A new adventure

So, it has been a while since I've wanted to return to my Journal here at Pretty Essential.  A lot of changes have taken place over the last year.  Family have moved close to us in Blackheath, I've been working a few days a week, Keith has been working like crazy around the property and of course the children have grown up a lot.  My energies have been fully occupied to say the least!

Over Christmas and the New Year, I started to feel like we needed a little break to our regular routine.  The end of a school year always gets me thinking like this, but this time it was different. We have always talked of taking the children out of school and doing the 'trip around Australia' but I've always felt like the time wasn't right or preferred the idea of taking them to Europe instead.  But the more we thought about it the more keen we became.  "Let's just do it now while we feel like it" we kept saying to each other.

So, with very little planning we set about buying a caravan, finding someone to look after the dog, talked to the school and pretty much that was it - we were ready.  

At the end of January 2010 we drove out of Blackheath, NSW with a very vague plan to head west, then south and travel as far across Australia as we can in approx. 10 weeks!

Tonight, I right this from a town called Esperance in Western Australia, surely home to the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen.  We've packed a lot in already, and there are many highlights from Victoria and South Australia.  Keira and Caley are having a great time.  They're keeping a daily journal of life on the road and making the most of an extended summer . . .

Camping under the Koalas, Otway National Park, Victoria 

12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road, Victoria 

Flinders Ranges, South Australia 

Crossing the Nullarbor Desert, South Australia and Western Australia 

As we travel along, seeing new places for the first time, it feels very special to have my family together like this.