After the Flinders Ranges we went back to country Victoria to see our nearest and dearest friends and family. On the way through South Australia we stopped off at one of our favourite free camps Cadell and this time we enjoyed it more because Ethan didn’t knock himself out. Was so exciting being back on the Murray. To swim and fish in a river with no crocs. Didn’t realise how much we missed it.   

The next day we passed the place that makes our classy wine so we stock up and got to watch them unload the trucks.

  
That night we free camped in Nyah Recreation Reserve which I had wanted to stay at every time we have past through but was always to close to home this time we weren’t rushing so stopped in and it was a great spot. 

Next day we made to Echuca/Tongala where we spent 10 days catching up with family and friends. It was so nice but never long enough. Got to meet my new niece which is always special. 

 
  
We did a detour via Wedderburn to see some friends then we went and stayed with cousins in Seville which was amazing. Our kids had never met because… really life is busy and we take things for granted. The boys loved their new found cousins and their farm life on the edge of a city. 

 
  
  
They gave us some local attractions that we didn’t even know exist. Was so awesome finding these hidden treasures that we had been passing all these years.
We caught up with our 2 dearest friends in Melbourne which was so nice as we miss them and seeing their girls grow up. 

  They saw and support us through our children but we are missing out on their children growing which is quite hard. Thank god for Snapchat as we get to see the girls beautiful faces every week and see their developments. 
It was hard saying goodbye this time as we aren’t sure when we’ll back but it wasn’t as hard as the first time as we knew that there was so much to explore and we have made so many friends that we were going to visit. 
Take care 

xo

Today marks 3 years since we hit the road on our adventure to travel Australia for what was meant to be 12 months. 
 

  
 

I never know whether we can actually say we are gypsies or not. As the first 3 months we spend Travelling then the next 18 months we spend in the most beautiful city exploring and working and saving. Then we returned to Victoria for what should’ve been 6 months but after our hiccup with our van turned into 12 months with 6 months of that in a house. Then the last 6 months we moved to Darwin in our new van.

Not sure that we can say we have travelled Australia just yet but we have lived in a van now for 2.5 years with 6 months in a house. And I can’t see us moving into a house in the near future either we love this style of living. 

 

 
In 3 years we have had 3 vans 😂😂 And for now we are happy with our home on wheels. It is the perfect house for 4 people living permanently in it. 

 

 
I still love our old homes and they served their purpose but I am so grateful for the upgrade. 
In 3 years we have towed caravan’s 15,890kms that includes our couple of trips around Perth and sight seeing while out on those trips. And our trips to and from Perth then our trip up centre to Darwin. 

  
However this doesn’t include any of our adventures while back in Victoria nor our trips to Sydney nor our monthly trips to Melbourne airport. It is just our travelling kms. 
I have kept a budget majority of time except our time in Victoria which I now regret.

Whilst travelling for the 3 months we averaged $750 per week and that includes everything new tyres for caravan, new battery, major service, accommodation, food, petrol, entertainment and treats like ice cream, coffees, takeaway.

We stayed the majority of the time at free or low cost camps. We mainly did free entertainment things with a few paid activities.

Once we moved into caravan park in Perth our budget went up to $1000 that included suspension upgrade, new tyres for car, another service.

Once we started fifo lifestyle this went up to $1100 as we started doing things on RnR that cost money and having a lot more extra treats.

Since being in Darwin our budget is sitting round $1200 again making most of good income so have been doing a lot of paid entertainment and treats. But in general groceries are costing an extra $100 a week as nothing seems to last long in this humidity.
We love this lifestyle obviously after living like this for 3 years. We are now getting prepared to head off on a actual trip around Australia and we could stop again and work somewhere for 6 months or we may just travel who knows we change our minds like we change our jocks. And that is one good thing about this lifestyle is that we can change our minds when we want.

But a trip of some sort is getting closer to starting as our boys are getting older so we will need to be some what settled for high school years. 

Who knows what 2018 will hold for us. 
Take care xo

Yesterday we picked up our beautiful big brand new home on wheels.  

 
        
Was a bit of an emotional day as we said goodbye to our other home on wheels.  

    
 We had so many great memories in our little 17 foot van of Perth, Margaret River and our home region.

But unfortunately every time we finally felt like we had our van right something went wrong with our little home on wheels. Within the first month of owning it we had problems. But after going to VCAT manufacturer finally realised we were serious and decided to negotiate with us.

So we have returned our cosy little home on wheels and upgrade to a big Taj Mahal on wheels. We will be super comfortable in it and hopefully, with everything crossed, have no problems with it. 

We have had, on and off, a very stressful 2 years of ongoing problems with our old van and extremely stressful 6 months dealing with all the legal side of things. I truly believe that we now deserve to enjoy our next adventure in our new van hopefully problem free. 

Can’t wait for our next chapter in our story. 

xo

This time last year we made the decision to pack up our home on wheels and move make to Victoria for 6 months. After a little hiccup with our home on wheels we moved into a house for a while. 

