Caravan News
Our caravan is soon to hit the production line!!!! How excitement. 
We ordered it back in March but to be honest it all still feels a little bit surreal. I don’t think it will seem fully “real” until we actually pick it up. Although I imagine even then we’ll be pinching ourselves for a while.
The arrival of our caravan will be the first tangible evidence that our dream of taking our children on a 3-month caravanning trip is indeed going to come to fruition.
It is now LESS THAN A YEAR until we leave.
In other words, this time next year we’ll be GONE!
Ooh, now I’m getting excited.
Ever had one of those “far off in the distance dreams” that suddenly becomes a “not so far off in the distance” dream?
This trip was little more than a “pipe dream” that I talked about with Farmboy long before we even had children. Over time it has gained momentum. We met a couple who had actually DONE this with their children. I am SO grateful to this guy (who is also a farmer). His advice to Farmboy was fabulous.
“Don’t wait until you can afford to do it”, he told him. “Decide you’re going to do it and MAKE it happen”.
That was 5 or so years ago and Farmboy has never looked back from that moment. The dream became a “maybe, one day” type dream to a “we ARE going to do this”.
From there we started to look into the logistics of making the trip happen.
One of those logistics was finding a caravan that fitted a family of 5.
Not an easy feat in this day and age of the “grey nomad“. So many of the caravans we looked at were built for only 2 people.
Our search started with second-hand caravans and the very occasional van that was built for more than 2 people seemed to be snapped up so quickly that it was difficult to find much at all. Those we did find were ancient, heavy and looked like monstrosities to tow.
So we started looking new and that was when we came across a couple of brands where the beds opened up at the ends and closed away again for travelling. There are a number on the market now and after much deliberation we settled on the Jayco Expanda.
The only thing the Jayco Expanda DIDN’T have was a solid roof over the expanded beds (as shown in the image above).
We liked everything else about it though. The fibreglass exterior (rather than aluminium), the way it felt so spacious inside (compared with similar models in other ranges), the fact that it’s mostly Australian made with Australian materials. As an added bonus, it was also cheaper.
So we settled on a canvas roof. Not a huge deal given we’re used to travelling with our camper trailer which is all canvas (see image below).
* image courtesy of www.expresstoolsandcamping.com.au/
That’s not actually ours but it’s pretty similar to what we have.
My biggest thing was I wanted a kitchen and cupboards for such a long trip. Camping style is fine for a few days or even weeks but not for 3 months!
Anyway, just after we ordered our caravan, we had a phone call from the company saying they’d developed a hard top model and would we like to upgrade.
It meant parting with a few extra thousand dollars (which we hope to recoup down the track when we sell) and having to wait a little longer for our caravan to be built.
But it also meant a tick in ALL the boxes. We didn’t have to “settle” after all. Awesome! (as my 4 year old would say)
And so the waiting game began.
They couldn’t give us a date (other than approximate) because they had to build all the older models first.
Our original delivery date was expected to be around now.
Our new estimated delivery date (as of today) is sometime in September.
I just hope it’s ready before the snow season finishes.
Because we were planning our first trip in it to include taking the kids to see snow (not staying at the snow but within a day trips distance).
In some ways it’s finally feeling more REAL.
We’re getting a caravan. WOOT!!! They’re about to start building OUR caravan. Ours! Just for us!
Well, ours unless we run out of money and have to sell it. 
Similar Posts:
17 comments:
Write a comment:
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate each and every one of them. If this is the first comment you have left, your comment will be held in moderation for approval so you may not see it immediately. Once your first comment is approved, all future comments should appear immediately. You can choose to receive any further comments by email. Simply tick Notify me of followup comments via e-mail.
Did you just quote “Kylie Mole” from the comedy company in your opening sentence? (or was it Effie from Acropolis Now)
I’m so excited for you, and jealous at the same time! Can’t wait to hear about your trip - you’re blogging it, right? We have a Jayco Swan at the moment, which we just love, but is not so good for doing lots of one night stopovers. So we’ll be ordering our Expanda in around October this year. Have great fun
The van looks great. Having just got back from a trip out to the Uluru/Alice Springs (parents in their van and us staying in cabins) I know you will have a fantastic trip. My girls just loved it, esp. playing in the parks and making friends. I was very impressed with the facility most of the van parks had too.
