Closing the Loop......

Apologies for the Blogs having dried up of late.
Yes, we are back in Brisbane having closed our loop of Australia.  We have been living in our van for 22 months since we left Brisbane in August 2011 and have taken a few weeks off touring and blogging.
However, we are back online and have just completed a review of our photo files.  Its amazing how many photos can be collected in the digital age, we would never have been able to afford getting that many photos developed in the olden days Kodak Photoshop.

The following blog/s is/are a summary of our trip around Australia. There will be some photos at the end of this and more to following in coming days/posts.  The pictures will be in the order of our travels. They are the pictures that invoke the best memories for us and may not be the 'best' photos we have taken. We hope you enjoy and are encouraged to find your own memories in this beautiful country of ours.

We spent 22 months on the road leaving Brisbane on 26 August 2011.  The first 9 months were spent in Central and Southern Queensland and the northern half of New South Wales above Sydney.  Our path then took us to Western Queensland, north to Darwin, and then westwards around Western Australia, east across the Nullabour into South Australia, up through the Centre to Alice Springs, then back south through Broken Hill and along the Murray and around Victoria and South Eastern NSW before heading inland again through the Snowy Mountains, Canberra, back down into bushranger country in Northern Victoria then through Mudgee and Central NSW back to Brisbane.  We had extended stays in Tieri babysitting grandchildren while their parents travelled to Europe, back in Brisbane while our daughter had a baby, Darwin NT where we worked during the winter,  Streaky Bay SA another work project, and a couple of weeks in Mudgee with our son and his family on the homeward run.  We also took a little detour from Darwin through Singapore and Kuala Lumpur after our workmates alerted us to the very cheap airfares to Asia from Darwin.

We met some wonderful friends, new and old, along the way and saw many beautiful places that this country has to offer and took note of many more that looked like they would be worthwhile taking the time to visit if we do another lap one day.  Of particular note were Russ and Jane we camped near during the Tamworth Country Music Festival and caught up with again at Inverell, and Ted and Linda who we camped beside at the Daly Waters pub and then camped a few sites apart in Darwin for the winter months of 2012. 

We were blessed with no mechanical breakdowns, no accidents, no health issues, and suffered no losses despite hearing several horror stories that other travellers were only too willing to share.   

Some stats for those so inclined :--

                Km’s travelled                                                   61255

                Diesel consumed - litres                                     9093.3

                Average consumption Ltrs / 100km                    14.84    Range     9.90    to         21.14

                Average Fuel Cost $/l                                     $ 1.560    Range   $1.24     to        $2.05

                Nights away                                                       646

                Nights in Paid Campsites/van parks                    404        

Average site fee / night (paid & free camps)                     $ 20.91

Average Site Fees (Paid sites Only)                                 $ 34.09    Range   $5.00     to       $50.00

Expenses Breakdown as a % of Total Cost             :--

                                Park Fees                                            12.8%

                                Extras                                                  48.1%

                                Groceries                                             23.9%

                                Fuel                                                     15.7%   

While we stayed in many free camps that are indeed free, the best value site was at the Blackall Campground in town on the river bank for $5 per van per night.  Swan Valley and Fremantle at Christmas time were $50.00 which was fair. The worst value campground was the National Park Campground at Tidal River on Wilsons Promontory. The camp fees here were $48.00 per night for a powered site with no water in the off season. We would still give this park a strong “must visit” recommendation as the coastal scenery and bush walks to adjacent bays are magnificent.  The wombats and parrots that wandered through the park and our annex made us feel very much at ease and we enjoyed our visit a lot.

Town of 1770, QLD

1770 sunset

Farmhouse between Warwick and Toowoomba QLD

open garden at Warwick QLD

Lavender Farm outside Stanthorpe QLD

Browns Falls near Stanthorpe QLD

King Parrot on wattle

Tor in Girraween National Park near Stanthorpe QLD

friendly Kookaburra in Girraween Nat Park QLD

enjoying a campfire in Bald Rock Nat Park, NSW

Stannum House circa 1888, Glen Innes, NSW

Barrington Tops Nat Park in the Hunter Valley NSW

lighthouse at South West Rocks NSW

Timbertown Steam Train, Wauchope NSW

mature Cedar tree Washpool National Park between Grafton and Glen Innes

Crystal Falls near Bellingen NSW

Crystal Falls near Bellingen NSW

Dangars Falls outside Dorrigo NSW

Avenue of fig trees Grafton NSW

big coach at Russel Crowe's Museum of Unusual Things, Nimboida NSW

brave Isobel holding a banded python at Ballina NSW

Natural Bridge near Mt Warning QLD

beautiful country church outside Armidale NSW

Octagonal shearing shed near Armidale NSW

Gibraltor Nat Park between Glen Innes and Grafton NSW

Waratah flower Gibraltor Nat Park

Washpool National Park NSW

Tourist Information Centre Lithgow, NSW

Blue Mountains near Blackheath, NSW

Mt Warning, NSW

Great Dividing Range near Jackadgery, NSW

Carol with the McClymont sisters at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, NSW

Troy Cassar-Daley

Russ with the Golden Guitar and Slim Dusty's 1971 ZC Fairlane

convict built viaduct on the Zig-Zag Railway outside Lithgow, NSW

more to follow.........................................................................................................................................