Day 18-20: Banora Point to Sunshine Coast. Our new home.

Simple. Our final pack. Notice the draws, blue esky, bags of clothes to the right, plastic tub, red pillows just tucked in the left corner, 2 suitcases and a pram. 203km trek via Harbourtown for some school joggers and leather shoes for the boys for their new school. Travel through 4 states and 1 territory. 4 different time zones. Total kilometres: 5126km. whew. Need probably 2 or 3 new tyres, topped up with 1 litre of oil and 500ml of coolant, the Challenger was a legend of a car. Sorry I forgot to calculate how much fuel we used or how much we spent. Something for next time? Thanks for following the journey. Will update this blog periodically over the next month or so with some more reflections and photos from our time in Alice Springs, but I will finish this very soon, please keep checking and reminding me for some old stuff or questions. Thanks and God Bless.

Day 17: Coffs Harbour to Banora Point

We are getting closer I can just see the Sunshine Coast over the horizon. We finally see family! We are staying at Banora Point (near Tweed Heads) with the Dowlings (Belinda's sister's family). Belinda's other sister (the Browns) drove down from Brisbane to have a Freeman Christmas. We had Christmas Day festivities at Fingal Head. Lovely place, lovely food, lovely company. Had my usual Christmas Day nap (funny how the body can adjust so many days after the real deal) under the tree. It does feel weird because now the realisation is setting in that we are nearly at our new home. 298km today, but the Pacific Highway was full of holiday travellers, road works and soon to be bypass roads. After nearly 4500km, numerous speed cameras, red light cameras, radars and highway patrol cars, careful monitoring of speed and noticing roadwork and speed signs, I got pulled over for "speeding". In the NT we don't muck around when there is injustice. I was clocked at 99km in an 80 AHEAD zone, not an 80 zone. I politely told the officer this and we had a standoff. He took my licence, checked the car and went back to his vehicle. 5 minutes later he comes back and hands back my licence and says "Here is your licence sir, I just need to check your story." He walks back to the car and speeds off. What are we to do? He didn't say to stay, but he didn't say we could go. No ticket either. After 15 minutes by the side of the road we decide to leave the scene and retrace our steps for 10 minutes, taking photos of the signs just in case we did the wrong thing. Funnily enough, Homer Simpson directed us to take a turnoff 25km before Grafton. I guess if we were in trouble, we lost him as we were taken on a lovely country road, saving us 50km and time by not going through Grafton.

Day 15 and 16: Newcastle to Coffs Harbour

367km today to Coffs Harbour. We would have left earlier but me and the boys have been captivated by the journey of Simon "The Wizard" Whitlock's incredible run in the World Championship of Darts on FoxSport. The semi final the other day was gripping TV and had all three boys screaming "180"! at the appropriate moments. If you watched it, you know exactly what I mean.

I know we are heading back to the Sunshine Coast and we will see this EVERY day, but for us, it is building the excitement. I hope you enjoy the photos of the view we had from our motel room at Coffs.

My bad, this was the view we had of Coffs from our motel room. The previous images were our view from atop Muttonbird Island. A leisurely stroll up the mountain to see Coffs. Not a muttonbird to see.

Played tourist on day 2 in Coffs and relented and went to The Big Banana. The prices caused Belinda to call it "The Big Rip", but we did enjoy our toboggan rides and our chocolate coated banana- basically our meal for the day as our food stocks are getting low.

Good on ya Mum. The 30 second ride only took "Driving Miss Daisy" 90 seconds.

Joseph asked for this shot below to be taken- EXACTLY the way it was taken. Anyone who knows Joseph knows what I mean and it was totally wrong of me to ask him to take out the banana lolly from his mouth.

It had to happen sooner or later. Surely we would have to run into someone from Alice Springs. This is Kurtis' friend Rafiki all the way from Alice Springs. Ok, as we were driving into Coffs Harbour Kurtis says "Where are we?"
We say "Coffs Harbour."
"Coffs Harbour? I think Rafiki's family come here for holidays."
We send 1000s of texts and Kurtis anxiously waited by Belinda's phone and we were able to catch up with his good mate at Jetty Beach. One happy lad.

What do good mates do in Coffs? They run along the jetty and they JUMP off the side. Another thing it is lucky grandparents don't know what their son lets their grandkids do....did I just write that out loud?

"Hi there. I am his friend. Elijah, is that your Dad?"
"Yes it is."
"So, where are you from?"
"I'm from Newcastle on holidays. Where are you from?"
"We're from Alice Springs driving..."
"Holy Cow! [runs from water] Hey everybody! These people are from Outback Australia!!!!"
"Dad, can you play with me?...I don't want to play with him anymore."

