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-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 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...

Day Forty-Two -  Kin Kin, QLD Population is 764 Free camping two nights Fuel - $122.94  243km  ...Justin and Kerrie... Adam first met Justin at work (Lake Cowal) and soon became really good mates. Justin would come to our house for dinner when in town and Adam would go out to dinner with Justin the next night. This went on for a few years. Justin no longer works for the same company which means they don't get at catch up like that anymore. So when we started planning our trip Adam said that he really wanted to visit.. So we locked it in! They live in the Hinterland on the Sunshine Coast. On an acreage block on top of a hill with magnificent views. Now when I say on a hill, I had no idea the incline was going to be this steap.. as we drive (whilst towing a 27-foot caravan) Adam put the ute into 4WD and I honestly thought that the front wheels of the ute are going to come off the road...  Now I trust Adam with my life! But this makes me feel very uneasy...