Well hello! We are the Bells and we are gearing up for our own Great Aussie Road Trip. Getting ready to set off in mid February 2011.

Our family of five consists of Shane and Nik (ages not important!), Lachie, 8, Luke, 6, and Emily 4.

We having been talking for quite a while about taking off a trip around Oz with our children, but there has always been something in the way to hold us back. Shane and I travelled BC (before children) for 18 months (on and off between family weddings) ten years ago around Australia. Well not quite all the way around....Western Australia remains undiscovered by our eyes.

So there has always been the desire to get out there again. Loved it the first time, sure to do so again. We know the kids will love it too, once they get past the leaving their friends and grandparents behind.

We decided to go for it after friends moved to Broome, and two lots of mutual friends decided it was time for them to go as well. So we now have one lot of friends in front of us and another leaving a couple of weeks after us. Whist we are not planning on travelling together, it will be nice to run into friends on the road. We all hope to meet in Broome.

We have a basic mud map of our travel route. No set plans though, we will work it out on the way! So basic direction to start with....south!

So from Coffs we will head down the Pacific Highway. Initially our first stop was to be in Port Macquarie to meet the boy’s teacher from the North East School of Distance Education. The school has two campuses though, one in Casino as well. This is where their teacher is, so we are intending to have a day trip up to Casino before we officially leave.

First stop on the official trip then is still up for discussion. Maybe it will be Harrington or Camden Haven. We will be trying not to travel more than three hours a day, where possible.

So basic itinerary, south from Coffs, along the NSW coast mostly into Victoria, heading around Victorian coast line into South Australia, up through SA to Northern Territory, across to Broome, down Western Australian coast, across the Nullarbor Desert, back into SA then into either Victoria again or NSW. We may go down to Tassie at this point. Maybe up through NSW outback into Queensland outback, then back home. Maybe not!

Well I hope you will stay tuned to our adventures (with pictures of course), and maybe we will see you on the road!

Nik