We saw many wind turbines on the drive. \240We met a family at a roadside playground at Hallet. They were a School of the Air family. It was so lovely to chat to them. They love Steiner education and had thought of going to our school! They have also built an eco house which we loved hearing about. The kids played soccer together.

We decided to stop when it became dark and found a rest area. We are the only ones here. We finished the day by looking at the stars together and I think we will all fall asleep quickly tonight.

Samuel says, “My favourite thing was playing soccer.”

We decided to set off as soon as we could as we didn’t get far yesterday. The scenery has been beautiful with hardly anyone on the roads. You can just see all the way from horizon to horizon.

We stopped at Cockburn (the boys found this name very amusing) \240for a South Australia/New South Wales border photo.

We learnt something new: New South Wales has heaps of wild goats! There was a stretch where there were lots of goats on either side and we had to be very careful.

We travelled on to Broken Hill for a big play and cooked lunch on our new campmaster!

After our break it was already dark. We decided to push through to Cobar anyway and thought we would stop at a truck rest area if we needed to.

16kms out of Cobar, we saw a car with their hazard lights on and a man waving us over. It was dark and we were a bit concerned, but we stopped. A family had run out of petrol. So we set off to Cobar, promising to return and with a Jerry can.

By the time we reached Cobar for the second time, we were tired and hungry. We got takeaway from the RSL and found a free parking spot in the township. It is full of other campers. We ate and are now heading straight to bed.

Livvy says, “We had late tea. We went the furthest we’ve been.”

Then we drove towards Bourke. Less goats but we saw alot of tumble weeds rolling across the road. The kids loved them and Harry wanted to keep one.

We stopped for good phone reception in Bourke, so that Grant could have a meeting. The kids and Bev played at a playground and then did some school work - spelling words and reading.

Then we travelled on and reached the Queensland border.

Not long after this we discovered we were close to running out of fuel. It has been very windy and we think that upped the fuel usage and messed with our calculations. We had 60kms to the next town and 40kms of fuel left. Amazingly, we made it and were very relieved.

We are feeling the pinch of time. We have two more days to reach Airlie beach and so we pushed through to Charleville, grabbed some hot chips and headed to a camping spot.

We are now parked by a Rockpool, tucked up in bed, just out of town with 2 other camper vans. We are looking forward to waking to a beautiful view.

Harry says “Today was fun, fun, fun. I liked the two playgrounds. I liked the second one best.”

We set off as quick as possible, listening to 500 miles as is becoming tradition, determined to do a longer drive today so that tomorrow can be a shorter drive. Emerald was our goal, hopefully before sunset.

We headed towards Roma. Sammy wrote a letter to his class on the way and we sent it off once we arrived in Roma.

We saw the scenery change today. For a couple of days we have been in very flat land. Seeing from horizon to horizon, with basically abandoned roads. We have wondered a few times if everyone knows something we don’t! We can now see beautiful mountains. At one point we felt surrounded by them.

We are enjoying the scenery, but have had to pass some beautiful spots. We are on a deadline for Grant’s work. Maybe we will return one day.

No goats today, but we saw two echidnas and some cows on the road. Yesterday and today we saw lots of cotton on the sides of the road from cotton farms too.

We made it to Emerald in the dark and have found a free parking spot in the town. Bev is feeling unwell and has put herself to bed. Grant has fed the kids and they have been outside watching some fireworks before tucking into bed.

Yes that is a train line on one side and a busy road on the other.

Bev woke feeling much better. No one really felt like driving today but we pushed on. Listening to 500 miles again. 5hrs of driving to go. Grant was very much looking forward to seeing the ocean (we all were, but he does love the beach!)

We stopped an hour down the road, at Clermont, for a cooked breakfast. We are so glad we stopped there. Bev had another lovely chat with someone at the park, while the kids played, and then we headed down to the water. What a treasure trove for Harry, the animal whisperer.

Before we reached the water Harry had spotted these in a tree.

Yes, that is a tree FULL of bats!

We also saw ducks, geese but the most favourite animals were the turtles that Harry spotted.

A lovely lady, Lee, \240spent time talking to us about the animals and showed Harry some birds who were nesting. It was so kind of her.

We pushed through to Airlie beach and have settled in at the caravan park. Grant now has to shift gears and think about work. He has an America conference call tonight and then a set up day for the conference tomorrow.

Livvy says, “We got to Airlie Beach. We saw lots of turtles, bats and geese.”

Another pic of Clermont Centenary Park.

