Monthly Archives: January 2015

AroundAus Summary: 6 Months on the Road

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Everybody copes with travel differently – some are happy to spend years out on the road travelling a nomadic type lifestyle. We came across a number of people like this; Jan, who we met at Genoa is an example. She’s a single middle-to-older aged lady and has been on the road for 14 years now, and had a motorhome identical to ours! Then there are others who can’t stand being away from home/work for more than a week or two, and just have to get back regardless of what further travels were planned!

Myself? I really enjoyed the trip, but would not like to live in that manner permanently. Not enough stimulation for me – I enjoy the challenges in my job and the stimulation it provides. Around the 4th month I did check work emails a few times, till my phone broke and the new one didn’t have work email set up on it (guess if I was keen I would have logged in via the notebook). Perhaps it would be possible to include more technical/engineering type stimulation into travelling, but the people management side of things would be harder! Or perhaps I’m not thinking broad enough and there are other activities I could do that would keep me on my toes. I guess the short story is that I thoroughly relaxed and enjoyed the trip, and was not bored, but I’m also not about to give up my job and go living like that for good! A trip like this once every 5-10 years sounds nice. 🙂

Writing this blog probably helped me a little, both in terms of a task/goal and in terms of contact/relationships with people. Of course there was also direct contact with family and friends via phone, texts etc. Nicole enjoyed the travelling lifestyle (except for the dirt roads 😉 ). It really suited her! She may have become a little anxious in the final month or two, but I think that was actually due to the thought of having to come back, more than the long time spent on the road!

We all generally got on very well, but I certainly won’t say everything was perfect! Continue reading →

A permanent home!

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Looks like we’ve got ourselves another home – one that isn’t on wheels!!!

Contract signed, got to organise finance now… Nice big brick house, only a street away from our previous rental in Rochedale South. Bought from the original owners, so could do with some cosmetic updates (but is completely livable as is). That is silky oak throughout the kitchen, one of the most beautiful timbers around! Plenty of space for teenage boys, and a pool out the back makes them happy….

All going well, we pick up the keys 11th Feb. 🙂

Our new home!

Our new home!

the kitchen

the kitchen

AroundAus Summary: Australian Tidbits

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Just a few interesting ones 🙂

The most trusting bloke in Australia is on the Fleiurui Peninsula in South Australia. He’s a mechanic and has a small service station out the front. It’s all old mechanical equipment, and a note on the bowser says to remember the dollar value to advise the bloke when you pay. Sure enough, you walk into the office, he leaves the car he’s working on and joins you at a desk, you tell him how much fuel you put in (in $’s), pay him that much, he writes the number down in a table on some paper, you walk out and drive off, he goes back to work on the car!

The most trusting woman in Australia is from the rural Yorke Peninsula town of Maitland, South Australia. We were in the post office organising my license docs when a woman came in to collect a parcel. Stood talking to the attendant for a while. We left and went out the front door, noting the baby in a stroller she had left waiting outside the post office….

Cheapest pedicure in Australia is at a palour in Rockingham, a town a little to the south of Freemantle, WA. How does $25 sound? Typical pedicure (from what I’m told – never had one myself!) starting with your feet in a hot rock spar bath, and a full body massage in a massage chair.

Run-in’s with the law? Just the one! On our return to Brisbane I found a nice little letter from the Victorian Police… Turns out a camera had caught me speeding in the motorhome! Speeding in a motorhome, of all things! Coming into the town of Marlo in Victoria’s East Gippsland, I hadn’t slowed to the town speed limit soon enough… Oh well, it’s my first ever traffic infringement of any sort – not too bad to get to 37 with a perfect record! Marlo, the home to an ugly sea lion and the loss of $185 and 1 demerit point!

AroundAus Summary: Facts and Figures

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Initial planning: late 2013
Motorhome purchase: 5/03/14
Left Brisbane: 30/06/2014
Returned to Brisbane: 23/12/2014

6 Months on the Road!

~2 weeks Queensland
~1 month Northern Territory
~2 months Western Australia
~1 month South Australia
~3 weeks Victoria
~1 week New South Wales
~3 days Australian Capital Territory

This was consistent with our general plan to spend most of our time in the states furthest from home, which we can not easily visit during normal annual holidays. We explored very little of QLD and NSW, due to living close by and having already seen many of their attractions. So for any overseas readers, these two states have a huge number of beautiful places and attractions that are not even mentioned in this blog. We did not visit Tasmania due to time constraints, and ferry availability and costs. Tasmania is on the list of places to visit sometime.

I’ve sketched our route in the map below (very approximate!).

Our route Around Australia! (approximate)

Our route around Australia! (approximate)

Distance travelled: 29,842km’s My original estimate of 30,000k’s was spot on!
Continue reading →