So, we updated the web-site with the promise of more the following week and….as always when I make that promise things change rapidly.  This is normally to our benefit.  The week after Mum flew home and we were staying with Lara and Adrian we were dedicated to finding our way around Australia.  We tracked down a number of places to buy second (or nineteenth) hand cars.  The first was a true “experience” based in the 5th floor (underground) of a car-park of the legendary King’s Cross area of Sydney.  We got down there to find a strange, almost macabre, scene with groups of jaded travellers trying to part from their “excellent runner” rides that really needed to be driven to the nearest scrap heap.  The only vehicle worth buying was the right price and accordingly outside of what I was willing to pay.  Driving across Australia should not be taken lightly and doing it in some of these vehicles just proves that you don’t need an IQ greater than your shoe size to leave your own country, but it might help if you want to survive.  Every person we spoke to down there had another unbelievable story and eventually we did the logical thing and left in a hurry.  The next place was the other side of town and was a lot better being that it was a garage that was servicing these vehicles and providing warranties, buy back guarantees and the rest.  There were at least 2 vehicles that could be trusted to fair you well, but again they were accordingly priced.  Slightly down beaten we headed back to Lara’s apartment and got back on-line.  Searching through some of the auction sites started to show more promise, then it happened.  I headed back to an avenue that I had started down, but abandoned due to lack of relevance.  This time the Gods of Travelling smiled down on us and all was more than good.  We had located a vehicle relocation for a reputable hire company for an astonishing vehicle to go from Sydney to Perth, leaving in 2 days time, within 30 minutes it was booked.  2 mornings later we were at Apollo Motorhomes paying the AUS$1 per day, with them paying us AUS$500 of fuel to drive a Toyota Hi-Lux 4x4 3.0 V6 Camper conversion with aircon in both cab and conversion, an excellent fridge, gas stove, 40 litre water tank, 2*20 litre jerry cans, seating for 3, tonnes of storage and a 2m x 2m bed that was SUPER comfortable.  We had 5 nights and 6 days to cross to Perth and within 20 minutes of assuring them that I understood that we were not to take the vehicle off-road, drive at night or, basically, have fun we were underway.  Our first night was spent at a super remote site, about 700km from Sydney, which required us to drive off-road, through a forest at night with plenty of necessity to engage the 4WD.  Er….selective hearing?  The next day we drove 800km through farmland, into desert, through an oasis and into the outback where we located a town that had a drive in cinema that had a double bill on that night.  We found a site in the middle of a national park about 20 minutes drive from the cinema.  Our first drive in cinema experience was excellent fun, with a good double bill, Epic Movie and Night at the Museum.  We cooked dinner on the stove and sat in the cab with freezing cold drinks, hot food and a lot of comfort.  Again we found ourselves driving at night, off-road to get to our campsite.

The next day we started the big driving, we finished the day after driving 1,100km across a lot more desert to the start of the Great Australian Bight.  To be honest the driving was fairly boring with much of it just being straight, but I got it into my head that it was necessary for me to accomplish the drive without any assistance from my beautiful assistant.  We caned it and pulled into a campsite at 7pm having started our drive at 8am.  I doubt that a lesser vehicle would have been as easy or got the job down so efficiently.  I am really in awe at the Hi-Lux.

The next day was another big one with us looking to beat the previous day, in the end we had done 1,200km (Zoë did drive 50km for me, but I really couldn’t bear it and male pride mixed with obliging woman had me back in the driving seat).  As some form of repentance I feel I need to mention that Zoë should be proud as in England she doesn’t like driving anything bigger than her VW Polo and here she was driving a big engine’d 4x4 with a large, unwieldy, campervan conversion passing 120m road trains and dealing with side winds.  Anyway I couldn’t give in and back in the seat I was.  We crossed 2 more time zones that day and learnt a fact that most Western Australians I know (and I know a fair few as you will find out) don’t know.  WA has 2 time-zones, GMT+8.45 and GMT+8, but only around 12 people live in the Eastern half of WA there is nobody to inform the other 48 people that seem to live in the Western half that this is the case.  We pulled in 100kms after driving Australia’s longest straight stretch of road (90 miles) at a stunning campsite on a cattle station.

For our penultimate day we had a treat in store.  Rather than take the easy route we decided to short cut across 300kms of bush road running from Norseman to Hynen.  That afternoon was spent with the largest rooster tail of red sand spilling out from the back wheels as we sped across open land, getting ourselves into off-road situations whenever we could and generally having a lot of fun.  At the other end the vehicle was red with dirt and covered in dead insects.  We slept well that night like we had on all the other nights we had the van.  We both knew that we would be sad to see the back of this vehicle.  There are better 4WDs than this one, something even the Jingoistic Aussies will admit that us Brits do better, like the unbeatable Land Rover 110/Defender that will be used to pull every other type of 4WD out of just about every situation known to man.  There are better campervans than this one, but for this combination I don’t think that Apollo could have done any better.  The company that does the conversion is Tavlou, an Aussie company.  The blend was perfect, after climbing a 40 degree slope and crossing many tree roots you could park up, lower the stabiliser leg and cook up a top dinner to have with your cold drink in a VERY civilised environment.  Many other 4WDers and campervanners commented on the vehicle and you get quite a glow from driving it.

All this sadness was blown into the past just a few minutes later as Craig pulled up and here was my Cousin Marianne’s firstborn Keanu, large as life saying “Hello” to me.  And thus started 2.5 weeks of family onslaught that we would find ourselves bathing in and fighting leaving.

For 2.5 weeks we were fed, given a bed and entertained by Justin’s family in Perth.  It was lovely to see them all and get to meet all the new faces.  Keanu is a delight, a bright and loving 3 (nearly 4) year old with no inhibitions, once in a while he does something out of character and you are reminded that he is a 3 year old not a 5 year old.  Throughout our time there a variety of friends came to visit and used us as story tellers, playmates and general trampolines.  Cyrus is Holly’s (Holly is my younger cousin) and is a bouncy, beefing little Tonka truck of a 6 month old boy.  He is already part of the travelling community having gone to England and Canada on holiday with his parents and he has a permanently happy demeanour and is very determined.  Charlotte is the youngest at 10 weeks when we first met her and 12.5 weeks when we left.  It is amazing to watch such a young child grow in the space of 2.5 weeks.  When we arrived she had feeding issues, but with a little experimentation Marianne and Craig had this under control and she was putting on great length, so it looks like she will follow her mother into the nearly 6’ range.  We spent a load of time with all the adult relatives as well, but apart from telling you about how they are having kids, their jobs, etc. it is just beautiful time spent with close relatives that I rarely see.  2.5 weeks was not enough, but travelling was calling us back to the road and we boarded a flight back to Sydney feeling that we were going to miss out on watching these children grow and change the way they had been for the past few weeks.

We landed back in Sydney and within a few hours were having a couple of drinks with my incredibly drunk sister and her not so sober boyfriend, Adrian.  The next 2 weeks were blurs of decision making, disappointments and delight.  There was a lot of family stuff to deal with, but that was our thing.  Finally 2 weeks later we left Australia, sad to have to say goodbye to Justin's family after nearly 6 weeks spent with them.  It would be weird to get back on the road again.  Luckily we had a decent plan to help with all this.  It was called, get to Gili Air and stop there for a while.