Day 2 MELBOURNE TO RENMARK Tassie to Darwin

Luckily for us we were one of the first off the boat so what was planned as one of our biggest days driving was off to a nice early start.

As expected it was a pretty chilly morning when we drove off the boat and left the city. 

The sun rose to what looked like a beautiful day until we drove through the fog in the ranges as we left Melbourne and headed north towards Renmark.

We had planned on buying breakfast on the road rather than pay the high prices on the boat so we stopped at a town called Bridgewater and bought some pastries for breaky which is not something we planned on doing again during the holiday, its simply too expensive with a family of five.

Later in the day we had made it to Mildura and chose the banks of the Murray river to have our lunch stop. Salad and cold meat sangas or wraps yummo, although I have a feeling we will soon get sick of this for lunch as it is going to be a regular gig while on the road.

 It wasnt long before we crossed the border and grabbed the usual boarder crossing photo :)

And embarrassingly it was then not long after crossing the border that we were pulled into a fruit security check and the border patrol man proceeded to empty all our pre cut salads into a bin........much to Michelles disapproval LOL Whoops, next time we will take better notice of whats allowed and whats not, the angry border patrol man was not impressed and assured me that we narrowly avoided a fine!

It wasnt long after that we arrived at Renmark and chose a free camp on the Murry River. It was a beautiful location, no one near us so we made a fire. What a great first night.

It was a nice fast overnight set up leaving the camper hitched up ready for a quick pack up the next morning.

We had one of our precooked frozen meals and sat around the fire on a chilli night.

After experimenting with some night photos it was off to bed after a good first days driving.

Day 1 BOAT TRIP Tassie to Darwin

Well after many months of planning and many more of talking about it the day had finally arrived where we were about to embark on a 6 week road trip adventure to Darwin and back.

So many unknowns. Would the kids cope with all the driving, how about setting the camper up so many times or just dealing with not having all the creature comforts of home for so long. No friends to hang out with, no xbox, limited internet coverage, foam mattresses as beds, being around Mum and Dad 24/7....the list was endless let alone would our ageing Patrol and home built camper handle the punishment we have planned?

The list of things that needed to be done or organised only a few short months ago was staggering and to be honest some things just had to be left out due to time and or financial constraints. I mean Id love to have brand new suspension and there is always a list of bolt on goodies that all 4 wheel drivers want but I couldn't do or have everything so we settled for what we could afford and today the 6th of July 2013 we are leaving to travel 11000 klm's on some of Australia's roughest roads/tracks into some remote locations with 3 of our children, ready or not here we come! WOO HOO Yes we are excited :)

I wont go into the preparations or logistics of taking your family on a trip like this too much but its well documented on here that we use a tough as nails Nissan Patrol 4.2l TD as our tug and hopefully a just as tough as nails home built soft floor camper!
We have most mod cons you would want while 'camping', things like hot and cold water, a chemical toilet, shower, queen inner spring bed for mum and dad and foam mattresses for the kids, a LCD TV and antenna, nice kitchen facilities, proper 12v and 240v power you need when remote camping, a 110ltr fridge/freezer, all the storage you would ever need and a well organised crew who can set up and pack up in lightening fast time!
Our limitations are the amount of water we can carry and the amount of food we can carry for 5 people....2 of which are teenage boys who have hollow legs. We are limited to approx 5-7 days at a time before needing to find supplies and top up with water so our trips rough itinerary is loosely based around this.

Ok lets get into it.................

Our itinerary for the first few days involved some big kilometres because we wanted to get out of the cold southern weather and to the centre and top end of Australia as quick as possible to maximise our holiday in the warmer locations, so instead of worrying too much about being in camp early enough to cook we made up a few containers with pre-cooked frozen meals, so after a long day on the road it was quick and easy to eat......clever wife :)

Here we are all packed, shiny and clean at home, ready to drive to the boat.

A nice shot of the snow on the mountains near home on the way to the boat...brrrrrr 

Probably the last photo of our set up all nice and clean before boarding.

And of course the 'boat' shots that you must take ;) 

 Once on the boat it was pretty uneventful, a nice meal which cost us a fortune, a few drinks in the main bar area and then off to our cabin for a bad nights sleep!

A Trip to Ben Lomond Ski Resort

We decided to head to the snow for the morning for a bit of play so off to Ben Lomond Ski resort we went. It is only and hour or so from home.

The drive up there is always nice, especially on a sunny winters day.

We like to take the back roads as the scenery is a lot nicer.

We spotted this little fella hanging around and old abandoned building.

Before too long we are heading up the mountain and onto the famous 'Jacobs Ladder'

And finally at the resort. Not a lot of snow around but enough to have a play.

The kids and the bigger kids had fun messing around in the snow.

After the snow fun we went back down the mountain and popped into the Clareden Arms Hotel for a late lunch. I think Lunch was finished but they still put together a meal for us.

And that was our play in the snow ;) Next snow season we are going to go up during ski season and have a go at skiing.