 
Now at almost 12 months later we have decided to move back into a new house on wheels and move North. Yep August is the time of year the Baker’s like to move to opposite side/ends of Australia.

 

 
Love that we can go wherever we want and take our home with us. 

Can’t wait for our next adventure. New place to explore, new people to meet, new memories to create. Most importantly I can’t wait to see my husband again every night after almost 2 years of being a FIFO family. 

Til next time

xo

Over my time of writing these blogs I have tried to let people get a glimpse of what it’s actually like to live in a caravan. Sometimes it’s the funny (not so funny) side like emptying the toilet and ending up covered in shit. Sometimes it’s the challenges of sick kids, rainy weather in a confined space. But today I would like to explore a different side.
A few weeks ago we had news that a near and dear family member was sick. Not life threatening but sick enough for me to consider packing up our home and moving to the other side of Australia to be able to help out. Wasn’t our only reason for moving back but a deciding factor. 

If we didn’t go back and help out and things took a even worse turn, could we live with the fact we weren’t there to help when we could’ve been. 

I mean we live in a caravan so technically we could pack up and head back for awhile til things are sorted then we could head back. Other than completely mucking up the boys routine and pulling them out of a school that they had just settled in. What else have we got to lose. We have to live life with no regrets. So that’s what we did.
It’s a wonderful thing (except the 41 hours drive we did) to be able to pack up your home and move it to a different location and yet it still feels like home. It’s truly amazing. Everything inside the van is the same. Everything in the annexe is the same. It’s just our surroundings that are different. It’s a pretty amazing feeling. And one that only a limited amount of people get to experience. 

Even amongst chaos we get to come back to our home and chill out. 

I really do love this gypsy lifestyle. Take your home wherever you want. 

  Old site in Perth   
   If we could do the speed limit we would’ve made it a day earlier 

   
  
 Was to dark to get NSW border.    
 Our new site in Moama

Take care

xoxo

For those of you who have never been to WA wouldn’t be aware that in the rural areas nothing opens on Sunday’s. You maybe lucky enough to find a small IGA or petrol station or fast food joint. But shops and supermarkets are a no go.That doesn’t really concern me as I’m in Perth. But even in the city it’s like a country town in east coast. Nothing opens til 11am, and everything closes 5pm. At the start of our WA adventure it use to annoy me. But now I love it. 

Lazy Sunday mornings. No reason to get up and rash anywhere because you can’t do anything. It really encourages you to have a morning where you just chill out with your family. Have some cuddles in bed before getting up and having a nice breakfast, sit round chatting and watching TV. I love it. This is what weekends are about.

By the time 11 comes around you have everything done ready to head out for some Sunday Funday activities.

I love it. I think every state should do this. 

The main reason for it is the fact that penalties are paid here in every industry. Which the government is trying to get rid of. I hope they don’t. It’s so nice having lazy Sunday’s, not being in a rush one day of the week.

Maybe it’s something everyone needs to try, not for a week but for a month or two. It really is the best.
Take care xo

While Matt was on RnR we decided to make the most of living in a home on wheels. So we packed up and changed our scenery for a week. Almost felt like we were on the road again, except we actually had money to spend instead of counting every cent. It was amazing. 

We packed up and headed down south to Margaret River. The South West. We had heard so many wonderful things about down there that I’ve been waiting for so long to go down there to explore. So as you can imagine I was quite excited to go down there.

The dreaded packing up and excitement meant screaming at the kids for no reason. Oops. Their tough and got over it. 

Then we hooked up. And like every time we hook up that song plays over and over in my head. “On the road again. I just can’t wait to get on the road again”. 

  
We got to our destination. Awesome, red sand sites. We have been so spoilt with concrete. This is going to do my head in, red sand everywhere inside. Thankfully we had a tarp. Not as bad as I thought.
Every night they feed some animals, first night boys keen as mustard. Next night they got chosen to feed the calves which was kind of exciting and then that was it. No more excitement about the farm animals. I was a bit disappointed thought they’d love it. 

   
   
First day exploring I was in my element. And Matt enjoyed it too. Don’t know about the boys but hey life isn’t always about them. We went to the famous surf beach. The waves were huge and the sets just kept rolling in. But there was no way in hell that I would ever attempt to go into the water there. You would end up on reef. 
  
The colour of the water…wow. It was gorgeous. Even the break had this beautiful turquoise colour. I’ve never seen anything like it. Matt and I could’ve sat there all day but of course the boys wouldn’t allow it. 

Then we headed to the mouth of the river to have a look.

   

  

Followed by a walk through the shops in town and lunch at the pub. 
The following day we decided to do Mammoth cave as there is evidence of prehistoric animals in it. It was a self guided tour which was good as we could take our time but bad because our headsets were all at different stages. Boys loved it.
   
    
   
They were so well behaved we decided to do Lake Cave as well. This was my favourite. It gets the name as there is water along the bottom of it. Which gives off some of the most beautiful reflections. To get to the cave you have to walk down 300 steps. Which is gorgeous on its own. 
   
