In July of 2005, the year I graduated high school, my father bought home his newest "toy": a campervan. It wasn't the biggest of vans, room enough for four people, but considering we are a family of eight it wasn't exactly spacious enough for all of us. When I asked why he bought it, he said just in case we ever decided to go on a trip, we could use it. It turned out to be one of the best decisions my father ever made. We've never actually used it as a family, but my older sister and I sure made great use of it in the Summer of that year.

We'd always wanted to go travelling together, and we'd always discussed going on a road trip across Australia when I'd graduated, we just never thought my dad buying a campervan would coincide with the year I graduated. It was like a sign that we were meant to go, and thank God we listened because it was the absolute best time of my life. I would definitely go again in a heartbeat.

We rounded up 2 of our friends and got to planning. We only had 4 months to get everything organised and to ensure the entire trip was executed flawlessly. We decided that we'd drive up to Brisbane in Queensland, that way we'd get in most of coastal New South Wales, and then party on in the great beaches up north. And since we were given a 2 week limit on how long we could be gone, we needed to take in as much of Australia as we could.

We decided we would leave early December and get back before Christmas. Our starting point was from our home in Sydney. We all had our licences so we would split driving between the four of us. That was the easiest of all the planning. We discussed which route would be best and we wanted to get there quickly so we could spend some time in Queensland. We also designated pit stops along the way. These were the places we would spend the night, or change drivers after one persons shift ended.

We also wanted to take as little equipment with us as possible, so we decided one back pack per person. Food was mostly packaged as we were travelling on a bit of a tight budget and most of the money was petrol money. We took utensils and what not and were ready to go mere hours before we set off.

Along the way we encountered some of the most amazing countryside and most amazing scenery I'd seen in my life. We stopped of at caravan parks when we needed a rest of to clean our clothes. We fished in places I never knew existed, and spent many late nights staring at stars only visible in the countryside. When we reached our destination it was one of the happiest days of or lives. We spent a week in Queensland soaking up all the fun and sun we could. It was a bitter-sweet moment the day we had to start driving back to Sydney.

Learn more about this author, Riem D.
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