Hi everyone and thank you for taking an interest in our story, to those reading that have already done something like this before, there won't be much difference in the types of experiences we will have than to your own, however we'll try to keep things interesting, and to those that haven't done this sort of thing before, hopefully you can get something useful out of it for your own trip.

Ah well the story goes like this, in 2005 my wife, (Shelley-35), our daughter, (Erin -13) and myself, (Geoff -47) went on a 4 week holiday from the Sunshine Coast up through Queensland, into the Northern Territory down through South Australia and back home to the Sunshine Coast, via New South Wales.                

That's right, 11,500 kms in approx 4 weeks, visiting spots like Lawn Hill NP, Cape Crawford, Litchfield NP, Ayers Rock, Coober Pedy, Port Augusta, Broken Hill, Western Plains Zoo etc, yes it was quick and I did need a long sleep afterwards, but it did give us a taste of what was out there.

All this was done in a 1995 VS Commodore towing a 7x4 trailer stocked to the gunwales with all our gear, we put the tent up 17 times, we even drove on some 4wd only roads, the most notable being the road from Lawn hill NP down through Riversleigh to the junction with the Highway between Mt Isa and Camooweal, yep, it took us 3hrs 40mins to travel 147kms, in some places only doing 10 to 15 km/hr and not one flat tyre. We were prepared though, with two spares, a compressor and a puncture repair kit.

Now the sickness is on us again, actually to be honest, the sickness was on us again before we finished the last trip, and as we did the last big trip in a commodore it limited us to (mostly) 2wd roads and it was a bit rushed, to say the least, this time we're going to do it properly. All going well, we intend to leave our home in Ilkley, on the Sunshine Coast hinterland, on or about the 1st of March 2009 and travel, we hope, for between 12 months to 2 years, stopping to work now and then (as little as possible I hope), to top up the coffers and then move on to the next place. As Shell is a qualified horticulturist, bookkeeper and currently working night fill (Woolworths) and I am a qualified boilermaker and truss and wall frame estimator we hopefully shouldn't have too much trouble finding work.

Our plans aren't concrete, but we all have things we want to do and places we want to visit. All the planning will take place (hopefully) before we leave, then we'll wing it from there, I've already read a library worth of 4wd and camping magazines and we have attended several camping and outdoor expo's, but there is only so much reading you can do. We may, I'm told, even stop for 6 months or so if we find somewhere really nice, and put Erin in school, so we'll see how things go. As a matter of fact, you folks that have already done trips like this may be able to help with suggestions for interesting or stunning places to visit, that way we might avoid places that may sound good on the Internet, but don't quite live up to their expectations in real life, so please if you have any suggestions, feel free to email us with them and if you are planning a trip up or out this way, you never know we might be able to return the favour.
 
 
Our home for the trip

In January 2008 we purchased a 1991, 80 series Turbo diesel Landcruiser followed by a 1988 Offroad Jayco Dove. In April we drove up to Townsville for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary on the 12th then took a 3 week holiday further north before returning for my sister's wedding on the 4th May. We went through the Daintree up the Bloomfield Track to Cooktown then returned via the inland road to Mt Molloy, Chillagoe, Mt Mulligan, Mareeba, Lake Tinaroo, Gordonvale.

  

When we returned to Townsville we had decided that the Jayco was not for us (couldn't handle the rough conditions) and put it in the Townsville Bulletin to sell. By the following morning we got what we paid for it and had to work out how to fit all of our gear in the back of the 'cruiser. Minus one table, which we left at Mum and Dad's, we got it all in. Supercheap tubs are a fantastic idea aren't they?

To replace the Jayco, we have just purchased, at auction, a Track Trailer Camper Trailer, that was written off after an accident, but hopefully won't take too much to fix up. We already have most of the miscellaneous gear we've needed for other camping trips, however in saying that, we still seem to have a swag of gear to get and a list a mile long of things to be done.
 
 
 
 
 
  
This photo shows the damage on the side, prior to repairs.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This photo shows after repairs were made and spare wheel carrier re-attached.