We also drove Grant to work, just a few mins down the road, at a hotel resort right by the water. This required a tech treasure hunt - finding all the gear he had packed in spaces around the Motorhome. We dropped Grant off, did some groceries and checked out some places to visit in the coming days.

We are so grateful to have this time away and enjoyed a beautiful sunset tonight. It was so very pink with a lovely crescent moon.

Grant has just come back after a busy day and will start again tomorrow at 7am.

We saw lots of fish and coral. We was so pleased the kids had a good time. This was their first time on a boat.

The kids enjoyed having a go driving the boat. Harry took us in a circle which brought a lot of enjoyment for all the passengers.

Sammy says “We got to see a turtle. I loved hearing about how turtles can hold their breath for 5 hours.“

Livvy says “We did lots of swimming.”

Harry says “I would have liked to see more things but it was still good.”

The kids are loving the caravan park pool. We heard \240kookaburras laughing loudly at us once more during our swim.

It is feeling a bit tricky to make the most of this time without Grant and it feels strange doing fun things without him. But after tomorrow the conference will be over. He will still work but it will be more flexible.

The kids and Bev went for a drive this afternoon to Cape Gloucester. We had a nice lunch and swim number two for the day with a beautiful view. The view almost felt unreal like a backdrop. Bev loved the mountains all around.

We drove back towards Airlie Beach and met Grant at Broadwater beach lagoon. He was able to walk there from the conference and we finished the day with swim number 3.

Livvy says, “We went swimming three times in different pools every time.”

Harry says, “I liked that we did lots of swimming. It was cool having ice cream and I liked wheeling around the trolley in Coles. And it was very good.”

Sammy says, “I liked writing postcards today.”

The kids and Bev started the day with another swim at the caravan park pool and a happy birthday call to Aunty Jenny. We met Irna and her family at the pool who are 2 and a half months into a 6 month trip. Irna and Bev made a quick connection. We had lots to talk about, as she is interested in Steiner education and she is a doula.

We spent some time doing homeschool. Sammy is writing a story, Harry and Livvy have literacy and numeracy activities and Livvy is learning to knit.

This afternoon we had a lovely, much needed nap and then we set off to collect Grant, visit a playground and head back to the Lagoon that we enjoyed last night.

One of the benefits of the Motorhome is having a shower with you. Grant and Bev took turns having showers in the car park of the lagoon before heading out to dinner to celebrate the end of the conference. Then we headed back to the caravan park for bed.

We drove to Mackay and spent some time at Queens Park. There were the most gorgeous trees that we all admired.

There was a fantastic play space at the park and so the kids had a good play. We also did some school work and Grant had a work meeting. Time flew and we had been in Mackay for 3 hours before we knew it.

We set off to find a spot further on for the night.

We have been using an app called wikicamps to look for water, dump points and free camps. We found a great one but when we arrived, just after dusk, it was very full. We decided to go on a little further and have ended up in a little town that has listed a grassy area behind the servo as a free camping spot.

It felt special to be in Darumbal Country. Harry enjoyed following around some bush turkeys and admired other birds too.

We had a lovely view of the Fitzroy River from the lookout. One of the signs indicated that the Darumbal people call this river the Rainbow Serpent, the giver and preserver of life. That was a nice connection for the kids who have heard a similar story at school along with a song. So of course we had a little sing too.

We then drove right into Rockhampton for a very important stop. Potentially the most significant stop so far: To Anaconda to try and fix the smell in the dunny! The other Motorhome we have hired twice before didn’t have the same smelly issue so we were determined to try and sort it out. There is already a marked improvement. Phew! Or Pew!

We then had a bite to eat at Hog’s Breath Cafe and spent the arvo at the Rockhampton Botannical Gardens. What a stunning place.

Our first stop at the gardens was to the free zoo where there was new baby chimp.

We enjoyed the dingo talk as well as looking at the other animals on display. Livvy loved the meerkats in particular.

At the tearooms there were the cheekiest birds. We asked this lady if we could take a photo of the birds tucking into her drink.

We saw more of these beautiful trees and we learnt they were a type of fig tree.

Tomorrow we are heading towards Australia Zoo. The kids don’t know yet. We will arrive closeby tomorrow night. We’ve found a free camp 10mins away from the zoo and will visit there on Thursday. But for tonight, we decided to detour slightly and head to Bundaberg as Grant had two key meetings and needed power and good internet.

Along the way to Bundaberg, a big truck was jack knifed across the highway. We were there just after it happened. There were only a dozen or so cars between us and the accident. We were told to turn around by another driver and followed a line of cars to a detour. We didn’t know where we were going, but followed along.

