Sep 7, 2012 - Welcome to Oz!

Hello from the wonderful land of Oz!! I have arrived! Yeay! The flight from Hong Kong was good, I didn't sleep much, but I got to watch Dark Shadows which was brilliant :-D Getting through customs and immigrations was longwinded but painless; Seriously, the UK should have such checks upon entry, it would solve a lot of problems!! Amy and Shaun met me at the gate..it was soo good to see her!!! Shaun is lovely, really sweet, and we chatted a lot today while Amy was at work; he is a bit of a geek like me lol so we have a fair bit in common....

Aug 24, 2012 - Perth

Sorry it's been a while since last posting, but you will see why soon. Nice drive through to Exmouth from Karijini. It seems we are mostly out of mining country. Not so many fluro-striped vehicles with flags on top just to make sure you can really see them. And not too many roadtrains anymore. The coast/beach at Exmouth was exactly as the brochures showed. They have an unusual but fair system at Cape Range National Park of allotting the few campsites on a “first-come, first-served” basis. This means that one has to line up at the Park...

Aug 20, 2012 - We are Gran Parent Now - Homeward Bound 4

After a couple of wonderful days we decided to head off towards Broome and try and catch up with Thommo and Jo. When we arrived in Fitzroy Crossing we thought we would call Thommo after we had fuelled up. When we did we found that they were not in Broome but we were welcome to stay at the donger. Thommo mentioned that Craig would be arriving there in a couple of days as he was starting a new job. Thommo gave us instructions on how and where to enter the premises. We had a pretty uneventful trip most of the way but I did do a good deed of...

Aug 18, 2012 - We are Gran Parent Now - Homeward Bound 2

We left Victoria Station around 10 and started heading towards Kununurra slowly. On the way up to Darwin we found the turn off to Coolibah which is the station of the Jones who appeared in their own reality show we enjoyed watching so we made sure we got a photo of it on the way home. Its approx 70.5km nth of Timber Crk. We were lucky there no vehicles coming as I got out to take the photos. While Travelling through Timber Crk I spotted a Boab tree on the side of the road so I took a chance on getting a photo from a moving car and believe...

Aug 17, 2012 - We are Gran Parent Now - Homeward Bound 1

After a leisurely breakfast we packed up leaving the RRS around 9.30 am making our way towards Pine Creek. We are still in the NT. Pine Creek is an old mining town and it has a good display of years gone by and the history of the mining. We stopped and filled up in Katherine and decided not to stay around there as we have been there many times before. The petrol station is such a pain to get into because its very narrow on a main road and there is only a couple of pumps that are caravan and RV friendly and unfortunately there is a back lane...

Aug 16, 2012 - We are Gran Parent Now - Homeward Bound

Well after 51 days here its time to start the wheels turning and heading back to Perth very slowly. The sun is shinning and the birds are chirping. We are packed hocked up and now the really hard part, saying good bye to your brother. Big hugs and kisses jumping in the car and leaving our tracks down Geoff's driveway for the last time possibly this year. Its sad but also exciting because you don't know what you are going to see on the road home. As we said its going to be a slow journal home and after leaving Geoff's at 10am we headed...

Aug 1, 2012 - We are Gran Parent Now - Darwin Stay Nearing Take Off

Over the past weeks Murray has been improving gradually where he feels that he can start to make our way back to Perth so he can recuperate enough to be able to take off again over to see the boys as Murray hasnt meet our 2 gorgeous grandies yet. So Its like we are packing the caravan for the first time. its amazing where all the stuff was stored in the caravan. It just shows we were very comfortable. No matter if you stay a day of months you still have to repack everything for the road trip, its just depends on how much you have used to...

Jul 27, 2012 - The day we left Perth!

Yaaay, after a long time of planning and organising for a 12 month trip around Oz, we finally left Perth at 4.30pm on Friday 27 July 2012 - and what a time to choose to leave!!! We had camped on a kind workmates front lawn for a couple of nights while waiting for the canopy to be added to the Navara. But, being Becketts this is what we did! Our journey to Cervantes coincided with rush hour traffic, road works, crazy road trains which became progressively more intimidating in the darkness; they were like the fire-eating dragons of one’s...

Jul 16, 2012 - We Are Gran Parents NOW - Darwin Stay

Over the next month we stayed at Geoff's while Murray was gradually improving each day. He still gets a lot of stabbing facial pains but they are not as long even though they are still severe when they attack. We have started to do a bit of the touristy things as I feel if he is kept occupied it could distract him from the pain he is experiencing. Over the last couple of months we should have had shares in a chemist but so long as he is getting some relief that is all that counts. We visited the Aviation Museum and was pleasantly surprised....

Jul 9, 2012 - We Are Gran Parents NOW

Pinch Me!!!!! Ouch! Yes its true. We are gran parents to the most adorable handsome young men. Over the next week I drove to the hospital daily visiting Gavin, Amy & the boys. Oh to see Gavin with the boys is just sooo gorgeous. Changing their tiny, tiny handkerchiefs for nappies. He is so scared of breaking them but he is managing beautifully. it also makes a little more challenging with their tubes in a well. It was a shame that I was not able to touch or cuddle the boys while I was there but I'd rather healthy bubbas than me having a...

Jul 8, 2012 - On the way to becoming gran parents - Darwin Stay

Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring 4am in the morning. Everyone springs up before they are even awake. Gee! whats wrong. Hello, Its Amy and she is on the way to the hospital as her water has broken. Oh! Ok will see you when I get over there. They are both very calm and excited. I can see the boys are really going to listen to their Dad after he told them not to come while Gran, Gran Pop, cousin Coral and Great Uncle Geoff were having their family reunion. At least they gave us two days together. Oh great excitement but also disappointment for Coral and...

Jul 7, 2012 - On the way to becoming gran parents - Darwin Stay

Mmmmmmmmmmmm! Family breakfast, that's a first for a long time. Big decision, where to go, what to do. Will we look like tourists or locals. We decided locals for the first part and then tourists. We decided on the Parap Markets, oh! we wished we didn't. I cant believe the amount of people and lack of parking. I was starting to get dizzy while Geoff was trying to find a parking spot. Finally we squeezed into a spot, took us 5 mins to walk to the market and got a real surprised. It was jammed packed mainly with coffee shops and outlets....