4:40 p.m.

Just sat down with a glass of white wine in a house that smells faintly of ammonia window cleaner.

Everything is very quiet.

Hannah is working on her editing.

Ezra is reading a book.

Gabe and Elisha are on a bus between here and Geelong.

Tony is wrapping up something for Ocean Spray.

It occurs to me that this is the calm before the storm.

The last three days have been a whirlwind of packing and sorting, as they always are before we lift off in some grand fashion. We’ve sorted toy bags, sorted clothing, donated a few things to the Salvo shop, returned all of our library books (and paid a small fine… whoops!) This morning I picked up 1 fork, three spoons and a knife as well as three plastic bowls from a resale shop: the items that have somehow gone missing from our bamboo cutlery sets over the past year and a half and bowls to add to my squishy ones so that everyone can eat breakfast at once (it’s the little things!)

Today we cleaned: Every nook and cranny. 

Hannah ironed and did windows. Gabe did bathrooms and floors. Elisha did recycling and vacuuming. Ezra swept outside… and swept, and swept, and swept!

Tonight we’re celebrating by going out to dinner with new friends: other travelers who we know online but will happily add to our “in real life” friends in a few hours. Of course the car we have at the moment is tiny, so two boys are taking the bus! 🙂

Tomorrow morning we’ll be out the door before 7 a.m. to pick up our van. Norm and Margaret will be home by lunchtime. We’ll swap stories and laugh a lot over dinner, and then, we’ll be on our way early Wednesday morning.

It’s always hard to say goodbye, but this time it will be a little easier: We’re taking friends with us!

The lovely Rickard family, whom we’ve spent so much time with, has decided to take our Outback road trip with us!! On a whim they bought a tent and are packing up their six elves for an Australian adventure! The kids, of course, are over the moon. It will be a road trip to rival the Mama Bus trip that we took a few years ago across the USA and back with the Wood Family.

So this is your last chance to tell us what we MUST NOT miss on our journey and to make your requests of what you’d like us to visit on your behalf! Leave us some comments and we’ll do our best to work it all in!