It been wonderful and thank you for watching as we’ve shared the journey. And because a number of people did follow and put up with the youtube ads, together we were able to send some coin off to charity, which is great. All the best and thanks again.
Will really miss your detailed, informative commentary. Sorry that your lap is ending. Enjoyed the fact that your episodes didn't become one big advert like so many others. Enjoy your time at home, might see you on the road again
Much appreciated! We were certain we never wanted to be professional content creators and by using the tiny opportunity to send to charity whatever ad revenue might come really does change how you approach these things. Yes we are sad this chapter has closed and we get to spend some time at home. We will do some wrap up vids of course so let us know if you have any questions, and then we see what life brings us next. All the best and thank you so kick for following along cheers Paula and David 🙏👍❤️
Thank you both so very much for taking us along on your big lap. 💐💐We have thoroughly enjoyed your adventures ❤. It has also given us some great places to visit guided by your inspiration 💐💐💐
Wow, we are so glad it’s given you some ideas. There is so much to choose from and some great places we couldn’t get to of course ( next time maybe 😉). Thanks for following along and helping us send some money off to charity as we went. All the best and safe travels . Stay well and thank you again.
Thanks mate. We really appreciate everyone who followed along and encouraged us, especially you and others who joined the journey early and made the editing and posting worth it. It’s been a blast and thank you so much. David and Paula. 🙏👍
Thanks so much for watching and the comment. We’ve loved sharing and it mostly, overwhelmingly been great and the rest comes with life anyway. We’ve had a blast. If you have any suggestions or questions for the wrap ups, let us know in the comments. All the best to you also. cheers
Thank you, that’s very kind. We’ve loved sharing. We don’t know what’s next, we will do a couple of wrap up episodes to close it all off then see what life brings next. All the best 🙏👍
Thanks for coming along with our shares and yes there will no doubt be some more adventures ahead - we just have to work out which ones. We’ve been lucky and had quite a few, but the Lap is special. All the best and if you have any questions or suggestions for the wrap up please let us know. cheers
Thank you so much for a great trip, I knackered from just watching it all! 😊 You have inspired me. So sad that it’s the end. I admire and respect what you’ve both done.
You are so welcome!. It’s been terrific and especially getting comments and feedback and questions from followers as we went. How great of it’s helped your own thoughts. People will have their own styles, preferences and means but it’s such a great country we can only encourage people to go and explore it. Happy-sad. One act closes and let’s see what the next act brings after intermission. Thanks again and safe travels. 🙏👍
Gee, is it over already. Thank you for sharing your adventures, warts and all at times. I’m sure you will be glad to be home for a while with family and friends but Ive got to be honest and say that I’ll miss your updates, tips and tricks. Good luck with whatever comes next!
I know right. That was how I felt after Kosciusko, how quickly it passed. But that’s because we did so much. We are glad to be home. We don’t know what’s next, first time ever we intentionally didn’t have a plan so we could just enjoy the gap year and lap to the end. Thanks for following and staying in contact. It really is appreciated and it’s also helped us do some good and send a few shekels off to charity in the bargain. We are very proud that we got an episode out every week, on time through flood, dust, break downs, storms, 30,000 km and… having a bloody good time in between. Thanks for the wishes and to you also. Who knows what comes next! cheers
I felt like crying finding out it was your last day. OMG, what an adventure that you've had. Thanks for sharing your experiences. All the best to you both & your future travels. Stay well. Cheers Nicole & David 🥰
Oh no don’t cry. Happy sad, bittersweet but it’s one adventurous act coming to a close and after intermission the next act will come along (we just haven’t got the script yet) 😜. It’s been a blast and thank you for following. Safe travels and best wishes to you also. cheers David and Paula.
Hey guys, we have loved following your journey. Always honest and easy to listen to. Know you’re pleased to be home but it’s a bit sad we won’t get to tune in anymore. Thank you for sharing and best wishes for whatever lies ahead. Cheers Ian and Jen 🍺
What a lovely comment thank you. We tried to just film it was we went - that helped keep it a bit real and of course sometimes epic fails !! 😂😉. We got better picking what might be interesting but trust us, the filming was so random the edits got tougher. We will be sad even though it’s nice to be home. We will do a few wrap ups to bring it to a near end so if there is anything you think might be a good suggestion to include or any questions, let us know as we are thinking about how best to wrap it all up. All the best and thank you both. David and Paula
Thanks for taking us along on your lap. You've grown as presenters and videographers along the way. Entertained and informed your viewers. Great work and thanks for the inspiration to get out and experience Australia.
Thank you for watching and the lovely feedback. Yes - I’m a slow learner but we did slowly but surely make them a bit better 🤣. The magnificent country did most of the work and while the channel is small it helped not having to chase sponsors and business. But you must get out and do it, it’s a stunning country. Thanks again and all the best.
David & Paula. Its a bit sad as we will miss your weekly episodes very much. For us you were both so relatable as you seem like just ordinary people of our vintage having a good time, while nothing was sugar coated and we got exactly as it was - good and bad. Our travels will take us on a very similar route to yours, but we will do it in various smaller chunks over a few years rather than 1 year full time. The fact that you have the same van as us was a bonus and showed us what we could do and that our decision was a very good one(we are ZB297, I think you are ZB279??). Thankyou so much for sharing your life and adventures with us, it was very special. Best wishes for the future. Richard & Michelle.
Thank you and we are a bit sad as well. Bittersweet. But we are like many of the followers. We aren’t full time forever on the road people, we aspire to these adventures and earn and save to get the best balance between work, family and play. So it’s a reality that we need to move to the next chapter (David still doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up! 😉) Yes we remember the numbers were the same in a slightly different order. We’ve loved our Base and we have it booked in next week for another major service and the few bits and pieces that got some bumps and bruises will get repaired. Regardless of what vans we own, we think it’s important to share what broke and what didn’t in case people want to go to the same places or further. We had a ball despite some hiccups and our thirst for travel isn’t quenched. We are lucky. Best wishes for your travels. Of there is one thing we’ve learned there is no one way to travel or Lap that suits everybody and your rig gives you the flexibility to do it your way. Keep an eye out in case we happen upon the same camp some time. cheers Paula and David.
Thank you so much - we can’t express how much we appreciate you following with us and the lovely feedback🙏👍. One or two vids has some issues 😬🤣 but we got a bit better as it went. We’ve had a ball, we’ve made lots of new friends , we’ve seen and experienced some magical places around our amazing country. Thank you and stay well.
Thank you and yes it really was a great journey. We so very much appreciate you following along as well. We will do some wrap ups including some post service updates on the car and van. Thanks again.
G’day G’day 😊 what an incredible lap you did, and you showed it so beautifully and uniquely. Congrats on hitting your 6 points, and thankyou for your wonderful donations to charity. I’ve loved every second of your trip and yes feels strange to see you driving home on a sealed hway 😂. Wishing you many more adventures and if you do decide to TH-cam them please let me know ❤️❤️. Thanks David and Paula xx
Hey G’day. It has been amazing. Not everything went to script but then again, what does? Thanks for watching and encouraging us along the way. Who knows what’s next. We will work it out and we have these awesome memories. To think we were almost missing the corrugations and dust 🤭 . Cheers
Hi David & Paula - We arrived late to your channel, around the time you were having the issues in WA with the Defender, but since that time we have been avid watchers of your channel. So it is somewhat bizarre I suppose, that we feel so saddened that the lap has come to an end, along with the Sunday ritual to sit back with a coffee to watch you guys. It really is, somewhat strange the attraction & bond we have formed with two people we have never met other than on a internet playback. I suppose that is a testament to the quality of your channel, the bond it forms, the emotions and feelings it stirs & creates and that comes from the old acronym 'WYSIWYG' - What you see is what you get. You guys have inspired us so much to do a lap and use your lap as a baseline - thanks for not selling your souls to the corporate beasts that stalk TH-cam, thanks for always giving the good, the bad & the ugly of situations & places and being honest & forthright. Wishing you all the very best for what life has in store for your futures - Paul & Liz.
