Tasmania

Well it was kinda sad to say goodbye to Townsville, we had some good times and some bad times.  Towards the end I started humming, "Tell the world I'm coming home" all the time, So am guessing I was in need of a visit to my Island home! Pity it wasn't under better circumstances, but am sure our baby (the Land cruiser) will be OK.  I was unable to get any work back in Tassie, lots happening in the health industry, lots of cuts etc. So I played at being a stay at home mum.   Luckily Mark was able to pick up plenty of work with his old job at CMV and with his friend Anthony(Thomas).
We arrived home a few days before Christmas.  In time for me to run a round and do some very last minute Christmas shopping.  It was wonderful to be home and to be able to spend so much time with family.
Just before Christmas we got together with Marks Mum and sister Ruth for Christmas in Deloraine.  Kids got spoilt of course!!  And the adults too.  Spent the day in Deloraine, catching up with Marks family and Buster the dog.  Also took Jake's pedal car out for a run.  Kids have grown so much since we last used it.  So much so we kinda broke it!  Fixable though Mark tells me.  Think the grand kids have been missed!

Toys Toys toys, we got toys!!

Jake, Ruth and Charlotte

Beth and Charlotte

 We spent Christmas day at home with my family in Devonport at Mum and Dads.  All of my siblings were home which only happens a few times a decade.  Grandad (Dad's Dad), Auntie Trudy (Dad's sister), Pete and Cath (James' mates) also came for Christmas.  So a pretty decent sizes gathering outside in the garden.
The kids were so excited at the prospect of a visit from Santa, and a few presents too.  For me Christmas is about the delight of children, plus a time to enjoy family.  We had a wonderful day, full of laughs, presents, fabulous company and food, lots of food too!!

Pressie time in the sun room

Ninjago's of course, and a transformer dress up costume.

Dad's Chrissie girl.

Dad getting all chocked up about his pressie from Ben

Charlotte, Megan and Cath and some Chrissie music.

The ladies

The Christmas table, we all fitted, just!

James and Mum

Grumps got a bit hungry

Can you see the family genes over three generations??

The Thorp family

The parents and the kids

New Years eve 2011, was spent at Devonport by the river.  They had a lantern festival, was a lovely night.  Not anywhere near as special and beautiful as Lismores lantern festival, still pretty nice though.  We had dinner, listened to some music and watched the early fireworks.  Then took the kids home and put them to bed.  Ben, Megan, Mark and I then saw the New Year in on the deck watching the fireworks, sipping champagne!

We'd had such a busy crazy time before we left Queensland that it was nice just to stop and relax at home.  I spent a few afternoons 'reading' (falling asleep) on the couch.  We also got to spend heeps of time catching up and spending quality time with family.  Well I did anyway, Mark not so much.  He ended up working heaps while we were home, for money and on our Landcruiser.  He put in lots of hours and quite a few early mornings and late nights.  So unfortunately he did miss out on a fair bit while we were home, but that was just the way it worked out.

Auntie Meg teaching Charlotte to sew.

Jake explaining to Grumps the rules of his game, which he will also always win!!

Megan, Alex and Charlotte, having a dance off.

The singing star

One night when Auntie Jill was over, Charlotte insisted on dressing for dinner!!

Auntie Jill (Mum's sister) and the kids

Playing Cluedo.

Initially when we got home we thought we would only be in Tasmania for a few weeks, fast forward three months and then we left!  While we were home we wanted to see and do as much as possible in the days we had.  We decided to head out for the day to the Bluff, a popular playground, beach area in Devonport.  Recently been upgraded, much to the kids delight and a little sadness, Charlotte a little put out that things have changed!

 

Chrissie presents

He can't stand on it but he can lay on it!!

I'm a firm believer that having great friends makes for a fun and happy life.  I'm not one who likes being by myself that much.  We've missed many people while we have been away, but a special place in my heart is saved for Elsie, my friend Becs little girl.  Bec and I have been friends for years and its been pretty special that we have been able to watch our children grow up together.  But when we left Elsie was a little baby and when we came home she had grown up! (one of the sad things about travelling is that you miss a lot that happens at home). We spent a lot of time with these guys while we were home, was wonderful for the adults and the kids.  The boys were growing up so fast and the kids played so well together.  The boys are Charlotte's biggest fans I think! And she loves it!!  I got in trouble form Charlotte, apparently I hogged Elsie!! Ooops....  Hopefully the kids aren't teenagers by the time we get home!

