East-coast to Sydney

9th August to 18th August
The last leg of our epic trip saw us traverse the east coast of Australia southward from Hervey Bay in QLD finally reaching Caringbah almost 5 months after first leaving home. Staying with friends and family on the way south, we enjoyed great days out at Hervey Bay, Broadbeach on the Gold Coast, Sawtell and Coffs Harbour. After months of camping we had to reintroduce ourselves to the luxuries of living in a house, indoor bathrooms and interacting with society.

Gunbarrel highway

 During our time away we covered just over 18,000km and averaged 13L/100km, paying between $1.47L and $2.50L for Diesel. The vast majority of the trip was on gravel roads, thankfully we only managed 2 flat tyres..... both on the camper not the Land Rover D3 which had Cooper ST Max tyres.
The camper trailer was a very comfortable home away from home, and it's kitchen, 2  fridges, outside shower and plenty of storage ensured the trip was easy, and the bed was as comfortable as any 5 star hotel... with real stars every night.

Camper-trailer set up

The camper could be set-up within 15minutes, and that included chairs, tables, ground mat and a drink in our hands. Thank-you automatic set up button! We often had an audience as the hydrolic arm got to work opening the camper out sideways, so that the roof became the hard floor, with canvas above.
The weather throughout the trip was perfect, it wasn't cold at night and the days were shorts and t-shirt weather. We only experienced rain twice, once at Uluru where we saw water cascading down the rock and then at Millstream national park in the dry Pilbera.

Yowie Bay, Caringbah

There are so many memorable experiences... traversing remote roads, camping alone in the outback, seeing the sun set over the ocean in the west, hiking in national parks, swapping stories with like minded travelers and simply enjoying the Australian outback.

Yet when we turned into our drive, came down the inclinator to our home and looked out across the bay we thought, ..... let's holiday at home for a while.

Jane and Kevin