Paul and Liz - thank you for such a lovely comment. It was people like you guys that helped motivate us to keep improving the vids and to make sure we never missed a week and we posted on time every week. And you know what, most professional influencers do occasionally miss weeks or couldn’t post for some reason. You weren’t that late in reality and regrettably it’s the traumas and the problems that get the most views and the algorithm rewards it - so until those things happen and you have a photo like the low points of seeing your car on a tilt bed or the outside of a hospital emergency ward, even the best of technical content just doesn’t get seen. But - and this is the upside - we didn’t need to sell, it was a holiday first and never a job aspiration to be professional youtubers and that meant that even though the best way to get views is to accentuate drama at every step (“oh no we got bogged again - is this the end ?”) we had the luxury and desire to keep focussed on family, friends and those who might aspire to do a lap as an adventure and break and holiday but not as a forever nomadic life with their families. No issue for those who make that choice but we discovered we could cross over two groups - those who like home and family but didn’t mind the idea of an adventurous (somewhat comfortable) gap year and yes there is a group interested in the van review or the car tribalism. And we loved the fact we had this Sunday morning coffee crowd (a select and special group 😉). TH-cam isn’t real at any level. It’s edited but we had to be proud of what we produced and it had to be our memories first and foremost. No click baiting and no sales and if we did somehow make any money (a rare thing) it was going to do some good for others knowing it was too little to change our circumstances and not going to tempt us down the path we knew a channel had to go to be a commercial success - and all power to those who make a successful job of it. So what you see is mostly what you got. We aren’t perfect and you have your human moments but it was overwhelmingly a brilliant year and it’s very doable for most able people and that’s what we wanted to share. The down moments, not pump primed, not milked - we even got accused by some brand tribal car people of being boring about it - (it probably was to be fair). But you really must give it a go and perhaps one thing we will try to do in the wraps is share what people might consider to give themselves the best chance of having a ripper of a good year and not fear it and not be daunted because while it’s hard terrain, it can be hard on the gear but with right preparation it’s not actually hard to do and regrettably some influencers make it look too dramatic when they aren’t actually superheroes at all. Very normal people do it all the time and they take care and they have a wow if a time. Thanks again for the lovely note. We will miss running into new friends. Don’t be sad. We haven’t died 😉, and it’s just a youtube channel and next thing you know you will be out there also and having a break from the real world and soaking up so much this magnificent country has to share. All the best , safe travels and if you ever see is on the road come over over and we can share that coffee ( or something a little stronger) in person.
Hi David and Paula. Would be great in your wrap-up if you could include a map and roads you took plus times of the year you visited places. Maybe a list of stops and camp grounds you stayed at as well. I know it's all in your series. However, a short wrap of all that would be great.
thanks for watching and the suggestion. We are trying to work out how best to wrap up and get the right balance between the essentials and trying to cover too much. We’ve had lots of good suggestions. We would have more than 150 stops in some form and some are actually quite boring or ordinary (we love a good free camp but many are quite basic). We will likely provide a very brief update and answer some basic questions this week but we are also hoping to have the van serviced and some rapaors and an update on the car so it might be a few weeks yet before we can cover everything off and the wonderful list of very good suggestions and questions is getting pretty long now. Thanks again we really appreciate it. cheers
Thank you so much. We will miss the new youtube friends we’ve made also (perhaps not making sure we’ve posted on time !! 🤣but even that’s been great). Thanks for for following along. We’ve got a couple of things to come before we officially sign off and then who knows what’s around the corner. Don’t forget to let us know if you have any questions or suggestions for our wrap up episodes. Stay well and safe travels cheers Paula and David
Hi thanks so much for watching and what a lovely comment. We’ve loved meeting new friends along the journey including the viewers and subscribers. We really didn’t think anybody would be interested and yet over the year we’ve had so many people come up and tell us they watch. It’s not a big channel but so many of our group of subscribers have been lovely, so we will definitely miss that for sure. Who knows what’s next. We will always be doing something. Let us know if you have any questions or suggestions for the wrap ups. Stay safe. cheers
Thank you for tuning in. It’s still amazing and thrill that anybody took the time out to watch. We had a couple of moments along the way but we completed the Lap in good order thank you. All the best to you and if you have any questions or suggestions for our wrap up episodes, just let us know. Thanks again? it’s been a blast! cheers Paula and David
Thanks so much. We’ve really appreciated people following along. We really didn’t think many people would. We are quite proud of the fact we posted every week on time from the day we started so people could share on Sundays. Not bad as amateurs!! 😉 But having people like you to watch along made it worth doing. And we got to send some money off to charity. 🙏❤️All the best.
Glad you enjoyed it, Thanks for watching. It’s been a blast. We will do a bit of a wrap up but then all good things come to an end and we will figure out what’s next! All the best.
Thank you so much for watching and the lovely comment 👍🙏. Glad you enjoyed it and got something from it. We’ve learned so much for others as well. awe knew so little about van life when we picked up our Base nearly 2 years ago (wow). All the best .
Wow! What a year and what an incredible trip you’ve both had. I hope you’re immensely satisfied with your time out. Thanks for the effort you went to so you could share it with us. I’d be very interested to know how you’re going to manage transition back to work and normal life. If you’re on the Gold Coast, there’s always a cold beer or a wine in our fridge for you both.
Hi thanks again for watching and your feedback over the series. We are very satisfied even though coming home of course is a bittersweet experience. We’ve loved sharing and the new friends and yes I’m interested in what new life looks like as well. All the best and thank you.
You certainly covered a lot of ground. I have really enjoyed the video series. Many thanks for sharing your big lap. Editing and producing the videos must take a lot of time. Looking forward to the wrap up particularly on the Defender. Take care and thank you again.
Can’t say how much we appreciate you watching and the comments and feedback. It’s been wonderful thank you. We love sharing and yes it does take time. We got into a routine and to be fair stopping for a day or so each week to do finalise it and process and upload it was great for Paula because otherwise I’d have been annoying her or trying to fit something else in 😂. I’ve held off on the car and van for post lap services and a few repairs etc so we can cover them fairly - and of course I’m not a big fan of car and van reviews. Regrettably while it helps a few genuine people it also attracts a group of brand tribal people - so it can provoke some strong opinions. But depending on how JLR go with resolving a couple of things on the car we will do a recap and update of some form. Take care also and thanks to you.
Wow, how exciting. We hope you have even more fun than we did! Best wishes for your preparations and then your big adventure and hope you haven’t something out of our journey. We appreciate you following along and thrilled it’s helped you decide to go out and see more of it for yourselves.
Thank you David and Paula. Your videos have been informative and entertaining. Your efforts to produce content has been greatly appreciated. Having completed the lap in 2020, we loved reliving this unique experience with each weekly video.
Our pleasure and having the encouragement and feedback helped. We started doing the content for us and family thinking nobody else would watch. The theory was that would force us to do it progressively and ensure the content and memories got captured and didn’t just sit on a hard drive somewhere. And we wanted to send some mainly to charity in the unlikely event it ever made any dough. And before too long people were watching and asking questions and giving suggestions (mostly constructive 🤣) and TBH that just encouraged us to meet the deadlines and improve and learn as we went. Thank you for watching and the feedback and all the best to you. We will see what comes next for us once we’ve unpacked, cleaned, serviced, repaired and repacked. But you’ve done it so you know after a Lap there is a bit to sort out. cheers
Hi, I have missed a few but plan on catching up on them soon. It's been brilliant to watch and a privilege to follow your journey. All the best for future and hope you share your next adventure
Hi mate, how you are all well on the Isle of Man. Looks like you’ve had a bit on. Thanks so much for following, it’s much appreciated from so far away. Maybe a Lap of the Isle is in order? Although it’s been done a few times very fast hasn’t it 😉. Stay safe and all best at Sulbrick Farm. instagram.com/sulbrickfarm?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
@nextleveloz hi, all good here, thank you. It's been great to follow you on your adventures. Yes you would be welcome if you came to the Isle of Man. I think a slower lap would be a lot safer. Have you got another adventure?
David and Paula, a very big thank you for taking us on such a fabulous trip around Oz. Your commentary and videos have made this a trip we will do again ( did in 2015) but this time without a timeline. Would also when you have time love to know some of the details of travelling on the Gibb River Road and beaches with the Defender. What off road settings used etc and if possible a list of places you stayed on the lap. Again thank you and look forward to your wrap up and enjoy being home.
Without a timeline... There's an adventure series title right there.. I think that's what I have enjoyed about this series, the pace was great and a mix of distance driving, adventure and the odd coffee.
Thank you and we have appreciated your comments, questions and feedback. But most of all you watching as we shared our journey. You guys are obviously much more experienced than we are. We will do an update on the Defender but we want to get some things fixed up with JLR first so we can wrap the whole experience, but yes we can touch on a few of those things. All the best and thanks again. cheers
Looking forward to following your adventure “Without a timeline”z. Thank you, the tempo sort of fell into place. The reality is that you do spend a lot of time driving so the trick os to make sure you can spend the time to enjoy the destinations, the people and the activities - and of course relax when you can. Yes we like our coffee (and our ales, and our wines, and our cocktails 🤣) cheers mate.
Really enjoyed following your adventures. With hindsight would you: Change your vehicle or caravan? Change your travel route to spend more time in some places and less in others? Spend more or less time travelling? Move to live at any of the places you visited? Travel overseas - circle the globe? I met a couple recently who have been travelling for 19 years and said they still had more to see. Home was their large RV and they weren't ready to settle down. I guess it's all about attitude.