Before we left Tassie we ran out of time to go to a few other 'must sees' of Tassie that we hadn't done in years.  One of them was 'The Nut' at Stanley, a rock that sits 150m high and is an old volcanic plug.  Its a short but very steep climb to the top then a lovely walk all around the top.  There is a chair lift but I was too tight and far to scared of those things to go on it.  So we walked, and saw the magic view.  Generally as a rule its windy on the Nut 90% of the time, so of course it was windy this day too.  We had a lot of fun and headed to the park for a picnic lunch after.

We then went back through Burnie to see Grandad, Auntie Trudy and Megan.  Grandad took us to the Makers Workshop and visitors information centre where he works.  He gave us a very detailed and organised tour, except that his 'visitors' kept getting side tracked, oops!  Its a wonderful centre and well worth a visit if your in the area.

Grandad and the great grand kids

We were so lucky when we got home basically all of January was lovely warm weather, well by Tassie standards anyway.  So we spent many an hour at either the pool or the beach with our family and friends.

These photos are taken at the Riverside Aquatic Centre, had a great time there with our old mates The Huetts, Johnny, Paula, Sam and Abbie, also had a couple of sleep overs there, a few wines and a lot of laughs.  Its people like these guys that we miss while we were away.  We used to spend many a weekend catching up, our children have spent a lot of time together.  So much so that Jake still states that Abbie is his girlfriend and he will be marrying her one day, not sure what her parents think!   Bit young yet...

Jake and Sam Huett

Jake and Sam Huett

Charlotte

The big kid!!

In my home town of Devonport there is a excellent outdoor aquatic centre.  We had quite a few days there while we were home.  I even managed a few times to swim laps and leave the kids at home. One such day we went with our friends the Ashcrofts, Dave, Victoria, Grace, Leo and Max.  Victoria is my friend who taught me to knit before I left and I have missed our cuppas, and knitting catch up.  I even got inspired again while I was home and have started knitting again.

Jake and Charlotte with Grace and Leo Ashcroft

Dave, Max, Leo, Grace, Jake and Charlotte.

The kids attacking the monster!!

 

We headed out for a swim at the Ulverstone beach and some fish and chips for lunch.  Was a lovely day, so nice to dive in the ocean and swim about.  With Bec, Di and the kids.  Probably a touch more relaxing for me as I don't have three small children.  Its weird to go to the beach now with my kids, they do what they are told (well mostly), don't run off and can swim well, means I get a good chance to relax and have fun too.

The girls

Had a great catch up with the Marshalls, Maria, Damo, Amelia and Ezra, and the Collins, Dan, Kram, Chels and Bella after Chrissie.  Kids swam in the pool and played while the parents chatted and caught up, so much so we ended up staying the night!

Charlotte's buddies Chelsea and Amelia

Chels and Bella,

Charlotte and Amelia

Jake in awe of Ez's skill on the DS...

We had a fabulous Australia Day this year.  Headed to the free water slide at Port Sorell, kids had a ball.  The local lions club sets it up on a steep grassy hill every year for the kids and some adults!  Then we went to one of my favourite places in the world, Freers Beach at Hawley with our friends Vicky, Craig, Zane, Zoe, Lilly, Ez and Bella.  Spent a beautiful sunny day laying in the sand and swimming, just magic.  Have missed these guys, which makes it even more exciting for us that they have bought a Landcruiser and a van, and are hitting the road in a few weeks.  Hopefully we can travel with them a bit along the way.  Then went to the Marshalls for an evening of chatting, drinking and good times.  They even made a good old fashioned water slide with bits of plastic and a few bricks holding it down.  Reminded me of my childhood!!

Zane, Ez, Jake and Mark

Bingo, Zoe Zoe and Charlotte

The team!

We had a few great catch ups with our friends the Bells, Leon, Tracey, Katelyn and Sam.  They have property at Wesley Vale.  Our kids had a wonderful time running around, checking out the horses and on the buggy, and bikes.

Jake and Katelyn

Charlotte and her bestie Katelyn

Sam

Before we left Tassie my sis introduced us to the music of Adam Cousens, a popular artist from Hobart.  We went to the Jackeys Marsh Forest Festival and saw him play.  Had a fabulous night.  It is a pretty alternative festival, but we loved it.  They had a great circus tent area set up for the kids, with hoops and diablo etc, kids thought it was great.  They even had a fairy house set up and on sunset they told fairy stories to the kids, you can imagine how enthralled Charlotte was!  Plus we got to listen to some awesome music, so a pretty memorable night for us.

