Well, once again, it’s been far too long since our last update, and we hardly know where to begin but here goes…

From Sydney, we headed south to check out some of Australia’s most spectacular coast lines and sleepy towns, while watching for the perfect weather window to shoot up into the Snowy Mountains and hike to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest point, on a vivid sunny day.

After a few days of chilly mountain weather in Thredbo it was time to head down from the hills to chase a bit more Man from Snowy River history through to Corryong. From there it was up to Canberra (the back way of course), where our nation’s capital far exceeded our expectations. Visiting Parliament House and the Australian War Memorial is something every Australian should experience in their lives and a full day at Questacon (science discovery centre for kids) was a highlight for Zeke and Lani. Every year we attend a Dawn Service on Anzac Day, usually somewhere special. The Dawn Service at the Australian War Memorial was touching beyond words and spoke to each of us in a way that will stay with us forever. Lest we forget.

We ducked back into Sydney for Lani to receive a copy of Thelma the Unicorn and to catch a Portugal. The Man gig with Aunty Steph at Enmore Theatre – both significant events in our lives 😊. Being back in Sydney gave us the opportunity to enjoy one more hike with Nan and Pop, who took us up to the Blue Mountains to experience the magic of the Grand Canyon track with Aunty Maree and Uncle Tony.

Leaving Sydney (again) we started to make our way back to Adelaide for Rach to attend the APPEA Conference. Of course we went the long way – squeezing in a few laps of Mount Panorama in Bathurst and an amazing fossil and gemstone museum in Dubbo. Then it was up to Lightning Ridge, the Australian epicentre for eccentricity, a very special town, before we headed way out the back of Bourke (literally), through to the Corner Country where three states meet, into Innamincka and surrounds retracing the fateful steps of Burke and Wills in a real-life history lesson not to be forgotten anytime soon.

We travelled south through the Strzelecki Desert into the northern Flinders Ranges – coming from a landscape where nothing living existed apart from swarms of bush flies, into the Flinders Ranges where we saw donkeys, wild dogs, dingoes and thousands of kangaroos. We may or may not have inadvertently found ourselves lost on an active uranium mining lease after coming in the back way…

The Flinders Ranges are nothing short of magical: geologically awe inspiring for us all, camping among 650 million-year old rocks at the Trezona campground, spending the best Mother’s Day ever on the Skytrek 4WD track and collecting a rather special rock specimen.

After the usual equipment repairs in Adelaide, and a successful conference, the best part was picking up Marnie (Rach’s Mum) to spend a couple weeks with us!

Whilst hitching the trailer to leave Adelaide, with a plan to head roughly towards Uluru, Paulie received a call from a good mate to see if he wanted to come to Swan Hill for two weeks diving work in the freezing Murray River…so we spent a great couple of weeks catching up on school work and experiencing some of our early colonial history at the Pioneer Village and the Catalina Museum with our wonderful Marnie, and watching Dad work hard from the shores of the Murray River, under a bridge built in 1896. Marnie flew home out of Melbourne, so we squeezed in another quick visit with Aunty Emma and Uncle Aaron at the wonderful Burnewang North.

When the dive job finished, we were well and truly ready for some warmth. We basically fanged it north until we hit some warmer weather and found ourselves stopping off at Australia Zoo in Beerwah on our way to Fraser Island…just WOW!

Then over to Rainbow Beach to catch the Fraser Island ferry from the infamously boggy Inskip Point, without any issue whatsoever, driving 100km along the eastern beach of Fraser to camp at Waddy Point, where we were joined by Australian 4WDing icons Roothy and his crew, along with Brad from Maxtrax. An absolute bunch of legends in a truly amazing place – words cannot do this island justice, it well exceeds all the hype, what a very special place.

After Fraser we headed down to Brisbane for a couple of nights to catch a fantastic display at the Queensland Museum on Egyptian Mummies. Then we heard a rumour that our one and only Uncle Ryan was in Bundaberg on assignment to film the HMAS Tobruk sinking, too good an opportunity to pass up, we headed north again, plus we got to see how real Bundaberg Ginger Beer is made.

We wandered up the coast a touch more to find a place to sit tight before Rach headed off to London for 6 days to attend a conference. 50km south of Proserpine we found an absolute gem of a little farm where we camped by a crystal clear flowing river. We passed the week with cows, horses, firewood collecting, motorbike riding, strawberry picking, bow making, pig hunting and school work while we anxiously awaited the safe return of our Queen. Needless to say, Rach returned safely (although it felt a lot longer than 6 days), and we continued on our wonderful journey……