Thanks for watching and the feedback. For sure we will cover a bit of that in the wrap up (but no we won’t be moving - we love Brisbane and we’ve lived in many locations across our lives/ careers) but a few good questions there for sure. And not sure we could be on the road for 19 years, but each to their own. It is absolutely true though that you can’t cover it all in one Lap in a year any way. Let’s see if we can address some of those points though, thank you. cheers
Would you say you’re the first to travel around Australia in a new model Defender towing a trailer? Now that you’re finished, how would you review that setup and what might you do differently for the next adventure?
Hi thanks for watching. It’s been a blast. I don’t know if we are the first - I don’t think so. I know of a couple of people who were a few months ahead of us and a couple were on the road at a similar time but not sure where they got to. Quite a few now towing on some big trips and a few doing some adventurous stuff you can’t do with a van (like the Simpson). So how many have and are doing it - no idea but the more you travel the more you realise what so many others are doing as well. We will wait until the car is serviced and see the outcome on a couple of matters before we do another review or update. But as for what we’d do differently? We will put that in the mix for the wrap up episodes. We’ve had a ball, but there is always something you might change with foresight and experience isn’t there? all the best and thanks so much for following along.
This is an interesting question for me because I am planning vehicle change, I've tested a few and last week put a deposit down on Disco5( not new but very low klms) I tested on a good drive yesterday but decided not to proceed, fabulous car but I am more set on a Defender I think so may just keep looking.
Loved watching your lap. We start ours soon and you’ve given us so many great ideas to add to our lap. Would love to hear the highlights and most importantly how you’ve settled back into normal life. Congrats on an epic adventure
Wow, thank you and glad it’s helped with a few ideas. There really is so much to see and you can’t fit it all in! We don’t know what normal life is 😉, and no we haven’t settled back to a routine and we’re missing our van life routine. Must be exciting counting down to your Lap. So jealous of you guys. We will see what we can include in the wraps - quite a few good ideas. Highlights are so hard!! What to pick?? It’s been a blast. Safe travels and take care.
Hey guys, thank you and what a lovely comment. There is some really good and professional content out there and we learned a lot from several of them. We really didn’t think many people would follow along. But we found there is a group plus or minus 10 years around us who didn’t always want to live in their van full time, dreamed or were doing some long trips or a lap and like us the kids had grown up but weren’t quite ready to hang up the boots. But we’ve also found several younger couples and families following along - several of whom we met on the Lap l, including a couple with near on identical rig even to the colour of the car. And as you’ve seen our Gibb River Road buddies are much younger than us. But it was filmed and edited on the run, to help capture our memories so it lacks some of the rehearsed and highly produced finesse do some channels. And of course we didn’t need it for money and sponsorships. Thank you again, we don’t know what we want to be when we grow up so we aren’t quite sure what’s in store. We will do some wrap up vids and then see what life brings. All the best.
You have been the most relatable people for us to watch. Great advice, great content and sharing the highs and lows of caravan life. We’re in the same sort of demographic as you guys, kids have grown up but we’re still working. The lack of shameless sponsorship plugs has been refreshing although I do understand the necessity of this for some channels to earn a living while traveling. We pick up our Zone in about 6 weeks and will head off for about 3 months from August. Can’t wait!
@@nextleveloz we are upgrading from a camper trailer so definitely caravan noobs. We did a very fast part lap with the trailer back in 2018 (15000km in 6 weeks with the teenage kids). Way back in 1999 and 2000 we did 4 week trips in a roof top tent through the centre, the Gibb and up to Kalumburu. Can’t wait to do away with the canvas but also slowing down and just see how far we get. Looking forward to your wrap up videos. We’d love to hear about any favourite caravan accessories and hacks.
@@lisabaker9777 Much more experienced towers and camp/ van life than we were. But yes, slow down and take it all in. And mix it up. Nothing wrong with a few luxuries along with the remote stuff . Good luck and we’re very jealous!
Thankyou, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching your adventures, we wish you good health and more happy adventures in the future and as good as it is to get away it's always great to get home again to family & friends. All the best to you both!
Thank you and we are so glad you’ve enjoyed following as we’ve shared our journey. You and many like you have also helped us send so money off to charity as well, which means not only have we had a wonderful experience, hopefully that extra bit of charity money helps do some good for others as well. Yes, the adventure was amazing but yes being home with family and friends is terrific as well. Bittersweet as we said. All the best and thanks so much.
Hey David and Paula, we have absolutely loved watching your lap. Thank for sharing! You were so real about all of your experiences, the good, bad and ordinary and so refreshing to watch someone who is not trying to sell you anything. We will miss you each week. We are planning a lap in a couple of years when we retire and also have a Zone. Maybe we’ll bump into you somewhere local if you continue having holidays in your van. Enjoy home and the family.
Hey Rob and Angela. Thank you so much. We are such bad influencers and content creators. We had a sense and a feel but we really did capture it on the run. And no way we were getting into sponsorships etc. No issue for those making a job out of it, but this was a gap year from work for us. Do you know, we didnt miss a week of posting? Every week, on time from the day we kicked it off - and it’s a hobby! Many of the pros do miss weeks or delay or take breaks, but we figured if we didn’t do it this way it would become a chore and build up. We will miss meeting people on the way and it stunned us every time somebody came up to say hello as they recognised us. So thank you. And yes you must do a Lap and I’m sure your Zone will also help give you some amazing adventures. As much as we love our Zone / the adventure ultimately comes from you and life isn’t a dress rehearsal. All the best and many, many thanks.
Fantastic stuff, you guys. Great holiday. We were camped across from you at Yulara and have followed your channel since then. Now, I will have to go back to the earlier episodes you put up. Well done.😊
Wow, trying to think about the people around us - we got to chat to one or two. Were you on the side facing down the entry roads? We were fine with our site there, never great being too close to the amenities 😂🤣, but the site was pretty big and to campground wasn’t too crowded at that time so it was good. Some of the earlier episodes 🫢😬😜. As we get some time we will also try to tidy the site and maybe see if we can re- edit a few now we’ve got a bit better at the edits. Some we can’t fix - like blown out audio but maybe we can tidy them. But let us know. We will also do some wrap ups to bring the series to a near end so let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. All the best and thank you for following and safe travels. 🙏👍
Thanks for sharing your lap. I enjoyed your adventure and the excellent places you visited. I especially enjoyed the highs and lows of touring for so long and your candid approach to the trials you encountered you have inspired us to take a half lap through SA and WA. Questions Van size cause you any restrictions on your travels? Any big decisions you would change in hindsight? How do you deal with not being able to visit everything on your travels and prioritise what you could visit. I wish you good health and happiness as you return to normal life. Cheers
Thank you so much for joining us and watching. We really didn’t think anybody but our closest friends and families would - so we’ve been thrilled. Sure we’ve had ups and downs - overwhelmingly ups. It’s been an amazing adventure and what a wonderful country it is. Wow - that half Lap will cover some brilliant places. We wish you safe travels and hope you have a blast! Great suggestions we have certainly been contemplating those ones, thanks. Thank you, best wishes for your half lap and beyond.
@@nextleveloz Too kind. We saw your rig on our way home from the coast this morning. My wife called out to see the Lotus so I was looking for a 2 seater sports car but there you were. Good thing one of us were alert. Your rig looks great and towing really well. You are braver than me buying a Land Rover. We saw too many on tray tops being towed out of Cape York. Welcome home. Rest well and spread out at home. You have 1 month of cleaning to sort out. Thanks again for your excellent series.
Thank you so much. We’ve enjoyed sharing yes we will update the amount that’s gone to charity (we have a few hundred $ coming through as we speak) but a bit over 100% of the ad revenue went to RFDS and Legacy and in Legacy’s case they had a day where some benefactors were matching donations 4:1 so we made sure that months instalment went in that day to gross up the charity contribution. 🤙🏻🤙🏻👍. So keep an eye out for the update. You don’t make much on ad revenue in a small, non commercial channel but we’re proud to have done some good as we went - with help from people like you who watch and put up with the ads. cheers
Thank you! You too! We can’t say how much we’ve appreciated people coming along the journey as well. We will do some wrap up episodes to bring the series to a near end, so let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. Thanks again and all the best. Paula and David
This has indeed been a great series of an adventure that is there for all of us, there is nothing stopping any of us from taking a leaf from this guide book... I will certainly be watching these again for additional inspiration in the months ahead... Life is a winding road... And a cup of coffee..
