Aussie parents take unique 4WD on the road indefinitely after 'light bulb moment'

Parenting is never easy, but this Aussie family say it might just be easier when you're never stuck at home.

Source: Supplied/Karstan And Maxine
Karstan and Maxine, along with their two daughters, Source: Supplied/Karstan And Maxine

When Karstan and Maxine were backpacking Europe in 2008 – around the about the time the global economy was crumbling in the so-called great financial crisis – they kept getting asked travel questions about Australia. But they found they often couldn't answer.

So spurred on by a desire to change that, they returned home, bought a Kombi van, and set out to explore their own continental backyard. They worked a bit along the way but stuck to a tight budget and lived off about $150 on food a fortnight.

Today, it's a way of life they've arguably perfected. Despite their family doubling in size, with two girls aged one and another about to turn five, their wanderlust has only become more ambitious.

"We did our first lap of Australia back in 2009," Karstan told Yahoo News. "Ever since then we'd talk about how we'd love to do that forever ... we've just got to find a way.

"But you fall into the trap of getting a full time job, and buying the house and you're told that's how you do life."

But a trip during the Covid pandemic rekindled the passion and earlier this year the couple donated just about everything they owned to charity and took custody of a huge 4WD camping van that was custom built in Perth. Karstan, a qualified carpenter, then fitted out the inside to make their home on wheels.

They are part of a growing number of millennials eschewing the more traditional "nine to five" fate for a life on the road – something which they say they plan to do "indefinitely".

The family pictured at a campsite with rainbow lorikeets.
The couple renovated and 'flipped' a house to fund their travels. Source: Supplied/Karstan And Maxine

Speaking to Yahoo from Byron Bay, Karstan was poring over maps as they set out to do the most easterly point of the country to the most westerly point.

To supplement their income, they document their travels on YouTube, endeavouring to take the most unusual and least traveled routes. "We try to go to places people generally don't go," he said. And that's a whole lot easier now with their OKA truck, which the WA-based manufacturer boasts as the ultimate all terrain vehicle.

A video of them collecting the truck in April was watched more than 150,000 times with plenty of Aussies seemingly impressed by the "beast".

The OKA truck pictured taking on a bumpy dirt road in remote Australia.
The OKA truck was built by a company in Bibra Lake, Western Australia. Source: YouTube

Karstan says he and Maxine are often asked by other parents how hard it is to be constantly travelling with kids.

"But it's no different to being locked in a house with two kids. If anything it's easier because they're outside making a mess and they're outside exploring.... so you never hear [them say] 'I'm bored'. You never hear that, ever."

And it's increasingly common to come across others young families at campsites and remote locations around the country, allowing the kids to make friends, albeit transient ones.

"When you are on the road, you find a lot more of your people on the road," Karstan said. "People who have had some light bulb moment and realised our kids are only kids for a small amount of time, so you've only got a very small moment to enjoy that.

"In the last three years of travelling, all our closest friends we have met on the road.

"The kids learn to make relationships really fast," he added.

With their eldest daughter nearly at school age, the couple expect to join the some 40,000 Aussies kids being taught outside of mainstream schools – a rate that has doubled since before the pandemic with the rise of home schooling and 'travel schooling'.

The OKA 4WD vehicle drives through a muddy road (left) and Karstan And Maxine jump into a lake (right).
The kids get a rare and unique education on the road, the couple say. Source: Supplied/Karstan And Maxine

Despite the social media feeds you see, it's not all smiles and sunshine with broken gear boxes, bogged vehicles and other sticky situations inevitably arising.

"There's lots of moments like that ... but they make it," Karstan said. "If you haven't got anywhere to be, it doesn't really matter."

Related: Grey nomads all say one thing to young solo traveller as caravanning trend 'surges'

While they're about to embark on their latest cross country trip "across the middle" of Australia, the young family plan to ship their new truck overseas in the near future and take it through Europe and Africa in the years ahead.

After all, "You regret the things you don’t do," Karstan said.

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