We finally left Perth on the 18th Feb. We actually delayed the departure date a couple of days for a very important event. I had read in the paper that a full size replica of Stonehenge jumpy castle was going to be a part of the Perth Festival. We simply HAD to wait for that.. (also we where not packed anyway.)

So loaded to the hit the road to Albany to catch up with friends Pete, Vera, Raffa, and little Saskia. It was great to see these guys again and gave us a bit of a test run before the “real” trip started. Pete and I even managed to get out for a cheeky sail on their boat Minimum Chips while Leah and Vera looked after the hoard. (thanks ladies)

We then headed to Esperance for a couple of nights to check out the beaches and try to get into the camping groove, at a caravan park mind you. It was a bit cold for swimming, but the boys had great fun collecting shells, and cuttlefish. MMMM now where are we going to fit the cuttle fish collection?

It was time to stop procrastinating and start the Nullarbor. Yesterday was the first day and was pretty uneventful, as you hope these trips to be. We cant get over how green it is. They must have had some rain recently. Maybe it can rain up at my uncle Jim’s near Tamworth before we get there as they really need it. We camped the night somewhere along Australia’s longest straight road and had a fairly good night sleep.

Today was looking much like yesterday with entertaining the boys keeping us fairly busy. That was until we got to Eucla and noticed that we had a flat tyre on the trailer. So we decided to stop here for the night and set up camp. Just as well we did as it gave us time to explore the old telegraph ruins a bit more. We also met “Rattles” who is going around Australia by a horse drawn wagon raising money for . He was interesting to talk to and the boys loved seeing the horses and meeting his dog. It seems that everything happens for a reason.

Yesterday, while the kids had a day at kindy and daycare we went out shopping for big kid toys. And boy did we go shop. We have basically swapped a significant amount of house processions (garage sale proceeds) and a bit more, for toys. But we did come out with lots of cool stuff that will get plenty of use. We are very lucky to have a friend who assisted us with both advice and purchace.
So the list of new toys is:
- Starboard inflatable Standup Paddle Board (SUP) and Paddle
- Airush Kite board and kite (including board bag, bar and lines)
- New Flying Objects wetsuits for the both of us
- Harness,
- And lastly, through his boss, a second hand 12v hookah unit
Upon leaving the shop I thought I should call Nathan and Shannon Ducker who are both very experienced Kite Surfers to let them know of our purchases, and to hit them up for some lessons. Well Nathan must have been a bit bored at home during his holidays as it took about 2 seconds for him to say, lets go now!
I have always thought Kitesurfing is a sport that can be pretty dangerous. When windsurfing if it all goes pear shaped it is pretty easy to just ditch the gear away from you. With Kitesurfing it is not that simple and the power the kites have can easily drag you if you get out of control.
Well I don't want to sound cocky but I think I did pretty well for a first go. I managed to do some body draging, not upwind yet, but did get the feel for it. I did feel a bit like a big lure though ;-).
So tomorrow the plan is to take the kids out for a SUP and on the river for a go. Looks like it is going to be light winds in the morning so should be good.
As a final footnote we just sold one of our cars. I hope we sold the right one. Economically the Pajero was the right one to sell. I just hope the commodore is OK for the long trip towing the trailer all the way to Brisbane.

We are well into the process of selling up. We have some friends that have said that they will buy some of our furniture which is fantastic as we don't have to stress about leaving it too late, and we didn't have to sit on the floor for x-mas lunch.
We do however still have lots of stuff to dispose of. We have a small amount of stuff that we will store, paperwork, some paintings, photos and most importantly, my stereo equipment. I did think about selling it but as Leah has said that I would never get away with buying my "mammoth" speakers again, and I am sure we will end up moving back to land at some point in time.
Other than that pretty much everything is getting sold, given to friends or will be donated. So we have been busy putting stuff up on Gumtree, ebay and had a massive garage sale.
So far it has been pretty good with us de-cluttering our lives as well as raising a bit more for the kity. Now for the big stuff, one of the cars and the Perth boat.

Welcome to our Blog.
We are Leah, James Ewyn (4) and Hamish (2), a family of 4 from Perth Australia who have decided to sell up and go cruising for a while.
We have bought a boat in Brisbane and plan to drive across Australia soon to move aboard.
This blog will record the fun times and challenges of this chapter of our lives.