Over the past few weeks we have had a lot of people asking us how we go about our day to day routine. I thought I would dedicate this blog entry to explaining what it’s like to walk a week in our shoes...
Dan is a mechanical Draftsman, so we are fortunate enough to be able to earn an income while we are travelling. However this means that we have to stick to a fairly strict routine so that his clients and the office can contact him on a regular basis.
Therefore, we spend each weekday morning staying at home (a.k.a the caravan) and in the afternoon we go exploring the area we are in.
Saturdays are usually spent catching up on anything we haven’t done yet or doing the ‘big day trips’ that we can’t do in an afternoon.
Saturday night after the kids are in bed, Dan and I usually start the pack up job. We have a safety fence the size of our awning, which takes a bit of effort to pack so we get this out of the way. This way we can wake up on Sunday morning, have breaky, do a final pack up and be ready to move on to the next place. By packing Saturday night we also get the chance to go to the many wonderful Farmer’s Markets held on a Sunday morning! Get to stock up on all the delicious fresh food for the week.
Sunday we will arrive at our new ‘home for the week’ and spend the afternoon unpacking, then wander around our new habitat to see what it has to offer. First stop is always the Visitor Information Centre.
While Dan is working in the mornings, I spend them doing schoolwork with Sam and Will, playing with Zaccy, doing the housework (which is really very easy in a caravan) and doing the washing.
Sam and Will are doing their schoolwork though Distance Education in Victoria and we think it is a fantastic program. Each ‘Unit’ is broken up in 10 days work and consists of a book for English and one for Maths. If the boys work hard, they can complete each day in about 90 minutes. At the end of each unit (2 week period) I post the corrected work back to DECV and then they will correct my correcting, and send it back with lots of feedback (and posters, certificates and stickers for the boys).
We are very lucky that Zac is such a happy little boy and loves to play by himself. As long as I am in sight and he has his cars and his favourite car mat, he is one happy little fella.
After spending a small fortune at every Laundromat between Melbourne and Canberra, we decided to invest in a small portable washing machine. It is a 2.5kg twin tub and does a great job. I feel like I have stepped back in time though – most of the grey-nomads are very happy to tell me that my machine is “just like the one I had when I was a young woman. Well before they invented automatic machines.” I have to wash a small load, then spin it, rinse it and spin it again. Each time I have to move it from one tub to the other. Over time, I have found easier and quicker ways to do the washing. It now only takes me about an hour to do each load!! The hard part is when we are not on power and I have to hand-wash everything!!! The more we are on unpowered sites, the more my arm muscles are growing!
We realise how lucky we are to be able to travel and earn a steady income. The boys love this life and we have all decided to make travelling a permanent part of our life (for now!)
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