Greetings family and friends and welcome to Blog Number 1.

We finally set out on our trip on Monday the 30th after my inability to pack up everything at home for an exit straight after church on Sunday as was the original plan. I did get ready to go by 3pm but then it started raining so we decided that a Monday morning departure would be much more appropriate. Our first destination was Warwick and we had a leisurely drive stopping in Beaudesert for lunch and some playground time.

The trip really started for me when we crossed the Great Dividing Range and I had plenty of time to contemplate on this as there were a number of roadwork points that required us to stop and watch lots of trucks and tractors at work, much to Jude's delight.

We ended our first day at Goomburra Valley Campground (as recommended by Ron - thanks) and arrived just as they were bringing their half dozen or so sheep in (again, much to Jude's delight). At only $12.50 for a powered site and with a spot right on the bank of the Dalrymple Creek this has been our favourite site so far - and we had it all to ourselves!

The next morning we set off for Warwick but not before Jude had a lot of fun running around the beautiful grounds and if it hadn't been our first stop I think we would have stayed there for a week!

We arrived in Warwick just before lunch and stopped to have a look around the historic centre before heading for the railway line and the museum that was supposed to be there but to no avail. We did find a spot on the other side of the tracks where there were some old carriages and wandered in to see if they knew where the museum was. There were 3 old guys there working on a steam engine and conversation revealed that they had never heard of any museum. They did however invite us in to have a look at the steam engine they were working on and let Jude and I up into the engine room where there was lots of coal waiting to be burned - but as the engine had blown up it was destined to sit there for a long time yet!

It was at this point that we were due to head for Toowoomba, but as we drove around town we saw a sign to Goondiwindi and it occurred to me that we that we could head north to Toowoomba ORRRRRRR we could head west to Goondiwindi and then south to SA to visit the family. So after a brief discussion with Jude (!), we decided on Goondiwindi and so it is that we find ourselves in Goolwa at my sister Ali's house and not in Cunnamulla or some such. But hey, we have no time schedule so we will just spend some time here and then head back up and start our 'real' trip.

We had an interesting trip here. A night in Moree and a turn in the hot springs, a night at a road side reserve just north of Dubbo where there were more vans and motorhomes than the first 2 caravan parks we'd stayed at!

Then half a day at the Dubbo Zoo (worth every penny and if we had been there longer we would have taken advantage of the free return for the next day. Highly recommended to everyone).

The last day was a massive drive from West Wyalong to Goolwa arriving at 8.30 on Saturday night and surprising Ali and Tim. Since then we have spent most of our time in Adelaide with Karyn and her family having lots of time with Aurora and Jude getting to play every day with his fave cousins JJ and Chantel.

Just gonna relax and spend time with family and friends for the next couple of weeks before heading back north (and escaping this wretched cold weather brrrrrrrrr).

July 4th - Well we are a few weeks down the track from when I started writing this (and then couldn't get any photos to load) so our time in SA has extended a bit longer than intended but with school holidays almost upon us we are planning on staying 2 more weeks and spending that time with all those who have holidays due.

Nothing earth-shattering to report. Have been dividing our time between Goolwa and Adelaide and have had a mix of good and bad weather but what can one expect in SA at this time of year?

Don't expect to have much of anything to report on here til our trip starts off again in a couple of weeks but please do keep an eye on it as I will update on a semi-regular basis to keep you all up to date.

Happy trails!

Pauline and Jude xx