We make a great team - Bill, Julie and the new Land Cruiser ready to start their trip around Australia

The big Land Cruiser slowly rolled down the driveway and pulled out onto our street.  With that momentous movement it started a journey we had been dreaming about for almost 20 years and had feverishly been preparing for the last four weeks – a three month circumnavigation of Australia.  The opportunity had come sooner than we expected and with less run-up for preparation but here we were driving down our street in the first moments of the journey of a lifetime.

But hang on, how did we get in this situation?  Weren’t we only just yesterday living the
high life in Bangkok and exploring every corner of Asia?  Weren’t we just in magical places such as Bhutan, Tibet and Nepal?  And now we’re in a brand new beast of a vehicle with plans to drive around Australia.  What gives?

On the first day the Cruiser found a local street named after us!

Well, life takes its turns and the great gig we had going in Bangkok came to an end without us having a chance to travel to all the dream-like places we wanted to go.  So we spent all of May travelling to some of the most unique and special places in the world.  And we returned to Australia ahead of our 66 boxes shipped from Bangkok (OMG, what will we do with all that stuff?) with big plans of travelling around this huge continent before getting serious again about life and work and sensible responsibility.  All that boring stuff.

Julie putting on the final touches of her ensemble for the day after our first night of camping in the roof top tent

The focus of this big trip around Australia was mainly to spend as much time as possible in places inaccessible to shorter trips from Sydney.  This meant the Top End, or northern Northern Territory, and the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of northwest Australia.  It meant stunning drives through outback Australia and visiting some of the most remote and beautiful places on earth.  It meant camping almost every night, cooking and staying warm by the fire, counting the stars and being completely self-sufficient.  Perfect.

But you need good gear for this sort of expedition.  So we broke the piggy bank and bought a brand Toyota Land Cruiser 200 Series, the vehicle of choice for the serious long haul off road travellers of Australia.  Then we fitted it out with all the right gear – a bull bar, snorkel, dual battery wiring system, fridge, a roof top tent and awning, extra this and that’s, all sorts of stuff that will help make our lives as easy as possible.  Our plan was to travel as loosely as possible, follow our whims, plan the next day over our first cup of coffee, sleep in our cosy roof top tent and be as independent as possible.

The unique Bottle Tree come in different shapes and sizes but always with a very thick trunk

The beautiful King Parrot in Cania Gorge National Park

Our broad intention was to work our way around Australia counter-clockwise, mainly to take advantage of the dry season up north when the weather is cooler and drier.  So the idea was first to northern Queensland, then travelling westward into Northern Territory, then passing into northern Western Australia, making our way south along some of the inland tracks.  At some stage we hope to get near Perth and then travel one of the southern routes back to Sydney in late September.  Well, that’s the theory at least.

With a good stack of maps and plenty of technology to keep us wired in we headed north towards Brisbane. The drive up the coast was a bit of a trip down memory lane for us as we
reminisced on all the family holidays in beautiful beach side towns with the kids when they were young.  We used to spend countless long weekends and holidays with the car packed full of camping gear, staying at camp sites and exploring the nearby beaches and coastal
areas.  It was in these beautiful places the kids learned about swimming in the surf, camping in the rain, building fires, sleeping in tents.  Ah, the memories.

Its not all driving - stretching the muscles on a bush walk

Unfortunately we had a major family tragedy on the first day of our three month journey.  Our family dog the beloved Jello, treasured pet of our youngest son Zach, died peacefully in our backyard after more than 13 years in the family.  His timing was particularly bad since Zach was on holidays in Japan and we had left that morning but his passing was not
unexpected.  We will miss him.

The roof top tent in all its glory - very cosy and easy to use

As we drove northward we were accompanied by our new friend Karen who is the voice in the satellite navigation system and tells us when we are going too fast, when we’ve missed a turn or when we’ve arrived at our destination.  Karen can be a bit annoying sometimes but she seems to take the good with the bad in equal demeanour so we allow her to have her say and we make a good threesome as a result.

Julie (middle) with Mandy, Jamie Lee, Samantha and Mike - an unbelievable team under very challenging circumstances

On the Gold Coast we stayed with our old friends Mike and Mandy and their two beautiful daughters Jamie Lee and Samantha.  For all who know them this is a family all of us aspire to emulate for their love and strength and bravery under some of the most extraordinary challenges possible. But as a team they continue to work together to defy the odds and it was both entertaining and inspirational to spend time with them.  Go team!

Julie with her Dad on the Sunshine Coast

On the Sunshine Coast we enjoyed a pleasant lunch with Julie’s Dad and his wife and had a glimpse of their peaceful retired life in a beautiful quiet place of Queensland. Then it was northward and inland where we camped in a remote state forest, got our Land Cruiser muddy for the first time and watched scrub turkeys hunt for breakfast from our roof top tent on a foggy morning.

The drive further north was spectacular, sweeping grazing land with grass as high as the cattle and beautiful forests of gums along the hillsides.  As Queenslanders would say, this is God’s own country and they’ve got a good case such is the beauty of this rich and generous land.

A remote bush camp off the main road - Australia all to ourselves

One of many rivers we crossed on the way north - water levels are very low

The Land Cruiser enjoyed it too, hugging the narrow country roads, passing through small picturesque rural communities and cleverly avoiding the cattle that would sometimes wander onto the track.  But this is a vast land with long drives and big distances so our progress northward made little dent on the map.  We camped at the beautiful Cania Gorge National Park near the country town of Monto, living the dream life of nomads (but not grey yet!) and planning our itinerary day by day.  At this slow rate we’ll need three years to get around Australia….oh well….