Our Australian Road Trip with Kids

Are you wanting to plan a trip to see the vast, breath-taking natural wonder that is Australia?

We left the UK for a five week trip of a lifetime to Melbourne and Sydney, exploring Regional Victoria and NSW on the way. Read on to find out how, why and where, plus how much it all cost…

Our Itinerary

Australia is a stunning country of pristine wildnerness, the vast outback and stunning coastlines. There are snowy mountains, lush rainforests with swimming lagoons and waterfalls, rocks and deserts, cliffs and coral reefs.

We created some of our most precious family memories on this camping trip in the land down under. We had cozy campfires under the stars, and slept with the koalas hanging in the trees above us. We saw herds of kangaroos and wallabies over vast plains. We saw giant rays and armies of soldier crabs. Australia is a destination that I cannot stress enough is an absolute joy to visit, and perfect for kids. In fact, its a paradise for kids!

Map of our Campervan Route From Melbourne, Vic to Sydney, NSW

Day 1: Travel to Heathrow and fly to Singapore.

We flew economy with Singapore Airlines.

Flight time to Singapore : 13 hours.

We live in the Cotswolds and got a lift from my lovely mother-in-law down to the airport. We were booked on a night flight, which I always hated doing with the kids when they were babies, but I thought it would be better now that the kids are older. I was wrong!!

The boys did me proud and were so well behaved, happy, and calm the whole flight ( I was so so impressed, and thankful!) But not one of us was able to sleep during the flight and it was so painful being awake that long.

The boys managed a few broken hours and were getting really sad that they just couldn’t sleep even though they were exhausted, and of course, that meant we couldn’t sleep as well! To be honest, I never sleep well on flights, so I was expecting to be awake, but I did think the kids and James would manage some good hours, but they didn’t. By the time we arrived in Singapore, we had all been awake since 7am the day of travel, making it a grand total of being awake for 26 hours!!

I’ve learnt some valuable lessons about what works and doesn’t when flying for us as a family from this trip. Read my guide on flying long haul with kids to find out my top tips, and things to avoid!

Even with this nightmare sleep situation, I have to say that the kids were thrilled to be flying and enjoyed the kids activity packs they got, having a meal in the air and all the games and films in the TV on the seat head rest. It was honestly better than Christmas in there eyes. They were made up with it and still talk about how cool it was! My youngest ( Mr 3 ) had the absolute time of his life, he really thought that flying was the best thing that had ever happened to him!

Day 2: In transit/ Arrive in Singapore

Needless to say, we were all exhausted when we arrived in Singapore. With the time difference, it was midday local time (I think?!) when we landed.

We had another 8 hours to wait in the airport for our connecting flight! I had been keen on long connection times for two reasons. 1; it was a cheaper ticket and 2; I have flown long haul lots before and hate making myself get back on a plane very soon after being cramped on a plane for the last 13 hours.

Singapore Changi Airport is renowned as being one of the best airports in the world, and I had planned to see the attractions while we waited there for 8 hours. They have a hotel with swimming pool, a butterfly garden, multiple play zones for the kids, and the Jewel, a massive indoor waterfall and rainforest area. I had also read that they had snooze zones located around the airport to rest; sounded perfect!

Well, I am sorry to say that none of that happened! The swimming pool, play zones and butterfly garden were still closed due to covid restrictions (Singapore was one of the last countries in the world to lift restrictions). The Jewel area that I had most wanted to see was THROUGH immigration and passport control. There were large ques on either side, maybe 1 to 2 hours. It would have been a rush to make it there and back for our next flight. It was not impossible, but we were already shattered and didn’t want to risk missing our connecting flight. Plus, we would have had to go through covid restrictions in Singapore if we left the airside of the airport. So we decided against it.

Instead, we spent 8 hours eating food (good) and lying on the floor trying to sleep (bad) as all the ‘snooze zones’ were tiny and all taken.

So, not feeling refreshed in the least, and feeling like absolute crap, we made our way to board our next flight.

