Author: drewandgab

By far, the hardest part of going away for 7 months is the pack-up involved beforehand. You don’t realise how much ‘stuff’ you accrue and how much you spread out until it’s time to pack it all away in boxes so you can rent out the house. I have this theory though, that you can start packing up months before you go, but you will still be doing everything last minute, because ultimately you are still using most things. My theory also goes along the lines of – if you start packing early you procrastinate about whether or not you need it, and it ends up taking twice as long as if you just pack up everything at the end. I’m also more inclined to throw stuff out if I’m in a rush and don’t have time to think about it – so a good way of decluttering. And of course, it’s so much better to spend time with family and friends than to be packing!

Anyway, whatever the case, I’m just a last minute type of person, as is Drew, who left all the maintenance till the end. So it was a mad scramble – and very little sleep – in those last few days before leaving home. When we hit Bali last week, after a long travel day and arriving late at night, we were both in need of some R&R.

For us there’s no better place to do that than Bali. Lazy mornings, massages, yummy food, and best of all, sitting on the beach in the afternoons drinking Bintangs and watching the sun go down over the ocean – which pretty much sums up our past 5 days. The surf has been pretty huge and wild, so unfortunately the boys have only had a couple of surfs. Hoping for better conditions in the coming weeks.

We bought a couple of little travel guitars a few weeks back to bring with us. The boys have been playing back at the hotel but also most afternoons they have been jamming with the guys on the beach.

We went out our first few nights to have dinner and watch some live music, which is what we like to do when we are in Bali. Sante Fe is one our favourite bars. They always have good music and we have been following the guitarist/singer Nyoman, who plays there most nights, for many years now. The boys got up during the break and impressed the crowd with a few songs.

The past 2 nights we have all hit the wall, the busyness of the pack up for us and end of term for the boys has caught up. So we have just been coming home after sunset and ordering room service. We are now just starting to feel a little relaxed and looking forward to our next 3 weeks in Bali…and the rest of our 7 month adventure.

Well, when I say we’re on the road again – we’re not officially on the road (as in our caravan). But we have started what is going to be a 7 month adventure, combining both some overseas time and some time in the van around Oz.

 

It’s been 18 months since we returned from our last big trip – our first Aussie Lap. We had the most wonderful 6 & 1/2 months and knew even before we returned home that we wanted to do it again.

This trip started with the idea of doing another Oz trip, filling in the gaps of where we didn’t go to last time. However, this trip will be different, because although we left at the same time of year, due to our route, we had warm weather almost the whole way – in fact averaging high 30s for the majority of it.

Anyway, this time our first major destination will be central Oz and it didn’t really appeal to me to be there smack in the middle of winter, so we decided a little trip to Bali first could be a good option to kill some time and let the weather warm up a little in Oz – and also hopefully miss the crowds at Uluru at that time of year.

Another deciding factor for this trip was that good friends of ours relocated to Canada the end of last year. When they left we said we would come and visit them , so what better time than Christmas. The boys have never seen snow, so the though of a white Christmas seemed pretty appealing.

Now, flights to Canada at that time of year are really expensive! So we thought what about a round-the-world ticket, leaving before peak season – and giving us the option to go to Africa on the way? A perfect solution , which now allows us to go back to Africa for 3 weeks before heading on to Canada for our final 5 weeks.

With our international flights booked, all we had to do was sort out the kids schooling – and luckily both have been granted an exemption for 2 terms (which, like last time, means no formal schooling for them) and for Drew to give notice at work. Now our 7 months was a reality!!

That is, after the ghastly task of packing up the house to rent out!! Now, as all who know me would know, once again, it was left till the last!! But thanks to a little help in those last few days, all is done and we are on our way.

So here’s what out trip looks like for now…4 weeks in Bali, before heading home to pick up the caravan. During our 4 months in the caravan we will first head across Central Queensland to the Northern Territory. We will head south from here to explore Uluru, King’s Canyon, West McDonald ranges and all the other sites in the area. Then we will head south to S.A, which will bring us out at nearly the same spot we finished our last lap, before we had to bee-line home.

For the remainder of our 4 months we will travel around South Australia, Victoria and NSW. No plans and not sure how far we’ll get. But at the end of November we will head home to drop off the van and fly out to South Africa and Canada – arriving home at the end of January next year, just in time for the kids to start the new year of school.

We have a lot to look forward to and we are so happy to have the opportunity to explore and spend time as a family once again.

Hope you enjoy sharing our next adventure!!

Cheers,

Gab, Drew, Cam and Matt

P.S

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This is the post that marks the end of our first trip and the beginning of the new one…

Perhaps it’s a little confusing that I have just published 5 posts on the same day. Well. that’s because I got a little behind at the end of our last trip (18 months ago!!) due to a broken charger, lack of reception and being busy hanging with friends and family in the last few weeks of our trip.

Anyway, I figured that I had better finish off the last journey before starting the new one.

So from here on in I’m back up to date…for now anyway.

Here goes with the next adventure!!!

1st January, 2018

We have had an awesome 2 nights camped on the banks of the Murray River at Hogwash Bend. It’s a great spot!! It’s a free camp on the bank of a wide section of the river, with a nice little sandy beach, popular for swimming and boating.

 

We didn’t have any plans for New Year’s Eve, so when some new friends we met at Cactus last week invited us to join them here we took up their offer and how lucky we were! When we turned up we were quickly introduced to all their friends. Some of them have been coming here for New Year’s for nearly 30 years!

We had a great few days swimming and lazing by the river and the boys have been so lucky hanging with their mate and having heaps of fun on the boat.

 

 

New Years Eve was heaps of fun, with a huge bonfire and lots of drinks and dancing.

 

There’s a great little winery on a grassy riverbank just a few hundred metres away – famous for their Sangria. We paddled past, but didn’t go this time. However, we did sample their goods and admire their speedboat, with rocking speakers and built-in kegs of both white and red Sangria. That’s living!!

 

We loved it here and will surely be back next time we pass through.

 

 

 

30th December, 2017

We have spent the past 2 nights in Clare, exploring some of the wineries of the region.

 

We arrived yesterday just in time for the ‘wine and nibbles’ night at the local Discovery Centre, where they feature a different winery each week. What a fun afternoon!

This morning we took a drive and visited the home of one of my favourite wines – Taylors, but unfortunately one of my other favourites, Annie’s lane, was closed. The scenery and architecture around the neighbouring towns is lovely!

The best part of Clare – and the best way to visit the wineries – is the Riesling Trail. It is a bike path that runs along the old railway line and it is dotted with wineries every few kilometres. So you can do a winery-hop by bike. What a great idea!! We only did a small section of the 33km trail this afternoon – great scenery and yummy wines!!

 

The caravan park here is lovely too, set amongst huge gumtrees with big spacious grassy areas. The kids loved that the jumping pillow was open till 9pm!

 

Will definitely return one day to explore more of the area.