When I look back at our second trip around Australia in 1991, I am both amazed and horrified.
It took us 6 weeks as we had work to get back to.
It cost us around $6k all up.
We thought that a caravan park with green grass was 5 star.
One tent for us, a small tent for the kids.
Tourist activities were mostly confined to those that didn't charge :)
Food was basic, but occasionally we "splurged" on a meal (with kids its hard not to)
We had a motel room around every 4 days on average.
There was a lot that we didn't see, a lot that we didn't do. But back then tourists were still almost a rarity in many
places. Plane flights over the Bungles ? Fishing charter in
Broome? Dream on!
I worried constantly about mechanical breakdowns, especially when we were on the other side of Australia. It was so far away, and so expensive to get
home by commercial means.
My series 60 had 275000km when we started!
We had little in the way of epirbs and satphones etc.. so we stayed mainly on the tar.
Fuel costs were seen as high. One place in WA charged us 73cents a litre of diesel!!!
We joined the Big 4 caravan parks mob because we knew that they didn't have any houses of horror.
We slept in the car on a few occasions, not for economics but because we got in so late.
The air con broke down in the north of WA. So who said superheated air pushed up your nostrils from the window vents is bad for you?
Oh and no fridge.
The tyres were retreads. One flat in the main street of
Albany.
We never felt that our security was threatened at any time.
We must have been ruuly poor..nobody pinched anything from us.
I have vivid memories of watching black and white TV(6" screen) on the car bonnet in
Perth, while fiddling with a wire (!) aerial. But it seemed pretty civilized at the time.
Both my kids grew up with the travel bug. Son is now planning a 12 month trip o/s, daughter has been o/s about 4 times. Both still remember their times going around Oz with a great deal of pleasure.
I'm amazed that we did it. Actually we did it twice, (but that's another yarn).
And in retrospect, I'm horrified. Not even a camper trailer, no sat TV, little emergency gear,nowhere like exploroz to get advice, we went by guess and by God. How did my kids exist without Maccas and DVD machines to keep em quiet?
Would I do it again? I'll let you be the judge of that!