question about travelling with kids

Hi,

The subject of travelling with kids has been covered a lot so a search of both the forum and blogs should give you a fair bit of info. The Treks and Places buttons along the top of the forum page will also help with things to see and do. As for free camps, get hold of a copy of Camps 5 (eg from the EO shop) which will give you heaps of options.

Final point - I suggest reversing the direction of your trip; go north up the centre, spend the winter months in the north and follow the spring down along the WA coast. That will also put the wind behind you as you come home across the Nullarbor.

Happy to answer specific questions as they arise.

Cheers,

Val

Heaps of free camps, get hold of Camps Australia Wide,not sure what edition it's up to.

It can get fairly hot up the top, 36 degrees is not unusual at that time of the year.

Can get warm nights too. Make sure you see Karijini National Park, Coral bay, 80 mile beach, Geike Gorge, near Fitzroy Xing, Gregory Nat Park. Big Horse Campground on the Victoria River

So much to see and so little time!

Look after the littlies with plenty of Water, the aircon would be nice in a van when it's really hot. There are plenty of Caravan parks around for power when you need a respite.

Good on you. This will be something you will cherish for the rest of your life. With your kids 24/7 is going to give your family a bond many will never achieve. It may just be the start of a much longer experience.
We travelled often with our kids who are now 19 & 21, though for much shorter durations than you are planning and they still want to travel with us.
Only advice I can offer is to keep it simple & go for it.
Happy travels

As stated go up the centre first then come down the west in the wildflower season


Once seen never forgotten Also the weather and wind is more favourable going that way

my tips for central australia

if you go to yulara and go back via kings canyon, stop at kings kreek station instead of kings canyon resort, its just a much nicer place. we have done the kings canyon walk with our kids aged at the time 9 months and 4 it might seem daunting from the bottom but its well worth it.

ellery creek big hole is a lovely easy stop in the west macdonnell ranges.

rainbow valley is easy and lovely, there is camping there but its kind of public with many people visiting. standley chasm is likewise a lovely easy walk and worth a look.

in alice springs the desert park is lovely at any time of year, the reptilehouse is kind of cool in a small town kind of way. there is a lovely playground on gosse st if youre looking for a spot to stop and play. heavy tree gap resort has beautiful rock wallabies that come down the escarpment in the late afternoon, you can buy a bag of wallaby feed for $1 at the reception, you dont need to be staying there. its great for kids. the telegraph station is also good for a picnic.

back up katherine way, edith falls is stunning, one of my favourite places. the walk to the upper falls is well worth it. canoeing at katherine gorge is fun if youre there at the right time of year.

I dont know anything about free camping sorry, someone reccomended Jan Hollands book for camping north WA for my upcoming trip and it is excellent, she has an NT one as well so if I were in your shoes Id be having a look at those.

have a wonderful trip, we are planning on our first real camping trip with our kids this June so I share your excitement. dont know whay we got scared off for so long.

In 2008 we took off for 6 months with our 2 kids, then aged 6 & 9. Having had 2 wind-up campers (Jayco Songbird and Windsor Sunwagon) we bought a Trak Shak camper trailer. We wanted to be able to go anywhere and be self-sefficient when needed. The Trak Shak is large when opened and ours can carry 7 jerry cans, a 9KG gas bottle and has the storage of a 7 x 4 trailer underneath the bedding.

Having experienced dust issues with our previous wind-up campers, we wanted one that was dust-proof without resorting to taping seals and covering up vents. We also have a 100amp/hr battery attached to a smart charger and we carried a little Honda gennie to recharge when staying for more than 3 days.

Our set-up performed just as we wanted but there's always pros and cons whichever way you go. Our set-up took longer than families pulling up in caravans but we had a well-oiled routine and we just got on with it. If it was an overnight stay we had a minimal set-up that would be take around 10 minutes and when staying a few days we got more out and this would take up to half an hour. It allowed us into some rugged places where caravans wouldn't venture (or weren't allowed) and was easier to tow as well.

Some negatives - as we headed south, morning moisture on the canvas meant waiting for the sun to dry it off and/or drying it off with a towel. This became a pain in the butt after a while and we looked in envy at caravans just closing and going!

Also sitting on the ground meant scouring for a nice big flat piece of ground and digging little gutters around it when the rain came - not an issue with wind-up campers or caravans.

In the car we invested in a DVD player with 2 7inch screens that attached behind our headrests. On our longer travel days we used these. Although we already had window tint (a must-have for kids we believe) we also had some windows socks for whoever was stuck with the sun.

We carried 2 fridges, one in the back of the car and the other in the camper. The car fridge carried mainly lunch food (salads, meat, butter and bread) while the camper fridge had more dinner and long term items.

I'll leave it there because I could go on and on! We were happy with our choice to go camper but this suited us and the age of our kids who had their little jobs to do when setting/packing up. Feel free to ask any questions.

Cheers,

Mark.

Either option has its advantages. A camper trailer takes longer to set up for short stays but gives more room when set up and is easier to tow especially if you want to get off the main roads. Our biggest reason for getting out of tent style rigs was the desirability of full insect screening! Outdoor cooking with the flies can be ghastly and mosquitoes and sandflies can make everyone miserable - especially small children. A van would be better in wet weather - packing canvas in the rain is not much fun, especially as your children are a bit young to help much. A van is well off the ground and away from creepy crawlies. You could take a portable BBQ for outdoor cooking when appropriate.
We also suggest being north for winter and enjoy the WA widflowers in spring.
Enjoy your planning. Lynne

Lots of good tips here. Have a look at our blog if you feel like it. We spent 6 Months on our trip so there are a few options for you.

I would agree with reversing the trip though as it is just to hot up the top otherwise. It was 37 over Easter at Cape Leveque

http://steveandviv.blogspot.com/

Thankyou so much for your replys. Have decided to reverse the trip as per your recommendations. Your suggestions & ideas have been excellent to read and have given us more to think about. Becoming excited as we look at our options & read of your travels. Enjoyed your blog viv. Mark - would be interested in taking a look at yours also if you could post the link to it. Thanks again for sharing your ideas.

Thankyou
Candy