    
    
   
We called in to the winery and cheese factory that where conveniently located next to caravan park. Made a few purchases.
The next day was adult day. Started off with a drive to Gracetown that some locals had told us to go visit. This is a gorgeous bay where the waves roll in for ages. Would love to go back there once I learn to surf. 

   
 We then called in to do some olive tastings at Olio Bello. To our amazement the boys loved it. Well Ethan loved the jams, sauces, chutneys. Nate loved the free sample bread and biscuits, nothing on them just bread and biscuits. After making a few Purchases we continued on our tour to Cheeky Monkeys Brew and cider house. We grab a seat near the playground then purchased a sample paddle to share. 

   
 We decided which drinks to continue with and had some lunch.
  
Great place could spend all day if we didn’t have to drive. Kids enjoyed the playground.

  
Then we went to Margaret River Chocolate Company and Providore. 

  
After doing a few chocolate places recently I was quite disappointed with the chocolate place. Only good thing was the free sample buttons.

The next day we checked out Yallingup which everyone raves about. Was a great town, similar to Gracetown but a bit more developed. Still not much there. 

We then drove to the lighthouse at Cape Naturalise and took a walk to the whale lookout.

   
    
    
 The whales migrant pass here. It was freezing cold.
On our way back we called into Meelup Beach as another travelling family had been there and it looked amazing so I wanted to go checkout it. It didn’t let me down.

   
 We called in and had a look around Dunsborough. Again so many people love this place and yep now I do too. It’s touristy and a bit yuppie but friendly people everywhere.

   
   
Great swimming beach for the kids.

On our last day we walked through the town closet to caravan park called Cowaramup. Which they are capitalising on the “Cow” thing. But the actual name comes from the local parrot called the cowara parrot.

   
    
 It was a great town I could’ve spent ages looking through the shops but of course the boys wanted to do their thing. So into Marg’s again to buy them a necklace for their amazing behaviour while we were down there. Followed by ice cream from Millers ice cream farm. The boys and I were in heaven.

   
 The next morning we packed up and came back to Perth.

Things that I learnt while we were away. I really hate the cold. It was freezing. The wind hit straight to my bones. I’m not sure I’ve ever been this cold. I also don’t have the appropriate clothing for cold weather. Perth was nice and warm compared to down there.

Perth now feels like home. Once we were set up on our new site I said to Matt, I actually feel like I’m at home. 

Lastly how amazing the caravan park is that we are in. Awesome shower heads, awesome water pressure and great concrete sites. Love gypsy life. 

Take care xo

I feel like a little kid at Christmas. I hardly slept last night, the excitement and slow moving time is killing me today. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited to see anyone ever. It’s fly in day. In 6 hours I get to give my husband, my best friend the biggest hug and kiss ever. This has been the longest 23 days but we have made it to the end of it. Yeh.

To have someone to talk to, someone to kiss and cuddle me and tell me it’s all going to be ok. Someone to help referee the boys, someone else to cook tea, but most of someone to spend time with.

Oh my gosh I’m so excited. 5 hours and 47 minutes to go. 

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻✈️💏👨‍👩‍👦‍👦

Sometimes I feel like that crazy lady who likes to have a clean house! I know my family members are pissing themselves with laughter at this point. But every night, well most nights I put the boys to bed and then I start cleaning!! Weird right! The thing is that if I clean the house at night it stays clean for 8 hours. Amazing right! So I do the dishes, clean/dry our bathroom, vacuum and mop/wipe the floors and to finish it off I vacuum my bed. Weird yep. But if you have ever camped/caravaned with kids you will understand, sand and dirt goes everywhere. And my bed seems to be its favourite spot. So every night i vacuum my bed yelling at my sleeping angels and telling myself it won’t happen tomorrow “That’s it. They are not hopping on my bed. I’m sick of having sand in my bed.” Then yep I forget and let them lay on my bed to watch TV before I put them in their beds. Ahh it’s only a bit of sand and I’m kind of getting use to in bed. Extra exfoliation!! Somethings need explaining about my cleaning routine. 

So our caravan bathroom is huge. While showering the boys can also do wee’s in the toilet. It’s called a combination shower/toilet, yep you got it, the shower and toilet are in the same small cubicle. Once the shower has been used its in your best interest to dry the shower area so that when you go to use the toilet your feet and bum don’t get wet. So yep I “clean” the bathroom every night. 

And cleaning the floors it’s a big job especially when you don’t own a mop. Who am I kidding I have a whole 12 x 3 foot area to clean. So on my hands and knees I vacuum the floors with a dust buster, then I scrub the floors. All this to get rid of as much sand as possible. So when I get up to go to the toilet I don’t put more bloody sand in my bed. 

And this is why I love living in a caravan. I can clean the whole van in an hour. It’s great. The only down fall is it takes 10 seconds to mess it up again. 

Til next time

Take care 

Xo