Another Angel gets their wings.

Posted on by trekswalkabout

It is with a broken heart I post that Chris lost his battle with Glioblastoma (GBM grade 4) on the 23rd of April 2025.

GBM 4 is the most aggressive type of brain cancer, there is no cure. Without treatment it is a very short survival rate of 4 months. With treatment the average is 18 months. Chris bravely fought the battle for 28 months. He surpassed many of the Dr’s exceptions, not only with the cancer but he also had the stroke to deal with. We desperately need to find better treatment options, lower risk surgeries and procedures and funding to help fight this horrible disease. 

He was the most incredible gentle man, husband, father and Grandude. He had a love of travelling and photography and his spirit of adventure and travel will live on in me and he will always be part of Trek’s Walkabout. He was my soulmate and best friend. He fought with such courage and strength. Right to the end his only concern was me.

We built our van “Trek” so I could keep travelling. He kept passing on valuable information right to the end for my future. It was his will and he made me promise I would still travel and do it for the both of us. His ashes will be scattered in an old favourite spot where he can be free to roam.

It won’t be easy and I will start with a few short trips. One of the things he really wanted to do was a trip to Charlotte plains, in Western Queensland with their thermal hot springs. I plan to do a trip later this year in his honour.

He was a father to 2 amazing young men, Grandude to 3 beautiful grandchildren, my husband, soulmate and best friend for 40 years.

He will never be forgotten, he will live on in our children and grandchildren. He will always be in my heart. His spirit will forever be apart of the Staria Trek crew.

One day my days of travelling on this earth will end. Chris will be at Heavens door; he will be there to greet me, and I will cry no more. I’ll put my arms around him and kiss his lovely face and this broken heart of mine will fall back into place.

Rest in peace my love ………….

Next Generation

Posted on by trekswalkabout

This is the new site/next generation of Let’s Go Travel Australia. We started Let’s Go Travel Australia over 17 yrs ago as a way to document and share our love of travelling with friends, family and other like minded travelers. We have been travelling together since the day we got married nearly 40 years ago.

For those that don’t know Chris has terminal brain cancer, after more than 2 years he is still fighting this horrible disease, passing all expectations. Fighting with courage, determination and love for his family.

With a change in circumstances, mode of accommodation and the fact that Kate will eventually be travelling on her own. It was time to close the Let’s Go Travel Australia site down. To keep our precious memories and travels private, for Kate to treasure. We thought it was better to start off with a new site, with a new name as she heads into the next chapter of her life.

We did a trip to Tassie in 2023 where we flew down, hired a car and stayed in motels, hotels, Air BnB’s, cabins etc for 3 weeks. We left Tassie with the desire to go back for a longer period and it highlighted the fact the desire to travel was still very strong.

We had thought our travelling days were over. But after a lot of thought, research and soul searching it was decided to get a travelling setup that Kate can handle on her own, where she can travel for the both of us, with Chris always in her heart, taking Chris wherever she goes.

After lots of looking and not finding something that really suited our needs we decided to purchase a 2023 Hyundai Staria Load Premium. It was bought specifically for us to convert to a campervan so Kate can continue doing what we have both loved and enjoyed together.

Even though it was bought and converted so Kate can continue to travel and explore our amazing country, it is also so we can still get a few small trips and weekends away together. We want to continue to make wonderful memories and experiences together while we can.

You can read more about the conversion here.

Live Long and Prosper 

Murray Region

Posted on by trekswalkabout

We left Broken Hill late arvo heading towards Menindee stopping for the night. At Stephen’s Creek, we were able to get right back off the road and were the only ones there for the night.

The creek was totally dry when we were there, a lovely peaceful spot on the river bank with the gum trees. It was relaxing until the flies came and boy were they bad. All 3 of us had to have our fly nets on for some relief, it stayed warm and the flies hung around until it was dark.

Jess was not terribly impressed with the fly net

Relaxing spot before the flies

Last time we were at Menindee in 2009 the Lake Menindee was dry. It was great to see it full of water, we called into Lake Menindee lookout and had a bit of a walk around.

Sunset strip Menindee

Lake Panamaroo did have water in it last time so it did this time. Last time we camped in the Main Weir area, paddled on Lake Wetherill in the Kayak. It was our intention to stay here for several days but it was so dry and dusty, no grass in sight from over use being so popular.

We decided to move on into Menindee and have a look around. There is a free riverside camping in Menindee that goes for several km’s. We were very surprised to find no one camping here, so we did for several days. Very relaxing camped along the river, thanks Menindee.

Free camp at Menindee

From there we headed towards Wentworth going through Pooncarrie, a road we had not been on. Pooncarrie had a lovely little park with lots of thick lush green grass where we stopped for a cuppa. There are toilets and also showers.

At Wentworth we drove out to Perry Sand Hills, we had been here previously and walked all over the sand dunes. You could also drive around most of it. You can’t do that now, walking on sand dunes is a bit hard for Chris so we drove back into town to Junction Park. Where the 2 rivers the Darling and The Murray meet.

Where the Darling and Murray Rivers join

Our intentions were to drive out of town and find a camp along the Murray River. We tried several spots driving most of the way to Mildura but all with the same result. Very full and very very dusty. We didn’t realize at first why the area was so busy, then we realized it was the Melbourne Cup weekend. So we drove back to Wentworth and stayed at the free Wentworth Sports Complex, which also has a dump point. This was a temporary free camp we believe. Camping was on an old carpark, bit slopey but bitumen so no dust, next to big grassed area to walk Jess. Was nice and quiet with several others camped there.

Dust free campsite with a sunset

With camp areas along the Murray so dry and dusty and with a bit of a heatwave, we decided to stay at a caravan park in Mildura with a pool for a few days. Glad we did with 38 degrees it was great to be able to jump in and out of the pool.

Mildura has a great big lovely park area along the Murray with a very nice coffee shop that we visited a few times while we were there. Last time we were here we stayed at the caravan park across the river, right on the river, it was closed due to renovations and restoration after flooding. We remember our time here where we paddled the kayak down the river with the paddle boats.

We also went to Orange World and did the tour which was interesting, Jess could also go on the little tractor train. Everyone was given a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice. Which was a very good marketing ploy as no one left there without buying at least one bottle of fresh juice, it was the nicest sweetest orange juice we have ever had.

Live Long and Prosper