LIFE has become one continuous holiday adventure for Warrick and Fabienne Wintle who, with their two young daughters Charlotte and Celeste, have left home to discover more of Australia.
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Now 11 months later and with more than 25,000 kilometres of travelling behind them, they are barely halfway along their route. They keep finding detours to hidden delights and reasons to linger longer. It may be much later than May next year when they return to their Redlands home near Brisbane.
They arrived in Warrnambool on the weekend and will head to South Australia later in the week.
They’ve documented the trip via electronic media and have an expanding network of followers including 12,500 on Facebook sharing tips and experiences.
Business sponsors have come on board, seeing opportunities in having their brand recognised by international watchers.
“There’s no shortage of people wanting to share with us, especially the free things,” Warrick said.
It’s become obvious to them traditional bricks and mortar visitor information centres are becoming irrelevant.
“People want to know before they arrive what’s ahead and now there is so much word-of-mouth advice shared on electronic media,” they said.
“There are so many untapped options for travellers.
“Take Warrnambool for example. We took our girls to a big zoo and they were barely interested, but when we came here and saw the park (Lake Pertobe) they didn’t want to leave.”
For Fabienne, a former digital marketing professional, it’s been a chance to see places she only heard of and develop ways of promoting destinations.
“International marketing has been focused on the big icons, but in reality visitors want to experience the lifestyle and learn from locals,” she said.
“Chinese love driving themselves around in campervans and towing caravans.
“The caravan and camping industry is the fastest growing tourism sector of Australia.”