We are home and have had time to reflect on the journey. I don't think that Elaine really enjoyed the trip, partly because of her first couple of days and because her pain was constant. But she was glad that she came and certainly I was very pleased to have her with me. Anyway I thought that now would be a god time to put the details on paper, or rather on the air.

We left here on the 8th by Virgin, no dramas and a good flight with Elaine sleeping pretty near all the way. Then the Avis desk and drama, after 1/2 hour with discovered that my credit card had international transactions barred and Avis banks in the USA.  Off to the van at Mittagong and a very pleasant handover. Then that night Elaines runs kick in and she has a bad night, along with difficulties getting into the bed. Next day off to Moss Vale to return the car, as per my booking, with Kate (the seller of the van) following......But at Moss Vale they would not accept the car. Another long phone conversation, this time with Avis and we arrange to return the car to Campbelltown which is 54km backwards from Mittagong. Later that day, Friday, I do exactly that and catch the train back to the van and we spend the night at Mittagong.

Saturday dawns and we find that Elaines purse has been left in the car and we drive back to Campbelltown then head off to Wagga Wagga a total journey of 450km. There we stay with friends from a previous trip which is very pleasant then head off the following morning. That night, Sunday, we stay in Hay and I cannot remember where! By then we are both very tired, Elaine is recovering but is still tired, we have also realised that a realistic take off time is 8.30am and decide to call it a day at around 3pm.

Come Monday we are a little more relaxed but cover 512km, plus a couple of side trips looking for a camp, to Waikerie where we finish up camping in the civic centre car park. From there we drive 398km to Iron Knob, which the older of us will remember as the original iron ore mine, and stay in their RV friendly park. Wednesday sees us drive 402km to Ceduna and an CMCA friendly caravan park. All this time the scenery is very nice but Elaine sleeps most of the time in the passenger seat, but sooner or later we will be back for a better look.

We are now starting the Nullabor run which is the main thing that Elaine wanted to see. So we spend Thursday night at the Head of the Bight parking area after a 294km drive. On previous trips we have limited a days drive to a macimum of 200km and mostly covered much shorter distances, with Elaine driving nearly all of the time.  The longer drives mean that we are both tired and are not getting a really good look at the scenery, but that is what we expected and this is, after all, a delivery trip. Friday we continue westward stopping at all 4 of the coastal lookouts to take in the spectacular and pretty bight coastline. After about 400km we stop just past Mundrabilla in 24hr stopping camp which extends well back from the road and is quite nice. From there on Saturday we head past Balladonia stopping after 445km and an hour or so in medium strength rain at another roadside stop.

It is now Sunday and we had hoped to be home for Karen's surprise party, instead of which we drive 430km to Coolgardie where they have van parking at the railway museum. That night we find ourselves, with 2 other vans, in the middle of a major thunderstorm with lots and lots of rain. It is amusing to note that now that we are not pushing we are covering quite reasonable distances. From Coolgardie 295km to Merredin and parking at the Merredin Peak reserve which is quite good and we stayed here on a couple of previous occasions. This time we do not have any company.

So on Tuesday we drive 258km to Barr Street and thus ends our odyssey.

I may flesh this out a bit at a later date , but that is the delivery trip for our new motorhome.