When I made the return booking for the Spirit of Tasmania I just took whatever date they had around the time we thought we would want to get back to the mainland. I didn’t look at the fact that this would get us in on Easter Friday and had I been alone I probably wouldn’t have known this even as I boarded. Fortunately, I am not alone and Hayley made me well aware of the fact weeks before we left the mainland by declaring that there was nowhere we could stay when we returned on this busy long weekend. This is a typical example of a “3^rd world caravan problem” – instead of house issues like mowing the lawn, paying the bills, renovating the bathroom etc we had swapped these for caravan issues – where would we stay?, can we clear that tree? and what to do on a holiday long weekend when you get off the ferry from Tasmania?

Fortunately, by an amazing coincidence, one of Hayley’s friends from TAFE, Ana (as well as her husband Jason and kids Nicholas and Santiago), were doing a house swap for their Newport home with a family from Warrnambool starting on Easter Friday. A few text messages and a phone call later and we at least had a destination to aim for coming off the ferry as well as somewhere to at least park the van (the property was 40 acres after all!).. We were in no rush, Ana and Jason wouldn’t be there until later in the evening (and we were off the ferry by 6am!) so we decided to take the scenic route, down the Great Ocean Road, stopping in at Bells Beach (the Ripcurl Pro was on) and the 12 Apostles on our way.

You don’t see that many caravans on the Great Ocean Road and probably with good reason. It’s not so much that you can’t take one or that the windy road makes it slow, we were happily able to stay on or around the speed limit (and with reasonable fuel economy!). It’s more because it tends to be a beautiful drive, something your less inclined to enjoy with a 3 tonne caravan on the back.  Still, we got to experience all the beauty of this famous driving route on our way, even if the limestone cliffs, forests, beaches and seaside towns deserve more than a passing glance. We’ll be back again, maybe just not at Easter next time! Following the signs to Torquay and the Ripcurl Pro surfing event at Bells Beach, the weather yet again impacted on our (quickly improvised) plans, the conditions were poor and a lay day had been called for the Good Friday. You can’t really be too disappointed when you miss out on something you hadn’t planned for in the first place, at least we got to stretch our legs with an enjoyable cliff walk as well as see first-hand this iconic beach and surf break.

By the time we got to the 12 Apostles it’s fair to say enthusiasm was waning as the lack of sleep the night before and long day of driving was having an impact in the front left and rear of the car. Before we knew it however a very helpful parking assistant had guided us into a space reserved for buses and it seemed rude to just pull right through and keep on driving. Mustering all the enthusiasm I could I jumped out of the car and headed towards the throngs of tourists brandishing selfie sticks. As spectacular as the remaining Apostles are its fair to say that the tourists are equally entertaining (but nowhere near as beautiful!), all clambering for the best selfie possie, pulling duck face poses into their extended sticks and generally paying more attention to themselves than the majestic limestone formations.

After working our way through the crowds and determining that the line in the visitor centre was too long to wait for an ice-cream, we headed to Port Campbell where I was sure we could find ice-creams without the lines. A couple of retro inspired Golden Gaytimes and Buffalo Bills later we climbed back into the car to complete the rest of the journey to Warrnambool and “our” house!

After we had agreed the best spot for the caravan, squeezed it along the edge of a paddock, hooked up to the power and water and met up with Zazu the dog (who welcomed us to the house), we settled in for an easy dinner and an early night. The next morning we stayed put until we were sure we wouldn’t wake anyone and then headed into the house to say hello to the Arruzza family. In the end we stayed at the house for as long as Ana and Jason did, enjoying the company, the fireplace (which was lit from morning to night), the rural setting (with Zazu, chickens, sheep, 4 wheelers, a putting green and fresh veggie patch) as well as the local surrounds and attractions. Day trips to Port Fairy (awesome fish and chips as well as a highly recommended artesian ice-cream), Tower Hill (an old volcanic crater where we saw emu’s and our first “wild” Koala), Bay of Islands (the Victorian not New Zealand version) and Hopkins Falls were interspersed with kid friendly visits to the incredible Lake Pertobe adventure playground (where the kids got to go in motorised boats, zoom down the flying fox and have fun in the sand), Putt Putt Golf, Flagstaff Hill, an introduction to the pretty self-explanatory Inflatable World and plenty of fun and games around the house.

