We Did It!

We Did It!

Three weeks ago (I can't believe how long it took me to finish this post!) we drove away from Brisbane for adventures unknown! It wasn't completely smooth sailing. There were a few hurdles thrown at us in the week before we left – mechanical and financial. Andrew was brilliant. He just kept on pushing through, tackling each new problem as it arose, with his eye firmly fixed on the goal: getting on the road. For a few days it seemed the answer to the kids' question “When are we leaving?” was always “Tomorrow, we hope” … but finally, we did it!

I wrote this at our third camp – Mullumbimby Leagues Club. Our set up and pack up seems fairly slow, but we are not unhappy with it. It seems to be working well to have 3-4 nights per stop so that we don't feel like we are endlessly packing up and moving. Our first two camps were at Caravan Parks:

Nobby Beach Holiday Village, Miami, Gold Coast – for Zhelaenah's birthday.

It was a great camp. On the second day Andrew and I had this awesome moment when we looked at each other with big smiles on our faces and realised this is it! The kids were happy, they'd been swimming, we were relaxed. Life was good. Could this really be what life is going to be like now?….. yes, yes it is! We know that there will be ups and downs, but we are happy with our decision. The kids loved the big waterslide at this park and we loved the easy access to the toilet blocks and the instant boiling water at the nearby camp kitchen.
 

Ebony's thoughts on Nobby Beach: So far we have gone on the waterslide, swam in the kids pool and the big pool. I have made some friends – Jess and Lachie. We live close to each other. We have been having lots of fun and we have been playing on the big koala . Tonight from 7-8pm we are going to swim in the pool! It stays open that late and glows blue at night! We have been doing new types of washing. We put our clothes in a little bag and put in soap and hot water and swish it all around for a few minutes and then we get clean clothes. …. and the toilets are really close to us and we have been having an awesome time. We have been having fun at this water park. Next we are going to go to Sam's birthday and there is going to be a water park there too and there will be a couple of more things than just a water slide. I hope all the people in my class will have a fun year. I want to give good luck to my class and have a happy year.

Zhelaenah's thoughts on Nobby Beach: I have been having fun. The best bit so far has been going down the waterslide. My favourite way to go down the slide is superhero – which means you go down on your belly with your hands out in front of you. I like it because you get to see all the curves in the slide and when you land in the water you go forwards. The worst thing on the slide so far was going backwards because you don't know when you are going to go into the water and you don't know when to take a breath or not. We have also been riding our bike around the caravan park and we haven't been doing as much work as we have to do at school.

North Star Big 4, Hastings Point, Northern NSW – for Sam's birthday.

This place is definitely in the class of a resort. The water park was a big hit with the kids.

We had a lovely afternoon eating fish and chips on the headland for Sam's birthday and had a lovely swim in the creek that flows into the ocean (the surf was dangerously big during our stay).

Interestingly, the Big 4 campground with its synthetic grass and perfectly laid out campsites is the only place we have had a problem with nuisance animals (bush turkeys and some sort of rodent).

Sam's thoughts on North Star: At North Star the campsites looked fake because there was an air-con unit blasting at us from a cabin that was at the back of our site, there was fake grass and there was only palm trees around us. The water slides were not as fast or as big as Nobby Beach so sometimes you stopped or slowed down instead of speeding up. The good thing about North Star is that it had a splashy water park. The indoor playground was good, but it was really hot inside. The arcade was awesome but I wasted $10 on the claw. I did win a teddy bear though.

For my birthday we had fish and chips for dinner and then a giant dessert bar. Mum took me to the shop and I got to choose yummy food for the dessert bar. We had Mint Choc Balls, Maltesers, Killer Pythons, Waffles, Ice Cream, Grape Licorice and Double Choc Chip Cookies! Mum decorated the 2L tub of ice cream with lollies for my birthday cake.

We went to the beach and Kaidon was playing in the sand near the dunes. A big wave came all the way up the beach and washed him back 3 metres. He was scared and then he wouldn't go near the waves for ages.