Peter, can’t thank you enough for following along and the banter. We think you are our longest and most prolific subscriber- commentor (is there such a thing? 😂. And often up early and first in. It’s been great and we’ve enjoyed it. The Lap has been a blast - not bad for some people who a few years ago wouldn’t have thought they’d own a caravan, never mind do the Lap and go to some of the places we’ve been. Life is not a dress rehearsal and yes it’s a winding road! (It’s one of our favourite backing tracks as you know). If others have got some tips from our times, that’s brilliant and there are many other places as well - as so many suggest. But you can’t fit them all in. Just enjoy those that you can. Please watch any as reminders - and keep an eye out. One of the side bar projects is to tidy the channel so we might see what we can do to tidy up a few of the old ones if it’s possible. All the best and see you on the next couple of final ever, never to tour again l, these will be the very last vids 😂😉. cheers
Anything that you would do different like van ,car, take less stuff. You mentioned kangaroo island was a holiday destination not necessarily a lap tick,any other places regions like that for someone who can't do a lap but might have three weeks
Thanks for watching and the suggestions 🙏. Yes we had been thinking about a couple of those as well. Yes take less stuff !! 🤪🤣. We will do some van and car wrap ups as part of all that after the post trip servicing etc so we can do a contemplate wrap. All the best and much appreciated. Safe travels.
It’s bee such a pleasure to share your journey, I’ve been to most of the places that you visited so it was excellent to re visit them and bring back many good memories. I do hope that you will continue to post videos of any future trips. Best wishes to you both. Harold.
Thank you for watching and glad it brought back some good memories. So many people do get out and enjoy what the country has on show. But even then I think it’s still a small minority who do these big adventures - so it’s also lovely when we run into people who haven’t done it and decided to take a look and give it a go. I can’t recommend it enough. We don’t know what the next adventure is, we just know there will be some and if we think people will find it interesting we might share 🤔. We didn’t think anybody would find the Lap vids worth watching so it’s been amazing - noting we aren’t a big channel and don’t want to do all the things you need to make it really big and commercial. All the best to you also and thanks again. David and Paula
Thank you so much David and Paula for sharing your year with us. Thanks to you We have enjoyed the sunset chopper flight in Katherine and have added plenty to our travel wish list. If you were to go again was the van size right for you? Is there anything you leave behind or take next time?
Wow, you did the Katherine sunset flight. We loved that. It was wonderful way to see the fullness of the gorges and enjoy the region as the sun sets. It’s always been a fascinating place to me. It’s probably the place I’ve been to the most over several careers and eras. Thanks so much for watching and your comments to our shares. We’ve loved it. We have been asking ourselves those questions so let’s see if we have some answers when we do the wraps. But we have already got rid of about 20kg of stuff that was easy to move out of the van at the end. All the best and thank you so much.
No. There are so many wonderful and different things to see and do. Swimming with whale sharks and turtles - brilliant and exhausting. A lovely afternoon sitting waist deep in the Gibb River chatting to friends at a free camp. Also brilliant. The six “cardinal points” - they helped mark out the achievements but that was really just giving some structure. Clear, clear night sky at Lambert Centre stunning and right up there. But we will put some thought into to see if we can answer it because “best” memory comes up regularly from others as well.
Enjoyed your travels.Have a son who lives on the Sunshine coast and have been lucky enough to visit many of the places on various road trips around Australia in the last six years. You have a great country!(from a cold wet and windy UK,which just seems to be on a continuous slide economically and socially.)
Thanks for watching and you guys have seen more of our country than many Australians. Well done, given it’s so far away and takes up so much time. Having family on the Sunny Coast helps heaps. We lived in the UK and live it each time we visit, and we really enjoyed that sunny warm day once! 🤣😆🤭. Everything is off the boil a bit at the moment and let’s hope it’s gets better - most people in both countries are decent, friendly and hard working. Hope we might see you on one of your trips - we only missed each other by a matter of a week or so at Kangaroo Island - so who knows? Alm the best and thanks again for following along.
Thank you big tike right back. We’ve loved meeting people and tuning into subscribers and hearing the questions, suggestions and comments. We are chuffed because we really didn’t think anybody would watch expect close family and friends. So thank you - and together we got to send some dough to charity as well. Hope you do get to do something like that. But there is also some magnificent places close to home as well and you’d be amazed how much people enjoy doing it without spending that much. Thank you and all the best.
🤔 what would we call it ? Last ever Lap year? Final final never to be repeated Gap year? 😉It would be nice and the lovely comments are brilliant. Life can't be the same for us now, but we have to figure out the next stage for us and like so many people we aspire to these big adventures but we aren’t full time forever on the road. So we are like many of our followers. We will provide an update and wrap ups so we won't leave people dangling. But thank you for following and for the sentiment. 🙏🙏
🤣 Like another last ever Farnham tour? 😉If we were among the paid influencers maybe that would be on the cards. But no. This was a gap year, we were fair dinkim when we said it wasn’t about being professional content creators and we really don’t know what comes next. We will certainly travel because in some form we always have. This past year was special and maybe in a few years we might try something similar and tick off the places we missed, but not for rhe moment. Thanks for watching and great question and yes we have seen some like that but with us what you see is what you get. Bloody good question though and wouldn’t it be nice? Thanks for following along but we can rule that one out for the foreseeable future. cheers
I will check out what the stats can tell us. It’s not a lot. Overwhelmingly an Australian audience as you’d expect given many people following would like to do the Lap. But we’ve got a few from NZ ( a lap of NZ is like a coffee run here 😂😉) a few from South Africa where they have to contend with many similar issues but in many places rougher, a few from the UK including several longstanding regulars - most of whom still struggle to get their head around distance, a couple from the US where can life is huge as are their trucks 😂) and a few from Tasmania 😂😂😉😉❤️❤️😬(sorry guys - we live Tassie). But nearly all of the group is Australian. cheers
@@nextleveloz I am Scottish and have shared a few links with my old mates to give them an idea of this great southern land, I also shared with US friends( work wife) who plan on some travels here in their retirement... Hope that made a small contribution to the figure$>
Thanks for watching. Yes we will do an update on how the Defender went. We are working through the post trip servicing and what LR are proposing for a couple of things. So while we can’t hold off for long as the series is coming to an end, we will cover on the car and van as part of the wrap up. All the best and thanks for watching.
Thank you for this wonderful series. I have watched each episode more than once and they have been highly entertaining and enlightening. I hope your post-lap adventures are just as fulfilling. Did you ever get to the bottom of the 4wd dropping into 2wd on your Defender?
Glad you like them! It’s so hard figuring what people might like to watch so we just tried to keep it real as possible and things we did and liked. Some people really liked that and some didn’t like a few of the places or vids - that’s fine, but the growing band of subscribers turned out to like the way we were doing it and that’s great. The car is in with JLR looking at the 2WD matter and a couple of other post lap service items so hopefully we can wrap with some news on all that. So we will hold up on the car update for a couple of weeks until we know how that will get sorted. All the best and thank you again. cheers
Well done, Thankyou. I am seriously considering a LR 110 defender..would you select any other vehicle? Please recommend the add-ons needed from LR or others. Thanks again
Hi, thank you for following along. It’s much appreciated. We think we will hold off on the car wrap up until after the paint trip servicing and a couple of repairs are done so we can be complete. We aren’t car tribal people or car experts but we have shared our experiences and if that assists people with their own views that’s great. So let’s see how JLR go with the post lap stuff and we can update from there but alway happy to share the few mods we made for the trip. All the best.
Thank you David and Paula...for sharing and taking us on your lap.
It been wonderful and thank you for watching as we’ve shared the journey. And because a number of people did follow and put up with the youtube ads, together we were able to send some coin off to charity, which is great. All the best and thanks again.
Will really miss your detailed, informative commentary. Sorry that your lap is ending. Enjoyed the fact that your episodes didn't become one big advert like so many others. Enjoy your time at home, might see you on the road again
Much appreciated! We were certain we never wanted to be professional content creators and by using the tiny opportunity to send to charity whatever ad revenue might come really does
change how you approach these things. Yes we are sad this chapter has closed and we get to spend some time at home. We will do some wrap up vids of course so let us know if you have any questions, and then we see what life brings us next.
All the best and thank you so kick for following along cheers Paula and David 🙏👍❤️
Thank you both so very much for taking us along on your big lap. 💐💐We have thoroughly enjoyed your adventures ❤. It has also given us some great places to visit guided by your inspiration 💐💐💐
Wow, we are so glad it’s given you some ideas. There is so much to choose from and some great places we couldn’t get to of course ( next time maybe 😉). Thanks for following along and helping us send some money off to charity as we went. All the best and safe travels . Stay well and thank you again.
Thanks David & Paula for all of the fantastic videos.
👍
Thanks mate. We really appreciate everyone who followed along and encouraged us, especially you and others who joined the journey early and made the editing and posting worth it. It’s been a blast and thank you so much. David and Paula. 🙏👍
Thank you. I have enjoyed tagging along on your trip.
