Travelling Aus with kids

[JohnC80 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JohnC80]

Hi all,
My wife and I are planning a trip around Aus in 2016 with a 4yr old and 2yr old. What I would like is some info on anything to make life easier. I have read a heap of blogs, spoken to people etc but thought I would post on here.

Are there any meals for the kids you could recommend to make life easier?
What sleeping arrangements do people use with kids? Currently they sleep on an inflatable bed but I don't want to deal with that daily.
What shower setup do people have? We have 2 x solar showers and a canvas shower bag for when the solar doesn't work that we boil and tip water into.

Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, John

[r4ndll Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close r4ndll]

Tents or campertrailer?

If you are in a CT, get stretcher beds for the kids, when packing up, take the legs off and lay the stretchers flat on top of your mattress in the CT. Makes setup a lot quicker.

Bath the kids in a plastic tub in front of the fire instead of a shower (they're small enough). Otherwise babywipes do the essentials or just don't wash. If you all smell you won't notice it. Shower when you get to caravan park, or NP campground with amenities.

[JohnC80 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JohnC80]

Thanks for the reply.

Hard floor CT so don't have the room for the stretcher bed to pack up. Great idea though.

Had thought about the plastic tub so good to hear that others do that. Thanks again.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

They might be a bit young, but our son got his own swag at around 6 years of age and has since spent nearly 18 months of his life sleeping in it, he is now 16.

As for showers, we never had much luck with the solar showers, maybe look into a heat exchanger for hot water. There are no end of easy options for showering, but getting the water to the right temp has always been the part that has caused us difficulty, our heat exchanger has been the best of the methods we have tried.

Our son eats what we eat, he has from a very early age, making only one meal is much easier than multiple meals.

Cheers Andrew

[JohnC80 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JohnC80]

Thanks for the tips. I have been thinking about just going to some foam on the camper floor for the kids so similar to a swag.

[Auscanclan Member Find all posts View Profile Close Auscanclan]

OzTent make a really good self inflating mattress which should do the job nicely.

My wife and I stole the ones we got for the kids and have slept on them a few times without the stretchers and my wife has said she is comfortable on them. Come in different widths and possibly different thicknesses.

Whole family will get them as the kids get bigger

[Auscanclan Member Find all posts View Profile Close Auscanclan]

[QUOTE=Auscanclan;516907]OzTrail make a really good self inflating mattress which should do the job nicely.

My wife and I stole the ones we got for the kids and have slept on them a few times without the stretchers and my wife has said she is comfortable on them. Come in different widths and possibly different thicknesses.

Whole family will get them S the kids get bigger

[JohnC80 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JohnC80]

Thanks but I find self inflating mattresses to be a pain as they take time to inflate and deflate. No good for the quick 1 night stopover.

[Retreads Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Retreads]

How about an oztent for the kids and leave the rolled out stretchers (a great idea by the way) on top of CT mattress for quick set up when you stop.

[r4ndll Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close r4ndll]

Thanks but I find self inflating mattresses to be a pain as they take time to inflate and deflate. No good for the quick 1 night stopover.

Not that much difference than inflating the inflatable surely? Except you don't' have to do anything with the self inflators. Otherwise something like the Dune 4WD mats - but they take up a lot of space even when rolled up. 10cm foam mattress so don't need to be inflated but will need to be rolled up when transporting. Similar to a swag.

We've got 3 kids and a rear fold soft-floor. Normally 2 older kids go in the Oztent on the dune mats, and the bub is in the CT in a portacot. For overnight stays. 1 in portacot, one on the CT floor and one in the queen double with us.

[JohnC80 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JohnC80]

We have an oztent but the wife is a bit precious about having a 4 yr old and 2 yr old in their own tent. In a few yrs time that is what we will do. The stretchers wouldn't fit on top of the mattress in the ct as it is a thick mattress and clearance is an issue. Shame as that is a great idea.

Yes not that much difference between the inflating mattress and that is why I don't want to deal with it. The mattress for a portacot is only very thin so I'm thinking 2 small foam mattresses is the go.

Thanks for the tips. Very useful.

[Nova Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nova]

Can't you leave the self inflating mats inflated on top of the camper mattress? That is what we do. Our kids have small swags (local canvas guys make kids swags then they trade them in for full sized ones). In our soft floor camper we have annexe matting under tent, marine carpet on floor, self inflating mattress then swag. Quite toasty and we'll insulated from the ground. The whole lot goes on top of our mattress and then packed up. Quick and easy. Kids are 5, 3 and 18 months (still in portacot).

Cheers,
Nova

[Russell Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Russell]

On the choice of mats, we've recently given up on the self inflating mats for our 2 kids (now 6 and 9) and gone back to a basic $15 closed cell foam mat. They really don't seem to care much - mustn't feel the bumps/ cold like their parents. As you say its the time to deflate and roll that's the problem and too often its me having to pack up all four. (The foam mats they can now roll themselves or we can throw them in flat.) Have tested this for three weeks through Central Australia last September and just back from 2 weeks to Fraser Island and fine so far.

Other than that:
- Agree with r4ndll on the plastic storage tub for a basic bath. We did this for a four month trip when our son was 1 and worked fine. We tend to find with kids we end up at caravan parks more often that we would otherwise (for the pool, clothes washing etc) so keep that in mind as well.
- On meals, my suggestion is just to include some quick, easy meals you don't have to cook at all, as travel tines can sometimes be unpredictable with kids or its too hot, too many flies... Also, assuming you have a fridge we sometimes cook extra and keep the leftovers for a quick kids meal the next night when arriving late.
- Load up with lost of music, audio books, car games etc.

Sounds great. Where are you heading to?

[JohnC80 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JohnC80]

Thanks Russell, some great info.

We are only doing 6 months but leaving Sunshine Coast in June heading up to NT, Kakadu etc, across to Kimberley, down WA coastline and across SA and along great ocean rd into Melb for Xmas and Boxing Day test. Head home from there. Plan is to spend majority of time in WA as its a long way to get back there. Did cape York a few yrs back so very excited for this trip.

[Mattfunk 120 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mattfunk 120]

Hi John , have a look at this website . They have some good ideas about travelling with kids as they have travelled extensively. They sell great spun steel camp ovens as well
Cheers Matt
http://www.ozwit.com/