neiluk

Hi All

Well we are thinking about taking a year out to travel australia 3 children and a dog rent the house up pack the tent and see what happens i was just woundering if anyone out there has done this and has advice are we mad stupid or as my wife says you only live once and what life exsperiance it will be for the boys. Im a chef by trade so hopfully picking up work along the way shouldnt be to hard.All comments welcome.

Thanks

Neil

northernbird

One of the teachers at my daughters school has just set off in a campervan to do just that. What an experience for your children. If you can afford it I say go for it.

neiluk

Thanks

Its a big thing to do i know giving up my job taking the boys out of school but hey we gave it all up to leave england so whats a year out of your life.

Neil

natalieml

Admittedly we didn't have the commitments you tw have but me and my partner went travelling for a year (with 8 months of it in Australia) a few years back and I have to say it was an amazing experience.

My parrtner is also a chef and he found no trouble in picking up work everywhere we went and I stuck to waitressing so we even worked at the same place at one point during our trip!

I would say go for it - if you find it too stressful you can always come home early but if you don't go at all you will ALWAYS wonder what if!

Good luck and have a great time what ever you decide to do!

neiluk

Thanks Nat

where about in cambridgshire are you we lived in swavesey before moveing here to oz.

Neil

pumpkin blossom

I would also say go for it, BUT maybe consider a caravan instead of a tent. We only spent 4 months living in a tent, and it gets quite depressing having so little space, and having to put up/take down EVERYTHING. Also, there are only 2 of us and we manage to fill the whole back of our estate car with all the stuff we take camping.
Just think, caravan... FRIDGE. TV. Wardrobes...
Also, if you have a caravan with air con you may have more options with the dog.
We recently went along the great ocean road and none of the stops along the way allowed dogs. Very depressing. If you had a caravan with air con at least you could leave the dog for 30 minutes while you have a look.

Good luck

ps, I also grew up in Cambridgeshire

neiluk

Hi Cambridgshire as well what a small world.

Yes a caravan could be a good investment as there is no way i can leave the dog the boys would never come if i told them we were leaving her behind.T.V im not to bothered about it will do us all good to be without tv laptop yes as i would like to keep a blog going if we do do the trip.

Neil

natalieml

I'm living near Huntingdon at the moment and working in Peterborough.

We stayed in a tent for some of it but when we were working we moved into a hostal as it's not easy to iron your waitress and chef gear in a tent Our travels were definately the best time of my life. We also visited Southern Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia and Thailand and tried to stay off the main tourist tracks so we really got a feel for the country and its citizens.

northernbird

Another Cambs person here too, how funny all those commenting are from Cambs. I lived in Sawtry and worked in Huntingdon before I came to Perth.

neiluk

Well we see how things go i think it will be a great adventure and hopfully somthing the boys will remember for a long time

pumpkin blossom

I am from South Cambridge, near the Essex/ Suffolk/ Herts borders.

CDM

We've travelled extensively (see links in my signature) and I would dearly love to do so again with the kids.

When we were on the road, we met people that travelled with small children and the universal message we kept getting was that it was a fantastic experience. I've seen it said a number of times that 1 year on the road/travelling is the equivilant to 3 years of schooling.

If you have the chance to do so ... DO SO! :-)

- CDM

louie

Sounds like a great adventure but what are you going to do about the kids schooling? Over here they make an enormous fuss if you take kids out of school for a holiday for a week, never mind a whole year.....

natalieml

It's not really a good avertisement for Cambs is it - everyones upping and leaving for OZ!!!!!

pumpkin blossom

LOL, I was dragged from Cambridge to Manchester, it was THERE I wanted to get away from.