Knee Deep Travels

I am sure other travelling families can relate, but we can’t begin a blog series about the great Australian Dream – the big lap – without at least addressing what happens beforehand: the great preparation.

Hooley dooly it doesn’t matter how mentally prepared you are for the task, you really can’t imagine how much work it takes to pack up an entire house, cull as much as possible, move into storage, clean and prepare the house for tenants all while packing the caravan and getting it ready to be home for the next 12 months!

I can’t tell you how many Council pickups, full bins, Facebook Marketplace sales, boxes of hand-me-downs sent to family and friends and charity shop runs we did – but I can confidently say we own a whole lot less stuff now.

Which actually feels really good 😊

I was lucky enough to finish up work a few weeks before we left, which meant I could focus on the task ahead, while Garth was still doing all that on top of work right up until the last minute.

We know many travellers juggle with the question of what to do with their pets when they travel, and as much as Matilda wanted to – there was no way we were taking two chickens on the road! Thanks so much to Lily, Mia and Holly who took them home and are loving them for us! It brings Matilda so much comfort to know they are with you.

We were also juggling the social side of leaving, while it can seem to take up valuable preparation time, it was so important for the girls in particular. Making sure they had time to spend with their friends (and us with ours) and say proper goodbyes were key to the transition to life on the road. We can confidently say, even though we all wanted to travel, there were definitely times when the tears flowed.

We couldn’t have done it without our army of amazing friends and family – Michaele, Michael, Evie-Rose – you went above and beyond to help us get packed up (we all know how much I hate packing!). The amount of storage runs you did with us, the days and days packing, chazza shop runs and finally a famous Bradley roast after a full day of moving will always stay with us. We could not have gotten on the road without your support, and we will be forever grateful for your friendship (and patience). Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Mum, Dad and Amy thank you for your powerhouse days and ruthless culling! Not only did you make it easier to get out the door, but you made it so much easier for us to unpack when we get home.

We were so lucky that the girls could spend a week with their cousins and grandparents before we left – not only did it allow us to work sun-up to sundown on the final clean of the house, but it gave them precious time to spend together. We will miss them so much while we are away, this time together was extra special.

It also gave Garth and I the opportunity to park up at the local eco village for the week. We have a bunch of friends living in the village and spend a little quality time up there when we can, so it was great to be temporary residents, even if it did rain almost the whole time! Thanks to the de Kalbs for organizing our stay and feeding us the first night.

After all the prep we did at home, there was still some packing and repacking to do while we spent three special days with Mum, Dad, Amy and all the girls in Lithgow. We enjoyed a big family dinner with the extended family here as well.

It was kind of fitting to spend time in Lithgow l first and head off from here. It’s a special place – for anyone considering a visit – Do It! Honestly it has so much to offer.

We were blessed to have Mum and Aunty Gail cook us up some meals and snacks to take along – these have been lifesavers on those long travel days. We can’t thank you enough!!

We also made up a travelling essential item – the date roll bucket! (For those not used to Aussie slang – a date roll is toilet paper!).

The date roll bucket is the perfect companion to the side of the road toilets that can often be out of precious toilet paper.

The paper itself is encased in the bucket so no worries about sitting it down on less than delightful surfaces, the bucket easily hangs on a hook and the paper pulls out of the bucket with ease!

As a bonus, it’s a good use of an old honey bucket.

My only regret – I didn’t take nearly enough photos during these hard slogs!