Frequently, we hear about retirement or when we should do so. When? The timing is different for all of us due to our circumstances. Some of us will never retire only talk about it, though we should retire as soon as we can while we are still young and healthy enough to do all the things we want to do or dreamed of doing.
Everyone hopes they have plenty of years left, however, we really don't know. For us, the time came out of the blue we had talked about the future though we thought that retirement was a few years away. That is until along came a cashed up buyer who wanted our Farm and that of course included our home. Both of our regular jobs involved working long hours and night work so we often went for long periods without seeing much of one another.
The thought of getting rid of the Mortgages and having some free time together to fulfill our dreams was overpowering, opportunity only knocks once they say; we decided this was the opportunity which we were not going to allow to pass us by.
Denis has spent the first 30 years of his life holidaying in tents and caravans so was aware of what to expect. One thing was for sure he was not going to spend the rest of his life towing a caravan around as a place of abode. We both after considerable thought had decided on the purchase of a Motorhome, with this in mind we embarked on a process of elimination to find what suited us best. The plan is to spend at least the next 15 years on the road, so size to us was an important consideration.
So we made the move from a 40 square country home to a 40 foot Motorhome in March 2003. The Motorhome we chose was located at Brisbane in the State of Queensland, so we flew to Brisbane picked up our new Motorhome and spent the next eight days getting back to Melbourne.
We were learning how to come to grips with our new Motorhome and loving every minute of it, Trix soon learnt how to navigate and when we arrived in Melbourne she said turn right and lets keep going, unfortunately we had to return home to tie up a few loose ends before we could hit the road full time.

We parked near the wharf and walked across the road to the council Chambers where a very pleasant staff member gave us directions to the Sports Ground and invited us to stay as long as we liked, No Charge, there is a dump point and water tap available, we also discovered toilets a good healthy walk to the other side of the oval if you aren't in a hurry.
Plenty of easy to find parking and shops to explore in the town, lots of short drives and long walks from this base; including St Columba Falls, Pyengana Cheese Shop (Holy Cow Cafe) Pub in the Paddock, Blue Tier forest walks, Falmouth, Binalong Bay and surrounds.
We spent time looking for camping spots and on the road to the Gardens, Located in the Bay of Fires, we found several suitable sites including Sloop Reef, which became our next camp.
Looked like a good place to catch our first fish meal, no fish, TV or phone reception here which left time for other activities. A walk along Taylor's Beach collecting shells filled in one afternoon and some minor electrical and mechanical repairs were attended to at last plus we spent time feeding the friendly Wrens and then cleaned up after some previous campers. After a trip to the refuse station St Helens and then the supermarket for more supplies we then returned and shifted base to the next camping bay a couple of kilometres down the road at Cosy Corner 2.

Up next morning in search of those elusive fish, Well there are fish in the sea after all even it was not big enough to feed us both. We visited and shared a meal with Jim & Liz at Binalong Bay and swapped a few stories and watched the AFL Football, fortunately Collingwood won which made Liz very happy.
Next day it was back to the beach to catch a fish after looking for good spots and would you believe I caught a nice big Salmon which was more than big enough to feed us both.
Settled in at Cosy Corner 2 though there are still decisions to be made, do we stay or do we move ? We went down to the beach this morning to get mobile phone reception to ring home, it was pleasant on the beach though a bit overcast (we are in the midst of winter) with a slight breeze. Home was cold, windy and raining, We rang Julie and Peter (Quercus boat people) who have made it to Alice Springs which is about 18 degrees celsius during the day down to freezing point during the night, speaking to our friends in North Queensland it is down to 7 degrees celsius of a night. St Helens in Tasmania is currently 4 degrees overnight and 15 degrees celsius during the day, we are wondering how the snow and cold in NSW is affecting those travelling to the Toowoomba Rally.
Woken this morning by the local member keeping us up to date with CMCA news, another glorious day sitting on the rocks fishing and watching a whale about 200 metres off shore rolling and breaching. It stayed until mid afternoon; a splendid addition to the pod of Dolphins we witnessed playing in the surf near our campsite a few days ago.
We moved on to Dora Point near the St Helens/ Georges River Barway where we spent a delightful week. A tremendous camping area with secluded sheltered camp spots, fantastic views and numerous beach, coastal and bush walks. Fishing was good with Salmon up to three pounds off the Rocks and the weather near perfect when you consider it is winter.
Travelled up St Mary's Pass keeping contact with other traffic through the u.h.f. Radio. Overnighted at Fingal- great rest area in the middle of the town with complimentary power, water, dump point also picnic tables, barbecue, toilets and playground. Strolled up the street and renewed acquaintances with friends at the General Store and bought a few supplies, filled a gas bottle at the servo at a very good rate though the petrol price a bit on the high side.
We awoke next morning to a bright sunny day despite an ordinary weather forecast and set off to discover the Fingal Forest Reserves, what a magic day we had. Firstly to the Evercreech Reserve and a twenty minute walk to the water falls. An easy walk through man ferns, myrtles, blackwood's, dogwoods, sassafras and gums until the last 150 metres or so which would be difficult for those with limited mobility. Then we returned via the loop along the edge of the stream, Magic!
The short stroll along a board walk to the "White Knights" the tallest white Gums in the world should not be missed by anyone for the walk is wheelchair friendly.
The Mathinna Falls are well worth the effort even though the last bit is slow going, after a short drive to the unique town of Mathinna we found a shop serving plunger coffee which we coupled with a toasted sandwich.
After a slow drive checking out the town we headed out in search of Tower Hill Lookout, you need to keep your wits about you as you travel along the Forestry Roads and watch all the signs until you come to the Tower Hill Fire Lookout road which narrows to one lane. Then further on past the sign informing of a locked gate ahead, up, up, up, until you arrive at the locked gate. Limited turning circle, so a small car is advisable (Please bear in mind that Denis and Trixie are travelling in their four wheel drive not their 40ft motorhome for this part of their travel tale, take heed of limits-Web Master) A further walk of about 1-5 kilometres to the base of the rocky peak with the fire observation tower perched on top. A very steep 15 minute climb to the top using steps cut into rocks and wooden ladders. 1117 metres above sea level and the 360 degree outlook defies description, it is absolutely awesome. Snow capped Ben Lomond, productive farmland following the river valley and the balance a patchwork of natural forest and plantation areas framed with a back ground of various mountain peaks, a sight to behold.
We have had a tremendous two months exploring Tasmania's East Coast, the beaches, coastal reserves, forest reserves and the towns and countryside, however it is so sad that the obvious so called environmentalists choose to deface these beautiful areas with their damning, unintelligent slogans and graffiti. It is a shame they don't adhere to their own preaching's.
As we head for home via a detour to the Tunbridge - Island Wanderers Chapter weekend we reflect on how fortunate we are to live in this magnificent State of Tasmania.
We await with anticipation the opportunity to continue our travels to many more of Tasmania's natural beauty spots and we look forward to sharing out experiences with you.
If circumstances prevent you from venturing to mainland Australia any year it may be a blessing in disguise, take the opportunity to discover more of Tasmania you will be well rewarded.
Happy Travelling and Regards Denis & Trix