Mullumbimby Leagues Club Campground, Northern NSW

We had splurged on fancy caravan parks for the kids' birthdays so we chose this camp to take the pressure off the budget. It's $35/night here, compared to about $80/night for the others. Unfortunately for us most campsites and caravan parks charge extra per child which really adds to the overall cost for us! There is a Facebook site I have found that is dedicated to promoting campsites where kids stay for free and keeps a list from each state.

It has been raining ever since we arrived here which has kept us more confined to the camper-trailer than we would like.

 We were planning to use Mullumbimby as a base for going to the beach and lighthouse at Byron Bay but we have not done that yet. Yesterday we met our lovely ex-GSS friends Mel, Stella and Rocco in Brunswick Heads for a play in the park. It was great to catch up with them.

We are keeping a careful eye on the weather and the river that is right behind our camp. We had a lot of rain last night and more is predicted. We don't want any surprise aquatic adventures in the middle of the night!

We move on to our next camp tomorrow. I'm proud of us. We made it. We are doing this life!

Love to you all,

Andrew, Laura, Sam, Zhelaenah, Ebony and Kaidon.

The catalyst

Sometimes something small happens that becomes a catalyst for great change.

In our early twenties, only a year or two after completing five years of Uni each, my husband and I left our jobs, packed up our worldly belongings and headed overseas with just our backpacks in search of new life experiences.  We travelled parts of Europe and Asia and had an amazing time.

We dreamed that one day, when our kids were 'not too old and not too young' we would travel around Australia with them - giving them a similar experience of life exploring new places, being free to choose your own adventure.  In 2012 we were starting to think about when might be a good time to travel, when we found out we were pregnant with our fourth child.... surprise!!   He had definitely not been part of our life-plan, but we are so completely happy to have him in our life.  With his arrival we put thoughts of travel out of our minds until about 6months ago when my husband was trying to convince me that he 'needed' to spend (lots of) money on an electric skateboard.  His argument went something like....

 "Well, if we are just living in the city working Monday-Friday then you need to spend money on stuff that makes life interesting!  And.., well,.... what ever happened to us travelling around Australia??!"

 ..... and in the craziness of raising four kids, being President of the school P&C, and leading a community choir, I had totally forgotten about our plan to travel.  But his reminder immediately sparked my excitement for the change, the adventure.

Yes!  Sam would be in Year 6 next year - last year of primary school.  I had been planning to re-enter the workforce, probably supply teaching.  I was unsure how I was going to juggle more paid work with my P&C commitments.  Andrew had been at his job for the past six years and was happy- but six years doing the same thing....  We started to think about it more.  It seemed like 2016 would be a great time to go.  But could we do it?  How would we do it?

Then it happened.  The catalyst.

On the 17th of November 2015 we received a letter from our real estate agency.  It contained a Notice to Vacate!  That was it.  The extra motivator we needed, the deal changer (no house to live in!), the sign from the universe.

And then the decision was made. It was time to go.  It felt right.  It didn't matter if Andrew couldn't get leave from work.  It didn't matter how we would afford it.  We were doing it!

Step 1 -  We bought a camper trailer.  A 2004 Cub Spacematic hard-floor camper trailer.  It should be easy enough to set-up and pack-down without too much hassle, and it gives us 20ft of floor space which we are happy with for the size of our family.

And then it felt real!

Step 2 - Tell everybody!  The range of reactions was interesting.  Some people think we are crazy, some people are jealous, people were sad and didn't want us to go, people were excited for us.  I think what makes me a little sad is the large number of people who have said things like "Oh, we've always wanted to do that but..." (there were lots of different buts), or "Wow, you're living my dream".

Step 3 - Spending lots of money to get set up to live on the road.  It is quite different to the basic tent set-up that we used for our long weekend camping trips!  Porta-potti & shower, Solar and battery power, water tanks, kitchen needs etc.

It is all coming together now.  We are walking toward the cliff and are nearly ready to jump off.  Jumping off the cliff of financial security.  Jumping into freedom from the routines of work and the school system.  Jumping into life that is centered on the needs and wants of our family.  Jumping into a different way of life, and are In It Together!