The Easter Egg hunt provided a supply of chocolate for the kids to ration over the stay (well ration it after an initial gorging phase!) and a variety of wonderful home cooked meals, nice local wines and cheeses kept the older “kids” happy during the week also. Morning coffee was followed by collecting the eggs from the chickens, rumbles with the kids (and dog) and then an excursion for the day before returning home for more play, gourmet delights and a family movie to end the day. The kids loved having other kids (and other kids’ toys) to play with as well as the wide open spaces of this home after extended periods in a single room. They had a lot of fun with Nick and Santi and came up with wild and wonderful games to play together (with only one small kinetic sand incident!).

Before we knew it time (and the wood supply) were coming to an end. It was time for the Arruzza family to head to the airport and for us to move onto our next destination, the Grampians National Park.

Making our way to Halls Gap we changed our intended caravan park on a whim and headed instead for the park that boasted a heated swimming pool! The Lakeside Tourist Park also had fire pits that could be taken onto your site and used to warm you through the night or just roast some marshmallows! Fortunately the family camping next to us already had one and it wasn’t long before we had negotiated a share of their flame in exchange for some sticks and marshmallows. Bizarrely enough for the first day or so most of the shops around town had sold out of marshmallows (the “Stall” Gift had been on in neighbouring Stallwell the previous weekend but they didn’t seem like marshmallow eating folk). It took us 4 stops but we finally found a bag of puffy goodness – clearly we weren’t the only family who thought this was a good idea!

With the kids a bit more “hike fit” we set off each day to explore the Grampians. The largest hike was up to the Pinnacle, where we started at the Sundial car park (slightly easier for the kids) for the 4.2k round trip to the top, but we also ventured to Mackenzie Falls (which I was surprised to learn is Victoria’s largest waterfall), Reed Lookout, The Balconies and Boroka lookout for sunrise! In the end we only hiked a small part of this spectacular National Park, it is truly a magnet for walkers of all ages with numerous trails taking you all over the fantastic rock formations and mountain ranges. No matter where you went the one thing you were guaranteed was the reward of spectacular views.

Time around the park was spent jumping on one of the many trampolines, riding bikes with new-found friends (bizarrely enough another set of twins!), exploring the local area and wildlife (kangaroos and emu’s were in abundance) as well as feeding the birds. The birds ranged from Cockatoo’s to Blackbirds, but the nicest looking were the Rosella’s, which came in two distinct colour patterns. Although we had just purchased the book “What bird is that” I am still not quite sure whether the different appearance was down to age, sex or some other determining factor – I guess it’s important not only to purchase a book, but also to read it if you want to learn! What I do know was that the kids (and Hayley too) enjoyed feeding them some mixed seeds and they certainly enjoyed eating them!

During the past few weeks we had planned for Hayley to return to Sydney for a friend’s surprise 40^th and also to catch up with friends and family. That meant a slightly circuitous route, from the Grampians we headed back to Melbourne (where we would have stayed coming back from the boat was it not for the whole busy long weekend thing). The plan was that I would then take the kids from Melbourne to Adelaide and that we would meet up with Hayley when she flew back in a few weeks later.

In Melbourne, dinner with Paige and Robert allowed us to pick up the entire Term 2 of schoolwork for Denver (not sure he will want to visit Paige again in a hurry!) as well as catch up on what had been happening since we last saw them at their wedding nearly 3 years ago.

Dropping Hayley at the airport, the kids and I decided to hang around for a few days and catch a game of AFL at the MCG (yep the kids definitely decided that one!). To take their minds off leaving Mum we decided the afternoon would be spent at the Melbourne Aquarium, which had plenty of interactive exhibits. Colouring in your own fish, scanning it and then having it appear on the projected wall aquarium was pretty cool, as were the displays with sharks, rays and turtles. I was happy that not all the turtles had been re-released into the wild as they are one of my favourite creatures in the world! We spend 30 minutes with a crocodile display and at the end I still couldn’t tell you if it was real or a model, it certainly didn’t move (not even an eyelid) during the whole time it was under surveillance! At the opposite end of the scale from the motionless croc were the penguins, who didn’t stop moving, diving, swimming, twisting and turning at every opportunity.

