Mindy Mann shares her family’s story about setting off on a lap around Australia in the home they built themselves, their van, Olli.
Have you ever wanted to just pack it all up and set off on a lap around Australia? Well, we did just that. In 2019 we bought an empty cargo van and transformed it into our home on wheels and set off on the adventure of a lifetime with no end date in sight.
So here we are, a family of three living full time in our tiny home, travelling around Australia. This has by far been the best decision we have made for our family. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows but every morning we open our door to a new and exciting adventure together.
People often ask us what it’s really like to live on the road full time with a kid. Honestly, it’s hard! Raising a child is hard – she’s three so yes we have meltdowns and yes, she requires a lot of attention but these are the same struggles every parent faces regardless of their living situation. Travelling doesn’t make these things any worse, if anything this lifestyle teaches Nyah adaptability and patience and allows her to explore and learn whilst stimulating her every sense. We chose this lifestyle as we wanted to spend more time with Nyah and help guide her through these formative years.
Before becoming a travelling family both Spencer and I worked full time and lived for the weekend.
One day I looked around and thought, is this it? Is this really living? Whilst we were happy, I just felt like time was passing by, Nyah was growing up fast and we were working our butts off and getting nowhere. One day I asked myself what if money didn’t matter, what would my ideal life look like. This is what I came up with; more time together as a family, travel and living a simpler more stress-free life. Sure, this sounds amazing right? Well that’s where van life came into it. Van life ticked all the boxes for me. It forced us to downsize and live a much simpler life whilst allowing us to travel together as a family.
But how do we afford to travel full time? I wish there were some simple formula but it’s good old hard work and sacrifices. In saying that life on the road is surprisingly cheaper for us than at ‘home’. We prioritise experiences over luxuries and just live within our means. Australia is full of incredible free camps and it often costs nothing to explore a town. That being said we do splurge on certain activities as we don’t want to regret not doing something when we had the chance.
This lifestyle allows us the freedom to go where we want when we want. We started our lap on the Gold Coast in Queensland and made our way up the east coast to Port Douglas. Some of our favourite stops on this leg were Caloundra, Finch Hatton, Cape Hillsborough, Bowen and Babinda. By far our favourite drive was the stretch of road between Cairns and Port Douglas. The highway wraps around the coastline and is absolutey breathtaking.
From Port Douglas we headed inland a little and made our way through Mareeba, Atherton Tablelands and down to Charters Towers. We highly recommend staying at Granite Gorge if you have kids and love animals. Nyah had the best time hand feeding the rock wallabies.
From there we headed west to Mount Isa. This stretch of road is pretty barren but this is where you will find the dinosaur triangle. Our favourite stop out here was by far Julia Creek. The caravan park has the most magical outdoor baths set up so you can enjoy the sunset from your own private open roofed oasis. We then crossed into the Northern Territory and boy this place does not disappoint. We headed south to Alice Springs, Uluru and Kings Canyon – and this was the biggest pinch me moment. I have travelled around Queensland before so whilst I experienced new places it seemed very familiar whereas being out in the middle of Australia was completely new for me. Bring on more red dirt!
Where to next for us? We are currently exploring all that the Northern Territory has to offer whilst awaiting the opening of the Western Australia border.
If you have been dreaming of packing it all up and hitting the road we say DO IT. Sometimes what you really need is to simplify your life and focus on what really makes you happy. We used to think this was just a dream but when we shifted our mindset and focused on what really mattered to us, the rest just fell into place. Don’t get me wrong money didn’t just fill out of the sky. We worked hard, saved even harder but when you can see your dream becoming a reality the sacrifices didn’t seem that big.
We have one life – live it.
Follow Mindy and her family’s adventures on Instagram at @life.in.olli
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