We’ve enjoyed having you along. It’s been a blast. Thank you so much and all the best. cheers David and Paula
Thanks for sharing good and occasional bad times with us on your travels. All the best.
Thanks so much for watching and the comment. We’ve loved sharing and it mostly, overwhelmingly been great and the rest comes with life anyway. We’ve had a blast. If you have any suggestions or questions for the wrap ups, let us know in the comments. All the best to you also. cheers
I've loved watching your travels. Very genuine content and people. Thanks for sharing and all the effort. You'll be missed. Wish you both well 🙏
Thank you, that’s very kind. We’ve loved sharing. We don’t know what’s next, we will do a couple of wrap up episodes to close it all off then see what life brings next. All the best 🙏👍
With many more adventures ahead of you. Enjoy them.
Thanks for coming along with our shares and yes there will no doubt be some more adventures ahead - we just have to work out which ones. We’ve been lucky and had quite a few, but the Lap is special. All the best and if you have any questions or suggestions for the wrap up please let us know. cheers
Thank you so much for a great trip, I knackered from just watching it all! 😊
You have inspired me.
So sad that it’s the end.
I admire and respect what you’ve both done.
You are so welcome!. It’s been terrific and especially getting comments and feedback and questions from followers as we went. How great of it’s helped your own thoughts. People will have their own styles, preferences and means but it’s such a great country we can only encourage people to go
and explore it. Happy-sad. One act closes and let’s see what the next act brings after intermission. Thanks again and safe travels. 🙏👍
Gee, is it over already. Thank you for sharing your adventures, warts and all at times. I’m sure you will be glad to be home for a while with family and friends but Ive got to be honest and say that I’ll miss your updates, tips and tricks. Good luck with whatever comes next!
I know right. That was how I felt after Kosciusko, how quickly it passed. But that’s because we did so much. We are glad to be home. We don’t know what’s next, first time ever we intentionally didn’t have a plan so we could just enjoy the gap year and lap to the end. Thanks for following and staying in contact. It really is appreciated and it’s also helped us do some good and send a few shekels off to charity in the bargain. We are very proud that we got an episode out every week, on time through flood, dust, break downs, storms, 30,000 km and… having a bloody good time in between. Thanks for the wishes and to you also. Who knows what comes next! cheers
I felt like crying finding out it was your last day. OMG, what an adventure that you've had. Thanks for sharing your experiences. All the best to you both & your future travels. Stay well. Cheers Nicole & David 🥰
Oh no don’t cry. Happy sad, bittersweet but it’s one adventurous act coming to a close and after intermission the next act will come along (we just haven’t got the script yet) 😜. It’s been a blast and thank you for following. Safe travels and best wishes to you also. cheers David and Paula.
Thankyou for sharing your lap.
Thank you so much for following along. We’ve loved sharing and getting the questions and comments. All the best and thank you again.
Hey guys, we have loved following your journey. Always honest and easy to listen to. Know you’re pleased to be home but it’s a bit sad we won’t get to tune in anymore. Thank you for sharing and best wishes for whatever lies ahead. Cheers Ian and Jen 🍺
What a lovely comment thank you. We tried to just film it was we went - that helped keep it a bit real and of course sometimes epic fails !! 😂😉. We got better picking what might be interesting but trust us, the filming was so random the edits got tougher. We will be sad even though it’s nice to be home. We will do a few wrap ups to bring it to a near end so if there is anything you think might be a good suggestion to include or any questions, let us know as we are thinking about how best to wrap it all up. All the best and thank you both. David and Paula
Thanks for taking us along on your lap. You've grown as presenters and videographers along the way. Entertained and informed your viewers. Great work and thanks for the inspiration to get out and experience Australia.
Thank you for watching and the lovely feedback. Yes - I’m a slow learner but we did slowly but surely make them a bit better 🤣. The magnificent country did most of the work and while the channel is small it helped not having to chase sponsors and business. But you must get out and do it, it’s a stunning country. Thanks again and all the best.
David & Paula. Its a bit sad as we will miss your weekly episodes very much. For us you were both so relatable as you seem like just ordinary people of our vintage having a good time, while nothing was sugar coated and we got exactly as it was - good and bad. Our travels will take us on a very similar route to yours, but we will do it in various smaller chunks over a few years rather than 1 year full time. The fact that you have the same van as us was a bonus and showed us what we could do and that our decision was a very good one(we are ZB297, I think you are ZB279??). Thankyou so much for sharing your life and adventures with us, it was very special. Best wishes for the future. Richard & Michelle.
Thank you and we are a bit sad as well. Bittersweet. But we are like many of the followers. We aren’t full time forever on the road people, we aspire to these adventures and earn and save to get the best balance between work, family and play. So it’s a reality that we need to move to the next chapter (David still doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up! 😉) Yes we remember the numbers were the same in a slightly different order. We’ve loved our Base and we have it booked in next week for another major service and the few bits and pieces that got some bumps and bruises will get repaired. Regardless of what vans we own, we think it’s important to share what broke and what didn’t in case people want to go to the same places or further. We had a ball despite some hiccups and our thirst for travel isn’t quenched. We are lucky. Best wishes for your travels. Of there is one thing we’ve learned there is no one way to travel or Lap that suits everybody and your rig gives you the flexibility to do it your way. Keep an eye out in case we happen upon the same camp some time. cheers Paula and David.
Absolutely stunning series of videos. Thank you for sharing your adventure with all of us. You should both be very proud. Thanks
Thank you so much - we can’t express how much we appreciate you following with us and the lovely feedback🙏👍. One or two vids has some issues 😬🤣 but we got a bit better as it went. We’ve had a ball, we’ve made lots of new friends , we’ve seen and experienced some magical places around our amazing country. Thank you and stay well.
Great journey. Enjoyed travelling along with you. (Well done Defender).
Thank you and yes it really was a great journey. We so very much appreciate you following along as well. We will do some wrap ups including some post service updates on the car and van. Thanks again.
G’day G’day 😊 what an incredible lap you did, and you showed it so beautifully and uniquely. Congrats on hitting your 6 points, and thankyou for your wonderful donations to charity. I’ve loved every second of your trip and yes feels strange to see you driving home on a sealed hway 😂. Wishing you many more adventures and if you do decide to TH-cam them please let me know ❤️❤️. Thanks David and Paula xx
Hey G’day. It has been amazing. Not everything went to script but then again, what does? Thanks for watching and encouraging us along the way. Who knows what’s next. We will work it out and we have these awesome memories. To think we were almost missing the corrugations and dust 🤭 . Cheers
Hi David & Paula - We arrived late to your channel, around the time you were having the issues in WA with the Defender, but since that time we have been avid watchers of your channel. So it is somewhat bizarre I suppose, that we feel so saddened that the lap has come to an end, along with the Sunday ritual to sit back with a coffee to watch you guys. It really is, somewhat strange the attraction & bond we have formed with two people we have never met other than on a internet playback. I suppose that is a testament to the quality of your channel, the bond it forms, the emotions and feelings it stirs & creates and that comes from the old acronym 'WYSIWYG' - What you see is what you get. You guys have inspired us so much to do a lap and use your lap as a baseline - thanks for not selling your souls to the corporate beasts that stalk TH-cam, thanks for always giving the good, the bad & the ugly of situations & places and being honest & forthright. Wishing you all the very best for what life has in store for your futures - Paul & Liz.
Paul and Liz - thank you for such a lovely comment. It was people like you guys that helped motivate us to keep improving the vids and to make sure we never missed a week and we posted on time every week. And you know what, most professional influencers do occasionally miss weeks or couldn’t post for some reason. You
weren’t that late in reality and regrettably it’s the traumas and the problems that get the most views and the algorithm rewards it - so until those things happen and you have a photo like the low points of seeing your car on a tilt bed or the outside of a hospital emergency ward, even the best of technical content just doesn’t get seen. But - and this is the upside - we didn’t need to sell, it was a holiday first and never a job aspiration to be professional youtubers and that meant that even though the best way to get views is to accentuate drama at every step (“oh no we got bogged again - is this the end ?”) we had the luxury and desire to keep focussed on family, friends and those who might aspire to do a lap as an adventure and break and holiday but not as a forever nomadic life with their families. No issue for those who make that choice but we discovered we could cross over two groups - those who like home and family but didn’t mind the idea of an adventurous (somewhat comfortable) gap year and yes there is a group interested in the van review or the car tribalism.
And we loved the fact we had this Sunday morning coffee crowd (a select and special group 😉). TH-cam isn’t real at any level. It’s edited but we had to be proud of what we produced and it had to be our memories first and foremost. No click baiting and no sales and if we did somehow make any money (a rare thing) it was going to do some good for others knowing it was too little to change our circumstances and not going to tempt us down the path we knew a channel had to go to be a commercial success - and all power to those who make a successful job of it.
