I was pointed towards this interesting article last weekend about a family who had cashed in their “normal” life to go and live permanently in a caravan. They considered what they were doing a bit more than we did (and their version is a bit more permanent!), but many of the underlying thought processes and reasons are the same. Underpinning each respective decision is the belief that “time” is the most precious commodity we have in our lives – far more so than natural resources such as gold or silver, or man-made commodities such as money or housing. As Benjamin Franklin stated “lost time is never found again”. No matter who you are, or what you are doing, time is the great leveller – it stands still for no-one, its limited in its nature and far too often it’s too short to do all you dream of. This is especially true when the treadmill of life consumes you with careers, mortgages and other “necessary” commitments leaving you craving the weekend or the annual holiday entitlement!.

The Bank of Life gives you a finite and unknown budget of time to use, irrespective of wealth, job, salary or social status. You then choose just how you want to spend it – you can abuse it, fritter it away or waste it, or you can spend it wisely, with meaning and value, dedicated to things that are important to you. Maybe it’s a sign of getting older (how fast are the years passing by? – I used to think that was just something that older people said!) or perhaps it’s just what happens when you become a parent. I don’t know, but somewhere along the way its dawns on you that the commodity which is time becomes much more valuable with every moment that ticks away. For us, at this stage in our lives with two young children to raise through their formative years, what matters more than anything – more than working to buy a bigger house or fancier car – is spending time together as a family.

Now back together as a family we wanted to spend some time in Adelaide, just reconnecting with each other and enjoying each other’s company! The Marion Caravan Park had a gym, undercover tennis court, heated pool and bouncing pillow and while it was relatively quiet that suited us down to the ground. The kids enjoyed playing around the park, Hayley and I enjoyed catching up with each other and after three weeks as sole parent I enjoyed the type of things I couldn’t always get to with two kids in tow (visiting the Coopers beer factory, watching the finals of the A-league etc).

Catching up with Ken and Joy Grant, for an Italian feast in the heart of the Adelaide Central markets, enabled the kids and I to see some familiar faces in addition to all the news about “home” that Hayley had brought back with her! Ken and Joy had just been on a tour of the Barossa and Hahndorf which served as a good outline for our activities over the next few days.

With a tour of the wonderful Haighs’s chocolate factory (the kids disappointment over the lack of Willy Wonka was quickly offset by the free samples provided before the tour!) to start off the festivities we were armed with some packets of beautiful honeycomb chocolate as well as chocolate speckles (which is like a premium freckle!). We then added some German fare from Hahndorf, including a few authentic soft pretzels (top 5 in my favourite food list, I just love them!) as well as a huge strudel for us to feast on for a few nights!

Fortunately the rain cleared the following day, long enough for us to get out to Maggie Beers farm, where food, animals, cooking demonstrations and introductions to Verjuice combined to form a very memorable few hours! Hayley couldn’t resist getting dressed up and into the kitchen  and was absorbing as much as she could about how to enhance the flavours of food while the kids were drinking as much straight Verjuice as they could (thank goodness for samples)! I don’t think the bottle we purchased will last that long, but it sure does make things taste great and I am sure no matter how much the kids drink it won’t be our last! The farm is set in the middle of a natural wonderland with a fabulous garden, a beautiful lake with turtles, birds and fish as well as a resident peacock. It’s certainly worth the drive whether you love nature or just great food!

With the kids in tow we have kept the vineyard visits to a minimum, but we couldn’t pass though this special wine region of Australia without a couple of tastings. Heading home with the obligatory purchases from the Grant Burge and Penfolds estates completed a memorable day (at Penfolds the kids even managed to get an ice-cream which made up for the “boring” events taking place!).

Both Hayley and I had stints living and working in London (before we met although our times may well have crossed) and one of Hayley’s flat mates from this life has returned to Adelaide. Although working a large number of shifts during our visit we managed to catch up with Rhys and his friend Stephen on our final day for what turned out to be a glorious lunch at Coriole in the McLaren Vale. Arriving to find them already in the tasting room and making purchases it’s good to see that the locals also take advantage and enjoy the lifestyle that the proximity to these wonderful areas allows!

After lunch we headed to the most interesting and eclectic tasting to date, at Alpha Box and Dice. Filled with a wonderful mix of things old and new (the kids were memorised by the old “dial” style telephone handsets) we tend to forget how fast technology moves on. I still remember the day that my nephew Zach was amazed at the wind up windows on my old Commodore and I am equally as sure that one day I will be bamboozled by the technology that my kids will try to explain to me! Alpha Box and Dice was one of the more entertaining visits to date and the wines weren’t half bad either (although I must put my hand up and say that I’m pretty useless at a tasting – after a few sips they all taste pretty good to me!).

Rhys has had this long standing tradition of “Tuesday night dinner club” which he hosts every Tuesday night (funnily enough!) with a bunch of friends. I’m not sure if we invited ourselves or if it just naturally just came up in conversation but before we knew it we had extended our stay another night so that we could participate in this excellent tradition. We felt quite honoured to have been invited into the group (by whatever means) and with food like that served up by Macca and Rhys on the night, I will be subtlety making sure that our next trip through Adelaide co-insides with a Tuesday, two if we can arrange it! When talking about time as a precious commodity it’s great to see that these guys are spending their time wisely with great friends and great food. I’m inspired, so look out for a weekly dinner club coming to anywhere we may stop for a while!

