitor centre and used the buses so no dumping off our extra load.

While visiting Waldheim Lodge, a wombat made his way across a little footbridge and ambled past us before retiring under the house. He was replaced by a few pademelons hopping around and being cute.

For the last two nights we have been camped on the foreshore at Cooee Point, near Burnie, and watching the little penguins waiting for their parents to come in for the night. The first night, Erin laid down on her stomach among the rookeries and a curious young penguin came face to face with her. Talk about being connected with the animals. She has a new determination with her schooling this year, she wants to get excellent grades and study to be a vet. Her grades last year were pretty good and we are very proud of her.

Merry Christmas everyone and greetings from Tasmania.

Well, we haven't made it too far away from Devonport yet, we moved from the farm last Tuesday to a nice little camp spot at Pioneer Park, Riana. $7 a night with access to power and hot showers ($1 for 5 minutes). It's a little bit cooler here but nice and quiet and out of the way for the Christmas holiday onslaught.

We have grouped up with our friends Sid and Bing and new friends from the farm, Len and Helen, as well as a Canadian couple and one of the Park caretakers, Jo, for a Christmas feast. We are all bringing a plate for mains - Geoff and I are doing our usual Chang's Chicken Salad as well as making brandy butter and brandy custard (shops were sold out). We've got desserts laid on, Helen has made a rum fruitcake, Sally (from the farm we were at) gave us a pavlova before we left, I've made caramel brownies and Jo has made a pineapple fruit cake. Now, where are my elastic banded pants……..

We've done a few touristy things like going to Sheffield for the murals, Railton for the topiaries, Don for the markets and railway and we've seen the big Penguin dressed in his Santa suit at Penguin.

The weather here is incredible, for me it's thermals one day and t-shirt for half the next day before the wind picks up and drops the temperature again. We've had our fair share of rain too, minor flooding in Devonport caused a bit of damage to some shops including Woolworths and the library. On the up-side everything is flourishing and green here. The pyrethrum and poppy fields are in flower and there are so many cottage gardens and rose bushes everywhere.

Erin had a nice birthday, we got take out pizzas and sat on a brick wall in Devonport and watched the Christmas parade go past. Sid, Bing, Helen and Len joined us. After the parade we watched the police chase a couple of older teens through Macdonalds where we had stopped for ice cream afterwards, who needs telly? Erin did well with birthday money and bought herself a new DS as her old one was so well used the buttons barely respond anymore. The remainder is burning a hole in her pocket, combined with her Christmas money, and she has been browsing through catalogues on-line.

We've just had a surprise from Len and Helen, they had Christmas stockings for each of us with little pressies representing wishes – Peace, Joy, Love, Laughter and Wealth. I hope everyone has had as wonderful a morning as we have.

Best Wishes and Merry Christmas to all. We hope everyone has a happy and prosperous new year.

We've had a pretty good run down the coast and been really lucky with the weather. I'm very glad we didn't come down the middle of NSW as we'd probably be still trying to get through.

We managed to visit Wilson's Promontory on the way and had a surprise visit from a wombat during the night. Erin was so stoked she that she almost kissed it. It was great that she finally got to see a live wombat as we'd seen two dead on the road on the way in and our visit to Squeaky Beach was marred by the countless dead birds on the shore and a dead seal. Poor thing was in tears (Erin, not the seal).

We caught the ferry last night from Port Melbourne and arrived at 5 past 5 to board the boat nice and early, gates opened at 5pm, yeah, nice try. As we are a little on the large size now, it was 6.40pm before we actually drove on board, one of the last. All the motor homes and vans are packed in like sardines on the garage deck and you have to breathe in and duck under mirrors to make your way to the elevators. The trip over was a bit rough and the boat rocked a bit but it wasn't so much the rocking that was bad, it was so noisy. The boat would shudder violently every so often and the engines were very loud. We consequently got very broken sleep. I don't know if it was just because we were in the recliners or if the cabins are just as noisy. We each got provided with a little pillow and a lovely warm blanket and front row seats looking straight out the rear windows, great views of Melbourne as we left. At 5am we got a wake up call and all the lights were turned back on. Our long wait to get on the ship was not repeated during disembarkation and we were about the fourth off the boat at 6.40am. Breakfast in a nearby carpark at 7am, our grocery shopping was done by 8am, great finding parking at that time of the morning, and then to a quiet location by the beach to catch some more zzzz's.