As we drove along, following other cars on a parallel road to the highway, (Grant thinks it was a train maintenance vehicle road) we saw many emergency vehicles arriving at the scene.

A kilometer or so down the road a car came towards us. The road was only single lane so they pulled to the side so we could pass and we had a quick chat, asking them how much further until we were back on a sealed road. They let us know we were nearly there but to watch out for the sludge.

Grant told us a story of Pa (Gary/dad) debating with 4 wheel drivers the best way to get through sludge - momentum is better than lower tyre pressure. Well, luckily we didn’t have to find out as we made it through, but someone else must have followed the wrong advice as not far down the road the convoy of cars/caravans were brought to a halt as one car towing a trailer became bogged. Drivers exited their vehicles to see what was going on and to work out how to help. Thankfully someone had a winch.

The rest of us went down a clearing and around the bogged car, through a bit more sludge and we were back on bitumen.

We had a little chuckle about how we weren’t meant to go off road in this rental vehicle and a sigh of relief that it worked out.

After all of that we decided to stop. So we pulled into Gladstone and are now parked at the Showgrounds. For a small fee we have power (and water) which makes Grant’s meetings nice and easy. The kids are watching video of an acapella competition (The Sing Off) that we love to watch and soon we will head to bed.

It was mainly a travel day today, so we are glad we had this start to the day.

Nice spot for eating breakfast.

We had a stop in Gin Gin for an icecream and diesel. There we made the big reveal of what we are doing tomorrow. The kids were very excited.

We have parked at the most crowded spot so far. It’s a free camp 10 mins from Australia Zoo. We are parked right next to someone else and have the public toilet directly in front of us. It’s the only place left and we are grateful for it as we really needed to stop. The sun went down just before we arrived and we discovered our headlights weren’t working, only parkers and hi-beams.

Today was the Australian Zoo visit. I’ll let the kids tell you all about it. But first…

What characters we have!

Livvy says, “I fed a kangaroo. I saw a crocodile and it didn’t go where it was supposed to go because it liked the sun. My favourite animal, I think, was the koala and I got to pat it. I liked seeing a koala who was hurt in the hospital, with a drip of blood on its back. One of the birds, was cheeky and didn’t come back to the keeper.”

Harry says, “I love animals. I liked seeing the red panda. I also liked seeing a lemur, called peanut. I talked to a zoo keeper about how to be a zoo keeper. I saw a wedge-tailed eagle and the zoo keeper talked about how they get hurt. And there were 2 very long pythons.

Below are some photos Harry took today.

Sammy says, “When we were at the crocosuem, I was surprised by all the birds flying over our heads. I loved climbing on all of the sculptures of crocodiles. I also liked learning about the Irwin family.”

We’ve found a sports park close by to stay for the night. It is similar to the Showgrounds with a small fee for power.

This holiday has felt a bit like a tour of playgrounds! We realise that the time is running out when all 3 kids will be happy to go to a playground and so we are making the most of it.

Grant finished at 4 and we decided to see if we could find a parking spot at Southbank. Grant has a lot of memories at Southbank and he really wanted to visit. Thankfully we found a park after quite a search. It was a 15 minute park and we may have overstayed our welcome.

As we headed to the riverfront we noticed there was an area blocked off to traffic with signs saying there was an event on. A quick google search told us there was a lantern parade on tonight! We had an hour to spare, so we headed to dinner and then came and found a spot to sit by the river ready for the parade. It was a lot of fun and we saw some really beautiful lanterns. We will miss our winter festival at school this year so it was nice to see some lanterns tonight.

Tonight has been an impromptu highlight of the trip.

We are at another Showgrounds tonight as there is no free camping available in the city. These are great places to camp. Power, water, shower, dump point and much cheaper than a caravan park. We are very close to Joan and David Birch and are looking forward to seeing them tomorrow.

Then we headed to see Joan and David Birch. Joan is a cousin of Bev’s Dad, Peter. When Grant and Bev lived in Brisbane, Joan was our Brisbane mum. \240This morning, Joan met us out on the road to show us the way to her place. We picked her up and drove her home in style. We had a cuppa with David and Joan and then headed to a park for the kids to play with David riding shotgun in the motorhome on the way. It was so lovely to see them both. It was as if no time had passed with lots of laughter and stories.

We then headed to a park a little further on to meet up with Nathan and Georgie(Brown) Rule and Megan(Halliday) Terracini. We would have loved to see Emma (Halliday) too but she had another gathering to attend, so we will have to come back sometime!

Since moving, 14 years ago, a lot has changed. For starters we have all had kids. The kids played together as we chatted, laughed and remembered old times.