A return visit to Scienceworks, this time with the additional ticket for the Planetarium for some stargazing, was snuck in around some schoolwork and bike riding, and then it was Saturday and time for the clash between Carlton and Essendon at the “G”. Although it was a home game for Carlton the support was largely pro Essendon and it didn’t take the kids long to declare their allegiance. Singing the club song after the siren had sounded endorsed the choice and at the moment at least there are two more Bombers fans running around. Still plenty of time to convert them though – “Cheer, cheer the red and the white!”

I guess they don’t give you heavy weather warnings unless they are pretty sure they know what to expect and so it was I didn’t find myself waking up in Tasmania after all, but rather just a little while later, as the Spirit of Tasmania headed out of the protection of the harbour and into some heavy swells. It wasn’t so much the rhythmic rocking from side to side, or the heavy thumps as the bow crashed through the swell, it was more the anticipation of what was coming next. In a somewhat superfluous effort to keep things under control, my body (I guess it’s a bit of a control freak) seemed to like anticipating the next rock or roll and then trying to adjust to suit. The issue is that the anticipation is not entirely unconscious, so I found myself in a very relaxed state waiting for what was coming next. I certainly wouldn’t call it sleeping and with April calling out as she rolled from side to side, I climbed off my bunk and got into her bed to give her a cuddle. Before too long we were both way too hot (her and I are the heaters in the family) and after things hadn’t so much calmed down as become more consistent, we all fell back to sleep in our respective beds until the announcement at 5:15am informed us that we had half an hour to get ready and head to our vehicles..

I was a bit nervous as we approached the Jeep. Firstly, they had warned us that alarms have a tendency to go off in swells and that before they locked the vehicle bays you should disable your alarm to avoid flattening your battery (as I was trying to get April into bed at the time and didn’t want to leave her alone I just had to ignore that warning). Secondly, as we had never left the van hitched up overnight before, I wasn’t quite sure what impact this may have. Adding to the pressure was being first in line and knowing that if we couldn’t start then it was going to be a long morning for everyone! In the end there was nothing to worry about, we started first time and led the procession off the gangway and onto terra firma.

Greeted with a welcome pack (we need two please so the kids won’t fight over them) we headed towards Kelso, which we had decided represented a good place to stay given we were meeting up with my Mum the following day in Launceston. The beauty of the countryside was evident immediately, even if the conditions with the sun rising into my eyes and the road scattered with more road kill than I had seen in a long time, made for less than optimal driving conditions. Upon arrival, which was pre-office hours let alone pre-arrival time, we launched into a second breakfast and before too long were on site and set up (the annex as well) in anticipation of the next few days and Nana’s visit!

Armed with the “Tamar Triple Pass” we had our next few days planned out, so after Nana had arrived we headed to the first of the local area attractions, Seahorse World, where everything about the fascinating life of seahorses was explained to us. We also got to feed them, hold them (and other sea creatures) and generally it was great fun and very interesting! Luckily when the Hermit crab came out to say hello to Hayley she was holding him over the tank, otherwise he would have been looking for another home much sooner!

Across the pier from Seahorse World is Platypus House, where you can get up close and personal to Tasmanian Platypus and Echidna, both of which are native to Tasmania. Platypus are a strangely compelling creature, kind of weird looking (most of the time I was wondering how their bills stayed on their heads although I didn’t think it right to ask such a profound question!) and yet kind of cute and cuddly at the same time. We had heard lots of stories of being able to see platypus in the rivers throughout Tassie, but were keen to see them up close also. We watched them fossicking and swimming around and the cuteness element grew on me, who cares how those bills stay on, they seem such friendly natured little guys… Platypus house also has some rescued Echidna’s that come and interact with the visitors at feeding time. These truly are fascinating creatures and the kids loved getting up close to these bundles of fun and spikes and watching them running, playing and eating around our feet.

