Closing the loop

Well its been sometime since our last post and more than a month since we made the final drive home, closing the loop and completing our great lap of Australia some 28,285 km's later.

From our last entry in Airlie, we tracked south and organised a catch up with old friends in Yeppoon. Our good mate Davey grew up in the area and it coincided with the school holidays  working well for both families. 

After 8 months on the road living in our camper, sharing bathrooms and camping facilities with the great unwashed, we're happy to avoid camping where ever possible! Not that we don't love camping of course, just not at this point and hopefully not for another 5 or 10 years to come ;) ...  Compounded by the cooler weather, rain, and expectation of a busy school holiday crowd, we felt it appropriate to book something more comfortable. The holiday season spike in camping costs also means that Airbnb costs are fairly comparable. Needless to say that we enjoyed a few nights with bathroom, couch and TV!

A little rain didn't spoil the fun

Once again the weather didn’t come to the party, but we enjoyed an awesome day snorkelling and pottering on Great Keppel Island, hanging with friends and planning our final weeks.

The Great Keppel

Duck-feet

For those who've followed our travels you’ll recall us grinding a bike along the road crossing the Yorke Peninsular in SA when our carrier failed. In the same vein having arrived in Yeppoon we were miffed to discover that Lewis’ bike had somehow unlatched and bounced off the back of the rack during the 500km journey… hopefully not into the path of an oncoming car! The devastation of his loss easing eventually on the promise of a new one when we get home. 

From Yeppoon we closed the loop on our lap arriving on the Sunny Coast where we continued the trend in a holiday rental convinced we deserved it. Spoilt with warmer weather we hung with the Neil’s and scored a long awaited few days surfing Teatree in the National Park (no surfing through the entire top end of the country would you believe!). Dave also took us out on his new boat which was a winner for the crew.

Boys in blue

From Noosa it felt appropriate to head back for a few nights at Chateaux Beaumont where a rather long dinner party ensued. In typical form, there were bleary eyes in the morning hustling to make pre-arranged child sporting commitments, which turned into what sounded like a hard days slog for our awesome hosts! It was then back to Noosa for our final nights in Queensland with the Neil’s where we were treated once again to slightly tamer but equally delicious dinner party.

Dress up fun in Bangalow

The final stops of the trip took us first to Bangalow for a last hurrah with Jo and the girls, then fittingly to Emerald Beach where we hung with our great travelling mates the Parsons, whom we’d spent many a night on the road debating the pro's and con's of various wine varietals, in their beautiful home having recently completed their own trip.

Part and Parson

Art

Roadies - old mates

 

Sadly from Emerald we concluded our Australian trip, heading to my folks place in Austinmer where we stitched, polished and sold the camper to the first buyer who will hopefully make some memories as we have. 

Fortunately, the end of our Australian leg did spell an end to the adventure... next stop Europe.

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