Day 3: Arrive in Melbourne

Flight time to Melbourne, 7.5 hours

By now, I had lost all knowledge of times/ time zones/ what day it was! The flight was crowded, and we still didn’t get much sleep, although we all did pass out at various points through utter exhaustion.

Still, the boys just got on with it in a calm and happy temperament; I honestly don’t know what happened, but they were absolute angels, especially considering how tired and uncomfortable they must have been! I was so grateful they were because if I had to deal with tantrums on top of this journey, I don’t know how I would have coped!

We arrived in Melbourne late morning/ lunchtime and got a taxi straight to our serviced apartment. Even after the brutal journey, we were so thrilled to be back in Melbs.

Check-in wasn’t until 3 p.m., so we headed, like the walking dead, to a park at the end of the road and hung out there for a couple of hours until our room was ready.

Once in our room, the TV went on, we flopped on the sofa, and all fell asleep until 5 am the next morning.

Day 4 – 8 Exploring Melbourne

Where we stayed: Pegasus Serviced Apartments, Fitzroy

Cost breakdown;

Melbourne is an amazing, fun, and dynamic city that has a totally unique feel. There is always something going and plenty to no matter what your in to

We know Melbourne quite well, having lived here for a year in our late twenties. So we had places we knew we wanted to go, things we were looking forward to seeing again and places we were excited to return to with the kids.

The serviced apartment was great and was exactly what we needed. Plenty of space, separate bedrooms from living area, and a large kitchenette with fridge, freezer, oven grill, and microwave. We saved money this way by making our own breakfasts, packed lunches, and some dinners too.

We did buy food out and about; Melbourne has so many wonderful cafes and restaurants, and the coffee! We weren’t about to miss out on that, so we brought coffees, pastries, ice creams, snacks and lite bites while exploring the city, mixed in with the occasional lunch or dinner in one of the fabulous cafes.

Check out my more detailed Guide to Melbourne for families for all the info.

Take a tram. The trams in Melbourne are pretty iconic, and form part of the city’s identity and character, connecting the diverse city neighbourhoods in the largest urban tram network in the world.
The kids loved taking the tram in Melbourne! We got the tram from a stop just outside our apartment in to the city. The City Circle Tram is free, and a great way to catch see the sights of the city. It travels on a circular route around Melbourne’s most notable attractions (see my Melbourne Guide for families for details)
Botanical Gardens The Botanical Gardens are one of my favourite places to visit when we go to Melbourne. We spent a whole day here happily walking about in the sunshine, picnicking, walking among the beautiful plants and flowers, full of butterflies and bees. They have a fantastic rainforest area with giant trees towering above you and a walkway at ground level through the coolness of the canopy and beautiful ferns. The boys were happy in natures playground, running, jumping, exploring. My eldest (Mr 5) found a pinecone as big as his head which made his day! There is a lovely lake, grassy meadows and tea rooms/ cafes to get refreshments.
Shrine of Remembrance is a impressive memorial for fallen soldiers located opposite the Botanical Gardens. We visited the two on the same day as they are so close to each other and it is a lovely walk from the Shrine down to the botanical gardens. Its a beautiful structure both in its physical for and for what it represents. you can enter at your leisure . The Shrine offers amazing views of the city.
Southbank The first thing when we did when we arrived in Melbourne (after a sleep !) was head to Southbank. This area on the river is close to the iconic Flinders Street Station, and Federation Square. There are shops, cafes, bars and places to eat located all along the beautiful riverside. The Yarra River runs through the heart of the city and is a great place to eat, relax, chill by the river and watch the world go by. Have a walk along the river bank to see lovely views of Melbourne’s City scape and the MCG cricket ground. There are often street performers, pop up exhibitions and all kind of things going on here. a short walk across the Princes bridge there is a Birramung Marr Playground, which has loads of good play equipment for big and small kids!
Fitzroy This neighbourhood in Melbourne city centre is hipster central bursting with artistic spirit and flair! Hope on a tram to take you in to the heart of this bohemian quarter, we love visiting here to see really cool graffiti, quirky and independent shops, vintage boutiques and more stunning cafes and restaurants than you can imagine. There are loads of vegetarian and vegan places her which we enjoyed trying out too.
St Kilda This is the main city beach area (although there are plenty of others nearby too; see my Melbourne guide for details). This beachside Melbourne neighbourhood has the famous and historic Luna Park theme park, with rollercoasters and fairground rides for all ages. The esplanade comes alive with vibrant cafes, restaurants and shops, all set beside the beautiful and sandy beach along Port Philip Bay. There are lovely boardwalks and coastal tracks along the beach and it is a great place for stunning Melbourne sunset, perhaps while enjoying a drink form one of the great cafes and bars.
Brighton Beach This is my favourite beach in Melbourne and it our opinion, a must visit when coming to Melbourne. Just like its British namesake, there are very cute Beach huts along the beach, with really cool colours and designs. The kids loved checking them all out! There are great views of the city, and a lovely walk along the coastal path along Port Philip Bay. Its a really lovely area and the café and kiosk at The Baths Middle Brighton is a great pit stop (There is an ocean swimming pool here as well).
We weren’t ready to leave Melbourne (we never are!) But adventure was calling, and it was time to pick up our campervan the next day and hit the road!!

