The Last Leg

Heading south from Port Augusta towards Adelaide, we stopped at a small town called Port Germein. This had also entered the annals of Youssef family tradition on our previous trip.

It is a very small town with two or three streets, a caravan park, a pub, a general store, and a very long jetty. On our last trip, in January, it was crabbing season. If you go to the end of the jetty, drop in a crab basket with a fish head in it, and wait ten minutes, one, two, or sometimes more big blue swimmer crabs will march into your basket ready for eating. It is such a magic place, and we absolutely loved it last time, as well as feasting on so many crabs we couldn't eat any more.

So we had to drop in again and see it - it is still there, and still lovely, although it is not crabbing season at the moment. Will have to come back here again.

We then proceeded to Adelaide and caught up with Steph, as well as some old old friends. We had lived in Adelaide for two years, way back, before the kids were born. A few of our old friends were still there, and certainly looked the part of old friends - with greying hair, receding hair lines, and expanding bellies. Their kids had grown up, some married and with children of their own, and many moved on to Sydney or Melbourne. Things have really changed; it was not like old times.

But we did catch up with Steph and hung around with her in town. We had found a caravan park 2 Kms from the CBD (the nearest caravan park to any capital city in Australia, according to the proud manager) and walked in to meet Steph at Rundle Mall and various other town icons.

But after a few days, home was beckoning and we dragged ourselves away. George was now feeling the pull, as well as the pressure of the many tasks he had to do before he went back to work, so we decided to head home a couple of weeks earlier than we had first anticipated. We stopped in Warracknabeal on the way to check in on our property there, and came across a fund raising brick we had put in the pavement there when we first visited - in 1999!! These last few stops have really got the memories jogging.

And now we are home. Daniel is here and doing well. The house is in reasonable shape - better than I expected. And there is a lot to do to get normal life going again - relearning old habits, and remembering how we used to do things.

So, what have we learned from our experience? Certainly that Australia is a BIG country, and has some amazing places in it. (We are already starting to plan for the next trip.) I have realized we have far too much "stuff", and am de-cluttering ruthlessly. You realize how few things you actually need to live comfortably. And I am looking forward to catching up with all my friends and sharing some wonderful stories and good times with you all.

GeorgeY's bit

So it cometh to an end, and before a sum up is considered, we must acknowledge the Transit Sunliner which became our home and transport for the trip, and was always friendly and comfortable. Transit hath provideth the proof to justify the title of " reliable beast " bestowed upon him, and with 20,000 km travelled, he did mot miss a beat.

So finally this is what I found out:

1) Australia is beautiful, but WA is overpriced. For example, James paid $15 for a salad that consisted of some rocket leaves and stuff he used to spray with Round Up when he was young.
2) Tourist brochures are written by people suffering from a detachment from reality, and a penchant to exaggerate, through the liberal use of adjectives.
3) Air con is noisy and not worth turning on, when we have carefully chosen the time for our trip.
4) Best things to enjoy free are sunshine, air, beaches, sunsets, nature and WiFi.
5) Coffee quality is inversely proportional to the squared distance from Carlton Victoria. Hence, if you are anywhere between Darwin and Perth, a better alternative is dishwashing water, or the liquid you collect from marinating heavily soiled socks and undies.
6) The camera can never do justice to beautiful scenery.
7) The generator was never used, but worked as a security blanket.

Many things enjoyed, and less photos taken. But for the next trip, some rules to follow

1) Road signs take priority over navigator's instructions.
2) A good free rest area must have at least 5 campers by 4pm.
3) Electricity makes life cosy, and can be converted to espresso when needed.
4) I declared war on adjectives, especially used in tourist brochures, so to get the facts I weed out all adjectives. Here is an example we prepared earlier -

Tourist brochure version -
Exmouth is home to the world's largest fringing reef - the World Heritage listed Ningaloo Reef. This underwater paradise is a popular spot for all kinds of visitors, from dolphins, manta rays, turtles and humpback whales, to the largest fish in the ocean - the gentle whale shark.

Translation - Exmouth has a reef, with some fauna.

Nice to be back, but I am cold and missing the Sun.