A super quick, super easy recipe for a traditional Aussie damper, historically prepared by swagmen, drovers, stockmen and other travellers, baked in the coals of a campfire or in a camp oven. We’re using our Weber Baby Q.
Enjoy with butter, jam and cream as you would scones, or as an accompaniment to soups and other main meals.
Ingredients
2 cups Self Raising Flour
Pinch Salt
60g melted butter (*melt butter over low heat)
1/2 can of your favourite Pale Ale
Instructions
Place a trivet into your Weber and heat on full heat for 10 minutes. Turn heat down to half way, to ensure a low/medium heat of around 190 degrees celsius.
Grease a baking tray or pan with a small amount of butter.
Combine flour, salt and melted butter in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon/butter knife. Slowly add beer a small amount at a time, while stirring. Continue to add small amounts of beer until mixture forms a dough.
Knead dough for 1-2 minutes and flatten into an oval shape. Score the top of the dough, place on baking tray/pan, and dust with a little flour.
Bake in the Weber for 20-25 minutes, checking after15-20 minutes. When your knife comes out clean, your damper is ready!
Six months on the road and we are well and truly settled into the routines and lifestyle that comes with living in a 17m2 home on wheels, in a new location each week. It’s fair to say that coming from the southern end of the Gold Coast, where you are spoiled with a plethora of natural beauty and fantastic family experiences, the bar has been set high as a point of comparison when visiting new destinations and seeking out family friendly experiences.
To date we have travelled over 15,000km through Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, and have had the privilege of witnessing nature at its finest and participating in many incredible experiences. Needless to say, there was some very healthy discussion when agreeing on this list, as we’d already created a highlights reel from our first 3 months travelling Queensland that included over 30 experiences and destinations.
Nonetheless, we managed to narrow it down to our Top 5 that ticked off being both a destination and family friendly experience.
1. Carnarvon Gorge, Queensland
It has been said that Carnarvon Gorge is Queensland’s answer to the Kimberley with continuous breathtaking moments. From the beautiful landscape of towering sandstone cliffs of the Amphitheatre, to the unrivalled Indigenous Art Gallery showcasing rock wall art believed to be over 3500 years old, Carnarvon Gorge is nothing short of spectacular.
For those up for the challenge the full circuit walk at 87km in length has a range of options, from short strolls that are perfect for families to a truly challenging 7-8 day walk. We split our adventure over a few days, and gave ourselves a rest day in between 2 walking days of approximately 12km each. With Jasper happily strapped into the backpack carrier, it made many areas of the Gorge more accessible for us, and we passed many other families on the track with children of all ages. There is a short 1.5km return nature track at the start of the Carnarvon Gorge trail that is perfect for families, and sightings of platypus in the Carnarvon Creek can be experienced here if you are lucky.
There are a number of camping options located within a couple of kilometres of the National Park entrance, making it really easy to set up a base camp and day trip into the Gorge.
2. Capricorn Caves, Queensland
With over 400 million years of history, Capricorn Caves are an awe inspiring example of nature at its finest. Located an easy 30 minute drive north of Rockhampton, the caves boast the highest concentration of fossils found anywhere in the world, and offer a number of different tour experiences that cater for every member of the family.
Visitors can choose from a range of exciting and immersive experiences including daily wheelchair-accessible guided cave tours, wild caving adventures and even abseiling.
With onsite accommodation options including self-contained cabins, the Lodge, and a great bush camp with powered and unpowered sites for tents, caravans and motorhomes, it’s the perfect location to stay a few days and immerse yourself in the natural wonders of the Capricorn Caves.
We stayed 2 nights and experienced the fantastic Cathedral Cave Tour, and even got a little courageous donning our hard hats and head lamps for a taste of adventure caving.
3. Lady Musgrave Island, Queensland
Set on 3000 acres of living reef with a protected lagoon, stepping foot on to Lady Musgrave Island is like literally stepping into a David Attenborough documentary! Situated on the Southern Great Barrier Reef, just a stone’s throw from the Bundaberg coastline, Lady Musgrave Island is accessible by boat from Bundaberg or the Town of 1770.
The protected lagoon is truly unique on this coral cay island, and offers an experience that is like nothing on earth. Teeming with bird life above the water, and giant marine life below the water, it is a perfect spot for snorkelling with turtles, manta rays, dolphins and even whales.
We joined the crew of Lady Musgrave Experience (ex Bundaberg) for a day trip, and enjoyed an island walking tour, glass bottom boat tour, and incredible snorkelling during our full day eco-tour. If sleeping out under stars on your own island paradise is more your style, then definitely put Lady Musgrave on your bucket list. It is one of the few islands anywhere along the entire Great Barrier Reef where you can camp out by night, and with a maximum of 40 people at any one time it truly makes for an intimate and eco-friendly experience.
