Packing sucks, If there is one job, I despise the most it is “packing”.

This task was different to any other trip we had to pack for, since we recently sold our house and most of our belongings, making us technically homeless, we no longer had a house to come home to or somewhere that all our “stuff” will be waiting for us. We had to really think of what we can and can’t live with, what we really need and what will fit in the van with limited space and weight restrictions.

After living in a 450sqm home, trying to fit everything you want into a small space, is frustrating to say the least, finding out that you can’t take half the items anyway, however it is also very liberating when your realise how many things your really don’t need.

I packed the outside and had to think of about tools, recovery gear, fishing gear, a boat, a fold up boat trailer, a boat motor, fuels and spares for any situation that may arise (I tend to get stuck in adventurous situations) and all this with weight restrictions.

Whilst only taking the basics, for me it’s a lot more than most would do on a trip like this. When you think you have it after trying to fit things in the limited storage compartments, you see something you have left out and must try again. After the 7th attempt, I finally nailed it. Accessibility and practicality were very important for me when packing, and Jig saws were never my strong point and that is what I refer packing to, it is like a real-life Jig saw Puzzle.

Jayde packed the inside, I really had to be strict on her and delegate what was a necessity and what we didn’t need after finding a lot of things hidden, she thought she could hide a lot from me.

I understood that needing to pack for all seasons and having a new born, who is growing quickly and needing extras like a high chair, porta cot, play pen and the list goes on… Also, kids that will be home-schooled (27kg of schooling supplies to be exact). The best one though was Jayde decided to pack our entire pantry into our van, to say we had enough food to feed and army was an understatement. I kindly explained that we did not need that much food when we will be buying fresh as often as needed.

Not only were we trying to pack for our new life style we were also trying to pack up our house and put things into storage, This was stressful enough on its own let alone trying to organise this trip, do the blogs and set up the web page. We always try to do way too much in a ridiculous time frame and we never seem to learn, however at the same time we love the adrenaline from the craziness.

So we finally managed to pack the van, move out of the house, and finish the car, we were set to go. One final thing to do was weigh the setup and boy did I underestimate how overweight we would be, when fully loaded with waters, fuels, boats and everything we dreamed to take on this adventure, it was a disaster.  So then we set about cutting everything to try and keep our boat, with no success.

Unfortunately, we lost the boat, motor and all the things that go with a boat. Whilst this is the most devastating thing that I have had to do involved with the trip, I just have to keep reminding myself, if this is the worst thing I have to complain about, so be it, we are still so lucky to be able to do this trip and who knows things can change so fast and I may be able to get it eventually. Maybe loosing the 10 different ways to cook meals will help but try telling Jayde that.

One tip for newcomers is to get all the GVM/GCM upgrades done to a new car before the car is ever registered as with the current laws you can carry more and tow more if you do this even if you install the same or better suspension after the fact, which I don’t understand the governments logic with this one.

So we have just about completed the last of the packing and getting everything into its own easy to get to homes, no doubt things will change and we will reorganise the whole van again and again and hopefully loose a few more things along the way that we find we are just not using. It is amazing how fast you can get up to weights and how much little things weigh.