Travelling families left in limbo

The Towns family were living the life most could only dream of. A pair of lifelong travellers, Rebecca and Wayne had moved out of their rental home in Queensland, sold their belongings and piled into a caravan with their two sons and dogs for the trip of a lifetime. But a year’s plan to chase the sun across Australia has come to a grinding halt, with the family now forced to bunker down in Denmark over winter. The Townses are among thousands of travellers waiting out the COVID-19 storm in caravans and backyards across Australia. As State borders slam shut and communities cast out visitors, those who have uprooted their lives to travel have found themselves with no home to return to. With most caravan parks closed and travel restrictions locking down the regions within WA, “essential travellers” with no primary address are facing an uncertain wait. Having been on the road for five months when the COVID-19 crisis took hold, Mrs Towns said the family knew they had to move quickly to find a place for refuge. More than 5000km from where they set off, the family expect to be isolated in their caravan for the next three to six months. “We got into WA but we just didn’t get very far,” she said. “We don’t want to be travelling around, and we wanted to bunker down and do the right thing. “It’s hard when you don’t have a home to go back to — you don’t really have a choice. I’m just glad we’ve found a community that is accepting of that. “It is something we have saved for a long time for and looked forward to for a long time, so it’s definitely a bit of a shock.” Mrs Towns said locals had been accepting of their family’s difficult situation but the warm reception was in stark contrast to the treatment of other travellers stranded across WA. “There are a lot of travelling forums on Facebook and a lot of people have said how they have been shunned out of towns, yelled at in the middle of the night, had rocks thrown at their vans, tyres slashed — it’s horrendous,” she said. After sharing her situation on a local Facebook group, she said people had come to her aid, dropping off school books, warm clothes and even offering a house. “If we are going to be here for a while, which we look like we are, we may as well become locals, and the reception from everyone has been lovely,” she said. Caravanning is second nature to the family, who have been hitting the road for for about 10 years in search of adventure and documenting their journey on their Towns Travel Oz Facebook page. It’s a passion they have instilled in their boys. “They love that lifestyle and they deal better when they can run around and be out in the open rather than being inside the four walls of the house,” Mrs Towns said. The family have connected online with other like-minded families whose plans have been thrown into limbo. Brittni Edwards, her partner and two daughters Asha, 6, and Billie, 3, were on the home stretch of a year-long run around Australia when the crisis hit. With another family renting their home in Perth, they were faced with the difficult decision to stay put. A schoolteacher, Ms Edwards is helping families stranded in caravans keep their children occupied, assisting with home-schooling and leading online workouts. “I feel like we are all in the same boat — you are going to have those days where you are feeling a bit down but you have people to talk to,” Ms Edwards said. “We are just enjoying the outdoors and trying to make it a lighter, more positive note as much as possible.”