Our departure date is finally set!
We have a date set to begin our Big Lap of Oz, and now it’s time to bust our a** with preparations! From the house, the kids, the equipment, car, caravan, budget, what to pack, researching safety on the road and so much more. Being seasoned short trip travellers, we have a fair idea of general caravanning, but now that we have a date set for our big lap, it changes our view on how to prepare for long term caravanning.
A big adventure calls for big planning, and big planning calls for constantly taking notes, running around many different scenarios in your mind, double and triple checking, researching and damn it doesn’t end!
I’m going to begin small and create a list of what I have come up with that needs to be organised.
The house
As we are not selling the house, nor renting it to strangers, we have far less to organise than travellers who have sold everything, or renting to people that don’t normally live at the home. So we are lucky in that regard. We are, however, going to have the kids stay at the home as we didn’t want our new lifestyle to see them homeless. They don’t want to join us on this epic journey of a lifetime, so at home they stay. They all have their own commitments these days anyway. One is a FIFO worker in the mines and the other 2 are completing construction apprenticeships. I see this as a blessing in disguise and will make the most of them for pet and house sitters!
This isn’t to say there is nothing we need to do around the home before we set off into the sunset. There are things like the garden, the workshop, securing items, insurances and just simplifying everything, minimalizing the chance of things going wrong.
The kids
These young humans in their own minds could live without Mum and Dad, but in reality, there are things they need to learn. I need to teach them the basics of cooking and how to follow a recipe. We need to teach them how to fix simple things like the taps, or the irrigation, how to do the grocery shopping, and all those little things that someone has done for them their whole life. They know how to do general household chores, but there’s always something that I’m doing without even thinking about it. #mumlife
The car
We need to complete the basic service, plus also check things like brakes, fan belts, tyres, cooling system etc. Most things on the car that we wanted to get done, are already done, but there’s just the last couple of things like roof rack, 270 degree batwing awning, attach the recovery treads and get the rear spotlights organised. And probably something I've missed too! #smarttv
The caravan
Again, most of our needs are met in the van through our recent mods and upgrades to suit our short trips, but then there were lithium batteries we had been contemplating purchasing and an internet set up. We also need to complete a wheel bearing check, tyres and monitor for anything that looks like it may need attention sometime soon. It’s far easier to do it at our home workshop than on the side of the road.
Equipment
We need to start thinking of a tool kit, which outdoor furniture is going to be multipurpose, and removing items that we would ordinarily bring with us when it’s more than the 2 of us travelling.
Budget
We will be working to a budget for this adventure. We need to keep this in mind when working out how far we plan to travel each time we move, what foods we can use to keep our shopping bill as low as possible without starving (there goes the plan for plenty of roadies haha) and what type of accommodation we plan to stay in, ie caravan parks, free camping, national parks. #caravanlife
We've spent hours working on a budget system to allow us to input our income, and enter the expenses to help keep peace of mind that we aren't going to blow the budget, and to keep us on the road longer. We even use this at home too, giving us clarity to our money situation and spending habits, and eventually cutting down costs to get us to our adventure date sooner than we had thought! Yay!
What to pack
Our van is always packed, to simplify our jobs before we head off on an adventure. Now that we are driving away indefinitely, there are more things that just pots and pans to consider. From clothing, to first aid items, entertainment, pantry, linen, the list feels endless. Then if that wasn’t enough to think about, we also need to keep in the forefront of our minds the weight and space. We are about to leave our big country property where we have more storage than we could use, to a tiny house on wheels that can’t carry every single creature comfort we have had the luxury of at our finger tips.
Safety while on the road
Let’s be clear, we aren’t just talking things like tyres and potential mechanical issues, we’re also talking free camping and safety while doing so. I’ll be honest and admit I have watched way too many Wolf Creek movies, so the thought of just the 2 of us and our set up alone in a strange place with no other campers, scares the crap out of me. I need to do things like read up on WikiCamps reviews, put the call out over social media for tips on staying safe while free camping, where the best stops are and just reading up on things we can do before we leave to help ease my mind when we hit the road.
It’s a world of organising over the next 2 months, but this has been our future plan for 3 years and we aren’t going to let anything not out of our control stop us.
It’s busy times ahead, but all up from here!
Stay with us while we get organised and update as we make progress.
Follow us while we prepare and make progress towards our new life on the road!
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