Yes, we're back on the road and well on our way to Melbourne and The Spirit of Tasmania. Our stint at home saw us pull out one of the front beds and build a storage area for the washing machine, laundry hamper, battery box, buckets etc as our floor area was almost non-existent when travelling from W.A. We also took out a lot of deadweight that we'd accumulated over the past 18mths as well as the 50kg fridge that had become a cupboard due to lack of 240 volt access and lack of desire to stay at caravan parks to power the thing.
We were hoping to have fixed all our leaks alas, as any caravan owner knows, you just can't get them all. The front window is still a big problem and is showing a bit of rot around the inside frame. That's going to have to come out to be repaired – next time we stop for an extended period of time. Yay.
We left home last Thursday 25th and have been gradually making our way down the east coast. Having done the westernmost point of mainland Australia last year, we couldn't go past Byron Bay without doing the easternmost point too. The weather was fantastic and it took us two hours to do the circuit walk past the point and the light house. It might have taken us less time but they don't let caravans past a certain point and don't allow for parking anywhere near it so we had to walk up. Well worth the effort though, even with a whiney teen on our tail. Sorry, Erin joyfully strolling along with us. J
I'm already sick of toll roads, Brisbane got us on the Gateway and Sydney got us on the M2 and the M7, I think I've worked out Melbourne so it can't get us too. I wouldn't mind so much if it was just pay at a booth and keep going but now you have to set up accounts and pay set up fees just for using a couple of roads, once.
I can't fault the coastal countryside in NSW, we've had some stunning, albeit wet, views. Everything is beautiful and green, the rivers are flowing and there are flowers everywhere. Geoff decided he'd like to set up shop in Moss Vale, near Mittagong, until I reminded him how cold it gets there.
We enjoyed the Bega Cheese factory this morning, they had lots of cheeses to try and we bought, yep you guessed it, cheese! Ok, it wasn't just cheese, it was Smokey BBQ, which was quite nice.
We've had a mixed bag of free camps on the way here, a couple we've had to ourselves, a couple of very popular and full ones and one where we went to bed on our own and woke up surrounded! Last night's campsite at Waldron's Swamp lived up to its name as I managed to get a rather large leach on my leg, ugh. Our current spot is about a kilometre away from the road and is full already, I'm glad we got here early in the day, it wouldn't be easy to turn around once it filled right up.
Photos have been updated too.
Until next time....
