Home!

After nearly 4 months on the road we arrived home in the afternoon on Thursday 9th September. We all had a wonderful time and look forward to the next time we can get back on the road again.

Many thanks to the people we saw on the way including Ross & Cheryle, Glenn & Robyn, Dave & Ally, Matt & Kylee, Pete & Vickie, Ellie, and Julie & Wayne.

Also thanks to the many new friends we have made during our journey, we hope to keep in touch with you and wish you happy & safe travels.

Lots of love from Deb, Dean, Brock & Adam XXXXX

Little Desert Nature Lodge

Day 115. Today we travelled about 80km to the Little Desert Nature Lodge which is a nature park. We stayed with Julie & Wayne who are caretakers of the park. We stayed next to their house and we got to ride our bikes around the nature park. We saw a million kangaroos and one emu. Julie cooked us a delicious and lovely dinner and I ate it all up. After dinner we went on a night walk with torches to see the nocturnal birds and animals. We saw a bandicoot, and a couple of possums and little kangaroo type animals. We also saw Mallee fowl and curlews with knobby knees and big eyes. We are excited because we are going home tomorrow!

DAY 115 - SEPTEMBER 8th

Today we left the border and arrived at Little Desert Nature Lodge which is near Nhill. We are staying with caretakers of the park, Julie & Wayne, Julie used to work with Dad in our shop. We expolored the park on our bikes and saw some kangaroos and an emu. Wayne showed us the mallee fowl chicks when he was feeding them in the afternoon. That night Julie cooked us a lovely dinner then we went out on a spotlighting walk. We saw a brush tail possum, a bandicoot and some small kangaroo type animal.We also saw curlews and mallee fowl that night.

DAY 114 - SEPTEMBER 7th.

Today we travelled a total of 375km. First we stopped off we went to the National Motor Museum of Birdwood, where we saw many different old cars and vehicles. After we saw everything we set off and stopped for lunch where Shane Crawford doing his fundraising walk for breast cancer. After we saw him run past we travelled to the border where we crossed over to Victoria - YAAAAAAYYYYYY!!! We decided we would camp a couple of hundred metres away from the border (on the Victorian side). After we set up we went for a bike ride to Wolesley then went back.

SA / Vic state border

Day 114. On Tuesday we travelled 375 km to the Victorian and South Australian border. In the morning we travelled to Birdwood and saw the National Motor Museum. At the National Motor Museum we saw the back to the future car, we also saw a lego car and heaps of old cars and buses. They had a miniature crash test dummy machine that showed what happens when you crash when wearing a seat belt on not. During the day we stopped at for lunch and we saw the footballer Shane Crawford doing his fundraising walk. He is going from Adelaide to Melbourne. After we got to the border we decided to camp near the border so we parked the camper and then went for a big bike ride till dark.

Whyalla / Mallala

Day 113. On Monday we went to the Maritime Museum in Whyalla to have a look around. It had a really cool train set and a lot of stuff about the World War II. Then we did a tour of a Ship. The Ship was called Whyalla. It was built for WWII by BHP as a mine sweeper. When the ship was in service in the war there was 120 people on board. It would have been very crowded. After the tour we had lunch and headed to our campsite called Mallala. We camped at the football grounds. We went for a bike ride to the Mallala raceway, then Brock and me rode round the tennis court till dark on our scooters.

DAY 113 - SEPTEMBER 6th.

Today we went to the Whyalla Maritime Museum where we saw a lot of train sets and information about ship building in Whyalla. We also saw information about World War I and World War II. After that we went for a tour on the Whyalla ship where we saw how the people lived on the ship and it was very cramped inside. It would have also been very hard to work on the ship because the ship would tilt at a 40 degree angle each way because it had a flat underside. It was made as a mine sweeping ship. After lunch we set off and arrived at Mallala where we camped next to the footy oval. Then we went for a bike ride out of town to the
raceway and when we got back me and Adam rode our scooters on the tennis and basketball courts till dark. For dinner we had my favourite pasta.

Whyalla

Day 112. On Sunday we travelled 282km to Whyalla. There we stayed at the Discovery Caravan Park where there was a jumping pillow. The park is right on the beach. In the afternoon we went for a walk along the jetty area and saw dolpins playing in the sheltered water. There were about 9 of them. At night we had Ellie come visit us after she finished work. It was great to see Ellie again and we talked about mining stuff because she drive the big mining trucks. Total kilometres travelled 13810.