That night Nana would be the first guest in our new “home”, so while the kids played around the park (the campground was also a nature reserve so there were plenty of animals around in addition to the jumping pillow and playground) we set up the air mattress and softened the impact of sleeping outside with the special thank you Champagne from my old work that had been chilling in the fridge.

The Beaconsfield Mine tour (the third attraction of the triple pass) is a very interesting and interactive exhibition, where you can learn about the history of the area, clock on and off from the mining shaft (ringing the bell and tagging the board that represents whose underground) as well as explore early mining methods and mining equipment. None of us could believe that 9 years had passed since the tragic death of Larry Knight and the dramatic rescue of Brant Webb and Todd Russell, both of whom are still around town today and are heavily featured in the exhibition. The town is so small you wonder how they managed to cope with all the worlds media that descended upon them during the days of the rescue. The exhibition focuses on mining and the importance of mining to the town (the shaft is clearly visible from the main street) but also pays tribute to the rescue efforts and bravery of those two miners who eventually made it out after two weeks underground. You get to wriggle into a reconstruction of the space they had and start to appreciate how tough they must have been to make it through what would have seemed a hopeless eternity.

Over the rest of Nana’s visit Hayley and I managed to sneak in a very welcome tasting at Goaty Hill Wines as well as a relaxing dinner for two (most appreciated after being a foursome for so long). We walked the Cataract Gorge in Launceston (although we didn’t brave a swim in the pool despite April’s pleas!). The Gorge is a pretty spectacular place and amazingly accessible from town. We followed it up with stunning fish and chips on the river and then back home to hunt for wombats! You could see the evidence of the wombats around the van in the mornings (little square pellets – who knows how!), but as yet we had not set our eyes on one of them in the wild.

Braving the cold and armed with all our portable lighting (mainly consisting of any available head torches) we set off in the late afternoon to have a wander around. Despite a few skeptical comments from some of the party we hung in there and just as we were about to get back to the van we saw some scurrying near the playground. Wandering closer we found two wombats doing whatever it is that wombats do. From that point on, once the first sighting had been completed, we saw wombats all over the place, beside the road, around the campground, even in the middle of the day – it felt like we had earned our wombat viewing pass and now the once secret world was opened up to us!

Bidding farewell to Nana we moved on to Stanley and its famous “Nut”. Known for gale force winds as well as the beautiful view from the top, we planned a short visit and ended up spending a couple of days looking around the town, sampling the local food and walking the top of the Nut (notice I say walking the top of the Nut rather than walking to the top of the Nut – it was hard enough to get the kids motivated for the walk around the top, we had to encourage them by taking the chairlift!). Beautiful views, interesting plant life and inquisitive Pademelons make the trek around the top very interesting and you can certainly see why the area has a reputation as “the edge of the world.” Only realising later that we had not actually taken a photo of the Nut itself we are lucky that Denver and April don’t go anywhere without getting postcards!

From Stanley the original plan was to head to Strahan but the weather was closing in, so we decided to try our luck on the East coast instead. Packing up early we were headed to Bicheno (and I quote the information leaflet when I say) “a picturesque town famous for its sandy beaches, mild climate and sunny weather”. You can see why it’s one of Tasmania’s favourite destinations, not only is the local bakery a major award winner but the beaches, blowhole and proximity to the Freycinet Peninsula make it a wonderful spot to spend a few days (even if the mild climate and sunny weather seemed to be taking a holiday of their own!). You can see I was pretty impressed with the bakery by the fact I have listed it before the world renowned Wineglass Bay, Coles Bay and the Freycinet National Park. Although Denver’s schoolwork filled up a couple of days as we worked to catch up with what was due, we still had time to enjoy the town (where April made her first successful “crossing” of monkey bars much to her delight), visit the blowhole when it was at its explosive best and go on a huge walk along the beaches and beachfront tracks, picking a belly load of blackberries from the wild vines as we made our way towards Diamond Island (which if you get the timing right you can walk to across the sandbank).

