The map we made for the kids.
We made it home in early October - one day ahead of schedule. No punctures in our 18,700km odyssey to the west. The circumference of the earth is is 40,000km to put that in perspective. Our trailer was written off - very sad to see it carted off to Pickles auctions - where it fetched $2000. Kudos to the RACQ who spent $2000 grand getting us on the road again in Darwin, and then giving us the full insurance amount.
We spent the insurance cheque (plus a bit more) on the same model trailer (but 4 years newer). After the luxury of a memory foam queen size bed, mattresses and bunks for the kids we found it hard to think about camping in a tent. Lots of mods Tony needs to make - but they can wait. Our mechanic gave the Landcruiser the thumbs up - while noting a significant number of stone cuts in the tyres. The coating of red dust on all the interior vinyl and air vents looks to be a permanent feature. We got the kayak and canoe safely home on the roof racks. I suggested we ditch the mangled canoe in the west. But it seems our family brings everyone home, even lame boats.
The trip was awesome, with the obvious hiccup - I think we qualify as "experienced" now. We learned some good travelling principles. Never travel more than 800km on bitumen in a day - and stay in cabins and hotels if you do. Never travel more than 400km on dirt roads. We are writing it here so we don't forget.
It certainly has planted the seeds of future journeys. The area around Alice Springs was just stunning and we only saw a fraction of it - and we were never going to have time on the trip to see the tropical part of the Territory, or outback Queensland properly. We figured that these were in striking distance for a couple of 4 or 5 week trips from Brisbane. The Kimberly, Pilbara and Ningaloo reef are not. Our trip across the deserts confirm that the classic Simpson desert crossing is a must for the near future. Perhaps even with friends we made on our travels.
