We packed up and left Port MacDonnell as it was pouring with rain and very cold so not much point in looking around. We had met the Jenkin family several times during our travels. First time was at Uluru and the last time we saw them was Broome. They had kindly invited us to come and visit them on their farm near Heywood (near Portland) so we took them up on their offer and called in for the night.
It was great to see them again. We really enjoyed reminiscing about the places we had both been to and we found out how tricky it can be to settle back in to "normal" life. They very kindly took the boys horse riding and motor bike riding so they had a ball. Tom apparently wants a horse now and Jack wants a motor bike. We may have to move to a farm to accommodate those requests!
We said goodbye and packed up the van for the last time. Hard to believe that it was the last time we would sleep in it. We drove through Dunkeld and stopped for lunch. Then drove on through Halls Gap to get to Mum and Terry's place in Stawell. It was wonderful to see them again. They left on their trip 6 weeks or so before we left on ours so it had been AGES since we had seen them. They had Banjo with them so we were all very pleased to see him again. It felt very strange being back in Stawell but great to be in a house and sleep in a bed.
We stayed 3 nights then decided it was time to get back to Melbourne. Since the kids are so good at driving now we didn't let them stop in Beaufort like we normally do but drove straight back to Barclay Drive. It was a bit unbelievable to be home after all this time away, 6 1/2 months to be exact. We loved going in to the house for the first time and the kids were extremely excited to have their own rooms. I thought we would be happy to be home for at least a couple of days but the post holiday blues set in within about 2 hours as we looked around and realized how much gardening, maintenance and unpacking we had in front of us. In fact it took Michael 3 days to unhitch the van. I think we were all hoping we could get in and drive away again! We sent the kids to school and Charlie to kinder the day after we got back and it was very strange (but good!) to be without them for a few hours. They were keen to get to school and see all their friends but we were sure that the novelty would wear off reasonably quickly. I think it will take a while to settle back in to normal life after such an amazing adventure. What a trip we had!
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