Off we go...

So our initial thoughts of leaving on Tuesday or Wednesday (11th or 12th of October) were a little optimistic! We did manage to do all the things that we needed to get done to allow us to jump in the car and drive off into the sunset (or rather a bit of a gray morning with a few spots of rain) on Thursday the 13th of October 2011.  This date is also Liz's Birthday, so it will be a date that we won't easily forget - which is really nice.

We spent the week sorting out all the items that we were going to take with us and packing the van in a fashion that seemed to make sense to us - but we're sure we'll be doing lots of re-organising along the way.

We installed a roof cage on Bruiser so that the second spare tire and a few jerry cans could go up top and then managed to put everything else that we thought are 'essentials' for the year into the back of the car or in the van.

By Wednesday night, we were confident that Thursday would be our departure date...

On Thursday morning, after some breakfast and some presents for Liz, we did some last minute packing and then jumped into the car and waved goodbye to Nanna and Pa as we drove off - headed for Canberra.

We were very thankful for a smooth and trouble-free trip from Sydney to Canberra.  The kids travelled really well and were glad to be finally heading off on our 'trip around Australia'.

To our pleasant surprise, It was a whole hour before anyone asked 'When are we going to get there' (good on you Sammie).  The kids kept entertained with drawing and colouring most of the way.