We are currently camped on a farm east of Devonport due to receiving a phone call from a friend of a friend who is also expecting said friend to arrive here on Wednesday. Erin is having a ball, there are pet parrots here, a dog and a cat and lots of cows. A great place to sit for a while and do day trips from for surrounding areas. I think tomorrow we'll head down to Railton and Sheffield for a look around. Today is just a rest day, we are all feeling a little jet-lagged.

I also found a nifty program for plotting our route that's a lot easier to use than Google Maps, if anyone is interested it's at http://www.routeconverter.de/downloads/en and I've uploaded our latest trip map in the photo album as well as other photos.

Yes, we're back on the road and well on our way to Melbourne and The Spirit of Tasmania.  Our stint at home saw us pull out one of the front beds and build a storage area for the washing machine, laundry hamper, battery box, buckets etc as our floor area was almost non-existent when travelling from W.A. We also took out a lot of deadweight that we'd accumulated over the past 18mths as well as the 50kg fridge that had become a cupboard due to lack of 240 volt access and lack of desire to stay at caravan parks to power the thing.

We were hoping to have fixed all our leaks alas, as any caravan owner knows, you just can't get them all. The front window is still a big problem and is showing a bit of rot around the inside frame. That's going to have to come out to be repaired – next time we stop for an extended period of time. Yay.

We left home last Thursday 25^th and have been gradually making our way down the east coast. Having done the westernmost point of mainland Australia last year, we couldn't go past Byron Bay without doing the easternmost point too. The weather was fantastic and it took us two hours to do the circuit walk past the point and the light house. It might have taken us less time but they don't let caravans past a certain point and don't allow for parking anywhere near it so we had to walk up. Well worth the effort though, even with a whiney teen on our tail. Sorry, Erin joyfully strolling along with us. J

I'm already sick of toll roads, Brisbane got us on the Gateway and Sydney got us on the M2 and the M7, I think I've worked out Melbourne so it can't get us too. I wouldn't mind so much if it was just pay at a booth and keep going but now you have to set up accounts and pay set up fees just for using a couple of roads, once.

I can't fault the coastal countryside in NSW, we've had some stunning, albeit wet, views. Everything is beautiful and green, the rivers are flowing and there are flowers everywhere. Geoff decided he'd like to set up shop in Moss Vale, near Mittagong, until I reminded him how cold it gets there.

We enjoyed the Bega Cheese factory this morning, they had lots of cheeses to try and we bought, yep you guessed it, cheese! Ok, it wasn't just cheese, it was Smokey BBQ, which was quite nice.

We've had a mixed bag of free camps on the way here, a couple we've had to ourselves, a couple of very popular and full ones and one where we went to bed on our own and woke up surrounded! Last night's campsite at Waldron's Swamp lived up to its name as I managed to get a rather large leach on my leg, ugh. Our current spot is about a kilometre away from the road and is full already, I'm glad we got here early in the day, it wouldn't be easy to turn around once it filled right up.

Photos have been updated too.

Until next time....

Yes we are home, though only for a short time. We snuck home for Mum's surprise birthday party and to catch up on 18 months away.

We stayed in some lovely places in NSW – Gum Bend Lake at Condobolin was nice, no water in the man-made lake yet but a free camp with hot showers is always great; we saw Utes In a Paddock (utesinthepaddock.com.au) which was really well done and well worth going for a look, we visited The Dish at Parkes (that's so much bigger than we expected), stayed at Dumaresq Dam near Armidale with some stunning Crimson Rosellas, just to name a few places that we visited.

We made our way into Queensland Monday 11^th in pouring rain and drove through ½ metre of water on the east side of Kilcoy, nicely cleaning the underside of the caravan and car.  We couldn't believe how much water was over the bridge and road, Anzac Memorial park was completely submerged. No cars were getting through but luckily we were allowed with the 4wd.

Yes, we are home, however we are booked on the Spirit of Tasmania in December so we aren't done travelling just yet.  The only thing I'm not looking forward to is Erin in Year 10 next year, should be interesting, she's pretty good with her schooling though – most of the time. Show me a teen that's good all of the time!

