Lyndon, Bec and Charlie are taking one year off to explore Australia and are part of our Road Trippers Hall of Fame. Lyndon’s on the blog today to tell us how they got the road tripping bug, how they got started and where they are now!
In 2009 my wife and I came up with a three-year plan to take 2012 off and go and live somewhere new, with France being at the top of the list. But by January 2011 we’d completely changed our minds and decided on doing the ‘Big Lap’ of Australia. We were total newbies to this latest scenario, having only been camping a couple of times with friends, and as inner-city Melburnians basically never did any long-distance driving.
We had to find the answers to fundamental questions such as what sort of 4WD we should buy, and camper trailer versus caravan (we decided on the camper trailer) – thankfully there is such a thing as the internet! The best sources of information online were the blogs and forums where people had written about their travels, which meant we learnt from people’s actual experiences.
We did a lot of research, especially when it came to the camper trailer, as there are so many manufacturers offering so many different varieties of trailers. In the end we settled on the Omeo from Tambo, as their word-of-mouth was great and they have a very good track record. The trailer is an off-road model with loads of storage room and a huge space inside the tent for those wet days and for our nearly 2-year-old son Charlie to play in.
Our most important concern when preparing for such a significant trip was the safety of Charlie. To cover off some of the bases we purchased a satellite phone (thankfully it hasn’t been used so far), we both did a first-aid course and we purchased a very good first-aid kit.
As a further safety measure I also did a 4WD mechanics course, which really taught me a lot about preventative maintenance and I spent another day with that mechanic as his apprentice working on my vehicle. Given this was my first 4WD, I did the course so I could actually understand the capabilities of the car, and I have to say it was all money very well spent.
We picked up our camper trailer with enough time for some test runs. Our first was on the Melbourne Cup weekend, when we headed up to the Murray River with some friends. I’m not sure how long it took to set-up, I think we were too afraid to time ourselves, but we managed it in the end and settled quite nicely into what would soon be our new home. We managed to sneak in two more test runs before we hit the road in the middle of December.
It wasn’t long before we were on the road at last. Our first stop was Moonta on the Yorke Peninsula. My family tagged along, which was a great way to ease into it all, as was learning to fish with a family friend – a skill which has fed us numerous times on the trip already.
At the time of writing this article, we have been on the road for five months and are loving every minute of it. We keep getting asked where our favourite place has been, but we really don’t have an answer as every single day we are blown away by another place we visit. If we had to come up with somewhere though, it’s definitely the Gibb River Road.
But what has truly been a highlight for us are the people that we have met along the way – from a simple 10-minute chat in a campground, to a happy hour under the annex, to bumping into the same people halfway across the country or spending time travelling as a group with people we had just met who were heading in the same direction as us.
If you have any inkling to do such a trip, then plan for it and just do it, from a three-month trip up to an epic 12 months like us. You won’t regret it!
You can find more tales (and photos) of Lyndon, Bec and Charlie’s 1 Year Off on their blog. All photos courtesy of Lyndon Sparrow.
Do you want to be a part of our Road Trippers Hall of Fame?
