Day to day life in the land of Oz varies a little, but in general follows the same pattern. Up early 6:00 am – 7:00 am. A lovely breakfast of toast, followed by packing up camp (see home below). Get in several hours of school (see school below), usually Karen and I grocery shop during this time. With School completed, it is on the road to the next destination or find waves for Tim to boogie board. Once we arrive at our destination, we set up camp and Karen and I start dinner. We generally go to bed fairly early (9:30pm) since it gets dark and we only have our headlamps for light.
School - Sometimes we can do school via a mobile internet connection, but quite often it is off to Maccers (McDonalds). After years of not letting the kids go to McDonalds, we now force them to go and sit there to do school for several hours. We have run into the same problems with internet in Australia that we had in New Zealand. No one has free internet and paid internet is very expensive ($3 - $5 per hour). McDonalds has free wifi, so here we sit with the other backpackers. In late December, we purchased a mobile broadband internet connection. This allowed us to get internet from various places, although the coverage wasn’t all that great. If we were out of town at all, we usually didn’t get coverage. School has been a big challenge in Australia because we fell behind the previous two months.
Home – Our home in Australia consists of Freddy (our 1992 Ford Falcon wagon we purchased) and two tents. One for the kids and one for Karen and me. We are primarily staying at Caravan/Holiday Parks. Unpowered tent sites range from $20 to $55. Most places have a camp kitchen we use for making dinner and breakfast. Now and then, we stay at places where all we have is our camp stove set up on the ground. All things considered, life out of a tent is not too bad. We quite enjoy it. A lot of the parks we stay in have a swimming pool. This is usually the first stop for Tim, while Karen and I set up camp. We have gotten to where we can arrive and set up in about 45 minutes. Taking everything down in the morning is about the same. In Cairns, we stayed at the holiday park for a week while the kids worked on school, but usually we were moving on every day.
On the Road – Freddy is nice, but is lacking some of the finer things in life (air con is the most noticeable). We drive with all the windows down and we usually have an arm out the window. Most of the time it isn’t a big deal not having the air conditioning, but there are a few days when the temperature hits 115 degrees that are difficult. On the really hot days, we use frozen water bottles to help keep us cool. You can always keep them in your lap and as they melt, you can drink the water to stay cool. Poor man’s air conditioning. The roads are pretty good, but not as nice as the states. Speed limit is generally 100 kilometers per hour (62 mph). The authorities are very vigilant about the speed limit and asked me to make a $200 contribution to the Queensland Government. Australia has a fair amount of accidents on their highways and they are putting in a lot of effort to get people to slow down and drive safe. All along the highway, there are creative signs telling you to slow down. Unfortunately, one particular day this was reinforced to us multiple times. First, we had to detour off the highway for an hour because of a fatality crash. Then later, with the other crash fresh in our mind, we came around a corner and spotted a car out in the field steaming and someone frantically waving for help. We stopped and helped out. Luckily, the young lady driving was not hurt even though she had rolled the car over at least once. Always wear your seat belt!! We make our own rule of trying to be off the road before nightfall. Once dusk arrives, there tends to be a lot of critters on the road. Kangaroos, Possums, Wallabies and more.
Meals – Just like we have most of the trip, we eat two meals a day. Breakfast and Dinner. Breakfast usually consists of toast and jam and some fruit. Dinner runs the spectrum and is dependant upon what Karen and I find in the market. Because our only refrigeration is the eski (cooler) we bought in New Zealand, we have to shop every day. Food in Australia is 2 – 3 times more expensive than home. We select our meals based upon what is in the meat clearance pile. The final day of clearance, the meat is 33% - 66% off. We’ve managed lamb, steak, hamburgers, sausages (this is a popular cheap food here) and some chicken. Chicken is usually the most expensive thing in the store. Chicken breasts usually run around $8 - $9 per pound. One of our methods for buying healthy food while keeping the cost down is stopping at fruit stands along the way. As you travel the length of the country, it is fun to see what is grown where. The north was a lot of fruit and some vegetable. The south was a lot more vegetable and various fruit depending upon the timing.
Overall, daily life on the road is good, but because you are essentially homeless for a year and tied to a tight budget, general life is tougher than at home. Life on the road requires a lot of hard work that we are not used to. For example, the kids have to do school when the opportunity presents itself as opposed to a set time every day. We also try to do some school every day of the week. Grocery shopping is much more difficult than at home. You have to do it every day. You are never sure what you are going to have until you are in the market. You don’t know where anything is in the store, so you usually have to wander around the store to find things. Laundry is done by hand and finally you have to find a place to stay every night. That being said, our new motto is the best things in life require hard work. If you want something out of life you have to go get it.
~ Jeff ~
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