Two Months on the Road

Stops: 18

States: 3. Although 4 technically with Jervis Bay being part of ACT

Kms travelled: 4457km

Longest Time on the Road: 8.5 hours (Eildon to Sydney)

Snakes: 4

Koalas: 2

Bats: 1

Kangaroos: Thousands

Animals we’re chasing after: Echidna and platypus

$ Spend on Repairs – $1,762

Couldn’t live without: Ryder’s Kmart booster camping chair

Favourite Stop: Narooma and Jervis Bay

It feels like we’ve been on the road a lot longer. When we think back to some of our first stops like Byron it feels distant from a holiday long ago. It’s hard to believe that it was only a couple of months ago. I think it’s safe to say that it’s been infinitely harder than what we expected. We have all the trials of a “normal” house life – bills to pay, screaming kids, realizing you have no milk in the fridge at 6:00am with a screaming toddler and you could murder a coffee, the nightly what’s for dinner enigma – just in a super confined space. We’ve added a whole new level to this daily struggle which we didn’t anticipate – with things like how to discipline a headstrong 4-year-old when you have no bedroom to send her to, how annoying sand in a bed can be and the frustration of not having reliable internet reception can make you erupt in anger like a teenager disconnected from the world.

At the same time, we’ve picked up a suite of new skills. After many years of listening to Daniel moan about it, I’ve finally learnt how to cook a meal using one pan and a handful of utensils rather than using the whole kitchen just to make toast. We’ve learnt to navigate the time of day by the unchanging ABC Kids channel schedule. We’ve also perfected the art of cooking on an open fire – actual meat, not just marshmallows.

Without a doubt we’re struggling with being together 24/7 – with the kids; with each other – we’ve never had so much time together before. And of course this was part of the point of doing this trip, it doesn’t mean it’s easy. Three of us (it’s still too early to tell with Ryder) are headstrong with a dash of fiery-ness and a side of limited patience – think Gordon Ramsey in a camper trailer times three. There’s a reason why the work and school for 10 hours a day model is the normal way of life.

Our camper trailer has definitely added quite a lot of fuel to this hardship. Camper trailers in general are a harder rig to set up but it’s the trade off to having something which is so portable and easy to tow. However the problems we’ve been having with the poles and alignment of it are currently adding a huge amount of stress to our “home” life and is actually taking away a lot of our enjoyment out of the experience. We’re going to have to bite the bullet and get it fixed before either Daniel sets it on fire, or it catastrophically breaks while we’re in the middle of nowhere.

This paints a negative picture but I think what I’m trying to say is that doing a Big Lap of Oz is hard work, and is far from a relaxing holiday. There’s more arguments and shouting, and we’re more exhausted on this trip then we were back in our normal life.  I think it’s taken us these two months to really understand how much work it actually is. To the countless other families I’m discovering daily are on the same adventure – I salute you and our simultaneous journeys.

But despite that I wouldn’t trade it back for the Monday – Friday office life for anything (no offence to my wonderful stream of ex-colleagues). The excitement of living a few days ahead at a time, and being able to have the freedom to make our own schedule. The pride in watching our kids grow in confidence and independence. Not to mention the things we’ve seen so far and to know that (almost) every day we’re making memories for all of us. Maybe see what I say in another 2 months.

We celebrated 2 months on the road by getting off the road for a few days of luxury and comfort at Tanja Lagoon Camp. I came across this hidden gem when I was ironically; looking for free camp options in Mimosa Rocks National Park. What was meant to be a freedom camp ended up with us blowing our weekly budget on only 3 nights accommodation but man was it worth it. Tanja Lagoon camp has only 5 self-contained safari glamping tents. Each safari tent comes with a proper bed (bliss!), private bathroom and complete kitchen (double bliss!), soupped-up BBQ, private outdoor deck and fireplace. You can enjoy all of this while overlooking the pink sunset over Tanja Lagoon, with wild kangaroos all around you. A secluded, magical hidden gem of a place.

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We took full advantage of everything on offer. The BBQ and fire were going from sun up to sun down. They had canoes and kayaks which you could use for free and the owner had kindly set up a four person canoe for us to take the kids out – it was basically 2 regular canoes which had been hand crafted with a wooden table in the middle to join them together so that it looked reminiscent of a Filipino banca boat. Nonetheless I was very happy to see that I wouldn’t have to paddle my own canoe. We packed a picnic and headed out for the day. We paddled down the windy Tanja Lagoon and out to Middle Lagoon. We got out and explored Middle Beach and its intriguing rocks. The rocks of Mimosa have distinctive castle-like features that are the result of intricate folds and faults occurring in the rock. We got back in the canoe and paddled around the Sandy Creek Island, with Daniel occasionally dropping a line in. As we were there canoeing and fishing on the lagoon – sun shining, kids behaving, listening to Flower Duet and Phantom of the Opera on the iPad, drinks in hand – life was perfect.