DAY 112 - SEPTEMBER 5th.

Today is fathers day and we gave Dad his Top Gear DVD, and after his presents I cooked breakfast for everyone. After Breaky mum did a slideshow about our trip and we all really loved it. Then we packed up and travelled along the Lincoln Highway. We stopped in Cowell and had a look at an old vehicle museum and had lunch. Afterwards we travelled to Whyalla where we camped at a caravan park on the foreshore. We went for a drive and then a walk along the jetty where we saw some dolphins. Just after dinner Ellie who used to work in my Mum and Dad's shop, came over for a chat. Now she drives big dump trucks like the ones at the Superpit.

Port Lincoln

Day 111. On Saturday we travelled about 60km into Port Lincoln. Port Lincoln is a nice town with a lot of cool stuff. We visited Joy & David at the newsXpress at Port Lincoln. The shop was awesome and Brock and Me wanted to buy some magazines. We went to a really cool toyworld and I spent all my pocket money on a Lego Power Miners set. After that we found a campsite and then went for a walk when the rain cleared later on in the day.

DAY 111 - SEPTEMBER 4th

Today we visited Joy & David at the Port Lincoln newsagency. They have a really big shop. We went to the bakery and got some bread and finger buns. We found a really good place to camp at the Billy Light Point.
It rained a fair bit so Adam and I played Lego. When it cleared up we went for a walk along the beach track. It was really good.

Streaky Bay

Day 109 . September 2nd. On Thursday we travelled to Streaky Bay. it was 530km to there. We stopped at Ceduna for lunch and shopping. It was still raining and we free camped at Eyres Waterhole just out of Streaky Bay. Brock and me played transformers.
Flinders Highway Day 110. On Friday in the morning Mum Brock & I went into town and saw Sue the newsagent at Streaky Bay while dad got the camera repaired on the Winnie. We travelled towards Port Lincoln and Coffin Bay but there was a lot of water on the road and it was flooded in many places. We pulled over for the night at a rest area, next to a beautiful Canola field about 20km from Coffin Bay.

DAY 109 - 110, SEPTEMBER 2 - 3

DAY 109 - SEPTEMBER 2nd Today we travelled to Streaky Bay after stopping in Ceduna for lunch. When we got to Streaky Bay a couple of km out of town and when we tried to set up the annex the pegs wouldn't go in because the ground was too rocky. We stayed near Eyre's waterhole which was used over 100 years ago by explorer Eyre. It was still raining nearly all day.
DAY 110 - SEPTEMBER 3rd. Today in the morning we went into town to see the newsagent while Dad fixed the rearview camera on the Winnie. While we were at the newsagency the power went out. By this time the Winnie was repaired so we went back to the camper and got on the road. It was raining a lot as we travelled and lots of roads were flooded. We stopped just out of Coffin Bay where there were a lot of Canola fields.

Across the Nullarbor

Woorlba Homestead Free camp area. Day 107. Today we left Kalgoorlie and travelled 439km to a free camp for the night. We had lunch in Norseman on the way. It rained most of the day so we had an early night to get ready for a big day of travelling tomorrow. We have travelled 12098 km so far.
Across the Nullarbor Day, 108. On Wednesday we started our travel across to South Australia along the Nullarbor Plain. The Nullarbor plain means "no trees" , but there was plenty of rain. We travelled 582km. Brock and I did school work and watched DVDs. We had to put our clocks 1 and half hours forward when we got into South Australia. We stayed at a free camp 81km East of the WA / SA border that night.

DAY 107 -108, AUGUST 31 - SEPTEMBER 1

DAY 107 - AUGUST 31st Today we left Kalgoorlie and travelled South to Norseman where we fueled up and stopped for lunch. We then travelled to Woorlba Homestead rest area on the side of the Highway at the start of the longest stretch of straight road in Australia. It was raining really heavily so we had an early night.
DAY 108 - SEPTEMBER 1st Today we set off to cross the border into South Australia. We travelled a long way and then we finally reached the border where we set our clocks forward one and a half hours. We finished the longest straight road in Australia. We stayed at a free camp 81km from the border.

