The Busy Mum Hub - Half Lap of Aus

A small amount of regret as we try to settle back into the routine with work and school... I know we're only away for a short time (8 weeks) and there are plenty of families that do massive trips, but this is my spin on things after coming back. We had good intentions to do as much school work as we could while away... The first two weeks are school holidays, so they get some time to enjoy the holiday. The third week we did do school work each day and then it got a little later each day and then we started missing days then we only had like 10 days and we'd be home. When we got home, we gave the kids a few days to bum around, then they went back to school on the Thursday and Friday (nice short week to start with) It went well, all their friends were happy to see them back. The first full week back and a few things are starting to become noticeable that they have had almost a full term off. I was getting reports back from school that the kids were a little behind! I hon...

Let's get real about the cost of a trip like this... When I started to process the thought of this trip and how much it was going to cost us. I started to follow FB groups and one thing I found was that no one talked about MONEY, and how much it would cost to travel with a caravan and three kids on a half lap of Australia. So here it is... I've kept every single receipt for the whole eight weeks!! The Caravan - 5 birth   First off, we don't own a caravan - we decided to hire one. I didn't like the thought of buying a 50 to 70,000 caravan for our first trip (what if I didn't like it, what if the kids hated it) and what if we get home and the caravan would sit there and not be used for a while.  So to hire the Van for 9 weeks, it was a total of $6900, $1000 was a bond! Which we didn't get back (we had a few minor things that went wrong and needed to be fixed) which was fine. The petrol - Big Expense Petrol was a BIG one that we didn't budget enou...

Day Fifty-four - Harrington - Colonial Holiday Park Population 2258 Accommodation - $47 per night (30% discount) $141 for three nights 212km Fuel $96.34 Harrington is 15km Northwest of Taree. I used to come on family holidays when I was about 10 with my grandparents. I still remember the shop up the road, the rock wall and the massive hill my brother, Ben and I used to climb every day.  A lot has changed since I've grown up, I reckon it would have to be about 25 years since I've been here and I'm super excited to show the kids and Adam around.  As we roll into town its still very overcast and I'm almost 100% sure it's going to rain for the rest of the day, which is fine. We arrive at the caravan park and check in. The park is almost full and very well maintained. The toilet blocks are new (which is nice). We get the caravan set up and the kids head once again on their bikes to see what the park has to offer. No playground, but the concrete r...

Day Fifty-one - Moonee Beach / Coffs Harbour, NSW Population is 1933 Free camping - Friends Fuel - $92.45 226km Another exciting few days ahead... Michelle and Leigh 😝 R E S T    D A Y  Thank you so much for offering us your driveway for a few nights, along with your bathroom and loo. This will be the third place on our trip that we can just veg out and relax. I first met Michelle over a Zoom (work meeting) each week we would catch up and have small talk about the business and help each other when needed. This soon turned into quirky messages and even exercises together of a morning online. We have since had two trips to Perth (work) and on the last one trip, I got to meet Leigh.  I was keen about having some time with you guys and for Adam to meet you in person. And don't forget the kids 3 + 2 will be a nice mixture.  This is one thing that I really love about embarking on something new! The people that you meet along the way and the ...

Day Forty-nine    -  Lennox Heads Accommodation 2 nights - $76 per night - Powered   Population - 6407 Fuel - $94.60 Lunch - 67.00 176km Lennox Heads was starting to cool down a little, the days are really nice if there wasn't any wind. The nights are great sleeping weather. We are about 500 metres from the beach (So I can still sleep!) The kids loved this park, very spacious and bike friendly. No park to play on, but the office had loads of board games, balls, cards, buckets and spaids for the sand. and Reception was wonderful. Nothing was a bother when the kids went up for stuff. Washing it is (story of my life) $4 per load and I reckon I had four loads to catch up on but didn't use the dryers. The clotheslines next to the washing rooms were in full sun. So I let mother nature do her job. I really love to walk along the beach and just absorb the ocean breeze and the sound of the crashing waves. So off we toddle, the kids with the buckets and spades fr...

Day Forty-Five -  Kirra Beach Tourist Park Accommodation 4 nights - $75 per night - Powered Fuel - $94.60 Lunch - 67.00 176km (as per the previous blog) V 8   S U P E R B O A T S -  This was the only place we had locked in and a date to be somewhere.. Great friends of ours race V8 Superboats and we really wanted to catch up and support them. Cabarita has a caravan park that was closed for renovations, so we are booked in at Kirra Beach Tourist Park, Kirra. This park was really spread out and the Laundry and Toilet blocks are really nice and clean. We have three nights booked, which turned out to be 4, cause we loved this area. Once again the washing is filling up the end of my bed and you know who much I love washing!  The kids are playing at the Mummies Tummy, so this gives me time to get the caravan back into living order. It's amazing how something so little (with 5 humans) can get so untidy and messy... But on the flip side, it doesn't tak...