Day 9: Camping – Airley’s Inlet

Where we stayed: Big 4 Campsite, Airley’s Inlet

My husband went to collect the van while I stayed with the kids tidying in the apartment and packing up. That suited me just fine, as I didn’t want to drive in Melbourne very much! (Find out the essential need to know tips for driving in Melbourne in our full Melbourne guide). When James arrive in the van the excitement was off the charts! This was our first time in a camper and the kids, and me, were just delighted.

We were headed to the Great Ocean Road, a very famous and very stunning coastal driving route through the beautiful coastline of South Victoria stretching for 234km. With rugged views of the Southern Ocean, pristine beaches, lush rainforest and the colossal 12 apostles rock formations, there is so much to see and do here we could never do it justice in the short time we had.

Luckily, me and James had been here many times before and knew exactly the areas we wanted to experience with our boys which narrowed down our itinerary. For a more detailed guide on the Great Ocean Road, click here.

After a short drive through the Australian countryside, we soon read the Great Ocean Road, which hugs the cliff and takes you right along the coast.

You will be pulling over to take pictures every 5 seconds, the views are just out of this world. Eventually after all the stops we arrived at Airley’s Inlet, a small coastal town with a famous and historic lighthouse we wanted to visit. (If any one remembers the Children’s TV show round the twist, this is the lighthouse from the show!)

We chose this stop over for the lighthouse and also we didn’t want to drive along the road to far on the first day, and Airley’s Inlet position close to the beginning of Great Ocean Road was perfect.

The campsite is fab with children’s games, a playground, giant chess board and jumping pillows. Across there road there is a convenience shop, and a couple of restaurants. We crossed the road and joined the coastal track, which after 5 minutes, we had reached the lighthouse, complete with wonderful café and ocean views. Bliss!

Day 10 – 12 Camping – Otway’s National Park

Where we stayed: Bimbi Park, Camp under Koalas

The next morning we drove for 2 hours to the next stop on the Great Ocean Road, via the perfectly pretty beach town of Lorne. After browsing the surf shops and enjoying a massive ice-cream, we jumped back in the van and headed to Bimbi Park.

Bimbi Park is located deep in the Otway’s Rainforest National Park which is located along the Great Ocean Road.

This was one of my favourite locations we have camped at EVER (despite the DIASTER that struck! – Read here for more details!)

The campsite is nestled deep in the bush and it feels remote, peaceful and beautiful. There is an abundance of wildlife and we saw wild kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, parrots and bird in every shape and size. The koalas were clear to see in the eucalyptus trees over our pitch every evening. It was magical.

The start of ‘Maits Rest’ rainforest walk

We also drove to do the Mait’s Rest Walk while we here, a must-do activity in the area taking you through through a breath-taking rainforest trail. There are also many water fall in the area to explore. There are a lot of expensive tree top activities we didn’t do, as we were on a budget, but the free and impressive Mait’s Rest Walk we did not feel like we had missed out in any way!

