Preparation time- 6 weeks to go!

6 weeks to go until our family of five head off for an adventure. 10 weeks on the road with our 4WD and a friend's camper trailer. I just can not wait to break from routine and head out on the open road. Time away from the mundane everyday life of alarm clocks, making school lunches, supervising homework and being tied to my work laptop during the day. Free time to think, explore and hang out with my family. Bliss!!!

Our plan is for Chris & I to drive to Uluru over 4-5 days. That is 2,835km- Australia is a MASSIVE country. Then on day 5 my parents will arrive with our girls the sensible way- by plane. After a few days at Uluru/ Kata Tjuta with Mum & Dad they will fly home leaving the five of us to continue our journey north through the Northern Territory visiting Kings Canyon, West McDonnell Ranges, Alice Springs, up to Katherine, Kakadu, all the way to Darwin.

Uluru

Then the plan is to head west into Western Australia, visiting El Questro, the Bungle Bungles, touring through the Kimberleys until we reach the coast at Broome. From there we will stick to the coast (with a detour to Karajini National Park) all the way down the Western Australian coast line as far as we can make it before it's time to make the (very very) long drive home.

El Questro

So that is the basic plan! Our accommodation at Ayers Rock Resort campground is booked but apart from that, it's about winging it and seeing where we end up. When I say 'winging it' I don't really mean it, as being an excessive and extensive travel planner by nature, I now have multiple lever arch folders overflowing with brochures, guidebooks, magazine articles and notes taken from other round Oz blogs I've been reading. They are all neatly divided into the relevant sections of our journey and I have to say I hope the actual journey will be as fun as the planning has been! I really should have been a travel agent....

I hope to write on this blog as often as possible and hope you will join us on our adventure.My plan is to get the older girls to write their own posts occasionally as part of their home schooling. We are calling their homeschool class 2-4L! Internet coverage is going to be extremely sketchy at best in the outback areas but we'll give it a go.

The countdown is on!