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If you are one of the many thousands that has been reading all about our travels for the last... wow, its nearly 2 years, then you probably want to know how its all going to end.

Sunday 26th December 1999

We had planned to leave Sydney today but as we drove through a set of traffic lights after saying farewell to family in Turramurra we thought to drop in on Lisa and Scott out of the blue. They were home, we caught up for the first time in a year and things just clicked. They were going to the family farm in Gilgandra the next day and asked if we'd like to come too - it was on our way, or nearabouts in the scheme of things so we agreed.

Monday 27th December 1999

The intensity of the build-up to New Year's Eve was boring us completely - we were taking the view that nothing would happen. (Yeah, you say we write that now in retrospect but it's true). We hadn't really decided on a plan for where to spend NYE but we sure didn't want to spend it with millions of drug-crazed kids, pushing and shoving through crowds or paying exhorbanant prices for a glimpse of the fireworks. We were just as happy to be in the bush. Our wish would have been to spend NYE in Birdsville with the 100 residents that are still warm in our memories but that was quite a diversion from Perth!

As it turned out, we heard that Wolfgang, Kersten and Andy were going down to Innamincka to spend NYE with Dylan, Ann and Dave at the Innamincka Hotel. This we could just manage with a little short-cutting through the back of Burke up through Tibooburra and Cameron Corner after leaving Gilgandra.

It started to rain in Gilgandra around 7pm. There had already been a far bit further north. It was all dirt roads west from here so we weren't too impressed. It turned into a big night with visitors, drinkies, whip cracking and stories.

We slept in our 4WD on the farm beside the chook pen and woke up with a pet Llama trying to make friends at the back door.

Tuesday 28th December 1999

It rained all day. We used clippers to cut Scott and David's hair. I got food poisoning from eating left-over octopus from Xmas Day (Mum had wrapped it up but our fridge obviously wasn't cold enough). I couldn't sleep with the cramps, Lisa was upset and no one had a good night except for the farmers that love the rain.

Wednesday 29th December 1999

We had a lot of kilometres to cover to get to Innamincka by Friday and it was finally sunny. We checked the Bureau of Meteorology website and listened to local weather reports but felt confident that we'd through to Burke today and Tibooburra tomorrow and finally onto Innamincka on Friday, NYE.

We passed through Walgett, Brewarrina and Bourke and camped out on a slushy Bourke Road 70kms past town. There had been some rain but nothing to worry about. The sky was blue and there appeared no chance of further weather.

Confident that we'd got this far, we rang Dylan to give them the news that we'd be there to spend NYE. Dylan said the entertainment would either be the Moomba Lights (if the gas lines exploded at midnight) or just the Dolphin Disco (Dolphin torches strapped to the ceiling fans). Sounded like a big night in Innamincka was being prepared...

Thursday 30th December 1999

We had a long morning drive to Wanaaring on soft red dirt that was flooded on both sides of the road. It seemed that the further west we drove the wetter the conditions (yet, still the sun was shining at we expected it would all evaporate soon enough). Just after lunch, after 6 hours of driving we came to a sign showing ALL ROADS CLOSED to the North, South, East and West of where we were. Never had that before... we backtracked to the Wanaaring Police Station to have it confirmed that all tracks to Innamincka were impassable. We were told to backtrack and head SouthWest to Cobar, Wilcannia, Broken Hill then up the Silver City Highway. That was just too far to go in 24 hours and we guessed we weren't going to make it to Innamincka in time. In fact, we only got as far as a truck stop outside Wilcannia for the night.

Friday 31st December 1999

Eve of the New Millennium... we were driving to Broken Hill and not sure of what we'd be doing tonight. We arrived at BH a bit after lunch and decided we were somewhere interesting after all so we set up camp, tuned into JJJ, bought heaps of yummy food from Woolies (oysters, pate, cheeses, pistachios, smoked salmon) and then walked into town for the fireworks.

Saturday 1st January 2000

Well, we survived... did you?

We drove on today but only made 150km (bit tired). Ate more oysters, drank champagne and David cooked steak topped with blue cheese and bacon! Slept under a tree. David found that our snorkel was broken and couldn't be successfully repaired to risk river crossings (hope we don't find any).

Sunday 2nd January 2000

Continued driving. Got stopped by fruit inspectors and had to eat about 10 plums (couldn't bear to see them thrown out). We drove 520km today and stopped just outside Ceduna. Now that the excitement of NYE is over and there's no chance of getting to Innamincka or Birdsville this trip we've decided to get to Perth as quickly as possible. I just want to get it over with. Had a bit of a cry because I realised how hard it was going to be settling down and not having family around.

