We're back!!

Manookatoo adventures and more!

It's been a torrid and traumatic 18 months since our last post, when we left the boat in Cairns for the summer and flew south, planning to be back in March. Anyone who knows us knows the details, so I won't bore you by repeating them here....
After almost a year and a half of terror, trauma, trial and tribulation, we have been given the medical all-clear to continue our nomadic life! Support from family and friends has kept us going, with special thanks to Kirsty for travelling to Germany to support both of us, Julie, Janine and Jill for playing “nurse” when Martin wasn’t around, Glenda and Peter for supporting me with transport "hither, thither and yon" when I needed it, and our many friends and family who made both of us feel loved and supported with meals, laughs and love when we needed it most.

Jack loves "Papa's house"!

"Vanooka"!

But it is the medical attention that has been the “lifesaver": Dr Andreas and the team at ICU burns, Nuremberg hospital, the burns unit and outpatient services at The Alfred, Anthony and the team at Re-Wired Hand Therapy Clinics, East Melbourne, Kerry at Gold Coast Hand Therapy, Riain and others at Pinnacle Health, Docklands and Lina and her staff at TSL Australia. We wouldn’t be where we are now without their care and attention!
Early last year, when we were feeling low and wondering if life would ever return to where it had been, our friends Ian and Jo-Anne offered us the "deal of a lifetime" on a small, off-road, pop-top caravan, which we have christened "Vanooka". It's had a few small "shake down" trips; to Albury to see Harry and his parents, to Canberra to stay with Benjamin and Nicholas and their parents, as well as trips to Yea, Eildon and Jamieson, Peterborough, the Omeo Highway and Rubicon Forest, to name a few.
But now we're ready to "hit the road"! We are starting in Tocumwal, then following the Murray to where it meets the Darling, then following that River to Bourke, then north into Queensland! As we go, I'll post updates on our travels, until we reach Manookatoo on the Gold Coast in a few weeks time. Exciting times ahead!! Now on with the blog...