The Van has been fully serviced and we have a new awning (started to come apart on our last big trip up through the Centre in 2012 and could no longer be patched!).
Sometime in the next couple of days we will be fully packed and ready to head out of the cold and wet of Victoria. Of course, it's cold and wet in most of the country at the moment!
Our plan (always subject to change) is to head west into South Australia and then north up into the Northern Territory. Where we stop and how long we spend in any place at the moment is going to depend on weather conditions. We know there won't be any dirt roads to start with! When we reach Katherine we'll hang a left and head over into the Kimberleys.
We intend to leave the van, probably at Wyndham, and head off along the Gibb River Road towards Derby. We're not sure how long we will take to do this. A lot will depend on how Sonja decides she can put up with the tenting side of things - airbed and tent to put up each night!
We'll head back to collect the van and then call in at the Bungle Bungle Ranges (Purnulu National Park) for a few days (if we haven't stopped there on the way back to collect the van). Then we'll amble back down the Western Australian coast - possible side trip to Marble Bar. We will probably skip the south-west corner and do that another time. We'll call in to Sonja's brother and sister-in-law in Esperance before making our way back over the Nullarbor and through South Australia and home.
All told, somewhere around 3 months of traveling.
This blog will be updated very intermittently as we don't expect to have a lot of internet access (nor the time to sit down to write and post photos).
A map will be included to show our progress.
