My short version of our crossing of Australia...

Hey.... It's me….at last.

How did our trip across Australia go? Well the van cost us $12,000 and we sold it for $8,500. We also spent about $4,500 on repairs and maintenance during our travels. Total other expenditure $24,000 which included $4,000 (Ave just under $20 per day) of fuel. The rest was on wine, beer, food and accommodation (Caravan Parks) when we didn’t sleep on the side of the road. We travelled just over 20,000 kilometres and were on the road for 212 days (Ave just under 100 klms per day) before we arrived in Sydney to sell the van. Sold it in 4 days but had to drop the price only because our selling time was just one week.

So in summary the van costs us $4,500 in Rego, Insurance, Repairs &Maintenance plus a loss of $3,500 in selling price loss totalling a cost of $8,000 ($38 per day). If we had hired a Britz Venturer van it would have cost up about $24,500 ($115 per day) for the same time period. This van would have included a shower, toilet and TV which we didn’t need. It would have been just a bit roomier but at an extra cost of $16,500 (or $77 per day) so I think our decision was good. Just breaking down twice was our only disappointment and did add significantly to our costs.

Also included in our living costs was a flight to Bali for a week, Valerie’s flight to Adelaide to sit an exam and the ferry costs to Tasmania. Therefore our budget of $110 per day was achieved over this period. However, this was supplemented by taking 50 bottles of wine with us and six bottles of spirits and a few items out of the depleted pantry. All the wine was consumed but some of the spirits went with the van.

It took us just a slow 7 days to travel from Perth into South Australia. We then spent 16 days in South Australia. This was mostly spent down the Eyre Peninsula before headed north through Cooper Pedy and into the Northern Territory. Here we only intended to spend a week but due to the “head” going on the van we ended up staying for 39 days. Giving us plenty of time to get the feel of the place and almost become a local. We saw the Todd River run following a great big thunder storm. We visited the local pub and listened to a lot of the local talent play and sing. W e also visited the West and the East McDonald Ranges as well as endured a hot walk around the base of Uluru.

This was followed by a further 33 days in South Australia. First we headed down to the Yorke Peninsula and Wallaroo and Moonta Bay and then on to the Innes National Park down the very bottom. Much of the rest of SA was in wine regions of the Clare and Barossa, Valleys, McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills and the Coonawarra), and the Flinders Ranges. Did a little walking here in Mt Remarkable National Park and watched a bit of the wild life. We enjoyed Christmas in Adelaide and New Year in Mt Barker near McLaren Vale. We also visited Hahndorf on our way to Victoria enjoyed a few very hot days in a Caravan Park in Mt Gambier which is a real nice cheap town to buy property. Just not much work there so a few vacant properties.

We arrived in Victoria and went straight into the Grampians. This was followed by a visit to the Echuca area where we went on a riverboat ride, Ballarat and Bendigo and spent the following 26 days touring the Great Ocean Road, etc., and visiting friends and cousins (Noelene and Ann) before hoping on a ferry on the 3rd of February and going to Tasmania for a month.

Tasmania was great, although a bit cold some days. Good thing we went in the middle of summer!!! Golden Valley Caravan Park was the best place we found in Tassie but it was all beautiful. We enjoyed some time with new friends Garry and Christine who run a nice B & B. Good friends of a good mate back in Perth. If you are thinking of escaping to Tassie you should look them up. We also enjoyed time with a friend Eleanor in Deloraine. Another new friend we met on our travels and who is a friend of another Perth mate. We also met Govinda and Julie who hail from Nimbin who we will catch up with again if possible.

We returned to Victoria on the 3rd of March and after a few days visiting my cousin Ann we flew to Bali for my son, Greg’s 40th birthday celebrations.

After we returned to Australia we followed the Victorian coast up towards New South Wales (NSW) for a further 13days. This was followed by a trip up to the Snowy Mountains and a climb up to Mt Kosciusko the highest mountain in Australia (2,228mtrs /7,310 feet) before dropping down to the Australian Capital Territory and Canberra (Australia’s capital) were we spent some time with good friends Andrew and Cathy.

This was followed by a great 4 days back in the Victorian Alps at Corryong for “The Man from Snowy River Bush Festival”. We also caught up with a German friend (Tina) we had met a few times before whilst camping.

After this we headed back down to the NSW coast and up to Sydney arriving at my Son and daughter-in-law’s (Michael and Rachael’s) place on the 13th of April. We spent the weekend here as I had several Doctors appointment on the Sunday. After this we headed up to Queensland for two weeks. We travelled up via Coffs Harbour and went only as far north as Murwillumbah, about 300 klms over the border. We visited the Sunshine Coast and other touristy spots before driving back towards NSW. Enjoyed a great day and night in Nimbin with friends we had met in Tasmania. Must add that we really enjoyed this place and it is on our list of great places to live….

When we were driving back to Sydney we did a timing gear in the van which was disappointing, as we lost a week of time in Sydney, which we had planned to ensure we sold the van for its full value. We had to leave the van in Armidale to get repaired and hire a car to drive back to Sydney for my specialist medical appointments which I needed before leaving Australia.

Our final days in Australia we arranged for a few more travel vaccinations, cleaned and polished the van ready for sale, sold it and enjoyed some time with my son Michael and his family….. My son Greg also was in Sydney on that week so got to say goodbye to him again too.