The last leg - to Melbourne

The Australia Telescope at Narrabri

Tilly!

The view of Melbourne as we finally arrived on a cold, sunny morning

The tired family

Arriving at Nanny and Pa's house in Melbourne

The girls ready for their first day of school, 1 week after arriving in Melbourne

It was sad leaving Brisbane (and saying goodbye to our good friends), but we were also excited about heading towards Melbourne and whatever our new life would hold. We had decided that we would take the quickest inland route to Melbourne because it was really only a week or so before school would start, and there was so much to do to get settled.

We left Brisbane early in the morning and weren't sure whether we need to stop for 1 or 2 nights on the way down. It was really slow getting out of Queensland because of the huge amount roadwork out past Toowoomba, so we didn't make as much progress on the first day as we would have liked. We camped at the showgrounds at Narrabri (which were cheap and not too bad at all) and had a freezing night. We woke the next morning and headed inland about 40km to see the Australia telescope (actually an array of big telescopes), which were quite spectacular. Then it was back on the road down through New South Wales.

We stopped for dinner in Forbes on the second night at a strange little country Chinese restaurant. With full tummies we hpped back in the car, intending to drive all the way through to Melbourne and arrive at 2 or 3 in the morning. The girls fell asleep watching movies, so we kept driving and making good progress until midnight. Driving into Tocumwal at that hour with no fuel, we thought we'd easily find a petrol station to fill up and keep going. Unfortunately nothing was open, so we had to quickly make a new plan and find somewhere to camp in Tocumwal (no easy task at midnight!). Luckily our guide book led us to a quiet free camp by the river where we could pull up for the night. It was close to 0 degree overnight, so we all put on every piece of clothing and blanket and slept the remaining few hours until morning.

At first light we wound down the camper for the last time and drove the last 4 hours down to Melbourne. Fortunately the sun came out to welcome us as we drove into the city. Exhausted but happy we found our way across the city to Nanny and Pa's house for some warmth, lovely food and rest. In the last few minutes of driving Tilly asked when we could head off again (because we hadn't been to Uluru). Everyone gave it some thought and finally agreed that we should plan another trip soon, which is a sure sign that we all had a great time.
Thank you to everyone who helped us on this great adventure.

Airlie Beach to Brisbane

The obstacke course at Camp Kanga, Proserpine

Pia tackling the obstacle course

Isla looking cool in the tyre

Having a great time

Isla waiting for lunch up at Eungella, near Mackay

Waterfall at Eungella

Nice moustache Tilly

Maia ready for a swim at Eungella

Cheeky Pia

Eungella

Climbing trees at 1770

Colouful beetles everywhere at 1770

With a new friend (Sophie) at Elliott Heads, near Bundaberg

Maia relaxing in the camper

Playing at Bargara, near Bundaberg

Elliott Heads, near Bundaberg

Isla having breakfast on the beach at Hervey Bay

Camping at Hervey Bay

The girls finally in Brisbane

After leaving Airlie Beach we all felt like we were on the downhill run towards home. However we still made the most of our time away, despite the relatively cold and wet weather. We took another 10 days to get to Brisbane.
After leaving Airlie we travelled only 50km south-west to Camp Kanga, which is just out of Proserpine itself and adjacent to Lake Proserpine. Camp Kanga was a really fun place for kids - it's basically a big school camp that also has camp ground facilities for travellers. The kids particularly loved the obstacle course, and building a camp fire that we kept burning 24 hours a day. While there we went walking and fishing at Lake Proserpine (Justin nearly landed a Huuuuge Barra - yes, "the one that got away").

From Proserpine we travelled south to Mackay, and stayed just out of town at a nice suburb called Black's Beach. The highlight of our stay in this region was our day-trip inland to Eungella in the hinterland mountains. It's a really beautiful place with views back towards the coast and nice bush walks. We walked in to a lovely swimming hole down the river and Justin, Tilly and Maia were crazy enough to swim in the freezing waters.

Further south, we stayed at Yeppoon (just near Rockhampton). We felt very uncomfortable when we arrived at the caravan park because there were many long-term residents who were unfriendly. Fortunately it didnt take Maia long to win them over by being her usual really friendly self. By the time we left, they were all waving us goodbye!

A couple of nights at Agnes Waters / Town of 1770 were a real highlight of this leg of our trip. It's a really beautiful place with lots of trees and a protected front beach and rugged back beach. We camped amongst the trees next to another family from Brisbane, so there was lots of fun running around and playing soccer.

Last stop before Brisbane was at Hervey Bay. We were lucky enough to find a camp site right on the water there, so we were able to eat our breakfast looking across to Fraser Island - a real treat! We only stayed one night, but did a really nice walk along the foreshore. Hervey Bay is a really nice, relaxed place that still has an undeveloped feel to it and we really enjoyed being there again.

Upon leaving Hervey Bay we thought we might spend a night on the Sunshine Coast before arriving in Brisbane. As we drove south, however, the weather got colder and wetter and we thought we might just keep on driving past the Sunshine Ciast. Fortunately our very generous hosts in Brisbane (Cam and Marti) didn't mind us arriving a day early made a bee-line for their place. As we drove in to Brisbane we couldn't help feeling a little sad and proud as we had completed our circuit around the Australian coast (and were a better family for it).

Our days in Brisbane were great. There was plenty of time for us and the the kids to catch up with our friends and visit some of our favourite places. Lisa even had a belated 40th birthday party with a few of her closest girlfriends, which was a really nice touch. Thanks again to Cam and Marti, and Claud and Andrew for putting us up at their places over that time.