Our final week of preparation has just flown, and we feel like we’ve been behind the eight ball the entire time. Even now, with a mere 24 hours to go until our planned time of departure, we’re running around like headless chickens trying to tidy up all of those nasty last minute loose ends that inevitable force themselves upon you. You would think with well over four months since the trip was confirmed as going ahead, we would have had everything sorted, but it hasn’t quite been.

But hey, I’m getting way ahead of myself as per usual. So lets go back to where it all started for the week. Whilst Bec was still at work for the bulk of the week, I had the time at home to finish up getting the caravan and ‘The Beast’ ready for their official inaugural hitch up. Things seemed to come together well, and now apart from packing the tub and filling the water tanks later today, they are both all set. As ready as they’re going to be in any case. There may yet be an unscheduled stop or two at some caravan places along the way for extra supplies, but we will play that one by ear.

While spending the rapidly shortening days out doors working on the vehicles, I then spent my evenings glued to the computer. The trip planning is pretty much completed, with itinerary draft number 4 or 5 making the grade and becoming our official trip plan. I won’t be publishing this however, instead will be leaving you all in suspense and eager to read our updates each day as they come in, hot off the presses. Then there was the unenviable chore of making sure that all of our computer data was sufficiently backed up and ready for travel. There may have also been a quick game or two of Scrabble interspersed among all of this, which may explain why I spent most nights sitting in front of the computer until the early hours of the morning, only to awake and start all over again.

As you may have read in the comments on the ‘Visitors Book‘ page, Wednesday saw me give David a personalised tour of Rambling Tales HQ, the van and ‘The Beast’, before sitting down to a liquid lunch. It was good to be able to make the time for a final catch up before we leave, although I don’t think it has quite sunk in yet that we won’t in all likely hood be seeing our friends and family for a whole 6 months. Sure, we keep saying that they are only a phone call away, but neither Bec or myself are big on social media, so we are generally quite reliant on personal interaction.

Thursday morning saw me get the opportunity to catch up with yet another good friend and again it was with a sense of eeriness that we bid our farewells. It was then back to the grind stone until Bec returned home from work. Today was her final day at work and I think she can now relate to how I was feeling this time last week. With a tear in her eye and a meagre box of personal belongings in her arms, she too was done with work for the next 6 months. As I did, she found it a strange sensation to be turning her back on work for an extended period, given that she probably spends more time with her colleagues there than we get together. There is no turning back now.

My grandma, ‘Granny’ as she seems to be known to all and sundry had prepared us a delicious home cooked dinner for Thursday evening. A home cooked dinner at Granny’s is definitely not an event to be missed. After eating, we spent a good few hours just sitting having a lovely chat. She will be sorely missed while we are away.

Come Friday, our first day of 6 months off together, we had our first argument. We were pretty happy that we nearly made it until lunch time, and then the wheels came off. Don’t ask us now what it was about, because we wouldn’t be able to tell you. The stress is definitely on the up though, with our to do list seemingly endless. We did however make it into the city to sign the new loan documents and get one last retail therapy session in.

It was out for a home cooked dinner again on Friday night, this time to my parents place. Another feast and another reminder of just how long we will be away. It still seems inconceivable that for half a year, these folks won’t be part of our everyday life. It will be just Bec and I, the dogs and whoever we should meet along the way.

Saturday morning was another another round of last minute meets with friends, as well as showing our house sitter through the place to make sure he knows where everything is and how it all works. That didn’t leave us a great deal of time, so we split up. Bec headed out to get a few last minute supplies while I continued on the home duties.

Sunday was a day we had set aside for a chore which has been haunting us both for weeks. A chore that we had been putting off until the last possible moment. Packing 6 months worth of clothes into the tiny little spaces that masquerade as closets in the van. In our house, Bec has the walk in robe to herself, and I am slightly embarrassed to admit that this is because I have too many clothes to fit in there. I have what I call my very own walk in robe, although it was originally designated as a spare bedroom.

Therefore you can only imagine the trials and tribulations we went through yesterday in deciding what would and what would not be making the trip with us. For the both of us, it was a test of our will power to pack as little as possible, and yet still retain enough in our respective wardrobes to clothe us for the entire 6 months, in any conceivable weather condition.

With the actual decision making process completed, we then had to fold, roll and wrestle our piles into our tiny allocated storage spaces. We did this separately, so as to give each other the required space in which to work. It was a tight squeeze, and I think I can speak for the both of us when I say that I am sure there are clothes in there that will never see the light of day until we return. Purely because some garments are wedged so tightly into the cupboards, we are sure to forget that they are even there.

During the afternoon, we made a quick trip down to Bacchus Marsh, for yet another last get together with friends, as well as dropping Becs car off to Liz, who will be minding it whilst we are away. So for future reference, should any tickets come our way as a result, that was dropped off on Sunday the 14th of April. Only kidding, I’m sure it will be well looked after.

To tired to cook, we headed out for dinner and then dropped in to see more mates for dessert. Some of the best chocolate brownie I’ve ever had, still hot and gooey straight out of the over. Delicious.

Then it was back home for round 2 of Fridays argument. All because Bec wanted to throw some stuff out of the freezer, while I was for keeping it to give to mum and dad. Yep, 6 months of this we have to look forward to, but we have a deal. We never go to bed angry. That sure as hell makes for some very late nights however! We were laughing about half an hour later when I agreed that I was wrong yet again.

With that, before we knew it, our week was over and we have just today to do all of those last second jobs that look so quick and easy, but I am sure will take us much longer than we expect.

Before I sign off for the day however, I have noticed that there has been an influx of people signing up to read our blog, so I want to extend a warm welcome to all of you. Whilst I haven’t been able to reply to many of the comments which have been left for us, we do indeed read each and every one of them. We very much looking forward to hearing from all of our readers. I do hope you enjoy my ramblings and I look forward to encouraging Bec to write some of her own posts as we go round, so as to provide you with a much differing perspective from my own. I have also noticed that many of you have figured out that we have some photos posted on Flickr. Unfortunately there’s not a great deal there at the moment, but please do keep checking in, as we will be posting a selection of our favourite pics as we go. Just click on the photo at the bottom of the page to open our Flickr photo stream.

Also, be sure to log on tomorrow to check out the new web site format. I won’t give too much away, but I’m sure it will impress, so long as I get it to work. As with anything, there are sure to be a few bugs, but I will be working tirelessly to ensure a smooth transition.

Lastly, our plan is to be driving out of the drive way tomorrow at 10:00AM, just in case anyone wants to come and throw streamers! We won’t be sorry if you do.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.