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Alright, alright, we are home By jon January 29th, 2009 at 4:55 pm

Alright, I give in. So many people  have complained that we have dared not update the blog [to London and then home] I have succumbed. So yes, we went to London and now we are home in Melbourne. Well, Jon and Jan are home. Jack starts work in Paris next week and is staying on in France for a while.

We drove from Paris to Normandy, stayed a few nights around Bayeux and caught the ferry from Caen. Driving on the right side of the road after five months of strenuous caution was a relief. Roundabouts posed a problem for a day or two as I continued to think I needed to keep my drivers door in the gutter and my passenger out in the middle of the road. Not appreciated by Jan or other drivers!

After a few nights in Devon, London was a quick trip away, via Stonehenge. We paraded around London for a day with the car, posing for snapshots at Westminister and Big Ben [allowed by the anti-terror police] and Buck Palace [not allowed by the police]. Then Ping the unstoppable was steam cleaned for Australian quarantine and handed over to the shipping people who have popped Ping in a box and sent him on his way to Melbourne.

Saying goodbye to Jack was extra hard, and now we are home we miss him even more.  Life - and work - resumes. The book contract says I am supposed to have a finished manuscript ready in an unrealistically short time. So no more on-line, energy and attention needed elsewhere.

Thank you all - and thank you again - for the amazing response we got to a blog that never expected to achieve a fraction of this notoriety or attention. It has been a blast from beginning to end and I pinch myself every day to make sure it was all real.

I would love to pop some photos of London or Paris online but there has been an unfortunate clash of software updates and it is not possible to just whack them on anymore. Sorry, I have spent hours trying to make it work and finding out the reason it does not.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 29th, 2009 at 4:55 pm and is filed under Europe, Indonesian Archipelago. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

21 comments to “Alright, alright, we are home”

  1. By John January 29th, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    Thanks Jon, Jack and Jan from Tasmania.

    Following your trip has been a pleasure over the past 6 or so months.

    Your last post was needed as a final closure of your trip blog even though we all had heard your familiar tones on 774.

    The book and an expanded Flickr gallery will be welcome in due course.

    In the words of someone I respected “Enjoy Life”.

    Cheers

    John

  2. By Steve Denyer January 29th, 2009 at 7:58 pm

    Feel abit cheated Jon. Regular update the whole journey - then nothing for the UK.

    Long time fan of your programme in Melbourne. Would really have expected a little more from someone such as yourself.

    Anyway that is my 8 cents worth.

  3. By Bob January 30th, 2009 at 5:43 pm

    Thanks John. I know you said you did not want to be a slave to the blog but it does bring a finality to your trip. I along with many others have appreciated yours and Jack’s efforts to supply us with information and pictures. I await with great interest the book and hope you include absolutely everything in it. Welcome back to morning radio.

  4. By Sharon January 31st, 2009 at 6:57 pm

    Thank you so much for your lovely finale. OK people it is over!

    also thank you for the time that you took, on what was a private journey, to write to us on your blog and share your experience

    thank you to all the J’s

    good luck and frankly I cannot wait for the book

  5. By Wendy January 31st, 2009 at 9:59 pm

    Thanks, Jon, for a wonderful chance to follow your journey! What an adventure.
    It’s great to have you back on 774 though!

  6. By Matt Schaper February 1st, 2009 at 3:26 am

    Cool, folks, and when that Ping-Box arrives at the MEL Docks can we expect him next to Phar Lap in the MEL Museum ? Or will he end up in the ABC Foyer ? Or at the Big Carmaker in Altona ?
    After the Flu in the EuroFreezer I hope the 3MegaHeatDays haven’t hit you on the other end of the spectrum. All the Best for the book and WELCOME HOME !!!

  7. By Rita Brown February 2nd, 2009 at 12:19 pm

    Jon, Welcome back. Missed you on the radio another long time fan. Thanks for the final update. We needed a finish. Looking forward to the book.

  8. By Wally & Eleanor February 3rd, 2009 at 7:30 pm

    Hi Jon Its me again yes you had to finish it of, Because I did know what happened to you. Yes I heard you on radio and yes my wife Eleanor Loves you. So I will say Good Bye. Maybe one day we will meet face to face I loved being a fly on the wall during your trip. waiting for your book Wally & Eleanor.

  9. By Liz McDonnell February 4th, 2009 at 8:57 pm

    Thank goodness you have actually put an end to this saga and completed the blog and what the future plans are. I have been following it all the way through and got really frustrated in the end when you stopped all information. Good to have you back in the country and great to hear you back on 774 - as delving as ever. Good luck to jack on his continuing European adventure. Now I will continue to keep an eye on Danny and Sandra and family on their great adventure.
    Liz

  10. By Mary Jones February 4th, 2009 at 9:04 pm

    Thanks for the final entry - needed closure !
    Glad to listen to you on the airwaves.
    Looking forward to the book, in due course.
    It has been a great 6 months of following your journey.

