For years, my husband Tom and I had a distant dream of travelling Australia for an extended period of time. Soon after our baby Benji was born, we decided to take the plunge and turn that dream into a reality.
So with a Cub camper in tow, my husband Tom, my nine month old son Benji and myself headed off for our big adventure. Australia is such a large country with so many spectacular places to see. We only touched the surface of what this country has to offer. We travelled in a figure eight of sorts.
THE JOURNEY
We started from the Central Coast NSW then travelled to Victoria and across to Adelaide. We then headed north up through the middle to Darwin, across to Broome, then all the way down the west coast and south west of WA. We then drove across the Nullarbor to western NSW up to about an hour north of Brisbane. We then down the NSW coast to our home on the Central Coast.
In our 11 month journey we covered 34000km! Benji even took some of his first steps in the Cub.
Travelling Australia was a great way to gain perspective on life, that you can only get when you take a step back from it. When you’re living in the one place and working full time it’s all too easy to get caught up in the idea that financial security or career and status are the only measures of success in life, and to be always focusing on the next goal to be obtained.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
If there is one big tip we have for families heading off on a big Aussie adventure, it’s to keep things simple. The more complicated you get, the more time you are going to spend setting up camp, packing away camp, and fixing things that break. Sure it might be nice to have a microwave, an air conditioner, a television and a blow-up couch, but if that’s what it’s all about for you then you may as well just stay at home. We loved the outdoor kitchen, and feeling the environment around us as we cooked and ate. We have never been as observant of the moon and stars as we did on our adventures.
We feel very lucky that we were able to have such an amazing adventure. We will treasure these times for the remainder of our lives. We hope that we will be able to have this adventure again when we are older, and you never know, if Benji has a family of his own he might consider this adventure and be willing to have the oldies tag along.
Benji learnt to eat, crawl, walk and set up a Cub Camper on the road. Since ending our adventure we have actually realised it’s so much easier having a young baby/toddler camping than inside a house! Although he won’t remember it we have no doubt that it has shaped him, his love of being outdoors and his immune system (so much dirt!).