DAY 103 - 106, AUGUST 27 - 30

DAY 103- AUGUST 27th Today we travelled 162km to Kalgoorlie where they have the Superpit. !!! The superpit is a big open cut mining hole in the ground where they mine rocks for gold. Later on we had McDonalds for lunch then went back to the superpit to see the blast! Later on we went for a ride around Kalgoorlie - Boulder and saw a lady who told us about the earthquake that happened a couple of months ago.

DAY 104 - AUGUST 28th today in the morning Dad went for a bike ride into town while me, Mum and Adam went to the shops to get a couple of things. We got a DVD for Father's Day and another DVD for me and Adam. Later on we went to the superpit for the tour about the gold mining. They mine for gold by digging up the rocks and transporting it with the big dump trucks. It takes about 7 dump truck loads to get a golf ball size amount of pure gold. The rocks are crushed and processed to extract the gold.

DAY 105 - AUGUST 29th This morning we went for a bike ride to the camping show, and then in the afternoon we went to the Mining Museum and we did an underground mine tour. It was very dark underground. Then when we finished that tour we saw a gold pouring demonstration. Gold is a solid mineral that melts at 1035 degrees C. It is melted and poured into ingots. One ounce of gold is worth about 1200 US dollars which is around $1350 AUD

DAY 106 - AUGUST 30th Today we went to the Aquatic centre in the morning where we had a lot of fun in the heated pool. (the last time I was in a heated pool was Leongatha!). After the aquatic centre we went to the mining museum again and we panned for gold and ended up 5 little specks of gold worth around about $2! Then when we got back it started to rain so we stayed in the camper and watched tv.

Kalgoorlie

Day 103. On Friday August 27 we went to Kalgoorlie and went to the Superpit lookout to see the open cut mine where they mine gold. We went to McDonalds for lunch then went back to watch the blast at 1pm.The blast was massive it was loud it even shook the ground.In the afternoon we went on a huge bike ride around town to Boulder. We saw heaps of old buildings some of them were under construction from the earthquake they had in April or May.

Day 104. On Saturday we spent the morning at the shops looking for Lego. I saved my money while Brock spent his. In the afternoon we did the Superpit Mine Tour. We saw the big dump trucks up close and got to see the mine processing plant where they smash up the rocks to get gold out of them.

Day 105. On Sunday we rode, while mum ran, to the Kalgoorlie Camping Show in the morning. In the afternoon we went to the Mining Museum. We saw a massive dump truck up close and we did the underground mine tour. We also saw real gold being melted and poured into a gold bar. Gold is heated to 1030 degrees to be poured.

Day 106. On Monday August 30 we went to the aquatic centre in the morning and spent a heap of time in the heated pool, at least 3 hours. In the afternoon we visited the Mining Museum again and we panned for gold. We got 5 small insi little tiny weeny teeny pieces of gold. It started to rain that night.

Boorabbin Rest Area

Day 102. On Thursday we travelled 338 km to Boorabbin Rest Area. It had a massive areas to camp and the rest area on its own was huge. We rode our bikes around and along the Perth / Kalgoorlie Water pipeline at the back of the camp area. We got firewood and built quite a big fire. We had damper that night.

DAY 102 - AUGUST 26th

Today we travelled 338km to Boorabbin Rest Area where we collected some firewood and had a really big fire that we cooked damper on. We rode around the area and saw the Perth to Kalgoorlie water pipeline.

DAY 101 - AUGUST 25th

Today we left our camp area at Noble Falls and travelled until we stopped at Dowerin, where we went to the field days. We saw campers, car sales and lots of heavy machinery. Dad got Danny Greens autograph and we saw a ford GT40. Adam and I went in big rolling balls and it was really fun. That afternoon we travelled to Minnivale and we rode our bikes through a disused grain shed, and also rode around the tennis courts.

DAY 99-100, AUGUST 23-24th

DAY 99 - AUGUST 23rd Today we left Gingin and travelled around 100km to Perth where we stayed at the discovery holiday park in Forrestfield. later on we went into the town and found a slot car racing place where we had a race with about 6 other people. later on we found a toy world and bought some more lego.
DAY 100-AUGUST 24th today we had to get our winnebago serviced so we droped it off and then we went to Mcdonalds for breakfast. after we had breaky we went into the city and had a look at the shops. later we went to kings park where we went for a little walk. then we went for a drive to freemantle where we had lunch. later on we went back to pick up the winne. then we drove to noble falls where we are staying the night.