Meet the family behind 'One Big Epic Adventure' Australia

Travelling the Big Lap around Australia is a dream for many… In 2019 Natasha and her family decided that they were over the ‘rat race’ and sold their beautiful home to travel around Australia in their caravan.

Since returning to Buderim QLD late last year, Natasha joined Camplify to share their beloved Willow caravan, named 'Epic Adventure' and expert travel advice with other families eager to experience ‘vanlife’.

If you’re a parent thinking about doing The Lap, this is the article for you. From budgeting, navigating lockdowns, homeschooling, and making everlasting memories, read on to learn more about the Skinner family’s Big Epic adventure.

Tell us more about your family

My husband (Paul) and myself (Natasha) have been married for 16 years and have 3 beautiful boys, aged 12, 9 and 7 years old. We left for our trip around Australia on 26th December 2019 and returned on 24th December 2020 in our Willow caravan, built with family adventuring in mind.

What made you do a Big Lap with your family?

For the past 15 years, we've renovated a stack of houses and moved more times than we can keep track of. The last house that we sold was our first new build. Paul being a builder, worked for a company during the week and then every weekend would work on building our house. It was a mammoth task and he worked 7 days a week for 10 months whilst I worked and pretty much was a single mum for the 10 months. It nearly wrecked us both. Over the years we sacrificed so much to get ahead. Time with our kids and time together were the main things.

In 2018 we had a reality check. A friend of ours lost her battle with cancer. She was in her 30's, fit, healthy and full of life. Only a month later we lost a relative also to cancer. It was so heartbreaking and really put into perspective how fragile life can be.

In 2019 we decided that enough was enough and we were over the rat race. We sold our beautiful home and decided that it was time for us to focus on what was important in life. Our relationship with each other, our children and the legacy we pass onto them. We had the urge to travel Australia with our family, spend time together and be intentional about making memories and building relationships with our loved ones. Thankfully before we left for our trip we downsized and brought a house that we could come back to and rent whilst we were on our trip.

Any saving tips you’d like to share for a trip of this size?

We were fortunate enough to have made a decent profit from the sale of our house and we budgeted about $1,000 a week for the trip. I tracked our spendings for the first half of our trip and we spent about $1,300 per week (a little more than we had planned).

Some tips to save money on the road:

• Free camp as much as possible (Free camps are often the best ones)

• Track your spendings (it's a bit of an eye-opener)

• Try not to eat out too much (For a family of 5, it can add up very quickly)

• Rent your house out. (Our mortgage was being covered by our rent)

What positive changes has this trip had on your lifestyle, wellbeing and family bond?

On our trip, we learnt to really slow down and enjoy each and every moment. We appreciated the simple things in life and loved connecting with each other on a deeper level. Since returning we have learnt how busy life is and how people nearly celebrate being busy. We have decided that relationships, and not things, are most important. A trip like this changes you and your perspective. Our family is a lot closer and we really enjoy spending time together.

What are your favourite memories from this trip?

Some of our favourite memories include:

• Lockdown in Esperance, (WA). We spent 7 weeks here in lockdown and created some of the best memories of our trip. Esperance has the most beautiful beaches in Australia. We fished, explored the beaches and sand dunes to ourselves, witnessed hundreds of dolphins swimming by at Wylie Bay and made some awesome new friendships with an incredible group of travelling families who were also in lockdown with us.

• Paul catching a huge Threadfin Salmon at Notch Point, (QLD). A fantastic free camp right by the water. I think anyone who was around at the time must've thought 'What on earth is going on down there' We were screaming with excitement as the fish was brought in.

• Swimming with the Whale Sharks at Cape Range National Park, Ningaloo Reef (WA). Such an incredible experience and definitely worth the money. The size and grandeur of these creatures is incredible. You realise how small and insignificant you are as they swim by.

• Dirk Hartog Island (WA). We ditched the van and swagged it for 5 nights. This was such an incredible experience. We caught some whopper fish, saw a stack of sharks, explored the entire island via 4WD and enjoyed some incredible sunsets and sunrises.

• Karijini National Park (WA) - Hands down, the most spectacular gorge walks in Australia.

• Phillip Island Penguin Parade (VIC). Another incredible experience for the entire family.

