Hello.
We are Kerry and Des Cleary, now retired and living in Newport, Sydney. We love to travel.
For many years we lived and worked in Viet Nam, and then Cambodia, and used this as a basis for travels in South East Asia, and also as a stepping stone to Europe. Des was born on the beautiful west coast of Ireland, and also lived in the UK, so we have lots of relatives and friends there and have travelled extensively in Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, and many parts of Europe
We also had children and grandchildren overseas. Des’ son and wonderful family lived in Switzerland for many years, providing further incentives to visit pockets of Europe. They are now in Australia. As well, Kerry’s daughter with 4 lovely grand-daughters live in the US – currently in San Francisco but previously in Miami. So we have travelled in both south eastern and north western parts of the US.
But we had never really explored Australia in depth, just a few trips up and down the coast and a few inland. However, early in 2017 we spent a month exploring the south coast of New South Wales (for Sydneysiders we are not referring to Jervis Bay). Is this Australia’s best kept secret? Stunningly beautiful beaches, hinterlands, gorges and wilderness areas.
While down around wonderful Eden, we did the light to light walk, which was just an incredible experience thanks to our hosts Jenny (of muffin fame) & Arthur – see the link here. In fact the trip was written up in the Canberra Times by regular columnist Tim the Yowie Man who accompanied us on the walk – see his article here. Now there is an interesting character! If you get a chance to do this walk you will not be disappointed.
We followed that up with a month in the Northern Territory – Darwin, Litchfield, Kakadu, Catherine, the West McDonnell Ranges, Kings Canyon, Uluru, and Kata Tjuta. We were blown away by the colours of the inland, the gorges and waterholes, incredible rocky landscapes and wildlife. But also by some of the great people we met on these travels.
After that, we thought about what next for us? Did we want to return to Europe to see more of those incredible towns, countrysides, castles and cathedrals that have stood for hundreds and hundreds of years through invasions, wars as well as normal daily life? Or did we want to explore places and landscapes that are thousands and thousands of years old, sculptured, battered and changed by the weather and human activities from ancient times. After our Oz trips earlier in the year, no contest really.
We quickly made a decision to “Go Around“, to travel around the perimeter of Australia, starting in late February 2018, perhaps taking a year, perhaps longer. We also quickly bought The Cruiser and the Van – the problems these impetuous decisions caused are set out at ‘Oops.
Our overall plan for the trip can be seen at Overview. Blogs on our travels can be found at Travels so Far. Details of our travel vehicles can be found at Preparation
We will be adding posts approximately every 4-5 days once our travels start.
4 thoughts on “About us”
Hi, just a couple of essentials that we found for actual travelling. A good thermos is essential, fill with hot water in morning and you have an instant cup of tea etc. Also a table cloth, for those picnic tables, especially when camping and on roadsides, the tables are often pretty crappy, so a clean cloth is a must (I use a sarong which I happen to have, after seeing a friend use a table cloth). I realise you have the caravan and will probably have lunch in there, but when travelling without it, a simple smallish plastic tub with tablecloth, cutlery, small plates, salt, pepper, even small peanut butter, Vegemite etc. as a lunch box, is very useful. Do you have fridge set up in car, you can use for camping and/or freezer when in caravan. Fresh fruit and veggies expensive and a bit hard to get in more isolated areas. Wraps are also a bread alternative in more isolated areas, they have long life when unopened. Enjoy
Helen and Kev – thanks so much for your comments. Hadn’t thought of a tablecloth – great idea. We do have a lunch box which has a tiny burner and works great. We do have a 60lt fridge/freezer in the LC so using the it as a freezer while we have the van with us is a great idea. Kerry n Des
Kerry and Des, I have read, with interest and envy, the story of your preparations and trip so far. We are in the earlier stages of preparation for similar travel with our LC 200 and Evernew ‘van. We have had several training trips of a week or two each and an extended trip of eight weeks from Nelson Bay, NSW, to South West WA and back. Thankyou for sharing your story and we look forward to reading more about your experiences. Regards, Petah and Phil Dodd.
Thanks Petah and Phil for your comments. It has been a great experience so far, despite the weather. We are so glad to be doing this, and very fortunate to have the opportunity. Good luck with your travels.