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Afterwards we checked out the nearby Bithry Inlet which is a wonderful swimming spot for kids. Completely sheltered from the waves a few hundred meters out, with knee deep shallow, clear turquoise water. Our stay at Tanja Lagoon was absolutely perfect. We loved every minute and were able to properly recharge our batteries.

I would have loved to explore more of the area and Mimosa Rocks National Park but we continued a little further down the coast to Eden. We’ve known from the beginning that we’d have to be back in Sydney by Easter as I had a project in Europe for a week. It was also perfect timing for us to avoid the school holiday and Easter prices and availability (or lack thereof) by being able to stay at Mum’s once again. It just meant by this stage we were back up against the clock to try and complete the coastal road down to Melbourne so that after our time in Sydney was done, we could just go straight down inland and cover new areas without missing any of the coast.

We spent 3 nights at Discovery Parks Eden and honestly didn’t do much. The park had a fantastic play area and heated spa pool, and best of all had beachfront access to Twofold Bay so we spent each afternoon there watching the sun go down. We had an ensuite site which was next door to the kitchen and TV lounge so it felt a little bit like we had a house again. Beyond a trip to the Killer Whale Museum we just chilled out at the park and enjoyed the facilities. I got caught up on our travel plans taking us back to Sydney, washing and work. We all had a bit of a cold – of course, Daniel was suffering the most. He’s now gone 3 weeks without smoking, which combined with man flu was just disaster waiting to happen. Thankfully we all survived.

I was excited about our next stop – Bittangabee Bay. I was excited because the location looked beyond stunning (which it was), but moreso because it was our first freedom camp. I’ve been itching to start avoiding caravan parks for both cost and experience so I was keen to see how we’d go. Bittangabee was the perfect place to start with. Each site was fenced off so you had your own private space, and each had their own fire pit. No showers but clean drop toilets and water tanks. Getting there was an adventure down an 18km unsealed road. We simplified our set up with just the awning but not setting up the full annexe and having all the storage tubs inside the camper and having more things stored in the car. Was so much quicker and easier.

We cooked steaks and snags on the open fire, we roasted marshmallows, navigated by torchlight and bathed out of a bucket with boiled water to warm it up. This is exactly the experience that I wanted. We didn’t end up needing the power as much as I thought we would – our lights and devices could all be charged through the car as we went out exploring or through our solar USB charger. Bittangabee Bay is beautiful and is a fantastic spot for snorkeling. Daniel and Kaia did some fishing off the rocks while Ryder and I splashed about on the beach. Bittangabee is part of the 30km Light to Light Walk and while we didn’t attempt the full thing we did a short part of the hike towards Hegartys Bay going down to smaller and more secluded swimming spots.

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We met some wonderful families and kids at this campground who took Kaia under their wing. They were much older kids but bless her she held her own in activities and keeping up with them. She was out until 11:00pm with them running around the woods playing games with torchlights. She had the best night of the trip so far with these kids. The next day she had what can only be likened to a 4-year-old with a hangover. It gave us a nice little glimpse into the future.

As we found out, the park is abundant in wildlife with possums, kangaroos and wallabies making nightly appearances. However it was another animal which made a much more lasting impression on us. On our last night we were woken by an animal flapping noise at about 5am. Half asleep we assumed it was a possum on the roof of the camper but as we woke up more we realized it was something inside the camper. Daniel reached for the flashlight and discovered there was a bat flying around the camper. Yes, a bat. For the next hour Daniel and I sat on our bed holding the curtains to the bed end closed, quivering in fear and debating what we should do and who should do it. After playing the “you’re the man card” I made Daniel jump out and open the camper door hoping it would fly out. When that didn’t happen, he very resourcefully reached for the fishing rod to try and poke it out. We must have looked like absolute idiots chasing around a bat with a fishing rod while quivering in fear behind curtains. By this time the sun was up as were the kids. As I later found out, microbats in campers is quite common – there are Facebook camping groups where this is a regular topic. Apparently they fly in at dusk as you’re opening the door so quickly that you don’t notice them, and then hide out until the early hours of the morning. There are some stories on the Facebook group of people waking up to find a whole group of bats flying around their camper – we definitely could not handle that.

After this it was all just about covering ground. It was a series of 1 night stop offs taking us back up to Sydney. We stopped at Lake Tyres where we treated ourselves to a fantastic pub dinner, followed by Eildon where our campsite was right on the most gorgeous river I’ve seen outside of New Zealand. While we covered distance we didn’t get to see or explore anything in the areas we were staying at but it gave us a good flavor of the areas we wanted to come back to on the way back down.

As we were coming back into Sydney I saw a good photo opportunity which showed the other side to doing a Big Lap of Oz. Its not all Instagram perfect photos and places – it’s also a filthy windscreen, toiletries thrown in the front of the car and driving until the sunset meets the moon.