Travel Australia in 4 minutes! Amazing Stats from an Incredible Lap of OZ.

Travel Australia in 4 minutes! Grab a cuppa and ENJOY!  We followed along as Munro’s Making Memories travelled around our amazing country and ‘lived the dream’!  When they returned home, they shared one of the best re-caps we have come across.  Sit back and ‘LIVE’ their lap of Australia through their stats and observations – this one is filled with awesome tips & funny quips! Real Stories from Real Families…

I’ve been avoiding writing this post for the last month. We have come home – for now at least!

Home to our family, friends, house and all the things that we left behind. So we should be happy! We have a great life here at home, but the settling back in has been tough. There have been tears and some long afternoons wondering if coming home was the right thing to do!

For a few weeks, we just walked around the house waving our arms and enjoying not hitting or running in to anything!! We had SO much space and SO much stuff (despite downsizing before we left!)

The biggest adjustment has been going back to school and work- with the regimented schedules being the toughest.

Apart from that – wearing shoes and undies instead of living in swimmers and thongs has been unbearable (or so the boys tell me)!!

But it’s not all doom and gloom!

We know how lucky we have been to be able to have this experience and we know it’s been the best thing that we have ever done!

We have some more travel coming up soon, so the adventures will continue. Travel is something that gets into your blood – so more to come!

Trip stats – noting that we aren’t the record everything family (ain’t nobody got time for that! – well I don’t anyway 😂)

– 35,767km travelled
– $11,997 Fuel
– States – QLD, NT, WA, SA
– 200 nights away from home
– 169 – on the road
– 13 nights at friends
– 17 nights in a tent (Cape York, Bungle Bungles, Cape Leveque)
– 1 night cabin (Rottnest Island)
– Most time in a row without paying for accomodation – 12.
– Most nights off grid (in a row) -14
– Days of rain – 3 (we followed the sun!)
– Lost thongs – 6pairs, 4singles!
– Blow outs (thongs -4pairs).
– Lost hats – 5
– Breakdowns – 0
– Flat tyres – 2 (both slow leaks in town)
– Fish – 5 + 2 sharks (not a very successful fishing trip!) 🎣
– Coolest Animals we saw – platypus, palm cockatoos, cassowarys, Reef Sharks, rock wallabies, whales, Eagle Rays, Manta Rays dingoes, crocs. The list goes on! 🐋 🐬🦎 🦅
– Animals we didn’t see – those damn thorny devils remained elusive!!
– Injuries – Andrew – ant bites during a tricky drone retrieval in the forest. And mossie bites on lachie.
– Sickness – We were super healthy on the trip- Andrew got a cold. Me -0, James – 0, Lachie – pink eye (WTF?).

Where we stayed /recommendations:
– Most expensive night- Cairns Coconut -$95
– Cheapest paid camp – $8 Coronation Beach and Nine Mile WA.
– Best free camp – Bunda Cliffs SA, Gregory Downs QLD
– Best cheap camp – Warroora station, WA, Cape Range NP- can’t beat that beachfront

– Best caravan park – Cairns coconut, QLD/ Airlie Beach Big 4 – waterslides and lots of fun for the kids!
– Coolest cheap camp – Burdekin Cane Farm – QLD- watching a cane fire!
– Favourite spots – mostly national Parks for us! We will do a state rundown with some pics and details later. Cape Leveque WA, Cape Range WA, Cape York QLD, Cape Le Grande WA, Daintree, Coral Bay WA, Francois Peron National Park WA, Steep Point, WA, Crystal Creek QLD, Litchfield NT, Mataranka NT, Kakadu NT, Coffin Bay SA, Kimberlys WA, Lawn Hill, QLD

– Best natural feature – water slides at Big Crystal Creek,
– Best aerial view – heart reef Airlie beach QLD, bungle bungles WA.

– Most expensive activity – Horizontal falls – $3000 for the four of us – but absolutely worth every cent!!!
– Best free activity – every walk we went on!
– Best hike – Karinjini NP – Hammersly Gorge

– Best beach – Turquoise Bay, Cape Range NP, Cape Leveque WA
– Best sunsets – so many – but Broome really turned it on!!