4. Blue Mountains, New South Wales
Just one of the many regions throughout Australia that has been affected by the recent bushfires, the Blue Mountains are #OpenForBusiness and ready for visitors to return and #HolidayHereThisYear.
With a blue horizon of eucalyptus trees that stretch further than the eye can see, the natural beauty and fresh mountain air of the Blue Mountains World Heritage area will captivate your senses and your heart.
The Blue Mountains is an easy 90 minute drive from Sydney, or two hours by train, and is home to some of Australia’s most magnificent natural attractions and quaint little villages. With one million hectares of tall forests, sandstone cliffs, canyons and waterfalls, and views spanning over the deep valleys that were formed millions of years ago, the view from pretty much anywhere on the mountain is incredible.
For nature lovers the lookouts at Wentworth Falls, Govetts Leap and Echo Point offer spectacular vistas, and a day spent exploring at Scenic World, riding their Scenic Skyway, Railway and Cableway will provide a vantage point and experience like no other.
The region has outstanding accommodation options, from cottages and cabins to luxury resorts, and a number of great caravan parks for those travelling on wheels. We enjoyed 5 nights at the Blackheath Glen Tourist Park in Blackheath, and were literally staying amongst the clouds!
5. Hunter Valley, New South Wales
Famously known as wine country, the Hunter Valley region offers plenty for the family to see and do from cellar door experiences in Australia’s oldest wine region, to bushwalking in World Heritage wilderness or exploring engaging art trails.
The Hunter boasts a range of accommodation options to suit just about every need, and for those travelling with their own home like us, we stayed at Wine Country Tourist Park just outside of Cessnock and found this a great base to explore the region.
We spent a fantastic morning going behind the scenes at Tamburlaine Organic Wines learning all about the process from vine to glass, followed by a family friendly cellar door experience with Jasper enjoying his own cheese and juice platter while we sampled a range of Tamburlaine’s award winning organic wines.
We also spent an entire morning exploring the town of Kurri Kurri on a self-guided mural trail that includes over 60 incredible artworks commissioned from professional artists, making it the largest collection of murals in Australia. This was not only a great way to learn the history of this quaint country town, but also an excellent way to walk off the calories consumed from our wine and cheese tasting at Tamburlaine the day before!
So there you have it, our Top 5 Destinations and Experiences so far. However, with 2 months touring around Tasmania during Season 2 of our Family Travel Australia series, we may just have to create its own Top 10! We are already buzzing at everything Tasmania offers its visitors, from built, cultural and environmental heritage, to food, wine, and family friendly experiences. Stay tuned for that in the next edition of Ocean Road Magazine!
~ Katie and Paul Guerin
New episodes of our Family Travel Australia series are released on YouTube every Sunday 6.30pm (AEST), with weekly Podcast episodes airing Friday’s at 8.30pm (AEST).
We’ve been on the road now for 3 months and this full time travelling family lifestyle is finally starting to feel like our norm. Rewind 2 years to when this crazy idea was born, and we are still pinching ourselves that this is our reality. It was the start of 2018, during a 5 hour road trip back from Coffs Harbour to our hometown of the Gold Coast. Paul and I are never stuck for good conversation and can often spend hours blue sky dreaming, so I decided to throw out the big question, “What would you do if you had no restrictions, if money wasn’t a deciding factor?”
Our then 16 month old son Jasper was sound asleep in his car seat, and at its core is the real basis behind Paul’s answer “I’d travel full time with you both”. Our little miracle, as we refer to him, had been a long 4 year journey with 6 rounds of IVF, multiple doctors and a lot of emotional and financial strain on our relationship.
It was an easy, almost automatic response from me, “Let’s do it!”, and so set the wheels in motion to bring our dream to fruition. For the next few months the time that we spent together outside of our very full work and social lives (Paul held a state management role and I was juggling a toddler and my own health and wellbeing business) did a complete turn toward the attainment of our goal. Our conversations and focus shifted, we sought out other families, both in Australia and overseas, that had made this lifestyle their normal. We purchased a large whiteboard that we sat in front of our TV, and we formed a new habit of getting out of bed an hour earlier to workshop our goals, breakdown our individual actions and create a solid plan.
Taking a leap of faith and letting go of the things that provide a feeling of security, a steady income, a roof over your head and the stuff that somehow makes you feel complete, can be downright overwhelming and very confronting, but also incredibly rewarding. It’s as though each ‘thing’ we own creates a small amount of pressure that collectively wears down on our shoulders. Letting go of this stuff is incredibly freeing and the pressure it releases allows you to hold yourself in a clearer and lighter state of mind. It helps you take a step toward the best version of yourself because you have more time to focus on the real rewards of life, time with your family and time for yourself.