Hoola hoop girl.

Music making

Watching Adam Cousen perform.

My parents, well probably my Dad, has a yacht in Hobart.  I have been on it a a few times, but never with the sail up.  So while we were home I was dead keen to have a sail.  Unfortunately Mark had to work, but he has had a sail before.

We left from Belrieve yacht club and sailed down towards Bruny Island.  Was a beautiful sunny day, was lovely sitting on the deck, watching the scenery go past.  The kids each had a turn at steering, Charlotte especially.  Jake got a little bored, and I kinda forgot toys etc to entertain him, oops.  We stopped and had a fish in the afternoon.  Charlotte was a little star she caught 4 flat head and a squid, yum for dinner. 

We then anchored in one of the bays for the night.  It had gotten pretty warm that afternoon, so Mum and Dad jumped in for a swim.  They told me it wasn't too cold so I did a big bomb of the deck, well I wont repeat what came out of my mouth, but jeepers it was cold cold cold!!  During the night a storm broke, I vaguely remember some thunder and lightening and my parents checking the yacht during the night.  Apparently it got pretty rough, nice to have slept the night through!!  We had a wonderful time on the Nimrodel, thanks Mum and Dad.

While we were in Townsville we meet our great mates the Beesons, Marty, Belinda, Charlotte and Meg.  They had already planned their trip to Tassie for after Chrissie and we were lucky enough to still be in Tassie and to be able to spend some time with them and show them our Island home.

The lighthouse at the Bluff Devonport

Charlotte, Charlotte, Jake and Meg

First we went to Tazmazia at Sheffield, a popular maze and pancake parlour.  Its always lots of fun and a great day out.  Me, I find mazes very frustrating and tend to get annoyed, so I thought I'd ask at the counter if they had a map, not sure why Belinda and the lady found this so hilarious!  We ended up spending almost the whole day there.  Only had one time when we couldn't get where we wanted, to the centre of the main maze, luckily an 8 year old came and showed us the way!

I found it hilarious to lock Marty in but poor Meg didn't, she cried oopss...

Mount Roland in the back ground

Story time after a busy day.

Launceston, about an hour away from my home town is a interesting city.  For me the nicest part is the Cataract Gorge, well worth a visit.  I hadn't been in years, so thought we should go, but poor Mark had to work again.  We had a BBQ lunch then went for a walk to the power station and then the chairlift.  Now I'm not afraid of heights as such, but have a massive fear of being dangled in the air, e.g. chair lifts.  Well I got convinced I had to do it, especially as the kids were mad keen to have a go.  Well I think I made it about 1/8th of the way across before I started panicking, I froze and couldn't move.  Charlotte was bending over and having a great look around, and found me rather silly I think.  We made it across safely, I have a few more grey hairs, but I survived, crazy thing is I bought a return ticket and didn't want to waste my money so I even got back on the thing!

We used to live in Shearwater, near to this is Narawantapu National Park, and we've had many a visit here.  Great place for a walk, BBQ and to watch the animals on dusk.  The Ashcrofts joined us and the Beesons for dinner and the kids raced around looking for critters.  Its one of those places that on dusk there is literally a paddock full of native animals, Wallabies, Wombat etc.  Great fun for kids and adults alike.

Now for Cradle Mountain, one of the best places in the world.  We have been here so often, yet have barely seen any of the park, so much available.  We had to take our visitors there for the day, its one of those iconic places that almost everybody who visits Tassie goes to.  We met the guys up there for a quick lunch before we walked around Dove Lake.  And we were lucky, it was a coldish but clear day, its a pretty special place.

The little hikers needed a smidge of encouragement

St Helens, on the East Coast of Tassie is another place that is special to me.  This is where we had a shack growing up as kids and I have spent a lot of time there.  We decided to go and meet the Beesons for the weekend to camp at Dora Point.  The weather forecast was pretty crappy but we went anyway.  Had a great weekend, drizzled on and off most of the time.  But we still had plenty of time for hanging out around the camp fire.  We even cooked in their cast iron pot on the fire, that was pretty cool.  Marks been going on about getting one for ages, well now I suppose he will get one!

