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Wed (25/9) The end of a spectacular trip - 15,000 km, 80 days, 5 states and territories and lots of fantastic memories.

We left Koreelah at noon - reluctantly.

We crossed back into QLD.....

And on to home.

We disgorged the van.....

And started the cleanup. We have red dust in everything! We have rigged extra lines in the back yard.

And so it ends - until the next time.

Koreelah NP

Tue (24/9) our last night!

We finally have a camp site all to ourselves. We are still in NSW but right up near the QLD border. We got in about 4:30pm which is late for us. We took a wrong turn at one point and ended up on a badly corrugated dirt road for about 20km.

The campground is lovely with a small waterfall, waterhole and mini gorge. Had a sort walk when we arrived and then explored more in the morning. 

We found this goanna up a tree next to the van.....

Cathedral Rock NP

Mon (23/9) our second last night!

We are in a pretty campground east of Armidale on the Waterfall Way. It's a nice bushy area with only a few other campers in the area. We expected it to be busier with the school holidays underway.

We went for a short walk in the late afternoon. It was quite chilly, but very pretty.

Gunnedah and the Warrumbungles

Sat (21/9) to Sun (22/9) we decided to stop in at Gunnedah to visit friends Heather and Mick who are also on the road. They are in Gunnedah for a few weeks while Heather, who is a doctor, does a locum.

Stayed in a lovely little caravan park in town - they are there too in their 5th wheeler.

On Sun we drove out to the Warrumbungles and did a couple of walks. The devastation of the fires earlier this year was clearly visible, but the bush is regenerating and the wildflowers were gorgeous.

On the way we stopped in at the observatory at Coonabarabran.

Sofala

Fri (20/9) a much longer drive today - just over 400 km. We left the campground at 7:30 and had breakfast at Moruya where we consulted our maps. We decided to ditch the plan to drive up the coast. Instead we decided to head inland towards Gunnedah where we have some friends staying. So we turned left at Batemans Bay and headed up to Goulburn and then up through the mountains at the back of the Blue Mountains to Oberon which is near the Jenolan Caves. It was a really pretty drive with steep and winding up and downs. There were beautiful flowering wattles and lots of lambs and calves. Spring has definitely sprung in this part of the world.

We had lunch at Oberon and continued on to Bathurst. It was on this stretch that we encountered hail and sleet...

We've had just about everything on this trip!

We headed north out of Bathurst towards Mudgee. It was getting to about 3pm when we got to Sofala, a very old historic town - very pretty. 

There is a campground on the Turon River about 6km east of town. Another amazing spot. 

We camped down in the creek bed away from the other vans and tents. It was a cold, damp, misty night - wonderful! We walked along the river for bit - it's a really pretty area. There are a few others here, but not many. Mike cooked a yummy salmon pasta for dinner and we went to sleep with the sound of the wind in the trees and the river babbling gently beside us.

Moruya - Nth Heads Campground

Thu (19/9) We finally left Saltwater. We wanted to visit some people we had met in Kakadu who live down the Snake Track just south of Eden. But when we called, they told us they were flooded in, so we went to Eden for morning tea Instead. We headed north and went in to Bermagui for lunch. We were not making very fast progress!

So we decided to check out another campground recommended by Anne and Les. It's just outside Moruya which is just south of Batemans Bay. It turned out to be a lovely spot at the mouth of the Deua River. We got a fabulous spot looking out into the river......

Another feature of the campground is its proximity to the airport - literally right at the airport. Here's the view from the back of the van (that's a medi-vac plane sitting at the airport).....

The irony is that generators are banned after 8pm. At 8pm on the dot the few generators that were on went off and all was blissful silence - for 10min. At 8:10 a plane landed and then took off about half an hour later. Thankfully it was the last for the night. I spoke to Brett and he has flown the Hercules in here and knows the campground. Luckily no Hercules while we were there.

We went for a walk along the beach and out on the big breakwater. There was a pod of dolphins catching the waves in the river mouth.

We sat down on the river in front of the van and watched the full moon rise above the trees. We sure manage to find some nice spots!

Ben Boyd NP - Saltwater Creek

Mon (16/9) to Wed (18/9) We crossed into NSW - another state to add to the list.

Anne and Les had told us about Saltwater Creek, just south of Eden about 25km off the highway. It was a really pretty drive in on a very good dirt road - white dust replacing red dust.