The new stresses of our lives became the unknown, the uncertainty and the skill of adaptability that we would all need to acquire in the months that followed. However, these feelings also bring the joy of stretching yourself to learn new things and the excitement of waking up to new horizons, new places, new people and new experiences.
What we quickly learned is that Australia is an incredibly diverse country with more to see and do than we could have ever imagined. It is difficult to highlight the standout destinations as we have already experienced so many breathtaking sights and know there are thousands more to come. On a more personal level, watching the growth in Jasper and experiencing the world through his 3-year-old eyes full of wonder and awe has had a direct and beautifully positive effect on Paul and I individually, as a couple, and collectively as a family. We’ve adopted the mantra “a life lived in fear is a life half lived” and taking a leap of faith as we have certainly sums this quote up perfectly.
So, with our Toyota 4×4 and our newly purchased Coromal Caravan in tow our first destination was to explore the Central Highlands of Queensland. We try to spend a week in each region so that we can experience not only the diverse landscapes and environment, but also the people that make up these communities. Taking time in each location allows you to meet the true characters of a place and hear first-hand stories about its history and culture.
Our new jobs, if you can call them that, have been to become full time storytellers, creating weekly travel and destination video content for YouTube and our social media platforms. And while we are documenting our family’s experiences and in effect creating a time capsule for Jasper, we hope that we can inspire other families to take their own leap of faith in the direction of their dreams and be able to spend more time together as a family.
As far as a family friendly travel destination goes Queensland has it all and we’ve barely scratched the surface. The look on Jasper’s face when we watched a platypus swimming in the creek at Carnarvon Gorge, let alone the feeling it created for Paul and I who had never before seen one in the wild, will be a moment that will stay with us all forever.
We have explored 400 million year old Capricorn Caves, fossicked for 120 million year old thunder eggs, found a small haul of sapphires at the southern hemisphere’s largest sapphire mine, and felt like we were starring in a David Attenborough documentary when visiting the World Heritage listed Lady Musgrave Island on the southern Great Barrier Reef.
It has been eye-opening and humbling to spend quality time with some of our Aussie farmers who have faced incredible hardships and now find themselves in the midst of what seems to be a never-ending drought. Sharing a moment of raw emotion with someone you barely know can have a defining impact and certainly creates a new appreciation and level of respect.
We set off on our adventure of a lifetime to create lasting memories together as a family and our experience is absolutely delivering on this. What we didn’t account for was how much of an impact it would make on us individually as we all stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zone, learn so much about each other and create new perceptions on the world around us.
~ Katie Guerin
New episodes of our Family Travel Australia series are released on YouTube every Sunday 6.30pm (AEST), with weekly Podcast episodes airing Friday’s at 8.30pm (AEST).
Every year Katie and I take some time together to reflect on the year that has been, the good, the bad and the ugly. We make sure we are recognising our successes, however small the wins may be, as it can be easy to overlook these as we strive toward our next goal.
Celebrating small wins is a very important part of growing, as is taking from your failures and making them learnings that you hopefully don’t repeat again. You can learn a lot about yourself when you reflect and take time to review your life, and this can then form the basis for the future version of you.
This year we have decided to stretch ourselves toward a more attainable version of ourselves, a “better version” opposed to the best version. With all the pressures of life it is easy to get yourself down because you aren’t achieving your best all the time, whatever roles that you play, mother, father, husband, wife, employee, employer. Looking for small achievable wins through the new habits that we form can help build a solid foundation toward betterment in all areas of your life.
Another area we have decide to stretch ourselves in this year is reading more books that add value to our lives. I have listened to and read many self-help and personal development authors over the years and one of my favourites is Jim Rohn. He is able to bring philosophy through easy to digest and recognisable concepts that, through their application, can change your life in positive ways. A couple I will share here are part of our 2020 Vision – “You can stand on the books you read to help you reach things on the higher shelf”, and “Plant seeds not weeds” – such a wonderful way to consider what you are putting into your fertile mind. This is something we are profoundly aware of now we have Jasper to consider as well. “He who hears all” is a joke Katie and I share together about Jasper as he really does seem to hear everything we say and take in everything we do, and then right before our eyes emulate these words and actions back to us! It’s like he is a mirror of our behaviours and attitude!