We also drove to the iconic 12 Apostles viewpoint and spent time on Gibson’s beach splashing in the waves with the colossal limestone rock formations in the ocean towering above us making it the most stunning scene.

There were many other points of interest along the Great Ocean Road we had to miss out as it would take so much more time than we had to do them justice and we prefer slower travel, rather than rushing to fit everything in. For more details on what else you can do on the Great Ocean Road see our full guide here.

Day 13 – 15: Camping – Yarra Valley.

Where we stayed: Warburton Holiday Park.

In the morning, we set off for our longest driving day yet, 4.5 hours heading back to Melbourne, and then further east to the stunning wine and farming region of the Yarra Valley.

This area of Victoria is so beautiful, with many vineyards and rolling hills, giant forests and plenty of pretty towns and villages, and located just one hour from the cosmopolitan Melbourne, it is a perfect side trip for families wanting to see a bit of rural Australia and some native wildlife on there trip. There is so much to see and do for families in the Yarra Valley!

We stayed at Warburton Holiday Park which is right on the Yarra River. The river runs right through the campsite with river side pitches available, you can do river-tubing straight from the campsite; bring your own rubber ring/ inner tube or rent one from Warburton town. There are also guided river tubing tours/trips you can join. It a great spot for families and we saw many kids enjoying the river, wild swimming and playing.

If you are lucky, you may also spot one of the duck-billed platypus that call this stretch of River home.

There is also a fantastic new, public water play area with slides, fountains and more right at the entrance to the holiday park.

The tiny little town of Warburton is very cute with some sweet little shops and lovely cafes to visit. Perfect for an afternoon stroll. There are also lovely walk through the forests and along the river.

Warburton is just one tiny area of the beautiful Yarra Valley. (Check out our Yarra Valley For Families Guide for more information on all the other things to see and do near by)

Day 16: Camping in Albury, NSW

Albury was a last minute addition to our intinery that we hadn’t planned; however the weather turned. The YYarra valley had a huge storm forecast with solid rain, which extended to the whole south coast route that we had been planning on travelling on.

We didn’t fancy hanging about in the Yarra Valley and instead followed the sun. We chose the nearest sunny destination that was still in the general direction we wanted to go and that was the town of Albury.

The drive from Victoria to NSW took us through the snowy mountain range and was ABSOLUTELY SPECATULAR. It was a whole days drive to reach Albury from the Yarra Valley. It is pure chance that we got to experience it as we may never had come this way if we hadn’t been trying to escape the rain!

We drove through valleys and vast plains, with towering snow capped mountains in the distance. We drove up, up, up, up through the winding mountain pass through lush forests with towering giant trees and giant ferns. It honestly was breath-taking and a stand out moment from the whole trip.

When we arrived in Albury we had a lovely sunny camping spot on the outskirts of town. We fired up a BBQ, played football with the kids and just enjoyed being outside.

Day 17: Camping in Eden

Where we stayed: Eden Gateway Holiday Park

We didn’t have time to explore Albury as we wanted to have time to spend in our next spot, the coastal town of Eden, NSW. We packed up and made our way eastwards arriving in Eden early afternoon.

Our campsite was really lovely, with kangaroos roaming about grazing among the pitches. The kids absolutely adored this! The local beaches were stunning and we drove in to town to pick up groceries and then ate our dinner overlooking the ocean from a bench on a grassy knoll just off the main road in to town.

We then went down to the sea for a lovely evening walk along the beach and splash in the water.

I wish we had more time to explore this pretty little beach town; but we were off again the next day, this time to the majestic ‘Potato Point’.

Day 18 – 21: Camping in Potato Point, NSW

Where we stayed: Beachcomber Holiday Park, NSW

This gem of a campsite next to the tiny village potato point has beautiful spacious pitches right on the beach. There is an abundance of wildlife all around, with kangaroos, wallabies and emus roaming freely around the grounds. Watch out for red bellied black snakes, too! We saw lots of signs warning for snakes, but we didn’t actually see any when we were camping here.

