4 weeks visiting asia and australia with three kids... Advice, planning tips, etc

[MyThreeChickens]

So my husband and i want to plan a big family holiday visiting the above with our kids. We are thinking 2018 and then they will be 6, 8 and 10. Our youngest is autistic so i am a little concernd about how he will be on the trip.

Time wise, is 4 weeks long enough? We are thinking easter hols so they only miss 2 weeks of school.

No idea where to even start planning something like this. My brother lives in lembourne so we would want to spend about a week there.

If you have taken your kids out of school have you home schooled them? We have only taken them out for a week before and made them keep journals.

Trying to find blogs/websites of family trips but cant seem to find any!

Melbourne that should have read!

obviously you are only going to see a tiny fraction of these two continents in the time available. Which part of Asia do you want to go to? Make life easier by avoiding malaria zones, although the whole area has dengue and worse so you'll need to be serious about DEET and covering up.

you'll be destroyed by the flights whatever you do. Don't even THINK of driving for 2 days after arrival.

consider a stopover in Singapore one way; soft landing with safe streets with pavements, drinkable water and loads to see and do. (And no, I don't mean shopping!) Remember how bloody hot and humid it will be though.

I'm not actually that keen on Melbourne, partly due to the terrible traffic, can get that in the UK! You'll probably want to head for Phillip Island, and a loop out on the Great Ocean Road and back via the Grampians is good and will show you a lot of unique stuff. You could easily spend 10 days doing that alone.

make them keep journals so you can show some value to this.

One or the other but not both. Too much and your if be rushing particularly if you want to visit family for a week of that.

Driving is fine but I am not affected by jet lag going to oz.

Personally just get there but if you want a stopover Singapore and Hong Kong have been highlights for me.

Good coast would be good for the theme parks with your kids ages.

my driving comment assumes that the OP is starting from the UK and flying long-haul. Maybe not. Although there aren't too many places from which you can get to Oz without long-haul!

If your kids are in the state sector then taking 10 days off will most likely result in fines of £60 per parent per child. some places interpret this as 2 separate £60 fines. so you are already looking at at least £360 in fines if not more.

to be honest, I think taking them out for 2 weeks around Easter is not really on and I am in favour of holidays in term time!

you really need to be speaking to your school especially if you want to go beyond the 2 weeks out in case they decide to de-register you. sorry, don't mean to rain on your parade but you do need to take this into account.

Unless the OP is in Scotland where fines don't apply.

Singapore is a good place to stop - only about 6/7 hours from there to Melbourne. Universal studios, Sentosa, Night Safari, Little India, gardens by the bay - transport is easy and food is fab.

Perhaps break the journey on the way out and the way back. I think HK might be too intense for the way back (although HK Disney is ideal for the under 12s) and you may prefer some beach time - Bali? Recommend Ubud for non beach part and lots of people I know recommend nusa dua for the beach.
Education - good museums in Melbourne and Singapore has a decent exhibit in Sentosa on WW2 occupation, also temples in Bali are fascinating, rice terraces etc.
You could do UK - Singapore - Melbourne - Perth - Bali - UK
Perth to Bali is a pretty short flight and you can fly with jet star which is quite cheap - I think. Perth itself - the mint, decent gallery and museum, botanical gardens are nice, zoo and you could visit the pinnacles for the day.