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.