Love the Outdoors: Family Adventures Around Australia

Love the Outdoors is a rebuilt Australian journal for families who want to camp, detour and travel slowly. The archived site was a personal Squarespace blog. This version does not speak in that voice and does not republish those stories. It writes new guides on the same places and themes: family camping Australia, the Big Lap of Australia, the Gibb River Road, the Red Centre and the Top End.

The point of a family outdoor journal is not a leaderboard. It is to help you decide whether a night under canvas near home is enough this month, or whether you are ready to think about a longer loop. Both are valid. A weekend that teaches kids how to peg a fly is as much “loving the outdoors” as a dry-season Kimberley crossing.

Planning a Big Lap of Australia

A Big Lap is the colloquial circuit that follows Australia’s around-the-edge highways, with inland cut-throughs when people have time or curiosity. It is not a race and it is not one official itinerary. How long the Big Lap takes depends on school terms, work breaks, vehicle comfort and how often you stop for swimming holes rather than kilometres.

How long does the Big Lap take?

Families who keep moving can cover the sealed loop in a few months. Families who want national parks, rest days and weather buffers usually talk in longer seasons or a full year. The planning guide explains the trade-offs without inventing a single “correct” duration or a package price. Cost is a household budget question — fuel, food, campgrounds, maintenance — and it changes with style. Check current park booking systems rather than any figure you remember from a forum.

Clockwise or anticlockwise?

Clockwise versus anticlockwise is one of the core decisions. Direction changes when you hit the wet in the north, when you want a particular coast in a particular season, and when you need to be near a city for parts or visitors. Neither direction is morally better.

Choosing a vehicle and setup

A family sedan can do a sealed Big Lap. A high-clearance four-wheel drive matters once you add tracks such as the Gibb River Road or Palm Valley. The journal will not name a “best car” as a ranking. It will ask whether your setup matches the roads you actually intend to drive, and whether you have a plan for repairs far from a dealer.

Gibb River Road with kids

The Gibb is a remote Kimberley road built for cattle work, now travelled by visitors who want gorges and station country. How many days you need depends on side trips, not on a slogan. How difficult the Gibb River Road is changes with rain, corrugations, your tyres and your recovery skill. Main Roads Western Australia publishes road information; Explore Parks WA covers parks and campgrounds. Use those pages on the morning you leave Broome or Kununurra.

Gorges and stations along the way

Station stays and gorge walks are part of the Kimberley pattern. This journal describes the landscape and the planning questions. It does not invent opening dates, permit fees or operator prices. Confirm those with the park or station directly.

Family camping basics

Family camping in Australia is a wide church: a booked NSW national park site, a council campground, a backyard trial night, a remote swag run. The basics stay stubbornly practical.

Choosing a family tent

Choosing a family tent is about rain, wind, kids who wake at dawn, and whether you can lift the bag out of a hatchback. Marketing names change every season. The questions do not.

Free camping vs paid campgrounds

Free camping Australia is legal only where the manager says so. Paid campgrounds buy water, toilets and a booked pad. “Ghost camping” — occupying a site without following the local rules — is a poor family lesson and can be an offence. Read the free-camping guide for the distinction.

Camping gear checklist

The camping gear checklist is a thinking list, not a shopping race. You do not need every gadget from a hardware aisle to take kids outside.

Red Centre and Top End

The centre and the north reward slow travel. The Red Centre road trip guide covers ranges, waterholes and desert towns. The Kakadu and Litchfield itinerary pairs two very different parks. Parks Australia and NT Parks are the live sources for closures, cultural site rules and park passes.

Kakadu and Litchfield

Kakadu is a jointly managed national park with wetlands, escarpment and site-specific access. Litchfield is a shorter, waterfall-heavy park closer to Darwin. Together they make a classic Top End family pair if you check seasonal access.

Palm Valley and the West MacDonnells

Palm Valley and the West MacDonnells sit west of Alice Springs. Some gorges are sealed-road easy; Palm Valley is a sandy four-wheel-drive proposition when conditions allow.

Lake Eyre and William Creek

Lake Eyre and William Creek are for families who understand remote fuel, heat and the fact that the lake is often a salt pan. Conditions belong to the park and road agencies, not to a remembered blog post.

51 outdoor things to do before you're 12

The archive once listed fifty-one things to do before twelve. This journal keeps the spirit and writes a new outdoor list for kids — bush skills, fishing through the generations, and wildlife moments such as the Christmas Island red crab migration. It is an invitation, not a contest.

If you want the next click, open the adventure journal, the Big Lap hub, or the family camping hub. Then verify the road on the day you travel.