We got in and got set up in a beautiful camp site, very green and treed and with heaps of very friendly kangaroos. There were also friendly possums and bandicoots at night. In fact, one possum was so friendly he volunteered to clean our outdoor stove for us. When I politely suggested he might like to GET OFF, he looked up at me with his big soulful brown eyes and put his head back down and continued to snuffle, lick and nibble at the stove. I figured ah well it needs a clean anyway, so I left him to it.

It was cold and overcast when we arrived. We went for a walk on the beach which is quite stunning. Overnight it rained hard and as we didn't have the fly up over the window above the bed, the bedding got wet. So the next day we had a trip in to Eden to dry out the bedding.

Then back to the campground on a very sodden road. There was a strong wind blowing and it rained most of the day.

We went out onto the beach to watch the huge seas. It was wild and beautiful with mists of sea spray and thousands of blue bottles and lots of other interesting debris washed up in the very high tide. Here are a few images.

I managed to get quite a big tick in my head which Mike managed to remove with the aid of tea tree oil and metho. Mike got 2 small ticks on his body.

We went for a walk on the beach the next morning. The weather had settled and it was a calm clear day. The beach was quite eroded and there was a channel into the creek that hadn't existed the day before. Mike had fun with it!

We also went on a long walk on a track through gorgeous bush and stunning gorges and cliffs. We saw some amazing rock formations.....

And almost stepped on a brown snake curled up by the track.....

This has been such a contrast to the country we have been in in the NT and western QLD.

We finished up the last night with a lovely hot shower under the stars.

Mallacoota

Sat (14/9) we picked up the van from Goldstream at Pakenham and headed east. 

Stopped at  Yarragon for lunch with friends Henk and Sue. We then continued on to Orbost where we spent the night in a really nice motel and had dinner at the Orbost Club.

Sun (15/9) we stopped for a short walk in the Cabbage Tree Palms. Very pretty, lush and green such a contrast from where we've been.

Then on to Cann River for morning tea with Mike's niece Monique and her family. We got to cuddle the new baby, Heidi.

Then Mallacoota and lunch with Mike's sister Anne and her partner Les. We then set up the van in the caravan park with a view of the water.

Adelaide to Melbourne

Mon (9/9) We continued to head south on the Stuart Highway. Our destination for the day was Echunga in the Adelaide Hills and the home of my good friends Mary and Bill. We left behind the heat and wide open spaces in exchange for the cold and damp that is currently blanketing the Adelaide area. This is our first night in a house since we left home. Lovely to see Mary and Bill and their gorgeous rural property. Thank you for a great night!

We have now "bagged" our first complete road. We have "done" the Stuart Highway and bisected Australia.

Tue (10/9) We crossed into Victoria today.

It's still cold as evidenced by Mike's attire. 

A very pretty rural drive today compared with where we were a few days ago. The canola is so pretty.

We spent the night with Mike's friends John and Sherryn on their beautiful property between Ballarat and Geelong. Another lovely night with very dear friends. Thanks so much!

Wed (11/9) Today we drove into Melbourne and dropped the van at the Goldstream factory in Pakenham. We are staying with Mike's sister and brother-in-law Claire and Dennis in Glen Iris. We are very fortunate to have such wonderful friends and family to provide their loving support.

We are now in negotiations with Goldstream. So disappointing to see what has become of our trip.

Woomera

Sun (8/9) we left Kulgera and headed south. We decided to have a bigger day and set our sites on Woomera, about 750 km.

We crossed the border after about 20km. We have been in the NT for 40 days. It's been grand! Just a pity that we had to cut it short, but we'll be back.

We stopped at Coober Pedy for lunch. On the way in there were heaps of mines - mounds of white rubble.....

The town is very opal oriented, but was all shut up as it's Sunday.

Then on to Woomera. This is what we looked at for most of the day.....

We got into Woomera at about 4pm and checked in to a cabin at the caravan park. Another double bed! All the cabins so far have had doubles not queens - and Mike doesn't fit (not a happy chappy).....

Woomera is a very eerie town. Only 148 people live here (I asked the lady in the caravan park office). There are missiles on street corners and a whole park full of them. It feels very much like a military base. It's deserted but not derelict, a town that's waiting.

We thought of a couple of options for the Crownie - a Woomera rocket or the Ghan.....

But the highlight was a fabulous sunset on a huge horizon.