We are heading around Australia on the trip of a lifetime for five and a half months. My wife Maria and I, our three children, our trusty 4WD and a camper trailer. I'm having to pinch myself sometimes. It's starting to get very real.
A little over twelve months ago during the 2011/12 Christmas - New Year school holidays we were having lunch in Sydney after visiting with Maria's family. I announced to the family that I thought it would be a good idea to take 6 months or so off and travel around the country. I was immediately met with stunned silence around the table. Then came the questions, What about the house?, What about school?, Who will look after our beloved Schnauzer Kaspa? But I'll miss my friends! What about Netball, Rugby and cricket? All extremely valid questions which all needed carefully thought through solutions. Then came the excitement.
So we were going and we needed a plan. All of a sudden, twelve months didn't seem like nearly enough time.
Interestingly, the 2 single biggest issues that we felt needed to be solved early, were the house and the dog. Fortuitously, both were solved in the same conversation Maria was having with a work colleague, lamenting our growing concern with what to do. Should we rent the house out or just leave it idle? Would we have to put Kaspa in a kennel? Maria's friend then mentioned her current lease was finishing up and that she'd be keen to house sit and was more than happy to care for Kaspa as she'd been over many times and really enjoyed his company. Major sigh of relief at this point...
With these hurdles overcome, the rest seemed less stressful. I was in the extremely fortunate position to have just sold my company and had a twelve month handover with the new owners so timing would work out well. The kids schools' were very supportive and the Queensland department of education has an exemption form we can use to apply for the kids to be out of school for extended periods, provided we do some schooling, which we'll need to agree with each of their teachers.
The next step was choosing the right vehicle and of course, our home away from home would be critical to an enjoyable trip.
I've become somewhat focused (Maria would say completely obsessed), with all things involving camper trailer touring. We'd picked up our first camper trailer the previous May. A Vacation Campers Off Road Vacationer which has been terrific for us, particularly with the spare room. Trips to Peach Trees, Somerset Dam, Cania Gorge and Stradbroke and Moreton Islands soon followed. While the Vacationer is brilliant and would highly recommend it to anyone, the nature of our trip needing fast setup times, was an ever present challenge in my mind. The thought of setting up a soft floor camper (no matter how straight forward), with bedding every second night from scratch had me concerned. So the hunt was on for something a little more functional for our families needs. Many trips to showrooms and multiple camping shows followed through the year. I feel compelled to say that Australian Camper Trailer manufacturers need to consider that families do come with more than 2 children on occasion. I always felt I was having to make compromises rather than being offered real solutions. I mean this with the greatest of respect as there are some truly wonderful companies out there building some great product.
Eventually some friends of ours who had been on a 4 month trip the previous year suggested we look at Goldstream RV. Given they are a family of six, we felt we should give Goldstream a go and hadn't previously considered this type of option. We needed a solution which was easy and fast to setup and take down, was tough enough to handle off road 4wd touring, could sleep five comfortably and had plenty of the creature comforts. Thankfully, the Goldstream Storm seemed to fit the bill. The Storm is a wind up camper with one Queen size and one double bed sliding out each end. Gracie our youngest will be sleeping on the lounge and dining table which converts to another bed. Goldstream allows you to put together a package which meets your specific needs. It comes with plenty of storage, 4 burner grill, oven and microwave. 240v power and we added an additional 100Amp deep cycle battery. A 90L 3-way fridge is also standard. An additional 65L water tank has been attached with an auxillary external shower plumbed to a gas hot water system. We also added an additional 9kg gas bottle. A Duragal chassis is complemented by heavy duty independent Cruisemaster off road suspension. A wind out Fiamma awning and an external slide out gas cooker would allow both indoor and outdoor living quickly and easily.
A second hand Toyota Landcruiser Prado Kakadu was the preferred choice of vehicle. The Prado has all of the creature comforts for long hours on the road and with a 4L Turbo Diesel, more than enough power to tow the Storm and get us anywhere we want to go. We have also made some additions like an ARB Sahara Bar with IPF lights. A dual battery to run the second fridge in the car, a set of Cooper AT3 tyres and electric brakes for the camper. Before we go we'll be adding a snorkel and draw system with fridge slide for the back of the car.
Next is the itinerary. Everyone asks us, North or South? While I'd always had in my mind that we'd go south first, the lateness of the wet season in the north this year confirmed our decision. South it is! Now where to go? Five and a half months seems like a long time but when you are trying to circumnavigate a country as large as Australia and start calculating times and distances you quickly realise that compromises are going to have to be made to make it around in time.
We decided early on that anywhere we could travel to from our Brisbane home for a week or two would be left for another time. So it was decided the majority of NSW, Victoria and Tasmania would be left for future trips. Leaving Brissie in early April, we'll head through Tamworth to the Warrumbungles then onto Kinchega and Mungo National Parks before heading to SA's beautiful Limestone Coast. Then up to the Flinders Ranges, onto Lake Eyre across to Coober Pedy, then down to the Eyre Penninsula and across the Nullabor. We'll then hug the WA coast, slowly making our way up to Broome by the June school holidays. A word of caution here. June to August is the peak season and if you don't book early you may miss out on getting in at all! It's January and we were reliably told we had just booked the last powered site in Broome! This would be our mid trip break and be used as our base for some of the closer gorges and Cape Leveque.
We are then off to the Kimberley and the Gibb River Road, moving onto NT, Kakadu and Darwin before jumping on the Savannah Way through Lawn Hill National Park and across to Cairns, the Daintree and Cape Tribulation before heading south for home through Winton and Carnarvon Gorge.
I can't believe we are nearly there, yet we've still got so much to do. We're all starting to get quite excited. So much careful planning needs to go into a trip like this. A reliable vehicle and camper, safety and comfort are paramount and of course making sure we take time to really explore and appreciate our magnificent country along the way.
It's a little scary, a lot exciting and I can't wait.
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