So I (Fiona) wanted to contribute to this blog but as Anthony has all the holiday attractions covered I thought I would contribute about what life looks like for us on the road.

Our dream to do this trip has been around since we were married but it has only really been this year that we have been seriously working towards going away.

Ofcourse we had to tie up all our loose ends at home which included sell our house, Anthony quitting work and finding a home for our dogs. With those things done we began to thing about what we needed to organise for this trip. We wanted life on the road to be comfortable but we need to obviously only take things that were useful. So here's an idea of what we have on board:

Each of us has half a 40 Ltr crate for all our clothes. Lucy has a quarter of one (her clothes are small). The girls have their lego and a bag of craft stuff, games and books. Plus, they have a small suitcase with school stuff in. They have some outdoor toys too, including their bikes, a soccer ball, beach toys, snorkels, a boogie board and totem tennis.

Lucy, ofcourse, has the essential items such as her highchair, cot, backpack baby carrier and stroller. And we have loads of nappies stuck in every spare space.

Anthony has with us loads of tools and nicnacs to fix and maintain the car and trailer. He also has his slr camera and accessories. And he has bought some fishing gear too so hopefully he can catch us some dinner.

My essential items are my hammock and my hair straightener. I also must confess that I do have a few extra items of clothing and some jewellery and makeup (gotta be prepared for the whole trip).

We have a pull out kitchen which is stocked with everything from cutlery to plates to saucepans to glad wrap and ofcourse food. We have a fridge and freezer on board as well.

We also have a comprehensive array of drugs on board for every occassion. Plus a well stocked first aid kit.

Lastly we have a good selection of electronic gadgets for every occasion plus all their chargers:
- 1 laptop
- 2 tablets
- 1 mobile phone
- 2 old mobile phones loaded with games for the kids to play with
- 1 small camera
- 1 kids camera
- 1 spot tracker

So hopefully this gives an insight into what we've bought to make life on the road comfortable and enjoyable. And maybe now you are wondering how on earth we fit it all in. Let me just say everything has its place and I'm know there is more I haven't mentioned.

Fiona

Exmouth was great fun. The girls played with other kids on the playground and made lots of friends. At one point we found them "next door" chatting with an older lady about their trip. The kids are learning to interact with other people so much better, every person we chat with asks them how they are enjoying themselves and it provides them an opportunity to start coming out of their shells.

I went for a scuba dive on the navy pier which was awesome. It was the second time I have done it and it was better than the first. The highlight was a 2.5 to 3m long Grey Nurse shark swimming within about 30cm of my leg (it's teethy end). I got nervous and moved slightly, it decided to swim off and with a quick flick of its tail it was 10 meters away. The force of the tail flick made a massive thump in the water which just proved how powerful these creatures actually are.

I saw numerous other things like sea snakes, lion fish, barracuda and a massive cod just to name a few.

We did a family trip out on a glass bottom boat which included a time snorkeling. The girls loved it and Zoe in particular took to it like the proverbial fish to water.

The girls also spent some time playing at a new free water park that they have built here. They had a blast. 

We spent 3 nights at Quobba Station. Watching whales from the cliffs was a highlight.

I tried a spot of fishing ... I may as well just throw my rod and tackle box into the ocean now to delay the inevitable ... we are lucky that we don't rely on my fishing ability to survive as we would all be dead by now!

We have met some cool people along the way so far. Everyone is very friendly and willing to just sit and chat for a while. We had one guy over for dinner who was travelling back to Perth from up north all alone. It was actually nice to have some male company for a while! Here are a few photos of the coastline around Quobba:

We tried to book a campsite at Monkey Mia but it was booked out so we bit the bullet and made the very difficult decision to stay in a villa for 4 nights. It was going to be difficult having a shower every day, watching TV and sleeping in air conditioning but someone had to do it.

The first morning we went to see the famous dolphins. Out of the 170ish people that were there, the girls were picked to feed a dolphin (we fed Nicky). The girls were a little scared so I (Anthony) had to go with them and hand the dolphin the fish. It was a very cool experience that not a lot of people would experience. On a remarkable note, today is Fiona's birthday and Zoe and Pippa got picked AGAIN to go and feed a dolphin. Again they were a little scared so Fi got to hand over the nice juicy fish this time! A nice little birthday treat.

All this dolphin stuff reminded us of the movie The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and the "So Long and Thanks for all the Fish" song. Here is the clip:

We spent 7 days at Murchison Offroad Adventures. It is a place we have come every year for the past 4 years and absolutely love it. The girls had a ball. Lucy sat on the horse that she was named after which was a little bit special. It was a time of just winding down. Here are a few photos:

A few photos from our stay at Ellendale Pool.

After a 5 hour drive and numerous "are we there yets", we spent the first 3 nights of our Australia trip at Ellendale Pool, about 20km south east of Geraldton. A peaceful little campground filled with grey nomads (something I think we will be experiencing quite a bit). We stopped somewhere close to civilisation so we could sort out any issues before we got too far. The first casualty was our porta-potty which decided to leak ... YAY! Luckily it was that the clean water section!The girls saw some small fish in the river and requested that I catch them one. About 2 hours later I was victorious!Fiona and I were discussing on our drive here how sometimes to follow our dreams (this trip is something we have dreamed of doing from before we were married) that it often requires a certain amount of sacrifice. Although we do miss our family and friends and the comforts of home, we have an amazing opportunity to see and explore this fantastic country. Just a short one for now. We will keep you updated. Having dramas posting photos to the blog so will figure that one out a bit later. Love Anthony, Fiona, Zoe, Pippa and Lucy.