Sunday 7 December. Well this is the last chapter of our year long journey around Australia. We now head the short distance back to Melbourne to complete our circuit and sell Sheila before heading home. We left the last stretch of desert driving, an eight hour drive from Cober Pedy to Port Augusta. We had mixed feelings of sadness and joy to be leaving the hot red dusty nothingness. It can be incredibly boring driving for hours on end and sweating in unbearable heat and not seeing another living soul but we have spent many days doing this throughout the year and the prospect of this being our last dose made us appreciate and hate in equal measures. We arrived in Port Augusta just after dark and after phoning people back home we found a posh residential area to camp in. The following day we used the Library and its free internet for a few hours before driving south to Adelaide where we planned to spend a couple of days. After camping in a residential area on the out skirts of the city we drove into the centre. Our lonely planet book had told us that you can hire bikes for two hours free of charge. We located the bike hire place and the lady told us it was free all day. We decided that we would cycle to the coast which would take a couple of hours each way. There was only two free bikes left in the shop as it was nearing lunch time. We donned our fetching helmets that must be worn in Oz by law and headed for the river cycle track that would lead us to the coast. The ride was very pleasant and the sun was out. We arrived at the sea and stopped in a bar and had a beer before cycling back to the city. On the way back we stopped by some friendly horses who ate some of our mints. When we got back to the city we walked around the CBD then made our way to China Town for dinner. Adelaide's China Town is very small in comparison to other major cities. We found a restaurant that was brimming with Asians, which is always a good sign of good food, and ate far too much. We returned to the van which we had parked in a warehouse that had been converted into parking only ten minutes walk from the city. We planned to sleep here as the ticket was valid until morning but upon returning to the van we found the warehouse to be deserted and very dark and spooky looking. We camped in a residential area just East of the city. The next day we headed for the famous Barossa Valley to visit some vineyards. We drove through The Adelaide Hills east of the city and through the Chain of Ponds which were more like lakes. We visited a reservoir with a wall hundreds of meters long. It was called the whispering wall, one person stands at one end and one person at the other then when you talk you can hear each other perfectly due to the curved wall and the way in which the sound travels along it. I was very sceptical when we read about it and very surprised at the effect. We drove through the Barossa Valley and to a lookout on top of the highest hill. The views were superb, green grape vines in neat lines as far as the eye can see. We found Jacobs Creek vineyard and treated ourselves to a meal and a bottle of bubbly as an early Christmas present to ourselves. Before our meal we tasted nearly all the wines that the vineyard had to offer, naturally. After our very yummy meal and bubbles, we tasted some port then stumbled back to the van. It was still lunchtime. We got in the back and continued listening to The Life of Pi audio book and were awoken by a security guard at 7.30pm. We were probably still over the limit so we drove out of the vineyard and into a lay-by where we continued to sleep until morning. We drove back through the Adelaide Hills to Mt Lofty east of Adelaide where you get fantastic views over the city and down to the sea. We bought a souvenir vase that had been carved out of 100 year old recycled red gum fence posts at a shop near Mt Lofty. We headed south towards the Victoria border and camped in Bordertown in a free camp site listed on our map. It was in the middle of some woods down a dirt track with an old saw mill. In the morning we left South Australia and crossed the invisible line into Victoria. The weather had turned very stormy and rain lashed against the windscreen. We went through the Grampians National Park which is a large mountain range with stunning winding roads and beautiful views of valleys, due to the rain we saw little of the latter. After the National Park we reached a town called Heywood. So Victoria Heywood was now in Heywood, Victoria. We took the obligatory photos of the road signs then moved on heading for the start of the Great Ocean Road. The following morning the rain was still hurling itself from the skies. We drove the Great Ocean Road stopping at all the tourist places on the way, leaping from the van to take photos then jumping back in. It was beautiful to see this rugged coast being battered by the elements and the rain didn't dampen our spirits. The walk to the Twelve Apostles was the longest and we were soaked through by the time we got back to the van. So much for the iconic photo of a blood red sky and the jutting rocks reaching from the neon blue surf. We had a sort of greyish black sky with dirty water and rain drops all over the lens. Nearing the end of the Great Ocean Road heading towards Torquay the road winds with the sea on your right and a cliff on the left. Due to all the rain there was lots of rocks and mud on the road that had fallen from the cliff. You had to weave in and out of these boulders on the road and once a couple of big rocks fell from the cliff and landed on the road right in front of us. We arrived safely in Torquay without being stoned (not in the good way) and sat in a car park overlooking the beach watching the surfers in the rain. We stayed the night and the following day in Torquay watching the surfers and kite surfers on Bells Beach. Bells Beach is famous for its surf and holds a pro competition each year. The town of Torquay is very surf orientated and its laid