Traveling around Australia - 2 adults, 2 kids and a camper trailer - recipe for disaster?

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

Hi there

DH is . . . um . . . between jobs, I'm a bit bored of SAHM life, the kids are sweet and not yet in school (nearly 4 and nearly 2) so we thought the obvious thing to do was to head off into the great red f-all in a 4wd with a camper trailer behind.

Is this utter madness or will it be a laugh? Anyone else done anything similar?

[esselle]

Sounds fantastic!!!

Let me know when you are in Melbourne!!!

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

Really, do you think esselle??? I veer between thinking it will be fantastic and I want to go TODAY and thinking it will be a disaster and the girls will be eaten by dingos/crocodiles/spiders etc etc

[esselle]

Hell yes! When will you have the opportunity to do it again?

Do your homework with regards to outback safety/camping etc. Do some practise trips. Work out a doable itinerary and go for it.

Obviously you don't go camping on the banks of a waterhole in the NT and let our kids go swimming there...

I am sure you can plan to stay in established campsites everywhere if you want to. I would love to do something like this, it would be such an adventure. It would just take some planning so you can enjoy it!

Where do you think you would go? Coast or desert?

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

We live in Adelaide so are thinking of heading north, through the Flinders and up to Uluruh (sp?) etc to Darwin - leaving in June/July so not blisteringly hot. Then from Darwin across to Cooktown/N Queensland then south down the East coast and back round the bottom bit!

In all taking about 6 months. With some longer stops in places we like ie Byron or maybe some tropical paradise island on the Barrier Reef .

It would be great wouldn't it? And this would be a good time for us, what with dh unemployed between jobs

[lulalullabye]

I think you should do it, as you will probably never have this opportunity again. Like esselle said, let us know when you are in Melbourne and you can meet the dingoes, crocs and dangerous little peoplethat live in our house .

[ninedragons]

Do it do it do it!

My brother is currently travelling around Australia with his girlfriend (no kids, though). Take sensible precautions (he bought a Toyota and a phone with some sort of aerial that gets better-than-normal reception, and a huge gerry can for drinking water) and they've been having the time of their life for the past year. Whenever they get somewhere they like, they find casual work and stay for a few months.

You won't be able to do it once your eldest has started school (unless you want to commit to School of the Air, which my cousins did while sailing on the Barrier Reef for a year and said was great), so if I were you I'd do it now.

I have adventurous friends, including one who went backpacking around Europe with a three-year-old and a six-week-old baby, so it's all in the attitude.

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

oooo you girls are very persuasive .

I've been doing some research and there are some good websites with lots of tips etc. None (that I've found so far) saying it's a shite idea, which is good.

Tra la la - will check out real estate agents to see how much our house will rent for.

Anyone want a 6 month lease on a lovely 3 bed house in the Adelaide Hills?

[myermay]

you would be mad not to do it!!! we did it and had a blast before kids but i dream of going back to oz with our boys!

Very tempted to rent your house aswell

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

Oo Myermay, where did you go?

We've just been to see some friends - Grey Nomands who spend about 3 months a year bumming around Oz in a tent. Apparently north of Broome is awesome.

DH getting VERY excited. Me, meh, hot and cold.

I love the idea during the day time then get all scaredy cat at night. hmmm.

[myermay]

sorry only just seen this. We only went to the east coast, we took 3 months really taking our time, it was the best thing (apart from kids)that we've ever done - and i'd love to take the kids there again. But we are from England, so it' very different to what you're used too already!

You've got nothing to loose it'll be such fun and once your children are at school it'll be much harder to do. Have a great time, imagine taking your kids snorkelling on the reef or kayaking! it'll be awesome

[ZZZen]

should be fine, obviously stock up on emergency medical things and read about what poisonous things and dangerous things there are

[ninedragons]

Just don't watch Wolf Creek between now and the time you set off.

[VinoEsmeralda]

Do it!! I have been trying to convince my Dh to do it but he is having none of it! I will take my DC hopefully next year or the year after but only for 6-8weeks. Will be visiting a friend near Canberra who has an organic apple farm.

I did the Gibb River road track from Katharine to Broome and that was FANTASTIC (without kids though)

[Ozziegirly]

DH and I just did a mini trip in a camper (no kids) from Adelaide up to Uluru and Kings Canyon (beautiful) via Coober Pedy - it was fantastic! It's a long way, and there isn't much between one horse towns, but we saw loads of eagles, lizards, dingoes, emus, it was brilliant.

Do a short trip first though as even after 10 days we were saying "it would be nice to have a bit more space wouldn't it - mm and sheets" and we both really like camping and campervanning.

[Astrophe]

Sounds fab -it's our next big trip too. Last year we got a Bongo (little 8 seater van converted to camper) and drove around Europe for 4 months - DC were 2 and 4. We can't wait to do another trip and this time it will be around Aus - hopefully 6 months and we will homeschool.

Things to consider -we planned to do little (in terms of busy itinerary) and ended up doing even less than we planned -and tbh that took some getting used to. By the time we got up (not v early!), ate, washed dishes, faffed about, packed up, did some washing, packed drinks and snacks etc etc, we rarely got away from the campsite before lunch. Eating lunch was the next activity, and then we usually wandered about the town/village or 'did' one attraction before it was time to come back, cook dinner etc. It was a very slow pace. Anyway, we grew to enjoy it, and to accept that half the days activity and half the adventure was the actual camping itself - the camping was not just a cheap way of seeing Europe iyswim.

We also found we couldn't drive as long as we'd expected - 3 hours in a day was loooong for our kids. They were actually pretty good in the car, but by the time we'd packed and left the campsite it seemed a shame to spend the rest of the days sitting in the car, and whilst DH and I quite like 'going for a drive' and looking at the scenery, the kids didn't really seem to take much in unless we actually stopped and got out of the van.

Our original plan had been to go for a big drive (like 5 hours one day, then 4 hours the next) and then stop for a week, but what we ended up doing was driving for about 2-3 hours every 3 days or so.

Make sure you have enough space to spread out a bit when its cold/raining/nightime. We had the Bongo with an awning/tent attached, but by November it was so cold in the tent we all ended up sitting the dark evenings in the van, which was a bit tight really!

You really MUST do it though.

[Astrophe]

also, we felt we got the best 'value' out of the time when we found a good base, stayed there for 3-5 days and then did short day trips out from that base.