Michelle’s kindy class put together a farewell gift 🎁

(Restock needed Day 2!)

The countdown until we begin our travels is well and truly on!

One of the places that I am most excited to see on our trip is the Mataranka Hot Springs. The Springs are located in the small town of Mataranka, south of Katherine NT. Mataranka is known for its sandy bottomed thermal pool. The pool is filled with natural spring water from the Daly and Georgina basins and the water is a beautiful turquoise. The pool maintains a temperature of 34 degrees and is surrounded by natural scenery. You may even spot wildlife such as the red flying fox which is a native species to the area and bats hanging from the trees surrounding the thermal pool.

Mataranka also has the Bitter Springs Thermal Pool. You can follow a 100m long stream to a bridge and ladder where you can climb out and then walk around the springs. There is also the Mataranka Falls where at the bottom you can have a swim in the natural pools that have formed over time. There is a 3.5 km botanic walk to the 4 mile hole which is another swimming spot. Also in Mataranka you can watch barramundi feeding where the fish are pulled from the water with bare hands!

I can’t wait until we take off for our trip and I am excited for all the memories we will make together as a family.

Cheers, Emma.

I know I was only meant to pick one place but I’m picking two 😉

Ever since I heard about Coober Pedy I’ve been counting down the days until I can finally see it. Coober Pedy is a town 850 km north west of Adelaide where the residents live underground. They do this to stay out of the scorching hot heat. I’m stoked to find out why living underground keeps the people of Coober Pedy cool. I’m also curious to see how the idea came to be and why they decided to pull through with the idea. I can’t wait to find out all these things on our trip! I feel very lucky that we’ve booked a night in an underground hotel in Coober Pedy. I can’t wait to see what the temperature difference is underground compared to outside and how people manage to live in these dugouts they’ve built. The pictures look really cool!

I’m also extremely excited to visit Daintree National Park. The Daintree is an area that is famous for its magnificent wildlife but also for its man eating crocodiles. I found out a few years ago a 3 year old was eaten by these crocodiles due to her parents letting her swim in croc infested waters. The reason crocodiles patrol the beaches of the Daintree is due to the rainforest meeting the salt water ocean. This creates the perfect habitat for the crocodiles and it’s why people have to be extremely careful in this area. Although the crocodiles are extremely exciting I’m also intrigued to see and photograph the rest of what the Daintree has to offer.

I can’t wait to start my trip around Australia and I know how lucky I am to be able to experience this adventure. It’s unreal to think I’ll be able to discover the history of my country. I’m stoked for my trip and I can’t wait to share with you all my experiences on our journey. 

Sincerely, James.

Every morning I wake knowing we are one day closer to our “Ingrams Around Oz” adventure. I honestly didn’t realise I would feel this much excitement and anticipation as a 46 year mother. I eagerly read the posts on Facebook from “Families Travelling Australia” who have already started their journey around this amazing country of ours- thank you for sharing such wonderful stories.

Along our mammoth journey, it’s a tough choice but what I think I’m looking forward to most is Kangaroo Island. I personally have high hopes for us here as a family. We lose ourselves so easily in today’s society, our jobs, school, work and technology. This stop is early in our trip and I’m hoping that we can truly get back to nature. Experience every little bit of it.

I would love our children to see the seals in their natural environment and maybe even be lucky enough to see a whale! Kangaroos and their joeys, wombats .. the list of animals goes on and on. I can’t wait to explore the beaches, lighthouses, limestone caves and National Parks.

I just get goosebumps thinking about it!

Cheers, Michelle.

So hypothetically, if I was given the chance to see one place in Australia that I’ve never been before, I’d have to pick Uluru. Luckily on our upcoming journey I’ll be given that chance and what’s even better is I’ll see plenty of other amazing places along the way. Just did my research and booking for Uluru and was excited to see that while we’re there we’ll get to see the display known as the “Field of light.”

The critically acclaimed Field of Light Uluru by the internationally celebrated artist Bruce Munro is on display until 31 December 2020. 

The exhibition, aptly named Tili Wiru Tjuta Nyakutjaku or ‘looking at lots of beautiful lights’ in local Pitjantjatjara is Munro’s largest work to date. Overwhelming in size, covering more than seven football fields, it invites immersion in its fantasy garden of 50,000 spindles of light, the stems breathing and swaying through a sympathetic desert spectrum of ochre, deep violet, blue and gentle white.

