The Busy Mum Hub - Half Lap of Aus

How we saved with a family of 5... A lot of people have been asking me how did I afford or save for this trip, seems people like talking about money so I'm going to fill a few blanks in with the $$ and please let me know if I can help with anything. For about 12 months Adam (my adorable husband) has been NAGGING me to commit to this trip! Think I'm joking... I'm not! So after month and months of small fights, I finally caved after he said: "If you don't want to go, ill go by myself!" Selfish hey... Rewind... November 17 (OK OK ILL GO) Now to work out how we are going to afford this trip! So we both have really good jobs but as a normal Australian family we have overheads right, and they won't be going anytime soon. We sit down every couple of months a talk about our finances. So we had a rough idea how much we could scrape by with and for how long to be about to save  $10 000. Now, I don't know any normal working family that can save...

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 Thirty -  Atherton Tablelands Big4 Atherton Woodlands Tourist Park - $68 per night - Powered site - 1 night Fuel - $63.51 Reserve Diesel 40 litres 613 km  We get up today with no rush, no time frame, no plans which was the whole point of this trip.  We haven't pre-booked any accommodation ahead of time. We mostly sit down at night when the kids go to bed and work out what tomorrow plans will be, where we want to pull up and what we want to check out along the way.  Today was an interesting one as I sat in the co-pilot seat (and feed the driver, very important job) I watched the surrounds change from dry desert to beautiful lush forests as we came into the Atherton Tablelands. The temp dropped from 32 to about 16 degrees. Now, not booking ahead of time can be a pain in the bum, Cause sometimes I have to spend half an hour or so ringing around trying to find somewhere that will fit a 27-foot caravan. This seems like a small task!! ...

Day Twenty-six – Attack Creek Camping Area Karumba Free camping ground Fuel - $270.25 - three fuel stops 863km We head off about 7.30am so that Brooke and co can head to work and school. Now we have a massive three or four days coming up with a trip across the Barkley highway to Cloncurry Qld, then the Matilda Way to Normanton before crossing the Gulf Development road to Cairns This trip will be 2735.9km = 30 hours of driving in a ute, towing a caravan, three kids with iPads. The first day we manage to get as far as ‘Attack Creek Camping Area’ at 9.30pm. This little overnight stop off was full but we managed to get a spot that was right on the highway, we are all buggered and don’t need much rocking tonight. On the way, we did have three fuel stops, two coffee breaks, Grocery shop, lunch stop, Mataranka swim for an hour, afternoon tea stop, a dinner stop. So, this was a really well broken day with travelling, Kids were so good! Day Twenty-seven –  ...

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...

Today's the day.... This is the only bit that I haven't been looking forward to! GRANDMA (my mum) - She is the best mum ever, we wouldn't be where we are today without her help each and every day. From dropping our kidlets to school, pickups, after-school activities, weekend sports, loads of sleepovers, movie dates and the list goes on...    You name it shes there cheering them on. No.1 has been saying for weeks (maybe even months) that she doesn't want to go on this trip, not the trip its self but what’s she’s leaving behind. If you know me and my family, you would know why.. For those of you that don’t know us personally, the WHY is that she is not wanting to miss out on school, sports and most of all Gma 💜 The girls stayed at mum's last night (for the last sleepover for a while) which humbles me that they have the greatest connection with there grandparents. Cause some people don’t have this! Dinner at Beck and Richards was fantastic. I’m not sure...