We drove past many of the slum areas called “favellas” which are where the poor congregate and are ruled by drug lords who “look after their families”. The Police wear sub machine guns on their legs and pistols on their hips. The favellas nestle on the hillsides next to the wealthy areas, and steal the power and phone lines from the neighbours. They are too powerful to move. There is no social security in Brazil.
We had read about the wonderful Brazilian BBQ’s, the Churrascaria restaurants and were determined to go to the best. So we went one memorable afternoon, to eat our way through the smorgasbord on offer. The restaurant was on the edge of the bay, with the cable car going to the “Sugar Loaf” mountain in the background. The food just keeps on coming till you indicate NO MORE! There is every cut of meat on offer on the BBQ skewers, as well as little chicken hearts, sausages, and other cuts I couldn't distinguish. The salad tables groan with the multitude of other dishes. Needless to say we couldn’t face another meal that night!!
We also sampled the huge ethnic markets, which like ours have stalls of every description. Ethnic clothing, leather goods, shoes, T-shirts etc, etc, as well as food of all sorts. On our last night we went to a traditional northern Brazilian meal and band. The musicians had guitars, ukuleles, shakers and drums. The food was “stews” of various offal mixtures, pigs ears, trotters, red beans and rice as well as tubers which we all found tasteless, and salads like grated red beet and carrot. All very strange. Desserts were often fresh fruit or stewed fruit in very sweet syrup. Some of the fruits regularly seen were Papaya, persimmons, figs, bananas, oranges, melons, and pineapples. Breakfasts at the hotel included all types of cereals, toasts, jams, honey, all sorts of cold meat, small hot sausages hot eggs, omelettes, sweet cakes, bagels breads of all sorts, fruit juices, fresh fruit, teas and coffee always served with hot milk.
The currency in Rio is the Real , about $US1 =2 real We only carried US dollars and our guide changed the money at the airport with the Porters who had wads of money.

In Santiago we had organised another guide to show us the sights. On the first day we drove up the Maipo canyon towards the Andes, and then went onto a famous Vineyard the Concho Y Toro Winery, where we were given the full tour of the cellars and a explanation of their Wine making. Wine at their cellar door was $US3 per bottle and the same wine at the airport was $US32 …..some mark up!! Wine is the biggest export earner after copper, which is mined in the largest open cut copper mines in the world. We left our guide in the down town area and went to a local artisans market where we bought lots of gifts, leather goods, clothes, woven cloth, lapis lazuli, and figures in porcelain and copper. We took the subway back to the hotel and were pleased to find someone in the crowd who understood English and who organised the tickets for us. The next day we went up St Christobel Hill on the funicular and down on the cable car. The smog layer over Santiago was plain for all to see. It is so bad some days that the authorities ban many of the cars from coming into the city. Santiago appears to be a city on the move with lots of road building going on. The city has wonderful wide boulevards and magnificent buildings, a legacy of the Spanish. On our last day we went out to Valpraiso on the coast, which is their biggest shipping port and onto Vino del Mar which is the next town down the coast, the equivalent of our Gold Coast. We passed lots of vineyards. The Chileans are very pleased to have the tourist dollar and go out of their way to look after you. At the airport we were asked to fill in a questionnaire about our guide service and our satisfaction with them. We went out to dinner at a restaurant recommended by our guide, and found an English-speaking waiter who had been to America. Normally meals start around 10pm but this place started to serve meals at 7.30pm so we had eaten and were about to leave when the other patrons started arriving. This suited us well, as they still smoke in the Restaurants, at the tables. We felt quite safe walking around at night in Chile although we kept to the populated areas in groups, and looked after our bags and cameras well. The money in Chile is the Peso, $US1 =400 pesos approximately. On our return to Australia we were taken aside and asked if we had any symptoms of yellow fever, and when we didn’t we had to report to immigration in ten days to let them know we were still OK. Such is life. Hope you enjoy this as much as we did.
Regards Denis and Trix