The Great Australian Dream...

it's said here in Australia, that the great Australian dream is when you retire, you sell your house and buy a caravan or motorhome and travel around Australia.  For some this is the dream,  and others....well...they'd prefer to keep their home and maybe do a bit of travelling here and there.  There are even others who've sold their home and taken their kids with them on this Australian adventure.

Well, this is something that Chris and I have wanted to do for quite a while.  We bought our first motorhome a couple of years ago.  We took our first trip to Armidale to see the turning of the leaves. That was in April and of course the trees had already turned and were dropping their leaves.  We did have the pipes freeze up that first night, so we had to wait for the pipes to thaw out to have showers.  But nothing would deter us, as this was our maiden voyage, and we were loving it.  We thoroughly enjoyed the brisk air in Armidale and the old country feel about the place.

Our BIG trip was in 2006 where we headed off to Cooktown.  Oh, that was a wonderful trip.  I was the navigator and Chris the driver.  We spent 6 weeks on the road.  That was a long time, but it was so much fun.  We  snorkelled on the reef off Airlie Beach, bush walked in some of the most spectacular forests

Saw museums, and some beautiful sights.  And some scary sights too, like crocodiles along the Daintree riverbanks.  We paddled in some of the clearest lakes I've ever seen, in the Atherton Tablelands.  We saw those big blue butterflies, which I took about 15 pictures of,  but my camera wasn't fast enough to capture a clear shot of  it's flight.  We travelled on the train  going up to Kuranda, and then with my eyes closed and a tight nervous grip,we travelled the cable cars back down to sea level.

On our last trip in August 2007, we travelled to the outback.  Oh, now THAT was a sight to see.  We used to live in Toowoomba, and we did a lot of travelling with our jobs as sales representatives.  But this,...well it's totally different seeing it through a tourist's eyes.  We travelled out to Winton, via Longreach.  We saw emus in the paddocks, kangaroos bounding across the dry barren land, eagles picking at the carcasses alongside the road.  And bull dust.  I NOW know what bull dust is all about.  While we were in Winton, we decided we needed to see Lark Quarry.  It's about 110klm south of Winton.  Great spot!!  but if you ever want to see it  I suggest you leave your caravan or motorhome in Winton and take a tour.  We had bull dust EVERYWHERE!!!  It took us a couple of  hours to clean it all up thoroughly.  And if you ever get to the outback you must listen to a bush poet.  We heard some of the finest yarns (stories) that came alive and you were living it, while they were speaking.  Yes, when we get back to the outback, I'll definitely pull up a chair to hear those stories again.

And here we are, once again,  getting ready to sell our house.  Chris has spent the last two years fixing this place up.  When we moved into it in 2002, he said don't get comfortable, because we're going to sell it.  My response, is that I'm not going anywhere.  This is THE place where I'm going to retire and die.  Well, just about 6 months ago, I got the itchy feet.  ME!!!  itchy feet!  Oh no!  here we go again.  So the house is on the market.  We both have doubts about selling it.  We just got it fixed up to our specifications.  The trees are green, the birds are singing, and the air is clear.  We have room for horses and dogs, and no visible neighbours.  So why are we selling?  Well in short, we need a "sea change".  So we're off to a little country town on the ocean called Hervey Bay.  It's famous for whale watching and being the gateway to Fraser Island.  It's a quiet little spot.  But our plans are to buy a house, rent it out, and then head off to the USA.  We're going to travel around the parts of the US that we haven't seen yet.  And also visit all the relatives that we missed on our last trip. 

But while the house is on the market, we're heading off to the Simpson desert in June.  Chris has been working feverishly on getting his IH Scout ready for the trip.  Hopefully, it will be ready.  It all depends on whether he can get it painted first.  Otherwise, he'll get it all put together, and then when we get back from the trip, pull it back apart again, paint it, and THEN put it back together again.  Tedious, but he'll work something out.  He's trying to get the muffler and brakes taken care of for the moment. 

After that...who knows.  I do enjoy travelling.  I would certainly love to get to Europe and New Zealand too.  And we've yet to discover the rest of Australia.  So my camera is ready, my walking shoes are almost worn in, and we're almost ready to go.  SO!  who wants to buy a house?.... and Chris!!!  .......where did my maps go?