Libby
This is as your 4 yearold says: AWESOME , what really resonated for me was that “you didn’t settle” 10 gold starts for that.
Fullfilling dreams is so special.
What’s the route?
Stuffy - I think “excitement” might have been an “Effie-ism”.
Journeyer - yes, I do plan to blog it. Have to figure out the whole “blogging on the road” stuff first but it’s definitely part of the plan. The Swan style camper’s are a step better than the canvas camper trailers but I can see the whole “setting up for 1 night” would get rather tired. How excitement that you’re getting an Expanda too. We’ll be like “caravan twins”. LOL. Although with the various options I’m guessing they won’t be exactly the same.
Libby - kids are amazing the way they make friends so quickly. I think it’s one of the things I love most about staying in caravan parks.
Suzie - the route keeps changing but at this stage it looks like straight from here to Sydney for a conference then inland Queensland on the way up (visiting a couple of sets of friends). Up to Mossman or thereabouts (would like the kids to do a project on the rainforest) then make our way down the Queensland coast. We don’t want to set too much of a time frame - just meander around and see where we end up.
That looks fantastic! Your trip will be terrific - my cousin took her 2 kids a couple of years back when they were in primary school & it is a trip they haven’t forgotten. Make sure you let us know if you are going through Canberra!
We have a new camper trailer & are enjoying using that, though the kids sleep in a tent outside. With 4 kids it would be a bit tight to all crowd into the trailer. At this stage we are planning on heading off to the Flinders Ranges for the October School holidays - the first big trip!
That’s exciting news! Although it is a whole year away…..Really looking forward to reading the travel blog that you’ll be doing. a couple of posts from the kids to get their perspective would be great too.
Wow sure is exciting. It almost like getting a second home…
Well done for making it happen.
Excellent, Lightening!
Good on you both for “making it happen” rather than putting it off till whenever.
The kids will have a ball, while you and Farmboy will be able to explore and see things through your kids eyes
They going to distance school it ?
WOOOOHOOOOO!!
I’m sorry, but it’s just not acceptable.
I can not be expected to live without you for three whole months. There is nothing else for it. You are just going to have to take me with you.
oooh how exciting.. one day we want to do this too… so I am reading this with envy as well as excitement.. and I am taking notes!
How exciting!
Very exciting times ahead! Is there a cage you can lock the kids in? kiddin’….
it looks fabulous! good for you goin for your dream, the ‘wait till you can afford it’ never happens does it? thats something for me to think about.
WOW! I would be so excited, too! The caravan (or RV as well call it in the US) looks wonderful, you guys are going to have a fantastic trip.
Kelli - we LOVE our camper trailer. I think my kids would be a bit timid to sleep outside in a tent although that has always been a plan in the back of our minds.
River - I’m planning on setting the kids up with their own blog as part of their “schooling” while we’re travelling.
Mark - indeed. It will be our home during the actual trip so it is kinda important.
Jayne - at this stage we’re hoping the kids will be able to stay enrolled in their current school and that we can work with their teachers on their curriculum. I have SO many ideas for stuff they can do. We already have the support of the Principal and Deputy but will need Department approval (when the time gets closer we’ll find out) to do this. If not, we’ll pull them out of school for the term and do our own “thing”. The Principal is very into modern technology in education and all the primary classrooms have interactive whiteboards and internet access so the possibilities will only be limited by the imaginations of those involved.
Kez - thanks.
Sharon - it could be handy to have a cook and clothes washer with us.
Kate - fabulous!!! Look forward to hearing how you progress with your dream.
Cuileen - It is getting rather exciting.
Horse - that could come in handy some days. Although caravan parks are great with kids. They tend to make new friends and have a ball!
Claire - it’s a hard balance because I’m not a big one for encouraging debt either. So you kind of have to balance it out a bit don’t you?
Jenn - I sure hope so. I always wondered what an “RV” was.