PaddleRock

The last post for the trip!✅😍

Everyone was absolutely living their best LYF on the ranch. The kids flat out crusty demons on the motor bikes sun up to sun down. Horses, chickens, bulk fruit trees, eating frenzy’s every meal time, chainsawing, fires,
‘watching’ 😉 😉 Dan fire guns 22’s through to 308 & 12 gage shottys 🤪( felt like the kids were doing real life call of duty 😆 fekin loose to say the least!!)

Kids fully cooked each day 🔥

No better way to round up the trip and punch the final 7hrs home 😎 (final supper celebration at Oportos 🥲)

In summary:
It’s been an unforgettable journey and adventure 😍✅
We clocked around 24,000km’s 🏎️✅
Went around Australia including Tassie in 14 weeks✅
We managed to duck and weave any trip finishing carnage / injury some how 😮‍💨✅
The best having time with friends all around Auz 😘✅
Don’t be fooled into thinking it was all harmonious peace loving rainbows 🌈 👎
The meltdowns and arguments over the most petty s**t was a steady constant 🤯🤯 (I may of even cracked it a few times, would ya believe it!?! 🫣)

Good to be home? Sure 👍
Could we swing it around and keep it goin? I’d love to if it was possible 🥰

Disclaimer :

I want to be vulnerable and transparent about the whole social media platform conundrum

I felt very conflicted towards the back end of the trip taking time to do a post as it felt like I didn’t want to waste any time being in the moment! 🤨 (good that vodaphone kept us out of range bulk of the time✅😆)

We have family overseas and friends globally that we
Could easily keep updated on the adventure which was great,

but,

I’d find myself in a rabbit hole of ‘WasteBook’ and Insta G animal fail videos on a death scroll ☠️ ..

We are truely in a time where we are so busy watching other people live their lives on social media , rather than live our own lives 😐

Come work Monday the socials will be gone 🪓

Big Love to you all and reach out any time ❤️
Will still have messenger to keep in touch
(How’s that for cutting of the nose to spite the face 🫠😆)

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Headed to Gunnedah to visit Carina and her vibrant fun family (great friend of Emma’s from the nursing days)
Found out Dan was getting into climbing so the most rubber arm in the game was hard to convince for another climb 🧗‍♂️ 😆

What better than a 300m outcrop epic in the
Warrumbungles with a 12km walk 😜

It was unreal type B fun. Heart stopper moment when I pulled on a 1 ton block that started to detach!! Few choice words articulated 😅

It was below zero , started snowing/ hailing on the way down , bush bash. Fun ? Absolutely 🤩

Dan did awesome for his 1st multi pitch ever and he was thoroughly impressed what can be done in crocs 🐊 🤙

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Like many places we have stayed / visited could have easily just kept staying there.. 🥲

Continuing south we caught up with dear ol frisbee mates, Matt and Sandra. The family is awesome and Matt has the large task of organising the World Ultimate Frisbee Championships which is being held on the Gold Coast later this year!

The trophy / medals are gunna be epic and the big wigs for the Brisbane olympics are gunna check out the finals 🫨

Kalani over the moon about meeting the real life Chilli dog who the producers for Bluey ‘borrowed’ the name for the shows mum character 🥰 (pretty progressive as the real life chilli is a boy 😜)

I asked the nephews in Townsville to pray for Uncle Tim’s front left tyre to make it home.. (was about 12000km over due for a replacement 😝)

Was joking to Sandra about it and totally brought the flat upon myself.

Bob Jane sorted some fresh rubber x 4 and we were off to our last destination. With the late start we had our last slum on the side of the road. I think the best was till last with a bubbling stream, no road trains and a toasty bush TV 🔥

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All through the trip we have foraged for random fruit and veg. This passion fruit was exceptional! 😋

Warmed the heart to see Sonny frothing on farm work and connecting with the animals. The owners were saying when he finishes school to send him up for an apprenticeship 😅

Proud of Emma having a go climbing . One n Done ✅ 😘 sexy lips

Little Kermit lived in the toilet there. Must of been part c**kroach putting up with the Booths doo doo rocks 💩 😆

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The days at Brooyar were a great mix of activities.

Good destination if you have a range of abilities and levels of psyc on the climbing front 😁

Some solid top roping bolts 🤪
Keo stepping into big dawg zone, said he would hump the 35kg pack 😆

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From Mt Tambourine we headed back north west to Brooyar just out of Gympie 😀

4 nights and 4 days at a farm stay which we had the place to ourselves!

