Our first sign giving our final destination - Sydney

Nobody likes going home after a great holiday.  It means the end of a fun carefree lifestyle, seeing new places, trying new food, spending time out of the tiresome routine of life and out of our normal comfort zone.  It means back to work, back to school, back to paying bills, back to the boring old same-o same-o.  But in our case the whole situation is magnified a hundred fold as we reluctantly turn for home after more than three months on the road and return to a family home and ‘normal’ scene we had been away from for almost five years.  Talk about a milestone moment!

The endless plains of grain also meant many large silos for storage

And yet here we were, almost 2,000 kilometres from that family home but now zeroing in on what day we would get back and for the first time trying to get our mind around the hundreds of issues we would have to face once we got there.  Some of those issues were very exciting while others were seriously intimidating.  Let’s enjoy the drive first and worry about all that later.

Cut hay rolled up for as far as you could see

At Ceduna we had our final views of the Southern Ocean and the Great Australian Bight before turning east to cross the most northern part of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.  This vast thinly populated land surprised us for its long stretches of rolling hills and flat plains covered in wheat, hay and other grains, for its small towns with odd names and its many signs trying to beckon us to explore other places such as Gawler Ranges National Park, Lake Gilles, Port Lincoln and Whyalla.  We give full credit to those who named places such as Mudamuckla, Poochera, Buckleboo and our favourite, Iron Knob.

The Big Galah marks the self-proclaimed half way point between Perth and Sydney

No matter how hard we tried we couldn't avoid the wildflowers

On the northern tip of the Spencer Gulf we came to the major regional town of Port Augusta, which hasn’t actually been a port for a few decades but still acts as a launch pad for anyone venturing into South Australia’s outback.  We ended up in a beautiful little bush camp that night near the little town of Wilmington which is on the southern reaches of the Flinders Ranges.  The next day we ventured into nearby Mt. Remarkable National Park to enjoy a couple of lovely peaceful walks down in Alligator Gorge and travelled up and down its mountainous roads until our brakes were smoking.

The mining memorial at Broken Hill

The drive further east toward Broken Hill was across the endless lifeless plains of South Australia with rarely a bush rising above the knee and only a scant tree or two on the horizon to break the scene.  But Broken Hill, the vibrant mining town with a great name and a parallel economy based on its reputation as an artist’s colony,  has much to offer and we allowed ourselves a few hours to take in the scenes, including visiting a couple of artist’s studios, the mining memorial and stone sculptures on a high hill outside of town.

The abandoned train station in Olary - nothing to see here

The next day we passed through the small town of Wilcannia, well known as a busy inland port in the early 20^th century when an endless stream of paddle steamers would travel up the Darling River to load wool and other products from the nearby stations.
But the featureless flat plains of dry bush in all directions took us ever eastward and the smell for home became stronger as the kilometres ticked by.

Enjoying our last lunch at a winery in Mudgee with the old family farm in the background

But wait, let’s not allow this unforgettable journey to finish quite yet, especially when we are so close to the green hills and vineyards of Mudgee, a town which has close links to Julie’s family.  So we spent the last night in a bush camp near a dry creek bed, enjoying our last barbeque on the fire and our last night spent in our beloved roof top tent.  The next day we passed through the beautiful green rolling hills with fat cattle and sheep grazing in the long grass, a far cry from what we have been seeing recently.  And then, why not, we stopped for lunch at a winery near Mudgee which overlooked an old farmhouse that was in Julie’s family and was the site of many great summer holidays for her and family as kids.

Sadly the sign says it all

And then, all too soon but still greatly anticipated, we rolled into our family home in Sydney, the end to our epic journey.  We stopped to see our daughter and her husband with only an hour to go and were greeted at home by our delighted two sons.  Over the next few days we caught up with many family and friends to relive our great journey and began the enormous task of trying to be ‘normal’ again.

There is no way to adequately express the sense of wonder at where we went, what we saw and who we met along the way but we do know it has significantly changed how we look at Australia, it has made us stronger as a couple and it has made us yearn for more in the future.  Bring it on!

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Some quick fact for those so inclined –