McCulloch Family Giant Leap: Goodbye east coast, we won't be seeing you for a while.

I like to be somewhat organised and I feel that things just run smoothly with a bit of pre-planning, especially in regards to kids. However that being said, I don’t like it when don’t go to “my” plan and I suffer for it. My plan for the morning we left Airlie was to get up nice and early and hit the road to Home Hill which was just two hours away. I say my plan as a lot of the time it is in the top of my head and everyone should just know it. I mean seriously how hard is it to read my mind?

So I ideally wanted to be on the road before 8am, yes it is early but I had the logic of Hamish having an eKindy lesson at 10am so why not be pulled over at our destination, do our lesson and go exploring. I did eventually share my plan with Jason, maybe at 7am, to which he responded with something that sounded like yep, but I think that is his automatic response to me. Long story short we didn’t leave until just after 9am.

Jason is so very sociable and loves his chats to fellow nomads. A wonderful thing except when you are meant to be packing up. Then there was the decision that we needed to carry oil with us. Not just any oil, the one Mitsubishi recommend. Why this decision wasn’t made before we left home or on one of the last five days when we had plenty of time I have no idea.

Well we didn’t miss Hamish’s eKindy session, but we were a little bit late as we needed to find a pull in area big enough for our van that also had phone and internet reception. It was hard to do a lesson with all the trucks flying by and there was nowhere to really entertain Kayla. So needless to say we have all learnt our lesson to be better prepared on days when Hamish has a lesson. They are only on Wednesdays and Thursdays so it isn’t hard at all.

We arrived at Home Hill just before lunch. They have a designated free camp just one street from the Main Street and right beside the train line. We love the Wiki Camps App on or phones as it not only points out the free camps, but you can review all the comments that people have left. People had made the comment that the trains where noisy, I guess what can you expect for a free camp beside a train line! Though we didn’t get to see a train until after 5pm, but I saw it as the greatest free entertainment ever for my kids and I enjoyed explaining all the different types of trains to Hamish.

Hamish took a few photos - this one of his sister.

Hamish took a few photos - this one of out car and caravan.

Hamish took a few photos - this one Jason and I.

The afternoon was spent checking out the town and doing our food shopping. We really believe is supporting the towns that offer these great free camps as it is saving us the money so we held off food shopping until we got here and then we went out for dinner at a pub a fellow traveller had recommended. It was absolutely delicious and as we were walking home the black little remnants of burnt sugar can started to fall from the sky.

One of the many trains that went past.

Quite a few more trains passed in the early night, I couldn’t tell you if they did later that night or not as I was fast asleep, so if they did, they weren’t bothering me in the slightest. When we do a free overnight camp, we don’t unhitch the van and are always packed up outside before we go to bed. It makes getting on the road the next day a lot quicker. This allows us more time to explore in the next town, we stop driving before the kids get over it and the win for the day hasn’t picked up. A bit of wind isn’t bad, but you can feel it if it is a very windy day, especially when trucks overtake you. Besides we have come quite accustom to getting somewhere early, setting up with time on our hands and then getting to relax and rest when Kayla has her middle of the day nap.

The trip from Home Hill out to Charters Towers led to the change of the coastal land to the start of the outback. I took a few photos from my phone as we drove along to show you the change in the landscape. I should take a few more of these as we go along. We arrived in Charters Towers around 10:30 and as I checked in and paid for our site, the owners husband directed Jason to our site and helped him park the van. Travelling against the majority who have all headed safe is really working for us. We have not had to book anything and never had a problem getting a powered site. They are also so quiet that the facilities are never packed and the owners have the time to help you move your van onto the site.