That’s a wrap

3 years, 95 000kms and roughly $225,000 later, we are back to where it all begun, invading Lyn and Gary’s house.

We set off in Jan 2021 with $70 000 in the bank, our house paid off and a nice sturdy income of $650 a week in rent money. We had set ourselves a budget of $1000 a week. Not long into the trip we realised this may not be enough. Some weeks cost more with fuel, food, accommodation and unexpected costs like car parts, van parts and of course fishing gear. The first two years, we were more cautious with our funds. We didn’t miss doing anything we wanted to do, but saved by cooking nearly all our meals and not buying coffees and drinks while on the road. Our third year coast us a little more! It was our last year on the road, we started buying more takeaway and going out to dinner, then when we hit Babinda daily coffees and chai from our fav spot Zennas. We bought a $40 000 boat to explore the reef and a $5000 motor bike for the kids to zip around on. Two things we will never regret purchasing as they made our last 6 months some of the most memorable months out of the three years we traveled.

We have come home owing $100 000 and can’t wait to start saving for our next adventure.

Over the three years, we made it to every state and territory except Tasmania. As much as we wanted to explore Tassie, we just couldn’t bare to leave the hot tropical weather we had become so accustomed to.

Everyone had their favourite places, over the years we visited them frequently. Lachie loved Perlubie Beach and Babinda. Perlubie appealed to his car boat obsession. It was the perfect place to play and swim the days away. Babinda was a home away from home. Jared taught Lachie many new skills, most of them involved driving. Driving tractors, driving cars, driving excavators and driving boats! This is where we also discovered that Lachie loves hunting.

Braxy loves guns, he could not wait until the Queensland leg of our trip to hit up the gel blaster stores. Getting himself a nice collection of guns. He also loved using the real gun on Jared’s property to shoot targets. Something I never thought Brax would enjoy was hunting, but after the first deer was shot he surprised us all. He even helped to clean and butcher a number of deer over the time we were there. After our first trip to the Franklin Islands, in 2022 with Jared, Brax discovered a passion for spear fishing. Everywhere we went he was always eager to get in the water for a spear. Seeing the excitement and joy on his face when he caught his first fish was priceless. He then cleaned, cooked and ate it right there on the boat!

Brett loved anywhere he could catch big fish! Lee and Jenny’s on the Daly River making it to the top of the list. Cactus coming in right up there for surfing and great mates. There is no doubt in my mind that his overall favourite place was Babinda. Getting to stay on one of his best mates property for 6 months, boating, hunting, exploring hanging out, relaxing and having cook ups is something none of us will ever forget.

I discovered a new passion, fossicking! Something I had never thought about doing. Lachlan had wanted to find a real gemstone on our trip, so I begin researching. After our first trip to Mud Tank to find zircons, I was hooked. A real contrast to my other favourite activity, of snorkeling. Hence, many of my favourite places were on the reef, where I could swim with the turtles and relax in the sun.

It wasn’t long into our trip that we adopted the Moto ‘no regrets’ . We didn’t want to miss a thing. Often when the kids were unsure of whether to join in activity or when we were deciding where to go next we would say ‘ no regrets’. This Moto meant we ended up doing lots of things outside our comfort zone like climbing the Gloucester Tree in WA, getting in the deep dark waters of Coral Bay to try and find manta rays, hunting and butchering our own meat, jumping in the water with seal lions, getting up close and personal with cuttlefish fish while they are doing the dirty, jumping in a random possible unstable holes to mine gems, fish treacherous waters in search of the big one…. I could go on and on.

Some of the best memories, over the last three years were ones that were not photographed. The four of us snuggled up in bed together watching movies, games around the campfire, laughing, being silly, cooking meals together, lots of different chats, schooling the kids and just spending time together as a family.

Our trip was made even more special because, we got to spend so much time with our extended family. Our first year we had an amazing time traveling with Kat, Shaun and the kids. When we separated permanently at Perlubie in Feb of 2022 we were devastated and it took some time for us all adjust to being on our own. In 2021, we were also luckily enough to spend time in Port Headland with Mel, Joel and Taj. Invading their house, seeing baby turtles hatch and then spending a month together traveling down the coast. Port Headland was also where we meet up with Lyn and Gary. A family reunion and a family trip to 80mile. After traveling on our own for nearly 6 months, it was time to catch up my mum and dad. They drove out to Cactus in May of 2022 to meet us and 2 extremely excited grandkids. We got to spend the next 3 months exploring SA and the NT together. Then meeting up again in Queensland in 2023. Sometimes the unplanned adventures work out the best, we could never have planned a trip around Australia meeting up with nearly all our family over the three years, but somehow it all just worked out and fell into place.

Now that we are home, we will need to get use to a few things like, wearing a bra, people, schedules and setting alarms. But, one thing we won’t stop doing while we are home is making memories.Read more