Home is where The Mo-Home is

Tania and Gavin Baxter, V45114
July 2008

So who are the Baxter family? No one that special really, we are just your average middle class Melbourne folks, but we are doing extraordinary things! Gavin Baxter is a 35 year old fully qualified and self employed plasterer and Tania is a special education consultant on permanent maternity leave. They have a 3 ½ year old son called Austin and an 18 month old baby daughter named Zoe. Gavin and Tania also have two gorgeous Maltese x Shi-Tzu dogs that are presently being loved by Gavin’s mum, Ada, while they ‘live the dream’. Then there’s me, Mo-Home. I was named by Austin when he was 2 years old as he could not say ‘motorhome’, just MO-HO!

As a child Tania holidayed with her family in a custom built motorhome. It was a Chevy petrol V8 chassis with a Windsor fit-out on the back. A perfectly designed, one of a kind, fuel guzzler that served the family for over 10 years. These vacations are some of her favourite childhood memories and so when she had a family of her own she wanted to share these dreams with them. Austin was born in 2003 and when he was 9 months old she and Gavin hired a motorhome and toured the north west of Tasmania. From then on Gavin was hooked and they decided that life was too short to sit around and wait for the kids to grow up so that they can start living again. Gavin and Tania wanted to see the rest of Oz with the children by their side. So they sold their beautiful home that they built themselves, bought a motorhome (ME!!), closed up their business, said good bye to their friends and family and are taking their two young children on a trip of a lifetime around Australia.

They tell me that the process of actually getting on the road was a journey in itself. It took 18 months from starting to look around to the time of actually purchasing a motorhome (which I believe is about the average length of time, as it is such a big decision). This was mostly due to the fact that motorhomes are geared toward the ‘grey nomad’ market. Ownership of motorhomes are dominated by retirees, this is evident in motorhome club memberships. We attended a CMCA outing recently and my owners were the only Members with children of any age, out of nearly 350 other motorhomes, but we did meet some very nice people and some unusual motorhomes!

Since they are a younger couple with a 3 year old boy and a 1 year old baby girl, they had a lot of trouble initially finding a family friendly layout with all the necessary extras - let alone baby beds.

In 2005 there was no such thing as child safety bolts in my type of vehicle (unless they were an ex-hire). The first bunk bed Winnebago didn’t hit the market till 2004 and Sunliner’s Kinder range was absolutely impossible to view as the company felt that there was no market to produce a display model for. Gavin and Tania were not willing to pay hundreds of thousands of their hard earned money for a vehicle without even viewing one - not to mention test driving/sitting in it.

Gavin and Tania eventually decided to settle on my model of motorhome, a standard Winnebago Leisure Seeker 2335, in early 2006. They purchased me as a preloved 2003 model off an older couple and decided to take some time out to modify it to suit their lifestyle. This meant adding a generator to be able to warm the baby bottles at call. Gavin also modified the luton peak bedding arrangement to suit up to three young children by taking out the queen size foam mattress and replacing it with three cot sized mattresses that run north-south. Further to this, one is surrounded by a customised cot frame made from a wooden playpen that hinges at the base to allow for easy access to baby Zoe.

As well as extra shelving for all the small baby clothes and accessories, they had to call in an engineer to draw up the specifications for the legal installation of two child safety bolts. This in itself is a dilemma because the way the restraints must be secured is very awkward to install, so they are left in as permanent fixtures to my dinette. This reduces the meals seating by half instantly but they usually work something out at dinner time. It is interesting to note that in 2007 a single child safety bolt became standard practice in all Winnebago’s. Tania considers themselves trail blazers on this point as they seem to have made enough noise to the large motorhome companies in Victoria that someone must have listened, if not for their benefit but for the future families investing in motorhomes like me.

Their first major trip was to Perth across the Nullarbor from Melbourne. It took 6 weeks and I did 9,000 kilometres. It was designed as a trial run to see if they could survive on the road with the kids in such a confined space and still come out smiling. They found that the maximum that they could travel in a day was about 400kms and if we did not find our night stop by about 4pm (daylight saving time), Austin and Zoe would have an unsettled night as they need some ‘chill out time’ to stretch their legs before dinner and bed. As a second part to the test Tania and Gavin put their owner built house on the market to see if destiny wanted them to become nomads. It sold in 10 days, much to their shock. This helped them to decide that they would embark on an extended trip and I was to be the family home.

It’s amazing how easily you meet up with others on the road and how effortlessly conversations can start and develop into long distance friendships. On our way back across the Nullarbor we met up with another motorhome family who were doing an anti-clockwise tour of Oz. They had a converted Hino bus and a daughter approximately the same age as Austin. They all hit it off so well that we travelled for 3 days back across the desert together and they acted like they had known each other for years. We even met up 6 months later as friends at their home in Burleigh Heads, in Queensland. They still ring each other regularly even now.

