We bought the motor-home (The Dreamliner) , set the date to leave and return, planned the trip according to the 'dump-points' available, he joined every camp-site loyalty program available in Australia, we downloaded 'apps' that would find us fuel, accommodation, water, groceries and the nearest and best coffee! On the 7th May, 2016 with much excitement we left on our 7 week journey across Australia.
This is a new world to us. Neither of us came from families of the 'great outdoors' nor did we embrace it as a preferred holiday choice when bringing up our own family, we preferred to just head to the airport. You may call us precious, many have! Cooking outdoors doesn't particularly appeal to me and unless conditions are perfect - 25 degrees, slight breeze and a view of the ocean I'm in no way drawn to the great outdoors in any way. He is much the same preferring a smart casual look seated comfortably in a restaurant rather than t-shirts, thongs and fishing.
Not surprisingly both our personality's include extreme organisation, of every aspect of our lives. We've even trained our Labrador not to enter his basket until his rugs have been straightened. I know what you are thinking and we've heard it all before BUT this is who we are and our OCD is shared, so no problem!
You might wonder what on earth were we doing buying a motor-home in the first place. We'll there is another side to our personalties too; the 'gypsy', the 'wanderer' the 'nomad'! We do not do well sitting in one place for too long. We have regularly travelled, moved house, and enjoy our new surrounds and got to know the new people in the new village.
The purchase of the 'Dreamliner' was not an impulsive one. It took a couple of years and much research to find the one that suited us. That said, again not surprisingly it comes with a well equipped kitchen including full oven and microwave. The en-suite consists of all the facilities you would enjoy at home including an inner-spring mattress, reverse cycled air-conditioning and not one but two televisions. You see where I'm going with this - there is absolutely no inconvenience or discomfort at all! we are indeed "Glamping"
Packing the Dreamliner was an interesting process, there is a saying - "we packed everything except the kitchen-sink" - that was already there but we would have packed that too! If it was packed it was also weighed and catalogued, we knew exactly what weight we were carrying in case a particularly conscientious police officer decided that our Dreamliner needed weighing. We didn't want the Dreamliner 'impounded' somewhere outback. I had scary thoughts of someone resembling John Jarrett (Wolf Creek) offering us a lift!
Several folders of different colours with our well-researched destination points and membership cards which would give discounts along the way were strategically placed so that on arrival at our destination all this information was easily reached.
Depending on your point of view you might think all this preparation was not necessary. But from our view point the planning minimised the stress! We always knew our destination point, how many kilometres and hours it would take to get there. It allowed us to divide the driving in half or quarters depending on the distance and take breaks along the way. We most certainly took too many clothes with us (we always do) but we will refine this as we become more experienced.
We had the time of our lives and can't wait to get going again. The Dreamliner and Australia is calling and we intend to answer again and again!