Monday 3rd January 2000

We had a windy arrival at Fowlers Bay this morning after stopping in Ceduna for shopping, email and phonecalls. The shops were only open for 4 hours and we timed it right. I wasn't keen to windsurf (tired, lazy) but we fished from the jetty and caught a huge squid that weighed 500g after cleaning.

Tuesday 4th January 2000

Dave went windsurfing - I took photos and videoed a big family of aboriginal children who were keenly watching the sailing. They were very enthusiastic. After packing up we went to talk to the owners of the Fowlers Bay Caravan Park and told them about our concept for ExplorOz. They were keen to be involved and so we now have a bit more motivation to continue with this business concept.

We have had such an enormous response from travellers reading our website, often requesting more detailed information about a place, venue or attraction or want help with trip preparation that we need to find a way of providing this information and making a living out of it. So we have a plan to make a website called www.ExplorOz.com that has everything a traveller needs from the one site. To do this we need to get all businesses to be listed by region and category with links to their own websites where users can make on-line bookings, send direct email or research the area. We provide all the trek notes for the regions best 4WD spots and detailed write-ups for each location. Most of the information we can migrate across from the this site but there is still so much more we can do if we both focus on it full-time. This has just been a "hobby" so far.

Wednesday 5th January 2000

It's amazing how much work you can do while driving. Our ideas over the last year have finally come together and we can't wait to get to Perth, setup a home office, buy more computers and equipment and start developing....

We love the Nullarbor, the Eyre Highway and because this is our second trip across we found new places that we hadn't seen on our previous transcontinental trip. We went out to Koonalda Cave and had a difficult rock climb down into the main pit. The gate was unlocked so we went in and found some exploration work is taking place, but no water. Back at the car we found our Engel fridge had died for the 3rd time in 2 years. A pipe had snapped and the gas escaped - so now we have no fresh food, no cold drinks.

At Eucla we went down to the dunes and saw the ruins of the Old Telegraph Station slowly becoming engulfed by drifting sand. We thought we'd get enough time to get to the Eyre Bird Observatory today too but found it is a 3 hour return trip.

We took a different approach to find Cocklebiddy Cave after enjoying it so much last year. We had our GPS point we took last time and drove cross-country to find it. On the way the air-conditioner broke and couldn't be fixed. All the gas leaked out. We were very disappointed because we had planned to head up to the Trans Continental Railway after visiting the cave and taking the route all the way into Kalgoorlie. So, with no fridge, no aircon and no snorkel things were pretty grim. A bad record for 5 days.

Thursday 6th January 2000

We were certain that our run of bad luck with the 4WD was a message that we needed to stop a while and do some maintenance and work on our business plan for ExplorOz. With that idea firmly in our minds we kept driving to get to Perth.

Friday 7th January 2000

Just out of Northam we rang Glen, our friend from the Yungarra Estate in the Margaret Valley we met last year. He was now living in Scarborough, Perth and our first point of contact. We celebrated our arrival with him and camped in our 4WD in his driveway while we figured out where to start.

After a quick windsurfing trip up to our favourite spot at Cervantes (2 hours north of Perth) and another 2 weeks living in a caravan park while madly house-hunting we settled in to place near the Hillarys Marina and Pinnaroo Point (popular windsurfing beach). And work on ExplorOz began.

LIFE AFTER TRAVELLING...

The travelling is over - for now at least. We've committed to 12mths to build, market and sell ExplorOz. But our love of the Australian outback is still strong and we want to get back out there. For the moment we need the city infrastructure to build our internet business. We are working hard to build you a website that utilises the travel experiences and research over the last 2 years so that you can continue to have access to an informative and ever-updating dedicated 4WD travel site. We plan to add lots of new features such as an online bookshop too. Please support us and look at our new site www.ExplorOz.com

Our aim is to make this site as comprehensive as possible within a short timeframe. To do this we are embarking on a large-scale marketing campaign that will include TV, radio, direct mail and sticker promotions. Please contact info@exploroz.com if you wish to distribute stickers to potential customers, would like to display a promotional sticker on your 4WD, or would like to be a member of our travelling sales team (an ideal way to earn income as you travel). Hopefully, we can get out there again soon and travel and promote our website in time for the 2001 season.

Once again, thank you to all of you for your support over the last couple of years - by the way, this site will remain active.

Michelle Jacka and David Martin