After arriving back in Melbourne towards the end of 2006, they started to pack up the house. This involved finding a storage facility and working out, from their home of 12 years, what they needed to bring away with them that would all fit into me. Tania says it’s amazing what you can learn to live without! Having said this though, I think that it unbelievable the amount of stuff that I have to carry for an extra two people who are so small! I’m not just talking about clothing, food, nappies or car restraints either. Inside I have a large roller toy box filled to the top, an umbrella fold pram, one whole cupboard dedicated to bedtime story books and a wooden gate to stop Zoe falling down my steps. Underneath in my storage compartments I carry another large toy box filled with beach toys, a swing for the awning to hold and outside ball games, as well as two tricycles. You can’t even begin to imagine what they must have got rid of in their garage sale.

Anyway, with everything packed up by the end of January this year the family tried to catch up with friends and relatives before they finally headed off. Tania organised to have their mail redirected from their old address to a very good friend’s home. Chrisso and Mischo then bundle it up and forward it onto the next towns post office where we will be heading to. This system seems to work very well. It was very hard for Gavin and Tania, Austin and Zoe, to say good-bye to their fantastic neighbours as well as Harley and Keira (the dogs).
We travelled across Bass Strait on the Spirit of Tasmania and spent six weeks in the Apple Isle. Many people ask Gavin “What did you do for that long in Tasmania?” But travelling with young children I’ve come to realise that if it took my previous owners four hours to get somewhere, you can basically double it to eight hours with the kids. They just can’t do the long stretches like adults, and need to take regular breaks. Some of their favourite places to have a break include the local playground or big city aquatic centre and lunch in town. I also contain a secret weapon for those long haul trips - a portable DVD player that can be placed on the dining table while we are travelling and Austin and Zoe can watch a movie. This, combined with a short power-nap can kill two hours on a good day.

Gavin and Tania have found that not having too much of a rigid itinerary makes travelling with children a lot less stressful as you can then coordinate your route and with daily routines eg day sleeps for Zoe. And the beauty of having a motorhome like me is if you don’t actually make it to your planned destination, there is generally a bush camp not far away. Being fully self contained, as I am, is a real advantage for mums and dads, especially in situations like while Austin was still toilet training.

Back through Melbourne in March, we generally parked in friends and family’s driveways until we were ready to head north for the long haul up the east coast. My owners reckon it usually takes a few days of being on the road, for Austin and Zoe to get comfortable with the travelling life again. Having said that though, the Baxter’s do purposefully stop overnight in a caravan park for 2-3 days every now and then so Austin and Zoe can have a day or two out of their seats and Tania can catch up on the huge amount of laundry that two toddlers generate. Gavin tends to set up their fly tent at these extended stops, so that the kids can have a dedicated room to spread out and play. Austin calls it the Toy-Tent!

There are a lot of good bush camp places between Melbourne and Sydney. Gavin is my primary and favourite driver as he is very safe, but Tania is my chief navigator. She has two references she calls her bibles - Camps Australia Wide 4 (includes Camps Snaps) and Explore Australia by Caravan and Motorhome (by John and Jan Tait). These two books get the family from A to B safely and ensure they see everything in between.

From Batemans Bay we travelled inland to Canberra. This is a great place to take school aged children as there are many interesting things to do and most of them are free, like the War Memorial, Parliament House and the National Mint. The family struggled a bit here as the nights were very cold. If the children aren’t sleeping then neither are the adults! So I got an early birthday present fitted when we hit Sydney. A new ducted diesel heater. Now when we bush camp, we are all toasty and warm.

Gavin says that back home, in the regular daily grind of the working week, you never seem to have enough time with the family. So many people have told my owners “…the kids grow up so quickly and they are terrible teens before you know it”. This also helped them to ultimately decide to do the big trip in the first place. Having said that though, I have noticed that they do prioritise their individual ‘head-space’. One baby-sits while the other has time-out. Tania likes to go shopping or go to a market and Gavin loves his AFL and cricket on the television, as well a hit of golf when he can. This allows them to appreciate each other and enjoy the times even more when they are all together.

So now we are headed further north. The plan is to go up to the Gold Coast onto Port Douglas, across to Darwin and down through Alice Springs. Then to take a left turn at Adelaide and follow the Great Ocean Road home by Christmas. The only real hitch that I can see so far with that plan is that we don’t have a home to go back to yet. So in between all this wonderful sight seeing and travelling, Tania is on her wireless internet laptop to search for their next home. You really can’t believe how full-on these peoples lives really are.