back persona mirrors this lifestyle. We left the town in the late afternoon and started the very last leg of our journey to Melbourne. Torquay is only about 100km away from Melbourne so it didn't take us long to reach the city where our year long circuit started. As we approached Westgate Bridge and the heat shimmering skyscrapers came into view before us we both grinned. We were very proud of ourselves and all that lay between us and our longing for home was selling the van and relaxing for a few weeks in the sun. We arrived at Chris and Jane's in Blairgowrie that evening with spirits at bursting point. It was one week until Christmas. We spent a very relaxing Christmas period with Chris and Jane. Eating, drinking, playing 500 and generally being lazy, bliss. On Christmas day we walked the short stroll to the beach and I had a swim. It wasn't the warmest day of late but the novelty of swimming on Christmas day was well worth the chilly water. (well I say it wasn't warm, it was in the late 20's better than most summer scorchers back home but cold for us acclimatised oven baked chooks). We drove Sheila to the City, (about an hour away), on NewYears eve as we planned to spend new year with the half million others that were to descend that night. We stayed with Judy again, as she had kindly offered to put us up while we sold Sheila. We got the tram into the centre as they ran all night for free. Federation square was heaving. We watched the fireworks there at 9pm then tried to make our way to South Bank where we hoped to grab some drinks before midnight. The police had closed all roads in the central area around Federation Square to traffic and had divided them with barriers for streaming people in and out of the square. As everyone was now trying to leave the Square and head towards South Bank the one way walkways soon became packed. We were barely moving. Nobody was walking into Federation Square so half the road was empty but the police wouldn't let anyone cross the small barrier. This resulted in hundreds of thousands of people being bottlenecked in the same direction and it taking around an hour to travel 100meters. In good spirits we tried to find a bar after our sardine packing but all along South Bank (which sports many watering holes) bouncers were charging $50-$100 entry so we passed. SOBER ON NEW YEAR! We did eventually find a place to get a drink at around 11.30pm in Harbour City where they had a huge screen showing films and where the midnight fireworks were due to be. We sat on a patch of grass and waited for the countdown. There was no countdown. Suddenly fireworks started going off and people jumped up looking at watches and then hugging and people shouting happy new year all at different times. We were expecting a 3...2...1 HAPPY NEW YEAR in unison with half a million people but got unexpected fireworks and bewildered 'oh yes it is midnight HAPPY NEW YEAR's' Any way we hugged and kissed our new year in at sometime between 11.55pm and 12.05am then watched the fire works. The fireworks were by far the most impressive display we had ever seen. The noise and sheer size was overwhelming. There were fireworks that seemed to have three stages, there would be a huge bang and lots of red dots then the red dots would explode themselves into lots of blue dots then the blue dots would bang then scream into whizzy white dots. After the fireworks we wondered through the thousands of people and eventually made it back home to Judy's via a very packed free tram. A new year is here. Now to sell the van. We had already printed up several adverts with photos whilst in Blairgowrie explaining how fantastic Sheila was, so we hit the city centre leafleting every hostel, internet café and laundrette we could find. In the days that followed we did some work for Judy. We cleared her garden, hung a gate and even put a floor down in her attic. We had to replace the windscreen on Shiela as stones kicked up by a road train on the Nullarbor had cracked it. The two cracks that were only a few inches long had now crept half way across the windscreen. Within a week we were showing Sheila off to a young Italian couple who seemed very interested. They knocked $1000 off our advert price and we made a deal to sell Sheila for the sum of $4000, which is exactly what we paid for her one year ago, minus the professional campervan conversion of bed, electric and shower. Before we could sell the van we had to get an MOT equivalent a Road Worth Certificate. We had spoken to Rob, the guy who helped us buy Sheila who owns a car rental company, whilst we had been advertising her. He said once we had found a buyer to come to him and he would sort that for us. Rob sent us to a garage who done a free check. To pass the road worthy we would need two tyres, an indicator lens, a fan belt, a new seatbelt clip and the reverse lights looking at. The estimate was just short of $400. We went back to Rob and he looked at the list and said 'don't worry about it, just give him $200 and he will sort it'. Sure enough, after retrieving relevant details from the van, the next day we had a Road Worthy Certificate with no work needed. We filled out forms with the new buyers and after swapping keys for cash Sheila was driving off down the road in a new chapter of her life. It was sad to see her go but we are glad that another couple will be lapping Australia in her. With our sadness was also a huge sigh of relieve, we were glad to have sold her in plenty of time. The last thing we wanted was to be stuck near our due out date and have to take whatever anyone offered. We now had three weeks left to relax in the sun before our flight. We spent the next few days at Judy's house then went back to Blairgowrie to be by the sea. 'Our bags are packed we are ready to go'. So we bid this blog writing malarkey farewell and smile widely at our time in Australia.

Farewell Sheila,

33,784km,

$5,328.89c in fuel,

12 months,

4 wheels,

1 couple,

0 roo road kill.

THE END.