Australians are a very nice people. Sure, you will always find exceptions, but for the most part they are warm and welcoming. So, how could we start this epic journey without visiting our Australian friends?

We could have started this trip by flying into Adelaide, picking up the little motorhome, and hitting the road. After all, we had planned a very long driving trip through the Outback from Adelaide north to Darwin and then south to Perth, a total of 4,700 miles….  

Michelle, Mick, Mum, sister Melinda, and the girls took a day out of their busy lives to give us a tour of the sights around Wollongong and Bulli where they live. Wollongong is a city on the ocean about an hour train ride south of Sydney. It was a wonderful day of touring, talking, food, and even a couple geocaches. Thank you all so much.

Melbourne is a short flight from Sydney and our friends Sean and Anne have a beautiful inn – Stone & Straw – near Daylesford, a resort town north of Melbourne. Again, it was so nice to get reacquainted, talk, share food, and tour their hometown. And we got to stay in their finest suite! Thank you so much.

We’ve known these Australian friends for twelve years and while we live a long way apart, it is an enduring friendship.

Then there are the new Australian friends, Garry and Deb. We met them at a geocaching event that we held one evening in Alice Springs. Garry and Deb invited us to go geocaching with them, so we spent the better part of the next day finding caches and seeing some of the lesser known sights around Alice Springs. Thank you both so much.

Sometimes the journey is all about the people you meet along the way.