We were determined to get the kids more accustom to bushwalking, and trekking through the Freycinet National park was a good way to show them that not only is nature beautiful, but at the end of some effort you can be rewarded with a real sense of achievement alongside some spectacular scenery. While willing participants in the first hike to the Wineglass Bay Lookout, it took some more coaxing (in the form of a chupa chup) to get them out of the car for the second hike of the day, fortunately that was only a short but interesting walk around the lighthouse at Cape Tourville.

Completing the Bicheno experience was a walking tour to see Penguins in their natural habitats. Although not Penguin “season” (most of the babies had hatched, grown and headed out to sea until the next summer) there were still a few stragglers that we managed to see. Hayley and Denver had the best experience of the evening. After April had pulled the plug due to the torrential rain (her and I returned to some cover in a shed), Hayley and Denver had front row seats while a mother brought a catch back to her baby. Just a few feet from where they stood the mother then proceeded to feed her hungry baby, an amazing spectacle which had everyone watching transfixed.

I had visited Port Arthur some twenty years prior on a family holiday and was interested to see how my memory of the area was holding up (given I have been on some holidays and experiences I cannot remember at all I was pretty impressed that I had any sort of vision of what we would find there!). When the caravan park told me that there is no town of Port Arthur it knocked my confidence a little, but when we first strolled down the hill and took in the main Penitentiary building I knew that this building was the memory I had, despite the additional information and museum facilities that had been added since.

Port Arthur is the primary tourist attraction in Tasmania and also the site of one of the worst massacres in Australian history (1996, which was a year or so after we came on our family holiday). A UNESCO World Heritage Site with fascinating stories of its convict history as well as the  physical and psychological punishments inflicted on prisoners housed there, it’s now a beautiful setting and a great day out, but it certainly wouldn’t have been much fun for the prisoners sent here (some prisoners were as young as 9!)…  With a grounds tour and boat cruise around “Isle of the Dead” and “Point Puer Boys Prison” to start the day we wandered ruins, beautiful gardens and the a series of interactive displays that had the kids fascinated by life in these bygone times. They struggled to fully comprehend the impact of the tiny cells, physiological punishments (including the separate prison where silence was used to “reform” the prisoners but generally just ended up with them next door in the asylum) and horrible conditions would have on people, but I am sure they are happy they live in these times rather than those!

On the way to Port Arthur is the “Un Zoo” which was originally established as a Tasmanian Devil conservation park. The Tasmanian Devil has a fascial tumor throughout much of its wild population which has reduced numbers in the wild considerably. The long term goal of the conservation programs across Tasmania and the mainland is to build a diverse gene pool of some 500+ tumor free devils, from which a population can then be re-introduced into the wild to avoid the extinction of the species. The Tasman peninsular is one of the naturally occurring areas of tumor free Devils, due to the nature of its geography, but I was shocked to hear they estimate there are only 30 or so Devils on this stretch of land. For visitors, the Un Zoo is a good chance to see Devils in open and interactive enclosures as well as see their natural behaviours as they sleep, play and feed. The kids were fascinated by the Devils and the 11 different noises they make (car trips for the next few days consisted of Devil noises, none of which are particularly “tunefull!), the exhibits were well planned and the carers very passionate about the animals and their conservation.

The Un Zoo is laid out in expansive grounds and the talks and feedings take place where the animals are rather than in enclosures. The kids loved feeding the Kangaroos and Pademelons and were willing participants in the free bird flight show (at least until the bird took the money from their hands!).

To explore the region around Hobart we chose to follow Denver’s school friend Jasmine (and her brother Eli and parents Julia and Matt) who had travelled Tasmania during the same time (although unfortunately we always seems to be on virtually opposite sides so we never actually met up!). Jasmine had left a letter (and as it turns out some Skittles!) for Denver at the Huon Valley Caravan Park, which is a working farm with cows, sheep, pigs, ducks, geese, Bertie the goat as well as Badge the working dog. Being Saturday we dropped Hayley at the Salamanca Markets on our way through town (yes, a bit dangerous I know!) and went to the farm to set up the van and collect the letter. Kylie Barker was coming to spend a few days with us later in the week so we also set up the annex and then it was time to pick Hayley up and get back before the 4pm milking… Each day the farm had an activity which rotated between shearing the sheep, milking the cow (part of which involves squirting milk directly into your mouth!), feeding the pigs and Badge showing off by rounding the geese around the yard.  After the kids made some great friends with twins Julia and Claire they added walking Bertie the goat to these activities (although who was walking who is debatable!).

