Purposeful Meandering - Savannah Way Week 4

Our final week (week 4) on the road started with us having another day walking various parts of Carnarvon Gorge. Mike and I tackled the tough Boolimba Bluff which is a challenging 200m ascent up steep ladders and rock steps. The views from atop were well worth the effort and we spent some time taking in the vista. By lunchtime we’d retuned to camp where Leonie had enjoyed a relaxing morning. Garth, Danni and the kids decided to do a variation of what we’d undertaken yesterday. By mid-afternoon we had the fire going and we attempted to cook choc-chip cookies on the fire, with happy-hour in full swing and the footy dialled in on the IPad it was the perfect afternoon. To our surprise, late in the day Leonie received a message from her Aunty, informing her that they too were staying at our location, so they also joined us for happy hour celebrations. It was a lovely surprise as it had been quite a few years since we had seen them. Our afternoon festivities rolled into the evening and we spent the remainder of the night sitting in front of a well stoked fire. 

Monday dawned with a tinge of sadness, it was time to bid farewell to everyone as we all went our separate ways. For us, it was off to visit family on the Sunshine Coast while another vehicle headed for 1770 and the last vehicle decided to head straight for Wollongong. We all agreed the trip had been a lot of fun and we’d seen some amazing parts of Australia that not many people get to see. Leaving Carnarvon, our day consisted of 8 hours monotonous driving. We passed through a variety of outback towns and meandered along bumpy roads. Late in the day the towns got bigger and the realisation that we were getting closer to civilisation set in. Just before 5pm we arrived at Leonie’s brother’s place. We’ve never been so excited to have a real shower and sleep in a normal bed. That aside we did spend a few hours catching up over liquid refreshments. 

Tuesday started at a much more leisurely pace as it was tough to get out of a real bed, but we were eventually on the road and heading towards Dave’s family who live in Ipswich. We spent our day exploring various locations as we trekked southward. By mid to late afternoon we joined the urban traffic jams as commuters headed for home. Just after 4:30 we arrived at Dave’s sisters new place, where mum had joined us for a lovely evening catching up with family and as we were staying the night here it allowed us to talk well into the night. 

Wednesday had us out exploring again, we visited some less known gems but as always, as we drove past Yatala, we had to indulge in a “Yatala Pie”. If you’ve ever had one you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say “they’re good”. Continuing south, we soon found ourselves back in NSW and a further step closer to being home. We detoured into Byron Bay as it’d been a few years since we’d been to this wacky town. We spent some time people-watching which is always a great source of laughter in Byron. We made the time to visit the most easterly point of Australia (together). Every time we’ve been here in the past, one of us would be stuck in the car with kids or scrambling to get a geocache with precious moments to spare. Today we had time to have a look around and acknowledge that we’ve been to the most northern, eastern and western points of Australia as a couple. We just need to get to Wilsons Promontory to complete the journey. By days end, we’d made it to Grafton for the night, with storms and rain forecast we opted for the safety of a solid roof over our head for the night. 

Our final day on the road (Thursday) started way earlier than expected. Council workers at 4:45am thought it’d be a good time of the day to leaf blow the surrounding streets. Needless to say multiple people approached them complaining of the noise violation. For us it provided the opportunity for a time to be up and on the road as we still wanted to make stops along the mid north coast. The occasional road works slowed our progress as more towns will soon be bypassed as the road north/south is being up graded. With our stops complete and Sydney peak-hour traffic catching up with us, we finally made it home by late afternoon. Our holiday was over, until next time. What a fantastic journey, we truly live in a beautiful country. 

Some stats: 

We visited 4 states and 1 territory. 

We travelled 9738 km 

We camped in our swag for 24 nights 

 The dearest we seen fuel was $3:50 

The dearest we paid for fuel was $2:74 

The hottest day was 35deg (in winter) 

We had 1 night where it rained. 

We had multiple campfires 

We had happy-hour every day 

 As a group we destroyed 2 tyres 

We lost 2 drones in the water 

No major mechanical breakdowns 

 All vehicles sustained multiple window chips 

And we lost count of the number of corrugations and dirt roads we traveled.