So what you see is mostly what you got. We aren’t perfect and you have your human moments but it was overwhelmingly a brilliant year and it’s very doable for most able people and that’s what we wanted to share. The down moments, not pump primed, not milked - we even got accused by some brand tribal car people of being boring about it - (it probably was to be fair).
But you really must give it a go and perhaps one thing we will try to do in the wraps is share what people might consider to give themselves the best chance of having a ripper of a good year and not fear it and not be daunted because while it’s hard terrain, it can be hard on the gear but with right preparation it’s not actually hard to do and regrettably some influencers make it look too dramatic when they aren’t actually superheroes at all. Very normal people do it all the time and they take care and they have a wow if a time.
Thanks again for the lovely note. We will miss running into new friends. Don’t be sad. We haven’t died 😉, and it’s just a youtube channel and next thing you know you will be out there also and having a break from the real world and soaking up so much this magnificent country has to share. All the best , safe travels and if you ever see is on the road come over over and we can share that coffee ( or something a little stronger) in person.
Hi David and Paula.
Would be great in your wrap-up if you could include a map and roads you took plus times of the year you visited places.
Maybe a list of stops and camp grounds you stayed at as well.
I know it's all in your series. However, a short wrap of all that would be great.
thanks for watching and the suggestion. We are trying to work out how best to wrap up and get the right balance between the essentials and trying to cover too much. We’ve had lots of good suggestions. We would have more than 150 stops in some form and some are actually quite boring or ordinary (we love a good free camp but many are quite basic). We will likely provide a very brief update and answer some basic questions this week but we are also hoping to have the van serviced and some rapaors and an update on the car so it might be a few weeks yet before we can cover everything off and the wonderful list of very good suggestions and questions is getting pretty long now. Thanks again we really appreciate it. cheers
I've enjoyed every minute of it , i to will miss you , enjoy your homecoming x
Thank you so much. We will miss the new youtube friends we’ve made also (perhaps not making sure we’ve posted on time !! 🤣but even that’s been great). Thanks for for following along. We’ve got a couple of things to come before we officially sign off and then who knows what’s around the corner. Don’t forget to let us know if you have any questions or suggestions for our wrap up episodes. Stay well and safe travels cheers Paula and David
Will miss you guys!
Hi thanks so much for watching and what a lovely comment. We’ve loved meeting new friends along the journey including the viewers and subscribers. We really didn’t think anybody would be interested and yet over the year we’ve had so many people come up and tell us they watch. It’s not a big channel but so many of our group of subscribers have been lovely, so we will definitely miss that for sure. Who knows what’s next. We will always be doing something. Let us know if you have any questions or suggestions for the wrap ups. Stay safe. cheers
Thankyou for taking all of we viewers with you for the journey. It was great and glad that you're home safe n well.
Regards Ann 😃
Thank you for tuning in. It’s still amazing and thrill that anybody took the time out to watch. We had a couple of moments along the way but we completed the Lap in good order thank you. All the best to you and if you have any questions or suggestions for our wrap up episodes, just let us know. Thanks again? it’s been a blast! cheers Paula and David
Loved watching your videos we will miss our Sundays watching you
Thanks so much. We’ve really appreciated people following along. We really didn’t think many people would. We are quite proud of the fact we posted every week on time from the day we started so people could share on Sundays. Not bad as amateurs!! 😉 But having people like you to watch along made it worth doing. And we got to send some money off to charity. 🙏❤️All the best.
Sensational, thanx for taking us along.
Glad you enjoyed it, Thanks for watching. It’s been a blast. We will do a bit of a wrap up but then all good things come to an end and we will figure out what’s next! All the best.
Really enjoyed and learnt a lot from watching your adventures. Thanks so much.
Thank you so much for watching and the lovely comment 👍🙏. Glad you enjoyed it and got something from it. We’ve learned so much for others as well. awe knew so little about van life when we picked up our Base nearly 2 years ago (wow). All the best .
Wow! What a year and what an incredible trip you’ve both had.
I hope you’re immensely satisfied with your time out.
Thanks for the effort you went to so you could share it with us.
I’d be very interested to know how you’re going to manage transition back to work and normal life.
If you’re on the Gold Coast, there’s always a cold beer or a wine in our fridge for you both.
Hi thanks again for watching and your feedback over the series. We are very satisfied even though coming home of course is a bittersweet experience. We’ve loved sharing and the new friends and yes I’m interested in what new life looks like as well. All the best and thank you.
You certainly covered a lot of ground. I have really enjoyed the video series. Many thanks for sharing your big lap. Editing and producing the videos must take a lot of time. Looking forward to the wrap up particularly on the Defender. Take care and thank you again.
Can’t say how much we appreciate you watching and the comments and feedback. It’s been wonderful thank you. We love sharing and yes it does take time. We got into a routine and to be fair stopping for a day or so each week to do finalise it and process and upload it was great for Paula because otherwise I’d have been annoying her or trying to fit something else in 😂. I’ve held off on the car and van for post lap services and a few repairs etc so we can cover them fairly - and of course I’m not a big fan of car and van reviews. Regrettably while it helps a few genuine people it also attracts a group of brand tribal people - so it can provoke some strong opinions. But depending on how JLR go with resolving a couple of things on the car we will do a recap and update of some form. Take care also and thanks to you.
Thanks David and Paula for sharing your journey
It’s certainly inspired us to do the same .. first step done we bought a Defender 😊
Wow, how exciting. We hope you have even more fun than we did! Best wishes for your preparations and then your big adventure and hope you haven’t something out of our journey. We appreciate you following along and thrilled it’s helped you decide to go out and see more of it for yourselves.
Thank you David and Paula. Your videos have been informative and entertaining. Your efforts to produce content has been greatly appreciated. Having completed the lap in 2020, we loved reliving this unique experience with each weekly video.
Our pleasure and having the encouragement and feedback helped. We started doing the content for us and family thinking nobody else would watch. The theory was that would force us to do it progressively and ensure the content and memories got captured and didn’t just sit on a hard drive somewhere. And we wanted to send some mainly to charity in the unlikely event it ever made any dough. And before too long people were watching and asking questions and giving suggestions (mostly constructive 🤣) and TBH that just encouraged us to meet the deadlines and improve and learn as we went. Thank you for watching and the feedback and all the best to you. We will see what comes next for us once we’ve unpacked, cleaned, serviced, repaired and repacked. But you’ve done it so you know after a Lap there is a bit to sort out. cheers
@@nextleveloz we hope our paths cross someday 😊
Hi, I have missed a few but plan on catching up on them soon. It's been brilliant to watch and a privilege to follow your journey. All the best for future and hope you share your next adventure
Hi mate, how you are all well on the Isle of Man. Looks like you’ve had a bit on. Thanks so much for following, it’s much appreciated from so far away. Maybe a Lap of the Isle is in order? Although it’s been done a few times very fast hasn’t it 😉. Stay safe and all best at Sulbrick Farm. instagram.com/sulbrickfarm?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
@nextleveloz hi, all good here, thank you. It's been great to follow you on your adventures. Yes you would be welcome if you came to the Isle of Man. I think a slower lap would be a lot safer. Have you got another adventure?
David and Paula, a very big thank you for taking us on such a fabulous trip around Oz. Your commentary and videos have made this a trip we will do again ( did in 2015) but this time without a timeline. Would also when you have time love to know some of the details of travelling on the Gibb River Road and beaches with the Defender. What off road settings used etc and if possible a list of places you stayed on the lap. Again thank you and look forward to your wrap up and enjoy being home.
Without a timeline... There's an adventure series title right there.. I think that's what I have enjoyed about this series, the pace was great and a mix of distance driving, adventure and the odd coffee.
Thank you and we have appreciated your comments, questions and feedback. But most of all you watching as we shared our journey. You guys are obviously much more experienced than we are. We will do an update on the Defender but we want to get some things fixed up with JLR first so we can wrap the whole experience, but yes we can touch on a few of those things. All the best and thanks again. cheers
Looking forward to following your adventure “Without a timeline”z. Thank you, the tempo sort of fell into place. The reality is that you do spend a lot of time driving so the trick os to make sure you can spend the time to enjoy the destinations, the people and the activities - and of course relax when you can. Yes we like our coffee (and our ales, and our wines, and our cocktails 🤣) cheers mate.
Really enjoyed following your adventures.
With hindsight would you:
Change your vehicle or caravan?
Change your travel route to spend more time in some places and less in others?
Spend more or less time travelling?
Move to live at any of the places you visited?
Travel overseas - circle the globe?
