Young family travelling Oz?

Let me to be the first to be envious of your plans ;-) good luck with the idea and i hope it all comes off smoothly.

As i haven't done what you are contemplating (yet), with only 4 months travel with a camper trailer and 2 1/2 year old and 4 week old under our belts so far, i would suggest that you also stroll down to the local caravan park and check out some rigs and talk to the residents for feedback......on top of the good feedback normally gained here ;-)

Budgets is the one area you will need to focus on, and without delving too deep, is one of the main factors that will affect your trip.

whilst the kids may not benefit directly from the locations visisted, they will appreciate the country in which we live, and the routines developed on such a trip. my older son loves camping and travelling now and will always help out when we just go away for a day or two.

Another hint is that you should gain all the info you possibly can from experienced travellers, as i have found that relatives will try and talk you out of anything, based on no experience whatsoever :-) We found that whilst travelling we met several couples with young kids who wanted to talk to us about this very issue as their relatives were strongly against them doing anything like this, because they had kids....

Fincancially speaking, do not think that this will be cheap, and is not a wise investment strategy......though you should be doing it for other reasons. It was well worth it for us to travel at the time and enjoyed every bit of it, even though it wasn't the cheapest option at the time. BTW it can be cheap, it comes down to much many luxuries you want to take with and where you want to go :-0

Andrew

Hi decc4,
I don't have any experience at running our kids around on such an extended trip so cant help with vehicle / combo recomendations.
We have three bily lids 11-6, our experience has been that they will remember some of the stuff they do under 5, but experinces greater than 5yo have a far more significant impact.
I'm not suggesting that they won't get anything out of such a trip, they may get more out of it in 2-3 years time.
Either way I'm sure it will be a terrific family experience, enjoy.
Paul.

Kids that young will not remember anything. But, if you plan to continue travelling afterwards (as in driving holidays) you will find that having started them off early will be good. We first took ours on annual holidays (4 weeks) from age of about 6 months and we've continued with outback travel ever since. Kids have been excellent travellers, whereas I've heard plenty of others who weren't game to travel with little kids complain that their kids are bad travellers.
If you're on a tight budget, why not consider a large tent or, a bit more up market, a camper trailer. I wouldn't consider a caravan or 5th wheeler to be exactly in the budget category - perhaps your definition of "tight budget" and mine are vastly different.
Finances on the road - fuel and accommodation are the major issues. You still have to eat whether at home or on the road. So you shouldn't need oodles of cash to begin with. If you invest correctly you'll factor that in anyway.
On the left there's a "Search by Topic" box and in there is heaps of information - get to it and have fun planning. That's a big part of the experience. Good luck.

gday mate- we have been on the road since OCt 2004 with a 3 and half yr old - started when she was 14mnths - now have another one one the way but we still have another yr or so to go until she starts school before we stop - have nearly made it around oz, heading up east coast now, We sold everything and started with jayco camper- which we had fun in - it didn't last long - we dragged it everywhere and they a good value for money - try a jayco outback expander - theyd be ok as an option - or a bus with trail bike to go to work/play on -we now have a supreme caravan which is much heavier but easier with the child and aircon up north makes a big difference. we have a patrol 2002 - which is a piece of **it - but we travel everywhere in it and apart from engine rebuild has been great - its set up for travel. we work - both nurses so work is never an issue. just wish we hadmore time and money to work less as there is too much to see and do, its not cheap to travel long term - its the best time of our lives and wouldn't give it up for anything. Just sell up and go - there are a lot of families doing it.

Hi,
4WD Monthly have been doing a story on a couple in thier late 20's with a 3 and 18 mnth old for about the last 4 or more editions. They are doing it to a budget and are reporting thier trip and cost as they go worth a look IMHO.

Col

I know this reply looks long but please read on - we are excited for any family who wants to travel and are only too happy to share as much as we can.

