Alright everyone, hang in there, as we embark on our final day of travel. The final day of our epic journey which has seen us tour to the edges of Australia, to places many Australians, let alone international tourists can only dream about, see on dodgy documentaries or read about in even dodgier travel blogs (such as this one). I hope you have enjoyed coming along for the ride as much as I have enjoyed bringing you along though, so fasten your seatbelts for our final blast, Bacchus Marsh to the western suburbs of Melbourne as we bring the Marcus and Rebecca Roadshow back home to Altona Meadows.

Rather than treat the day as a finale, we instead played it out as if it was just another day in our grand extravaganza, waking up to the scream of the alarm clock at the unholy hour of 7:15AM, to find sharp crystalline icicles clinging to our faces. The temperature had plummeted overnight to a level we haven’t experienced for some time. In an effort to keep warm, we both huddled around the gas hob as I first thawed, then boiled a billy of water for my morning coffee. Just to give you some idea of how cold it was, even my Akubra was eschewed this morning in favour of a thick woolen beanie that hasn’t seen the light of day since I last thought it was a bright idea to get up to take photos of the sun rising over the Great Australian Bight.

There was a method behind our madness however, as the winter woolies were dragged from the deepest recesses of our clothing lockers. I had booked ‘The Beast’ in to be given a post trip once over by a mechanic we know in Bacchus Marsh. In order to still get home at a reasonable hour, ‘The Beast’ needed to be at the shop by 8:00AM. Thankfully, there was no need for me to be concerned with how I was to be getting back to the van after having dropped ‘The Beast’ off, as the friends we had stayed with were the very same friends who had been kindly minding Becs car while we were away.

Bec gets reacquainted with the cozy confines of ‘Betsy’.

At 7:55AM, we travelled out in convoy, ‘The Beast’ following behind a rather diminutive looking little Volkswagen as we headed for the workshop. It was only a five minute drive down the road, where we dropped the keys off, then quickly headed back to the relative warmth of the van. At least back at the van we could clamber back beneath the doona, then using the dogs as blankets, watch a bit of tele. Our reverie was disrupted only half an hour later with a call from the mechanic to say that the one filter that I had forgotten to drop off, was the one filter that really needed changing.

So dressed again we got, before charging off down the street again. With the filter delivered, we decided to make the most of our time, by taking a look around the town of Bacchus Marsh. By that, one might guess that it means we went shopping. Up and down the main street we trundled, finding a few interesting stores along the way in which to browse, before returning hungrily to the van.

Bec suggested cooking up our Sunday staple of bacon and eggs, but I was concerned that we would be interrupted by a call to say that ‘The Beast’ was ready. Instead, toast was proposed, until we remembered that we weren’t plugged into mains power, so weren’t able to use the toaster, while the gas grill seemed like too much effort. Another rifle through the meager supplies we have left, uncovered nothing else, other than a scant few chocolates left over from the box David and Heather had brought around for us in Robe. Well, they ended up sufficing for breakfast, as we huddled beneath the covers, in bed once more for another go at watching some TV.

Naturally, we never did get to finish watching the show that we started, when the phone rang to give us the news. ‘The Beast’ is in tiptop shape and was waiting to be collected. From that moment, it was a flurry of activity as we rushed to gather ‘The Beast’, return to the van, pack up and mate the caravan to ‘The Beast’ for one final hoorah into Melbourne.

Of course, there were stumbling blocks put in our way, as the rain again came tumbling down the moment it was decided that it was time to pack the satellite dish away and maneuver the tow ball beneath the socket on the van. It was slow, deep rain too, the kind that no matter how short a time you spend in its damp embrace, you end up soaked through to the bone. It was actually quite fitting.

At 12:56PM, we rolled through the gate of our friends place, me and the dogs enshrined in ‘The Beast’, with Bec following along behind in her car. It felt strange to be guiding the rig down the highway without my co-pilot by my side, but we maintained a cheery conversation over the airwaves as we motored through the rain induced grey haze, the density of the traffic building as ‘Shazza’ counted down the final kilometres to home.

Only minutes from home, the heavens unleashed a final torrent of rain upon us. A kind of welcome home if you will, that appeared as if someone was throwing hulking great buckets of water across the windshield, as the wipers wove a rapid stanza across the smeared glass. It slowed us naught as we battled the last few kilometres along strangely familiar roads, rolling up the driveway of the home we left what feels like so long ago at 1:40PM. That makes it exactly 181 days and 3 hours that we have been touring and to be honest, I would be quite happy to leave tomorrow to do it all over again. That is apparently an option we don’t have the luxury of however.

We were greeted upon our arrival by a giant banner announcing our return that spanned the width of the house and was adorned with a selection of our holiday photos and charts. Also hiding in the garage to welcome us was my parents, although they didn’t make themselves known until after we nearly reversed the caravan through the garage wall.

Six months we’ve been on the road, and Bec picks today, in the pouring rain to use hand signals instead of a radio to guide me into our final resting place. As it turned out, through rain blurred mirrors, from nearly 20 metres distant, her unrehearsed hand signal for stop, looks an awful lot like her signal for keep coming. Tragedy was averted by mere millimetres as the back of the caravan nearly kissed the garage wall and the water tank. Now that would have been a way to go out with a bang.

Home Sweet Home.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with the folks, inveigling them to aid with the tedious task of unpacking the van, a chore that will continue no doubt across the next few days at least, despite their gracious assistance this afternoon. We then sat down for a drink, when I mentioned that like after every holiday we take, I would read to them my daily journal entries. Strangely enough, they quickly took their leave, citing something along the lines of maybe having left the iron on at home.

It has indeed been a long haul though, not only for us, but all of my loyal readers out there. I know that there are some of you who have suffered through each and every daily entry, while there are others who have just dropped by every now and then for an update and to make sure that we are still amongst the breathing. Whatever group you belong to, thanks for reading, but stay tuned. The time has well and truly come to cease my incessant daily rambling, in favour of some weekly posts. I’m not too sure if you’ll enjoy it, but I am envisioning that it will at least be cathartic for myself to provide an epilogue to our trip, along with some of the more pertinent statistics and interesting facts. Tune in next Monday for the first of my new weekly blog posts.

Lastly for tonight, I know everyone has been waiting with baited breath for it, so I had better not hold out any longer. The announcement of the winner in the ‘Kilometre Challenge’. When we left home in April, the odometer on ‘The Beast’ read 15477Km. Upon pulling up today and finishing our circumnavigation of Australia the odometer now indicates 38645Km which means that we travelled a grand total of 23168Km on our journey. Therefore, with an entry submitted on the 30^th of July, with a guess of 23210Km, the grand prizewinner is (insert drum roll here): Margaret. Congratulations Margaret, you’ll receive an email shortly with details of your prize and a huge thanks to everyone that took part.

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