Our departure approaches

For those of you not acquainted with our plans, Beth and I have given up paid employment for twelve months to take to the road with our little campervan in tow and discover more of our country.  We are calling it our gap year, and it starts when we pull out of our Driveway on Australia Day.  I am not entirely thrilled with the notion that we have joined the ranks of the grey nomad or that we are completing some form of apprenticeship to do so.  I would prefer to think that we are mavericks, breaking the mould and heading out on a unique adventure on the road less travelled.  Nice thought, but our planned itinerary strikes a remarkable resemblance to the many voyages ascribed to the aforementioned tribe, so I suspect that we are more conformist than maverick and are merely performing a rite of passage into “older” age.  Oh well, who cares so long as we enjoy it.

As well as travelling the Australian countryside, we also intend spending 3 months in Europe during our winter, ostensibly to visit our daughter, who now plies her trade in Munich, but also to enjoy more of the  delights on offer for wayfarers in parts of Europe we have not yet discovered.

Since foregoing our daily work ritual in December, Beth has been careful to keep up a strict exercise regime and to watch her diet, whereas I have been contentedly grazing in what can only be a described as a very good paddock.  Beth has subtly suggested that this is not sustainable, and a resolution has been made that we will walk on average at least 10km per day over the course of our gap year.  Not quite the marathon a day for a year that a 65 year old Eltham couple recently achieved, but we are not 65 yet, so perhaps we can work our way up to that.  I think that Beth had some sort of “salads only” resolution in mind as well, but maybe realised the futility in suggesting that I sign up to that one.

For those of you with an inclination (or instruction) to follow our adventures, my intention at the moment is that I will update this blog on a weekly basis, but as Robert Burns once wrote, the best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry, so don’t be surprised if I do not realize my intentions.

All of you who know Beth well will understand that we have a very detailed and comprehensive itinerary covering every minute of our gap year (although our Europe leg is still somewhat fluid and dependent upon the movements of others we would like to share that time with).  I will not overwhelm you with this monster itinerary, but for those interested, a loose overview of our intended travels follows.

We will slowly make our way up the east coast, predominately staying at National Parks (remember the walking bit) and travel as far north as Brisbane.  We then head inland to Innamincka, north to Oodnadatta country (where I hail from), further to Uluru and Alice Springs, Katherine, Kakadu,  Litchfield and Darwin where we will rest up a bit in “civilisation”.  By this time it will be late April and hopefully the end of the wet season, which will allow us to spend time in the Kimberley region, which is one of Beth’s favourite places on earth.  From there we will make our way down to Perth (via Broome and Karijini NP) in time to interrupt our Australian adventure in July to firstly celebrate Beth’s father’s 80^th birthday, then to winter in Europe from July through to September.

The Europe leg of our adventure will involve stays in Munich with our daughter, alpine walking in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, cycling from Bruge to Paris, a week in Norway, and much more (stay tuned for updates).

We will resume our Australian leg upon our return in October, and this will involve more of the west coast and the Nullabor crossing.  Our objective is to be back home in time for Christmas.