After a day pottering around the farm and getting supplies for the week we headed to Kettering (gateway to Bruny Island) where friends from primary school, Chris Morgan and his wife and kids had moved years ago after falling in love with the lifestyle and community values. Their beautiful home had great play areas for the kids, fantastic views over the harbour and it was wonderful to catch up with Chris and Kirsty as they painted a very attractive picture of their new lifestyle. It sounded fantastic and I could see Hayley battling internally between the fantastic sounding lifestyle and the need for warmer weather (which I am sure won out in the end!).

Trips to the fantastic MONA (only disappointing to the kids because the Poo machine wasn’t working!), Cadbury factory (only disappointing to the kids because they couldn’t eat all the chocolate they wanted) flanked trips to Mt Wellington (where the summit gave a fantastic view over Hobart and surrounds but was only 2 degrees!) as well as the Tahune Airwalk. The Tahune Airwalk is a spectacular tree canopy walk on the edge of 1.6 million hectares of World Heritage Listed forest where you can see Huon pines, Australia’s longest living tree (up to 3,000 years), which as they only grow around 1mm per year is probably a good thing! In addition to the canopy walk there is a suspended handglider over the Huon river which is not for the faint-hearted and some great forest floor walks. After a quick lunch we headed back to Huonville to meet up with Kylie who was coming to spend a few days with us.

The next day Hayley and Kylie caught the ferry to Bruny Island for a couple of days of exploring, cheese, whisky, chocolate and oysters. Perhaps it was the combination of the above, or the rocking motion of the boat itself (Hayley’s version has the boat going up and down, side to side and round and round), but the boat trip around the island to see some of the animals and spectacular scenery generated motions that even “Quell” couldn’t stop! Bruny Island is just beautiful and it was a shame that time didn’t allow us all to spend much longer in this special part of the world.

After a night out at the local Willie Smiths Cider House (it’s no exaggeration that the apples in Tasmania are the best in the world!) Kylie was off to pick up Lauren, Amanda and Natalie and meet us later that morning at Salamanca markets. After exploring the markets, buying a candle with massaging oil, trying some of the latest fashions in headwear as well as sampling the organic jam doughnuts, we met with the girls for lunch before they headed off to their friends and we headed back to the van to get ready for the trip to Cradle Mountain.

An early start and a lesson learned – the navigation in the car is not necessarily programmed to know our preferences for bitumen! On the trip to Cradle Mountain we followed the “quickest” route, which took us over 60km of unsealed road. I was quite happy to get the experience under our belts as we do plan on getting off the sealed roads along the way, I would have just preferred to have planned it in! Maybe slightly less reliance on technology and some more old fashioned map reading is in order in the future! There is no doubt a life lesson in there somewhere for us all!

Squeezing into our site at Cradle Mountain (well in fact we could only get halfway in due to the layout of the trees but at least it was not a thoroughfare!) the wet weather was starting to become a bit repetitive, but in the interests of not dampening our spirits we headed out in search of the local pub for a warming meal and beer. The next day the shuttle took us up to Dove Lake to get our first glimpse of Cradle Mountain and with plans to return the following day for Hayley’s birthday, we headed back to explore some of the other walks and tracks in the park. As luck would have it the weather turned for Hayley’s birthday and after a morning celebration we took off for the hike around Dove Lake, a beautiful 6k round trip that the kids loved (at least until we hit the 5.5k mark!). What a great way to spend your birthday!

Next we had a couple of days R&R in Sheffield (we parked the van in the carpark and stayed in a family room with actual separate bedrooms!) as part of Hayley’s present. We visited “Tasmazia” a theatrical series of mazes and scale buildings accompanied by a pancake parlour and Burnie for some paper making at the Burnie Makers Workshop. We got to make some special paper with Wombat poo (“its square don’t you know” April tells the group) and learnt the art of making paper with various “art” effects.

