Our lap of Australia; where are we going and what are we doing?
The day to depart on the biggest adventure our family has ever done is just about here; we’re taking off in our Isuzu Dmax and our Reconn R2 Hybrid Caravan to explore this great, huge, brown land. We’re leaving from Perth, and will be heading towards the south coast, and across to South Australia. From there, things get interesting, and we’ll go wherever the wind blows us.
We have no concrete plans (just how we want it)
The one thing we’ve realised when doing our extensive travel around Western Australia is that we like to be flexible. We’ve done so many trips where we’ve booked accommodation months in advance, and had to move according to a fairly rigid schedule, and whilst its still amazing, it can be frustrating.
I remember leaving Barn Hill Station way earlier than I’d have liked to, because we had things booked and needed to keep on moving. I also remember times where we’d booked 5 nights somewhere thinking it would be amazing, and wanted to leave after a couple, but felt obliged to hang around and make use of the money.
We intend on floating around, and blowing wherever the wind takes us. If its amazing, we’ll stay until we are sick of it, and then move on. We’ll try and match the best weather with the different parts of the country, but know it won’t always work out.
We have no formal time constraints, and will come back to Perth (or somewhere else) when we decide we’ve had enough on the road. Our expectation is 12 – 24 months on the road, but it could be longer if we really fall in love with the lifestyle.
We’re going to visit Tasmania later
Originally, we planned on heading to Tasmania as soon as we were nearby, but its likely to be cold, and being so early on into our trip I suggested we do it next time we come back down, and Sarah’s agreed. I love the idea of visiting Tasmania and we will certainly do it, but not first up!
Our folks will be joining us at times
Mum and Dad are keen to explore South Australia and Queensland, and will be travelling with us in stages with their Mitsubishi Pajero and Kokoda Caravan. I don’t think they want to deal with the thought of being away from their grand kids for such a long time, and we’re always happy to have them along as company.
We’ve done a lot of travel together in the past and always had a good time, and spending time together as a family is always greatly appreciated. We intend on getting really off grid at times though, and their van will not be able to get to all of the spots, so we’ll have plenty of time on and off.
We’ll be in northern Australia in the dry season
The intention is to travel at a slow, and enjoyable pace until it gets close to April, and then we’ll leg it to the northern parts of Queensland, and spend lots of time in the Daintree, Cairns and Cape York region while the weather is amazing.
From there, we are going to head south again, towards New South Wales and spend a good chunk of time enjoying the amazing coast and inland areas.
Our lap will likely be a big squiggle
Ultimately, our lap is not going to be a big oval shape. We’ll probably do figure of 8’s, ups and downs and cover a huge amount of extra distance, but you really need to in order to see things properly.
We have limited plans to do more of WA, as that’s on our doorstep anyway, and we’ve done a huge amount of it already. Our time will be spent where we enjoy the most, and we look forward to seeing some incredible sights.
It’s all unfamiliar
We know WA very well. There aren’t too many names of places you could say that we wouldn’t know the general direction of, and what to expect, and the Eastern part of Australia is completely the opposite. Of course, we know a few places and have even been to several, but not with a 4WD and camper trailer, and we look forward to putting a heap of names to great places!
We’ll be slowing down, and just enjoying Australia
As for what we’re doing, we don’t have too many plans. We’ll head to as many different destinations as possible, slow the pace of life down and visit/do attractions that we want to do. We’ll be cautious of spending a huge amount of money without a good cause, and love heading to a new place and exploring what it has to offer.
The kids will be doing distance education which will take some time up, and I’ll be working on this very blog for a number of hours a day. Sarah might continue doing our YouTube editing; we’ll see how it goes in the next few months. Asides from that, you’ll find us exploring, doing 4WD tracks, hiking, fishing and diving or kicking back at our camper trailer.
If you see us out there, say hello!
