Sydney here we come…!
This weekend we pack the kids, toys (yes including the Monster High Dolls, god forbid we leave them at home!) into this gorgeous motorhome RV for our family holiday (hired of course). Can you believe this was a better option than Flying the 4 of us there! I know, it’s crazy but true. You should consider it, at least the holiday starts from the time you hit the road not from the destination you land in!
I am having my usual emotional rollercoaster before we go, teary, excited, nervous, anxious, and the rest. It’s been happening since my car accident and I’m working on it. I am excited though, just have this funny thing before I leave the house for extended periods of time. I’ll get over it some day.
So we are packing and getting ready for the trip. I have to say packing to take a baby on a trip is no picnic, I’m always concerned I have forgotten something so I have lists coming out of my ears at the moment. It’s going to be really interesting to see how bubba boy goes as he is nearly walking at 8.5 months old and doesn’t like being strapped in. We are stopping on the way up and back at beaches etc. The RV comes with a Shower and toilet and takes 4 people comfortably. I’m so glad hubby agreed to the idea I proposed to him, now I feel like we are actually going to have a proper holiday!
We are heading to Sydney to see my family so I’m a little emotional knowing I will only have a few days to see them and then we have to go again. I haven’t seen them in months and one of my sisters is pregnant so it just adds to my emotions. I really need to be around them at the moment, but we moved to Melbourne to create the life we wanted for our little family and those are the sacrifices you make for a better life. I don’t regret moving, I just wonder what it would have been like if we stayed I guess. Need to just focus on the future and creating more of the life we want for it to be comfortable, healthy and happy.
So, Inspiring Mums will be a bit slower over the next week or so as we hit the road.
This time I am determined not to forget anything! So here are a few tips on my holiday preparation:
- I am using my ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE Holiday checklist to make sure I pack everything (because in August when we went to the Gold Coast I forgot socks for everyone DOH! bad mummy!)
- I’ve ordered my groceries from COLES ONLINE which will arrive on the afternoon we get home, that way I don’t have to drag my butt and the kids to the shops on our return! Yay me, decided to make sure I order some of those scrumptous COLES BRAND SWISS GOLD TRUFFLE HAZELNUT LOGS (this is a shot of what’s left of the last one ;D )
- I’ve not taken on anything before I left that would leave me feeling anxious or overwhelmed when I return.
- All the washing is done! Whoop Whoop! Toot Toot!
- Oh Shit! I forgot to hose down the high chair, note to self: get hubby to do it bahahhaahaa
- Tell everyone I am going on a holiday because I’m so bloody happy about it! hehe
- Vacuum the entire house with my whiz-bang SAUBER INTELLIGENCE vacuum (sorry but I ain’t calling it a cleaning system, I get why, but it is a vacuum!)
Yvonne Robinson on Instagram http://instagr.am/p/gpVgm/
Ok so if you would like to follow our little family Road Trip you can go to my INSPIRING MUMS ON INSTAGRAM page where you will be able to see our instant photos from my iPad, don’t expect great quality, and do expect pictures of kids will mucky faces, abstract things I see along the trip like lamps, and things… don’t expect consistency because I just do my thang… don’t expect great photos of moi coz I will be in ‘chillax’ mode and I may not even do my hair! LOL just kidding, I may just be wearing my lovely new MAYBELLINE lippy, liner and mascara which I received the other week for some unknown reason, without a letter just a funky card that had a really cool song, other than that I have sent some of my Instagram fans some of the items in the box, just because I can! You can see our fan page for some of the Instagrammed photos of the gifts 
at www.facebook.com/InspiringMums
Anyway, time for me to don my Domestic Goddess apron to make dinner… cheese on toast sounds good LOL just kidding!
Oh I nearly forgot, are you an INSPIRING MUMS VIP COMMUNITY MEMBER? If YES, please check your email! The Inspiring Mums Team (Sonja Grosser My Green Soapbox and Kylie Doak Virtual Assistant Admin have been working behind the scenes to bring you a gift that EVERY HOME should have! If you haven’t received your email from our Ning community site then your settings my have been changed to not receive our emails. But if you would like you can just email me directly and I will email you the email. To contact me simply log into the Inspiring Mums Ning Community at www.inspiringmums.ning.com and send me a private message (see the top right of your profile page) You may want to add me as a friend first.
So, Sydney here we come the James family is on the way soon!
Inspire you later! Toot Toot!
Heather James
Love it! We often speak of hiring a.campervan but Lucy’s just too active and unpredictable atm! Have a safe trip and a wonderful time. Family IS everything x
Thanks Tracey you are so right FAMILY IS everything and I am determined this year to do all of the things we wanted to do and loads of things together. A family holiday is a great way to reconnect too! A camper van is a great way to really see more places and have the convenience you need (especially with a baby!). I just can’t believe the value of it, if we really like it, we will be saving for another camper van holiday for the coming Christmas!
Have a fabulous time Heather. I am sure it will be a fantastic trip. xxxx
Thanks Rach! I can’t wait 1 more sleep! xx Hope all is well in WA! xxxxxxxx mwwah thanks for stopping by !
