Our home on wheels by Jessica and Stephen Parry-Valentine. Illus. by Ashlee Spink

Three years of living with COVID has seen a resurgence of holidays in our own backyards, as people and particularly families have taken to the roads which wind around Australia. Once the habitat of the grey nomad, now many younger people and families are making the trip, often taking many months to complete their circumnavigation of this island.

One family to do so is that of the Parry-Valentines, setting off in their van, their home on wheels. Along with their young daughter, Hunter, the family explores our continent from Perth and in a clockwise direction taking in many sites around Australia.

In rhyming stanzas the trio makes their way through some very well known spots, taking in the outback, Broome, crocodiles in the Top End, Uluru, hot springs in Queensland, the Great Barrier Reef, hot air ballooning in Sydney, the Great Ocean Road, then across the sea to Tasmania, where they encounter a lavender farm, an underground motel in Coober Pedy, across the Nullarbor Plain, then Esperance and home.

Each spot they visit is shown in detail and children will delight in pointing out the animals and features depicted at each site.

Many they will recognise but some will be more unfamiliar, and they will be able to share common experiences of their travels to these places. Classes will have great fun plotting the route taken around Australia, marking the sites seen and finding out more information about each place. Perhaps some teachers might encourage the class to think about places that could be included on a such a trip. And incorporate those on a map in the classroom.

Alongside such classics as Are we there yet (Alison Lester, 2004) and To the Top End; our trip across Australia (Roland Harvey, 2009)  a class unit could be developed using these books as a step into the geography of Australia.

A map of Australia with the places visited is situated on each of the endpapers adding another level of interest for the reader as they track the family’s journey.

A scattering of the family’s photos of their journey too will encourage readers to recognise the place they are visiting in the photograph.

Themes: Travel, Journeys, Australia, Tourism.

Fran Knight