D9 Departure ...

Two weeks after arriving home from our Big Loop road-trip, we listed our D9 camper trailer for sale.  It sold just over a week later - and we couldn't have picked a better new owner, who works as a "regrowth engineer" and spends a lot of time in the bush.

He was keen to take it away then and there, so we were dropped in some paperwork the next day - and admired his tinnie (aka boat) addition.  How good does it look - as if it's been there all along. 

We were so pleased to have a smooth, easy sale - and really enjoyed chatting about gold, opals and fossicking.  

Of course, we're now looking forward to seeing pics of the D9 being used - and chatting about rocks over a cup of tea or coffee soon.

Big Loop road-trip stats ...

We travelled from Thurgoona to the NSW south-coast and had a wonderful mini holiday there as a Family of Five. It was awesome!

We'd planned our final week of road-tripping to be a coast trip with a couple of stops to enable longer catch-ups with family and friends. We really enjoyed seeing so many favourite people - and revisiting places along the way.

We had to be home for several medical reviews so made the most of the time we had - going as far as we could and trying to see as many friends/family as possible en route.

Heavy rain impacted our travel home but we got back on time - and the "kids" survived admirably without us, in spite of our suburb flooding, there being SES boats at the driveway, being cut-off for several days and without power for five.  We were very proud of them and their improvisations! 

Big Loop statistics:  we covered 5,000ish kilometres over 23 days. Queensland to New South Wales, then South Australia and Victoria before looping back through New South Wales to home. We stayed at Moree. Nyngan. Wilcannia. Menindee Lakes. Broken Hill (and Silverton). Peterborough. Adelaide. Bannockburn. Toorak (Melbourne). Wodonga. Erowal Bay. Blacksmiths (Lake Macquarie/Newcastle) and finally, Nambucca Heads. 

We spent just under $2,000.00 on fuel, with most of our travel accomplished before fuel prices rose significantly.  (Three weeks after returning home, petrol is $2.12/litre at our most local servo).  Our accommodation varied a fair bit but averaged $145.00 per night. Although we self-catered most breakfasts, we dined out a lot more than usual but that was part of this adventure and we didn't begrudge ourselves the splurge.  

Gonna see a giant goanna!

In November 2020 I received a message (via the Nik Hamby Facebook page), from an artist seeking permission to use my infamous goanna image as reference for a large mural on her local community centre.  

Given how many times my goanna has been used without permission, I was delighted when Tracie contacted me - and very happy to provide better resolution images.  She finished her excellent work in March 2021 and it was nearly a year later that we managed to visit the Thurgoona Community Centre (our first mission after checking out from Wodonga).  I'm just sorry I didn't think to message her before we were on-site, cos we may have been able to say hello in person.