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Seasoned Big Lap Travellers and Practical Tips for Travelling Australia (Aussie Travel Stories)

Seasoned Big Lap Travellers and Practical Tips for Travelling (Australia The 2nd Time Around)

by Chrissie Caballero

Seasoned Big Lap Travellers Share Practical Tips for Travelling Australia

Matt, Tanikka and their kids from @kidstravelaus are on their 2nd big lap around Australia. Join them as they share some tips that worked best for them while travelling. Check out some of their favourite camping spots/places and the items that they cannot live without…

Have you also completed the Big Lap or are you, first-time travellers? What sort of experiences are you hoping to have once you embark on this journey?

Welcome to Aussie Travel Stories, the series where we ask Aussie travellers questions to help inspire and educate the Big Lap community to enjoy the greatest road trip of their lives.

Tanikka: Hi Big Lap Bible, Iā€™m Tanikka

Matt: Iā€™m Matt

Tanikka: Weā€™re KidsTravelAusĀ 

What’s Your Travel Story?

Tanikka: Who do we travel with?

Matt: Well I travel with her, and her three kids. They are nine, seven, and six

Tanikka: Theyā€™re up here, in here somewhere.

Why did you decide to do a Big Lap?

Tanikka: Because Iā€™m mwah *finger gestures*

Matt: Someone had a few too many drinks

Tanikka: We.

Matt: We hehe, and we decided letā€™s travel Australia.

Tanikka: Yeah, thatā€™s what happened, and then we did

Matt: Didnā€™t really believe it, wake up in the morn to someone researching caravans and then a month laterĀ 

Tanikka: We had a caravan

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Where are you now?

Tanikka: We are in Karratha. Weā€™ve been here for a while weā€™ve been here sitting and working upping our funds because we work and travel and we are leaving Karratha in two days

Whatā€™s Your Set-Up?

Tanikka: We have a Belmont, a bug van, we upgraded though, we didnā€™t start off with a Belmont or a 200 series. We started off with an Expander and a 100 series that broke down 400 billion times on the way. Thatā€™s okay we made it.

Matt: Part of the journey.

Big Lap Setup - Practical Tips for travelling AustraliaWhere do you generally stay?

Tanikka: Both, we say both here yeah?

Matt: Yeah generally stay at both

Tanikka: You meet different people at both and itā€™s cool

What is the best camping spot youā€™ve stayed at?

Tanikka: I donā€™t know, I like Perlubie, itā€™s not a free camp, I think itā€™s 10 dollars, donation? It was beautiful. That was down in South Australia

Matt: Honesty Box?

Tanikka: Everywhere, 40 miles nice and WA. Everywhere is different and everywhere is nice

Matt: A lot of the beach camps we like

Tanikka: Yeah beach camps 100%. Anywhere on the coast.

Is there a place you wonā€™t go back to?

Tanikka: No, no way. Every experience is different eh? You might have a shit time there, you might have a shit time one time and then itā€™ll be good next time

Matt: We havenā€™t seen everywhere to say thereā€™s a bad spot.

Tanikka: Yeah thatā€™s true.

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Where canā€™t you wait to go?

Tanikka: I canā€™t wait to go to Rottnest, we havenā€™t done Rottnest Island yeah? I want to get a selfie with the quokkas. On my page, youā€™ll know how much I love a good selfie, especially family selfies. With a quokka involved, youā€™re doing alright.

Do you travel with pets?

Tanikka: No. No pets.

Your scariest or funniest memory?

Tanikka: Oh well Matt wins this one. Mattā€™s scared of dingos, dogs, and anything dog-related. Only when theyā€™re not our dogs or dogs he know. And Iā€™ll just take the piss out of him every single time because itā€™s funny. If he fills that with petrol and weā€™re in the NT Iā€™m like ā€œOoh thereā€™s a dingo over thereā€, and he would jump in the car that quick.

Tell us about the item you canā€™t live without

Matt: Your wine glass.

Tanikka: Thatā€™s right, thatā€™s right. And the Yetis. The Yeti one, the Yeti wine glass, any Yeti item. Yeti wine glass, Yeti beer cooler, Yeti water bottle, the Yetis.

Yeti bottle - Practical Tips for Travelling AustraliaYeti - Practical Tips for travelling AustraliaMatt: And the barbeque, broth of the beast.

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Tell us how you fund your Big Lap

Tanikka: First time we didnā€™t really fund it. We kind of just scraped the barrel.

Matt: We saved a little bit, and then we ran low and we started working and made a bit of coin, kick out the next spot.

Tanikka: Stop and work, stop and work, stop and work. Weā€™re on our second lap now so itā€™s working.

How much do you spend and what is your biggest expense?

Tanikka: Our biggest expense, I reckon, easily will be food and nowadays, fuel 100% and it will be everything all in.

Whatā€™s something you know now but didnā€™t do before you left?

Matt: Oh I never knew how to change a caravan door handle.

Tanikka: Oh yeah weā€™ve gone through a few of those.

Matt: About a dozen of those.Ā 

Tanikka: And I reckon also, how easy it is. Travellingā€™s not that hard, itā€™s pretty easy.

Matt: You just jump in and go off.

What is your favourite thing about travelling?

Tanikka: Getting in and taking off. If youā€™re not happy somewhere, youā€™re not feeling it.

Matt: Off to the next spot.

Tanikka: Freedom. Letā€™s go!

What has been your biggest splurge?

Tanikka: I said Yetis but you said thatā€™s not a splurge, is that what you said? Thatā€™s a splurge because theyā€™re not a necessity. What else is a big splurge? I guess the experiences, like whale shark experiences, going to islands are not a necessity but it is a splurge but I think itā€™s so cool

Matt: Yeah itā€™s a part of travelling. You got to splurge out and do it.

Tanikka: Weā€™ve just like, weā€™ve missed it. And only if you can, there are so many other ways to experience things.

Matt: Especially if youā€™re from the east coast, youā€™re going through Queensland youā€™re always splurging on theme parks.

Tanikka: Yeah thatā€™s actually a good point

Is there anything you bought but donā€™t use as much as you thought or itĀ wasnā€™t worth the money?

Tanikka: Heaps. Iā€™m going to start off with Tupperware… ladies, you donā€™t need it. It takes up so much room.

Matt: You donā€™t need six pots and pans.

Tanikka: You need some of it, some of it I canā€™t let go off, but you donā€™t need old Tupperware. Especially the bottles. I replaced the bottles with Yetis.

Matt: Bowls and cups coming in there.

Tanikka: Oh the bowls. Yeah, the bowls and plates are good, and the cups.

Were you affected by the lockdown?

Tanikka: We werenā€™t really affected by it. We had somewhere to stay and we were locked down.Ā 

Matt: I worked all lockdown.

Tanikka: Yeah he did and it was all good for us.

What is your biggest tip to other big lappers?

Matt: Just do it.

Tanikka: Yeah just get out there and do it. What do you get to lose? What do you actually have to lose? If something goes bad itā€™s just going to become a funny story later on. Keep on keeping on. See you guys.


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