The stunning beaches and bushland is part of the Eurobodalla national park and is such a pristine and beautiful part of the NSW wales coastline. Highly recommend if you love a natural and eco camping experience.

We spent our days here swimming, making campfires, wildlife spotting. We played football and cricket on the beach. The boys made loads of friends and we watched them happily playing from our van, while we sat back and enjoyed a drink!

We also had a few trips up and down the coastline using Potato point as a base; We visited the stunning Batemans Bay to visit some old friends we went to school with in the UK; Tilba Tilba a really pretty historic town nestled in the hills with an amazing family run dairy (hello ice-cream!)

We went to the gorgeous coastal town of Narooma which has lovely shops and cafes for us to try, the famous Australia rock for a cool photo opportunity. We saw so much amazing wildlife here including a colony of seals, thousands of tiny bright blue soldier crabs that come out of the sand at low tide, giant rays at the Narooma Boardwalk, pelicans and more. It was a really special place.

It also kind of goes without saying that the beaches of south NSW are simply out of this world and we would never have had time to explore them all, even though we wanted to! We did spend time at Mystery Bay, Potato Beach, Narooma Beach, Bar Beach, and Hyam’s Bay at Jervis Bay National Park. We would have loved more time to explore more beaches, especially in the Jervis Bay Area, However we just ran out of time. Oh well. I guess it’s just an excuse to visit again!

Day 22 – 23: Camping in the Blue Mountains, NSW

Where we stayed: Katoomba Holiday Park

We were so sad to be leaving the coastal route of South NSW, but also excited to finally see the famous Blue Mountains National Park.

This is our third trip to Sydney as a couple (first time for the kids) and we hadn’t made it too the Blue Mountains on previous trips. That had to change!

We chose Katoomba as it is one of the first towns in the national park, has all the facilities there you might need and is very close to the ‘major attractions’ of the blue mountains; The three sisters, Echo point lookout, Scenic World and The Prince Henry Cliff Walk.

We decided to give the guided tours, cable cars and mountain railway of scenic world a miss. Touristic experiences and tours aren’t really our type of thing and we like to explore the area at our own pace when we can. It was also quite expensive and we thought that by doing the prince henrys lookout walk and going to the echo point lookout we would be able to see what we had come to see without joining a tour.

Katoomba Holiday Park where we stayed was located right next to the Prince Henrys Cliff Top walk, so the day after we arrived (our only full day here) we left the holiday park and started the walk. You follow the paved and signposted path along the cliff edge through lush forest and bushland, with waterfalls and rivers, with breath-taking views of the vast blue mountains range from various lookout points along the way. We all loved it, the kids were very impressed with the view and loved to stop and play in the waterfalls and natural pools along the way. The whole linear walk is nearly 7km but we walked for 2k (from out holiday park to the famous echo point lookout).

Echo point lookout was simply stunning and we stayed looking out at the stunning rock formation of the three sisters, beautiful mountains range and bushland that stretches out to the horizon. We also came back just before we left the next morning and were lucky to see an cloud inversion over the mountain range. It made a big impression on the children, especially Mr 5, who still talks about seeing the three sisters now.

There is a good tourist infrastructure set up at echo point with cafes, restaurants and a few shops, and public toilets. We had a stop here before walking back the way we came back to our campsite.

We had a fabulous coffee and ice cream stop at the lookout echo point, with a table outside overlooking the amazing landscape. We also picked up some souvenirs and the pretty little shops inside the building.

Day 24 – 28: Hotel in Sydney, NSW

Where we stayed: Novotel Darling Harbour

So it was Christmas Eve and we were headed in to central Sydney to have our first family Aussie Christmas! I had arranged to be staying in a hotel an in the city for the Christmas period on purpose as I thought it would be easier to manage ‘doing Christmas’ with Mr 5 and Mr 3 if we weren’t camping. For more info on how I planned our Australian Christmas click here.

We love Sydney; its just such a beautiful, fresh and optimistic feeling city. My husband dropped us off at our hotel and then he went to take the van back to the Sydney Rental Office. We paid extra to do a one way trip so it fitted our itinerary but it wasn’t that much extra.

