Freebie Fun!

When you don't have a full time job to go to every weekday or a full time salary to pay for movie tickets, balloon rides or other holiday fare, sometimes you need to use your imagination to find fun things to fill your day. After travelling around for a while now and staying at a different Aussie destination each night, Luke and I have decided that every Aussie traveller needs to pack along a few added extra's to keep them entertained cheaply.

Here's our suggested 'Fun Times' travelling kit:

-Tennis rackets and a few balls. A lot of caravan parks have their own courts that campers can use free of charge.

-Ping pong bats. Similar to the tennis thing, most caravan parks have a table tennis table but it costs around $2 for a ball from the park office. Save your bucks by buying your own bats and balls - our set was from K-Mart and set us back a tiny $8.99.

-Push bikes. I know this is a tough thing to take for some, but our bike rack from Repco was $110 and was the best investment we made before taking off on our trip. It folds down so we can get to the boot without taking the bikes off and it means we can leave the van behind and explore the towns we visit on wheels. Don't forget your helmets!

-A deck of cards. A pretty obvious camping must-have. You never know when it's going to rain for a week.

-Snorkel and googles. Especially if you're heading coastal. There's only so much swimming you can do and it's fun to mix it up by exploring the rockpools and inlets from below the surface.

The list could go on and on... There's been a few times that we've envied other campers who cart around canoes, kayaks, surf boards, small boats etc. But you have to draw the line somewhere and these things you can usually hire for the rare times that you're enthused enough to want to give them a go.

And of course, it always helps when the town that you're visiting provides it's own list of free activities for you to wile away your day doing. Take the beautiful coastal town of Anglesea for example. It's just an hour from Melbourne on the Victorian coastline and is the perfect getaway spot for couples, friends and families alike. Not only does it have a super fun inlet (where the river meets the sea) for people to play, fish and boat in, the beaches are gorgeous, there is bike tracks all over the town, the BIG Four caravan park had a free full sized tennis court and we also discovered a tailor made mountain bike park with jumps, dirt tracks and plenty of opportunities for some major crashes just minutes from the town centre.

Look at that smile on Luke's face! He's 27 going on 7 but I admit, after I built up the courage to try one of the runs, I had a ball too!

Yours in the great outdoors,
Odette