Preparation & getting started

Leaving home
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Preparation

We first thought about taking a year to travel around Australia in about 2004. It was really just a fantasy that may never happen. Work pressure, PL’s school, our house and a busy life with two young girls stood in the way. We often heard the advice “do it while you are young” and then committed ourselves in 2005. Year 5 and 3 for A and M respectively seemed the best timing and this coincided with PL completing her study.

Preparation started about a year beforehand. We needed a new car so why not a Toyota Landcruiser (later kicknamed Leo). We did a 2 week test run on the NSW south coast in January 2005. This confirmed that a tent was not suitable for the big trip and taught me that I had a lot to learn as our new car fridge drained the starter battery and A’s new surf ski fell off the roof rack never to be seen again …

Check our reflection in the 16 wheeler. Look closely
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Next we went to the Camping and Caravan show at Homebush. Camper trailers looked best – many of the comforts of a caravan but more compact and flexible. We ordered a trailer (later nicknamed Leona) in June 2006 and picked it up in September. Again, I had a lot to learn - initially we had to call on one neighbour to reverse the trailer into our tight descending driveway and another neighbour to assist hook up the trailer. These are now second nature.

A and I did a weekend 4WD driving skills and recovery course in Goldburn in November 2005. This was also a good test run with the trailer. In January 2006 we did 2 short trips. The first was a weekend sand driving course at Stockton Beach (the trailer got bogged). The second was a weekend at Barrington Tops which was the first time we had set up the trailer’s awning. This was pretty minimal in terms of preparation but all we could fit in. Also in January, we had the car accessorised for the trip (new suspension, bull bar, winch, driving lights, UHF radio, etc..)

In December 2006 I got a letter from Westpac confirming the terms of my year sabbatical which was agreed verbally about 6 months prior.

In terms of planning our route, we decided to traverse the Island continent in a clockwise direction. The basic plan was to head west then north to follow the warm weather. We had only 2 commitments – Ferry to Tasmania on 4^th February and Womad (World Music Festival in Adelaide) in mid March. The rest we made up on the go.

PL found a family to rent our house and we packed about 100 boxes of stuff in the attic while I simultaneously loaded 5000 songs onto an iPod!

At 10am on 1 February we pulled out of the driveway as the removalist truck stood waiting to pull in.

Getting started

Our first night was spent in comfort at RW & E’s house in the country outside Camden which is only about 100kms from Sydney.

At this stage packing had been a bit hap hazard and the boot was so full that the lock stopped working (once closed it would not open again …). RW, always the boy scout, sorted this out for us and we set off for Victoria.

We stopped at Yass to have a look around. It was hot and extremely dry with drought in full swing. We over-nighted at Albury Wodonga and had a good look around Glenrowen (very tacky/ touristy), where Ned Kelly’s (famous bush ranger) last stand took place over 100 years ago.