Traveling in an RV is pretty sweet. You get to unpack all your bags once and travel around the country. If you get hungry, you can make a snack; if you get tired, you can take a nap. Motorhomes make ingenious use of space in every nook and cranny. The boys love crawling all up, over and through it.

Jens, who had become enamored with the title of Captain while skippering the boat in Tonga, suggested we continue the salutation, because, after all, the driver of the RV does sit in a “captain’s chair.”

The RV parks in Australia position themselves as vacation destinations, often with premium beachfront locations. They have playgrounds, waterslides, giant jumping pillows, mini golf, and the occasional outdoor movie night. They play 80s music in the bathrooms. Best of all, there is a traveling neighborhood of kids looking to play.

We only stayed at a few duds – parks chosen late at night based on proximity to the highway. While perfectly clean, they had camping bathrooms where the showers are installed too short, and dribble warm water with sporadic cold blasts. It’s on the third cold dousing that you decide shaving just the front of your legs is good enough.

 

We got to see a good variety of the country, passing banana plantations, sugar cane farms, cattle ranches, and forests. We also got to see occasional oddities. Along one stretch of rural highway, the neighbors were clearly in competition for the most creative mailbox, including microwaves, a muffler, beehive, milk jug, keg, doll house, and a piggy bank.

I’m impressed with how Australia cares for their travelers. The roads are well maintained with lots of roundabouts. I love roundabouts! America should have more of those. There are clear signs with occasional funny jokes or trivia. They have a “Driver Reviver” program with free coffee and signs that remind you to, “Survive This Drive” and “Please Arrive Alive.”

Jens is determined to stay fit on this trip. He’s instituted a Voges Family boot camp with pushups every morning and periodic races on the beach.

The best part of a road trip is taking advantage of the little stops along the way, like a waterfall, a go-kart racetrack, the WW2 memorial at Emu Park, a kangaroo sanctuary and all the beaches. And then there are the places we wanted to linger a little longer, The Great Barrier Reef, Frasier Island, and Sydney…