The hotel was gorgeous with great views of Darling Harbour. We often look for Novotel’s when we are travelling as a family. They always give the children a little gift when we check in (this time it was a chocolate gingerbread man) It goes a long way in making the trip extra special for them. There was a small pool, tennis court and good restaurant and café in the lobby. The room was nice and the whole cost for central Sydney at Christmas was really reasonable (See our full trip cost breakdown for details). They also do a weekly fire works display at Darling Harbour (usually every Saturday) and we went down to the lobby and had a drink while viewing the spectacular fire work display.

Our plan for Sydney included: A walk to the botanic gardens and along the harbour to see the bridge and the opera house (Christmas Eve). On Christmas Day we took the Manly Ferry (for great views of the harbour and opera house from the water) to Manly Beach where we relaxed and played on the beach all day. We had our Christmas Dinner of Steak and shrimp and a lovely restaurant on the beach in Manly.

On Boxing day we took the bus to Bondi and spent another day on this iconic beach enjoying the surf; We spent our last day in Sydney around the Darling harbour area, spending a lot of time in the excellent Tumbalong Playground and browsing the shops and stopping for ice creams, coffees and snacks at the many restaurants and eateries.

We then went back to enjoy the pool at the hotel, have a quick game of tennis with the kids then pack up ready to catch a flight back to Melbourne the next day.

Day 29 – 33 Melbourne, Vic

Where we stayed: Melbourne Serviced Apartments, Brighton Beach

Our Flight home was from Melbourne and so we decided to take and internal flight from Sydney rather than drive. We did consider driving as there were a few inland towns we would have liked to visit, but when we weighed up the cost of driving and the time it would take with the kids we opted to take a cheap internal flight and have some beach time in the gorgeous Bayside region of Melbourne before we went home.

We love Bayside in Melbourne. It is a collection of beachside suburbs along the Port Phillip Bay and it has such a cool, relaxed Aussie vibe we can’t get enough of. It definitely somewhere I would live in a heartbeat!

We were staying in Brighton as we know the area quite well and we had planned to spend our last few days and New Years celebrations with our UK friends who call this part of the world home. Unfortunately our friends were called back to the UK for a family emergency (luckily everybody turned out ok). This meant we had some free days and instead of planning anything we just went with the flow. We spent days driving lalong Beach Road and choosing a different beach to swim and relax in each day.

Our favourite Bayside beaches are Black Rock; Hampton; Parkdale; Mornington; and Brighton, although they are all gorgeous and you could pick any beach along the Bayside for an amazing beach trip.

for New Years we decided to head to Mordialloc Beach as there was a carnival here on the beach, including a family fireworks display on the beach at 9pm. Sounded perfect!

Unfortunately over the past few days I had become quite unwell. We went to the carnival, but didn’t make the fireworks, as we had to leave early as I was getting worse. I ended up in hospital on NYE (Read here about our experiences of being unwell abroad and what we have learnt from them here).

Day 34 – 36: Fly home to London Via Singapore

We flew with Singapore Airlines in Economy

Flight time to Singapore: 7.5 hours

Flight time Singapore to London: 12.5 hours

We left Melbourne on a flight to Singapore at 7pm (Another night flight which I don’t recommend; read more here).

The boys were absolute angels on the flights again (We are very lucky they are good travellers, and I had a few tricks up my sleeve; read about my tips for flying with babies and kids here).

We arrived in Singapore after a 7.5 hour flight, tired, hadnt slept and then we had a 13 hour wait in transit !! Now I knew this when I booked the flight and thought it would be perfect, because we had plenty of time to check in to an airport hotel, shower, sleep and recover ready for another long haul flight. However things didn’t work out as planned, and we ended up sleeping on the airport floor (read about how we survived a 36 hour nightmare journey with kids, and how to avoid making the mistakes we did!)

After the brutal wait, we finally boarded our 12.5 hour flight back to London. The trip from Melbourne to London was the worst journey we have done with kids, we made some simple mistakes which made it a bit of a disaster! When we got home we swore off flying Long haul again EVER! But after some time to reflect on what went wrong and what works best for our family, we are up for it again, and we wont make the same mistakes again!

