It's the final countdown...

---

****This blog was written on the 29th May, so some of the wording a bit overdue! Stay tuned for our next entry which shouldnt be too long!****


Yep, you heard right. After almost 3 and a half years of permanent residency in Margs, we have D-Day (that’s “departure day”to you and me) set for 6th June 2011.

WOOHOOOOOOOO!

As our blogs have become less & less frequent with the longer we’ve lived here, will do a quick recap of major events since our last blog…..which was…..hmmmmm, probably nearly a year ago, oops!

Starting from our fab Christmas escape where we again took to the road to do the “proper” John Holland Track. You will remember from our last trip in May last year we headed off inland, but because of the rain rain rain, we didn’t attempt the 4WD section of our journey. Now that we’ve done it in the dry, we are glad we didn’t attempt it back then, we’d probably still be out there hunting our own food & collecting berries to stay alive!

We both managed to get 11 days off and headed off Thursday afternoon just before Chrissy, with first camp on the Blackwood River near WA’s country music capital Boyup Brook.

An early start (getting light over here about 4am coz stupid WAans voted against daylight savings this year, idiots) and shortly after we hit the very start of the track, with the day warming up considerably. In fact, most of the days were either just under or just over 40 degrees, so the early wake-up probably a good thing!

Camp two was a beaut spot called Emu Rock (just over the rabbit-proof fence and off the beaten track) where there were heaps of gnamma holes in the rock itself. These collect water and it stays so clear & cool, we sat with our feet & legs in the water, cold beer in hand, while a quick rain shower wet the top half…bliss on a stinking hot day! Off to bed drunk and late, hoping that Santa would find us overnight.

Merry Christmas & up again about 4am despite somewhat hungover, cooked up a storm for Christmas morning breaky, opened our pressies and hit the road again nice and early. Came across a bit of mud & slippery slopes (despite there being no significant rain in this area for about 2 months) and happened to find Christmas Day camp by 10.30am at Mount Holland! Set up in the shade as predicted 43 degrees, and promptly opened a cold bottle of Moet & Chandon that Tab’s boss has bought as a xmas pressie. Hello you!

Christmas-lovers will be pleased to hear that we even decorated a little native tree for xmas and cooked up a nice roast & vegies later in the day once the temp dropped below 40! Had just the most relaxing day, chilling in our fly-proof dome, yacking away over several cold beverages and nibbles. One Christmas we will never forget, and hope to replicate again and again! Ahhhh the serenity.

From there we hit the mid-section of the track and camped next night in the middle of no-where (again about 40degrees) and managed to have a small fire even to cook some steaks for dinner. Off again the next day, to Thursday rock (we went there last year on our trip) and onto some awesome formations at Cave Hill & Burra Rocks, finally arriving at Norseman (the first town you come across after crossing the Nullarbor Plain).

As is our usual form, got ourselves a spot in the caravan park, then headed promptly for the local pub to wet the whistle! Restocked our own minibar and hit the showers! Hard to believe how busy Norseman was only a couple of days after Christmas, there were people everywhere and our little tent was soon surrounded by other travellers and the camp kitchen was in high demand.

Next day, refueled car, pantry & beer fridge and once more headed off the main track to Peak Charles NP. What an amazing place. Camped the next two nights under the imposing rock mountain and on the middle day attempted to scale to the peak, alas coming up short as we would have needed some better safety gear! Where we did get to have the most unreal views and although we didn’t make it to the top felt glad we’d scrambled at least some of the way. Rewarded ourselves with cold beer & a game of Uno as the sun went down on another day.

We went total off-road from Peak Charles (getting “almost” lost a few times – that’s man-speak for “I have no idea where we are”!) and found ourselves in the small outback town of Ravensthorpe to once more re-stock, re-fuel & re-minibar. Naturally we found the nearest pub and squeezed in a pub lunch before hitting the off-road again and ending up in a stunning little camp in Fitzgerald River NP, the day before New Years Eve.

With no plans of where to spend NYE, we just keep driving off road, hitting the backroads through the Stirling Ranges and stay at a spot we camped in when still in Boris before we’d even arrived in Margs. Fernhook Falls was our NYE spot, after a feed and some bubbles we didn’t manage to stay awake long after midnight thanks to all the 4am starts we’d had for the past week or so! Knackered!

After a quick sojourn to Windy Harbour, (we never got to see it on our way West) we arrived mid-morning to our final camp at Warren NP near Pemberton. It was PACKED. Kids, parents, kids, flies, kids…did we mention the kids? So needless to say we were off fairly promptly the next day, picked up the mogs about lunch time and came home to have a hot shower and wash a mountain of clothes!

Having done 3700km on this little summer trip (Holland Track about 350, plus most of the other bits being 4WD too), we were so impressed with the car, go Terry Triton! We took all the recovery gear we could muster, plus heaps of extra food/water in case of emergency, but as the story often goes, if you take it with, you probably wont need it!

As you can imagine this little trip got the travel bug well and truly in the bloodstream and we’d pretty much decided at this point we were gonna try and leave Margs in 2011. Depending on Jeffs health (last op was in May 2010) and how quickly we could wind things up here, we thought May/June was a realistic goal. We knew Adam & Carmena were coming to visit April-ish, so it gave us a timeframe to work with to get organized.

Had a fab time with A & C staying, showed em heaps of the sights, lots of nice lunches out and about and a wine tour one of the days too. Thanks so much for making the long journey over here, we loved having you!

Jeff has been busy remodeling his new trailer that we bought last year. It’s an ex-go-kart trailer so has a lot more room and he’s pretty much modified it to be the best man-cave on wheels that ever existed! Almost every night he comes home from work and keeps working on the trailer so it’s just like a piece of artwork! Will make life on the road much easier indeed.

We also managed to buy an annexe that fits onto our roll-out awning (those that visited us in Mount Gambier…remember that cold, wet camp spot! We would have killed to have it back then!). We got it in Perth when we visited A & C on their last weekend, got it half the retail price, nice! Putting it up for the first time had its challenges, but we can’t wait to use it for long or rainy stays, should be nice & cozy!

So we’ve been trying to squeeze in lots of catchup drinks/going away shindigs with all the amazing people we’ve met in the town. Most memorable going away was Tab’s vet gig last weekend where in a Bundy-fuelled frenzy her boss decided to get on a pushbike, promptly crashed it (into Tab mind you), fell flat on her face, lost 3 front teeth, split her chin and squashed her nose! Certainly one going away party we won’t forget! Tab escaped with just a few bruises.

Last weekend we had a very successful Garage Sale, raking in about $900. A few things didn’t sell, but Bob from the local Lions Club came & collected them to sell at their next meeting. Considering most of our stuff came from the Lions Club when we arrived, giving it back just seems right!

The only thing left to sell is Tab’s little Excel!! Going cheap $1250 if you know anyone, please spread the word!!

So, with just over a week till we leave we bid you farewell for now, will certainly be updating the blog more often on the road coz life won’t be so hum-drum from now on! First destination is Perth to see Jeff’s specialists, then northbound thereafter. Can’t wait, will keep in touch….xo

---