Today was very special as when we lived in Brisbane, these were some of the people we did life with. Special dear friends.

We then drove the hour to the Gold Coast where we are settled into a caravan park. We were grateful for the free upgrade to an ensuite site. That was until we ended the day with an accidental touch park, hitting the ensuite. We will be using the insurance we paid for!

Grant did some reconnaissance by visiting Movie World today. He had a nice day walking around and observing how the systems work, looking at all the tech and being reminded again this sure is no Disneyland. It was good to test out a couple of rides to work out if the kids would like it or not.

Grant ubered to the supermarket and picked up supplies and came back and cooked up dinner.

After dinner, our good friend Bryce Davies came for a visit. Bev has known Bryce since she was 14 and Grant worked with him 15 years ago in Brisbane. 10 minutes after meeting Bryce the kids were jumping all over him. It’s testament not only to his genuine love and interest in them, but also the trust and love the kids could see that we have for him.

When the kids went off to bed, Bryce and Grant spent 3 hours at the pub chatting away catching up and reconnecting; comparing notes on the most important things in life. Grant really valued their time together.

Harry says, “I enjoyed seeing the rays and patting them. I enjoyed seeing all the sharks and all the fish and all the turtles and rays. I liked seeing the seal doing the sliding around and doing cool flips. Same with the dolphins.”

Livvy says, “I liked seeing the dolphins doing cool flips. I also liked seeing the fish and the rays and sharks. I liked going on the banana ride. At the end I liked going to the spa and swimming pool.“

Sammy says, “I liked touching the spongey feeling of the rays. And the ray area was called Ray Reef but I think it should have been called Ray Bay. I also liked watching the sea lions and seals.”

We finished the day in the spa at the caravan park and had an early night.

Mid arvo we went back to the Motorhome and all had a sleep because……..

We went to Outback Spectacular at night. It was really enjoyable and something that we have wanted to do for a long time.

Grant loves going to shows and theme parks not just for the experience but he loves to work out all the tech, systems and event logistics.

We are settled in for our last night at the caravan park.

Then we headed 5 minutes up the road to Paradise Country Farmstay which is behind Outback Spectacular. This is a small theme park that has farm and Australian animals. Actually there’s a few ring ins too - like meerkats(which Livvy loves) and some very cute Marmosets that we all loved. The park is open to the general public and out the back there is a farmstay with a few eco tents and parking spots for caravans/motorhomes. We parked the Motorhome in the spot we had for the night and headed to the park. We had a really nice day there. The kids all enjoyed a pony ride. There was a lot less to see and do which was just what we needed.

There was a chook on the loose in the restaurant but Harry sorted that out.

Harry also found a bearded dragon today and thought of his own, Eddie, at home.

We headed back mid arvo for another sleep for us all to recover from last night.

We had dinner at the Motorhome and then ventured down back into the park where there were lawn games and a campfire set up for farmstay guests. We enjoyed looking at the flames and toasting marshmallows. The staff member who was supervising the fire has worked across the theme parks for 8 years. It was just our family at the end and Grant chatted with him about the inner workings of theme parks in Australia.

We had breakfast at the restaurant in the park and then went on a walk to help with some of the animals. We tried milking a cow, collecting eggs (still warm), feeding goats and rams.

We did a big shop on our way out of town and headed south. We were going to go to wet and wild today, but decided this was not the trip for it. We think we’ve had enough excitement for a few days and Sammy has a little sniffle, so we thought being wet all day was not a good idea.

Last minute we decided to stop at Byron Bay for lunch and we were amazed by how beautiful the beach was. It truly was stunning. The sand was so flat and clear of seaweed and shells. The water was warm with some good waves. \240Grant and the kids couldn’t resist jumping in.

This impromptu afternoon in Bryon Bay is one of the highlights of our trip thus far.

We continued driving south after the swim. Grant has work on tonight so we have stopped at the Showgrounds in Grafton for power and water. \240We are making our way to Sydney with a stop on the way, near Maitland, for another site visit for Grant’s work.

We are planning to sight see tomorrow and catch up with some Sydney family on Tuesday.

Sammy says, “I loved the sets. I liked the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious song.”

Harry says, “The actors were pretty good and all the choreography was pretty good and I like how they danced. It was really fascinating.”

Livvy says, “I liked the dancing, the singing and my favourite person was Mary Poppins.”

Of course, we had to get a dog on the tuckerbox photo and listen to “On the road to Gundagai”

We have enjoyed seeing all the rivers as we have driven through NSW. It is so beautiful.