WINNERS!!! - Dometic Australia Follow the Sun Ambassadors

Explore Australia

Jun 30

We are Dometic Australia Follow the Sun WINNERS!!!!

And you seriously can’t wipe the smile off my face right now :)

Ahead of us is a three-month road trip down the East Coast of Australia in a brand new Ford Everest, towing the 'Pink Minnie', hosting Happy Hours and raising essential funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Surely you’ve spotted my Happy Dance all over Social Media by now…

Our Camping Set Up

It sounds really bad but I had no idea who the Dometic brand was when I first entered this competition. You have to understand that all our camping up to this point has been a succession of hiking and tramping trips (when we were young and kid free) progressing to a more labour intense tent and tarp setup with everything but the kitchen sink packed into a 2 car setup….AND to make things ‘easier’ I even remember bringing the portacot for the tent for a time!!

**Packing up the ute is getting trickier & trickier**

As our family has grown so has the amount of @#$% we are taking along. Sure we’ve checked out camp trailers, caravans and motorhomes BUT minus selling the family home, or taking out a significant loan, so far we’ve managed to hold back. Besides we didn’t really know what we needed to make our trip FUN, enjoyable and relaxing at the same time.

SO, needless to say the opportunity to do this trip is perfect timing for our family. Personally, I really like the idea of cruising into a campground and not having to spend half the morning ‘setting up’ – trust me, a three-month roadtrip in the Pink Minnie Caravan will be a serious marriage saver!!

Unlike our tent and mega-tarp set-up the Pink Minnie is all ready to go with sleeping berths, an awesome Dometic fridge/freezer, a ‘bathroom’ (thankfully no middle of the night treks across the campground to the nearest toilet block) and a reverse cycle A/C (ie. a heater for when we venture south of the Tropic of Capricorn). You can see what it looks like inside in the video below....

And we're pretty excited that we also get to choose some ‘mobile’ products from the Dometic product range to make our journey ‘easier’ – like solar panels, car-friendly Waeco fridge/freezers, inverters (so you can power your laptop on the move), iceboxes, reversing cameras and there’s even a gas levelcheck!!! All stuff we can hang on to and use on future camping trips.....

Travelling with Kids

The other good news is that our kids are now a lot more independent but thankfully, still at the age where they like ‘hanging’ with us and think we’re still pretty cool (although this point may be argued by the oldest). Yes, our kids are 'officially' school age (10 & 12yo) and yes, we have downloaded the Queensland Education ‘exemption’ forms and submitted them, and now we are now looking at ways at how to keep their ‘education’ happening on the road.

English of course will happen naturally via reading up about our destinations and writing journals on the road. History and geography will definitely be covered as we ‘tour’ and explore our Australian destinations. And maths?? Well we’ll be needing help with measuring distances and fuel, keeping ourselves on budget and adding up the dollars we raise for the National Breast Cancer Foundation (click below to see our Fundraising page).

Follow the sun fundraising-page-@adventuremumma.png

I think the most important message we received from friends, families and followers is that the 'life experiences' they get on the road will justify their time away from the school desk. Although one friend pointed out that we should try and get them into a routine where they sit down and still work through some problems - mainly because they'll require that particular skill when they return to school.

Ultimately I’m hoping that this trip may in fact be a building block for BIGGER adventures as a family unit – after all who wouldn’t love showing their ‘teen’s’ other country’s where perhaps the world didn’t revolve around a child’s needs for the latest look or or the latest gear.

Worthy Cause (NBCF)

BUT possibly the coolest thing for me, is the opportunity to embrace a worthy cause such as the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) who’s goal is to have zero deaths from breast cancer by 2030. Presently, 37 Australians are diagnosed each day and seven are losing their battle, SO there is still much to do.

By driving the Pink Minnie down the Eastern Seaboard of Australia we will be giving a HUGE shout out to the NBCF and their cause. As we go we’ll be having raffles, Happy Hours, Pancake Breakys, giveaways and much more, all to help raise funds towards researching an effective way to end breast cancer. In the meantime you can help now by going to our Fundraising Page and donating, any amount is welcome - Click HERE.

Breaking News: We raised over $11,000 for NBCF during our Follow the Sun tour

SO, How can you get Involved??

"What can I do?", I hear you ask. Well you can definitely FOLLOW US as we embark on this epic Dometic Follow the Sun trip and head down the East Coast of Australia. If you see the Pink Minnie on the road make sure you give us a friendly wave or ‘toot’ or even swing by and have a chat, and definitely come and join us if we are hosting a 'Happy Hour' in your town or tourist park.

We’re super keen for you to check out our Dometic gear (stay tuned for our online reviews), join us for our Happy Hour fun AND, most importantly, give to our fundraising efforts (or page). For those of you who are following ‘digitally’ make sure you LIKE, COMMENT and SHARE any posts you see from us (including this one) – this will help spread the word about our journey beyond the campgrounds into a much wider (and maybe global) community.

Ultimately I’m sooooo excited to be taking this journey with ‘everyone’ onboard, not just our family of four, AND I hope you enjoy it as well...

Good Things to Know:

Three Lucky teams have been chosen as Dometic Follow the Sun Ambassadors for 2016 & have been awarded an expenses-paid, three month road trip raising funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation whilst promoting the RV lifestyle.
Dometic is a global market leader in the mobile living category & provide smart solutions to essential needs when on the road.
The 2016 Dometic Australia Follow the Sun tour will start in Cairns on 1st August & each team will explore separate paths through Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia before finishing in Melbourne on 29 October.
We will be hosting ‘Happy Hours’ at tourist parks along the way, sharing stories & experiences with locals & travellers & inviting them to view our fantastic caravan & WAECO & Dometic products, whilst also raising funds for NBCF.
The NBCF is the only national body that awards funds exclusively for breast cancer research, with a goal for zero deaths from breast cancer by 2030.
You can DONATE securely online HERE --> AdventureMumma GoFundraise Page.

Are you a camper? Any tips you’d like to give us before we embark on this once in a lifetime journey?