I met a couple recently who have been travelling for 19 years and said they still had more to see. Home was their large RV and they weren't ready to settle down.
I guess it's all about attitude.
Thanks for watching and the feedback. For sure we will cover a bit of that in the wrap up (but no we won’t be moving - we love Brisbane and we’ve lived in many locations across our lives/ careers) but a few good questions there for sure. And not sure we could be on the road for 19 years, but each to their own. It is absolutely true though that you can’t cover it all in one Lap in a year any way. Let’s see if we can address some of those
points though, thank you. cheers
Would you say you’re the first to travel around Australia in a new model Defender towing a trailer? Now that you’re finished, how would you review that setup and what might you do differently for the next adventure?
Hi thanks for watching. It’s been a blast. I don’t know if we are the first - I don’t think so. I know of a couple of people who were a few months ahead of us and a couple were on the road at a similar time but not sure where they got to. Quite a few now towing on some big trips and a few doing some adventurous stuff you can’t do with a van (like the Simpson). So how many have and are doing it - no idea but the more you travel the more you realise what so many others are doing as well. We will wait until the car is serviced and see the outcome on a couple of matters before we do another review or update. But as for what we’d do differently? We will put that in the mix for the wrap up episodes. We’ve had a ball, but there is always something you might change with foresight and experience isn’t there? all the best and thanks so much for following along.
This is an interesting question for me because I am planning vehicle change, I've tested a few and last week put a deposit down on Disco5( not new but very low klms) I tested on a good drive yesterday but decided not to proceed, fabulous car but I am more set on a Defender I think so may just keep looking.
Really enjoyed your journey. Great composition and editing.
Thank you very much!. We got a bit better as it went on 😜😉. Thank you for joining us on the trip and we appreciate the feedback. Safe travels.
Loved watching your lap. We start ours soon and you’ve given us so many great ideas to add to our lap. Would love to hear the highlights and most importantly how you’ve settled back into normal life. Congrats on an epic adventure
Wow, thank you and glad it’s helped with a few ideas. There really is so much to see and you can’t fit it all in! We don’t know what normal life is 😉, and no we haven’t settled back to a routine and we’re missing our van life routine. Must be exciting counting down to your Lap. So jealous of you guys. We will see what we can include in the wraps - quite a few good ideas. Highlights are so hard!! What to pick?? It’s been a blast. Safe travels and take care.
What an adventure! Thank you for sharing your lap with us. You’ve been our favourite channel to watch. Best wishes for whatever you have planned next.
Hey guys, thank you and what a lovely comment. There is some really good and professional content out there and we learned a lot from several of them. We really didn’t think many people would follow along. But we found there is a group plus or minus 10 years around us who didn’t always want to live in their van full time, dreamed or were doing some long trips or a lap and like us the kids had grown up but weren’t quite ready to hang up the boots. But we’ve also found several younger couples and families following along - several of whom we met on the Lap l, including a couple with near on identical rig even to the colour of the car. And as you’ve seen our Gibb River Road buddies are much younger than us. But it was filmed and edited on the run, to help capture our memories so it lacks some of the rehearsed and highly produced finesse do some channels. And of course we didn’t need it for money and sponsorships. Thank you again, we don’t know what we want to be when we grow up so we aren’t quite sure what’s in store. We will do some wrap up vids and then see what life brings. All the best.
You have been the most relatable people for us to watch. Great advice, great content and sharing the highs and lows of caravan life. We’re in the same sort of demographic as you guys, kids have grown up but we’re still working. The lack of shameless sponsorship plugs has been refreshing although I do understand the necessity of this for some channels to earn a living while traveling. We pick up our Zone in about 6 weeks and will head off for about 3 months from August. Can’t wait!
@@lisabaker9777 Wow - how exciting. Have you owned a van before or are you noobs like us?
@@nextleveloz we are upgrading from a camper trailer so definitely caravan noobs. We did a very fast part lap with the trailer back in 2018 (15000km in 6 weeks with the teenage kids). Way back in 1999 and 2000 we did 4 week trips in a roof top tent through the centre, the Gibb and up to Kalumburu. Can’t wait to do away with the canvas but also slowing down and just see how far we get. Looking forward to your wrap up videos. We’d love to hear about any favourite caravan accessories and hacks.
@@lisabaker9777 Much more experienced towers and camp/ van life than we were. But yes, slow down and take it all in. And mix it up. Nothing wrong with a few luxuries along with the remote stuff . Good luck and we’re very jealous!
Thankyou, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching your adventures, we wish you good health and more happy adventures in the future and as good as it is to get away it's always great to get home again to family & friends. All the best to you both!
Thank you and we are so glad you’ve enjoyed following as we’ve shared our journey. You and many like you have also helped us send so money off to charity as well, which means not only have we had a wonderful experience, hopefully that extra bit of charity money helps do some good for others as well. Yes, the adventure was amazing but yes being home with family and friends is terrific as well. Bittersweet as we said. All the best and thanks so much.
Hey David and Paula, we have absolutely loved watching your lap. Thank for sharing! You were so real about all of your experiences, the good, bad and ordinary and so refreshing to watch someone who is not trying to sell you anything. We will miss you each week. We are planning a lap in a couple of years when we retire and also have a Zone. Maybe we’ll bump into you somewhere local if you continue having holidays in your van. Enjoy home and the family.
Hey Rob and Angela. Thank you so much. We are such bad influencers and content creators. We had a sense and a feel but we really did capture it on the
run. And no way we were getting into sponsorships etc. No issue for those making a job out of it, but this was a gap year from work for us. Do you know, we didnt miss a week of posting? Every week, on time from the day we kicked it off - and it’s a hobby! Many of the pros do miss weeks or delay or take breaks, but we figured if we didn’t do it this way it would become a chore and build up. We will miss meeting people on the way and it stunned us every time somebody came up to say hello as they recognised us. So thank you. And yes you must do
a Lap and I’m sure your Zone will also help give you some amazing adventures. As much as we love our Zone / the adventure ultimately comes from you and life isn’t a dress rehearsal.
All the best and many, many thanks.
Fantastic stuff, you guys. Great holiday. We were camped across from you at Yulara and have followed your channel since then. Now, I will have to go back to the earlier episodes you put up. Well done.😊
Wow, trying to think about the people around us - we got to chat to one or two. Were you on the side facing down the entry roads? We were fine with our site there, never great being too close to the amenities 😂🤣, but the site was pretty big and to campground wasn’t too crowded at that time so it was good. Some of the earlier episodes 🫢😬😜. As we get some time we will also try to tidy the site and maybe see if we can re- edit a few now we’ve got a bit better at the edits. Some we can’t fix - like blown out audio but maybe we can tidy them. But let us know. We will also do some wrap ups to bring the series to a near end so let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. All the best and thank you for following and safe travels. 🙏👍
Thanks for sharing your lap. I enjoyed your adventure and the excellent places you visited. I especially enjoyed the highs and lows of touring for so long and your candid approach to the trials you encountered you have inspired us to take a half lap through SA and WA. Questions
Van size cause you any restrictions on your travels?
Any big decisions you would change in hindsight?
How do you deal with not being able to visit everything on your travels and prioritise what you could visit.
I wish you good health and happiness as you return to normal life.
Cheers
Thank you so much for joining us and watching. We really didn’t think anybody but our closest friends and families would - so we’ve been thrilled. Sure we’ve had ups and downs - overwhelmingly ups. It’s been an amazing adventure and what a wonderful country it is. Wow - that half Lap will cover some brilliant places. We wish you safe travels and hope you have a blast! Great suggestions we have certainly been contemplating those ones, thanks. Thank you, best wishes for your half lap and beyond.
@@nextleveloz Too kind. We saw your rig on our way home from the coast this morning. My wife called out to see the Lotus so I was looking for a 2 seater sports car but there you were. Good thing one of us were alert. Your rig looks great and towing really well. You are braver than me buying a Land Rover. We saw too many on tray tops being towed out of Cape York. Welcome home. Rest well and spread out at home. You have 1 month of cleaning to sort out. Thanks again for your excellent series.
We really enjoyed watching your travels and adventures.
It would be great to know how much went to charities.
Thank you so much. We’ve enjoyed sharing yes we will update the amount that’s gone to charity (we have a few hundred $ coming through as we speak) but a bit over 100% of the ad revenue went to RFDS and Legacy and in Legacy’s case they had a day where some benefactors were matching donations 4:1 so we made sure that months instalment went in that day to gross up the charity contribution. 🤙🏻🤙🏻👍. So keep an eye out for the update. You don’t make much on ad revenue in a small, non commercial channel but we’re proud to have done some good as we went - with help from people like you who watch and put up with the ads. cheers
Thank you for sharing your journey, has been such a pleasure to watch. all the best with some little travels in the future, all the best to you both.
