Packing up, hitching up, towing, setting up & settling in....

Leaving the 'burbs'...

Well.......our last few weeks in our house were not a lot of fun!  We cleaned, scrubbed & cleared 24/7!  It was exhausting and seemingly endless.  But finally,  when that last floor was swept and mopped...and we pushed in the lock and closed the door behind us, we breathed a massive sigh of relief!  We were glad to be seeing the back of our lil rental home - but did not forget that in this house our first baby was brought home. 

Hitting the road....

The next challenge was pulling this 1 tonne plus caravan 2 hours with an old car!  It was a little hairy, i must admit although we kept brave faces.  We pulled over at Lower Light to adjust towing mirrows, and have a small break...and got chatting to a lovely truckie that pulled in (himself an avid caravaner) we started to really feel a part of a special club.  We pulled our home into Pt Broughton with no trouble (apart from the occaisional wobble) and were directed to our site.  John was a lil nervy backing her into our site, but all was okay (apart from a few 'choice' words).  We settled in and set up our 'camp'.

Settling in...

Sounds quite lovely doesn't it?  Well it really wasn't at first!!!  Lack of sleep plagued us the first few nights!! Johns snoring and Adam getting sick.  Adam also was continually trying to run off from our camp, dog barking at everything that moved.  I was amlost ready to throw it all in and get a house!!  But each morning brought fresh energy and within days we were really finding our feet and finding ways to make things more relaxed and homely!  Cooking meals and watching TV felt awesome. Adam has been kept so busy with walks and runs on the beach that he is literally begging me to put him to bed :-)  and we are all getting used to sleeping in the same small space.

Becoming normal......

We already have made friends (none of them are under 50) and its been fantastic!  John even managed to catch our dinner for tonight (blue crab) with pasta.....(which Adam adored!)  We watch people come and go in our caravan park, we walk everyday, play on the beach eat lots and have a few beers.  Adam thinks this is all great and cannot stop talking.  I'm sure there is a tonne of challenges ahead, but this isn't a bad start!

She's here, she's here - the van is all ours!!!

Well the old girl has arrived, our caravan, our new (well 1970's) home.   After a few garage sales we were delighted to take delivery and get stuck into modifying her for the journey.  John has had blood, sweat and tears converting a single into a double bed, but boy, what a fantastic job!  He literally was absconding from work to be able to play with his new toy, but luckily he finally has gone back before he was fired!

A big THANKS to Leeanne, who is the most amazing person who gave us a chance, by letting us pay off this van XXX

Now with less than a month to go before we set off we are busy getting our house cleared, the van and the car ready and our paper work in order.

The first small leg of our journey has taken shape (well atleast planned for) and we still start in Port Broughton, then head to Waikerie, where John will try his hand hand at fruit picking/farming and we hope to stop here for a bit (also rock and roll festival!!  Break out the cask!!).  We will then spend plenty of time in the riverland (Berri, Bamera etc) and while John is trying his luck to catch that ever elusive Murray Cod, i will look ahead to our next destination.   Mildura will be our first interstate stop and we will look beyond that as we get nearer.   Of course....not everything always goes to plan (even a rough plan).........lets just wait and see!  But we will see you Pt Broughton Caravan park on the 25th! Yahoo! More then...!

Can we pull this off?????

Well our lease is up here in 8 weeks and i can tell you that i have had a few moments that verge on a nervous breakdown!!  Although we have paid another installment on our caravan and that feels very good, we still have a bit more to pay on it so we can get it up our drive, work on it and pack it with time to spare.  Not only that we have to clear out an entire house by storing, selling, giving away and throwing our stuff.  We also need to have the time and money before John finishes up his work - to work on our towing car to ensure its completely safe and reliable.  Oh boy - will we make it???



This will be our home, its almost ours!!

 The point is we have to, the caravan will be our home for however long and if we are not organised in time we may be homeless!

The good thing is once we take off for the first time with caravan in tow, we will be spending a month or so in Port Broughton, which is only 2 hours from our suburb in Adelaide.  This will give us a good practise in living the caravan life and should point out to us what we else we may need to consider.  With family in Port Broughton its a good support to start us off before we head off on our own to venture Australia.  Just our little family....my fiancee, John our toddler, Adam and our little old dog Titan...........hmm should be interesting to say the least!