– Most remote – Cape York and Steep Point

– Most overrated spot – Milla Milla Falls in QLD. Such a gorgeous waterfall absolutely full to the brim with tourists trying to get that perfect insta photo.
– Best food – Margaret River WA
– Best animal interaction – swimming with Manta Rays in Coral Bay and wading with Eagle Rays – Hamelin Bay WA. Swimming with dolphins in Bunbury WA.
– Best snorkelling – coral bay and cape range. We think it topped the GBR!
– Most overrated activity – feeding dolphins at Monkey Mia. Hordes of people in an artificial environment.
– Most amazing aboriginal rock art – petroglyphs at Dampier, art at Laura QLD.
– Best waterfalls – Fruit Bat falls QLD – such an oasis!
– Best quirky activity – renting a topless barbie car on magnetic island.
– Best kid free time – a wine tour in the Margaret River with 7 other travelling mums – best day ever!! 😘
– Best fun activity for the kids- jungle safari – Cape Tribulation, Tree top adventures Busselton.
– Best paddling – lake argyle, lawn hill QLD

What we noticed/other tips:

– We were lucky to meet some other amazing travelling families – friends for life!! Already planning future catch ups – it really was a special adventure to share with them as well.
– Places that looks the most like the pictures – pink lake! It really is pink! Lucky Bay – it really is bright white sand and blue water.
– Every town is a tidy town runner up from 1980’s. 😂
– Every bakery has a pie who was won “Australia’s best pie” 🥧
– If you treat the trucks on the road with respect – then that’s what you usually get back – we had no issues – as long as we called them on the two way- they were all polite. 🚛
– Always ask other travellers and locals for tips, you never know what you might discover – we were lucky enough to see a colony of black faced rock wallabies in Cape Range – but it wasn’t signposted – so we would have missed it without the local tips!
– Don’t plan too far in advance – give yourself time to enjoy a place or leave early if it’s not for you.
– Theres more to Australia’s history than we were taught at school – so it was great to be able to learn more things alongside the boys.
– Kids can walk further than you give them credit for – our kids tackled Grade 5 walks and rock climbing with enthusiasm – just take some bribes for the walk home and you will be fine!
– Bamboo baby wipes for the car and everywhere!!
– Op shops are a great source of books clothes and even Christmas decorations.
– We ate eleventy billion BBQ dinners – sausages and salad/veggies ended up being the staple go to meal!
– Bikes or scooters?!! – wish we had taken bikes and we didn’t use the scooters much! 🛴 🚲
– Take your portable stove for some truly great breakfasts and lunches – Bacon and eggs at nature’s window was pretty special! 🥓 🍳
– What didn’t we use – porta toilet, generator (not much bad weather and our solar is pretty good) 🌞
– What we are so glad we bought – Aldi inflatable paddle board and the drone!!
– Dogs or no dogs? We were glad we didn’t take our puppy – it would have seriously hampered our trip not being able to go to national parks. But we are glad to have her back! 🐶
– Toys – we only took a bag of LEGO, books and cars. The kids played more with sticks, shells and rocks!! 🐚
– Podcasts and audio books are your friend on long trips – wow in the world, jack and Harry, imagine this, Harry Potter etc. 🎧
– Did we fight being cooped up in a tin can 24/7?? I’m not going to lie, it was hard spending so much time with each other when we are used to being at school, day care and work all day. We don’t really fight much at home (Andrew has asked me to point out that’s because he is so awesome 😂). So we only had one major blow up on the trip when I politely suggested that the boys go home and stop ruining my trip. Andrew politely declined to do that and so we continued on!! The boys on the other hand fought just as much. So I think it’s really just the same s@$t, different location!
– We met so many families with all types of rigs and setups – it really doesn’t matter what you have – just as long as you get out there and do it!!
– Everyone we met said that they wished they had done a trip but life got in the way. So seriously – just get out there and do it – even just a short trip. You won’t regret it!!

WOWZERS! What a great read – Many thanks to Munro’s Making Memories – our lap around Australia for sharing these wonderful stats with our community! We can’t wait to see where your next adventures take you all… You can follow them on Facebook and Instagram

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