Before we could take off for real, we had a few important things to attend to. Of course, top of the list was seeing our children, grandchildren and friends to say cheerio. We used our visits to them as more practice trips and a way of getting to know more about our van. Someone said that it must be sad to say bye to everyone but it wasn’t; in these days of mobile phones and Zoom, we will still see them and chat regularly. Everyone is busy with their own life too, and they are all very happy for us to be going off to do this trip. (When I first came to Australia on a working holiday in 1979, I had to wait a month to receive a letter from my family and vice versa. It was very expensive to call home in those days. The world is a much smaller place in 2021).
The second thing we had to take care of was having our Emu serviced after 1000kms. Living about 350kms from Perth, it didn’t take us long to log the distance. We took the van back to Eagle Outdoors and they were incredibly efficient in carrying out the service and fixing up minor issues.
The last thing we had to do before leaving civilisation was have our caravan and car weighed. We had previously watched Youtube videos on how to distribute weight and we had tried to think it through as we packed. There was a weighbridge close to Eagle Outdoors and we were relieved to find that we were well underweight.
So having caught up with those around Mandurah, we headed for Kalbarri to see more family and friends. Six weeks or so after Cyclone Seroja hit, it was nice to hear stories of how the community had come together to help each other. Although there was a lot of damage still evident, the recovery process was well underway. We love Kalbarri and enjoyed a couple of nights there before heading off on our trip.
Flannerys' Footprints 