An Opportunity Arises
I was the CFO of a small family owned finance company that was purchased by a major corporate some 4 years ago. At the time I was told that my services would be needed for another 3-4 years at which time the company would be wound down and I would be left unemployed. I was paid an annual retention bonus for remaining with the company and offered an attractive redundancy payment at the end. I accepted and during this time I was able to clear all personal debt allowing some flexibility with my options as the end drew nearer.
The Seed Is Sown
Much to the disgust of my parents, I was wanting to get out of the “corporate rat race” for a period of time and live life whilst I was still young enough to enjoy it and my kids. My original idea was to do a world trip and after researching and costing it, we could afford to spend about 5-6 months overseas before the money ran out and it was back to the rat race.
However, Keira was not so keen on the idea – apart from the cultural and language barriers that we would encounter, she thought the kids were too young to appreciate the experience and would soon forget many aspects of the trip. Her dream was to travel around Australia in a caravan and it should surely be cheaper and therefore we could do it for longer. As I tend to do, I dismissed the idea immediately but .................the seed had been sown!!!
After some initial research and costing, Keira’s instinct was correct and we thought we could afford to travel by caravan for approx. 12 months – the more I looked into this, the more appealing it became. So sometime in 2005 we decided that, barring no major disruptions to our plan, around 2009 we would travel around Australia for 12 months in a caravan/bus/motorhome.
The Purchase Of The Van
Where do I start...............we looked at buses – too expensive; we looked at motorhomes – too expensive or too small; we looked at camper trailers – but we wanted something more substantial. Deciding on a caravan was relatively simple – deciding on a specific caravan was much more difficult. There are so many styles, so many features and such a price variation between them out there in the market. We spent about 2 years looking at vans – at van shows, van yards, internet, magazines, etc, etc.
We had budgeted about $40k for our van – so we compiled a list of “must have” features along with “would like to have” features and started some serious searching for a purchase.
Around mid 2007, we found a van we were happy with – a 2005 Jayco Heritage; 22.5 foot long; fixed bunks for the kids; shower; toilet; complete annexe system and an unusual main bed for us that folded into the front of the van giving us a lot of lounge space during the day. We have a full kitchen set up with oven, grill, microwave, 4 cook tops and a fridge (too small in hindsight). We purchased it the day it came on the market – large family vans are somewhat hard to come by on the second hand market!
We paid $33k for the van and then spent another $4k-$5k on modifications – heavy duty bumper bars, bike rack system, pole carriers, storage boxes and other general maintenance issues. The van is set up for free camping with its own water tanks and battery system (supplemented with a generator). As vans tend to hold their value quite well, at the completion of this trip I hope to sell the van for $30+k
The Purchase Of The Vehicle
Now that we had our van – we needed a vehicle that could pull it! I estimated that the van, fully loaded, would be about 2.5 to 3 tonnes. This knocked a lot of 4WDs out of the mix – I focussed on the Toyota Landcruiser, Nissan Patrol and Landrover Discovery. I had heard that there were a few problems with the earlier Discos and could not afford the new Disco 3. This left me the choice between a 3.0L turbo diesel Patrol or a 4.5L petrol Cruiser (I could not justify the extra $10k for a Cruiser diesel).
After a lot of questions and research, in September 2007, I purchased a 1999 4.5L petrol Landcruiser with 65,000 kms on the clock from a chap in Melbourne – it did not have a towbar nor had it ever been offroad. I flew to Melbourne and drove it back. I paid $28k and spent another $4k-$5k on accessories such as towbar, roof racks, awning, cargo barrier, Cooper tyres, LPG conversion (duel), spotties, etc, etc.
Toys
This was a lot of fun – I became an e-bay expert! Toys purchased include: 3.1m Zodiac rubber ducky with 6HP Yamaha outboard; Honda 2eu generator; Engel 40L fridge/freezer (purchased after trip started as van freezer too small); 22 inch LCD TV/DVD; bikes for all of us; enormous amounts of fishing rods, reels and tackle; snorkelling gear for all of us; spearguns; air compressor; recovery gear; chairs & tables; etc, etc. Total cost in the vicinity of $7k-$8k.
Total Set Up Costs
You work it out!!!!!!!!!!
On The Road Budget
Having taken a year off my work (accountant), I have decided not to budget nor record the costs of this trip. As we both smoke and drink, what we spend each month is not what other families may spend – it is a variable that you will have to work out yourselves.
Apart from daily living expenses, there are accommodation costs – for 2 adults and 2 children, we have paid as little as $33 a night or as much as $58 a night for van park accommodation. National Parks are cheaper and free camping is exactly that.
Fuel costs are another substantial outlay – I have estimated that we will do 25,000kms during the year – work out your kms per litre consumption – figure out how many litres of fuel you will need, multiply by the current fuel prices and add 20% - this should cover it. Note that diesel is quite often cheaper than petrol in country WA!!!! Personally, we tow the van on petrol and run the cruiser on LPG at all other times.
Another significant cost is the cost of activities/sight seeing – again entirely personal – depends on what you do and see.
Practise Runs
We had a number of short (week or less) trips with the rig – we wanted to iron out any problems with the set up, get some experience with towing what is effectively a 5.5 – 6 tonne rig and determine whether we could function as a family in such a confined space. Needless to say, everything is sweet!
Our House
We decided that we would rent our house out for the 12 months that we would be travelling. A lot of work was done to the property over the previous 12-18 months to ensure that it was in a rentable state eg. legally compliant pool, retaining walls, walls painted, balconies upgraded, decking replaced, etc, etc. We attempted to rent it out fully furnished but found that this was a liability rather than a benefit – in the end we negotiated that all whitegoods, billiard table and outdoor furniture would remain in the house – the remainder of our furniture was sold or donated.
Luckily, 5 bedroom houses located in the Adelaide foothills, were in demand and tenants were chosen and the lease signed within 7 days of advertising our house on the market. We are getting $475/week which is helping fund our 12 months on the road.
Communication On The Road
I purchased a Nokia N95 mobile phone, with a “regional” antennae, on a Telstra 3G contract ($50 per month for $250 worth of calls) and I have been very happy with the coverage to date. I also bought a 12 month contract of 5 Gig mobile internet time per month for $90/month – in hindsight, I could have survived with 3 Gig per month. I simply plug my phone into my HP laptop computer and I have internet with good coverage and speed.
Keira has a prepaid mobile phone but it is only used to receive calls (when coverage is available) or to communicate between the two of us – my phone is used for all outgoing calls.
We also have a web page that is our personal recording of this trip and a method to keep our friends and family informed on where we are and what we are up to.
Kids Schooling
Brodie is in Year 4 and Tamara is in Year 3. The kids have been enrolled into a “Access Learning” programme, similar to distance education. They have each been assigned a teacher and attend a “virtual” classroom with other kids unable to attend regular school. Three times a week, for an hour each, Brodie and Tamara are logged into the internet and attend school with their teacher and class mates (located all over Australia).
The Access Learning programme has also supplied a syllabus, text books and other necessary materials. Keira and myself supervise the kids for another 3-4 hours daily (there is some flexibility here) so that they can complete and submit to their teachers their work requirements. Term 1 has been completed and the kids have received glowing reports from their teachers.
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