Bonded not Busted

Our last night on the road was a very special family night for me.  We spent some time over and after dinner reflecting on the last 8 weeks on the road.  Taking it in turns to share our favourite places, favourite or most memorable days, the places we would most like to visit again and the place we would least like to visit again.  It was important to me to hear the children's perspectives on these and their reasons why.

We were all united that our most favourite place was Monkey Mia.  The children both agreed that they liked it the best because they didn't have to get in the car for 3 days!!!  Jade and I also both agreed that the one on one time we spent together waiting and feeding the dolphins was very special time (it also came out during the course of the conversation that it was a good way of getting out of doing the breakfast dishes and making the beds - our secret had to come out eventually.)

We all agreed our least favourite place was Carnarvon, but that was never really meant to be a destination and you have to take the good with the bad, its all part of the experience.

We packed up this morning with a damp van, we were lucky to escape with it just damp as it poured almost as soon as we shut the lid on it.  It was a fairly wet trip - I drove first - express to Bathurst.  Much harder driving than we've done for weeks, you actually had to drive, none of this point and shoot that we've gotten so used too.  The exceptionally wet weather made the trip a little more interesting as with so much weight on the back the steering is very light on the front making the car skate in the puddles - we definatly will be investing in some sway bars before we tackle another trip.

We were hoping to finish the Skate across Australia tour with the last stop being at Bathurst back where it all began however it was too wet to skate so back on the Warriewood Express Bus with Dave as driver and off we went.

We thought we'd try the Bells Line Rd on the way through the mountains - we'd never done it before and doing it in the rain with a fairly fully laden van was probably not the smartest thing we've ever done - for those that have never driven it it is very steep with lots of hairpin bends and the visibility going up and down the mountains was very poor today.  Kept Dave on his toes and he did an exceptional job. 

We stopped at Bilpin at the Fruit Bowl for a very quick lunch before back in again headed for home.  The trip seemed to take forever, some days the kilometres ticked over quickly but today they really seemed to drag.

We arrived home at 3:30pm and it was great to see some familiar faces driving up and down the street.  We are also lucky to have such fabulous neighbours, we have already been spoilt with freshly baked cake and biscuits (thanks Ruth!!!)

It is very strange to be back home again, everything feels super sized.  To have hot running water, water that you can drink straight from the tap and a toilet that you don't have to go outside to use or share with anyone else feels incredibly luxurious.

We have our best mate - Archie back with us again now too and he also has had a great holiday.

This afternoon has been spent unpacking and trying to find places to put the bucket load of shells I have brought home for all over the west coast - what was I thinking!!

To wrap things up... This break hasn't been a holiday, its been a family adventure, its been so much more than I ever dreamed and hoped it would be in so many ways that are just impossible to put into words.  We are so much tighter as a family unit, we have seen the best and the worst of people and have grown closer as a result.  We have seen and experienced so much that our great country has to offer and it has just made us so much hungrier to see more.  We had our fair share of rough days in the beginning as we were adjusting to spending so much time together in the small living space that we've called home but everyone has managed to find a way to get on and I can defiantly say we are so much better for it and have come back bonded not busted.  Tom's words to me tonight on going to bed said it all "Thanks for taking me all the way out there Mum it was brilliant".

Now for those of you that like the stats...

Kilometres driven today = 492

Our total kilometres driven 14901

Total litres of petrol used 2020.28

Most expensive petrol - Nullarbor Roadhouse - $1.959

Number of skate parks skated on Skate Across Australia Tour - 16

Would I do it again - in a heartbeat - highly recommend it to anyone!!!!!!