Get used to it Kurtis.

Alright Elijah, we'll bury YOU now, but not all the way to your neck.

Day 13 and 14: Dubbo to Newcastle

387km to Newcastle and we have just tripped over to 4000km for the trip thus far. To put it into a little perspective, I usually do about 2000-2500km a term (10 weeks) in Alice Springs. We arrive in Newcastle and are staying at the Charlestown Executive Apartments, 10km to the beach. Finally, a little bit of luxury for fraction of the cost. Oh, Happy New Year to everybody. We spent New Years Eve down on the foreshore of Newcastle and enjoyed the fireworks at 9pm and took 3 tired boys home to bed. How are the boys going after such a long trip. We have named Kurtis second Dad as he has stepped up and looked after Joseph quite a bit. He does also try to pull him into line which is quite amusing at times. Elijah still needs his hugs, but also his space and sleep. He is always first into the car, buckled up and ready to go, regardless of the time to the next destination. He can't wait to get to the coast though. The best thing we do for Elijah is print up the itinerary. Joseph has gone through long thumb sucking sessions, screaming and hitting but seems to think the whole trip and the whole world is his audience. He is 3 going on 13. Kurtis is his hero, Elijah his best mate. Daylight saving is great, but try getting a 3 year old to bed in full sunlight at 8:30...it is starting to have an effect on him.

We caught up with some old friends from Northside Christian College days. Kellie and Michael Ross. Always good to catch up with people around this great country of ours. Since Port Augusta, we have not seen one NT number plate, so the stares and conversations with people are getting longer. I will miss the novelty of the number plates on the car as my rego runs out in February. Quote of the trip from someone at Forbes. "Alice Springs hey? Always wanted to go there, I bet the barra fishing is excellent." I politely told him we lived in the middle of the desert and I have seen the river flow about 10 times in four years.

This was the park we discovered at Speers Point. Now this was a park! Yes Grandad and Grandma, Joseph (and Dad!) made it to the top and slid down. Joseph 5, Dad 1.

The Newcastle Ocean baths were a fantastic way to end our time in Newcastle. Warmer in the water than out, but a beautiful back drop.

A new year and our trip is nearly over. I am looking forward to reflecting on my time in Alice and putting even more photos and stories up on the blog as they come back to memory. I do need to finish this time and look forward to the next chapter on my journey. I am really hopeful of finding the best job I can, but also the right job as I settle back into life on the east coast. I really want to work hard on maintaining my fitness and being as healthy as possible. Getting pneumonia on the very day of my 40th birthday was a bit of a shock to the system, but I think I have recovered really well and after my usual indulgences over Christmas and New Year, I am ready to get back into the beach runs, surfing and helping Kurtis learn what doing a preseason is all about! Great to have Belinda's blessing to continue my football career in the Masters, but I loved playing a game of 7 a side soccer with Yirara and having Kurtis play as well. A dream to play a competitive sport as father and son. Off to Coffs Harbour tomorrow for another 2 night stay.

Day 12: Dubbo

Day 12 started early with a rush to Dubbo Zoo to secure an electric cart for our trip around the Western Plains Zoo. This actually became a highlight for the boys who would look at animals and then rush back to get the best seat. Amazingly, I did not get to drive this all that much, someone seemed to enjoy driving this and being in charge of the tour.

After being disappointed yesterday with the non compliance of some animals who seemed to wander away from the viewing areas or were asleep (is it worth putting lions and tigers in a zoo where they sleep for 20 hours a day?), many animals were much more compliant and awake this morning. These are magnificent creatures and majestic up close.

Love these Zebras.

Boys, I don't think the elephant appreciates being woken up. Elijah, it is not interested in your Nintendo 3DS.

Fighting for the back seat.

Are those boys playing with the baby rhinos again?

Kurtis' favourite animal...the North American bison. Elijah's favourite....the otter and his recently purchased toy tiger "Softy". Joseph's favourite...the lion.

Oh look, a caged emu. The dozen emus we saw scamper across the road in the middle of nowhere near Woomera would be SOOOO jealous of the easy life.

Kurtis, could you please get off the galapagos turtle.

Dropping Belinda off at her night accommodation.

We certainly have tried to keep costs down on this trip. Here are the boys in our luxury accommodation in Dubbo. It is Joseph's turn to sleep on the floor tonight.

The gallows.

Anyone who knows Kurtis knows he does need disciplining at times.