St George region to Brisbane

We left Tom’s property near St George on Saturday afternoon and headed to Oakey to stay with Therese and Bruce on their property. Oakey had minus 5 degrees the night before we arrived, so that was one excuse for the kids sleeping in the house, while Claire and Jim braved the camper trailer. During the day, Jim did some tractor driving while the kids got haircuts in town. Ned also helped paint Bruce’s new cattle crate for his truck.

Elsie helped keep the others amused in the car by games such as this on the way to Oakey

Bruce had some new babies at Oakey

We left Oakey after 3 nights and wound our way through the beautiful scenery of the sunshine coast hinterland. After a late lunch in Maleny we set up camp for the last time at Coolum Beach - a great spot for our last night in the camper trailer. The next morning we travelled north for a swim at Noosa which was about 10 times more beautiful than we remembered – the National Park up to the water’s edge, a deep blue cloudless sky and crystal clear water. We’ll definitely be back. (The kids say it’s much better than Cable Beach.)

Coolum Beach - we thought this was good, but Noosa was better!

Then with sadness (for Jim at least) we headed home that afternoon to slip back into “normal” life. Even before we crossed the Gateway Bridge Jim was trying to plan timings and locations for our next trip.

 PS - Jim lost his mobile phone somewhere between Darwin and Brisbane, so cannot receive any phone messages. Please use email or Claire's phone to contact Jim (e.g. for job offers, large monetary gifs, etc)

Thank you all for reading this blog – I hope you enjoyed it. Earlier on, I wasn’t sure how many people, if any, were reading it - so thanks for the positive feedback along the way. It was a trip of a life time that we will never forget.

The actual route we finally took - 17 300 km

Some relevant stats from the trip:

Distance travelled: 17 300 km

Fuel (diesel) used: just over 2600 litres

Time away: one day short of 12 weeks

Favourite place (family consensus) : Uluru – it’s VERY big

Favourite campsite: Lots, but our spot on the grassy shores of Lake Kununurra was pretty special

Highest fuel price: $2.13/litre at Yulara (Uluru)

Highest camping fee per night: $76 at Coolum Beach

Average fuel consumption: About 15 litres per 100 km (The fully loaded trailer was just under 1.5 tonnes)

No. of times bogged: 1 (nearly 2)

No. of flat tyres: none (due to being totally prepared with 2 spares and a puncture repair kit)

FAREWELL FOR NOW!!