Monday 24th January 2011 – Over the weekend I spoke to both my mum and my dad who are dealing with health issues at the moment and last night had an overwhelming desire to go back and help them. So this morning I phoned the owner’s sister to get a contact address for the owner. Suddenly it was all too much and I was in floods of tears, so she took the situation in hand and arranged for the owner’s son to move back in and take care of the pets and to contact the owner to let her know. I’ve still got a couple of days work to do this week, so we’ve agreed I’ll leave on Thursday and start making my way back to Melbourne (as this is where my flight departs from).

Having just done a massive ride up here, I’m going to give myself a bit more time to get back again so I’m hoping to be back in Melbourne by the end of Feb and home by early March. As the east coast is still affected by the floods, I think I’ll go inland and come back via the “red centre” (i.e. Darwin, Ayres Rock & Alice Springs). I might then try and “nip” across to Canberra and Bateman’s Bay to say goodbye to friends there, then return to Melbourne.

This trip was originally meant to be for a year, but as I’ve done pretty much all the things I came here to do (apart from crossing the Nullabor) and had more adventure than most people have in their lives, I think returning home after 6 months is still a bloody great result! So keep tuning in for the final updates of my trip down the centre!