Welcome to Rob, Clare and Olive’s travel diary for our trip around Australia. We have now finished phase two of the trip. You can see our complete journey on this map. 

So much preparation for a 2 year old’s birthday party! Olive doesn’t turn two until Thursday, but we had the party today to coincide with the Easter weekend and Rob will be away this coming week and will miss her actual birthday day. Totally out of synch with the weather we have been having, and are expecting for the following week, today was cloudy and threatening to rain right up to the party time, then it did start to rain right on cue. Our planned party in the park was rearranged back to the house under cover; luckily we had that contingency plan. It worked out well, particularly the (awesome) bunny cake that had stressed out Clare for days.

We can’t help ourselves, writing these updates are such a habit. We promise not too many more. Happy Easter to everyone. Olive’s had her first ever Easter egg hunt, and it was wonderful to see the delight in her face as she discovered the eggs in Nina’s back yard. Thankfully it took her a while to realize that each one contained chocolate, so she did not over indulge today. It was nice to have Clare’s family over for lunch, and Paul’s kids stayed for an afternoon of playing with Olive, while Paul went to the footy.

Rob has been busy adding up receipts for his BAS statement, and in doing so was able to calculate some of the expenses and statistics for the trip. From April 16th last year, we travelled for a total of 328 days (which includes a stopover in Melbourne for nearly a month). The total distance we travelled was 31,800 km, at an average of 97 km per day. The van’s economy rate was 8.4 km/litre. We spent $5,400 on fuel, paying on average $1.42 per litre (maximum $2.12, minimum 84c). For accommodation, we paid $4,300 in total, which works out to $92 a week. We did however stay for free 40% of the time, either at friends, relatives or at a free campsite. Our total bill for food expenses was about $11,500, which is $35 per day or $245 per week.

We have settled into Nina’s house now, and it already feels like we have been here for a long time, even though it is less than a week. Now that we are staying around in Perth for a while, there will be no more daily updates, just some summaries of our around Australia trip and the occasional message about what we are up to, as alas life will not be anywhere near as exciting anymore.

We seem to have a lot more time on our hands now, not having to unpack and pack up the van each day. Olive spent some time in the park down the road, and back exploring the nooks and crannies of this large house. Clare went for her 12 week scan today. Even though we have seen it before with Olive, the ultrasound was very exciting. Seeing it move around and kicking about doing somersaults, makes it all seem so real. We left Olive with Nina for the appointment, and she missed her daytime sleep (Olive that is, not Nana) but she lasted the day out. Maybe its also time for the transition to no daytime sleep. Sharon came over for dinner and for more catching up. It has been hot ever since we arrived in Perth, and more hot days are forecast. What a great place to be.

Clare is pregnant, if you have not heard already, expecting in October. We came back to Perth a little early for Clare to see a doctor and get a blood test, and start the pregnancy proceedings! Meanwhile Rob spent time catching up with his work. It has not taken long to feel at home in the familiar surroundings of Perth. Olive is enjoying spending time with Nina her Nana, particularly the finger painting which is something we did not do in the van. We had two Skype calls today, one to Leanne and one to the grandparents in Melbourne. Unfortunately the internet reception through our mobile phone is not always adequate, so we are sometimes left looking blankly at each other not hearing what is said. At least they get to see how Olive has grown. She is a big girl now, having graduated at night from her portable cot to a real mattress. Next is toilet training!