Home.....yeah ok then...sweet home!

Well we made it back safe and sound to our lovely and now ridiculously large home...A few thank you's if i may!

Thanks to Bubba, Dedda, Grammy, Pa, Evie and Remmy for taking care of cookie.

Thanks to Peter, Kathy, Tom, Ellen, Hannah, Darren, Stacy, Evie and Remmy for travelling with us, I'm sure you'll all agree it was awesome and something we will always remember.

Thanks also to all the friends we made along the way, it was great sharing your company and seeing some places that we may not have gone on our own.

Thanks to everyone for you comments via email, on the blog, sms's, skype, facebook and pigeon.

Thanks to our beautiful kids, it was great to spend each and every day with you all, you've all learnt so much on the trip and you have made us proud.

The biggest thanks from me goes to my amazing, awesome and beautiful wife in simply trusting that this would be a great trip and making it happen in such a relaxed fashion, I loved every minute with you and can't wait to do it again.

OK some stats....

• 104 nights
• 33 nights off the grid
• 70 nights powered
• 1 night underground

• 19220 k'ms
• 17.2 liters per 100km's
• highest fuel price - $2.22
• no flats
• one chipped windscreen

• 37 evening campfires

• 4 meals out

• 1 roo down
• 1 lizard down
• 1 snake down
• a few birds down.

• hundred's of windmills!

Finally some random pics mainly taken from the phones....

Riverland

We left the Flinders and made our way towards Renmark where we spent the night at a massive Big 4 with an impressive pool and spa that was busy considering the chilly temperature.


The next morning we zipped back into Victoria and into Mildura for a night at the Apex park which was a little run down but the other campers seemed to enjoy it (except the campers that hit a mains water pipe when pegging down a tarp). There were mixed reactions throughout the car when coming back into Victoria for the first time in 16 or so weeks.


We were hoping to take the kids fruit picking in the area but apparently its not the done thing like with strawberries etc so instead we went for a swim at the local aquatic center which was a good afternoon.

The next day we left early and made our may to Hatah National Park to camp for a few nights before the warm front hit. The lakes in the park were shallow and flooded so access to the water was obstucted, you also couldn't collect firewood in the park, so you know what - "later Hatah". We went and found a nice bush camp on a connected back water on the Murray which we all loved.

The next few days were spent in the one spot paddling in our pond, fishing for carp, burning piles of red gum, cooking on the fire and attempting to catch yabbies.

Codi pretending to put a carp back in the water...

The girls having a go at pretending to check and re-cast an opera house. We actually just found it there and were putting it back before the actual owners returned.

Again the girls pretending to drive...

 

What Fly?

 

We then made it to Swan Hill which was only a short drive and chose a park on the outskirts to spend our last few nights. The weather was supposed to be warm so a pool was the only neccessity of the park, unfortunatly this one was freezing. The caravan park also boasted a "zoo" which the kids did enjoy walking around, particulary having the goose chasing them along...we are all so brave with a cyclone fence between us. The rest of the park was pretty run down and it was obvious that they now cater for the seasonal fruit pickers and have left the families to hunt out the Big 4's etc.