We also went for a drive to Eddystone Lighthouse, a long a corrugated dirt road but a spectacular lighthouse at the end of it.  Must say I particularly love the east coast of Tassie.

'cooking' the dinner

Dinner and a show!

The beach in front of where we were camping.

This is one of my favourite snaps.  Mark and I at the lookout at Beer Barrel Beach, St Helens.

You always hope that when you go to a beach as pristine and beautiful as Binnalong Bay that the weather fines up for a swim.  Well in between showers it actually did that day.  But of course we hadn't bought any bather, towels, etc.  Didn't stop us, in we went in our clothes, was heeps of fun, not too cold until we got out though.

Wheres our legs??

We said a sad farewell to the Beeson family.  Not sure when we will see them again.  Its hard for the adults and kids to say goodbye when we have spent so much time together.  But we all have our own adventures to lead.  Am sure we will work it out that we will meet again somewhere on the road.

Kids were lucky to spend a bit more time with their cousin Caleb, they only have one cousin, while we were home.  We went out for a lovely meal at the Gorge and also had a farewell, family dinner at Marks Mum's, even managed to grab a snap of the whole group.

The kids do their education through Distance Education Tasmania while we are travelling.  While we were home we started back with them and the kids got to go on two excursions.  Marks mum came to the first one at Campbell Town, a sports day and swim in the pool.  Mark came with us to the next excursion which was to the Inveresk Museum and illustrator exhibition.  It was really wonderful for the kids to spend time with their teacher Kelly and the other children in their class.

egg and spoon race, with a tennis ball!

three legged race

Two very happy proud kids

Marks mum and sis wanted to babysit the kids for the weekend, just before we left.  So Mark and I decided to go to Coles Bay camping for the weekend.  We had a magic weekend, was so nice to just be together in such a beautiful location.  Not sure when we will get any child free time for a while!

Mark enjoying his lunch on the beach

The iconic view of Wineglass bay.

We walked up to the look out at Wineglass, a lot of steps!  Then decided to keep walking down to the actual beach, we were wearing our bathers in the hope we might have had a swim. Unfortunately it was too rough when we got there to swim.  So we suffered and sat drinking wine and nibbling on cheese and bread! As we were sitting there a family of dolphins swam in and played right in front of us, pretty special!

We went out for dinner that night to the Tavern, then went for a walk to the lighthouse the next day before driving home.  We had a fabulous weekend.

One of the hardest things about this trip was leaving our dog Jazz behind.  She's eleven and not so adaptable, so we thought it wouldn't work.  Luckily Mum and Dad love her and are happy to have her live with them.  She gets lots of attention and is very happy thank goodness.

 

Well after many stressful weeks and lots of sorting out the Landcruiser passed all three inspections. Yah Yah!!!! And is now re registered and good to go. And now that means so are we. Feels weird to be leaving Tassie again, almost like dejavu. Like we are starting the trip again, just with more knowledge and less money! Its harder for us all to say goodbye this time, I guess we spent a bit to much time at home, settled in a bit much! After looking back over this blog entry I realise just how much we did while we were home. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends and family, coming home wouldn't have been the same without you all. So its farewell again, for who knows. We realise we love our island home but are not ready to settle back down just yet. More adventure awaits, Travelling Long is on the road again.......

Townsville

Hello again, its been a long time between blogs, so I apologise in advance for the length of this blog, you might want to grab a cuppa before you start reading!!   We have been settled in Townsville now for two and a half months.  Townsville is a great place to live, its a big city but not really.  Its a very easy place to live and work, and its lovely and warm.  A bit hot some days, but shouldn't complain.  35degrees and 90% humidity!!

Our home set up, with lots of tarps to keep rain out (didn't work though!)

The main reason for us to stop in Townsville was money money money.  We had sort of spent to much, oops.  So job hunting we went.  Mark got a job through Work Force Express ( a job agency ), at Roadtek.  It involved doing maintenance on Queensland road vehicles.  Mark enjoyed this job, met lots of interesting people.  Plus he didn't have to work exceptionally hard.  Which was lucky seeing as it was so hot and he was dressed in full sleeves and long pants work gear.  He was sopping wet by 0800!!!  All the guys at Marks work were great, their favourite saying was 'she's right old mate', apparently everyone calls each other old mate.  A general answer to anything in FNQ was true.  You'd tell someone about something that happened and you know how most people say "really", well in FNQ they say "true" (with an emphasis on the ooo sound).  Everyone was just pretty relaxed and didn't rush.  Was a very nice pace, you can imagine, we didn't find it hard!
I started off on the casual pool at The Townsville Hospital.  After orientation I did two shifts at their nursing home, two shifts on surgical wards then I got offered a 3 months contract with Extended Acute Care (doing Home IV and Home care).  It was pretty similar to what I did back home in Tassie.  They were are great bunch of people to work with, had some difficult days but pretty much I had a great time!!  We both got offered further work and they would have loved us to stay, but it wasn't meant to be! 