The climbing was fantastic and super user friendly
Sonny spent his days as a aspiring jackaroo and the 2 owners really took a liking for his enthusiasm

Amazing place and it’s for sale. 2700 acres, 15 dams, 8 bedroom house to name some features. (Only a cheeky $15.5 million..)

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On the road again ! 🎶

Pushing south and we had our pinnacle of gravel pits for the trip (not in a good way ..🤪)

Back to back road trains that sounded like they were air braking to drive through the swag . On the other side was a bonus of a sandwiched rail line that had freight trains go past every hour 🫠

Fark.. was death warmed up ☠️ 😆

We made it to 1770 which was a nice place for sure

Did find the overpriced camping and over the top caravan rigs stacked inches from each other kinda overwhelming. All these cats coulda been BCF ambassadors (sleep deprivation talking 😝)

On the positive side we were gunning for the amazing wedding of Bryson and Jemma. We knew jagging room 8 (magic / playing nb) was a good omen for things too come

We were put at table 1 with the brides and groom parents 🥲😆 we luv the family so much and they are such an amazing young couple 🥰

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Magnetic Island 🧲

Used the military discount again and hid 3 kids in the back of the car to save money on the ferry ⛴️ 😆

Action packed day of bike riding, bush walks, snorkelling, fishing, SUP, bouldering, jetty jumping and eating of course!

Fantastic week and a half with family 🥰

We set the compass south and we begin the run home
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Rock jumping and Natural water slides 🛝 🤩

Castle hill offers great multi pitch right and the edge of the CBD 🌆 awesome to take my nephew and nieces out with my brother in law Jono for some adventure

We hit the buffet at the casino with our military discount cost next to nothing 🤪

Had everyone fasting since breakfast and went tactical on food selection. The kids had one plate and 4-5 dessert bowls. All I could think of was Monty Python as we rolled out of there 🐘

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Mad push from the Northern Territory to QLD.

Pot holes are epic with trip ending potential 🕳️

So hyper alert when driving and when night falls pigs, goats, Roos, eagles, emus, dingoes, cats and ga billions of rats 🐀!!

The 130km/h speed limit has us maxing at 60kmh 🤪

Must of skittled over 100 rats with the kids highlight of two sh****ng / fighting got squished 😆

I was joking about them nibbling the kids toes at our chateau de gravel pit. Sure enough they ate water bottles, thongs and through the bottom of the swag ! Cheeky beggars 😑

But we did good time as I was positive it was a Tuesday and in reality we got there Monday 😀

So fantastic to see and stay with family in Townsville . Urban climb was great for the fix 💉

Crystal creek was fantastic swimming and exploring

lucky a neighbour had a welder to do some repairs, the local library had a no limit on book borrowing so the kids got a shopping trolley worth 🛒

Got some good reps in with Hugh for our run towards worlds.
(Finally staying some where for more than a red hot second 🥲)

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Nitimuk Gorge near katherine was unreal. It was looking like $500 to hire kayaks so we opted for the 14km walk to hit the magic spots

Bulk bribery and distraction got us there and back 🤪
Swimming and rock jumping was superb!

Checked out the sign on the other side of where we were swimming all day just before leaving🍑 😵‍💫😆

Met a Portuguese 🇵🇹 family of seven.
5 kids under 8. They have had some solid epics 🤯 Yet still going strong and smiling 🙂
(Made us feel way better bout our carnage)

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Nitimuk gorge near Katherine was unreal!

It was looking like $500 to hire kayaks, so we went tight fist and hiked the 14kms to get to the magic spots 😀

Swimming and rock jumping was truly excellent 🍑

Noticed the sign as we were leaving 😵‍💫😆

Met a super nice Portuguese 🇵🇹 family of 7. (5 kids under 8)
They had some epic travelling war stories 🤪

Still smiling and getting after it!

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Crazy push from NW WA into the Northern Territory 💨

Actually had to be mindful of where we go swimming now 🤪🐊

1000kms done in a day n a bit and we made it to Katherine

Warm springs in the middle of town and Mataranka were a hit with the kidlinks

Ran into Beni (so random..) these gong people get about 😀

Not sure I can think of K Mart ever the same again..

