Planning for the Future

We are shifting into planning and preparation mode as we think about our upcoming travels. Soon we'll be heading to the Shenandoah Valley for a visit, but then we are off to Australia again in June.



On the 18th of June we fly from LA to Melbourne and pick up our truck from the gracious people in Mount Macedon who've been keeping it for us while we turn into grandparents. We board the ferry from Melbourne to Devonport, Tasmania and spend about 6 weeks in the roarin' 40's.

Once back on the mainland, we head west. We've planned out a week long trip from Melbourne, Victoria to Bussleton, Western Australia to our next house sit. Stops are planned in Bordertown, SA; Port Augusta, SA; Ceduna, SA; Border Village, SA; Norseman, WA; Hopetoun, WA; and finally Busselton. The longest day will be a 7 hour drive from the SA/WA border to Norseman. Those who want to follow along, get out your atlas (yes, I know you're using Google Maps).

We're getting a full set of new tyres (tires) in preparation for the drive. Using Google Map's estimated driving times, this is a little less than 38 hours on the road spread over 7 days. The interesting part of planning this trip is that as you head west to the smaller towns, it is not always easy to find rooms for the night. Even when there are motels, some are booked (even this far ahead) and some expect that you call them since they have no web page and are not listed by the consolidators. Phone calls are fine but if we can find a suitable solution without it, it just makes things easier. And so we did.

We have a couple house sits in the coastal area south of Perth taking us up to the first week in October. After that, we expect to be heading north towards Broome, WA and ultimately Darwin, NT. The Google tells me it is a 25 h drive to Broome and another 20 h to Darwin. There will not be motels in all the sensible stopping places in this portion of the grand tour, so we expect to be exploring "alternative sleeping arrangements" (read reclining the seats in ute) for some of the nights. Besides, a night or two in the outback could make for some interesting skies and night noises.

Hopefully, not much of this will change in the next few months. We're still working on details of our visit to Virginia and we have to book our plane travel to and from the east coast. Other than that, however, we pretty well prepared for life after this visit to Seattle.