Before we started what is often described as the best road-trip in Australia (Adelaide to Darwin although I am sure there are many contenders) we wanted to get out into the Flinders Ranges and explore this beautiful part of the world. Staying at the Rawnsley Park Station there were no end of amazing sights to see. From the Emu’s when we drove into the property (we will have to substitute a different emu photo in here – Hayley reached over to snap a quick shot but ended up with only thin air much to everyone’s amusement!) to the National Park itself and a wide range of 4WD tracks this area is a fantastic place to spend a few days exploring!

With the kids carrying their own water for a change (we got out the bladders which fit into their mini backpacks) we headed off for an 8km walk into the Wilpena Pound. Although the Hills Homestead Walk is very manageable we tacked on a steep hike up to the Wangara Lookout, where April was certainly the youngest at the top! Venturing off the beaten track to have lunch looking out over the “Pound” we found a great spot to enjoy our sandwiches, juices and fruit…

Personally, I am always keen to turn the kids “I’m hungry” declarations into “lunchtime!” it’s purely selfish – the earlier it’s in our tummies the sooner it’s out of my backpack!

April has a funny expression when she is feeling good about walking – she says she has her “walking legs on!” On this day she had her “extreme walking legs” on and most of the way she entertained us by doing her version of the Cliffy Young shuffle. This lead to her new nickname of “Cliffy!” and on subsequent walks, when her little legs are finding it hard to keep up, we encourage her by saying “C’mon Cliffy” until she is leading the way again!

The day after Wilpena Pound we checked out some old aboriginal rock carvings as we headed through the National Park to Blinman for a quick lunch (a tour group was also having lunch there and we eyed off their jam scones for dessert but all they left were crumbs!).

Taking the Jeep off road we followed some beaten tracks through the bush, finding yellow footed rock wallabies and wedge tail eagles on the Brachina Gorge Road before coming back on the Moralana Scenic Drive to round off the day. Stopping along the way the kids found some new toys – a couple of rocks shaped like gaming consoles that they then proceeded to draw “controls” on and “play”. Despite the games often reaching fever pitch in the car  (that’s code for April yelling in excitement!) it was so great to see their imaginations at work and these “game consoles” have helped pass the time on multiple trips since!

The Flinders Ranges are a beautiful spot to get back to nature – the walking is excellent, the fauna and scenery is breathtaking in its beauty and there is a great range of things to do. It’s fantastic to see the kids growing to love being out and about in nature and it’s in places like this where we can see a real change from their “city” persona’s!

Although we had been warned about Port Augusta we did stay for a couple of days on our way back from the Flinders. As the conduit between the Nullaboor (to Perth) and Stuart Highway (to Darwin) we stayed purely to get some school work done as well as catch the first State of Origin at the local pub (I felt like I had to prove I knew enough swear words to gain entry, and they weren’t your garden variety either!). In places like that I try to master the art of being inconspicuous, so the to-and-fro of an Origin game probably wasn’t the best thing to be watching, especially when the Blues lost by a point!

The thing the kids enjoyed most about Port Augusta was a visit to the local Royal Flying Doctors base (which really must be the highlight of the town). The thing the adults enjoyed most was leaving (sorry to anyone who loves Port Augusta but so far it’s at the very bottom of our must recommend list!), making our way up the Stuart Highway, onto Coober Pedy and then into the Northern Territory!

Without Hayley there were going to be numerous challenges, but from the first pack up there were also some clearly apparent benefits. Without wanting to challenge the notion that travelling with your wife and kids is completely harmonious, there are moments where seemingly divergent genetic make-ups prioritise things in different orders. When it comes to pack-up mornings, I’m not quite sure how, but I seem to have become one of those “let’s just get going” Dads (you know, the ones who want to leave for the airport hours before it is necessary “just in case”). We always try to leave minimal tasks for these mornings, but we still have to get everyone up and ready, pack away and stow all loose items (things like the showerhead, microwave plate and television), prepare and pack food in quantities relative to the length of the trip (what we think we need plus 50% seems a good rule of thumb!), pack away the external van connections like water and electrical hoses and finally connect and get everyone into the car!

Occasionally, on these mornings, I find my desire to get moving conflicts with the seemingly endless things that need to happen inside the van. Maybe it was one less shower, maybe it was the slightly more pre-packaged snacks or maybe it was just the additional motivation to get moving. Whatever it was, pack-ups with one less person seemed easier and quicker, I guess that’s always the case when the only person you can get frustrated with is yourself!

From Melbourne we headed to Ballarat. Although we had come through this way back to Melbourne I was keen to see the site of the Eureka Stockade as well as check out Sovereign Hill, which seemed as close to Old Sydney Town as these kids were going to get (just without people throwing up on the rough ferry ride around the heads!).