We have created a 2020 Vision pdf and have made this a free downloadable document available on our website. This is the same yearly planner we have used for many years and find it an invaluable tool toward our personal and family development. It includes a few simple tasks that you can complete as an individual, couple or family, that will start your year off on the best foot. I think of it akin to hoping on a plane where the captain just takes off with no direction or coordinates plugged in to the computer! Imagine how crazy that would be, flying around without a plan, without coordinates, without any direction at all! You would certainly crash land and really just hope for the best! At least having a plan, a kind of blueprint for your life’s year ahead, can be an incredibly rewarding experience!
Our 2020 Vision includes a word of the year, mind map, and a wellness pyramid. The highlight for me is the question at the start of the document that asks you to write an account of a chance meeting you have with yourself a year into the future. This simple idea can really help you picture and visualise a better version of you at the end of 2020, and consider the incremental changes that you have made to be this version of yourself in the future.
This year we will experience many new horizons as we continue our journey across, around and throughout Australia, but most importantly it is the version of ourselves that we will be taking with us on this journey – who is that person, and am I happy with the effort I am contributing to living a full life and one that others want to share with me?
Life is certainly not always roses and Katie and I have both individually and together had our moments and even seasons of despair, hurt and the normal day to day pressures. What we have found is that utilising resources that can hold your hand or shine a light of hope, or even spark that new intention inside of you, is a soft but incredibly powerful support to call on. We hope you can find some seeds of greatness in the 2020 Vision plan and we’d love to hear how it impacts you and your life toward a better version of yourself!
To activate your 2020 Vision download our FREE pdf by clicking here. Not only is it free, but best of all it’s the first step toward a better version of you!
~ Paul Guerin
New episodes of our Family Travel Australia series are released on YouTube every Sunday 6.30pm (AEST), with weekly Podcast episodes airing Friday’s at 8.30pm (AEST).
Homemade pizzas are delicious and are much healthier than most store bought versions. And what’s best is that they’re a great meal to get the kids involved, with fun and easy prep!
MEDITERRANEAN VEGETARIAN PIZZA
Ingredients
Pizza base of your choice (or for an even healthier version make your own dough or use wraps or pitta bread)
Basil pesto
Mushroom, sliced
Cherry tomatoes, quartered
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Kalamata olives, sliced
Marinated feta, crumbled
Chilli flakes *optional
Fresh rocket
Instructions
Place your Weber trivet and pizza stone into your Weber and heat on high for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, spread a layer of basil pesto over your pizza base, topping with half the grated mozzarella. Add all other ingredients, and top with remaining mozzarella.
Cook in your Weber for 20 minutes. Top with fresh rocket and serve immediately. Enjoy!
SMOKED SALMON PIZZA
Ingredients
Pizza base of your choice (or for an even healthier version make your own dough or use wraps or pitta bread)
Tomato paste
Red onion, finely diced
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Smoked salmon piece
Marinated feta, crumbled
Chilli flakes *optional
Fresh rocket
Instructions
Place your Weber trivet and pizza stone into your Weber and heat on high for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, spread a layer of tomato paste over your pizza base, topping with half the grated mozzarella. Add all other ingredients, and top with remaining mozzarella.
Cook in your Weber for 20 minutes. Top with fresh rocket and serve immediately. Enjoy!
We love Christmas time! In fact, if Paul had his way we’d have the tree up and carols playing all year round! The transformation that takes place at this time of year, with streets and stores full of decorations, houses and gardens twinkling with lights, and summertime temperatures soaring, seem to create a festive energy that can be felt all around regardless of your beliefs and traditions.
Four months into our full-time travel exploring Australia, we finally feel like our space has transitioned from a holiday to a home. We have relaxed into the permanent caravanning lifestyle, and that change of perception has also changed our thoughts around the “things” we want and need.
Something we hadn’t really considered when moving into our van is that living this kind of lifestyle also helps to create a smaller footprint, not only on your wallet (because full time travelling requires a tight budget) but it also helps you become a Conscious Consumer. I love this term and there is something in this for everyone…. from our impact on the planet, to our environment at home, and the gifts we purchase and give across the year, particularly during the silly season. Consciously choosing how and on what we spend our money, the impact of our purchase and its true value in more than just dollars, helps us to find balance, reduce stress and focus on the things that really matter most.
Christmas time is a perfect opportunity to get creative and discover new meaning around giving and receiving. We are making the most of acknowledging that the best gift we have is the present (and that is why it is called the present)! For us the New Year will be about the experiences we are sharing together as a family, and the life-long memories we will make, rather than the things we have… and that is where the true magic of life is created.
The magic is everywhere, and you don’t have to look hard to find it, especially when you have children at home. Watching their little eyes widen with awe, wonder, anticipation and excitement is a real joy and certainly brings the inner child out in Paul and I!
