Day 1 – Home to Mount Gambier

Well after what seems like endless days, weeks & months of preparing & packing, today was the day we drove out the driveway for the start of our 3 month adventure.

Do any of you realise what is involved in preparing for a trip like this, you would think it is a simple matter of hooking up the van & driving off into the sunset (or rainclouds as it was for us)

Nooooooo! There is much more to it than that. First we had to arrange enough work to support the trip, this started 12 months ago with us sending out an email to clients in the area we will be visiting. Then it was follow up, logistics, & all the other stuff to make it fit. You try getting 20 or 30 clients to fit into what you want to do!

Then preparation for the van & Discovery, Van service $1500, car service $1400 new tyres $1750 new seat for Annie $450….. I’ll be working half the trip just to cover costs!!!

Then you have Annie & Ness preparation….. for those of you who have had kids do you remember what it was like just to be able to go somewhere on a whim? But when kids come along you have to take a truckload of “Things” we almost need a trailer behind the caravan just for Annie’s things! I was just getting used to Brad & Dan being independent & now I am back at square one.

Ness has learnt from our last trip though, she took 10 pairs of shoes with her when we did our last trip, this time she only has 7, and that is only because she can’t fit more because of Annie’s stuff!

I have to give her credit though, Ness has arranged most of this trip while I have been working all over the country, in her usual extremely efficient way…. (See honey I didn’t say painful!) she managed to pull it all together & have us driving out the driveway only one hour behind schedule. Well done darling, all those days where I only had two tasks & got one of them done…….and you had 10 tasks & got 15 done have paid off.

The trip today was interesting, with the van in tow we decided to go the freeway journey to Geelong, this meant Annie’s first trip on the Monash Freeway. For those of you who don’t know the Monash it is one of the main arterials leading into town. And it is CRAP! We got just a short way onto it & started crawling!....Off to a good start.

Crossed the Westgate & down to Geelong, now here is a city that has changed, I have not been to Geelong for over 5 years & I reckon it has doubled in size! Farmland 5 years ago is now housing estates!

Driving through the Western districts in Victoria we were amazed by the beautiful stone fences, these things go for miles & are dead straight! The work that has gone into these fences is amazing and I’m assuming that some of them are quite old?

Another thing that caught my interest was Hedges, man I’ve never seen so many Hedges in my life, some of them are 20 feet high & extremely well trimmed, makes our hedge at home look puny by comparison!!!.... (And much easier to trim DG)

There are some really pretty towns down this way, Camperdown in particular is really pretty & clean.

The Fruit & Nut Saga

I have to share something with you though, at Christmas time we were given a hamper with an assortment of goods in it, one of the things was a small plastic tub of dried fruit & nuts. In January sometime Ness put the Fruit & Nuts into her car, where they have been for the last 5 months still unopened. I asked her many times why they were still there & she explained they were there in case she needed a snack if she was out & about.

Imagine my surprise when pulling out of the driveway I looked over & saw on the seat this exact same tub of nuts!!! What The…. I guess she now has 3 months to see if she feels like a snack!

We arrived at Mt Gambier in the evening & set up the van, for those of you who don’t know about Bart stay tuned & I’ll fill you in on a later blog (The van is named Bart because it is a Trakmaster Simpson…..So therefore Bart)

Annie’s first day in the car was a dream, stopped twice for food & Nappies & then just enjoyed the ride…..Hope this is the sign of things to come.

Annie’s Blog (Written for me by my dad…..Coz I can’t type yet)

I don’t know what all the fuss is about, Mum has been running back & forward to this big white thing with wheels on it for the last few weeks, and yesterday dad parked it behind the flash car (I call it flash because it is better than his old ute!)

And then today we got into the car and took off and the big white thing followed us! Dad tried to lose it but it just would not go away!

Dad asked mum which way to go, mum said to take a road called the Monash, but I could tell that dad wanted to go his favourite way. When we got to the Monash it was like a big car park and all the cars were going slow, Dad looked at Mum & didn’t say anything but I could tell what he was thinking!

We went through a place called Geelong, then Colac & Camperdown, Dad & Mum were amazed at the fences that were made from stone, I just thought it looked like hard work….Imagine your hands after building a fence like that!.....Not for me.

Mum & Dad were talking about sheep & cattle, we saw lots of sheep & cows, there was even a farmer moving his sheep on the road, it was so cool and they are soooo cute, but then Mum asked Dad what happens to cows when they stop giving milk, Dad didn’t know so mum used her phone & they then said that after a cow stops milking it is taken to market! That’s so cool of the farmer to take his cows to the market as a reward for giving all the milk, I hope the farmer buys the cows something special…… Or am I missing something here?.....Mum?? Dad??

We stopped at a place called Mount Gambier, Dad got out of the car and hooked up some pipes and hoses to the white box while mum took me inside & guess what? It has beds and everything in it! Even a TV. Mum said we will stay in this box for the next 3 months while we all travel together, how sick is that? So stay tuned and I’ll tell you all what my Mum & Dad really get up to on our adventure,

Love from AnnieInAVan

Comments

[Anne and Gary]

Well you are off to a good start, and Annie, keep enjoying the ride, and we hope you sleep well every night....all that fresh air will help....looking forward to reading Annie's version of events....not that her Dad and Mum don't spin a good yarn, but we are sure Annie will give us a different slant on every adventure!
xx from us both.

[Kirstin and Edward]

Wow - sounds like you're all off to a good start. Love the blog and will be following along to hear more. Take care and enjoy every minute - good, bad or otherwise xx