Hitting the Road

It's been almost 10 years since my husband Luke and I loaded up our 1976 Kombi camper and hit the road (you can read all about our first epic road trip here www.twotonkinsinakombi.blogspot.com). We experienced the freedom, fun, beauty and adventure that Australia has to offer, as we looped this great land and became slightly addicted to the simple life that going where the wind blows can offer. And we vowed to do it all again one day....

Fast forward a decade and we've packed our bags again, but this time we have a few extra passengers along for the ride and a rig that would make old Jefro the Kombi blush. Our little travellers are our three beautiful kids, Arley, 6, Sage, 4, and Bastian, 2 and we're cruising in a duel cab Ford Ranger ute that easily tows the 17 foot Jayco Expanda caravan that we bought quite spontaneously late last year.

Are we caravanning people? No! Are we heavy, duty Ford ute-driving people? Not at all! Despite being VW-lovers at heart (we kissed goodbye the two splits and multi-van that we left at home to mow the law and feed the rabbit...) the thought of taking off in a vintage-ride, where breaking down along the way is part of the charm, was as far from fun as we could imagine with the kids onboard and a mountain of "stuff" as well.

So we researched a good child-friendly home away from home set-up (sadly no caravan or campervan came with free onboard nanny) and began planning our first holiday. That's when the memories of meeting the white wallaby population on Tasmania's Bruny Island or driving through the amazing Pinnacles near WA's town of Carnarvon or pulling up at the Uluru carpark on Sunrise, seeing the breathtaking colours of the sky transform the natural marvel like nothing else we'd seen before, came flooding back. A few weekend's away in a nearby coastal town a year just wasn't going to cut it.

Instead we sought permission to take our eldest son out of school for a full term and put all of our regular activities and commitments on hold for a full 12 weeks so we can really hit the road and hopefully give our children a taste of what our beautiful country and it's people, animals and places have to offer.

It's time to pack the snack bags, throw in the clothes and food and books and school work and work-work and food and toys and bikes and scooters and did I say food? and hit the road!