First day of our ‘big’ adventure and we only made it some 300km. Just as we were leaving the small town of Tullamore our Tyre Pressure Management System (TPMS) started beeping very loudly. Oh no! A flat tyre!

The TPMS was able to tell us it was the outside rear passenger tyre and the error message said ‘Rapid Air Loss’ accompanied by an ear-piercing alarm. The tyre was very quickly flat.

We were able to turn around and limp back into Tullamore where a very friendly bloke at the service station offered to help and called the local mechanic who obligingly came to help change the tyre.

One thing we learnt from this is to always check the nuts are not tightened too tight and are able to be undone by hand. The nuts were on so tight the fellow had to get his compressor rattle gun to undo them. We were just fortunate he had all the right gear.

The kids made use of the time to play in the very good playground opposite the servo and Katie had a snooze in her car.

We were finally able to get going about 4.30pm and headed straight to our cousins place just on the outskirts of Dubbo. We were all very glad to get there. What a long day!

The long awaited day finally arrived and we headed off for another ‘big’ adventure with our daughter Katie, and her three children, Riley, Ben & Maddie. As usual we were in our trusty motorhome and they were in their awesome Prado and little New Age caravan with the boys swags on the roof rack of the car.

We’d been planning this big trip for a long time and the general route will see us head from our home in the NSW Riverina northwards via Dubbo, Tamworth and Tenterfield. We’ve planned a couple of days at Bald Rock National Park so we can climb the big rock then we’ll head into Queensland. From there we’ll pass through Toowoomba to Dalby then on to Kingaroy and across to Maryborough the see the Mary Poppins museum.

From Maryborough we’ll head across to the coast to Hervey Bay then spend 10 days meandering up the Qld coast to arrive at Airlie Beach where we’ve booked a stay in the Big4 Whitsunday Resort. Whilst there we plan to see crocs, snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef and visit Whitehaven Beach. None of us have been along that stretch of the coast and were really looking forward to it.

After our stay at the gorgeous Airlie Beach we will head inland to follow the Dinosaur Trail. We’ll pass through Charters Towers, Hughenden, Richmond and Julia Creek. We may fit in a short stay at Porcupine Gorge if time allows.

From Julia Creek we’ll head south via the Walkabout Creek Hotel, the one made famous by the Crocodile Dundee movie, then on to Winton, Longreach and then to one of our favourite Aussie camp spots at Lara Wetlands. We’ll follow the road southwards via Charleville then head west to Eromanga, Thargomindah and back to Cunnamulla.

Then we’ll be on the home stretch to Bourke, Cobar, Lake Cargellico and home again in six weeks time. We’ll have done some 7,000km and will have seen a lot of countryside.

So on on bright, sunny, cold winter morning we set off, firstly to Katie’s house where they were all ready to go. We were off on another ‘big’ adventure.