Thursday. Time to say goodbye to our home for the best part of a year. With Rob and Diane expected quite early it was all hands on deck to do a final sort out of stuff in preparation for them coming to go through a handover of the van. As it turned out there was no need to panic as they were delayed by some car problems but once they arrived we went through everything and managed to get the van all hitched up to their very flash car with no real drama at all. We have to admit the Golden Eagle van did look very good attached to their very Gold Ssangyong SUV. After some more goodbyes we said a final farewell to the van and with some sadness watched it head gracefully off down the road. The end of a very busy and overall satisfying chapter in our lives and something we are really glad we have managed to complete.
After rescuing our rental car key from the caravan just before they drove off we checked out of the caravan park and headed to Ian and Diane’s place. This will be our last stop on this trip before we fly home on the 28th and with most of the logistics of our departure sorted our stay should be quite relaxing.
We spent the next few days enjoying our stay with Ian, Diane and Lindsay and the space that came with being in a house again. As a special treat we took ourselves off to Warner Bros Movie World on Monday just for a bit of fun where we enjoyed the rides and shows before tackling the challenge of the final packup on Tuesday. We also took time to put some stats together covering our trip including the map we have been filling in as we go:
Total Petrol Cost: $9,552
Petrol Consumed: 7,421 Litres
Kilometres Traveled: 35,038
Average Km/Ltr Petrol: 4.72
Total Accommodation Cost: $3,674
Nights in Oz: 330
Number of Stops: 179
Average cost per night: $11.13
For the purposes of an experiment and a bit of fun we have added in one scene from a possible movie that we wrote while traveling in WA. It could be produced from our travels with the objective of capturing the feel of different aspects of the trip. This scene is “The Cows” and starts with Carol and Ross traveling in their Landcruiser with caravan in tow with background scenery as per roadside south of Coral Bay. All windows of the vehicle are open with the resultant wind and road noise clearly evident. Ross and Carol both stare toward the empty straight road in front – neither has said anything for the last 10 minutes…
Carol: Watch out, there are some cows next to the road up there
Ross: Oh yeah, wouldn’t want to hit one of them eh (gripping the wheel with both hands)
Producer Note: Require 3 very skinny brown cows that are not panicked by moving vehicles.
Director Note: Position the 3 cows in a line, one on the LH side of the road and 2 on the RH side. All within a metre of the bitumen. They must all look up from eating and stare at the oncoming cruiser and not otherwise move.
Ross slows the vehicle down to around 60km/hr whilst both Carol and Ross carefully watch the cows. The cows continue to eye the oncoming cruiser. The tension of all parties is significant. Within seconds the cruiser is past the cows which then continue munching at the roadside.
Carol: Poor bloody cows
Ross: Yeah but remember what we have been told. Once it rains everything will turn green and they will fatten up just like that (snapping his fingers)
The wind and road noise once again dominates the Landcruiser cabin and Ross and Carol focus intently on the road that stretches out across the flat scrubby plain ahead.
Further scenes that spring to mind are: “The Sun Shade things”, “Goats”, “Termite Mounds”, “Roadkill”, and “More Roadkill”, “The Great Green Tide” and “Whats the Time Please”, “Roadtrain Terror” and of course there are so many more…
The final post for our fantastic trip in, around and about Oz. It seems a little ironic that after traveling for the best part of a year with next to no rain that the last two days it has done nothing but rain, something this country overall does not get enough of. We take it as a subtle taste as to what we can expect once we are back in NZ. With an early start to the day because Ross could not sleep said our sad farewells to Ian, Diane and Lindsay. Our exit from the trip has been made so much easier due to their help and we are so appreciative. This must be said for those special people who have put us up along the way providing at times a necessary respite from traveling.
We arrived at the airport in good time to check in. Excess baggage was a mere $200 which was not too bad. A text from Ula indicated it was chilly back home so is good that we have rugged up a bit – partly to stay warm but also to lighten some of the checked baggage. Next stop New Zealand and then home to Mangawhai…
