Ok....so it’s been a while..

If you call four and a half years since my last post a while, then, yeah...it’s been a while. 

Much has happened in the life of the Oliver family since our last post. The most notable of which has been the new addition to our family; Charlotte Ruby, who turned four last year. 

Upon returning home from our “Just Scratching the Surface” adventure of 2015, Sarah soon fell pregnant and our little family of three, became complete. Ebony assumed her big sister role with much enthusiasm and excitement. The two of them enduring the most prolific love/hate relationship imaginable. Good thing that, for the majority of the time, there is more love than hate. 

The career took an unexpected trajectory for me, and I now find myself in the principal class; a role I all but promised myself that I wouldn’t pursue, for a number of reasons, however; here I am! I am yet to decide whether this was the best course of action for our family. Only time will tell. 

Ebony has begun school and continues to impress and inspire us with her learning and willingness to embrace the world. Sarah has continued to maintain the all important position of minister for war and finance. She keeps us together and does it well! 

Family pic during our Skytrek Tour, Flinders Ranges 2018 

Yes, life has gone on, but we certainly haven’t lost our deeply ingrained yearning for travel and the outback. We sold our Expanda and purchased a new Jayco Journey OB in 2018.  We love this rig! The Prado continues to serve us well, so there is no need to upgrade at this stage. 

Over the recent years we have made the most of school holidays and every possible opportunity by hitching up and getting away for short trips here and there. Our journeys have taken us to a plethora of locations such as Pambula, Flinders Ranges, Port Fairy, The Mighty Murray just to name a few. All of these trips have been wonderful, enjoyable with many memories made. But...

We have had a long standing commitment to take another ‘big trip’. The planning for which began its inception way back in 2015, on the road out of Kakadu NP on the way to Katherine. Now, more than 5 years later and after years of planning, we are hading away this year, hopefully. 

The rough itinerary for this trip is as follows:

Home

Across the Nullarbor

Esperance 

Lucky Bay 

Walpole

Margaret River

Perth 

Cervantes 

Geraldton 

Kalbarri

Monkey Mia

Red Bluff 

Carnarvorn 

Warroora  Station 

Coral Bay 

Ningaloo Station 

Exmouth 

Cape Range NP

Karijini 

Port Headland 

Pardoo Station 

Eighty Mile Beach 

Broome 

Cape Leveque 

Derby 

Gibb River Road 

Lake Argyle 

Purnululu NP

Wyndam

Timber Creek 

Bitter Springs 

Three Ways 

Mt. Isa

Gregory River 

Adels Grove 

Winton

Morven

Gold Coast 

Home (phew!) 

Our timeline is approximately 5 months with both our respective leave applications being approved last year. We are currently booking sites and paying deposits to many of the popular spots. Due to COVID 19, there is a small chance that the Western Australia border will close between now and the date we leave. Despite this, we have committed to booking many sites and are prepared to forego this money if need be. The current inability to engage in international travel has seen the caravan industry boom. There is currently more than a 12 month wait on some makes and models of caravan; definitely a seller’s market. 

As I write this there is precisely 10 weeks until we leave. We still have a number of jobs to do before we go. I will endeavour to reignite this blog and keep it up to date with regard our new adventures. Geez I hope that the COVID situation remains stable and we can go on this trip!