We had sold Kirkby Fleetham, and were homeless/free until we started our next venture. We went to Australia late January and hired a camper van, driving up from Sydney to Cairns . We flew out the day of their 200th Centenary, BA had loaned a plane from Air Lingus, not designed for long haul, and by the time we touched down in Canberra we were in dire straights. We then had to steel ourselves for another hop in it to Sydney
Once installed in the large camper van we hit the road and visited the Mortimers at their Art School near Orange, stayed a night with Lyn and met up with Stephen's godfather, Mike (but never heard from him again after this!) .
Then we set off north along the coast, chancing upon a turtle nesting beach one night- a wondrous experience. We were disappointed in the quality of the campsites: these were nearly always full of full time residents, not really tourist camps
We made a detour to a distant Grant relatives- Dr John Prior at Wee Waa - and were made very welcome: & sent on our way with an abundance of plums. I had found his name and address when researching in Australian Genealogical Society. It was "beyond the Black Stump" and beyond Wee Waa was thousands of miles a desert
There were boat trips to Brampton, Daydream and the Barrier Reef, and a 4*4 along the sands of Fraser Island where I learnt the Australian expression "smoko" for a tea break
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |