Our World: Saying goodbye and a fresh start

With Randy LOADED in and on top of the car we hit the road out of Katherine and towards home, or as we referred to it as Return To Base (RTB). We travelled 1300km from Katherine to Mt Isa and stayed with Ben and Bonnie for the night. It was so very very nice to see family and receive a welcoming hug. Day 2 was Mt Isa to Emerald we set off after getting some Gage love and had a relatively easy run into Emerald arriving nearly 11hrs after we left, that was another 1100km done on our RTB. From Emerald RTB was another 900km and a roast dinner was waiting so without delay we were up and on the road by 8am to meet the family before dinner. We arrived around 5pm plugged the fridge and freezer in and went inside to collapse. It was only 1 week since the accident and what a roller coaster week it had been. 1 week earlier we were in Katherine the fate of the trailer was unknown but we figured it was a repair/replace parts job then we would be heading north again. We had not even considered that we would be back on the Sunny coast having purchased a new trailer and our plans had definitely changed for us.

We had purchased a Jayco Penguin from Sydney. We had decided that after christmas we were going to look at selling our then current trailer and buy one of these trailers. So when ours was written off we knew what we wanted to do. We had been looking at the market for a few weeks so we knew what they were going for. We had a budget in mind and after Grant looked at this trailer and Dad had looked at another one we knew which one was for us. We talked a deal with the previous owner and only 4 days after the accident we made our new purchase. The trailer we bought was going to be traded in only 3 days later if we didn't purchase it so there was no time to hang around it was buy now or miss out on a good deal. We nicknamed her Princess as to us she was the ultimate in comfort and that's what all Princess's should be about.

We spent our first week at home unpacking, cleaning, catching up with family and organising for whats next. We decided to hang around on the coast for 3 weeks in total so we could get our new home, set it up, James could then do his weeks work, I could spend by birthday with family then we could head off.

Grant and Amanada Vella aka Puppa Smurf and Mumma Vella had kindly picked up Princess (our new trailer) and stored her they then so very kindly offered to meet us in Coffs harbour so we could pick her up and take her home to get to know her a lot better. We met them at midday on Saturday. She was bigger then we had thought but yep she was ours. We enjoyed lunch with them then farewelled them and turned our now slower and heaver nose north to get her into QLD and home. Mum and Dad welcomed us home and we showed her off. Attached to Randy the trailer was backed up the driveway and yup it was longer then our last one we only just fit with Randy's nose only just off the road. Sunday we had a really enjoyable day out at Booloumba creek for my nephew Brandon's 5th birthday. The rest of the week we washed every single part of Princess we went and had her registered and her new plates then gave her a new name. Her plates end in QWN so she is now named Queen Penguin or as we like to refer to her Qu Pea. Mum helped us put blackout on most the curtains, Allison and Scarlett helped clean and scrub her and Brandon help James wire up new LED lights. Maggie was always keen to get in and help out she did lots of odd jobs and we taught her many things about tools.

Monday I started to put in all the kitchen and extra things to start to see how it would all fit. Tascha came to visit for dinner and we showed off Qu Pea to her. Tuesday was my birthday. We had a lazy start to the day. James, Mum and Dad had bought me a BBQ to fit in the trailer and it was perfect. I then had a really enjoyable lunch with James, Mum, Karen, Allison, Scarlett, Belinda, Emma and Tascha at the Yandina pub. The afternoon was spent with dad and James fitting the new shock absorbers to the trailer the trying out the BBQ. After cleaning, sizing up buying boxes, hoses and all sorts of things to make our stuff fit and be comfortable we were ready to pack. Wednesday and Thursday were the big packing days. Would it all fit??? we didn't want to have to tetris pack every time we opened it up. We were conscious about weight and because the trailer is so very different we had a really sort things so very differently. We made a list of what was NOT going with us this time. We managed to sell a few things and left some more stuff with mum and dad to store. (THANKS mum and dad).

Friday was leaving day. It was also the Noosa show holiday so Dad didn't have to go to work. Alli and Neil were able to come for breakfast also. We were up with Maggie, Emma and Brandon early to say goodbye before the girls went to school. We then packed the last few things. Enjoyed another yummy BBQ cooked breakfast with everyone then casually set about packing Qu Pea up to head south.

We had decided to head south and now clockwise around Australia as the wet season was not far off hitting the north and we didn't want to rush our time up there.

Our first stop was in Byron bay, as a couple we had never been to the Easterly most point of Australia so we parked and set off on the walk. After reaching the point taking photos and stopping to enjoy the view we continued south. I had looked at a map and decided that a camp ground called Red Cliff Rest Area near Brooms Head was the place for us that night. What a fantastic place this turned out to be. We arrived just on dark found a great little flat spot and set up. It was windy and much colder then we had been used to so after setting up we disappeared inside enjoyed dinner and then not long later headed to bed. At one point I did point out to James that OH NO we had just turned into those "older" people who show up set up disappear into their van and not be see again…YIKES. The next day we woke to a stunning day. We walked along the beach and up onto the headland. Had a quick breakfast, packed up and were on the road by 9am. We headed down to a camp ground called Delicate Nobby's beach just south of Cresent Head. It was also right on the beach but the dunes blocked the view this time. We set up had lunch then spent the afternoon walking along the beach climbing the rocks and exploring. Sunday we set off to Belmont. We had booked into a park to freshen up before getting to Sydney and we were meeting someone there who bought our batteries off us. It was an easy run and we were in and set up by 2pm.