~Road Trips are as much about the journey as the destination ~

My love of travelling Australia started with road trips as a child to visit relatives in Far North Queensland.  Back in the 70’s we would load up the Morris Marina; Mum, Dad, 2 kids and a dog and drive from point A to point B in as short a time as was possible.  To while away the hours we would listen to cassettes, read books and try to snap a few photos with the Kodak instamatic as sights whizzed by. We would stay in caravan parks in on-site vans or cabins overnight, then get up early and hit the road again.

As an adult there were camping and fishing trips with friends to Scott Bay on the far west coast of SA. At over 900kms from Adelaide it was about as rugged and wild camping as you could get. Here we would pitch tents and camp behind massive sand dunes, out in the elements for a fortnight or so, only occasionally seeing another soul.

This was in the early 80’s when there were no caravan parks or accommodation anywhere near and the closest shop was at Penong, over an hour away.  Needless to say we carried everything, food, drinks, water, firewood and motorbikes in our convoy.   Some hilarious stories and strong friendships were forged from these escapades.

Later with our own children we wanted them to experience the fun and adventure of camping and have the chance to appreciate the magnificent Australian landscape.  So we took our camper trailer and 2 children on a 7 week trip to Darwin and Central Australia in 2003.

We were all lucky enough to experience the tropical city of Darwin, ventured into Arnhem Land, saw Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks, camped in Gorges in the West Macdonnell Ranges (listening to dingoes howl at night), drove the Mereenie Loop Road through aboriginal lands, camped at Kings Canyon and trekked the rim walk, and visited Uluru and Kata Tjuta.

From there we returned to the Stuart Highway before detouring again on the Oodnadatta Track, staying at William Creek and seeing water in Lake Eyre south.

Since then there have been beach camping trips to the Coorong and holidays at favourite caravan parks in South Australia.  There has been a progression of pre-loved caravans too from a 1974 Viscount to a 1976 Avondale, 1978 Franklin Arrow and then a big leap forward to a 2007 24 foot Jayco Sterling.

Late in 2019 we upgraded again to our newest van, (but still second hand) a 2016 22 foot Jayco Silverline. Very swish but with the same layout we’ve always loved about the Jayco Caravans.

My husband and I have travelled along the east coast of Australia, hugged the coast road around Western Australia, travelled extensively through central Australia, wound our way along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria and crisscrossed a lot of South Australia.

Plenty of trips are still planned both in caravan parks and free camping, anywhere from long weekends to weeks or even months on the road.  Visit my News- Blog page to see the latest.

Cheers Glenys