We travelled the whole way around oz for 15 months starting Aug 2004. Started when kids were 4 and almost 2. We were looking for a 2nd hand 4wd and cheap van and ended up buying both new. We are not mechanically minded so the warranty with the Nissan Patrol 3ltr Diesel was peace of mind. We did lease this through our business though and included monthly repayments in our budget. Finding a 2nd hand van to suit a family was almost impossible and sale yards wouldn't even give us the time of day when we walked in, they just had nothing avail. We bought a new Jayco Heritage 24ft bunk van with ensuite and although we had no van towing experience and people thought we were mad for going so big so soon, we found it fantastic and had no problems whatsoever (not even a flat tyre on either vehicle the whole time) . Waiting time for new van was 9 months in the end. Patrol towed the van like a dream. We took particularly good care of the van and did not take it off bitumen very often without checking road conditions. We basically took it from A to B then used the 4wd to do our exploring. We sold in immed. after finishing our trip and only lost $2k. Thoroughly recom the ensuite for kids. We just put kids in shower each night and they were in bed in a couple of mins as opposed to using amens and taking some time. Toilet was very handy when on the road.

We sold our house and invested money. We spent approx $2 - $2 1/2K each month - lived on credit card and paid off each month. See a financial adviser for best plan that suits you. We started off not knowing all the lurks and perks but soon gathered info from other families travelling and our accountant- you can receive all sorts of family/govt assist depending on your annual income - although people might scoff at it it's all legitimate. Fuel prices have increased so your budget will differ. We were very strict with our budget. Made lunches every day, never ate out or got take aways etc. We don't think we missed out though - we travelled to see the country not taste the food. Besides we are very lucky that the BEST things to see and experience in this country are free.

Our 4 year old turned 5 on the way and learned so much and surprisingly our 2 year old remembered much more than we thought he would. He remenbers experiences of things rather than names of places but he still surprises us to this day when he comes out with something that he remenbers from the trip.

There was heaps of work around. I have a trade and could have had work anywhere but anyone we met who wanted to work got it pretty quickly no matter what they were doing.

We had the time of our life and are very eager to do it again. One of our kids is at school now so its makes it more difficult to do anything long term but we will definitely get out there again - hopefully not too far away.

Go for it and enjoy.

"Will our kids benefit from this or is it just for our benefit? "

It's really for your benefit, but don't think the kids won't benefit as there is a side effect to your own happiness as parents and that is evryone (especially kids) around you feel better for your happiness. It is infectious.

My wife and I worked on the road up until my son was 9mths old, he was concieved, born and raised in our 16ft van. There was plenty of issues to iron out in the beginning but after we all got the hang of it, things ran a lot smoother and we now have a very well routined child that we can take anywhere anytime.

Happy trails,
Trevor.

PS the Jeep should drag a decent trailer around the place to start off with and this should keep your initial costs lower also.

If your rug-rats can sit still for long enough, go for it. We have met plenty of others who travel with pre-schoolers. I would not have tackled it with my four, but so long as you plan short drives with stops where they can exercise, it should be OK. I was talking to a lady last week who said they did the big lap with a new born and two year old. The younger was two when they eventually got home, and wanted to go to bed in her bunk in her home - the only one she'd known. They never drove for more than 2 hours without a long stop - usually only 2 hours per day.

I was around two when we went on a cruise on the then state shipping line which brought the supplies to the north west towns of WA in those days. Apart from scaring everyone by climbing to the top of the deck railing to look at the swirling patterns made by the propellers, it was a great experience. I still remember the places we visited, although not as well as i did in my school days. If your take photos of the children in different places, and talk about the trip often when you get home, it will stay in their memories.

Depending on your circumstances, it may be possible to wait until they are primary school age, when they will get more benefit from the experience. You can 'home school' them, and they will learn more than when they are in school.

Hello ingo 57's wife here, i usually dont give my opinion here however we have had a small experience in comparison to what you plan on doing, and just wanted to add my thoughts. We also are a young family myself 27 and in june of this year we travelled with a 22mth old boy thru the center of oz- simpson desert, flinders for 5 weeks in a nissan pathfinder. We are now buying a larger 4wD as it was hard work with everything tightly packed, we had half of backseat out and roof rack and cargo area heavily packed, 40L fridge. We bush camped most of trip- hard work but very rewarding, and also stayed in a few caravan parks and odd hotel to re group, do washingetc. My son now nearly 2 1/2 loves to look back at photos and video footage and its like he remembers it all. I would like to do what you are thinking of doing when my children are a little older so they too can appreciate the experience. We planned for nearly a year before we set off and organised an itinerary so we new where we were going and what to be aware of, most expensive part of our trip was petrol. Trip of a lifetime i do agree, i had never camped until i meet my husband and it has been one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. Wish you the best of luck do your homework and enjoy your journey sounds like fun.

Cheers Kristy