What fabulous memories your creating for your family,safe travels xx
Thanks for stopping by Amanda! Yes we certainly are I am really looking forward to seeing how the camper van works out!
have a great day Heather
Such a cool idea Heather. With 5 of us in our house a trip to Sydney by plane gets very expensive. Will have to check out the motorhome idea. Have a fabulous time chillaxing!
Thanks Gee, it was about $1700 thereabouts which in hindsight is rather expensive (could’ve gone to NZ for that!) But it was convenient while having kids especially as baby boy is having 4-5 bottles a day and 2 sleeps. I think if we were going to Perth or something it may have been good. I wouldn’t do it again with a young baby it was too hard with the bottles and feeding.
It was convenient to stop where and when we wanted to for toilet breaks not stressing out because there wasn’t a stop nearby as we had the toilet. Mind you because of the heat it was a bit stinky even though we tried to ensure the highest level of hygiene.
It got very very hot on two of the days, it got to 38′C in the truck and that was while we were driving! The air con from the front didn’t really reach the back enough to be honest the amount of heat in the back. We couldn’t run the air con in the back unless connected to power at a camp site or something. We tried to get the air con to work on the last 2 days, at it did eventually work however it never got it low enough to remove the heat really. Bubba boy stayed in just a nappy most of the time. We ended up turning off the air con as it kept stopping and just blowing air not cold air, so we were constantly turning it back on. When we had to use the microwave to heat bottles or cook dinner, it would really generate so much heat again and take away the work the air con did so we constantly battled the heat. Also, you couldn’t use the microwave unless connected to power.
The truck we had, had things opposite to the instruction book, so the water was on the other side of the truck, not the side the book said, as was the septic. The lock for the main do in the back was opposite too, so when you locked it you had to turn the key to the unlock position! Very annoying.
It was a really good way to travel if we were staying at caravan parks the whole time (costing another $30-40 per day).
Because it was diesel, it was expensive to fill, the first fill was about $105! We filled up about 4-5 times averaging about $100 so yes we spent about $500 in fuel. Thankfully my father gave us $200 to put towards the fuel before we left.
Added to this is the tolls in both Melbourne and Sydney, you only have 48 hours in most cases to pay and if you forget, you can’t do anything about it the bill will go to the hire company and god knows how much they will charge for processing it! In tolls because it’s a bigger vehicle it will be about $50 in tolls for us or more.
The other thing was with the car seats, bubba has a full baby forward facing chair and we had to move it from the window so he could get some of the air con from the front. BUT, when we moved it next to the aisle the chair became wobbly. The other thing is I think the table in our motorhome was broken so when Miss 5 sat on the other side opposite Bubba and I with the table up, he would push it so much so that it would squash her. I couldn’t lock it to stop moving. So she sat in the front. It got to the point that I had to keep holding on to the table when we stopped or went down hill that we ended up dropping the table down to make a bed and we sat like that. It mean Miss 5 could lay down, but it wasn’t that safe to do it. But she was able to play and draw. It was easier for me to care for bubba that way too.
It was extremely bumpy in the back and loud, you can’t hear unless you yell from the back if you want to say something to the front. I found I had to keep walking about in the back to get things for Miss 5, close doors, the fridge popped open a few times and it was hard for hubby to judge where the trees were when we parked and found ourselves having trees going along the side of the van when parking, sometimes with no choice. Hubby said after he stopped driving his whole body was vibrating, shaking as the motor is under the front, he said it felt weird. I also got motion sick in the back and when we would turn corners I had to hang on for dear life!
Other things that were a little annoying, the buttons on the cupboards are to lock the doors in, one of the ones on our van fell off as I pushed it in, they were so fragile! Others would get stuck and one of them just came away from the wall of the draw wall. So we were fixing things.
The awning that comes of the side of the motorhome was nice, with the table and chairs, but hubby had a damned of a time trying to get the poles out of the case it was in. We had to bend it to get it out! We since learned that there was a button or lever that had to be released to let the poles out, but this was not clear on the case nor the instructions provided. Oh and the instructions were about 40 years old!!
The beds were really uncomfortable. The cushions, although our best efforts to place them correctly just moved about and slipped off the main bed. Because of the heat the bed at the top was extremely hot and stuffy. We stayed with family for 3 of the nights we were away which seemed a waste of having the van.
Things I would do differently, not get the van with the toilet in just hot weather, emptying the septic is vile! I wouldn’t go with a baby again, it was challenging with all the bottles etc. I would’ve taken 2 weeks and stayed in more caravan parks. It was still comparable to hiring a car and flights to Sydney though for a week, so much of a muchness. We wouldn’t have gone the long route to Melbourne along the coast on the way up. The winding roads were a bit challenging for the motorhome and not great for motion sickness and the movement in the back. I would go with kids that do not need big car seats.
It was still a good holiday but there was just things we would do differently. It was convenient to have the van for the kids though and to stop and have a nap or lunch where and when we wanted.
If I do it again, it would be in a place like NZ!
Hope that helps!
Heather
PS: sorry it is so long!