Thank you! You too! We can’t say how much we’ve appreciated people coming along the journey as well. We will do some wrap up episodes to bring the series to a near end, so let us know if you have any questions or suggestions. Thanks again and all the best. Paula and David
This has indeed been a great series of an adventure that is there for all of us, there is nothing stopping any of us from taking a leaf from this guide book... I will certainly be watching these again for additional inspiration in the months ahead... Life is a winding road... And a cup of coffee..
Mate, I have to grab a coffee before I can respond. 😂😉
Peter, can’t thank you enough for following along and the banter. We think you are our longest and most prolific subscriber- commentor (is there such a thing? 😂. And often up early and first in. It’s been great and we’ve enjoyed it. The Lap has been a blast - not bad for some people who a few years ago wouldn’t have thought they’d own a caravan, never mind do the Lap and go to some of the places we’ve been. Life is not a dress rehearsal and yes it’s a winding road! (It’s one of our favourite backing tracks as you know). If others have got some tips from our times, that’s brilliant and there are many other places as well - as so many suggest. But you can’t fit them all in. Just enjoy those that you can. Please watch any as reminders - and keep
an eye out. One of the side bar projects is to tidy the channel so we might see what we can do to tidy up a few of the old ones if it’s possible. All the best and see you on the next couple of final ever, never to tour again l, these will be the very last vids 😂😉. cheers
Anything that you would do different like van ,car, take less stuff. You mentioned kangaroo island was a holiday destination not necessarily a lap tick,any other places regions like that for someone who can't do a lap but might have three weeks
Thanks for watching and the suggestions 🙏. Yes we had been thinking about a couple of those as well. Yes take less stuff !! 🤪🤣. We will do some van and car wrap ups as part of all that after the post trip servicing etc so we can do a contemplate wrap. All the best and much appreciated. Safe travels.
It’s bee such a pleasure to share your journey, I’ve been to most of the places that you visited so it was excellent to re visit them and bring back many good memories. I do hope that you will continue to post videos of any future trips. Best wishes to you both. Harold.
Thank you for watching and glad it brought back some good memories. So many people do get out and enjoy what the country has on show. But even then I think it’s still a small minority who do these big adventures - so it’s also lovely when we run into people who haven’t done it and decided to take a look and give it a go. I can’t recommend it enough. We don’t know what the next adventure is, we just know there will be some and if we think people will find it interesting we might share 🤔. We didn’t think anybody would find the Lap vids worth watching so it’s been amazing - noting we aren’t a big channel and don’t want to do all the things you need to make it really big and commercial. All the best to you also and thanks again. David and Paula
Thank you so much David and Paula for sharing your year with us. Thanks to you We have enjoyed the sunset chopper flight in Katherine and have added plenty to our travel wish list.
If you were to go again was the van size right for you? Is there anything you leave behind or take next time?
Wow, you did the Katherine sunset flight. We loved that. It was wonderful way to see the fullness of the gorges and enjoy the region as the sun sets. It’s always been a fascinating place to me. It’s probably the place I’ve been to the most over several careers and eras. Thanks so much for watching and your comments to our shares. We’ve loved it. We have been asking ourselves those questions so let’s see if we have some answers when we do the wraps. But we have already got rid of about 20kg of stuff that was easy to move out of the van at the end. All the best and thank you so much.
Here’s my question - in amongst so many amazing days, is there ONE day that you remember that stands out as your absolute number 1? 😊
No. There are so many wonderful and different things to see and do. Swimming with whale sharks and turtles - brilliant and exhausting. A lovely afternoon sitting waist deep in the Gibb River chatting to friends at a free camp. Also brilliant. The six “cardinal points” - they helped mark out the achievements but that was really just giving some structure. Clear, clear night sky at Lambert Centre stunning and right up there. But we will put some thought into to see if we can answer it because “best” memory comes up regularly from others as well.
Enjoyed your travels.Have a son who lives on the Sunshine coast and have been lucky enough to visit many of the places on various road trips around Australia in the last six years.
You have a great country!(from a cold wet and windy UK,which just seems to be on a continuous slide economically and socially.)
Thanks for watching and you guys have seen more of our country than many Australians. Well done, given it’s so far away and takes up so much time. Having family on the Sunny Coast helps heaps. We lived in the UK and live it each time we visit, and we really enjoyed that sunny warm day once! 🤣😆🤭. Everything is off the boil a bit at the moment and let’s hope it’s gets better - most people in both countries are decent, friendly and hard working. Hope we might see you on one of your trips - we only missed each other by a matter of a week or so at Kangaroo Island - so who knows? Alm
the best and thanks again for following along.
Thank you big time, Would love to emulate your journey, Your busted arse friend Gold Coast
Thank you big tike right back. We’ve loved meeting people and tuning into subscribers and hearing the questions, suggestions and comments. We are chuffed because we really didn’t think anybody would watch expect close family and friends. So thank you - and together we got to send some dough to charity as well. Hope you do get to do something like that. But there is also some magnificent places close to home as well and you’d be amazed how much people enjoy doing it without spending that much. Thank you and all the best.
He Paula did you use to live in Tamworth?
No, but Mum and Dad did for 11 years. Thanks for asking though. cheers Paula
Go again, Please.
🤔 what would we call it ? Last ever Lap year? Final final never to be repeated Gap year? 😉It would be nice and the lovely comments are brilliant. Life can't be the same for us now, but we have to figure out the next stage for us and like so many people we aspire to these big adventures but we aren’t full time forever on the road. So we are like many of our followers. We will provide an update and wrap ups so we won't leave people dangling. But thank you for following and for the sentiment. 🙏🙏
have you started planning lap 2.0 -- the one you revisit your favourite spots and hit up the spots missed first time around.
🤣 Like another last ever Farnham tour? 😉If we were among the paid influencers maybe that would be on the cards. But no. This was a gap year, we were fair dinkim when we said it wasn’t about being professional content creators and we really don’t know what comes next. We will certainly travel because in some form we always have. This past year was special and maybe in a few years we might try something similar and tick off the places we missed, but not for rhe moment. Thanks for watching and great question and yes we have seen some like that but with us what you see is what you get. Bloody good question though and wouldn’t it be nice? Thanks for following along but we can rule that one out for the foreseeable future. cheers
Questions for your wrap up sessions. Can you share your international viewing stats?
I will check out what the stats can tell us. It’s not a lot. Overwhelmingly an Australian audience as you’d expect given many people following would like to do the Lap. But we’ve got a few from NZ ( a lap of NZ is like a coffee run here 😂😉) a few from South Africa where they have to contend with many similar issues but in many places rougher, a few from the UK including several longstanding regulars - most of whom still struggle to get their head around distance, a couple from the US where can life is huge as are their trucks 😂) and a few from Tasmania 😂😂😉😉❤️❤️😬(sorry guys - we live Tassie). But nearly all of the group is Australian. cheers
@@nextleveloz I am Scottish and have shared a few links with my old mates to give them an idea of this great southern land, I also shared with US friends( work wife) who plan on some travels here in their retirement... Hope that made a small contribution to the figure$>
what was your impression of the Discovery. did you like it?
Thanks for watching. Yes we will do an update on how the Defender went. We are working through the post trip servicing and what LR are proposing for a couple of things. So while we can’t hold off for long as the series is coming to an end, we will cover on the car and van as part of the wrap up. All the best and thanks for watching.
Thank you for this wonderful series. I have watched each episode more than once and they have been highly entertaining and enlightening. I hope your post-lap adventures are just as fulfilling. Did you ever get to the bottom of the 4wd dropping into 2wd on your Defender?
Glad you like them! It’s so hard figuring what people might like to watch so
we just tried to keep it real as possible and things we did and liked. Some people really liked that and some didn’t like a few of the places or vids - that’s fine, but the growing band of subscribers turned out to like the way we were doing it and that’s great. The car is in with JLR looking at the 2WD matter and a couple of other post lap service items so hopefully we can wrap with some news on all that. So we will hold up on the car update for a couple of weeks until we know how that will get sorted. All the best and thank you again. cheers
Well done, Thankyou. I am seriously considering a LR 110 defender..would you select any other vehicle? Please recommend the add-ons needed from LR or others. Thanks again
Hi, thank you for following along. It’s much appreciated. We think we will hold off on the car wrap up until after the paint trip servicing and a couple of repairs are done so we can be complete. We aren’t car tribal people or car experts but we have shared our experiences and if that assists people with their own views that’s great. So let’s see how JLR go with the post lap stuff and we can update from there but alway happy to share the few mods we made for the trip. All the best.
Questions . How many cups of coffee did you drink?
A few - jeez. Not sure how good a guess we could make but let’s throw that in the mix because we like our coffee!