It has been great catching up with family and friends, even Geoff's parents came down from Townsville to visit.  We should be home for 4 or 5 weeks and may try for a bit of work while we are here. I tried to get my old job back at Woolies but it had been 3 months and 1 day since I finished at the Fremantle store, 1 day too late to walk into a job without going through the interview, induction and probation period again. "Sorry, rules are rules, no exception, even though we are really short staffed at the moment, if only you'd come in 2 days ago." Bugger. However, I am assured that I can have my job back when we return from Tassie, but I still have to do the interview, induction and probation for the third time. Woohoo.

I know, I've been slack with my blogging but getting back to nature involves kicking back and soaking it up, so I did.

We visited a couple of national/conservation parks around SA. Mambray Creek at Mt Remarkable was terrific even though it poured most of the time we were there. We did a few of the walks, one in the rain but found the view was a white-out when we got to the top, the other was during sunshine and we could see all the way back across the gulf to Whyalla.

We also stayed at Bool Lagoon which was in full flood for the first time in 6 years so the rangers and bird watchers were very happy, as was Erin, ever with the bird book.

Naracoorte Caves was interesting, we went into the fossil exhibit and the Wet Cave, a bit costly but we enjoyed it.

The Murray River in South Australia has several free ferry crossings so we couldn't help but try one out at Wellington on the way to Strathalbyn, Geoff found it a bit unnerving, especially when the site has claimed a few punts and cars in the past. No dramas for a while now though. The ferry was quite large with a pantec behind us and four cars beside us doing the crossing.

Friends from home, Terry, Carolyn and Rachael came to South Aus to catch up with their friends and family so we caught up with them at Deep Creek Conservation Park on the Fleurieu Peninsula then again for a trip into Swan Hill in Victoria on their way home.

As it was school holidays, we decided it would be a good time to go into the Swan Hill Pioneer Village as they'd probably have more activities going on and we weren't disappointed. Carolyn and I went with the girls to watch the butter making demonstration while the boys checked out the blacksmithing, we all went on the horse and carriage, Erin and Rachael made nails at the blacksmith shop and then dressed up in pioneer clothing for photos and there's no going past ye olde lolly shoppe without buying something yummy, is there? We went back the following day to pick up a wrought iron tripod that Geoff had ordered from the blacksmith and visited the lolly shop again.

We are currently touring through NSW and enjoying the colourful displays of flowers everywhere, there are fields and fields of Patterson's Curse in full purple flower, yellow canola flowers, golden wattles, cape weed and orange gazanias. There are also flashes of white and yellow and pink that are also everywhere but I have yet to stop and get a closer look to identify.

We are looking for warmer weather as the cold and wet has got to us and we seek the warmth of the north again before we return south to Tassie for Christmas.  We loved South Australia and cannot fault the people (one lady even baked cookies and slices for us at Whyalla, apparently she does that for everyone who stops at Weeroona FC), though I think we had four fine days the whole time we were there so we will hopefully return another time, another season, and then probably complain about the heat!

Well we've managed to do almost the entire coast of the Eyre Peninsula and though it was cold and rainy for most of the time, we thoroughly enjoyed it. After Mt Dutton Bay, we spent a week at Louth Bay and day-tripped into Port Lincoln a few times. We tried to go down to Whaler's Way and Lincoln NP but we were advised against it due to the poor road conditions, something to look forward to next time we visit.

We also camped at Port Gibbon where the donation-camp spot has a "bush shower", complete with hook and pulley to hoist your solar shower bag up on and walls for privacy, no roof, of course.

Erin tried a bit of geo-caching with Maddy and Terry, bit like treasure hunting with a GPS and very good eyes. We've met a few people who geo-cache, apparently you get to see a lot of country you wouldn't normally see as it takes you off the beaten track.

Geoff and Terry got some more oysters; Cowell had them for $7.50 a dozen, good size, so it's Oysters Kilpatrick again.

We are currently at Whyalla for a few days before we say goodbye to our travelling companions as they head north and we continue our exploration of South Australia. We've just bought a Parks Pass so it's off to the National Parks and getting back to nature.

We are gradually making our way around the bottom of Eyre Peninsula, we've visited Streaky Bay, Murphy's Haystacks, Talia Caves and even bought wood fired bread from Colton Bakery – an unmanned bakery with an honesty box on the side of the road.

We stopped in at Walker's Rocks with the intention of staying for a few days of fishing but thought it more of a dump than a campsite and they wanted $10 a night! We continued to Sheringa Beach instead for the same price. We only stayed one night there as it was too rough for fishing off the beach.