The kids loved panning for gold (not for me really, not sure the knees would take it for any great length of time!) and it was pretty exciting when the first real slivers of gold were discovered! You can see how easy it would be to catch “gold fever” – in fact I am not sure we didn’t! At first the kids were calling every pebble with a golden tinge to it “gold” but as soon as we had our first real trace it was clear just how much it stands out from the creek bed silt and golden coloured pebbles.

Denver adopted the role of resident expert, explaining to people how best to do it and letting them know that because the gold is heavier than the silt and rock it will sink to the bottom!

I just about managed to drag them away to see some other areas and I am glad I did, because they got to hold a real gold bar which had just been smelted (worth $160k!) as well as see soldiers on parade, dip a candle, watched boiled lollies being made, bowl in an old school 9 pin alley and have a ride on the horse and cart! It was a very entertaining and enjoyable day out and I didn’t really miss that ferry ride after all!

Crossing the border into South Australia (I feel like we should have a tradition of kicking a ball from one state to another or something, but it’s a bit late to start now!) we were headed for Robe where we had lined up a caravan park with a heated indoor pool, which seemed like a great idea given the inclement weather we started this trip with has never really lifted!

It was our biggest driving day to date, but the kids handled it well and driving without Hayley was made easier with the assistance of some pod-casts. I’ve got to say I have never really been “into” pod-casts. I know what they are and have lots of friends who love them and subscribe with regularity, but I have never found the motivation (or maybe just never seemed to have the time) to download and listen myself. That has all changed with this trip (particularly the time excuse!) and I have to say it was one of the best bits of advice we got before we left home (thanks Sandra!). Although we don’t normally listen to much ABC, we have pod-casts from Richard Fiedler, who has “conversations” with amazing people from all walks of life. These conversations cover and explore such a diverse range of people, topics, and opinions that it’s a fascinating way to pass an hour or so (it also takes away the “discussion” around whether we will listen to Justine Clarke, Ryan Adams or George Michael!). I really should start to look at what else is out there, I am sure Hayley would love to listen to a few hours of pod-casts on my beloved Fulham Football Club!

As though Hayley had taken the bad weather back to Sydney with her (indeed Sydney was having some of the worst storms in living memory) we had beautiful weather on our arrival in Robe and spent the time outside, at the beach, looking around town and removing Aprils training wheels so she could finally get the hang of this riding thing! When the poor weather finally caught up with us again we forged ahead with Denver’s school work (including modules on Anzac Day which coincided with the local 100 year celebrations and gave both kids insights into the history and significance of these events) and spent large chunks of time getting wrinkly fingers swimming and playing in the heated pool.

We had a great time with the only hiccup being that April accidentally dropped my phone (at least I like to think it was accidental!), smashing my screen and most of our communication methods with the outside world. I’d like to say I was stronger and could cope without a mobile phone for a while, but in truth it was difficult being limited to emails, especially as Hayley was away! The most frustrating thing was I could hear text messages and updates arriving, but had no way of seeing them!

By the end of our time in Robe, April was riding solo around the block (the caravan park block not the street block!), the kids had won 2 massive cuddly toys for their efforts on “disco night,’ school work was done so we were ahead when Mummy arrived back and we had that permanent chlorine smell you get when you spend too much time in a pool! The weekend was approaching so it was time to head closer to Adelaide, to catch up with some old family friends and be ready for when Hayley flew back in!

Staying at Aldinga Beach we visited Phil and Jo with their three kids Jonathan, Alexander and Rebecca, who had come out from the UK and settled in Adelaide as part of their visa requirements. “Jonno” and “Alex” are a bit older than Denver and April, but “Becky” is a similar age to Denver and together the kids had a ball playing with each other. Denver and April loved getting their hands on older kids toys (machine gun style NERF guns were particularly popular) as well as “gaming” and “Skyping” Hayley in the massive media room. The following morning we took everyone for a tour of the caravan and had great fun bouncing Phil around and off the jumping pillow at the caravan park, before agreeing to head over later in the day for another catch-up and play.

As usual the kids were energised by having other kids to play with and had a ball over the weekend with these friends who are one of those family relationships that seem as close as relatives even though there are no official ties.

With the weekend past and normal school and work commitments resuming for the Evan’s family, we packed the van and made the short trek (no pod-cast for this one!) to Marion Holiday park, which seemed more like a resort with covered tennis court, play area and heated pool, as well as a gym (I figured a few days in there may help with the extra beer I had been drinking to keep sane!). While the pool was nowhere near as warm as the one in Robe we still managed a few swims, got out the tennis gear for a hit (and miss) and stocked the van ready for the return of Mummy (including welcome home signage and a welcome home song!). For those interested (and I figure if you have read this far then you probably are at least somewhat) the lyrics went

“Mummy’s home,

to our caravan,

where we roam,

around Australia on holiday,

hooray hooray,

we are so happy she’s home!”

We had recorded it on Garage Band and sung it to the tune of one of the kids favourite shows “Tree Fu Tom”. It’s unlikely to win any ARIA’s, but we were happy it would convey just how excited we were to have Hayley back with us after what had turned out to be a long three weeks…