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Home Sweet Home!
Yep, we’re back in the UK – we flew into Heathrow on the 26th July! We know we suggested in the last update that the shipping was still to be organised, but really we had already got things sorted. It was all a big fib so we could surprise Bry’s Mum for her birthday on the 29th, but more of that later!
So we were in Perth with the plan that Mario would sail on the 1st August, but we’d need to drop him off at the port 5 days before. We had originally wanted to stay in Perth until the ship had sailed - just in case there were any problems – but this would have meant a week in a hotel, so we decided we’d risk it and leave the day after Mario was dropped off. The sailing schedule was subject to change, mainly because of weather issues, so the port wouldn’t confirm to us the date they’d accept Mario until a few days before – so we couldn’t book any flights or hotels – but we were working towards leaving Mario on the 24th, giving us time to get home for the big surprise on the 29th.
Then Ryan, our agent contacted us to say it looked like the ship was going to be delayed, so the earliest the port would accept Mario would be the 28th, perhaps later, but he wouldn’t know until a few days before. That would mean more time at the $42 a night campsite and no chance of getting back for the 29th - damn.
Luckily Ryan came up with a solution. We could drop Mario off at their warehouse on the 24th, they’d look after him and deliver whenever the port opened the next week. This freed us up and meant we could book flights, only 2 days before we would now leave. So on Friday 24th we left the campsite early to spend an hour at a pay-as-you-go jet wash to do the last of Mario’s cleaning. We then dumped our luggage at an Ibis Budget hotel near the airport and drove Mario (for the last time in Oz) to the agents. Then it was a couple of long bus journeys back to the hotel for a few celebratory drinks – we’d be home that weekend!
Up to this point we’d spent most of our time cleaning and preparing Mario for his trip. We gave away or binned loads of stuff that it wasn’t worth or wasn’t possible to bring back – food, drink, cleaning stuff, paint, jerry cans, water containers... The cupboards in the back needed to be empty, so things were stored in the boot or just got rid of – but we were still living in him, so a lot had to wait until the last minute. The last night we spent in him we had no water, fridge or gas – it was a bit primitive. The nights had got that cold that we’d been using the gas heater in the evenings – but not that night, so it was proper brrrr! We could have a hot drink, but only if we braved it outside to walk to the campsite kitchen – which sort of defeated the purpose.
We took a day-off planning, cleaning and lying to parents to see Fremantle which was a nice place, with a huge cafe culture, some gorgeous old buildings and a pretty foreshore. Most evenings were spent under a blanket, watching rubbish DVDs rented from the campsite’s collection, but we didn’t mind as we’d be home soon!
So we left Australia on July 25th, flying up the West Coast and in a couple of hours, we had retraced a journey that had taken us the last 3 weeks. We then flew over Indonesia and spotted the islands of Krakatoa, with one smoking away waiting to blow. 5 and half hours after leaving Perth, we were in Singapore for a 6 hour wait for our connecting flight to Heathrow. Singapore Airport is huge with plenty of entertainment, so there must be worse places to have to kill a quarter of a day.
Then it was on to the BA 747 for the 13 hour flight to Heathrow. Other than some pretty bad turbulence early on, the flight was unremarkable and passed quite quickly. Before we knew it, we could see the South East of England spread out below us in the milky, early morning sunlight. We landed at 5am and were soon speeding down the M4 courtesy of Caroline’s Dad who’d eschewed a decent night’s sleep to pick us up.
So now we’re back at Caroline’s Mum & Dad’s, just like we were before we left – and it feels as if we’ve never been away! We have to keep reminding ourselves of what we’ve done for the last 13 months. We’ve given notice to the tenants in our flat and hope to be back there ourselves before the end of October - then we really will have gone full circle. Similarly, Bry has got a job at the company he first worked for 24 years ago and Caroline has signed up with temp agencies, like she did in her twenties – so even from a work point of view, we’ve gone full circle too!
On Bry’s Mum’s birthday we had arranged to Skype at 3.30, so we’d know she’d be at home. Bry’s sisters were in on it and had also surprised Mum by turning-up unexpectedly, so she was excited we could all Skype together. When the time came, when Mum was expecting to see us on her computer, we walked into the kitchen and gave her the shock of her life! Her jaw almost hit the floor and then came the tears and long awaited hugs!
So Stage 1 of our dream has been realised. We drove 20,000KMS across the world and then a further 18,000KMS around Australia. How do we feel? We don’t really know yet – it hasn’t quite sunk in. Over time, once we’re both working and back to normality, we’re sure the total contrast will bring home what we have achieved.