We are currently free-camped at Mt Dutton Bay near the top of Coffin Bay. It is absolutely stunning and the locals are very friendly. We quizzed two locals on their way out fishing on the best spots, as Terry has a boat, and they brought us a big bucket of Salmon Trout when they got back. About an hour later the same two locals came over and offered to take us out fishing in their boats, so Terry, Geoff and the girls went trawling for Salmon Trout and Shelley and I stayed behind to enjoy some peace and quiet. We threw the lines in off the rock wall behind our camp site and caught 5 King George Whiting, two were too small and had to be thrown back but the others were ok. Geoff and the others came back with another bucket full of Salmon Trout so it was good fishing had by all. The local guys – Lloyd and Bob, had fish cleaning areas on their beach fronts, complete with sink and bench, so Geoff and Terry cleaned up the catch ready for a good feed.

The rocks behind our camp site are an adventure in themselves, we've seen sea urchins, stingrays, a dolphin goes past daily, loads of birds, the girls are having a ball and have been fishing daily with success, will post a photo of Erin with her best catch.

Still making running repairs with Terry's bus, this time the driver's side window wiper failed and needed a bit of spot welding done to fix it; luckily he carries a welder with him so Geoff was able to fix it up. We are still installing our 12 volt lighting and now have a few more lights to see by.

We crossed the Nullarbor without further incident and on clearing the quarantine station at Ceduna, we pulled straight into The Oyster Bar. At $7 a dozen for fresh oysters, Geoff couldn't help but get a couple of dozen, he loves his Oysters Kilpatrick, not my thing; yuk.

We stayed at Ceduna until Friday so that Terry could get his trailer fixed properly and it gave us girls a chance to catch up on shopping and laundry. We also found a couple of op shops and I managed to score a pair of Jag jeans for $2 and a couple of jumpers for Erin as she's grown so much since last winter. We stayed at the little A1 caravan park in town for $18 a night which is almost unheard of these days, especially for three people.

For the last week, we have been camped at Haslam where the guys have been squidding daily. I even went out one day in the pouring rain and caught two, they didn't seem to bite as much when the weather was clear. Erin fished also and caught a little Leather Jacket, good for bait. Terry caught a King George Whiting and it tasted great so I've put my order in with Geoff to catch some more of them.

The local farmers had oysters for $5 a dozen so we had no end of seafood available.

The weather has been pretty horrible with wet mornings and cold windy days but it hasn't got us down at all. We just don our beanies and (especially in my case) many layers of clothes and go out fishing and walking along the beaches. The girls have been busy exploring and getting fresh air and are finally spending less time on their DS's.

Shelley and Terry are getting the hang of bush camping, still yet to talk Shelley out of TV of a night – though we did manage to coax her out for a couple of nights around the campfire; maybe if it was a bit warmer of a night it would be easier.

We are crossing the Nullarbor, after almost a year in WA we finally made it to South Australia.

Our travelling companions were still having power issues which looked like posing a problem with our free-camp plans. Their inverter was playing up and they ordered a new one in Kalgoorlie which turned out to be the wrong one so we had to wait out the weekend to change it over. The next new one is also playing up but the old one is behaving itself now so we have been able to stop at many of the roadside camps available.

We have been stopping overnight every 250km or so, no need to rush this. Our last camp (a scenic lookout) overlooked the Great Australian Bight and a few people that stopped for a look said they had seen whales but we only saw a few seals frolicking in the surf at the base of the cliffs, can't complain about that. One of our first camps had a mangy wild camel that just walked around in circles when anyone tried to get close.

Our current camp wasn't our intended stop, we pulled in for water only and when Terry pulled up beside us, we heard a bang then one of his wheels rolled out from behind his tri-axel trailer. We found bits of brake and melted hubcap further behind the trailer, apparently the brake had locked on and caught fire then melted the grease and bearings. Geoff picked up the wheel, which was still smoking, when the tubeless valve melted and the tyre deflated loudly, we all jumped, especially Geoff, then we all had a good laugh. Our afternoon was spent with the guys replacing the bearing and wheel, minus brakes, and us girls watching the Variety Bash cars go by. Some of the cars were very imaginative.

The camps sites have been good with plenty of room to get well away from the road, although a little muddy. Yes, it's been raining most of the way and blowing a gale which means no campfire get-togethers of an afternoon.  Tonight has been our first night without rain and we've managed to finally have a campfire.

