Sydney Devotional

With only 8000 tickets available, we were blessed with the opportunity to attend a devotional at the Sydney International Convention Centre, and spend an evening with the leader of our Church President Russell M Nelson and his wife, who gave inspiring talks to help us navigate our way through these times. 

We drove the 7 hours to Sydney, spent 2 nights and were able to take Jordan with us too, and found a few hours to take him on a ferry to Circular Quay from Darling Harbour where we stayed, so he could see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

100 Days Since.......

Derek, what do you think of the last 100 days since we became “homeless”?

    Response: it’s great

Do you regret anything?

    Response: no

Do you miss having a home?

    Response:  absolutely not!

So that’s it in a nutshell.  100 days has passed since we moved out of our rental property, and became full time nomads.

We have explored regions of Victoria and South Australia, done a little housesitting, and are getting use to calling our van home.  We are learning alot about van life and being on the road, learning from our mistakes and mishaps, but most importantly we are totally enjoying the challenge.  We have mixed feelings regarding our landcruiser with it being a petrol motor, our fuel economy is not great, and as much as more internal space in the van wouldn’t go a miss, we are daily grateful that we are only 15’ not 20’ long. We are finding it easier than we thought to go with less, it is surprising how few clothes, makeup, and household things you really need. But, if I could take the grand kids with us I would, missing family is the downside, but we are definitely no worse off than if we stayed in the Sunshine Coast with half the family in Cairns and the other half in Finley.

We love waking up to a new day knowing the day is totally what we make it, and are feeling excited about our future.

Murray Moments

We are back in Finley for a month to do a bit of babysitting and generally helping out whilst Jessima has knee surgery on her anterior cruciate ligament, after completing our 73 nights away visiting south west Victoria and parts of South Australia. It gave us a chance to get a good taste of van life, sort out some small issues to make life more comfortable and help us gear up for long term travel.   Total Kilometres 6,045.

We criss crossed the Murray R a few times as all vehicle ferries are free and operate 24 hours per day.  We have seen the marvels of irrigation at work in what would be a very arid region, and developed a liking for slow travel and staying in secluded, quiet campsites with a great view, by this we mean non-caravan/holiday park camp sites. There were many very enjoyable moments and scenery......  and probably even more if you are a foody.....

Fun Fact #4 Growing Cricket Bats

We drove past this sign today at Wood Wood ( no pun intended) on the Murray Valley Highway,  ummm, we grow cricket bats? 

We are attempting to give England a run for their money in the manufacture of cricket bats.  See their web site for some great history and back story.

Fun Fact #3 Border

We always thought South Australia’s border was straight, like we all draw it.......

But it has a kink in it ........

Abc.net.au

The border is part of a 70 year battle south of the Murray. It was supposed to run a long the 141st meridian line of longitude. But longitude is measured on GMT and watches were not that great in the 1800s.  The result was a 3.6 km gap where the borders were meant to have met. Longitude was determined for Fort Macquarie, in Sydney hence a 2 minute discrepancy  compared to Victorias calculations.

Our 3rd night on the Murray R

The photo speaks for itself, Plushs Bend near Renmark, very secluded camp spots and not another Van in sight.

The Murray, Whyalla’s only hope.

The Murray is a green oasis meandering through a very dry and harsh landscape. Select parts have been cultivated and irrigated for orange and grape growing, but the majority of the land is high, parched and overlooks the river as it flows through the gorges.

The Murray is piped 357km to Whyalla and the northern Eyre Peninsula.  I found the No1 pump station in Morgan which was built along with the pipeline in the 1940s, this is the start of the line supplying Whyalla’s life blood. The second line was completed in 1967.

Mannum on the Murray R

Our view this morning after a day yesterday exploring Murray Bridge and Mannum, our first stop on the Murray back to Finley. Grand olde Paddle Steamers come by all day.

Murray Bridge

Adelaide Highlights

We loved Adelaide. It felt like a huge country town not a bustling city. It has a great coastline of beaches, and the CBD is surrounded by parkland on all sides. Easy to get around and no problems towing the van.  We had a lovely 3 nights on the beach at West Parks Holiday Park.

It was a favourite holiday spot of Michelle’s family in the 60s, so a bike ride to Glenelg and a visit to Semaphore..Georges Flats (now a private residence) were a must, as well as a day exploring the city.  Many of the city residential suburbs have fabulous turn of the century stone homes, and leafy streets. Very pretty.

Georges Flats, now and then

Taking Time Out

We are learning that it is okay if we don’t see everything, and it’s about finding a balance.

Whilst back in Strathalbyn we were hoping to do a lot of sightseeing in the Adelaide Hills as our pets are use to being home alone each day during working hours, and it is in my nature to make sure we see and experience as much as we can.  In particular I wanted to see Heysen’s homestead in Hahndorf not far from us. But we had the caravan trailer serviced, got back into our routine of morning jogs, gave the van a spring clean, caught up on washing and spent time walking with and chilling with the pets, Cobi, Jessie and Jasper. There is still a fruit cake and a few dinners to make for our next week and do some planning for the next 3 months.

So today instead of Handorf and Mt Lofty Lookout at Crafers we went to Mt Barker and watched the Avengers Endgame movie - totally have loved the series, and sat up on Mt Barker Summit and ate KFC, and felt gratitude for all we do get to see.  It was like giving ourselves permission to just be everyday people and not travellers for a week.  Having said that, we are keen to start packing the van back up on Friday, ready to say goodbye to our pets and follow the Murry R east over the next week.