The Way Home
For those who skimmed the tourist blog and want to know what’s actually happening, here is the low down. We are about 12 days in and there have been a few adjustment issues…
The first few days were tantrum central and we were considering the boarding school option from the get go and Sean and I enjoy travelling on our own. Things seem to have settled down though in the last few days as we all relax and get into the swing of life on the road.
Good things that have happened
We are all sleeping in. Crazy sleep ins for a household (or are we now a vanhold?) of early morning risers, where ordinarily I’d be checking pulses if anyone slept too much past 7am. We are getting up at 8/9am. Maybe its because we simply don’t have to be or go anywhere at any particular time. Also the fact that its not getting dark until 9.30pm means we are all still up and on the go until later.
Kids are reading. Books – actual books! It warms my heart!
Ashton has been asking for more books as he is whipping through the small library I put together. Never mind there is a cricket/rugby theme to his reading, my child is READING! Yippee, there is hope!
Lucas is also quietly reading but don’t tell anyone or he may stop, so we won’t make a big deal of THAT.
I bought Lucie a set of sight word flash cards, as we never quite got there in kindy. No reflection on her reading interest, more her parents lack of commitment third time around, which will most likely be a theme for her in therapy when she’s older. Apparently sight words are boring and for babies and she reads real books now. Good to know!
Minor Issues Report
1. The Budget. We set ourselves a budget to keep track of our expenses, so we will in fact be able to last a year and won’t be home in three months. All I can say is the way we are going we may be seeing you all sooner than we think. Eating out is our big budget fail, but also one of our favourite things to do, which is a dilemma. It took us about 30 seconds to go from buying fish at the market yesterday, which to be fair didn’t actually look that great, to having dinner in the Pub. Significant budget blow out there when you throw in bottles of wine and the kids were ordering “Frogs In A Pond”. No kidding, it really was on the menu! None of these things we even would have thought twice about at home, but when what you have needs to last, it seems to go faster!
2. Coffee. We decided to invest a small fortune in a “Little Guy” so we could continue to enjoy quality coffee on the road. It was nick named the “Big Boy” as it weighs about 5kg (a big deal when space and weight are an issue). It’s about to be renamed the “Big Dud” as it has yet to produce any drinkable coffee. We are on about day 10 of no decent caffeine as Sean also refuses to stop near a coffee shop to pick up coffee. Something about parking a caravan in traffic or some such. Sean’s reassurances that he has a year to perfect the coffee had better be rethought as unless there is a good cup of coffee pretty soon, someone is going to die. Hello, brother who is a barista….please come & sort this out!
3. The Jayco….yes yes we know, they fall apart. There is a lot to be said for buying a second hand van. The previous owner has either A. Got rid of it because it is falling apart or hopefully B. Fixed all the “issues” so the van is in pretty much good nick, which was the case with our old van. So far the things that have gone wrong have been (mostly) our doing. The awning ripped as we pulled out of a car park in Vic as we were a little too close to the cute vintage shop awning (which was fine). The ladder to the top bunk snapped the hook, so now Princess Lucie needs someone to get her in & out of her tower. The door lock only works if the door is pulled firmly (slammed) so the whole campground knows when you are quietly sneaking out in the night for a wee.
4. Personal space. In a van this is tricky. The boys have created Bat Caves with their beds, which is very ingenious & Lucie has her tower, which is the top bunk. I have headphones & a meditation app, which isn’t really working out so well & Sean has opted for selected deafness, which seems to be working well for him!
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Hi Kylie, so nice to see your pots…this one especially. And let me tell you, you are doing just fine. You are living a completely new life now and it takes time to find a rhythm that works for everybody. You might recall that we were ready to turn around early on , too many dramas, too much schoolwork, not enough wifi etc. But after all we went through to get on the road, we just could not get up that easily. And it did all get better or we all got used to it.
We all started reading quite a lot as well because you had all that time to read and just to be in your own world for a little while. Remember that in SA you can use the library for books and magazines, movies etc. They have a great system.
Oh…the Jayco… the awning snapped first time we rolled it out. First stop in Morrissett, central Coast, was spent getting it fixed. Damaged it a little while later and got it replaced in Exmouth, WA. Door handle broke and had to be replaced several times. Kids were always hanging on it. But most things were fairly easy to repair and we stopped at Jayco dealers throughout the country.
Eating out for us did not happen that often. The further away from cities you get, the choices for vegetarians are hot chips and hot chips. So that got old very soon. But we rotated a handful of meals which were all quite simple and Lily became our little chef.
As far as coffee goes, we just took our stovetop Espresso maker and an Aldi milk frother and were happy with this solution.
Sometimes you just need to walk away for just a little bit….and get a bit of distance. In the big picture, it is all just little issues that everybody has to work through. Even the not so nice experiences are experiences. I think you are doing just fine!!!!
Hugs, Katrin
Hi Guys
Hope the trip is going well! Sounds like your having a blast. Vienna showed me this post and I told her that we had to respond with some sort of reply as it was to close to home to not reply!?
So here is what we have been doing with some or no success!
Budget
We had a budget as well to stick to, as we don’t want to come home broke so we very rarely eat out, having said that I think I know where every Woolworths, Coles or IGA is in Vicco and South Oz. Also the storage space in the junko is nothing to crow about so our food turnover is probably a lot more quicker. We have also passed numerous old pubs that I have wanted to have a beer in but (always a but) we would probably only be half way between Sydney and Melbourne if that was the case. We had a tiny blowout when we stayed in Adelaide (free townhouse accomodation in North Adelaide for two weeks) due to the Fringe Festival and a few other bits and pieces. So to sum up, it would definitely be nice to eat out a lot more (and I am sure we are missing out on some great experiences) but if there was a choice of flying over the Bungle Bungles or a medium rare sirloin, I’ll take the tuna in tomatos and onions (at the moment).
Coffee
This came up with us as well before we left. We toyed with the idea of bringing George (Nespresso) along for the ride but realised how heavy and cumbersome it would be so we left him at home to his own devices. Also free camping would have been an issue with not enough power to run him (high maintenance). So we invested in a stovetop espresso and by buying half decent coffee from your friendly Woolies, Coles or IGA it hasn’t been to bad. That’s not to say that on the odd occasion we haven’t bought one (Maccas loyalty card). But I’m with Sean on pulling over the rig for a macchiato soy chino ain’t gunna happen unless there is an empty supermarket car park right in front of me!
Oh the Junko
To be honest, it hasn’t been to bad (touchwood) sure there has been a few niggly things work there way loose and I am sure there will be a few more but I am keeping (trying to) an eye on things every 2-3 weeks. It’s funny you mention the door because we have already replaced our door latch to (bloody thing squeaks like the tin man). When we bought our van it was only 6 months old and had only been slept in for 3 nights so we were reasonably confident that nothing major would go wrong. The setting up process is pretty much down pat with the kids being involved to a certain extent, but we are towing a Swan as opposed to your bigger unit.
Personal Space
There is none (in ours anyway). Who would of thought that spending 24 hrs of the day with your OWN children could be so taxing!!
School Work
There is no getting away from school work and most mornings are taken up by this, each of us having a child each. Always the way, kids don’t generally like to listen to their own parents and behave better for someone else so there are regular moments of not listening, complaining, power struggles and crying. It’s so much easier to send them to school.
Of course your friend is right in saying that these are only minor problems but it is also reassuring to hear that there are other families going through the same things!
We are currently on the Yorke Peninsula for another few days then will be moving on again. Hope to catch up with you guys at some point and share some more memorable/forgettable experiences.
Jase and Vienna