Week 27 - Purposeful Meandering around Oz - Home sweet home

Canberra – Home

Kilometres          30815 – 31468 km

It’s our final blog of this trip, as I write this we are having our first night at home in more than 180 days. Whether it be 6, 8 or 12 months away once you know the end is in sight there’s always an element within that just wants to get home and relax……. But as they say “all good things must come to an end”.

Captain Cook Fountain

Leaving Wagga by mid-morning on Monday had the kids excited as we were another step closer to them seeing their friends at home. Heading towards Canberra there was a steady flow of hot rod cars leaving the nation’s Capital after the Summernats, this event had us struggling to find suitable accommodation but just after lunch we were squeezing in to a caravan park. We spent an hour so relaxing by the van before telling the kids we were heading out for a picnic dinner and a ride by the lake. Unbeknown to the kids Leonie’s girlfriend and family were in Canberra and we’d organised a surprise catch-up for the kids. Well the excitement on their faces as they saw their friends for the first time in 6 months was priceless and they were soon off playing. Our picnic by the lake was cut short as a huge thunderstorm lashed Canberra forcing us indoors where we continued our night of catching up with great friends.

Kids swimming at Casuarina Sands

Tuesday dawned  a little slow for some female adults who’d drunk way too much the previous night but by mid-morning with kids super keen to see their friends again we headed out to Casuarina sands (near Cotter Dam) for another catch-up. After a few hours swimming and exploring we headed back into town to see Leonie’s grandmother and share our traveling experiences with her…..  We also managed to catch up with old friends from Wollongong who now live in Canberra. By days end we were sharing a meal with more friends and sharing more tales of our adventure.

Views of Canberra

Wednesday started with an element of surrealness to it, after 6 months of traveling we were going home today and back to reality. The kids were so excited and were already pestering about when they could catch up with friends etc, but to prolong their excitement a little longer we headed out around Canberra to grab a few final photos and see some sights. By late morning we couldn’t put off the inevitable any longer and headed northwards. At 2pm and 184 days after setting off we were finally home.

Home sweet home

Thanks for being part of our journey and we can’t wait to do it all again.