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We\u2019ve made a \u201cloose\u201d plan of\nwhere we want to go, mainly to ensure that we hit the North and dry season at\nthe right time, around May. Australia is a big country, but we were surprised\nthat even when planning a moveable route in weekly intervals we would still be\nheading at quite a pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After hugs and goodbyes with our friends gathered to wave us off, we headed South down the M1. The trip had started!! First stop, down to Perisher to the ski lodge we go skiing every year, even if we haven\u2019t meticulously planned the route, we knew we\u2019d want an easy first stop after a crazy last few months at work and packing up and \u2018Beachcombers\u2019 is home away from home. Alex is keen to hit all 8 States and Territories, the most Northern, Southern, Western and Eastern points, the highest point & and Geographical centre. We realised only a few weeks ago that we hadn\u2019t got Australia Capital Territory on the list, so a quick drive by Parliament House on the way South ticked off that State!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We were spending our first week\nwith our good friends The Julio\u2019s and their extended family from Venezuela, so\nwe knew we would be relaxing our way into the trip with fun, laughs and great\nfood. With Minty stuffed to her gunnels, we\u2019d made great expectations of\nspending a proportion of the week sorting the boxes (to be fair there were a\nfew just with food and drink for Christmas) so we\u2019d be organised when\nofficially getting on the road\u2026 Alas, it\u2019s amazing how quickly time goes by when\nstarting to relax a little\u2026 it turns out exploring the outdoors, chilling and\nenjoying great company far outweighs sorting boxes!! That job was to be left\nfor another day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The kids had already informed Santa\nwhere we would be this year and thankfully he found us. The carrots, mince pies\nand whiskey left out had all been enjoyed and in return lots of gifts had been\nleft by the tree. Excitement ensued and soon the floor was a sea of ripped\npaper and lots of goodies to be enjoyed. Coincidently, many perfect for the\ntrip! Santa\u2019s a good man 😉 Alex and I cooked a large turkey this year,\nand so we could enjoy drinking champagne while doing so, The Julio\u2019s took all\nthe kids out for a walk in the afternoon. Perfect!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also had another milestone to\nbe ticked off early in the tour; the highest point in Australia. Only leaving\nan hour later than planned, we soon found ourselves on the chairlift at Thredbo\ntaking us up to the start of the walk to Mt Kosciuszko peak, a whopping 2,228m\nhigh!! Alex started the walk confident in the kid\u2019s ability to complete the 14km\nreturn walk in the allocated 5.5hours we had left before the chairlift back\ndown the mountain closed for the day\u2026 Call me a pessimist, I was less so! 200m\ninto the walk, OK, maybe 300m, I heard a little voice behind me, \u201cmy legs are\nhurting, are we nearly there yet?\u201d, hmm, this could be a very<\/em> long afternoon! We made it to the first look out and stood\nadmiring the vast wilderness, while I tried to ignore the exclamations coming\nfrom beside me; \u201cI\u2019m not walking that far, it\u2019s miles away!\u201d. While it\u2019s the\nhighest point in Australia, when looking from afar, the peak is a little\nunderwhelming and hard to tell it is the highest point!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We continued to cajole the kids a\nlittle further but another 500m down the track, they voted with their feet and\nwere not to go any further. Julio\u2019s parents and sister were also happy to stop\nand so they kindly took Lexi, Reo & Lucia back to the lift while the rest\nof us carried on. We were only half way to the peak, so we needed to get a\nwiggle on to ensure we\u2019d get back for the last chairlift. Without dragging so\nmany little feet behind us we were soon carried by the wind and at the top!\nJulio Jnr (8yrs) managed it no problem and the return journey seemed easy and\nwe were back with the others for a rewarding cool beer and ice-cream for the\nkids with plenty of time left before the last chairlift!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The week passed by quickly and it\nwas already starting to feel like we\u2019d left Sydney longer than we had. With\nlovely walks and a great week of weather, the Snowy Mountains is a place we\nlove to return to both in the winter and summer. With no fixed plans in place after\nthe lodge, we decided to stay around the corner at Tom Groggin campsite where\nwe\u2019ve camped previously. It\u2019s been a great start to the trip, and as we waved\nfarewell to the Julio\u2019s as they returned to Sydney, it was a firm foot on the\nright pedal; let \u201cTowns on Tour\u201d begin\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What seemed a lifetime of packing, sorting, re-sorting, re-packing, then resorting to just dumping stuff into boxes on the off-chance we\u2019d need the items, we shoe-horned everything into Tinfish & Minty. The time had come to shut the door on the house and get on to the open road\u2026..In true Towns Time, although I feel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"\n What seemed a lifetime of\npacking, sorting, re-sorting, re-packing, then resorting to just dumping stuff\ninto boxes on the off-chance we\u2019d need the items, we shoe-horned everything\ninto Tinfish & Minty. The time had come to shut the door on the house and get\non to the open road\u2026..In true Towns Time, although I feel we truly excelled\nthis time, 26 hours later than originally planned!