It’s been a year since we headed off on a planned Aussie adventure. It was a memorable trip, not because of what we did, but because of the events which were unfolding around us. The planned 3-month trip in 2020 was cut short for reasons that do not need explaining. After only a week on the road we turned around, and we were back home in isolation a week later. It may sound like a short time, but we still did lots of cool stuff and had a great time, which bodes well for the second attempt which we hope lasts a lot longer.
Now a year has passed, and the time is right to have another go. We had planned the trip for last year as the timing was right with the kid’s school years. We now don’t wish to take them out of school for as long, and have made changes to our plan to shorten the time off school, but still maximise our time in Central Australia.
In the last year, we have done parts of the west coast, visiting Karijini, Coral Bay and Monkey Mia. Instead of covering the same path again, Clare and the kids are flying to Darwin, with Rob driving the van to meet them there, saving a couple of weeks on the road. Together the family will be mainly exploring the Northern Territory, with a journey from north to south through the centre of Australia. Our idea was always to focus on the top end and around Alice Springs and Uluru. With this plan, we can spend more time in the more remote parts of Australia without taking too long to get there while minimising the time off school.
Above is a map of our current planned route. We have planned out all of our trip, but are mostly keeping it flexible so we can make changes if we want as we go along. Keep posted for plenty of photos on Instagram, an occasional post on Facebook, and some posts here on this blog too. Let’s hope that it can all go ahead as planned with no disruptions from a wayward virus.
UPDATE: We successfully completed the trip as planned. You can read our daily dairy of the whole trip, and this page which has a summary and links to articles from the trip.