Probably took a lot of bottle to decide to do that.
Enjoy it ! , have fun, take your time, you never know,the east side might be just as bad as the bloody west and then you'd have missed all the lovely bit in the middle ( desert :confused: ).

Take care out there.

Paul

I'm sure you will have a great time, especially after the teething troubles you have had. We have a small VW camper and spent 5 weeks in it this summer. Luckily we had great weather. We have both decided sod a car when we get to Oz, we will buy a camper van first. Have a brilliant time.
Best wishes.
Sarah

HAHAAH!

How old are you two?

I'm 19 and would NEVER do such a thing...

Just reading your post made me nervous!

:D

At last!!!!!

So how will you like the rest of oz.....please let us know

:D

Well Donna, this has certainly cheered up my crap start to the day.

Looking forward to hearing of your adventures.
Wonder how many internet cafes they have on the Nullabor???

Good luck - when are you gonna be offskie?

Di

Thank you all for your encouragement:D

I woke up this morning and my first thought after thinking what the bloody hell are they drilling for at 8am (their constructing a new apartment building on the block of land next to us)
so my second thought was OMG!!! we are going to be living in a van.

I haven't told my relatives in the UK yet because my mother and elderly gran will have palpitations when they realise we will be in the middle of nowhere and she can't contact me to tell me whose got a cold this week;)

Anyway the hunt begins for the travel items we need to acquire for our adventure. Chris says if he knew buying a clapped out old van for me to live in would have made me happy, he would have done it weeks ago.

The good thing about this move is the end to this period of indecision. If we do end up returning to UK at the end of the journey I think we will have a much more positive overall opinion of Australia than this part of Perth has had to offer. Which would increase the chances of our returning for another go.

But then we may just find what we are looking for as we meander across the country in search of adventure. It does feel as if we have completely stepped outside the box and into a tin can:D

Maybe we have just got so used to living in a state of transition waiting years for the visa to come though that it is hard to sit in one place anymore?

Well we are definitely going to be in transition now. Chris isn't too keen on the fairy lights but we'll see.;)

We could end up leaving on christmas eve. Our lease runs out that day, they have asked us to extend past the holidays and we have verbally agreed to that but now everythings in the air again.

Chris has been having some intensive chiropractic treatment and we see the Dr. again on Monday to review his X-rays so depending on the prognosis we may have to stay in Perth a while longer.

What you can be sure of is you will be the first to know:D

Re: We're Going For It!!!!
 

Mad:scared: .......of cause your not have a great time wish it was me and I'm OLD "LOL"........ ;)

Then your foolish ;)..... I'm 59 and have done lots of stuff .but guess what..... wish I'd done more dont have nearly all the memories I should have. so get going and pack......:scared: :D

:D :D Might have to move in next door to him. Then there will be two weirdos and me. If only I had known marrying Donna was an endurance test. :) Must have been bad in a previous life.

Had a bad dream last night that we had sold a perfectly good car and Donna talked me into buying a tatty old campervan. :eek: :eek: :eek:

Oh how cool is that!? You'll have a great time. We did it a few years ago and drove around the whole country in our campervan (which we named The Firestarter). I remember thinking we were mad at the time, but it was the best adventure we have both ever had. We learnt so much on that trip - like how to build a fire, keep a fire going, how to use a gas propane cooker, how to shower quickly, how to cook a healthy meal on two rings and how to travel lightly.

We stayed in a variety of campervan sites and camp sites (the camp sites were way cooler, but for a better shower experience the campervan sites were the best). However, going across the Nullabour you won't have much choice.

A couple of tips:

buy one of those funky flynet things you put over your hat - you'll need it if you get out of the car at any point going across the Nllabour; buy a light sarong or something similar to put in the passanger window - the sun can get very hot and you can burn through the window; look into getting some sort of cd player or tape deck in your car - you'll need it; we found the Lonely Planet guides helped us so much - we had a different one for each state and they proved invaluable for information on things to do, areas and also where to camp. For cheap meat, go to the supermarket towards the end of the day when they are selling everything off. Make sure you have flip flops - specially handy for less desirable shower experiences! Wet wipes (for hands and bums) come in very useful as well.

Oooh I wish I was doing it all over again. We took just over 4 months to go around the country which wasn't long enough. We had lots of arguements but it was easy to make up when you are sleeping in a campervan! We also had a tent so if it got too hot we could sleep outside.

I hope you have a wonderful time.

V

<looks out of window onto to Oxford St and starts dreaming of being free>

Thanks so much for the advice, one thing we were wondering about was mosquitos getting into the van and eating us alive at night. Any tips on this. We've bought some repellent but any tips from someone who knows would be invaluable. Did you take anything with you for lighting fires? The last time I went camping 'properly' fire and all, was about 15 years ago, hopefully it will be like riding a bike :D

The best thing in the world for lighting fires is pieces of the wax box they pack fruit and vegies in. I used to have to light a massive fire everyday for cooking camp-oven tucker (the things I do for money) and always found wax box to be the best. You just rip up little pieces - you hardly need any - a hold a match to it. The wax drips of the cardboard helping ignite any wood etc.

Failing that, diesel works (slightly safer than petrol...)!!!
:eek:

OoHHHHH how exciting!!! At least the boredom will be packed away for a bit!!!

I hope that 'dog box' on wheels has air con!!!!!??:D Don't forget to tell someone when you leave and the date you arrive (where ever you are going!?) I'am sure you'll have a brilliant time and won't regret it at all.

You never know, it may be the land pf plenty over east!? Can't be any worse than this side can it?;) I'am sure you won't think about coming back!

Have a good time and I wish you all the luck in the world:)

Ever read 'Sean and David's Long Drive' (by Sean Condon, Lonely Planet press)? Two mates, in a car, hooning about Australia. It's pretty funny, in a dark kind of way, esp the bits on small town Australia.

Hey I forgot to say: I think you should call the dog box

"The Dream"
:D :D :D :D :D