Middle Aged Mama

Blogging about my Midlife Adventures

Caravanning around Australia

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My sister and her family are leaving this week on a six week trip around outback Queensland with their caravan.

It reminded me of the time we packed up all our worldly goods and put them in storage, rented out our house, bought a caravan and travelled around Australia – for six months – back in 2001.

We were fortunate to find a great caravan as our little home away from home. No hot shower unfortunately, but it did have a little toilet cubicle which meant we weren’t necessarily locked into staying at caravan parks.

We headed south as hubster comes from north Queensland, and only made it as far as Perth before we ran out of time and had to come home.

One of the first questions we get asked is “How did you afford it?!”

We were fortunate in that my husband was owed a lot of leave, so about half of our time away he was still getting paid – and he was able to take leave without pay for the rest, so still had his job to come back to.

Between that and the rental income from our home, we found we survived quite nicely and our only debts upon our return were for the car (which we kept) and the van (which we sold, for more than what we’d bought it for).

However, we met a lot of other people who were working their way around Australia – in many of the country locations, these travellers found farm work was a handy source of income.

Caravanning Around Australia – 2001

Our kids were 7 (Year 2) and 4 (Prep) when we set off on our “Great Australian Adventure”, so we home-schooled them while we were gone.

I have to say that trip was one of the best things we have ever done as a family. It was a great bonding experience, and we created some awesome family memories – even today, my kids will bring it up in conversation.

Now that the kids are 19 and almost 17, the hubster and I are starting to dream of getting a motorhome and hitting the road once more … but with just us two this time! Finally we will get to see the Top End 🙂

So for this (almost) Wordless Wednesday I thought I’d share some of our pics from our Great Australian Adventure – caravanning around Australia. Enjoy!

Caravanning around Australia - ready to leave
Ready to leave on our big adventure, July 2001

 

Caravanning around Australia - Sydney
We headed south to Sydney

 

Caravanning around Australia - at the snow
Spent 3 weeks at the snow

 

bedtime in the van
But we were snug as bugs in our comfy caravan!

 

Caravanning around Australia - our rig
Our rig, just outside Mt Gambier. By this stage we’d been to Melbourne, across to Tassie, and then over to South Australia.

 

chores
Even on holiday there are chores to be done – and no dishwasher, like at home!

 

welcome to nt
Ominous looking sky as we head into NT on our way to Uluru

 

uluru in the rain
We were quite cheesed off that it rained on our first day at Uluru, so we couldn’t do much sight-seeing. It was only later we realised how lucky we were to see waterfalls cascading off the rock!

 

in front of uluru
The next day it was fine so we got to do the sight-seeing thing 🙂

 

opal mine in coober pedy
Checking out an old opal mine in Coober Pedy

 

old telegraph station eucla wa
Crossing the Nullarbor – this is the old telegraph station at Eucla, on the WA border.

 

orange snack in norseman
Fresh fruit after crossing the Nullarbor – orange snack in Norseman WA

 

caravanning around Australia - WA
Cleaning the van, Albany WA

 

inside our home on wheels
Inside our home on wheels, Busselton WA

 

friends in perth
The fact that these girls – from the motorhome next to us in Perth – didn’t have a word of English didn’t stop our girl from making friends with them!

 

mulka's cave wa
Aboriginal art, Mulka’s Cave WA

 

lunch at dubbo zoo
Homeward bound, we stopped off at Dubbo Zoo

 

home again
Back home again, Christmas 2001. We look very relaxed, brown as berries and maybe a bit rough around the edges LOL?!!!

Have you ever thought of caravanning around Australia – or is it on your bucket list?!

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Comments

  1. Wow Janet. That’s the ages my kids are now. And your kids are now so big. Time is going to fly.
    Lovely pics. What great memories to have.

    • It sure does Liz – I can’t believe it either. Feel a bit teary sometimes :`-(

  2. On the bucket list, I’m afraid. I’m so jealous of you and your sister! What a wonderful adventure for the kids and yes, I’m sure they will remember it for the rest of their lives, Janet. How great that you and hubby are looking forward to heading off just the two of you – more memories to make.

    • Hubster grew up near Mackay, he knows it well! Will have to get him to show me next time we are up that way 🙂

  5. This is something that we really want to do! I love your photos! What a wonderful experience.

  6. It’s definitely on my bucket list! My husband and I moved to Australia from NZ about 7 years ago with travel in mind. As travel agents we had seen a lot of South Australia and wanted to see more of Aussie as we worked and played here. But what’s that thing they say about the best laid plans? Suddenly and unexpectedly we were talking birth plans instead of travel plans.
    We are now dreaming of family holidays in a caravan.
    Thanks for sharing your photos!

  8. Thanks for sharing those J, wow what a great thing to do – especially to home school the kids! I could NEVER do that! The caravan looks so spacious and lovely. I bet the kids have some fond memories 🙂

    • I must confess – even though I’m a qualified teacher – hubster did all the maths / science stuff. Not my thing AT ALL!

      And yes, it was a GREAT family van. Our bed was at the front and folded up into the wall during the day, and a table folded down instead, which saved heaps of room.

  9. Fabulous trip!! What a great experience for your family. It must’ve brought everyone close together. I bet you had some funny stories to share when you came back.

    • I can understand now why women whose husbands have just retired, complain 😉 … it took a bit of adjusting at first til HE got used to doing things MY way … or was it the other way round … LOL

  10. Such great Pics and wonderful memories you have created for your little ones….loved looking at all of your adventures and your great photos of where you had been.
    We live in a Motorhome and couldn’t ever imagine going back into a House 🙂
    Love your last photo – you all looked so healthy.

  11. Trip of a lifetime, you even made it down my way. My brother and sister in law(retired) get home next month from their 7 month caravan holiday. They are very tanned and their facebook page is filled with amazing photos from around the country 🙂

  12. Oh what great holiday pictures.. I’d love to head around Australia.. my husband did it with his family when he was little and I hope one day we can do it with ours!!!

    WW visiting!

  13. Fantastic photos and memories! So your hubby comes from Nth Qld eh? Must be a great bloke!
    I’m not surprised your kids still talk about it!

    • I think he is but then I’m biased! He grew up on a cane farm outside of Mackay.

  15. What an amazing trip. Popping in from Cooker and Looker on Australia Day and so lovely to see all these amazings pics from all over the country. Hope you had a good one!