The Busy Mum Hub - Half Lap of Aus

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-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 Twenty-one - Darwin, NT Population 101,709 Big4 Howard springs - $78 per night @ 2 nights Supplies - $91.00 91km Howard Spring Fuel - $63.76 As we roll out of Mary River Wilderness Retreat we get closer to Darwin. Now you can’t swim anywhere in Darwin unless its signposted (this is best for your health) even if there is a sign there is always a risk that there may be a croc somewhere. At the end of every wet season, the park rangers do set traps to remove any crocs, do surveys and put extra traps in to prevent crocs coming into these swimming holes. We arrive at Howard Springs early and they were really nice and allowed us to check in, so we get unpacked and head into Darwin. We need food, haircuts a few new pairs of thongs, fuel, and beer, this takes us a few hours then head back to the caravan park for dinner and bedtime. Day Twenty-two – Darwin City… 26km We all head into Darwin and really want to check out the Darwin Military Museum, it will co...

Day Twelve - Leaving the BIG4 Macdonnell Range was Fuel - $111.34 (the night before) Fuel stop - Telegraph Station Barrow Creek    $100.67 289km Now we left The Big 4 knowing that we were going to have a really long trip today. We charged the IPads and had snacks and water on hand ready for the kids. We stopped here and made lunch (hot dogs (kids) salad wraps (us)) Then hit the road again...   Marnie Jane This little run down servo in the middle of no here was a little surprising! as I walked in to pay for the diesel there was not an inch on the walls that didn't have a pic, business card or a small bit of writing in texta. Fuel stop - Bp Station - Tennent Creek $88.89 225km COFFEE BREAK (kids are being so good today with the traveling) Banka Banka Outstation, NT Population - How ever many they have turned up! $20 per night (kids stayed free) 100km Kids received an ice Block on arrival...  Now we have our WikiCamps maps out and we...

Dinner whilst we watch the sun set.. Ghan Day eight -  Marla - Fuel stop Road house Fuel - $84.68 The Old Gravy Pit Population is 0 Free Camping - under the stars 452km The Old Gravy Pit - Stuart Hwy, Ghan We went past a few free camping sites but they didn't have a good view of the sunset, This site wasn't a free camping site on Wikicamps. It was an old gravel pit that was just off the road. No one in sight... We just got set up and another family were pulling in. After dinner we headed down to share their campfire (after being invited) They were a lovely family from Canberra and they are heading to uluru.. followed by Western Australia on a three-month family trip with their three beautiful kids.  Uluru.... Now some people are going to say that we are crazy! But we really didn't want to be on a time frame with this trip. If we love somewhere, we wanted to be able to stay. If we didn't like somewhere, we can pack up and keep going....

Day six -  Coober Pedy Population is 1762 Big 4 Caravan Park - (Powered site) 2 nights - $99 with $11 discount Fuel - $178.35 542km This was the most interesting drive so far, nothing to see but so much to look at! It was a hard day with the kidlets (they weren't in the mood to travel this far and be nice to each other) which was fine, we just made more stops along the way. Finally, the sun was shining and I felt at ease as I just sat and looked out the window soaking up the sun rays, I kept looking at Adam with a smile on my face. One thing that really scared me was the Triple Trailer Road Trains. Holy Dooley!!! I put my foot on the brakes a few times (I was the passenger 😂) Those thing cruise along at a nice speed and the back end just swings around.. As we cruised into Coober Pedy you could tell that we were getting close, Piles of dirt as far as the eye can see (and dust) the Big 4 was the first turn off as we came into town, a nice 18 degrees. We get sorted and...

Day one -  Narrandera, NSW Population is 3746. Free camping.. Fuel - $122.94 243km Let's just say that it was really cold, raining and not a nice afternoon, the heater was nice inside and it gave me a chance to cook some scones. Camping on the Murrumbidgee River would have been beautiful if it was summer and we had the boat for fishing etc.. Dinner was cheese on toast with a side of chocolate for dessert 😊 The kids took a really long time to settle down and get to sleep, but it is the first night. Day two -  Mildura, VIC Population over 60,000 All Seasons Caravan Park.. $58 for one night (powered site) Total = $116 Fuel - $99.30 473km Its early and Emmett wakes up (not as early as he normally is at home) jumps on the bed to wake us up. We already had Marnie squished in cause she had a bad dream at 4am. Now, this bed isn't as big as our bed at home (we live in luxury, King size) We wanted to do something fun with the kids today. So we found Roller ska...