A lot of families these days find it hard to have a perfectly balanced lifestyle between work and family time, especially with young children. Some families may take a summer vacation for 2 weeks at a time to spend time with their loved ones but this family wanted to do it differently.
This young couple believed they weren’t spending enough time with their children and each other, so they decided to sell everything they owned and set off to travel around Australia.
Tanikka Murrell and her partner Matt, both 27 are the couple who pursued their dreams of traveling around Australia in a caravan.
'Matt was working 6am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and I was working part-time.'
Due to their work hours, the couple felt that their family time was always extremely limited. ‘We never had time to do things as a family.’
The pair have two young daughters together, Keeli, aged two and Bodhi, aged three. They also have full custody of Tanikka’s sister Armani, aged five.
'We were up one night and I said "let's go around Australia". We both laughed and shrugged it off. But it kept playing on my mind and it put things into perspective,' Tanikka said.
'Matt came home one day and I said "let's just do it? Let's go around Australia?" He said "yep alright." We were in position to do it so we did.'
'We put the house up for rent and are lucky enough that the rent covered the repayments from our borrowings so we weren't out of pocket each week.'
The couple remortaged their house earlier this year to be able to make their dreams come true.
Tanikka and Matt purchased a caravan at the end of April, sold everything they owned apart from sentimental items and put it all into savings.
By the 2nd of June, the family hit the road to start their adventure. Starting from Penrith, making their way up to the Gold Coast, over to Fraser Island and are temporarily settled in Airlie Beach before continuing their journey.
‘We bought a cage for the roof, extra fuel cans, sway bars, tyres and some spare parts.'
The couple explained that they would like to work along the way but are unsure how to get temporary work, they are now looking into it.
Their current plan is to travel for six months however they are more than likely to carry on as long as their hearts desire.