Burnie was our last stop on our way back to Devonport to board the Spirit of Tasmania for our return trip. Like most of the travelers we met along the way, 5 weeks just wasn’t enough time to do Tasmania properly, but unfortunately the heavy bookings for the Spirit mean it’s not easy to extend your trip. We will certainly be back one day, to cover the bits we missed as well as revisit some of the special places in this part of the world (which would be pretty much everywhere!).

Being the Easter long weekend the Spirit of Tasmania was running double crossings, which meant our boarding time was even later, and further delays in the incoming journey meant we didn’t get into our cabin until 10pm – at least this time there was not the same concerns over the Jeep and van, all that remained was to see just how much “anticipation” the body had planned for this leg, but I was quietly confident of a calm and uneventful crossing!

Anyone who has met me knows I’m not that competitive in nature, and I have applied this non-competitive approach to our fuel economy on each trip. On our first trip of any distance we managed 15.7 litres per 100km. There have been moments when this increased (headwinds and mountain ranges generally don’t help and neither do all the extra bits and pieces we have acquired along the way) but of late I have made some tweaks to the set-up and on the last trip (trips need to be a minimum of 200km to qualify) “we” managed to get it down to 13.7 litres per 100km. This is much less than our CX7 used to use, and it wasn’t towing a 3 tonne van behind it! Monitoring our economy isn’t just a casual calculation done every now and again or at the end of each trip, I have the screen in question constantly on the dashboard of the Jeep and I am aware of it from the moment we start each trip until we finish. When we are going well I provide Hayley with updates as to our progress (she doesn’t seem to share quite the same level of excitement or passion for some reason) and she is also aware of any negative impacts on our economy as I curse under my breath or sigh loudly (roadwork’s/ not being able to use the momentum from coming down a hill due to a slow driver or sharp corner / traffic etc). So the last trip has set a new standard in terms of fuel economy, one that I will be trying to maintain or improve upon into the future. PS – despite the title I have not used cruise control for towing the van as yet, I just don’t trust the inbuilt systems to have that same competitive streak necessary to break or maintain records…

Fuel economy is a nice segway for our visit to Melbourne – back into a city with stop start driving does nothing for the figures and neither does having the GPS navigation set (by that magic random setting generator most computers seem to have) to “no-tollways” which had us taking the van down and around some incredibly tight back streets, where the other drivers were obviously not accustom to seeing caravans (at least I think that’s what they were pointing at with their middle fingers!)… With only one available caravan site in Melbourne our choices were pretty limited, but we are happy enough basing ourselves in one location and then travelling around the area by car – it’s one of the reasons we went with the caravan set-up in the first place!

We will visit Melbourne again on the flipside of our trip to Tasmania, this time we just wanted to catch up with a few friends, prepare for our trip to the Apple Isle and have a relaxed look around town. I had arranged for the car to get its 10k service (no photos of that I’m afraid despite it being the first milestone for “Kenny”) and we had arranged for Denver’s schoolwork to go to cousin Paige who lives in Melbourne, so there were a few “travelling chores” that needed to be attended to as well as just having a good time! The kids adore Paige and even though Denver realised that she was the bearer of dreaded schoolwork the hesitation only lasted a minute before the kids were clamouring to sit next to her at lunch and tell her all about the stories so far…

The weekend brought a trip out to the Yarra Valley and a lovely lunch in Healsville at the Innocent Bystander restaurant and winery with some friends inviting us for some wonderful food and beautiful local wines.

We followed it up with a glorious ice-cream at the newly opened “Gelaperia” which serves fantastic traditional Italian ice-cream and gelato and has a very cool Piaggio flatbed car that doubles as an eating counter. The kids then demolished a huge number of Lindsay’s passionfruit from his garden at home before declaring themselves full and ready for bed!