When it came to decorating our Coromal caravan our considerations included minimal cost, minimal space, whether it could be reused or recycled, if we could keep the packaging to store and use again next year, and how we could incorporate natural elements. One of the best things about living in such a small space, is the small amount required to decorate and style. We settled on some strings of LED coloured lights from Bunnings and some reusable window and wall decals. We also collected pinecones from the forest to make natural diffusers using our beautiful dōTERRA essential oils, and these make great home-made gifts for friends and family as well.
In past years we have travelled to and fro on Christmas Day, visiting and enjoying time with both sides of the family. And whilst we have tried to minimise holiday season travel, something we are very happy about this Christmas is our ability to take our home on wheels with us, and have our own sanctuary to retreat to when we need some time out from the festivities.
Another tradition we continue to enjoy is to take the week in between Christmas and New Year to unpack the year that has been. We use this time to make peace with where we are at, to celebrate the successes, and acknowledge the growth, the challenges and change. We plan and set goals for the year ahead, and this really is the best present we can give each other and take with us into the new year.
Reflecting on the things that matter most has been heightened by the current bushfires that have impacted hundreds of thousands of people across Australia, in some cases with very tragic outcomes. Out of this comes a very clear reminder that life is fragile, and to choose kindness during what is often a hectic and stressful time of the year. Now is the time to reach out and reconnect with friends and family and share a little Christmas joy through a simple act of humanity.
From our family to yours, we wish you a safe, healthy and happy Christmas!
~ Katie Guerin
New episodes of our Family Travel Australia series are released on YouTube every Sunday 6.30pm (AEST), with weekly Podcast episodes airing Friday’s at 8.30pm (AEST).
Get set for a summer Christmas with this easy and delicious bread salad that will definitely have you coming back for seconds!
Ingredients
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tbs lemon juice
½ tsp Dijon mustard
70ml olive oil
350g mixed baby tomatoes, halved
2 truss tomatoes, chopped
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 small red capsicum, deseeded & finely chopped
3 fresh peaches, quartered
150g sliced Turkish bread
1 garlic clove, halved
130g marinated feta, crumbled
Fresh herbs to garnish, mint and/or basil leaves
Instructions
Combine the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard and 2½ tbs of the oil in a jar. Season and shake.
Combine the tomatoes, onion and capsicum in a bowl. Add half the dressing and toss to coat. Set aside to develop the flavours.
Meanwhile, preheat a BBQ grill on medium-high heat. Combine the peaches and 2 tbs of oil in a bowl. Cook, turning for 4 minutes or until charred and tender. Transfer to a plate.
Brush bread with remaining oil and cook, turning for 4 minutes or until charred. Rub with the cut side of the garlic and coarsely tear up bread.
Add cheese, herbs, peaches and bread to the tomato mixture. Add remaining dressing and gently toss to combine. Serve immediately.
Healthy definitely doesn’t have to mean bland! Escape to paradise with this delicious, Summer inspired smoothie that will have you dreaming of white sand and turquoise waters!
Ingredients
1 scoop protein powder*
1 cup coconut milk
½ cup fresh/frozen pineapple
½ cup fresh/frozen mango
½ cup coconut yogurt
1 banana
2-3 drops dōTERRA Wild Orange essential oil**
Instructions
Place all ingredients into a blender or Thermomix, and blend well. Enjoy an escape to paradise!
* We love and use dōTERRA V Shake protein powder (vegan).
** When cooking with essential oils only use the highest quality purest oils available. We choose dōTERRA for this reason.
Breakfast or dessert? Dessert for breakfast? This deliciously healthy and super simple-to-make Chia Pudding recipe will have you coming back for seconds every time!
Despite their tiny size, chia seeds are packed full of important nutrients.They are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, are rich in antioxidants, fibre, iron, calcium and protein.
Ingredients
1 ripe mango, peeled and diced
Small piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
1 drops dōTERRA Ginger Essential Oil *
1 cup coconut milk (or milk of choice)
1 teaspoon maple syrup or honey
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/2 cup flaked coconut, toasted
1/2 cup pistachios (or nuts of choice), toasted
Extra summer fruit, to serve
Instructions
Combine the mango, ginger/essential oil, coconut milk, maple syrup/honey and lime juice in a food processor or Thermomix and blend until really smooth.
Pour the mixture into a bowl, add the chia seeds and whisk together to combine.
Pour the mixture into equal glasses. Let the puddings chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours, or overnight, then serve sprinkled with toasted coconut, pistachios/nuts and extra fruit. Enjoy!
* When cooking with essential oils only use the highest quality purest oils available. We choose dōTERRA for this reason.