We decided to enrol the children at school.  They asked to go to school and we found an excellent local school, Belgian Gardens State School.  We arrived in time for the children to start term 4, with Charlotte in grade1 and Jake in prep.  I was worried about money at this stage, but school fees were only $50 for the both kids for the term.  Uniforms were going to be much more expensive than this but I cried poor and I bought from the second hand $5 bin!!!!  They settled in well and made lots of friends.  We were a little worried how Jake would go at full time school, but he had a great time.  Took a bit to get used to being back into the school routine.  On the days I worked the kids went to before and after school care at the local PCYC, which they loved. It was the last day of school today for the term, yah no more school runs and lunch boxes to make!!  (OK so I have been a bit slack in getting this blog posted)

Fancy Dress Party at the school.

We decided to stay at Rowes Bay Caravan Park, ended up being a great decision.  We have met a few other travelling families who are staying at the park, which is great.  Initially we met the Hambrooks, John, Bron, Brendan and Moggy who then introduced us to the Beeson Family, who ended up being great friends.  We have spent most of our free time hanging with these guys.  Its been amazing to make great mates, both for us and for the kids.  They have a 6  year old called Charlotte and a three year old called Meg.  Our kids have spent the last two months pretty much inseparable.  Not sure how its going to go when we leave!  These guys are from Victoria, which we won't hold against them!!!  Belinda's a nurse too and Marty's a  fitter.  The kids have spent many an hour playing Lego, swimming in the pool, playing at the playground and generally running a muck.  These guys are going to be our buddies for a long time, whether they like it or not!!!

It was warm enough most days, especially the days we walked home from school.  We pretty much lived in the pool, mind you before we left to come back to Tas, the pool had turned luck warm due to the heat.  Not so refreshing!  When we first arrived the kids swimming was OK, but by the time we left they had turned into little fish.  Jake especially came along heeps and heeps.  Am sure we are going to miss this when we head south.

Mark has always wanted to take the kids to a NBL basketball game.  Townsville has their own team, The Townsville Crocs.  We went along to one of their home games, was pretty entertaining.  I hadn't realised they play dance music during the game, made me giggle!

We were a little nervous about being so far North during the cyclone season.  After Yasi last year, there has been a big push on community awareness and preparation.  We went to a big cyclone exhibition on the foreshore, to improve our knowledge.  Plus Jimmy Giggle (from a kids ABC Show) was there to entertain the kids!!!

It constantly amazes me the availability of free places to take the kids in QLD.  River ways is one such place.  Its a swimming pool complex, kids playground, BBQ areas and walking tracks by the river.  We went with the Beesons

 We got to know a couple of the 'permanent' residents a the caravan park.  An older lady who lived behind us, Leslie, was lovely with the kids.  She came over one day before school and told us they were releasing injured turtles down at the beach.  I rush the kids, picked up Charlotte Beeson and headed down for a look.  Was really interesting for the kids, to listen to the team and learn about the turtles.  Unfortunately Jake had miss heard me.  He thought I said Ninja turtles, not injured turtles.  He was a little disappointed!!!  The news crews were there, they interviewed the two Charlotte's, but my Charlotte clammed up (she's a little shy).  Apparently we were on the news, but oopsy we kinda got distracted that night and forgot to watch the news.

We seemed to be spending our time in Townsville pretty much working and not seeing much, so we decided to head off for the night camping with the Beesons.  The day started off wrong with the Beesons having car trouble, so we left a bit late.  Then we filled up the diesel on tank 13 at the servo (Mark is pretty superstitious).  Not the best start to the day.  We headed to Walloman falls about two and half hours north/west of Townsville, then we planned to come back to Crystal Creek to camp the night.  We made it to the falls, and they were pretty amazing, its the longest single drop waterfall in Australia.  We did a little walk and took a few snaps  then headed off.  Somehow we ended up crashing the landcruiser.  We were going down a dirt road and lost it in the gravel.  We called the Beesons back and managed to get the cruiser out of the ditch.  It was pretty scary, but luckily we were all okay, I had a few bruises but that's it.  We decided to cancel the camping and head straight back to Townsville, luckily the cruiser was still drive able.  Then we spent the next two weeks arguing with the insurance company.  Who in the end decided it was too expensive to fix our darling car.  So they paid us out and we bought it back, so we can get it fixed in Tassie for a reasonable rate.

