After 25 years in our fabulous family home we put out the Lease sign

Almost 25 years ago Julie and I came up with a crazy idea of climbing into some sort of four wheel drive camper and driving around the world, spending a summer in each of the six reachable continents in the world.  The idea didn’t have much form or focus at the time but it was nice to have such a grand – and somewhat whacky – idea to have as a future goal. We estimated at the time that we could do this trip once all our kids had finished university and were more or less independent of us.  We even gave this far-fetched idea a name – because we would be moving from continent to continent, that is from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere, moving from northern summer to southern summer and then back again we called it Follow the Sun.

Are we really going to leave all this – a great view on a recent harbour cruise with friends

Because the idea was so off the planet we didn’t really share it with many people, at least at first, but quietly added more and more texture to the idea as the years went by.  The concept evolved into something like this – we would spend the first northern summer, say from April to September, travelling around the North American continent, then we would drive south and spend the next six months, say from October to March, travelling around South American in their southern summer.

One of my last runs with my running mates – a special route along the shores and gardens of Sydney Harbour

Then we would ship the vehicle to Europe and do the same in northern summer of Europe, followed by the same in the southern summer in Africa.  Then we would ship the vehicle north again – now this gets a little more hazy – and travel either across the Middle East or across Russia (depending on what is safe and doable) to Asia and then ship the vehicle to Australia for the final southern hemisphere summer.

So if something like that actually happens – and that’s a bit IF – it would mean we would spend three years enjoying six continuous summers – quite a feat!

Here’s a rough idea of what the first six (or so) months would look like in North America.  Nothing is engraved in stone but this is roughly what we will be trying to do, with a special emphasis on time spent in northern Canada and Alaska.

Packing up was a nightmare – so much stuff and so many decisions to make

Well, the years went by, we started to share our crazy idea with family and friends, our three kids graduated from uni and our targeted travel time was finally upon us.  So about a year ago we took some serious steps to fulfil our dreams.  We started to research the best possible vehicle and the best type of camper. We made decisions on our careers, our finances and what to do with our family home.  And we edged closer to our target date of flying to California and beginning our adventure.

Last October we bought our American four wheel drive truck of choice – the number one rated Chevrolet Colorado – and also chose our camper – made by the California company XP Camper.  I’ll write a blog in the near future about both of these choices.

But it wasn’t all hard work.  We did take the time as a family to do a fantastic bush walk down to the Colo River in the northern reaches of Wollemi National Park and enjoy a swim, picnic and the beautiful scenery that this remote area offers.

The whole gang at the start of the Bob Turner track which led steeply down to the Colo River

The Colo River was a beautiful setting for our picnic and a welcome place to swim in 37 degree heat

Anna and Carl enjoying the views if not the heat

Julie and I loved the last big day out with our kids and their partners before our big trip

We packed up the house in 38 degree heat – luckily we had the pool for instant relief

There were some long faces at the tip as we delivered load after load – even the old golf clubs went

The weeks leading up to our departure date from Sydney were incredibly hectic and sometimes quite painful as we downsized from a six bedroom home that we had lived in for 26 years to two suit cases each.  Everything else that we owned had to either be sold, given away, stored or taken to the tip.  We discovered many things we had forgotten we had (and in most cases, threw them out), we sold big items on eBay and in many cases reduced by quantity and quality of everyday household items.  As one of our sons said, we weren’t down-sizing, we were zero-sizing.  And all of this during a record January heat wave which left us permanently soaked and totally drained.

Packing the removalists truck turned out to be a nightmare which we somehow survived

It is absolutely astounding the amount of unused, duplicated, redundant, forgotten, broken, unopened, unworn, unnecessary and totally irrelevant things we have collected in our lifetime and have still found a place to harbour.  Five full trailer loads went to the tip and another two trailers went to some local charities.  But eventually we found a tenant for our house, disposed of all our worldly possessions one way or another, packed two bags and headed for the airport.  Trumpland, here we come!

The sleeping arrangements went downhill as the furniture shipped out

We survived! Despite the heat, the problems with removalists and all the difficult decisions about what to do with all our stuff, we finally finished the job and drove off, leaving the place to a new tenant