We’ve made it!!! We’ve all successfully survived a month in a cabin as an extended family together. For Charlotte and Emily, it’s meant that they’ve had their grandparents around all the time – and therefore lots of treats and ice-creams, and somebody to appeal to when Mummy and Daddy said “No” to something. For Sarah its meant having her Mum and Dad around to talk to, and to provide some grown-up company. Michael has a real interest in history, and was like a history guide as we toured around. Gloria has a passion for wildlife and birds, and acted as our nature guide for the month – although Charlotte’s knowledge of Australian wildlife gave her the edge some times!

And for me? Well, I’m proud of the fact that I’ve survived living in a 20″ x 12″ cabin with my In-Laws for a month. I bet David Blaine never thought of adding that daring element to his stay in the glass box. Perhaps he wouldn’t have made it if he had!

Anyway, here’s the evidence of how successful it was. Here’s the last photo of us all together, after we’d packed up and were just about to set off. The smiles show that we all managed to live in close confines together successfully – or it could just be relief that we were all heading off!

After we parted company, we set off towards Sydney, which is a 600 mile drive we’ll do over two days. The weather has definitely turned towards “searing” – we drove into Holbrook (our overnight stop) to a temperature of 44-degrees. The air conditioning in the car was struggling to cope, and in the cabin it completely failed to keep up, so we spent the night with the air-con on full blast, and the ceiling fan doing a Sikorsky impression.