It all started in January 2020, with the unexpected sale of our Sunshine Coast home of 16 years. Our girls were in kindy and the window for travel opened before the school term kicked off. That, coupled with a long-held desire to see Western Australia and everything in between, made us think what better way to do it than on our own epic lap of Australia taking the back roads!
We hadn’t been this adventurous since late 2010, when we had rented out our home and moved to London for what would become four years of adventure abroad.
We had notched up 45 countries travelled in the process before returning home, bouncing between Cairns, Mildura, Gosford, and Bundaberg before finally returning home to the ‘sunny coast’, to resume the Queenslander lifestyle for another blissful three years.
So yes, we did have some prior travel form, as it were, and we are adventurers at heart. After seeing so much of the world however, we came to appreciate how fortunate we are to call Australia home and just had to see it; simply because it’s brilliant!
So, in March 2020 we gave each other that same look we did in 2010 when we said “hey, should we move London and see the world?” Except this time, it was “Why don’t we buy a caravan and do the big lap?”
We didn’t need much convincing at all so in April we went to Brisbane and picked up ‘Hank the tank’, our 2011 Toyota Landcruiser Sahara.
In May, we went to Brisbane Camperland (Awesome people, ethical business, great service, and even greater after sales support!) and put down a deposit on a brand new 22-foot Jayco Journey Outback 22.68.1 double bunk family van (which we named ‘Ernie the Journey’) for delivery in June.
It was ridiculously good timing as it turned out, as we bought the vehicle and caravan right at the very start of the Covid pandemic due to them both being available for immediate delivery!
We laugh about it now, but we had considered waiting a while to buy the vehicle and van just in case prices fell further. Suffice to say, that would’ve been a very bad idea in hindsight!
So, in June 2020 with an awesome low mileage Landcruiser and a brand new Jayco caravan at home (we rented our house back until November 2020), I resigned from work, and Carolyn continued with contract accounting for the time being.
I took on the enviable job of full-time trip prep, acquiring equipment and fitting out the cruiser and van with everything that we needed to live on the road full time. I also branched out and started Hungerford Water Consulting, immediately securing more work than I knew what to do with.
Suddenly contracting and consulting was thrown into the mix, giving us additional experience not only travelling full-time but working part-time on the road as well.
Having worked in the pumping, irrigation, and wastewater industries for over two decades in Australia and one year designing and project managing installations across London and Southeast England, the water side of the trip was covered (and would ultimately lead to the creation of our Adventure Pump prototype and now product range available here).
As first time caravanners, however, there was a lot to learn, so I started some serious research. It led me down many rabbit holes including camp cooking, GVM’s, ATM’s, tare weights, GCM’s, payloads, dust reduction systems, off-grid power systems, inverters, solar blankets, stone stompers, PLB’s (Personal Locator Beacons), marine BBQ’s, awning rafter kits and the list just goes on and on and on.
We couldn’t help but think, “What had we got ourselves into?”
By late October 2020, after five months of intensive research and trip preparation, on November 5, 2020, we drove down our driveway for the last time EVER for what would become 14 months of full-time travel and 18 months in total, living in the van.
We were now truly free.
Bring on the Adventures!
