Home

Back at home after 17,000 kilometres and 20 weeks, having had a wonderful trip where we saw splendid scenery and learned to appreciate the different types of landscape and flora and fauna.

We've seen crocodiles big and small, freshwater and salties, seen thousands of birds including at least a hundred species we hadn't previously seen (we wish we'd started recording them at the beginning, but we didn't- we had no idea we would see so many new ones).  We've seen endangered species like bilbies and cassowary, we've seen many feral animals- cats, pigs, goats, foxes, cane toads, brumbies- the only camels we saw were tame but there are millions of feral camels too.  Noxious weeds that people have introduced as pot plants or to solve one problem thereby creating another.

It's amazing to think that only yesterday we were in Queensland, in Cunnamulla to be exact.  We'd planned to stay in Bourke but we arrived there at morning tea time, so decided to continue down the road, and reached a freebie near Warren in the afternoon.  Just before dark we discovered the caravan battery was flat, so no lights, no water (pump doesn't work without power), no gas )piezzo lighter ditto)- so we went into Warren and stayed at a caravan park.  This morning we checked the battery, it had charged with the power connected, but the frig drawing on it while we drove was dragging it down again.  It's supposed to be charged through the car as we drive but for some reason that wasn't working, and the frig draws a lot of power- even though we have a solar panel, it's not enough power to run the frig all day and still have power left over.  So we decided to just come home where these things are not a problem.  

Then when I arrived home, I found my car battery also dead flat.  Oh well, NRMA will come tomorrow and fix that.  It's good to be home.  As soon as we reached the Hunter Valley we started thinking how lovely everything looked, wattle in bloom, pastures green after rain- it's always good to be home again.  Over and out.