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Grady and Em - Emily

After 10+ years of praying and planning, we have packed up the family home, rented it out and are living in our caravan with our 4 children aged 10, 8, 6 and 3. Heading (hopefully) up the centre of Australia and around the West Coast then back to Victoria!
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Joined on: July 8th 2009
Last Login: November 27th 2009

Blog Entries: 9
Photos: 119
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Grady and Em, order by Date newest first.


SIGHTS OF DARWIN “We are not on a holiday! We are on a lifestyle!” This is what we keep telling ourselves at the Free Spirit Resort (fancy name for a caravan park). Our days have been just like they were at home: work, go home, work, go home, work, and go home… you get the drift. The exception however, is that we are doing it in the Northern Territory and living what we have dreamed about for ten years. Normally at home we would do something on a Saturday - so that’s when we do things now. So my blog entry [View Full Entry]

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2730 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 14 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 8th 2009 | 55 Views | [diary=451632]

Croc cruise
Our home
Nap time - touring style

We left Katherine quite late in the day, mostly because the kids were having so much fun playing in the pool with the Aboriginal children who had traveled for the event at Katherine Gorge. It had been 30 years since the land was handed back to the local tribes, and the tribes people and their families were staying at the park free of charge to celebrate. The park has a rule that children are not allowed in the pool without adult supervision, so we were impressed with the kindness of the pool cleaners who sat and watched about 20 Aboriginal children [View Full Entry]

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2048 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 15 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 15th 2009 | 84 Views | [diary=445075]

Pool fun
Painting the car
Jumping croc

Alice to Katherine After a week’s rest in Alice Springs our exploration of the MacDonnell Ranges had rekindled our desire for touring. We packed up and head off to Gemtree, 140kms from Alice Springs. We had read about Gemtree Caravan Park in an old issue of “On the Road” magazine. It is on the “gem trail” from Queensland along the outback on the Plenty Highway and is one of many places in Australia where you can fossick for gems. Gemtree caravan park is unique in that it offers tours, providing all equipment and instruction. There are basic facilities w [View Full Entry]

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2003 Words | 6 Comment(s) | 20 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 10th 2009 | 76 Views | [diary=435337]

Devils marbles
Gemtree
New friends

ALICE SPRINGS SIGHTS When we arrived in Alice Springs we felt in need of a rest. We checked in to the Big 4 caravan park which costs more than any park in the area, but is jam packed with facilities for the kids. There is a games/TV room, jumping pillow, 3 pools and a playground. On Sundays they have a free pancake breakfast as well. With all this to choose from, the kids were more than happy to hang around, especially since our friends the Sheltons (who we were meeting up with more often) had arrived the next day. When checking [View Full Entry]

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1610 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 15 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 6th 2009 | 88 Views | [diary=434202]

Ormiston Gorge
Bojangles Saloon
Chloe and Jasmine

Olgas, Kings Canyon and the beginnings of the Alice With the sudden appearance of rain, our time at Yulara (Ayers Rock township) became restful and an entire day was spent watching DVDs. The next day was brighter so we ventured to the Olgas for another walk. The Olgas (Kata Tjuta) are a cluster of 36 rock domes - the largest being over 500 metres high. This is higher than Uluru’s 348m and certainly impressive, but the fact that Uluru stands alone gives it a much more striking appearance. Our first walk was to the Gorge. This is not a long walk, [View Full Entry]

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1423 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 11 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 27th 2009 | 71 Views | [diary=431511]

Olgas
Olgas
Olgas

Port Augusta After a restful time in Hawker we headed down to Port Augusta to catch up with Rachel, a friend of ours who was returning from her own trip touring the centre and West Coast of Australia with her two kids, Britney and Ben. I had been following their blog with interest, looking forward to experiencing the same places with our family and it was a great time to see both her and the children. Our kids were most excited because they have missed the company of other children to play with and they all got along like a house [View Full Entry]

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1379 Words | 5 Comment(s) | 18 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 18th 2009 | 109 Views | [diary=429124]

Breakaways
The big miner, coober pedy
dishes on the border

We have blown our accommodation budget here in Hawker, staying in the Big4 Caravan Park (Hawker Caravan Park), but have enjoyed the time of rest. The kids have been focused on their project and math books and enjoy dipping in the pool and playing in the playground (especially Cody, who is addicted to slides). We were unsure as to whether to tour the Flinders at the start of our trip or at the end, and figured that there is no time like the present. We were concerned that after seeing the wonders of the Alice and the Pilbara we would figure [View Full Entry]

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1024 Words | 4 Comment(s) | 10 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 10th 2009 | 111 Views | [diary=426822]

Flinders Ranges
Sacred Canyon
Dudes

On the road… finally! Our expected date of departure came and went due to car problems; the kids had left a small interior light on and flattened the battery overnight. Despite the fact we are with RACV total care, the battery man would not replace our battery because he had to remove the intercooler to get to it and he is only licensed to work on batteries. I figured its not worth getting upset over - if a man isn’t confident to touch our car I don’t want him touching it! Coupled with the fact that we had noticed coolant leaking [View Full Entry]

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1580 Words | 6 Comment(s) | 13 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 5th 2009 | 73 Views | [diary=425487]

The sort-of-big fish
S.A. border crossing
Naracoorte Camping Ground

There are two types of people in this world - people who come up with great ideas and people who use others' great ideas. 11 years ago I was working for a man who renovated a bus and took his wife and three daughters on a road trip around Australia. They had a ball. I am a homebody at heart and this sort of adventure had never occurred to me before. The freedom of travel and the chance to expand my horizons and "see the bigger picture" really appealed to both myself and my husband of one year, Grady. Thus THE [View Full Entry]

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524 Words | 9 Comment(s) | 3 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 17th 2009 | 101 Views | [diary=418839]

New home
Tow vehicle