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The funny random things are usually spontaneous from daring the kids to pick up jellyfish and lick random sea creatures to unreal mud fights that has everyone crying and laughing 🤣

The trip has been a ‘tour de gravel pit’ as that’s where we slum after a big day driving 🚗 it’s comical how much we have just turned into desert rats 🐀

Kalani finds awesome places to nap in various positions 😴

We had to make an impromptu stop in Broome after blowing a van tyre. Ended being an amazing day at the beach with warm fun waves 🌊

Not willing to drive over 4000kms without a spare we checked out 5 tyre places, looking like a week wait to get the right size.. 😐

We rolled the dice and went some new rubber that was oversized for the van and had us cringing after every bump since 🤪✅

We are still rolling 🤘

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Expectations vs Reality 😁

15 year ago Karijini had teeth shattering corrugations and we assumed Tom Price to Karratha would just be nice sealed hwy.

This ended up being completely the opposite with the national park being sealed and the run nth taking us on bizarre mining roads that were ruff as guts which your supposed to have permits for ?!??

The caravan got a licking to say the least.. 🤪

Spare wheel bracket snapped and the tyre was skull dragging on the road for who knows how long??
Then somewhere in one of the big scrub outs the Anderson plug got ripped off like a chicken head 🍗

We got there but some more sinister damage done which I’ll elaborate next post 🫤

Amazing friends from the Carnarvon days Matt and Sarah took in the desert gypsies and we thoroughly enjoyed watching the NW netball championships and Theo’s youth footy game

Some DIY auto electrics that was a success and great and to take the kids to Murujuga rock carvings. I had taken Indigenous kids from Carnarvon 15 years ago there which is a wild story for another time 😅..

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Karijini was an unreal day of exploring the gorges and swimming
Basking snakes, little fish to nibble of your dead foot skin and A grade meltdowns from the kids 😀

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All things in 3’s 🙃

A few big swells passed through in our time in Carnarvon & I finally got my magic Red Bluff board for the biggest day!! (A true pink panther story on its whereabouts but for another time 😆)

With some epic rides came some epic floggings and this one Keo captured was no exception 🤪✅

Where we were fortunate enough to stay at farm and they had an insane amount of naturally dried grapes. In true sweat shop style the kids picked 8kg for us to smuggle cartel mode across the country. Delicious 😋

Country footy (AFL) enriched us with culture, networks and most importantly friendships

4 grand final wins each with their own significance

1st through a kick after the final siren by ‘Doc’ for the win 🤩

2nd I didn’t actually play as I had broken my leg and ankle the week before in the semi 😐

3rd was a mth long visit which was testing the demons after such a serious injury the year before..
We were due to fly east the day after the game and you wouldn’t read about it but :
The game ended in a draw. Rather than play extra time they scheduled to play another GF the following Saturday
This actually tested mine and Emma’s marriage status and the 3rd quarter speech the coach asked me to give was not short of fire and brimstone 🔥

4th was epic and the final game to hang my boots up. Trading all game and tight till the end. The star player from Exmouth ran it out from the goal square and I layed one of my best tackles eva. 25m out dead in front. Everyone screaming at me I slotted that thing , with the most mongrel ball flight you have ever seen, straight through.
Final siren sounded. We had lost on glancing at goals. Dug out came out screaming, we had kicked so many behinds we one by 1 point 🤩

Things dreams are made of (but so insignificant in the grand scheme 😬)

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Carnarvon Part 2 😁

Lots of fishing to be had and a night session with Keo produced 3 snapper, 4 small sharks and a GT.

Super fun waves up the coast and deep reflection on an awesome young man who tragically passed. The boys did an amazing memorial for him with the bench seat down at the water front 🥲

Feel so nostalgic every time we visit and the experiences once had here has shaped the person I am today..

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Straight in , deep dive on Carnarvon LYF! 😍

Julian and Steph are our WA family. So spesh to have time with them again. Fresh produce, pumping waves, country AFL community which was such an integral part of our lives there… 🥲

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Last instalment for Kalbarri 🤩

Some fun snorkelling and the waves were pumping!!
Didn’t actually go out on the 1st day as it was triple to quad over head on the sets and just horrifying 🤪

Climbing was good that day 😆

definitely got my fill after that with Sonny shooting some shots for us.

