Living & travelling in a caravan with kids & dogs
- Lemonbello
- Dec 29, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 4, 2020
When the New Year of 2019 came around, we wanted a change. Sick of paying exorbitant rent and not having money leftover to really enjoy life we decided, like many others, to buy a caravan and travel fulltime with our two kids and two dogs.
We lasted four months. This is our honest story...
The details
We were lucky enough to be able to buy our car and caravan outright which meant we didn't have repayments to make. We purchased a second-hand 2017 Jayco Starcraft Outback with double bunks, full ensuite with seperate shower and toilet and full oven. To tow our caravan we traded in our old car and bought a secondhand 2011 Toyota Landcruiser 200 series.
We travelled for five months, leaving in April 2019 and returned to my hometown in August 2019. We took our two children aged four and two plus our two beloved Border Collies. We travelled from the Gold Coast Hinterland down South as far as Jervis Bay, NSW.
What we loved
Nathan and I actually loved being on the road full-time and it definitely strengthened our relationship, having to rely on each other every day. Moving from a four bedroom house into a tiny space was liberating as we learnt to live with a lot less. Instead of spending hours cleaning a big house, it took literally 30 mins and we were able to get out and enjoy doing things with our children instead of being a slave to the house.
We absolutely loved exploring new places and found some places that we fell madly in love with, such as Bowral, Kiama, Berrima and Huskisson. We love discovering beautiful beaches and rainforests
We also met some fantastic people along the way and loved hearing their travel stories as well as learning a lot from them. By buying a van that all the home comforts such as a full oven, washing machine and seperate toilet and shower, we found living in the van full time to be really easy
What we didn't like
The truth is our kids didn't like travelling at all. They hated sitting in the car for long periods of time (and we usually drove at night or super early in the morning so they would sleep), they hated being in the caravan when it was raining or too cold to play outside (which was fairly often since we travelled south in winter and we got pretty frustrated that they were so unhappy. Definitely follow the sun!). Travelling is EXPENSIVE. We did a lot of research and the majority of people said they spent on average $1,000 a week. They were right we did spend approx. $1,000 a week on food, fuel, caravan parks and activities. We don't drink alcohol and didn't do many activities at all, but caravan parks were way more expensive then we anticipated and free camps that weren't a million miles from the freeway were few and far between. We hated having to constantly decide where to go next and we moved rather slowly, always staying at least 2 days in the one location but it was stressful having to constantly think ahead and budget.
Travelling with dogs
We simply could not leave our two dogs behind, they are as much part of our family as our children so taking them was a no brainer. They are very well behaved dogs which made it enjoyable and it was easy to get them enough exercise with lots of walking and beach trips and many caravan parks are pet-friendly which was fantastic. We couldn't go to any National Parks which was a bummer but the dogs were happy to wait in the caravan for short shopping trips and when we wanted to go and do an activity or visit somewhere we couldn't take them.
What we will do differently next time
Yes, there will definitely be a next time! Even though we sold our van to buy a house, we are planning on travelling again when the kids are a bit older. Here's what we would do differently;
- Chase the sun. Caravanning is such an outdoorsy lifestyle that chasing the sun is really the only way to really enjoy it. Just make sure you have fans or air con for comfort.
- Do shorter trips away with more budget. Having a home base to return frequently to replenish your funds is the way we will go next time. Our kids are also real homebodies so they crave time to just chill at home and short trips will allow for this.
- Wait til our kids are older. There are heaps of families travelling full time with young children and those children absolutely love it, but ours did not and that's ok. We will try again when they are older and can go out and make friends with the other kids in the caravan park.
- Be grateful. We are so grateful we got 4 months of travelling and if we are able to do it again, we will again feel so grateful. It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity so if you ever get the chance, grab it with both hands and run with it! The memories are worth it.
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