We’re just one more calendar page away from leaving!

Cheers, Scott.

So of course a big focus for our trip is how much planning we do with regards to the two big questions- WHERE and WHEN?

We have to make sure we see and do as much as we can in the time that we have, so therefore complete spontaneity isn’t really an option. But we want some flexibility to be able to stay somewhere a bit longer, or follow a “must see” tip from a fellow traveller or Facebook friend. We also needed to plan the trip hypothetically to see if we actually made it around the country and back to Sydney by the time Term 4 started. As much as we might be loving our travels we can’t still be in WA at the end of September!

After family discussions and advice from friends we’ve pretty much locked in our route. This schedule sees us in North Queensland during the July school holidays. So even though we haven’t booked any other places to stay we thought it made sense to book powered sites using our BIG4 membership for the Whitsundays, Townsville and Cairns. These places look nothing like the caravan parks I remember as a kid!

If you have any “must see” stops for us please share.

Cheers, Scott.

Choosing the right Motorhome for our journey has probably been the biggest decision we’ve had to make since deciding on doing this trip in the first place.

Buy or rent?

Financially, buying a brand new 6 berth (able to sleep 6 adults) motorhome was beyond our budget. Not being the most mechanically minded (and with clear memories of a childhood trip north in a vehicle that seemed to break down every other day) buying anything more than a few years old was a worry. We also looked at Motorhome, RV and Campervan sales and weren’t sure how long it might take to sell our vehicle after we had finished our trip. Also, best case scenario felt like the difference between the price we might pay for a second hand motorhome and then selling it again 6 months later would probably be around the price we’d pay for a rental.

Renting gave us 24 hour road side assistance and if things went horribly wrong mechanically, the ability to swap to another vehicle… an option buying did not give us. It also meant that we didn’t need to go out and buy all of the bits and pieces we’d need like cookware, cutlery and so on. Once our holiday was over we’d drop off the vehicle and that would be job done. So renting it is!

Wishlist:

6 berth = 3 beds

Air conditioning/heating in main cab, not just driving cab

Internal access between driving and main cab

Decent sized fridge/freezer

Power steering and cruise control

Fly screens and awning

Decent sized fresh water tank, fuel tank etc

TV/ DVD

IPod/ USB connections

Good storage

After lots of online searching we’re happy to say we have found and booked what will be our home away from home come April 30. The only thing it doesn’t have is iPod and USB connections but we’ll make do with the cigarette lighter charger 😉

Big thanks to Jade from Cruisin’ Motorhomes https://www.cruisinmotorhomes.com.au/ for getting us a good deal, we are now more excited than ever!

Cheers, Scott

Michelle, James and I visited the Newcastle camping expo yesterday and really enjoyed ourselves. Yes it was a 4 hour (return) drive, the weather was very hot and windy, and we had to park a kilometre away- but we felt this was an early training session for when we go away. Drive for a few hours, get out and walk around looking at things, drive again, stay somewhere for the night. Repeat.

We particularly loved seeing the different camping trailer setups, which looked fantastic, but we kept reminding ourselves about the time that would go into transforming a packed up trailer hooked up to the car, to a campsite ready for eating and sleeping! Confirmed our decision to choose a motor home and at most, popping up a tent next to it. We appreciate the idea of arriving at the caravan park or campground and being able to start dinner or have a swim within a few minutes.

Speaking of motor homes and rv’s, we were really surprised by the fact that there wasn’t a single 6 berth on site. The vast majority were motor homes catering for 2 people, presumably the older retired types, and it brought home the idea that travelling as a 2 adults, 2 kids group for a sustained period of time around Australia is not an overly common occurrence. Is there something we should be worried about…?

We would like to thank our friends and family for checking out our new blog and hope you share it with others- obviously it won’t be super exciting until we are on our way but keep checking in and we’ll keep you updated.

Cheers, Scott.

In 10 weeks time, my wife Michelle, the kids (Emma 15 and James 12), and myself are planning on driving all around Australia for 6 months. In this blog we want to share as much of our journey as we can in terms of preparation and planning before we leave, and then of course regular updates as we drive a motor home across this great country of ours.

Coming soon I’ll post what’s gone into the planning so far, (besides setting up this blog!)

Cheers, Scott.