Our personal new year's day tradtion is to drive down to Lorne for a walk and a swim - early, before the crowds hit. Honestly, at this time of year, on a hot day, the crowds are already here. We parked in our favourite park, right where there's a nice spot between the rocks for a swim, and was awed to see the carpark full at 6.30 from people camping in their vans, tents and all kinds of camping set ups, despite the fact there's a big no camping sign there. People get shitty about campers not paying rates, campground fees and so on but at this time of year you'd be lucky to get a spot and the camping is expensive on the coast. So as long as they're not leaving rubbish, good on 'em. I hope they are having the best time!

However, I bet you spotted the plastic bottle in the middle of the road. Yep. People don't always look around when they drive off. I like to think that the bits of tissue, water bottles, tags, and so on, are not left wilfully behind but I do wish they'd check. As we walked along the beach we picked up broken glass, bottles, bottle tops, clothing tags and cable ties. Australian beaches aren't using that bad but on new year's eve and over the summer period it does get a bit messy - it's usually the locals cleaning up. However, would you believe this year Jamie tugged at some plastic in the sand and it was actually a fifty dollar note?

Hoping that's a sign of abundance to come!

The beach and pier was covered in beautiful fog when we first got there, but cleared by 8.30 am. Still, it was just stunning. It was going to be a super hot day so it was nice to not have the sun beating down too much.

Of course we had to do the selfie shot to send to England. THey were all thinking of us of course as they waiting for the new year to roll over - we are ahead here in Australia as you know. In fact as I write this post ready to publish tonight I've got BBC live on waiting for the bells of Big Ben to chime, and it's 11.45 here!

The swim was just magic - cold, but I love it. Jamie wore his wetsuit top and eased himself in as he screamed about how cold it was. Honestly he won't go in much and hates the cold water, but when I suggested it'd wash away the year, he was in - we could wash away the bloody knuckles, the oil and grease, the dust, the plywood, the sweat (all symbolically of course) from building the Landrover, as well as various other stresses of the year. Bring on 2023 with less projects and mroe fun I say.

PS Do you like my mushroom earrings?

It was brilliant to sit in the Defender and have muesli for breakfast and a coffee whilst we warmed up. Now I'm home about to tidy the house, change the beds, do last minute packing, sort out the chickens and schedule some HIVE posts - three weeks in Tassie from tomorrow and we can't bloody wait. I'm not sure I'll get to post much from the road but I'll try - I'm going to set up a week's worth of posts to start with as I don't want to break my 365 days in a row record! I'm not sure how many I'm on and I'm not sure how to check - can someone find out for me? Hive account@cmplxty? Help!

Also, it's power up day - yay. Gonna power up whilst the price is down as it's more use to me there than just hodling waiting for it to go up. I'd like to cash some out this year to go towards the pop top in the camper and our Europe travels - I've always invested in HIVE but I think this year is the time I spoil myself a little with the daily effort I put in here. Speaking of which, a new year's resolution to comment MORE on peole I don't know - perhaps three a day is a good target, although I won't start til I get back from my trip. I really love this platform and believe in it, so personal and financial investment is a no brainer for me.

Hope you all had a wonderful new year's day - you all mean so much to me and I can't wait for another year on HIVE. It's truly home.