Hey!!  Thanks for reading my blog!!

Typically, I’ve left writing my first post until the very last minute, so I apologise for the hurriedly written finger dribble full of grammatical errors.

Brief overview:

Who is Frankie???

Frankie, aka ‘Frankencruiser’, is Ben’s pride and joy.  He made it himself.  I would describe Frankie as three Landcruisers all rolled into one ultimate Landcruiser that has consumed Ben’s every thought, waking moment and wanton desire for the last year.  I dread to think how many man-hours Ben spent working on Frankie.  If I had to guess, I’d say, at the very least, it would be 1000 hours.

Ben describes Frankie as:

“H2J105 Landcruiser wagon chopped into a dual cab with alloy canopy.  1 HD-FTE Engine & Auto Gearbox Conversion, Saliara dash, door panels and power windows fitted.  Triple battery setup, drop-down fridge slide and drawer system in the canopy.  2″ suspension lift, 33″ mud tyres.  Bull bar, UHF, front bench seat retained to seat 6.”

Frankie is kitted out with every bell and whistle you could possibly need for a 5-week trip to Cape York.  In a future blog, I will go into more detail on the setup, but for now, I’m trying to get this damn blog started so I can sleep.  (I’m super worried that I won’t keep up to date with the blog, and Ben will be able to say, “See!  I told you you shouldn’t have wasted money on a domain!!!)

Who is the Tramp???

The Tramp, or tramper, is our Camper Trailer.  She is an Eagle Cheyenne hard floor, an off-road camper that has a queen bed and two sets of bunks.  Ben and I had a very heated discussion about her name.  He seems to associate ‘Tramp’ with ladies of the night.  On the other hand, I thought it was a very clever mix of the words ‘camper’ and ‘trailer’ that had the benefit of meaning “to travel from place to place, trudge, plod, stamp, trample…”.  In the end, I won.  Frankie and the Tramp had such a nice flow to it that I ignored the fact that some people associate her name with that of a woman with loose morals.

Who are we???

We are a family 6 leaving in about 8 hours to venture off to Cape York, Australia.  In the family, we have:

Ben:  Ben is the voice of reason and a hands-on, practical family member.  He works like a galley slave 18 hours a day and never stops.  It is pretty difficult being married to someone so motivated and hard-working.  It makes days when I want to slob really awkward, as it is hard to fully relax into a slovenly stupor while someone is racing around me doing 6 million jobs.

Kylah:  Kylah is our eldest daughter.  Her nickname is “Killjoy Kylah, the Rule Following Dictator”, which she wears with pride.  Kylah is exceptionally sensible.  I think it’s her way of rebelling against me (me being the opposite of highly reasonable).  She is very dependable, and despite her hatred of small children (too messy, too noisy, too unpredictable), she is like a little mother hen to her siblings.  She has been gifted with the most beautiful voice and spends most of her days singing to the menagerie of animals around our place.  (2 mini horses, a pig, 2 dogs, 6 chickens, 3 ducks and some fish).

Jazzy:  Jazzy is our second eldest and has the kindest heart of anyone you’ll ever meet.  She is the only daughter I have who LOVES babies (takes after her mumma!!) and is very social (also after her mumma!!).  She has been known to be prone to the odd whinge here and there (unfortunately also taking after her mumma) but is usually a delightful child.  Her passions are ballet, sewing, anything crafty and writing scripts.

Rohan:  Good grief.  Where do I start?  If you follow this blog, I’m sure you will get to know Rohan in great detail, as I’m sure many of the posts will be about his misadventures and bull-at-a-gate personality.  He is hilariously funny, incessantly demanding, and so full of knowledge that the endless list of animal, geographic or political thoughts that spew out of his mouth constantly will drive you to want to pour hot wax in your ears.  He is continuously dirty and often injured. Rohan’s passions are anything and everything, so long as he can do it RIGHT NOW.  He has a massive case of FOMO (fear of missing out), so he happily involves himself in everything he can.

Isabelle:  Isabelle, or Diddy as we call her, is our youngest child.  She is super independent and as vain as a peacock.  It is not unusual for her to wear 6 different outfits (all styled differently, of course) in one day.  Her bravery and courage surpassed my own at about age 3.  In fact, if Kylah isn’t home to feed the animals, I have to get Isabelle to do it, as I’m scared of the horses, and she isn’t.  Isabelle also LOVES to clean – a trait not inherited from me (or Ben).  She is constantly tidying up after me and often surprises me by vacuuming and mopping the floors while I am out (she is 6!!!).  She is still figuring out her future destiny and has told me she wants to be either a cleaner or a princess.

Me:  Me, me, me, me, me.  I just read back through my descriptions of everyone, and they are as much a description of me as it is of them!!  I can’t help it.  When I start typing, I never know what will dribble out the end of my fingers.  Hmmmm…. if I had to describe myself, I’d say that I am a cotton-loving, polyester-hating woman who does not like to be more than 2 degrees outside her comfort temperature. I’m all about comfort.  Comfortable clothes, comfortable shoes, and my comfy “huggy pillow” that is as long as our queen bed (unfortunately for everyone else, I’m insisting on hauling it to the Cape with us despite a lack of space).  I don’t like insects or bugs on me or near me, and I have a supreme ability to nap in any moving vehicle no matter how uncomfortable (although I have negated the need for me to be uncomfortable in Frankie by buying a seatbelt pillow that I have nicknamed my Snoozy Woozy).

So there you have it.  A brief introduction to Frankie, the Tramp and all of us.  I plan to use this blog to keep you all up to date with places we are going and things we are doing.  I will also describe, probably in great detail, the lengths I go to to make sure that my camping experience doesn’t push me too far out of my comfort zone.  Packing food, clothes etc., for 6 people for 5 weeks is a logistical nightmare, so I’ll also describe all of my ingenious tips that I have either come up with myself or shamelessly copied off someone on Pinterest and then tried to pass off as my own.

At this stage, I have ZERO followers on my blog. I’m not even sure how you allow followers (I’m still wearing my blogging V-plates).  So my disclaimer that I do not receive any freebies for my opinions on Eagle Campers or Landcruisers should be no surprise.  All thoughts and reviews of products I’ve bought are 100% my own, and no financial gain has or will come from them.  So you can rest assured that after I use my she-wee tomorrow and then blog about the experience, it will be a completely honest review.

Thank you for taking the time to read my finger dribble!!

B xx