The gorge system is magnificent and a crazy counter-lever platform for the touros was pretty unique

Next stop, a hop , skip and jump up the road to the Von.
Aka Carnarvon 😍

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Kalbarri rock is the stuff dreams are made of!! 🤩
Bunch of highlights include:

Krank shaft 24

Look at the Bears 26

Love Muscle 26

Bustin down the door 27 twice (retro flash from 2006)

(Kinda not really) Root canal 26 (busted the hold off reaching for the chain jug 😆)

Cruiser trad / gear climbing Was all 3 star ⭐️ stuff

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Off to the big smoke 💨!😆
Such good friends. Awesome catch up with Jax, Kris, Jane, Hal, Chais, Paris and

Wifeys maiden name was Leach 😘

Recharge and made the push to Kalbarri 🏃‍♂️
Surf was pumping and made the strike mission to join us for climbing.

Little nudge to get some schooling done and re acquainting with the amazing set of gorges

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Albany to Dunsborough (Margret River)
Great little stop over with and Nat , good friends from the Carnarvon days. Some punchy surf at Torpedoes , skate park and one of Kalani’s birthday presents for a high ropes coarse (thanks mum 🔥) she definitely went full send on the big flying foxes 🦊!

Sesh of sand sliding and onward Perth ⛵️

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Esperance to Albany. Amazing history day at the whaling museum. Kalani fluctuated from guilting a volunteer information guide for killing the whales to role playing with the replica harpoon ! 🤪

Blue whale skeleton, s***m whale teeth (largest carnivorous) and crazy processing techniques of slaughtered whales!!

Albino kangaroo 🦘 for magic hoppo points (hybrid of spotto)

Although ‘shut’ Keo and I did a sneaky sundowner solo climb of the 60m Gloucester tree. Real buzz up high with no hand rails

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Big push along the Nullabor and into WA to make it to Esperance 😮‍💨

The water here is amazing and next to no one surfing! 🦈
Some fantastic waves with the kids 😬
Lucky to meet up with good mate Scotty who runs the big dawg fisheries boat just back from tagging great whites.
It was the vessel sitting in the line up at the Margret river pro. That boat was something else!!..

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Miss Kalani Rani turned 6! (Goin on 16 🤪)
Chemist barbie nails and make up, pizza, gelato, cup cakes, coco pops with Bluey. What else could a girl want ?!?

Maybe .. dad getting the most Efficient 8 waves at Cactus beach in sharkey waters known to man ? 🤔

Penong the village of windmills. A big pink c**k and lotsa nothing on the Nullabor ✅

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Moonarie in the Flinders Ranges was unreal!

Packed in an action day with Keo. Multipitch to start then the ‘Great Wall’ for a swagger of routes. We will be back, this place in the middle of no where is epic!

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From Vicco we transitioned to South Australia.
On and upwards to Radelaide 😁

Great day climbing at Norton summit with Jason and stayed just next to the Belair national park.

Good catch up with . We are representing Australia later this year with ol man ultimate in California. (Lord knows I’ll need another holiday by then.. 🤪)

The kids are across basics with car maintenance and always fill up, pay and wash the windows each servo visit 👍✅

Hard push to Moonarie which is an incredible climbing area in the Flinders Rangers on the side of the Wilpena Pound.

Hadn’t been here since 2003!
Had it all to ourselves in the middle of no where 🥰

Great Ocean rd to Warrnambool 😁
12 maybe 8 Apostles now and songs about London bridge 🌉
Such a great time helping finish his masterpiece climbing wall. 10 climbs set and 3 boulder circuits
Neat indigenous reserve exploration with some rock throwing (sorry Amy 🥲..) and caves.

Such an epic trip so far. (A mth behind on the blog 🤪 and actually in nth WA atm 😆)

But when ya full sending each day ya can’t be farked with socials. Also don’t be fooled that’s it’s all roses 🥀 and unicorns 🦄!!.. kids fight like they are in the Middle East and I crack it every now and then 👍✅😀

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We said goodbye to Tassie after an amazing stay at Lorraine and Howard’s place. Nedgies We**ie (RIP) flooded back memories of 1st trip to Indo and sailing from Tassie to NZ in 2007. What an Adventure!!

This trip has been entwined with seeing awesome friends and family. and Kate hosting us at their amazing home in Ocean Grove, Woodly and Deano in Torquay, Kuz Keean and Aunty Claudia with a great visit to Emma’s 99yr old grandmother 👵!

Great walk through Maites rest that has humongous mountain Ash the largest tree that hosts other plants 🪴

Over 20 years since being on the great ocean rd with a cheeky overnight at Joanna Beach. 1st night / day of solid rain 🌧️ 🤪