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve made a \u201cloose\u201d plan of\nwhere we want to go, mainly to ensure that we hit the North and dry season at\nthe right time, around May. Australia is a big country, but we were surprised\nthat even when planning a moveable route in weekly intervals we would still be\nheading at quite a pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After hugs and goodbyes with our friends gathered to wave us off, we headed South down the M1. The trip had started!! First stop, down to Perisher to the ski lodge we go skiing every year, even if we haven\u2019t meticulously planned the route, we knew we\u2019d want an easy first stop after a crazy last few months at work and packing up and \u2018Beachcombers\u2019 is home away from home. Alex is keen to hit all 8 States and Territories, the most Northern, Southern, Western and Eastern points, the highest point & and Geographical centre. We realised only a few weeks ago that we hadn\u2019t got Australia Capital Territory on the list, so a quick drive by Parliament House on the way South ticked off that State!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We were spending our first week\nwith our good friends The Julio\u2019s and their extended family from Venezuela, so\nwe knew we would be relaxing our way into the trip with fun, laughs and great\nfood. With Minty stuffed to her gunnels, we\u2019d made great expectations of\nspending a proportion of the week sorting the boxes (to be fair there were a\nfew just with food and drink for Christmas) so we\u2019d be organised when\nofficially getting on the road\u2026 Alas, it\u2019s amazing how quickly time goes by when\nstarting to relax a little\u2026 it turns out exploring the outdoors, chilling and\nenjoying great company far outweighs sorting boxes!! That job was to be left\nfor another day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The kids had already informed Santa\nwhere we would be this year and thankfully he found us. The carrots, mince pies\nand whiskey left out had all been enjoyed and in return lots of gifts had been\nleft by the tree. Excitement ensued and soon the floor was a sea of ripped\npaper and lots of goodies to be enjoyed. Coincidently, many perfect for the\ntrip! Santa\u2019s a good man 😉 Alex and I cooked a large turkey this year,\nand so we could enjoy drinking champagne while doing so, The Julio\u2019s took all\nthe kids out for a walk in the afternoon. Perfect!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also had another milestone to\nbe ticked off early in the tour; the highest point in Australia. Only leaving\nan hour later than planned, we soon found ourselves on the chairlift at Thredbo\ntaking us up to the start of the walk to Mt Kosciuszko peak, a whopping 2,228m\nhigh!! Alex started the walk confident in the kid\u2019s ability to complete the 14km\nreturn walk in the allocated 5.5hours we had left before the chairlift back\ndown the mountain closed for the day\u2026 Call me a pessimist, I was less so! 200m\ninto the walk, OK, maybe 300m, I heard a little voice behind me, \u201cmy legs are\nhurting, are we nearly there yet?\u201d, hmm, this could be a very<\/em> long afternoon! We made it to the first look out and stood\nadmiring the vast wilderness, while I tried to ignore the exclamations coming\nfrom beside me; \u201cI\u2019m not walking that far, it\u2019s miles away!\u201d. While it\u2019s the\nhighest point in Australia, when looking from afar, the peak is a little\nunderwhelming and hard to tell it is the highest point!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We continued to cajole the kids a\nlittle further but another 500m down the track, they voted with their feet and\nwere not to go any further. Julio\u2019s parents and sister were also happy to stop\nand so they kindly took Lexi, Reo & Lucia back to the lift while the rest\nof us carried on. We were only half way to the peak, so we needed to get a\nwiggle on to ensure we\u2019d get back for the last chairlift. Without dragging so\nmany little feet behind us we were soon carried by the wind and at the top!\nJulio Jnr (8yrs) managed it no problem and the return journey seemed easy and\nwe were back with the others for a rewarding cool beer and ice-cream for the\nkids with plenty of time left before the last chairlift!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The week passed by quickly and it\nwas already starting to feel like we\u2019d left Sydney longer than we had. With\nlovely walks and a great week of weather, the Snowy Mountains is a place we\nlove to return to both in the winter and summer. With no fixed plans in place after\nthe lodge, we decided to stay around the corner at Tom Groggin campsite where\nwe\u2019ve camped previously. It\u2019s been a great start to the trip, and as we waved\nfarewell to the Julio\u2019s as they returned to Sydney, it was a firm foot on the\nright pedal; let \u201cTowns on Tour\u201d begin\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[9,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsontour.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsontour.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsontour.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsontour.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsontour.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/townsontour.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":683,"href":"https:\/\/townsontour.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions\/683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsontour.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsontour.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsontour.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsontour.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tinfish.apexhosting.net.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/CanberraL-1024x576.jpg\")
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