During the rest of the week, leading up to our trip on the Spirit of Tasmania, I managed to catch up with some work colleagues (who had a little thank you for me as our division had just achieved budget for the year) and an old friend of mine from university days, Lisa who cooked us a wonderful dinner and introduced the kids to the concept of a home theatre room (watching movies or even ABC2 may never be the same again!). Lisa and I go way back to my first year of Uni at Lismore, where fate brought us together to protect each other against the weirdness that was our landlords family – somehow we managed to keep each other sane enough to escape the following year but it was one of those times that you can look back on and laugh about, despite it not seeming overly funny at the time!

As part of our travelling pact Hayley and I had agreed that it may be necessary, from time to time, for us to spend a night away from the van in a hotel or somewhere different to break things up a bit. In Melbourne we agreed that Hayley would grab a last minute hotel deal to give her a sanity break and allow her to catch up with Sam, one of her old friends from her time in the UK. After grabbing a coffee (or hot chocolate as the kids and I have not converted yet!) at Mario’s café (who I used to work with but is now following his dream and running a successful Italian café in the heart of the city) we dropped Hayley outside the hotel for her adventure. The kids and I then headed to Scienceworks to experience the wonderful hands on learning that this sort of interactive environment provides. Without the careful planning of Mum involved I then agreed that we should be able to head back to the caravan, jump on a bus to the city, do the city circle tour on a tram, grab some dinner and then do the reverse route home. In the end that’s exactly what we did and at the same time I managed to prepare the kids to stay up later than normal for our planned trip to the Queen Vic Night Markets (that’s “spin” for I kept them up way too late travelling around the city!).

In the afternoon before the night markets Denver’s first wobbly tooth finally decided it would come out. Although it gave him one less thing to play with (kids love grossing you out by wobbling their wobbly teeth!) it was pretty incredible, firstly because it came out while he was swimming in the pool at the caravan park (had he not realised it quickly and secured it there is little doubt that looking for it would have become the aqua version of a needle in a haystack) and secondly because it is a pretty symbolic moment of growing up – not quite boy becomes man, but at the very least it’s the start of the process (ask your wife if you don’t understand!).

The night markets are a great sensory experience and the kids selected a wide range of foods from a number of different cultures as a kind of tapas style smorgasbord from which they picked out their favourite bits and left the rest for us. Followed up by some strudel and chocolate covered strawberries and I’m sure the kids were wondering why we didn’t do this every night! Sitting, sharing the strudel (nobody was getting the strawberries), we met Stephan and his wife who invited us to Germany to sample the real thing, before heading off to find somewhere to sleep in their campervan for the night. I’m not sure they appreciated the vast distances of Australia as they only had a week left in Australia and were planning on travelling through VIC/NSW countryside and spending some time in different parts of Sydney. The kids were fascinated by their accents and enjoyed giving them some advice on what they should see on the way, adding even more into their already quite ambitious plans!

Before we knew it we had the van packed and were headed to the ports of Melbourne to board the Spirit of Tasmania for our overnight sailing! During the day we had eaten all of the “banned” foods that we had on board (an eclectic mix to be sure) and as we approached the docks the Jeep was filled with excitement from three quarters of its occupants, nerves from the remaining occupant (who has a tendency to get a little sea-sick) but great anticipation from all about the adventure ahead. After being pulled up for being longer than our booking length (to be fair I had estimated the length before we even had possession of the caravan!) and putting the bikes inside the van to minimise the financial impact, we lined up next to a group of very impressive Harley’s and got chatting to those around us. A good discussion about travelling around America as rider and pillion, a few posed photos for the kids and a commitment from Hayley that when we sold the van I could use the money to buy a Harley (there, it’s in writing so it must be true!) and it was boarding time…

We were virtually the last on, but I could tell as we drove through the ship and parked at the front of our row that we would be pretty much first in line to get off. If I was given the choice I would have gone for the other way round (first on and virtually last off) given that our version involved late nights (April was too tired to even eat and fell asleep in my arms after a quick look around) as well as early mornings (so that we weren’t the numpties getting paged at 6am for blocking the entire exitway of the ship).

The warning about big swells sounded slightly ominous as we settled in for the night but hopefully when we woke up we would be in Tassie!