Welcome Our Big Lap!

The search was long…the search was wide…but we finally found our very first Big Lappers!

We are super excited to welcome Bec, Lloyd and their two adorable kids Ava (4) and Finn (2) to the Caravanning with Kids team… This family of four have JUMPED! They have gone through the many months of planning and are now ready to embark on their big lap adventure.

We will be right beside them, cheering them on and ‘living’ their dream through our phone and computer screens (hey…that kinda rhymed lol ) We can’t wait to share with you regular up dates here on our website and on our FB & Insta…

Join us as we follow Our Big Lap, with their Big Lap!

Here are a few words from Bec & Lloyd about WHY they decided to JUMP….Can you relate? I am guessing there are lots of us that can…

BEC SAYS

The dream to do a trip around Australia with our kids was something we always harboured, long before our kids had even come along. There was a quiet sense that when the time came, that was what we were going to do. It was always a no-brainer to us but we never had a firm plan of action.

Our general approach to life was to work as hard as we could to get ahead, and when that was done, work a little bit more. The trip was always there in the back of our mind, but nothing we had given any serious thought to planning for… until about two years ago…

At that time Lloyd was, as always, working hard to provide for us while I was a stay-at-home mum caring for our two young kids. I was at a point where I felt like I was on a Groundhog Day-style rollercoaster that I couldn’t quite get off. It felt as though I was with the kids 24/7 and Lloyd was at work 24/7. Even when he wasn’t at work, more often than not, his head was.

Although we had always planned for me to take a break from my career to be at home when it came time for our family to grow, there was no way to prepare for the realities of this period of our lives. We were surviving, sure; but we were not thriving. I felt disillusioned – we had worked so hard all our adult lives to get ahead, and Lloyd continued to work so hard to provide for us all, but we were miserable. With Lloyd’s work commitments only growing, and his schedule starting to take a toll on his health, I knew it was time to make a fairly drastic change.

As I sat at home one night, the kids in bed, Lloyd at yet another meeting, I got to thinking that we had worked so hard and made plans for 10, 20, 30 years down the track but in actual fact, life was happening right here and now. It was one of those moments of absolute clarity when I realised that what we had been working so hard for was there for the taking right now. Everything seemed to fall into place in my mind. Here was the opportunity to reconnect, share an unforgettable experience, to make memories and lay down family foundations that will last a lifetime… to just be able to slow down, enjoy each other and for Lloyd, disconnect from work and work responsibility for the first time since he took his first job 20 years ago.

There is a slight sense of trepidation, we are the kind of people who like to know how things will pan out, but equally there is the sense of adventure and excitement that comes with knowing we have some 7 months of open road in front of us. Nowhere to be, except right where we are.

It is also a chance for us to stop and take stock of our lives and to decide if when OUR BIG LAP is over whether we want to return to life as we knew it, or whether it is time to reassess our priorities and take our life in a different direction.

What is certain is that no matter what happens when OUR BIG LAP is complete, our lives will never be the same. We are hitting the road to draw a line in the sand. To acknowledge we want better for ourselves, our kids, our family, and to act on making that happen.

– Bec –

LLOYD SAYS

I have always had an inner yearning for the freedom and adventure that I feel only a trip around Australia can bring.

I would love to be able to say that the decision to embark on our own Big Lap was mine and mine alone and came from some epiphany that bubbled up in one of those ‘trumpet’ moments in life. In reality our decision to ‘draw a line in the sand’ had a much slower burn than that. Bec and I had often talked about how great it would be to travel around Australia and feel the freedom that time and an open road permits and it was Bec who resurrected those earlier conversations one afternoon on the lounge after what was no doubt a tough week. I recall it was one of those conversations that could easily go either way – get brushed off as the never-to-be-realised pipe dream, or, with some deeper reflection and a fair dose of courage, one of those moments in your life where you deliberately choose to take the road less travelled. For us it was the latter.

The last few years have been BIG. Big on all fronts. Bec and I had transitioned from a carefree couple to a Mum and Dad of two beautiful kids that bring us both so much love and joy but at the same time, as kids tend to do, take so much of us. All the while Bec had transitioned from an incredibly talented and successful sports administrator to a stay at home mum, and my career had taken off again and saw me working in an amazing role with wonderful people in a wonderful organisation.

My gig is big but I love it. It challenges me every day and teaches me something new every week. It allows my wife to be a full time mum to our kids and it has supported a fortunate lifestyle for my family. It is however one of those gigs that can take up as much of your head as you let it… and I had let it. It is one of those roles with “Chief” in the title – right up near the top of the corporate ladder. I was there in my early thirties and loving the role… but I was buggered. I was working long hours, spending hours each day getting to work and was struggling to get work and home to ‘add up’. I was very aware that whilst I was trying my best at being the best husband and father that circumstances permitted, it wasn’t enough. I knew things needed to be better, to be different, and I knew I (we) needed time and freedom to reconnect with clear heads.

What better way to get to know the husband and father I can be ‘unplugged’ than to literally unplug and hit the road with a map full of scribbles, a spreadsheet of loose travel plans (I couldn’t help myself), my beautiful wife and our two beautiful kids in the caravan of our dreams. No emails. No meetings. No phone calls. No dramas (or at least not the work ones).

The ‘yes’ decision was BIG but it felt right, and will hopefully prove to be one of those decisions that with the benefit of hindsight becomes ‘that’ moment in your life that was the start of something new. No pressure!!!

Lloyd