After loss, our family's two years on the road became our greatest treasure

In 2021, we pulled our kids out of school, pressed pause on work and took off on a lap around Australia in a caravan. Our three kids were heading into their teenage years and the window where they still wanted to hang out with us was closing. I didn't want to reach later life and think, we should have done it. I wanted the memories, the adventure, the togetherness - before it slipped away.

How grateful we are that we did it. Earlier this year, our eldest daughter, Jess - just 17 - was diagnosed with aggressive brain cancer. She died three months later. How grateful we are for the memories of that trip.

The hardest part of any adventure is often the start, and so it proved for us. Plans wobbled, doubts crept in, obstacles piled up. But somewhere inside, I knew it was right.

We each settled into life on the road in our own time. I relaxed within days; my wife took a couple of weeks. One of the kids held firm for two months, muttering, "You and Mum have taken me away from my friends."

Then, one evening after a perfect day of swimming, she looked at me and said, "Dad, I'm so glad you made us come." In that moment, I knew our family adventure had truly begun.

Schooling ended up being simple. We tried online school at first - Jessica in Year 8, Kea in Year 6 and Ted in Year 3 - but soon realised we needed less structure. Their education became a maths workbook, reading, and daily journaling. Everything else was "natural schooling" under vast Australian skies.

There were long bush walks looking at fascinating plants, interesting rock formations and - at times - some incredible wildlife. We explored hidden swimming holes and visited quirky small-town museums (my kids still talk about the time I took them to some place displaying the history of barbed-wire fences).

Now, as we look back on our two years travelling Australia, our memories feel like treasure. So many conversations now begin with "remember when ..."

Remember when we followed the Murray River from close to its source to where it gushes out into the Southern Ocean?

Remember mining for opals in Coober Pedy, and taking three days to cross the Nullarbor, with the kids yelling, "This is so Nullarboring!"?

Remember camping beside Ningaloo Reef for a month, snorkelling every day with turtles, coral and dazzling fish?

Remember leaping off rocks into deep water - Mum frozen on the bank, unable to watch - and Dad getting the LandCruiser stuck after being warned not to drive up there?

Remember learning to sail a yacht around the Whitsunday Islands? Those outback campfires at night, looking up at a billion stars?

My own favourite memories were of bedtimes, talking under the open sky about the next day's plans. Every night, the same thought: everything that matters to me is within five metres of where I'm sleeping.

It was during our travels that I came across the story of the first car to circle Australia in 1925. I was surprised a book had never been written on this amazing adventure. So, with the family's permission, I researched and wrote a draft of the origin story of Australia's now-famous big lap road trip. This year, Bubsie and the Boys was published.

It's been three years since we finished our road journey together and returned to everyday life.

Every day, we miss Jess. We feel her loss deeply. And then, in the last week of August, I too was diagnosed with cancer that has since metastasised throughout my body.

I am preparing for the fact that this illness may be where this life ends for me. And I am at peace with all of this. My faith is strong. I've lived a full life. I feel I have been able to fit in a couple of lifetimes during my years.

After everything I've been through, I truly believe life should be less about having "a trip of a lifetime" and more about having "a lifetime of trips". Not only do I have no regrets about our family adventures, I have more memories than there are bright stars in a nighttime outback sky.

Bubsie and the Boys ($34.99) by David Riley is published by Signs Publishing.

Have you driven around Australia? Share your adventures with Explore at editor@exploretravel.com.au or comment below.