Australia, New Zealand & Two Teenage Boys: The Adventure Begins

Following on from our summer holiday adventure…

So, the decision was made - well kind of.

After all the scrolling, researching, comparing destinations, looking at flights, accommodation and the all-important question of “How much is this actually going to cost?”, we finally had a plan.

Or, at least, the beginnings of one.

If you read my last post, you’ll know that this summer holiday was never going to be about simply booking somewhere, lying by a pool for a week and hoping the boys didn’t spend the entire time glued to their phones.

I wanted adventure.

They wanted adventure too — although their definition of that perhaps came with slightly different expectations!

So we talked about it.

Where would they actually like to go? What did they want to see and do? What would make a trip memorable for them? And, importantly, what could we realistically afford without completely blowing the holiday budget?

There were plenty of ideas thrown around.

And then came the shortlist.

Australia was calling…

Australia had been somewhere I’d been considering for a while.

The beaches. The wildlife. The road trips. The national parks. The surfing. The sheer scale of it all.

And then, when Archie put it in his top three…

Well, that was pretty much a no-brainer for me.

How could I say no to that?

How could I build New Zealand into the mix too?

New Zealand has always had a special place in my heart and I spend a lot of time there and the possibility of combining Australia with a little bit of Aotearoa suddenly made the whole trip feel even more exciting.

We weren't going to be doing the classic “fly somewhere, check into a resort and stay put” holiday.

This was going to involve movement, exploring, road trips, beaches, wildlife, mountains, hopefully some waves and plenty of unexpected moments along the way.

Exactly my kind of holiday.

But would it be the kids style?

And then there was the small matter of planning it…

Now, when I say planning, I use the word fairly loosely.

Because this wasn't something I'd been meticulously organising for a year.

Quite the opposite.

It was very much a “right, we've decided… now let's see if we can actually make it happen”situation.

Flights needed to be found.

Routes needed to be worked out.

Accommodation needed to be affordable.

Car hire needed to be considered.

And then there was the teenage-boy equation:

Food.

Lots of food.

The more I looked, the more I realised that this wasn't simply going to be a holiday.

It was going to be a bit of a logistical operation.

But that's also part of the fun.

I love the planning stage of travelling almost as much as the travelling itself. There is something about opening a map and realising just how much is out there waiting to be explored.

And this trip was starting to take shape.

Melbourne to Brisbane… with a few detours

One of the ideas that really started to excite me was a road trip.

Rather than simply flying between destinations, why not hire a car and see what we could discover along the way?

So the idea of travelling from Melbourne towards Brisbane began to form.

And when you look at what sits between those two places, it becomes very difficult to resist.

Coastal roads.

Beaches.

National parks.

Waterfalls.

Wildlife.

Surfing.

Small towns.

Big landscapes.

And plenty of opportunities to get off the main tourist trail.

Of course, with only a limited number of days, we couldn't possibly see everything.

And that's where the difficult decisions started.

What do we prioritise?

What do the boys actually want to do?

As it wasn’t a Craig and I trip.

Where is worth the detour?

How much driving is too much driving?

Where can we keep costs down?

And how do you squeeze an adventure into a relatively short timeframe without spending the entire holiday sitting in a car?

Then came New Zealand…

And just when I thought I'd got my head around the Australian itinerary, New Zealand entered the equation.

Honestly?

I was delighted.

For me, New Zealand isn't simply another destination.

It's somewhere I've lived, travelled, worked and have a huge connection with. So the opportunity to introduce the boys to more of it — while also combining it with an Australian adventure — felt pretty special.

It also meant this trip was becoming something a little different.

Not just a holiday.

A chance to create memories together.

To experience places rather than simply see them.

To have those stories that inevitably begin with:

“Remember when we…”

Because that's what I really want from travelling with my boys.

Not perfect photographs.

Not ticking off every attraction.

Not an Instagram-perfect itinerary.

I want the stories.

The ridiculous moments.

The unexpected detours.

The arguments over directions.

The roadside food stops.

The early mornings.

The “are we nearly there yet?” conversations- actually the boys are used to driving a lot, so they don’t ask- Craig is a culprit of this.

The wildlife encounters.

The waves.

The views that make everyone go quiet for a moment.

And hopefully, a few experiences that they remember long after they've forgotten what presents they got that year.

So… the adventure is happening.

The flights were booked.

The route started coming together.

The spreadsheets appeared.

The accommodation searches became increasingly specific.

And suddenly, our slightly mad last-minute idea was becoming very real.

Australia.

New Zealand.

Two boys.

One mum.

A road trip.

A backpack full of possibilities.

And absolutely no guarantee that everything will go according to plan.

Which, let's be honest, is probably exactly how an adventure should begin.

So that's where we are.

The decision has been made, the planning is underway and the next chapter is about to begin.

Stay tuned… because the adventure is coming. 🌏✈️🏄‍♀️

And if you're planning your own family adventure, I'll be sharing the reality of making it happen — from the routes and costs to the accommodation, food, activities, teenage-boy entertainment and all the bits in between.

Because sometimes the best adventures start with a slightly crazy idea and the words:

“Right… let's see if we can make this work.”