ETA was 2:30pm on the 17th and we missed it by 25 minutes due to traffic and a quick stop at the bottle shop to get some cold beers. Pulling into 230 Heytesbury Road we all felt a huge sense of excitement but also a sadness that our adventure was over. Meg was absolutely filthy and Fi and the boys and I weren't in a much better state. We had a quick look around at the boxes strewn throughout our house before deciding it was not the day to start unpacking then Bailey and Harry christened their new pool and made a big splash. The immediate plan was to clean and tidy the trailer which we did then cracked open the beers and a bottle of wild turkey with the family. I would like to write down what happened next, but I simply don't remember as the bottle of Wild Turkey got drunk and we ended up meeting our new neighbours who climbed over the brick wall between our properties to introduce themselves and their two girls, the same age as Harry and one a bit younger who spent the evening in the pool splashing around. It seems our new lives were about to begin and the next chapter has started.

To all those that persisted and read our little adventure from start to finish, Well Done! And THANKS. This blog was intended as a record of our adventure for both Baily and Harry so they have something to look back on and maybe, one day, realise how lucky they were and how awesome their time on the road was to them and also to Fi and I. We also wrote this to give our wonderful friends in England, Australia and around the world a little slice of our lives and what a funny ol' place Australia is. For those that have an itch to do something similar, our advice is "do it…." Fi and I had such a wonderful time. The characters we met, many whom didn't even get a mention here, and the amazing places we saw will stay with us forever. We all learnt so much about Australia, each other and how lucky we all are. We will never forget the times we had together and also the special opportunity we managed to have with our two wonderful boys which we love with all our hearts. To Bailey and Harry…. We Love You.

The trip by numbers

21,789 km - total distance travelled

489 - number of dead roos we saw

1 - roos hit

278 - number of times we had to shout at the boys to stop them fighting

1,071 - number of Weetbix biscuits eaten

6 - turtles we swam with at the Great Barrier Reef

1 - wombat sighted (Yeah….we really did see one!!)

9 - tourist selfies photobombed by the boys

31 - number of times the tent was put up/down

4 - nights spent in Motels/Hotels

137 - flat whites purchased around Australia (Best : Leche, in Yamba NSW)

19 - packets of Chocolate Honeycomb Squares eaten.

17 - packets of the above, eaten by Daddy when no one was looking…..

12 - giant fiberglass things sighted along the way, ie big banana, big peanut, big sheep etc.

1 - jelly fish sting (Poor Bailey, on Magnetic Island)

12 - fish caught that we could actually eat and were of size.

1 - batteries replaced in the car

$2,310 - how much we under-budgeted for extra camping equipment we forgot to buy when we left

$2.04 - most expensive fuel per litre (Nullabor Road House, SA)

$1.149 - cheapest fuel per litre (Innisfail, QLD)

1 - number of stingrays Harry stepped on

2 - shark sightings

2 - birds hit by Meg along the Nullabor

69 - masterfoods meal in a packets used

0 - masterfoods meal in a packets that we'll use again when we get back to Perth

1 - famous people sighted (Alison Lester in Fish Creek)

3 - times Daddy was mistaken for a bush ranger with his ginger beard

1 - speeding fines (Bruce Highway, QLD. $150 for being 9km over the 60km limit….)

1 - haircuts for Fi (Sawtell, NSW.)

0 - haircuts for Daddy and the boys

179,487 - bogans sighted (40% of these sighted at the AC/DC concert)

5 - times during the trip we contemplated staying where we were and setting up house (Daintree, QLD; Sawtell, NSW; Secret Spot where my Uncle lives, NSW; Bowen, QLD; Denmark, WA)

4 - grandparents that are stoked that we are back in Perth……

4 - members of the Alexander family that had an awesome trip.

The End.