Well, after the wonder of Carnarvon Gorge we were on the homeward leg, visiting Roma and the delightful Toowoomba on the way back to Bill's on the Gold Coast. We had decided to take Winnie back, for our last night in her, to the first site we had ever stayed on with her - Scarborough, where we had played in a tennis tournament in June last year. We checked in and ended up on site 48 - last time it was 49! We set up in about 10 minutes, remembering our anguish 15 months ago when it took us forever, watched by our kindly neighbour who proceeded to give us 'advice' at every opportunity. It was such hard work for us then, that the thought of packing Winnie up in the morning, to drive to the tennis, was a serious deterrent, so we ended up getting up at 6am to cycle the 5km to the tournament! Now we have it down to a fine art and it's a breeze - what a lot we have learnt on our travels!

Although Bob and I have flown back to the Gold Coast (at Christmas and for the Commonwealth Games) Winnie has just kept going around Oz, so seeing her parked outside Bill's house again was quite an emotional moment. We'd done it, we'd literally driven her around a lap of Australia, plus a 'bit' down into the middle, and loved every single minute (except for the breakdowns and punctures of course!). We have learnt SO much about everything - from cultures, geography, geology, flora and fauna, weather, farming, history, chemistry and road-trains to how a motorhome works, how to free camp and not run out of power, how to choose a good campsite, how to pick the best shower cubicle, how to cook without an oven and even how many different sorts of camper there are and how to avoid some of them!! And we couldn't have done any of this without Winnie!

When we chose Winnie we wanted a functional van that we could live in comfortably, so we didn't actually pick the newest van with its all-white, clinically clean, modern interior that looked fab. We picked the van with the most cupboards, a wardrobe, the most worktop space and the one where you didn't have to pack the bed up each day. Ok, she had an older, wooden, darker interior but she had everything we wanted. Winnie became ours!

She very quickly became our home - all of our 'stuff' fitted in and, after several reshuffles, we were happy with our storage! The best bit was the space over the cab, actually another double bed, but we used to chuck everything up there - suitcases, bodyboards, snorkels, back packs, shopping bags and wetsuits. Waltham, our mascot kangaroo, was given prime position looking out of the window and he was noticed by many a passerby! At first, Winnie obviously seemed small but we spent so much time outdoors that it really wasn't a problem. The funny thing is that the space got bigger as the trip went on and, by the end, she seemed huge and we each had our own space for chilling out! Bob even created 'The Cellar' under one seat, where our copious alcohol purchases from all the winery tours were stored!

Bob did have terrible trouble, throughout the trip, with banging his head. It was either on the overhead bed as you ducked to get into the cab, the corner unit by the sink or on an open window when outside. At first I was sympathetic, especially when blood was drawn, but I eventually got used to the 'thud' followed by an expletive and was in hysterics. Poor Bob just couldn't understand why I thought his 'thudf*cks' (as I nicknamed them for obvious reasons) were funny and the crosser he became the funnier it was. I had to turn away, even hide in the loo, when I heard the telltale thud as my amusement made him even crosser!! You would have thought he would have learnt, but no, he was still doing it right till the end!

Poor Winnie hadn't been used much for a couple of years before we bought her and, we now know, that she much prefers being driven every day. Her windscreen wiper motor gave out quite soon after setting off, obviously when it was raining, and we had to wait a week for the part to come from Sydney! We also had a few hiccups mechanically but, by far the worst, were the two occasions when we had to watch her being loaded onto a tow-truck. Thank goodness we had taken out a good roadside assistance policy! It's such a weird feeling watching your 'home' being taken away with all your possessions in it - not a nice feeling! However, once sorted with the help of Google and a brilliant garage in Adelaide, Winnie has never looked back mechanically.

Apart from that Winnie has behaved impeccably. It wasn't her fault when the water hose shot off and flooded out next door - the site's water pressure was very high! And it wasn't her fault that a monster bug got into the roof space and kept us awake all night with it's fluttering! It also wasn't her fault when the battery drained overnight and set off an alarm that woke the whole campsite - who knocked that switch?!

Winnie has been with us throughout our adventure in Oz, and it was always going to be emotional when we said goodbye. We hated leaving her in Melbourne and Perth when we flew back, so we knew what was coming. We decided to empty her, clean her up and take her to a dealer, to sell on our behalf, as soon as we got back to Bill's. Yes, it would have been nice to keep her and use her up to the end of our stay here but, in our heads, we had finished the lap of Oz and it was the end of our adventure with Winnie. We were both dreading the day, and prolonging it was not going to help, so we have said a very sad goodbye to Winnie and left her in the care of a Gold Coast dealership. She is still ours until she sells but we have said our thanks and goodbyes and walked away in tears!!

So, onto the next part of the journey! We are now enjoying being back on the Gold Coast with Bill again and it will be good to meet up with all our Aussie friends before we leave. Then, early October, we will be heading to Bali for a couple of weeks before heading back to the UK in mid-October. We still don't know where to yet but, as it says on a present that was given to us "The best adventure is what lies ahead" so watch this blog!

For those of you interested we have compiled a few interesting facts and figures for you as to where Winnie has gone and what she has done:

Time we've spent in Winnie:

15 months

Types of campsite:

Caravan Parks, Free Camps, Show-grounds, Rest Stops, Roadhouses, Station Stays, Car-parks, Golf Clubs, Country Pubs and even people's gardens!

Number of campsites:

174

No. of boats Winnie's been on:

3

No. of racetracks driven:

1

Number of gas bottles used:

7

Mileage:

35,947 kms (22,467 miles)

Fuel:

4,695 litres at a cost of $6847

States we went to:

Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territories (technically not a state!). The one we missed? Australia Capital Territory (which is basically the city of Canberra).