What did we think of Australia? Well it has some amazing sights, but they’re all very far apart and there’s a whole lot of nothing in between. For example, the top sights of Uluru, Sydney, East Coast and Great Barrier Reef can all be driven in about 5000 KMs – with not a lot else to see on the way. Do the same distance in Europe and you could drive from London to Vienna. Via Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Nice, Monaco, Florence, Rome and Venice! It’s made us realise (yet again) how spoilt we are in Europe for travel options and how we take for granted what is on our doorstep.
The weather wasn’t all we expected it to be, with no one place seeming to have a consistently enjoyable climate that wouldn’t try to kill you at some stage. The South varies between killer bushfires and cold, wet winters. The North gets unbearably hot, humid and has cyclones. A couple of bizarre facts for you: In Australia, more people die of the cold than of the heat and more people die of the cold in Australia than in Sweden. Who’d have thought?!
As evidence as to how extreme the weather can be, there’s the most amazing flood depth-gauge signs where the rivers and creeks cross the roads. We’re driving through these arid plains with every creek-bed just dry sand, but on the road are these markers, some 4 metres above the road surface. It’s hard enough to imagine that it regularly rains enough to fill the creeks, but to then flood to such a degree is almost beyond belief. If only they could harvest that water and use it for irrigation.
There’s lots said about how “arduous” driving the Outback can be, but to be honest it’s a breeze compared with say Kazakhstan. At least in Oz the roads are good and there’s plenty of information as to where the next fuel stop or rest area is. In some countries there’s no info at all and maps are alien concepts. Sure, in Australia you can test your off-road driving skills by tackling some dirt track across the Simpson Desert in a £50,000 fully prepared 4x4 – but that’s your choice, you don’t have to get off the nicely Tarmaced highway in order to cross the country. In Central Asia the locals have no choice but to tackle much worse “roads” in old Lada saloons which are considered “well prepared” if they’re lucky enough to have a spare wheel and an old 2 litre Coke bottle of extra fuel in the boot. In comparison, driving the Red Centre was a relaxed, if somewhat mundane pleasure.
Probably about 90% of the traffic in the Outback was other campers or caravanners and the vast majority of them are the self-proclaimed “Grey Nomads”; retired-folk spending their kid’s inheritance. Some live down South and move North every Winter for the warm weather, others have been on the road for years (20 years was the longest we met) and others are similar to us - sold the house and realising a dream. All we can say is fair-play to them and we’re just glad we decided to do it when we were comparably young, as some of them really don’t look like they’re enjoying it. Some with obvious health problems who can hardly walk across a carpark, let alone climb into the caravan, and as for the rickety eighty-odd year olds climbing in and out of an even more rickety roof-tent every night for months on end – we applaud you. But we really have no idea what they find to look at, there’s so much emptiness and even the “attractions” along the way are rather lame.
Our overall impression is mixed. We met some lovely people, but also some very ignorant people who had no understanding or even interest of anything outside Australia. As we said, we saw some amazing things, but they were just so far apart and the sameness of what lay between just wasn’t interesting enough for us.
Glad we went to Australia? Absolutely. Glad we drove around it in our own vehicle? Well it’s the best way to see a country and we wouldn’t have wanted to do it in anything else. 8 months too long? For us, probably. Want to live there? No way. Go back? Perhaps, but there’s many other places we’d rather see first.
Some of these places Mario will visit before us, as he will now head for Japan, then across the Pacific to California, Mexico, through the Panama Canal, up the East of the USA then across the Atlantic and we’ll pick him up in Belgium sometime in October. He’s having a proper round-the-world cruise, but the old boy’s been busy for the last year or so, so he deserves a nice break!
Our current plan now is to work to get some much needed funds again and then to drive the Americas next year. If we can get there for the Spring, we hope to get a vehicle in East Canada, head West, hopefully up to Alaska and then down the PanAmerican Highway to Central America, ship around the Darien Gap and then explore what we can of South America, ideally getting to Patagonia. If we can’t get out there until later next year, we may have to do the trip from South to North, due to the weather. Lots of planning and research to be done – but we don’t mind that as we now appreciate how beneficial proper planning can be!
We’d like to thank again the people who helped us along the way – Teresa in Bangkok, Richard & PooChian, Simon & Danielle, Martin & Charlotte and Jude & Jeff. Thanks to our friends and family for their messages and emails that have kept us going, particularly when we were low and wondering what the hell we were doing. And a special thank you to Andrew for building and looking after the website for us. We look forward to all your support next year too!
TTFN!