Well this is it folks...I'm home and in the process of moving all my furniture and belongings back into the house... I miss my little van!!! I'm sure I'll take off again in the future, but in the meantime here's the promised summary of the 12 months travel.
During the trip I spent around $400 on at least 80 magnets covering many of the towns and tourist spots where I stayed and/or visited. The following is a photo of the main magnetic board in the van. Another smaller magnetic noticeboard has the remainder. 😱 and I love them all, they're a great keepsake.
Here's some Statistics...
Travel Dates 15 March 2019 to 19 March 2020
Distance travelled by car 35,000kms
Car Statistics,
Car was filled 132 times with 4824 litres of fuel used.
The petrol price averaged 149.0 c/L
Most expensive petrol was on the Nullarbor, 198.9c/L
Cheapest petrol was in Melbourne when I left to return home at 111.9c/L
Distance the caravan has been towed 22,753kms
The number of parks/camps I stayed at - 137
Average daily accommodation cost $45 (the most expensive accomodation was $75 per night and the cheapest were a few free camps!! Anytime during school holiday season and at all the major tourist hot spots and grey nomad hot spots (eg. East coast and west coast holiday resorts such as Exmouth) were expensive.
The most asked question I get is...What was the highlight of your trip? All I can say is…I can't answer that as there were too many!!! Highlights came in many different ways...To try and give you an idea I've listed some of the most memorable, fun, exciting and fascinating things I did over the 12 months.
The preceding number on the list indicates the Blog number if you wish to read up on the topic.
4: Warner Bros movie world with my three granddaughters and their parents
4: Fraser island
5: Whitehaven Beach
6: Mamu Rainforest Tropical skywalk
6: My Cassowary encounter
6: Sky Rail Cairns
7: Split Rock indigenous art at Laura (I saw quite a lot of rock art, but think this was the most amazing although Kakadu was pretty good too)
9: Cobbold Gorge
9: Karumba Sunsets
9 & 10: Lawn Hill & Adele’s Grove
10: Mary Kathleen Uranium Mine
11: Devils Marbles
12: Helicopter ride over Nitmilik National Park (Katherine gorge)
13: Litchfield National Park
13: Kakadu
14: Lake Argyle
15: Broome and Horizontal Falls tour
16: Deep sea charter boat fishing tour
17: The Pilbara region and Karijini National Park
18: SITMEX party week!! Exmouth & Cape Range National Park
19: Coral Bay - off road rush tour
20: Shark Bay - Dirk Hartog Island tour
21: Kalbarri National Park
22: Abrolhos Islands tour
22: Snorkelling with the sea lions
22: The Pinnacles Desert
23: Christmas in Yanchep
23: Rottnest Island
23: Exploring the Margaret River region
24: Albany- Virtual reality trip to Antartica,
24: Little Beach at Two peoples Bay
24 Kalgoorlie Superpit tour
24 & 25: Beaches on the south coast of WA
25: The Nullarbor crossing and golf challenge
25: Wudinna and the car breakdown
27: 12 Apostles coastline
27: Red Hot Summer Tour with Jodi & Phillip. (before Covid!!)
I am also asked "were you ever scared or did you feel unsafe"...The straight answer is NO, but there were a few times when I was conscious of making sure I was locked up securely at night particularly in the more outback remote areas of Northern Australia. In the vast majority of caravan parks people look out for each other and never intrude on others space. There was only one incident when I mediated an argument between a couple at Halls Creek that could have been difficult, and in hindsight I probably shouldn't have got involved. I was with Susan Pattison at the time and we ended up calling the police.
There were a few Lowlights, but nothing that made me ever feel like I needed to turn around and come home.
(The preceding number on the list indicates the Blog number if you wish to read up on the topic)
1: Having my good Avanti bike stolen off the back of the van before even leaving Albury (and YES it was securely locked on)
5: Losing a diamond earring and my Fit Bit on Whitehaven Beach…an expensive day!!!
8: Caravan being electrified/live because water had got into the 240V van input!!! (It was initially thought to be a 12V problem, but by the time the problem was found it was a 240V issue. I was very lucky, although I didn’t connect power until it was found and fixed…about 3 weeks later).
19: Being badly bitten by midges and then getting shingles!!
Joys
* Camping and hanging out with my daughter and her family a few times over the 12 months
* Meeting and travelling with new friends I made along the way.
* Travelling with friends who flew in to bunk in with me for a week or two.
* Catching up with old friends and other family as I travelled around Australia
* Walking and swimming at some magnificent beaches.
* Seeing such amazing variations in the Australian landscape (mountain ranges, deserts, gorges, oceans)
* A chance to listen to some amazing books as I travelled (😍“BorrowBox” was a great friend)
* Discovering new podcasts...
Many of the books and podcasts I listened to or read, and even Netflix series I watched, was on the recommendation from Leigh Sales and Annabelle Crabb from their podcast Chat 10 Looks 3. Their facebook page and their website https://www.chat10looks3.com/ is worth checking out.
What worked for me...
Telstra 4G unlimited Wifi package on my mobile, which gave me a personal hotspot to my iPad and computer. If I had phone reception I had Wifi. The TV in the van required reprogramming at every destination and was often poor reception so I gave up. Using my hotspot on the iPad or computer I could watch TV live or catch up and the reception was nearly always better. And I always had books downloaded to read or listen to if there was no Wifi available.
Having a GPS fitted into the car and using google maps. Having access to both, I was never afraid of getting lost.
Having cameras fitted to the car and caravan. Hooking up was a breeze!!!
The caravan was a dream to pull and was an extremely comfortable home away from home.
Writing a blog was time consuming, but I have remembered so much more about the trip than I would have done if I hadn’t documented it and it helped me feel connected to family and friends.
Buying a 12 month pass to WA National Parks gave me entry to the many WA parks.
Having the “Borrowbox” App on my iPad (e-Audiobooks and e-books) and listening to and reading some amazing books (mostly recommended by Leigh sales) The audio books on the long haul trips kept me thoroughly entertained. I've listened to some amazing biographies, autobiographies and non fiction stories of peoples lives.
What didn’t work
People told me I would take too much stuff and I did!!!😏
Even though I took painting and music materials with me I was too busy travelling to paint or organise any gigs. BUT I did take masses of photos and now have a huge amount of source material when I get my brushes out again!!! And I did play the Uke from time to time around the van.
On a more general note...I was never homesick or lonely travelling on my own and I never regretted or had second thoughts that I'd made the wrong decision to rent out my house for 12 months and travel. My van created a lot of interest and almost daily someone would approach me to ask about it and a conversation would start up. Peoples stories were fascinating. Would I do it again...YES. Would I recommend it...YES.
It's been an AWESOME experience!!!
Well...it's been fabulous having you along for the ride.This is my last post documenting "Where Will I Park My Van Tonight" so until we meet again may you stay safe, happy and healthy.
You never know...you may hear from me again on another journey in the future 😎
All the best 🥂Anne