After 13,000kms and 60 magic days roaming around Oz in a caravan with my husband and our three rowdy, messy, entertaining boys, I’m back home in beautiful EM. (Thank the lord cries Christy!)
This adventure has been the most extraordinary experience for our family, and I am enormously grateful to you Chris for taking such wonderful care of our TSW clients in my absence, and for managing every facet of the business on your own so effortlessly.
For many years now my husband has worked away from home for big chunks of the week, and on the rare nights that he is home, I’m often working the graveyard shift on the computer freelancing. Our ‘ships in the night’ existence is one we hoped to give a huge shake up by setting out on this adventure. And boy did we ever!
Although we’ve encountered enough communal showers and drop hole toilets to last us a lifetime on this trip, we wouldn’t change a thing, and it’s been a life-changing experience for us all in so many ways. The precious time together as a family unit has without doubt been the pinnacle.
I can’t put into words how liberating it has been to check out of our regular lives, schedules and obligations to spend two whole months together getting lost in this big, beautiful land of ours. No distractions, no responsibilities.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing of course – it’s a mammoth challenge being under one another’s feet in a confined space 24/7 for that chunk of time – and we’ve had some ball tearing blues over map navigation skills, caravan ‘backing’ & ‘set ups’, the kids (and their father) not picking up their god-damn clothes, me being too precious in the bush (seriously have you seen those toilets!) and so much more.
But despite the menial stuff (oh and the gastro bug that swept through when we were camped without power or water), it’s been an absolute dream come true.
We’ve travelled to some far flung places – exploring national parks, gorges, canyons, waterfalls, infinity rock pools on cliff edges, thermal springs and pristine beaches.
We’ve hiked a million miles, watched the sun rise and set over the most stunning natural landscapes, toasted marshmallows and damper by campfire, mustered 2000 head of cattle, surfed our first waves and swam with dolphins and crocodiles (the latter was unintentional 😬).
We’ve played a billion card and board games, danced under the great night skies, sung our lungs out to pass the time on the road, and laughed til our bellies hurt.
We’ve seriously been bowled over by the incredible beauty we have here in our own backyard.
It’s been a life-affirming, eye-opening time of discovery for us all and it’s given us space to really see and hear each other for the first time in way too long. We’re so glad we could make it happen.
Our heads are empty and our hearts are full, and that’s exactly what we hoped this experience might bring.
It’s good to be back.
x Lee.
TSW
