Car Travelling with Kids

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Car travelling is a necessary part of the 4WD experience but too many people cram too many kilometres into a tight itinerary and set themselves long boring days on the bitumen. To many city dwellers, it may be a long drive to actually get off the bitumen and many people mistakenly think that the real trip doesn't begin until they hit the dirt. Please, do not subject yourself and your family to long drives of over 600km in one day just to "get started". The trip starts when you leave your driveway. With this in mind, you should consider that by pushing the family in the car for hours on end will only create bored passengers. Our first section then concentrates on making the driving fun.

 For "Electronic-Age" Kids

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For car travelling "Game boys" are often provided by parents to their children to keep the kids quiet most of the time. These small electronic devices usually run on batteries and can keep the kids entertained for hours. Movies are very popular with this age group but I'm not advising that you install individual movie screens into the back of your headrests (but this is available now), nor do you have to take a TV or video player. You can however, justify taking your laptop to play DVD movies. This may upset Dad however, who planned to use the laptop for running GPS mapping software. If such a conflict arises, either take 2 laptops (!) or only record your trip plots for the offroad sections when it is advisable not to run the DVD player anyway.

You can sit the laptop between the seats and plug it into the cigarette lighter socket or plug it into your 240V power running off your inverter (a preferable method for running the computer for long stretches)

At the very least, the movie will keep them amused for the duration, usually 90minutes, at which time you'll all need a break and a walk around. You don't have to take a lot of movies because kids watch movies over and over again even if they have new ones to watch.

You will find an excellent range of Childrens Audio Books on CD and also Children's Audio Books on Casesette Tape from our Adventure Shop.

Note

The ExplorOz Team do not actually condone the use of electronic games for outback trips. Our aim is to encourage you to leave the city and all its trappings far behind and to make this a conscious commitment. Try to encourage the old fashioned car games and take the rare opportunity to have the whole family together for some quality "talking". If you ban the computers however, you might have to lead by example and not take yours either!

 Outdoor Activities for Kids

• Kids love water and will happily spend all day splashing around in rockholes, billabongs and beaches. Find a nice, safe spot and all you'll have to do is watch them and occasionally re-apply the block out.


• This age group also seem to have an uncanny ability to make friends with just about everyone, anywhere. Look for camp locations that are popular with other family groups or camp grounds that provide a playground/swings.


• Kids also love wildlife and even the smallest insect can be a source of endless interest. A special treat might be a nocturnal walk with a torch to spot possums. The Carnarvon Gorge National Park in Queensland is an excellent location for this age group.


• A great tip for bushwalks is to give the kids a pea whistle. Instruct them to wear it around their necks and if they get lost or separated from you they can sit down in the shade and blow as hard as they can. You might also need to teach them the "one about the boy who cried wolf"... anyway, its a cheap and reassuring tip. A camping trip is a big adventure and they will come back with a better understanding of nature and bush life if you foster this with some gentle guidance.


• Fishing - most kids have endless patience when it comes to fishing and you can start them at any age now that you can buy kids rods with plastic fish attached to the end!


• Also, consider taking a first aid kit for those unforeseen little mishaps.

 Travelling with Teenagers

• Rotate seating positions, this means each child can sit in the front seat and see. The C.B or UHF Radio means you can talk to other vehicles on the road and the friendly banter can make the driving time a little more interesting. This age group love music and will probably not be to your liking so plenty of batteries and a portable cd disc player is worth taking.


• This age group can also be encouraged to draw, paint or write stories based on what their holiday experiences. There are plenty of fascinating local artists in outback towns that show your kids that art is not necessarily recreating reality. It's more about capturing the colours. Pack a set of pastel crayons and watercolour paints and see what they come up.


• This age group are usually right into music so help them to compose song words describing the trip and set it to their favourite tune. They might even do a performance around the campfire on the last night!


• We stock an huge range of fantastic Audio Books for this age group (young adult) available on CD. Some titles even focus on the family road trip so check out our wonderful titles.

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just goin : 22 Oct 08 13:40

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