As many of you now know, last week was rather a hectic and interesting one in our lives.

On Monday as planned, we packed ready for the road, first taking the Winnebago into Avida for its ‘house’ service. We enjoyed the morning walking around the waterfront, including watching the retiring navy ship HMAS Tobruk on her final journey, before returning to the service centre to pay the account and continue on our journey north to Mooloolaba.

HMAS Tobruk

And surprise of all surprises, they must have liked our home on wheels, as an offer that was too good to refuse was made to purchase her…..so what do you do! We had planned on 3 months in Cotton Tree (Maroochydore) enjoying a relaxing yet outdoor active time in the motorhome. But plans are made to be changed aren’t they! Having met a number of travellers who have told us how hard it can be to sell large motorhomes in today’s market, and visited other dealers and seen the same as ours that have sat in yards for 18 months plus without selling, we gladly accepted the offer. Then it was all go. We hired a 4 wheel drive, and along with the Suzuki we spent 2 hours of daylight and the evening packing everything we could that we could get in. And isn’t it surprising how much you can get in when you really try. Unfortunately though we had to leave a lot, but other than food, it was mainly household items that we now wouldn’t use, given we don’t expect to be motor-homing again anytime soon.

We have been asked how much we enjoyed our time on the road. That’s a simple one to answer. Absolutely! We have met some super people, some are now good friends. We’ve been to some stunning places, made even more interesting by some of the more average ones along the 24,000kms we travelled. If we had to rate our 3 separate trips, the stand out would have to be last year, time spent in NT and WA, there are too many fabulous places to mention them all, but the winner is Karajini National Park, followed closely by the Kimberley region. We have loved places where we are climbing, walking, flying, driving and swimming whilst taking in the beauty, and these two certainly offer all of these and more. And, we shared much of this time with 2 sets of great kiwis who enjoy themselves as much as we do.

After a strange last evening in the yard of Winnebago (not really a salubrious over night stay) we said goodbye and thank you for being such a reliable and safe vehicle having taken us on a trouble free journey around Australia and up through the middle over the last 2 years. 8am Tuesday morning we hit the road, and in convoy, with me driving the Suzuki and Steve the lovely new hire car we were on our way, our motorhome trip at an end.

We intentionally broke the 1100km trip into 3 days, one long and 2 short. Our first stop was at the little town of Ulmarra, on the Clarence River and just north of Grafton. The whole village is classified by the national trust and is just like going back in time, as one of the best examples of a 19th century Australian river port. We had been recommended the B and B there, where an evening meal is provided by the very welcoming hosts. After a comfortable evening, on Wednesday we set off to Kingscliff, a lovely coastal beach south of Tweed Heads. Just as we arrived rain set in, so our beach stop over was a wet one, making it a great afternoon for laundry and relaxing before a very pleasant meal out. Waking to a fine morning and warm temperatures our final leg brought us here to Maroochydore. And oh what a pleasant feeling as we drove into Mooloolaba and along the waterfront to Maroochydore.

Because we had planned to be here in our motorhome and for only around 3 months, a short time ago we had made the decision to extend our tenants lease on our apartment……so yes, we could be tagged as homeless. Thinking it would be so easy to find long term holiday lets we hadn’t worried too much until Wednesday when we had started calling around various places, only to learn those darned kiwis have booked everything. Direct flights started again on Friday and there are apparently over 5000 coming in from Christchurch alone. We managed to get a quiet apartment a couple of streets back from the water for 2 weeks whilst hunting for longer term, and thankfully, whilst out for a Saturday beach walk we spotted a vacancy sign on the  beach front  where a cancelation had just been taken, so we are in once our 2 weeks finish here. What a relief. Its a bit of a bummer though when we keep walking passed our place and can’t wait to get in there.

We’ve enjoyed a couple of long beach walks in the sun and today we checked out  the development at Maroochydore near our apartment. We now have an amazing choice of restaurants to walk to, as well as a fantastic new shopping centre that includes farmers markets 3 days a week, and once a month, street evening markets. I think we could get to really enjoy our time here.

Yesterday we wandered through the camp ground for a nose to see if we could spot anyone we knew, and sure enough, friends from 2 years ago, with whom we maintain contact had just checked in on Saturday for 2 weeks, on their way to Cairns. So it was afternoon coffee and catch-up for the rest of the afternoon. We’ll see more of them over the coming days.  And believe it or not they are very interested in buying our Suzuki and hitch as they too have a motorhome, but no car.

So folks, blogs are now on hold for a while, until we start our next adventure. There isn’t anything planned at present, other than a quick trip back over the ditch to look at property….apparently its a bit cold in NZ so we won’t be there for too long, the warmer weather is too good to miss over here. Farewell from us and we will back on line when we next travel. There is a big world out there beckoning us!

Last sunset in the bus – Farewell!