"Home Sweet Home"

What an amazing Walkabout we have had the privilege to go on. We have seen so many wonderful places and learned so much about Australia and its people. We covered as much of this huge country as we could have done in the couple of months we allowed, leaving perhaps only the north west for another time.

With nine flights, various cars, a few trains, trams, cable cars, boats and even a camel we have travelled we think about 25,000 miles and incredibly all without a hitch. (We promise to plant more trees to offset our carbon foot print).

The house swap with Bunty and Bruce has been a great success. Thank you so much to David and Janet for facilitating this. Having their two beautiful homes as a base to explore Western Australia from helped us to experience Australian life from a more personal perspective and with the generosity of their friends and neighbours we felt very so welcome.

Bunty and Bruce we know had a very special time in our home and also found the natives pretty friendly. Thank you to all of you who offered them such warm hospitality, I know they appreciated it and have gone home with some enduring memories of our little corner of the world. It does feel strange that we have not actually met them ourselves but hopefully that can happen next year sometime.

After all our adventures we have arrived home with a broadened outlook on the world around us. There are certainly some incredible and diverse places out there but our own home and all our family and friends are the most precious things to us. We are pleased to be home with you all again and to be getting back into the familiar rhythm of our lives.

Scampi who has had a great holiday with Val and Will (helped by Chris) seems quite pleased too that we are all back together again in our proper places.