Catching up

I have sat down to write this post so many times - both literally and figuratively.

But life sort of had a way of getting in the way!! So, here's the catch-up for those of you who are interested in where I've been at the last couple of months and for anyone still clicking in here!!

Grab a cuppa and let's catch up.

Fishing off the pier in Stanley, TAS.

Firstly the move all went well. There was lots of sorting, culling and cleaning but it all got done. We got all our stuff sorted and packed into the shed of a very generous family member, handed in our rental keys and moved into our house sitting digs.

I'm glad the move was separated from the trip by a couple of months. I imagine it would have felt really hectic to move out and then hit the road straight away.

We had a couple of house-sitting gigs that took us up until the New Year. In that time there was also plenty of catching up with family and getting in a few visits before the big trip.

The van has had a couple of test runs also. Firstly, while in the moving process, we spent a few nights on our front lawn, which the girls thought was a great adventure and they managed to actually get some sleep eventually! The girls and MrGGE also headed away for a weekend of camping to give it all a go - success all round (including my weekend of 'me-time'!).

'The Rig'

Our last week and a half was spent staying with family who generously gave us some driveway and floor space while MrGGE finished up work. It was also lovely to spend some extra time with family before we hit the road for such a long time. Although, we've extended the invitation to all our family and friends to meet up with us at some point on our adventure.

We left Canberra on the 16th January. So, we've been on the road for just over 3 weeks.

Originally we'd planned to head through Rutherglen and central Victoria on our way to catch the ferry to Tassie from Melbourne. But, the week we headed off the forecast was 46 degrees for that area...so we quickly changed plans.

Instead we headed to the coast and had two nights at a camp in Genoa - which is off the highway inland from Malacoota. We had a few nights there to settle into caravan life, which was a good start....well, except for needing to call out roadside assistance on our first night!! But it turned out to be nothing serious and all sorted quickly.

From there we headed along the Victorian east coast towards Melbourne with a one night stop in Sale and a night in Melbourne with friends. We caught the ferry to Tassie on the 20th Jan and we are now half way through our 5 weeks in Tassie.

So far we've been enjoying taking our time to check out different areas in Tassie. Lots of beach and coast time and plenty of bush and mountains too. It really is a beautiful place.

Of course there's been plenty of eating along the way. I've managed to visit a few road side stalls, local markets and small town providers. Loving the small town butchers, for the quality of the meat and the nostalgia from my own childhood.

Lots of Tassie wines to be tasted too!

Am slowly getting back into the swing of cooking from scratch and adapting that to van life. Things got a little off track with all the house hoping before we head off. And then the first week in the van we were definitely in holiday mode!

But, the last two weeks I've started baking bread - sporadically at first but more regularly this last week. My first loaf was a bit of a flop with a burnt bum from the BBQ. So, I've been experimenting with different set ups on the weber and I'll do a post on this once I've got it mastered. I've been doing plenty of flatbread in the frypan though which is just as handy.

This week I baked my first snacks - good old banana pikelets! I originally thought we'd do a few more caravan park stays and would therefore have access to an oven to do some stockpile baking. But the free camps are just too good and plentiful in Tassie to pass up. I'm sure things will change in different states though. So for now snacks are a lot less of the homemade variety than we are used to.

I do have some plans for some more non-oven baked goods to test out. But, if you've got any good recipes or ideas for snacks that you can make without an oven or a blender/processor (not enough solar for that!) I'd love to hear them.

So, I think that brings me up to date. Right now we are on the East coast of Tassie making our way towards Hobart. Then we'll turn around and head back north before catching the ferry on the 24th Feb. We're hoping to check out some of the West but it will depend on the fire situation. And if we don't see it this time it'll be a good excuse to have to come back to this amazing island.

Okay, that's enough about me! What about you? What's been going on in your life the last couple of months?

P.S If you want to follow along with our travels MrGGE is doing a blog about them over at www.familyvantrippers.com.