The Escott Family
Let us introduce ourselves, we are a family of four from Berrigan NSW which is 30kms north of Cobram on the Murray River. My name is Susie, I was working as a bookkeeper for an accounting firm before this trip and will be the administrator of this blog. One of my main goals in life has been to travel the world and so far I am doing fairly well. My husband Rob is a farmer who loves Australia and wants to see it all, with a new hobby, 4 Wheel Driving which came with the purchase of our Toyota Hilux.
Our daughter Sophie, is six (going on twenty-six) and has thankfully inherited her mothers ability to adapt to anything and loves travelling. The little man of the family, Matthew has just turned five, he is usually a stickler for routine and is surprising us with his ability to deal with the changes we have been introducing.
Sophie and Matthew dressed for a birthday party (sans shoes!)
Due to the drought there is not much happening in our area, and whilst the children are young, we felt this was the ideal time to conduct such a trip. This meant that Rob took a leave of absence from his job and I resigned from mine. We arranged to rent our house out for at least six months and packed all our belongings up and put them in to storage at Robs parents house and farm. We arranged for distance education for the kids through Hay School of the Air, Distance Education Centre after extensive searching on the internet.
Four years ago we stayed in Esperance for a month whilst Rob worked on my aunt and uncles farm before setting off, totally unprepared, to see Western Australia. The plan, at first, was to see as much as possible between Esperance and Perth with only six weeks before we had to turn around, allowing a further two weeks for the trip home. But we found we had made it as far north as Carnarvon by then so made a call to Robs boss and asked for a further two weeks off as the car would not do a U-turn, this would allow us another month to go across the top. We managed to travel right around the WA coast to Derby before going inland via Fitzroy Crossing to Kununurra before driving straight home. This was all done with two toddlers in a Toyota Camry station wagon, staying in units, cabins and onsite vans. We had just a soft sided esky to store perishable foods and a supermarket green bag containing all other food items.
My only regret was that we could not get accommodation at Exmouth as it was school holidays and we of course had not planned ahead, Robs only regret was that as we were in a family wagon we therefore couldnt travel the Gibb River Road. There was absolutely no way we could do it as we only had room in the wagon for about four litres of water and a day or two of food at any one time even after sending a suitcase and overnight bag home before setting off from Esperance.
Rob returned to Esperance and my aunt and uncle again last year when it was very quiet in the east but this time the kids and I stayed behind as I was working and Sophie had commenced school. Rob was intending to be away for six weeks but was home in four as he was so homesick. It was at that time that we decided that if he was to do the trip again we would join him and visit all that we had been unable to in our last trip around Western Australia. This time Rob is working for my aunt and uncle and some of their neighbours for about four months whilst we stay at the Esperance Seafront Caravan Park. The kids are enrolled in Esperance Primary School and I am currently seeking work.
When we set forth in June we will be heading north to Kalgoorlie Boulder before heading furthernorth through the Goldfields region to Exmouth in order for me to finally spend some time enjoying the Ningaloo Reef. We then intend to visit the Pilbara before visiting Robs aunt and uncle in Broome. From there its off onto the Gibb River Road and then on to see as much as possible of the Northern Territory, travelling down the centre and then heading towards home. Depending on how we are going about then we may either head off to Queensland to visit another aunt and uncle of mine in Bundaberg before heading further north to Cape York, or if we are out of money, and/or homesick, we will be settling back into life in Berrigan and contemplating how long it will take us to save for our next adventure.
We are travelling in our 'new' 2004 Toyota Hilux Dual Cab Turbo Diesel Utility which is fitted with tinted windows, new stereo, central locking and engine immoliliser, long range (120ltr) fuel tank, mud tyres, lifted torsion bars, shock absorbers with coils, TJM colour coded fibreglass canopy, TJM bull bar and winch, spotlights, rear step and treg hitch, cruise control, and blackwolf seat covers. Rob is in the process at present of building some Rockslider sidesteps.
The Caravan set up at Seafront Caravan Park in Esperance