How much did it cost?

This is the big one! No trip is possible if you don’t have the budget to fund it.

The total cost of the trip was £10,600, taken at the end of 2022/ start of 2023.

Flights: £3500

Comsidering we flew in December for a family of 4, I felt I got a bargain at the time(2022), and it’s definitely a bargain compared to today’s prices ( 2024). I got the flights this cheap by compromising on flight times, with a long layover (not sure I’d do this again) and also it was still in the period directly after covid when I brought these flights and tourism was still sluggish, so I got a bargain! Even with those factors, these flights were remarkably cheap and a couple of thousand pounds less than what I was typically seeing on skyscanner. I spent months researching different routes, stop-overs, and prices, so when these cheap flights popped up, I knew it was a glitch in the matrix and I snapped them up!

Accomodation: £2200

We stayed in a serviced apartment in Melbour e at the start and end of the trip, The novotel in Sydney, and the rest of the accommodation costs were campsite pitches as we had the campervan. I definitely think we got better prices as we booked early ( a year in advance)

Campervan Hire: £1800

When I was researching campervans, they we’re all so expensive. I spent alot of time researching if we would need air con, how big etc. I found the van using a price comparison site. In the end, we went for a smaller and older van than I would have liked purely for the cost. But it worked out great, and we had no problems with the van at all! We brought a pop-up tent from home for my husband as it would have been too cramped in the van all four of us! It worked out well, and we had a great time in the van. My eldest (Mr 5 at the time) slept on the top bed, and my youngest and me ( Mr 3) shared the bottom bed. My husband had the tent and had the best sleep of us all! We are bith very tall so we wouldn’t have been comfortable in the beds in the van with 2 adults. The smaller van was also easier for us to drive and park and came within budget.

Spending: £3100

I have a rough budget in my head of $200 (£100) a day to spend. This was for all food, fuel, entrance tickets etc. We stuck to this well. We brought food from supermarkets to make our own lunches and had picnics, ate breakfast in the apartment/campsites before we left for the day and cooked our evening meal at the apartment or campsite or had a bbq. Not only does this save alot of money when eating out for four people, it also suits us better with the kids as they don’t like to sit still much in cafes or restaurants and we find it can get stressful eating out. We did spent money on occasional food to go, daily coffee and cakes, and ice creams, and the occassional cold beer from the pub!

We also made a conscious effort to avoid tourist trap activities and expensive tours. Having lived in Australia before, we knew exactly what we wanted to see, and most of that was free; the outback, the beaches, and the wildlife. For example, at scenic world in the blue mountains, we avoided the tour, cable car, and railway for $200 per person and instead took the free cliff top trail and saw exactly the same amazing views.

Total: £10,600.

Final Thoughts

All in all this was a trip of a lifetime for us and we loved it, despite there being several challenging moments, and definitely too many hospital trips!

It was our first time camping in a van rather than a tent, and we loved it and think it is a great way to explore a country that has so much wild beauty, nature and diverse animals and wildlife to explore. We hope to do many more van trips with the kids, and beyond!

Australia remains one of our favourite ever countries. It is a magical place with beautiful and interesting cities, but the real magic lies in the wild bush land and the stunning coastline. It is a vast wilderness full of adventure.

I feel we got the balance right of camping with hotel/apartments mixed in and spent enough time in each place that we weren’t rushing through and ticking things off a list but still managed to fit quite a lot in.

We really hope ( and are planning on) completing a 3 month extended trip to Australia with the kids in our future, and one day, we will do the BIG LAP.

And lastly, please let me know if you have any questions, happy about our amazing road trip in Australia.

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Hi! I’m Lizzie, a mum of two living in the Cotswolds. Here on Travel Happy Family, I share all of our travels with you, where we’ve been, how we got there, and how much it cost!

If you are looking for ideas on where to travel with your kids, inspiration for new destinations, or just want to follow us on our journey, welcome, and I hope you find what we write helpful.

Happy travels! Xxx