We have been very lucky with a strong tail wind and I really feel for those heading west into that wind. I'd say the caravans outnumber the road-trains 3-2 and there have been very few cars and a couple of cyclists. A couple of road-trains have been carrying brand new caravans and we tried to organise a swap but they wouldn't go for it.

For those interested in fuel prices on the Nullarbor, here goes – Norseman ranged from 139.9 to 141.9, Belladonia was 169.9 when we got there for lunch and went up to 172.9 as we left, Caiguna was 172.9, Cocklebiddy 172.8, Madura 169, Mundrabilla 161, Eucla 161, Bordervillage 173.9, Nullarbor Motel 172.9, Nundroo 136.9, Penong 131.9. These prices are diesel, petrol was about the same though.

After two and a half weeks here, it is our last day, hopefully. We have been ready to leave a couple of times but our travelling companions are having a little power trouble and want to get it sorted before we cross the Nullarbor.  We keep thinking that we are being kept here for a reason, and that we are meant to find the "Big One". Wishful thinking, I know, but stranger things have happened. We have heard about the boy peeing behind a tree and having a rock turn gold, and about the lame horse and the nugget found in his hoof.

We have enjoyed our stay here and are leaving with a little Gold Fever. Geoff and I managed to find 6 nuggets – about 10 grams – as well as some old bottles from days gone by, so we are happy. Erin came out prospecting with us once and got bored very quickly, I went out about 7 days and could've kept going I had so much fun. I think we have found our retirement hobby (never too soon to retire).

It is remarkable how deep some of the shafts we have seen are. I know I mentioned this in my last entry but we've seen many more and it just astounds me how deep and steep they are and how they got down into them let alone how they dug them out by hand. We are out here in winter and even though the nights are cold, the days are quite warm; we've been told that summer here can reach 50 degrees some days and with very little water around, life here must have been very hard.

Greetings everyone.

Well the World Cup is finally over – loved the action, hated the vuvuzela's, sounded like being stuck in a beehive while we were watching the matches, as I'm sure everyone would agree.

We are almost ready to hit the road again, our ETD is Monday 19th July, end of WA school holidays. I don't know if you've been following the weather over here, but it's blowing a gale and rather wet. This makes it a bit harder to pack up than anticipated but also makes us grateful that we aren't in the camper trailer anymore.

Geoff and I both finish work at the end of this week. We delayed a little as the clutch decided to play up and had to be replaced last week. All good now, glad it didn't happen on the Nullarbor while we were towing.

We fully intended to explore down south of here as we had heard so many great things but the cold and being homesick for the east coast has postponed that. We prefer to free-camp with a solar shower and porta-potti and a very cold winter down south is not at all appealing. We shall return though, never fear.

We are excited but also a little apprehensive about travelling again. The van is a lot bigger than the camper trailer so we have to make some allowances – can't just go bush like we're used to and have to watch for low branches!

Geoff is currently setting up the van for 12 volt lighting – he's got 2 deep cycle batteries and all the lights and is in the process of installing the wiring – little holes everywhere. The fridge is 240 volt so we'll have to use the car fridge again when we're mobile. Just got used to having a freezer again too.

I think Erin is looking forward to heading east the most. Unfortunately it hasn't been the best caravan park for her, it doesn't cater for kids so most families stay further south at Coogee and Woodman Point, but they don't take long-termers so we had to stay here at Fremantle Village, convenient for work and grocery shopping though.

Hope this finds everyone well.

Cheers for now

Just a quick update to let you all know that we well and still in Freo. Can't believe it's been just over a year since we left home, it's gone by so fast.

We are enjoying the caravan, especially now that the weather is getting cooler. We sold the camper trailer to a couple from Port Hedland who I'm sure will get plenty of use out of it as they like to go to really remote places.

We are both working at the moment, I finally managed to get some night fill work at Woolies, they took around 6 weeks to process my application even though I'd worked for them before. I'm working Monday to Friday, about 20hrs a week, at least they don't work past midnight at this store, the last one I worked at, I was finishing anytime between 1 and 5 am.

We are hoping to get back on the road by early July, finishing out the financial year here, all going well. We are already looking through the Camps 5 book and online to plan a rough itinerary to see down south. Eager to get back on the bitumen.

Hope this finds everyone well.

Cheers for now.