Aussie caravan family hit the road with 'no experience' as popular trend reaches all-time high
One young family are joining a surging trend by trading the 9-5 for a life of freedom.
A young caravanning family who have been living on the road for over six months have shared the important lessons they've learned after setting off with "zero experience".
Shaylin Radhakrishnan and partner Mark were inspired after watching others sharing their own experiences online and joining a surging community of people leaving traditional Aussie lifestyles behind. Despite never 4WDing or caravanning before, they decided to jump in the deep end, investing in a brand new Isuzu D-MAX and caravan and setting off on the trip of a lifetime with their two kids.
After a wobbly start in which they've gotten bogged multiple times and had to ask the caravan community for help, they are now thriving and are even managing to earn cash along the way through Radhakrishnan's tattooing business. While she admits they are absolutely "winging it", they have no return date and wouldn't trade in their lifestyle.
Their inexperience claim comes as industry experts are advising inexperienced drivers to 'learn how to tow correctly' before embarking on a big trip — but thankfully Radhakrishnan says there have been plenty of kindhearted strangers who've helped them out of tough spots along the way.
Family say goodbye to 9-5 for caravan life
Radhakrishnan, who says the lifestyle is "addictive" is now sharing their experience telling Yahoo from a campsite in Denmark, WA, that she has "no regrets" after making the life-changing decision.
"We were both just working 9-5 and coming home exhausted with no energy or time to do anything," the 27-year-old said of her life in Melbourne just six months ago.
It was Mark who, after watching several YouTubers living the caravan life, floated the idea. It just so happened that the weekend he came up with the idea, the caravan show was on and they decided to go.
"I realised that there are toilets and showers in caravans these days," she laughed. "From then we thought let’s do it."
The family decided to sell up their investment property and use the proceeds to buy a 4WD and caravan, setting them back over $150,000. They hit the road with their two kids, aged three and six on April 5 this year and haven't looked back.
While Mark knew how to tow something behind a vehicle, they had to learn to manoeuvre the caravan.
"We just took it slow," she said, adding that they didn't go on any 4WD adventures on their own at first, admitting that they have been bogged. Getting behind the wheel herself, Radhakrishnan said she felt "daunted".
"I thought people would be like what are they doing, but it’s not like that at all," she said.
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Mum working and homeschooling on the road
While Mark's profession doesn't allow him to work on the road, Radhakrishnan is a tattoo artist and is earning a living finding clients along the way.
"The travel community is such a good clientele because they’re all exploring and living their best lives and want a memory forever and getting a little tattoo perfect," she said. Most of her tattoos are Australian-inspired artworks, like illustrations of whale sharks and maps of Australia.
She finds clients through a QR code on the side of their car along with simply word of mouth and chatting to neighbours at the caravan park.
"Some [caravan] slots we’ve extended because we’ve got lines out caravan park," she laughed.
Since embarking on the journey, she's noticed not only her confidence grow, but so too have her kids.
"They were super shy to go in the playground without us and six months later they ride their bikes and make friends and have general confidence in talking to people," she said.
Since the kids are young, homeschooling has been easy according to the mum. What's more, they're learning life skills out on the road.
Looking to the future, the family have no plans to return to Victoria. "Just do it," is her advice to anyone considering trying caravan life. "You learn as you go. We couldn’t start a fire, you do it and then you’re like oh it’s not that bad."
Caravan travel reaches all all-time high
Data shows that Australians took 15.3 million caravan and camping trips and related spending was at $14.3 billion last year — an all time high. But as those travelling the country's most stunning locations look to do so on a budget, and availability struggles to keep up with demand, illegal camping has become a growing problem.
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