The Circuit is Complete

Australia is the world's sixth largest country at 7.7 million square kilometers, so there is a lot of ground to cover if you want to see it all.  18,800 kilometers later and we have completed our circuit and as you can see on the map, we didn't even touch Western Australia, nor did we make it across to Tasmania.  We'll just have to come back another time.

It's hard to say what we loved best, but I loved the kangaroos.  I know they can be a pest to farmers and a hazard on the roads at dusk, but they are rather lovely creatures the way they lounge around and hop on their tails, not to mention the cute little joeys in their pouches.  The koala, on the other hand, apart from being cute, don't do very much but hang around in trees.  The only place we saw them was at the sanctuary in Brisbane.  Jens loved the long open roads of the outback, especially when the GPS would say 'drive 680 kilometers to destination'; no turns, no stops, just a long straight road.

We had a great time travelling around this great big country seeing so many wonderful places, tripping through the vineyards, exploring mountains and waterfalls, diving The Great Barrier Reef and driving through the outback meeting friendly Aussies every step of the way.  

  

We have come to the end of our visit to Australia.  And sadly, this also marks the end of our journey.  It's time to say goodbye to SY SEGWUN, hang up the trekking shoes, put away the guide books and start living a more normal life.  We'll be settling in Canada where we will be writing the script to the next chapters of our life together.  

We have been using the blog as a diary of our trip.  To everyone who followed us along the way, a big thank you and a sad farewell.  It has been great fun sharing our adventures with you.  

A Few Big Things

It all started with the big carrot in New Zealand.  And now it has become a compulsive act of hugging and sometimes even kissing.  We get quite excited when we come across giant-sized things and Australia has lots of them.  Here are some of our favs.

This evil looking giant koala definitely needed a hug (I am hugging his front left paw).  Like they say, be kind to unkind people - they need it the most.

This is the famous Australian bad guy - Ned Kelly.  Thanks to his homemade bucket helmet and body armor, he was hard to kill.  And because of his great size, he was kind of hard to hug as well.

This is the Cunnamulla Fella with my fella.  He is a young, single ranch hand and I was a bit shy about hugging him.  So Jens stood in for me on this one.

This cutie hasn't been around for a long time.  Ziggy (Zygomaturus trilobus) and his kin disappeared off the face of this earth 46,000 years ago, give or take.

This fine gentleman is Australia's most prolific poet.  CJ Dennis is best known for "The Sentimental Bloke".  

Just no way to hug this woolly.  Gosh darn he's huge!  I doubt Subway would ever dare to serve lamb with him looking over them. 

Now we are in the opal mining town of Coober Pedy.  They're not so creative these miners so their big thing was a bucket... 

...and a very tall and skinny miner.  

A little further North was an Aborigine lady and her daughter.  Quite a beautiful piece of art - perhaps a bit too large to bring home though.

And here is another long lost creature outside the museum in Richmond.  

A rather large gumboot in Tully ... That's me at the top shaking hands with the cane toad.

It's a giant pumpkin squash!  And below a sun kissed (and Ev kissed) mango.

No, it isn't an alien.  It's supposed to be a cane toad.  Ugly little creature, but he got a kiss nonetheless. 

Well that pretty much wraps up our collection of big things.  And yes, I guess the long drives can get a little boring.

The Last Leg of the Great Australian Driving Adventure

Today we said farewell to Ken and Lil and wished them a safe and enjoyable journey as they will soon be off to Indonesia continuing their 'round the world sailing adventure.  We, on the other hand, are heading South in KiaRoo on the final leg of our Australian adventure.  We have 1,730 kilometers to go and only 14 days before we leave Australia.

Babinda's Boulders

Our first stop was just two hours south of Cairns.  Passing through the quaint old town of Babinda (they have a Picture Show, not a cinema) takes you to a lovely picnic area in a lush green rainforest where you find the very picturesque boulders worn and polished by the water flowing from the mountains.

We ended our day just to the south of Townsville where we found a caravan site and set up camp for the first time in about three weeks.  We are told the temperature tonight will drop to 8°c.  Heavens to Murgatroyde!! We may have to start looking for motels as we continue down to Brisbane.  We shouldn't be overly surprised by the cool weather, it is the middle of winter here after all.