The damaged cruiser, sniff sniff

Marks mum Beth came to visit us, much to the kids delight.  They had a lovely time being spoilt rotten by Beth.  The kids had a couple of days off and we took Nannee around Townsville and showed her the local sights.  We also managed to fit in a night at the casino for dinner, an all you could eat buffet, was delicious.  The kids loved having another adults undivided attention, and Nan wasn't complaining.  She even semi adopted the Beesons from next door!  Was hard for everyone to say good bye, Nan was very brave.  Lucky we are seeing them in Tassie soon.

Christmas seemed to come around so quick this year.  I guess after we crashed the car, everything was a little stressed and complicated, Christmas wasn't high on the priority list.  Lucky we found our Chrissie spirit, well the kids made us.  We took the kids to see Santa and they actually both sat on his lap.  This hasn't happened since they were babies.  Made for a great photo for the family.  One of the gorgeous girls from my work was lovely enough loan us a small Chrissie tree ornaments and all.  So the kids could had a great time decorating it and the caravan.  Was nice to see them so excited.

 

The two Charlotte's busy with the tinsel

The extended family and Santa

The Strand at Townsville is a very popular place for tourists and locals to meet and spend time.  We have been here a lot over the last few months.  We took the kids for  a scooter ride, had a swim in the ocean (in the stinger netted area), and had an ice cream.  A pretty typical Far North Queensland Saturday!

One afternoon we headed to Pallaranda, about ten minutes down the road.  They have a great beach and an enclosed swimming area.  Of course we went with the Beeson tribe.  Was a fabulous idea on a hot day, had a nice cool down in the ocean.  We'd been pretty slack about beach time since we've been in Townsville.  Spending most days at the pool, meant we hadn't bothered with the beach much.

 

Mark took the kids to the Museum of Tropical Queensland,  I had to work, sniff sniff.  Lots of great hands on interactive things for the kids to do.  Apparently they had an awesome day, with Mark even being part of the cannonball show.

I'd been told by a patient at work we should check out an event called "stable on the Strand".  It was a Chrissie event, so thought it would be great.  What we didn't realise was that it was run by the local church groups and was pretty religious!  You can imagine how well we fitted in.  The kids had fun looking at everything, they had a free carousel ride and balloon animals etc.  They even had a manger with Mary and "a real life baby Jesus", Charlotte was enthralled!  Then we left and headed off for our farewell dinner. 

We have spent so much time with the Beesons, its been amazing and they are really amazing people.  After we crashed the car we spent a few weeks feeling sorry for ourselves.  They were there to cheer us up and were a major support.  Its times like these you realise what great friends you have.  As Belinda kept telling me (as she filled my wine glass), "Drink yourself a personality Amanda!"  We're going to miss these guys.  Even Marty when he kept annoyingly imitating my sweet sounding laugh!   So we had our farewell dinner at Outback Jacks, great food and awesome company.

Great mates, Check out Jake and Megs hand holding, just gorgeous!

 So its with sadness that we farewell Townsville.  We have had a great time.  Its certainly somewhere we will visit again.  We worked hard but still had lots of time to meet some great friends and make some more fabulous memories.  Bar the car crash of course!  So now we have headed home to Tassie for Christmas.  The Landcruiser went home on the back of a car carrier and the caravan went on a tipper truck to Brisbane.  Where we have left it at Redland Bay with our lovely friends Meg and Lee.  So we will spend the next few weeks catching up with friends and family, so we're pretty excited!!  Plus Mark has work while we are home, so we will recoup a few funds too.  So the Travelling Long adventure will be on hold for just a while but we will definitely be back on the road soon.  Our plan is to head north again to pick up the van, then work somewhere in Southern QLD for a few months.  Then head north and meet our friends the Ellis family and spend some time in Far North QLD and Cape York then to NT.  Well that's the plan, but they change so you never know!!!!