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Ahhh. The feel of your own bed. Does anything beat it?

After over 5,000 kilometres of driving and Jah-knows how many of flying, the Bullhorn clan are safely ensconced in the comfort of our own home. Not to mention the sad realisation that we won't feel the satisfyingly chilly bite of cool air for a LONG f-ing time.

And wouldn't you know, the day we pull our little wagon back into this land-that-deodourant-forgot, the temperature in town is a somewhat steamy forty degrees.

Ugh. F-ing town.

Depressing locale notwithstanding, we ARE glad to be home. Getting away was nice, the drive was enjoyable, and the climate was sweet, but after three weeks roaming the width of the continent with a three-month-old in tow, we're glad to be able to relax in our own home.


The last part of the trip went fine. We introduced the kid to her family (both by blood and otherwise), did a little shopping, caught up with most of the people we wanted to, and- thanks to the grandparents offering to look after the little monkey for an evening, went out and let our hair down for a night. All, in all, it was a nice end to what was, a few frustrating days and nights of wailing and screaming aside, a pretty good trip.

As always, we didn't end up getting around to many of the things we had hoped. The baby was at her violent best for most of the time we were in Melbourne, so I missed out on seeing most of the sights I had planned, not to mention the people I had wanted to catch up with. Even in Perth, time slipped away from us more than we would have liked.

The trip back was difficult even before we set off. We tried to pack light on the way down, knowing that we would be wise to leave room for whatever we acquired during the trip. Even with this spare room, it took a Tetris-like soultion to fit all of our newfound crap into the confines of the car. But with a little creativity, a shade of lateral thinking and a few hefty shoves, we managed to get the tailgate closed and started the two-day drive home.


We entertained the idea of leaving Perth at about midnight, and driving straight through to Hedland in a single stint of about 16 hours. We eventually thought better of it, and split the trek into two days of travelling the more scenic coastal road, stopping overnight.

So, after heading off at about 4am on Wednesday morning, we fired up the sat-nav and, in the darkness, allowed it to lead the way. Unfortunately, the sat-nav took us 20km down an ungraded limestone track.

In the MIDDLE of the metropolitan area, by the way.

My own fault, of course. I know the area well enough to not really NEED any help navigating.

After giving the Forester a workout in its natural habitat, we came out on the highway and put the hoof down.

I wanted to take things a fair bit easier on the way back. On the outward trip, I sat on some rather silly speeds, which meant that we made great time, but paid for it with some pretty horrifying mileage. On the return leg, I cruised at a much more relaxed (but still on the fun side of the speed limit) clip. I was expecting to see a little difference in fuel consumption, but nowhere near the 30% we ended up with.


Anyway, I'm beat, and should the little shit-demon allow it, I'm off to nap.

I don't post anywhere near enough. I'm going to have to work on that...

Later.