It sounds simple doesn’t it, but now we realise that we’ve gone 3½ times around the equator.
In these Covid times I know a lot of people are thinking about caravanning and whether it is a travel option for them and I would say yes.
We’ve just chalked up 142,696Kms towing the van, well 2 vans to be precise.
That’s 3 cars and 2 caravans. The first car, a Ford Territory towed a Windsor Pop Top. We were newly retired and didn’t know if we’d like caravanning back then, so it was a cheap and affordable way to try it out. We liked it from the get go but wanted a bathroom so pretty soon there was a Grant Tourer 19’ caravan in the driveway and being larger and heavier the car had to be upgraded to a gutsier Jeep Commander. In time the Jeep was replaced with another Jeep this time a Cherokee.
In over 8½ years there have been 57 caravan trips, 1216 days and 1160 nights in 348 places and for those with a pecuniary interest our accommodation cost averages out to $21.59 per night and fuel costs $23.12 per day. That’s pretty damned cheap when you consider the fun we’ve had. Sometimes we free camp, sometimes we stay in the best caravan park or anywhere else in between. We prefer to choose whichever is best suited for the particular area. Therefore, it could be a National Park, a farm stay or the backyard of a pub. There’ve been bowling clubs, truck stops, showgrounds, boat ramps, railway stations, a monastery, a bewildering number of roadside rest areas (some quiet but most noisy), outback roadhouses, a back street in the town of Home Hill, Qld, a gun club, Brown Bros winery, a scout camp, a boat club, a skate park, we’ve even slept on a tennis court! We had no problems with levels there.
We’ve had a variety of animals, kangaroos, emus, cows, sheep and chooks knock on our door. We’ve even had a cow lead us to an outback pub!
We’ve camped beside lakes and beaches, waterfalls and rivers. In deserts and rainforests and on clifftops, amongst rabbit burrows and gravel pits and loved every minute of it, though the view wasn’t all that great at the gravel pit. We’ve swum under waterfalls, walked miles, broken bones, torn muscles and worn out our shoes. When we set out on this crazy adventure we also made a point of visiting interesting pubs whenever we could. We’ve now been to 210 iconic bush pubs and a few city ones, we’re still counting…
If you want to go caravanning, do your research (‘cos that’s seriously important) then hit the road. You’ll never want to stay in a 5 star hotel again!
itchingforhitching 
OMG you guys are my heroes. I’m a new camper having just begun to do baby trip since 2018. As a solo traveller I’m also into research first but being flexible with plans. Covid has forced us all to have to be awaee of travel changes that we have no control over.
Thank you for doing your blog. It has been a real bonus to share your travels.
Stay safe. Love and best wishes. Margaret M
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Thanks for your kind words Margaret. In this caper plans will often go astray, floods, fires, illness, gear failures, road closures but this pandemic certainly threw things out of whack. I believe the fun of it all though is that we never stop making mistakes and we never stop learning. How fortunate we are to have the time to travel this beautiful country of ours. Enjoy it all and keep up the blogging.
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Never a truer word. I’m having some technical glitches at the moment with my site. Hope I’ll get it up to your standard one day. It is more work than I expected but I’m doing it for friends who don’t use Facebook. 🤣
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It’s well worth the effort.
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That’s amazing – when you see all those red dots… WOW!
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Almost frightening isn’t it. I only wish there were more up the middle but after 3 misadventures I think the Stuart Highway has it in for us!
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There was a little green dot that sent me googling for quite some time – King Island in Bass Strait. I had never heard of it – and have subsequently read all about it. Obviously you didn’t drive there, but it looks like the kind of place I’d like to live!
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A fascinating island that the sailing ships often ran into…by mistake. Very windy.
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Brilliant analysis and summary. Now the question is – especially in these times – how many more kms and interesting places to stay are there going to be?
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Oh Wendy, that’s the million $ question. It all depends on health now, ours and faithful Priscilla. Though I did cross my fingers when someone mentioned Boulia at HH the other night.
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I understand all too well…..Driver’s health saw us switch from van to motorhome, and now just sold the latter. Hopefully some car based travel still, but – given the cost of accommodation – short trips!
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And they’re all putting their prices up at the moment. Seems everyone wants to make up for last year.
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Congratulations on your travels and also taking us along for the ride.
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Cheers John glad you enjoyed it.
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Are you getting itchy feet again now?
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Always…..
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What an advocacy. Well done
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Thanks Derrick.
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Wow. Thanks for sharing all your journeys with us.
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Thanks Peter it’s surprising how quickly the k’s mount up.
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Wonderful 👏
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Bring on the red dirt!
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What a fabulous endorsement to camping and caravanning. You too are like the Leyland couple of the modern era. Awesome post and one I can fully relate to! Keep enjoying. 😊
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We’ll pass the baton to you guys when you retire.😉
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Done!
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You are so fortunate to have so many places to visit! Here in Canada it is too cold to do any kind of camping for about half of the year and with Covid we can’t drive across the border into the United States (where many Canadians spend the winter!)
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Sometimes though it is a juggling act trying to avoid the hot wet in the north and the searing hot dry in the south in our summer. I often watch the weather map and wonder how you guys can tolerate the cold. We get cranky if the temperature gets below 15c! Take care and stay warm Margy.
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