  11. By Joy February 6th, 2009 at 9:52 am

    Thanks Jon & Jack & Jan
    I echo Sharon & Wendy’s thoughts and am glad to read a bit about your final days away. Now I heard this am that Ping is coming back to Aus, were you not able to sell it (him?).
    Is Jack helping you write the book?
    All the best
    Joy

  12. By Anthony February 6th, 2009 at 10:54 am

    Welcome back? I would have`driven ping back home for you. No worries … Its good to have you back o9n air. Feels/sounds like you have not left. How about some Friday chats on the issues and places you have visited with online photos to back up the conversation.

    All the best. Hope culture shock has not set in too much.

    Anthony

  13. By Kathryn Nauta February 7th, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    Thanks for ending the blog, Jon. And thanks for those months of terrific postings and photos, and the weekly ring-in to 774.
    For us vicarious travellers it is great to hear you back on our radios with your incisive and thought-provoking coverage of current events.
    I await your book with great anticipation……….
    Cheers, Kathryn
    PS To think that I thought Ping was a girl!

  14. By Rebecca Hallam February 12th, 2009 at 10:18 am

    Hi Jon, What a great trip. Really looking forward to the story that comes from it. My Mum got me interested in your site and the wonderful trip that you were relaying to us all back home. I received some information yesterday from an aquaintance that I met on a recent trip of my own, and I wonder whether you would be interested in looking at the link(www.thejollypilgrim.org ). Obviously at present the bushfire situation is taking precedence in everybodies lives, as it should however I felt if I didn’t pass this on now that I would forget when it seemed more relevant and less trivial. WE all need some relief and other happier things to think about at some times though, and it doesn’t take away from the grief that our nation is undergoing as a collective at present. I met Peter on a trip to the Domenican Republic for a wedding, my little adventure in itself. Now he has launched his website in regards to the book that he hopes to publish. I think it sounds like something that I would like to read and thought it worthwhile getting it out there to others with similar interests. See what you think!! I look forward to your book as well and hearing many more tales of the adventures that unfolded! Rebecca.

  15. By Glenda February 26th, 2009 at 11:49 am

    Thanks for the ‘closure’ Jon.. Good luck with the book. All the best.

  16. By Wendy February 27th, 2009 at 8:31 am

    So pleased that you recovered sufficiently to complete the trip and made it to London. Just upload your photos from England on a (free) Picasa website and type a link to it on this web site.

  17. By bear martin March 7th, 2009 at 6:38 am

    hey mate

    Ive just discovered your website and I have so many questions. Im a kiwi living in London planning a very similar trip next year but in reverse. Ive just had a quick skim through up site and do I understand that Jack is still in London? If so is there any way I could contact him to ask him a few questions? I can imagine you are pretty flat out with trying to get the book ready.

    Thanks mate.

    Bear

  18. By Peter Barnes March 21st, 2009 at 12:13 pm

    Thanks, everything already said.

    Peter

  19. By Coen Weddepohl April 16th, 2009 at 9:32 am

    Hi Jon,

    What a phenomenal blog - thanks for all the stories.

    My wife and I (both live in London) are planning a similar trip in reverse next month and would love to chat to you about your experiences.

    Could you send me an email (cweddepohl1@mac.com)?

    Many thanks,
    Coen

  20. By Elizabeth and James July 9th, 2009 at 3:20 pm

    Hi Guys

    Can’t believe we have found a site which seems to have pretty much all we are looking for.

    We started to plan the idea of putting the car on a roll-on roll-off ferry or boat or something and pick it up in Asia, then drive across to UK. But, in reality, we have only got as far as looking in bookshops for books with ideas.
    I think the whole idea is a huge one and I do feel overwhelmed a bit.

    We intend to leave Auckland sometime in March or April of 2010, and have been thinking about doing it since the beginning of this year (2009).

    We want to get somebody in to look after our computer business for us whilst we are away and so far, we haven’t had joy with that, so we are also toying with the idea of just closing up.
    We are basically sick of the business, having been working thousands of hours for the past 10 years, we have now had it.
    We are both English and have been living in NZ for 23 years (James) and 29 years (Elizabeth), with the one year long trip back to Eastbourne to get married.

    We just haven’t known where to start.
    So, although I haven’t even really looked in detail through this site, I am feeling pretty excited just having found it.

    I think we will have a good look through this and then if we have any questions, can we contact you through email? Should we contact you on here and leave our email address, just as the above person seems to have done?
    Or would it be a pain for you, and have you had enough now?

    Thanks, Elizabeth and James

  21. By The Rocksters September 6th, 2009 at 11:30 am

    Wish my wedding is so good.:)

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