Exposé!

gomezhome ♦ 13/06/2022 ♦ 4 Comments

Jeannie and I have travelled half way around Australia on this Trip. Nearly 10,000 km so far in 4 1/2 months. We’ve never done a trip like this before. Unlikely that we’ll do another big one like this again. As we contemplate where we’ll turn around to start heading home, “what’s it been like?” is good question to ask each other.

Jeannie’s Story in her own words

Questions: What have been the highlights, the  lowlights, what will you/won’t you miss? Anything else want to say?

Highlights: time with Geff, the family & grandies. Lots of best places seen:

WA: Denmark, Esperance and Bremer Bay (we didn’t explore a lot of WA because it’s easy enough to do that another time).

The following photos are Jeannie’s and some of her favourite places.

SA: Flinders Ranges, Claire, Waikerie, the Barossa and the Adelaide Hills.

Vic: Great Ocean Road, Apollo Bay, Ballarat Botanic Garden, Daylesford, exploring Melbourne, Marysville, Healsville, Myrtleford and Bright (the last 4 are on the Great Alpine Road).

NSW: Rutherglen, Kiama, Berry, Umina Beach, Patonga, Newcastle, Port Macquarie and Bellingen (and we haven’t even left NSW yet!)

Enjoyed walking and getting fit. Glad that I could do that with my lovely Geff.

Struggled the first 6 weeks. Why? Sometimes living in cramped conditions is hard. It was a stressful time leading up to leaving and having to get rid of/or someone to look after all my pot plants – my beautiful garden gone (I knew it was only temporary, but emotionally it was powerful). Also missing Bengal (our cat). Going from always being busy at home to what seemed like nothing to do, just drive & watch the beautiful scenery go by.

What changed? I couldn’t opt out of this journey, even though Geff said that I could fly home if I was that miserable. But that wasn’t an option for me. I wouldn’t leave him. So I just accepted my emotions and let them slide away and slowly allowed myself to enjoy the scenery. It especially helped when we came away from the coast to the forests and gardens. We started walking & getting really fit.  Did an amazing amount of kms especially in Vic…193km in 28 days! Then I started reading (don’t have time at home, too busy) have read 17 books so far.

Didn’t like that in some caravan parks we are packed in like sardines. Some ablution blocks are not great.

Will miss fun with kids – sometimes see them everyday. Will miss seeing new places & I guess the slower pace of life!

Won’t miss restricted living conditions. Will appreciate home more. Won’t miss not having to walk 250m to toilet and shower. Looking forward to having our own toilet again!

Geff

Same questions as above.

Highlights: this is one big adventure. The open road, no set destination or fixed agenda. Love travelling with my lovely wife and our gorgeous family. Travelling with our son, daughter-in-law and grandies is the icing on the cake! Taking time to explore this vast land is fun – and we only just scratch the surface of all there is to see. We have visited so many beautiful and interesting places (Jeannie covered most of the places I would say, above).

Doing so much walking and enjoying getting fit again has been great. Also, one of my prayers has been that Jeannie and I would get closer. Don’t get me wrong, we are already close. We’ve been married nearly 26 years and this Trip has brought us closer still. More understanding, more appreciative – just closer.

Low lights – up to the time we left it was stressful. Our bus, Tank, was being fixed for over 3 weeks, upto the day before we left. It didn’t allow us to get ready well. Also, along the way, we had dramas with lights, batteries and fridge. All good now though.

I too agree with what Jeannie said, that we will miss the kids (and their parents!) when we go home. I will also appreciate our own bed at home, toilet and shower even more!

Until next time…