• Wilson's Promontory (VIC). We spent a week here just before covid hit and it was magical. We had no wind, the weather was magnificent and the water, a turquoise colour. We all really enjoyed getting the surfboards out and surfing with each other.

• Cape Leveque and Broome (WA). The vibe, rawness and colours of this area are incredible.

• Uluru (NT). We had both sets of grandparents surprise our family and meet us in the NT. We travelled down the centre together and we all experienced for the first time Uluru, Kata tjuta and Kings Canyon Rim Walk. It was so special to have down this with our extended family.

Have you noticed any changes in the kids after being on the road and exploring?

Yes most definitely. Although our boys were quite strong and confident in their character before our trip we have noticed that their confidence has grown (especially the younger ones). They can hold a conversation with adults without any issues and respond to questions asked confidently. They have become more patient with each other and have formed such a strong bond. (They even find each other at school during lunch and play together with their other friends). They have become so much more knowledgeable with life skills, History and Geography. They have learnt what it means to be persistent, brave and courageous.

How did homeschool go?

Homeschool was definitely the hardest part of being on the road and I'm a teacher (haha). It was hard to put aside time each day to complete schoolwork (and to be honest some days we didn't). Early/Mid-morning was often cluttered with packing up the van or going on a hike, exploring a new place or travelling to our next destination.

I managed to get an exemption for the year for our three boys and we focused solely on English and Maths. The year before we left, I spoke with the Head of Curriculum at the school that the boys attended and were able to get an idea of the standards and what was to be covered in each of their subjects. We also got a copy of the book lists and purchased the corresponding textbooks. We worked our way through the textbooks whilst using the online learning platforms of reading eggs and Khan Academy as additional resources. I regularly accessed the Australian Curriculum website to see the content descriptors for each subject to ensure I was teaching them what was required.

The best term we had with schoolwork was Term 2 when we were in lockdown. The boys would smash out their schoolwork every morning as we weren't moving on or needing to pack up. We found it best to do schoolwork in the morning before heading out to explore for the day. We would also try and do school work in the car, incidental learning out and about and have the boys read any signs along our travels or hikes.

Top tips for families considering doing the Big Lap

• Be flexible. Have a rough plan but don't book too far in advance (except for some hot spots around Cape Range National Park and Lucky Bay, Esperance)

• Free Camp as much as possible (these are often the best camps and free)

• Carefully consider how much you take in your van. We didn't use a few things such as scooters, generator, extra linen etc.

• Have a rough weekly budget but allow for incidentals, you'll likely spend more than you think.

• Get yourself a good set of all-terrain tyres. (We did lots of dirt roads, Red Bluff/Gnarloo (WA), Gibb River Road (WA), Mereenie Loop Road (NT), Kennedy Developmental Road (QLD), Cape Leveque (WA) and didn't have one flat tyre for the year.

• Take in every moment, create a blog or start a photobook whilst on the road to document your travels.

Shorter trip ideas for those not able to do big lap just yet

If you haven't got the Wikicamps app it is a must. You can locate free camps, caravan parks, points of interest, dump points and water points anywhere in Australia. You can also filter your preferences (ie. dog-friendly parks, etc), plan your trip using this app and track your travels. It was the main app we used whilst on the road. If you can't do a big lap just yet, set aside whatever amount of time you can and use the Wikicamps app to plan where you would like to go. Research online and head into information centres at the various places you visit. They provided us with so much helpful information. Just get out there and explore! We totally underestimated how incredible our country really is. We would honestly go back and do it all again in a heartbeat.

The hardest parts of living on the road full time?

• Homeschooling

• Driving long distances with kids in the car.

• Living in each other's space 24/7 is hard work especially in a van.

It's a little cliche that one of the best things about our trip was that it allowed us to spend much needed time with one another, yet the hardest part was living in such a small space together. Yes, we did get frustrated and short with each other at times. Yep, we lost patience, especially doing school work (haha) but all of these things enabled us to grow as individuals and we are better people for it. Nothing can take away the incredible memories we have created together. It was one of the best decisions we have ever made as a family. If you're thinking about it, just do it. Take the leap, you won't regret it.

To see more images from their trip, check out their Instagram or Facebook, or if you’re dreaming about doing the big lap yourself after reading this, you can hire their van here.