Organizing time off for this adventure was quite a feat, not only did we need to take time off work but also take the kids out of school for a significant time.
Work
My wife and I both have full time jobs so getting time off was for such a long period was going to be a challenge.
I have been in the same job for 26 years so I had some long service leave (LSL) owing but that was not going to be enough, I am fortunate in that I get 9 weeks of leave a year so was able to add some annual Leave(AL) and accrued time (AT) to the LSL to make up the time required, my employer was pretty helpfull.
My wife did not have any LSL and only has 4 weeks of AL per year, for her the only alternative was to take it without pay which her employer was happy with.
Schooling
We have school age two boys, one started secondary school this year and the other started his last year of primary, it was a concern for us at first, worried that missing such a large portion of school, especially secondary school was going to affect their education.
We approached both schools and spoke to the principals and teachers, and were pleasantly surprised with the response from both, in fact they were very excited about the whole thing, neither had any concerns about the boys education, in fact both believed that it would be potentially very educational.
The schools will supply us with material for the boys to complete on the road and we will be able to do some on-line stuff as well, the oldest will also have an opportunity to communicate with his class mates via a School Facebook page.
The Family Home
We have been fortunate in that we a friend who is willing to house sit for us, it's a great relief to know that not only is the house not empty but that we know the person looking after it.
Bills
Unfortunately, regardless of whether you are on holidays or not the bills keep rolling in, we have done our best to automate the process with direct debits etc, and have tried to pay any other bills as close to our departure date so they are not due again until next year.
Any surprises in regards to bills will be dealt with by family/friends, either payed with funds left for them or the bill forwarded on to us electronically so we can pay it.
Trip Cost
This is the big one, there is no getting around this, its going to cost a bit !
We have done our best to save as much as we can prior to leaving so my holiday wages will only need to cover ongoing expenses back at home.
We have looked at other peoples experience in regards to cost for this sort of trip and the results are varying, some say aim to spend $500.00 per week, others say $1000.00.
We can calculate roughly for fuel, accommodation, and food but there are many variable which can change things along the way.
Fuel:
We are working on 12.5 litre per 100k @ $1.50 per litre, so for 20,000 kl we should spend $3750.00
That s just an estimate, we have allocated $5000.00.
Accommodation:
Accommodation is a tricky one, it will vary so much depending where we end up and how long we stay at each place.
Based on the fact that over the years our average price of caravan parks has been $50.00 per night, and we will be staying in them maybe 4 nights of the week on average, the rest being free camps, throw in an occasional ( maybe once a month) stay in a cabin at $150.00 per night we have calculated we will spend $6200.00 on accommodation, we have allocated $6500.00.
Food:
While away we tend to eat well but simple, so food will probably cost less than if we were at home, the killer would be eating out which could blow the budget sky high.
On our last trips which were shorter we tended to eat out a little too often, this wont be the case for this trip, we have decided that we will eat out maximum once a week and not at a fancy restaurant (if we could find one that is).
Avoiding stops while driving to get take away lunches etc will also be out.
Based on previous trips and our home food budget we are looking at $200.00 per week on food, not including eating out, and take away which may equate to about $50.00 per week.
We are budgeting $6000.00 for the trip
Car and Trailer Servicing:
Given the fact that we are away for 6 months and doing 20,000 kl the car and maybe the trailer will require servicing while we are away, tires, and brakes are new on both so that should not be an issue, but the car will need oils, and filters done mid trip.
I will be able to do the minor service required so assuming nothing fails the cost should only be $200.00.
Total Estimated cost of trip:
$17,700.00
We will aim to keep it under $20,000.
Car And Trailer Prep
Both the car and trailer have been prepared for this type of travel, the trailer which is 5 years old has had many mods over those 5 years to make it suitable, and the car which is only 18 months old has had all the necessary work done on it to be make it suitable for outback touring.
The Camper Trailer
Our camper is a MDC "Off Road Extreme" we bought it new about five years ago and have towed it over 30,000 kl around Australia, it's been on some of the toughest tracks and roads in the country and has done pretty good with only a few failures along the way, non of which brought us to a standstill.
This trip will be the longest by far and most likely it's last with us, possibly upgrading to something a little more comfortable.
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| The Camper |
I have done a lot of work on the trailer over the years some to repair issues that the trailer had from new and some in the form of mode to improve comfort and durability.
Additions from New:
2x 110 AH GMA Deep Cycle batteries.
Ctek DC to DC charger.
Xantrax 240 Charger.
160W Solar Panel.
Led lighting.
Electric water pump.
Second spare mounted on swing away arm at rear
Wheels and tires to match car.
Axle lengthened to match car track width.
Pole Holders.
Extended fold out Kitchen.
The Car
We have an Isuzu D-Max which we bought new in January 2013, it has only done one major trip so far but that trip was to Cape York so it got a testing. The car has been reliable and capable apart from a couple of very minor issues that have been rectified under warranty.
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| The D-Max |
Most of the accessories and mods I have made have been done so with help from "Drive Opposite Lock" in Ipswich.
Steel Winch Bar ( Opposite Lock).
Winch, ( Runva 10,000 ).
Suspension ( Tough Dog 300kg constant ).
Long Range Fuel Tank 130lt (OutbackAccessories).
Snorkel ( Safari .)
ECU Remap (DP Tuning).
Steel Canopy, central locking matched to car ( SMM ).
Rear storage drawers (Homeade ).
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| Drawers and Fridge Slide |
Roof Racks ( Rhino ).
Dual Battery System.
UHF Radio.
Roof Entertainment System.
Tyre Dog TPMS
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| Drawers and Fridge Slide |
