Author David Riley says the time is now to take your family on a Big Lap of Australia

POWER OF TRAVEL

Many families dream of the day they can put their jobs on hold, pack up their brood, and drive around this vast country.

Only a fraction of them actually make the leap, though, and David thinks it is fear of the unknown that ultimately holds them back.

“Whether it’s travel or study or a career change, people tend to put off things and say ‘I’ll do that later on’. But as our family has experienced this year, things can change quickly and you kind of have to just seize the day, now,” David says.

HEALTH & BOOK

He has seen first-hand how powerful travel can be for children to cultivate resilience and bravery in the face of uncertainty.

“I think it’s given my kids a huge platform of experiences where they won’t be afraid of trying something new, being somewhere new, or doing something that initially felt a bit uncomfortable,” David says.

“You know, all of those little cliche experiences of jumping off a rock into a swimming hole on the Gibb River Road or climbing those ridiculously tall trees you’ve got down there in the South West, the Bicentennial Tree and the Gloucester Tree.

“They were fearful down at the bottom, saying ‘I don’t know if I can do this, Dad’. But they did it, and we still talk about it. It might sound trivial, but later in life when they apply this to career choices or moving cities, they have all these experiences of being out of their comfort zones and knowing they will not only be OK, they will be better than OK.

“And that’s brought me a lot of comfort, personally.”

David doesn’t know how many days he has left, but he is committed to making them all count.

*And there’s the legacy the family shares of their time on the road: the laughter, the exploration, the cramped confines, and the figuring it out as they went along.

“I look back now and my main motivator was knowing I would regret not doing it once my kids had grown up,” David says.

“The memories we have with Jess are even more precious after what has happened. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have regretted it, but in these special circumstances our gladness for doing it is amplified.”

“I want to watch as many sunrises as I can, spend as much time with family as I can, and go away with them in between my chemo treatment,” he says.

“The doctors have explained that the treatment is just about giving me a bit of longevity, but with these things you have to balance longevity with quality of life.

“So, what are my plans? Just to enjoy every single day as best as I can. Which is probably how we should be living life anyway, irrespective of any terminal illness.”

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Night has fallen at a campsite in the far reaches of the country, and David Riley is hit with the same realisation that has come to him every evening for a while now.

It’s 2021 and, after much convincing, he has taken his family — wife Joanne and their three children Jessica, Kea and Theodore — on their version of “The Big Lap” around Australia.

Everyone is tucked up in their beds in the caravan, talking about their day and what adventures may beckon them tomorrow.

This holiday, like the landscape around them, feels like it’s stretching as far as the eye can see, marked by this nightly ritual.

It’s a precious moment for David. “Each evening, I realised that the most important things in my life were all lying within a 6m radius of me,” he says.

CENTURY-OLD STORY

The two-year trip was prompted by history buff David’s desire to research the original journey around Australia by car in 1925. Mates Nevill Westwood and Greg Davies, both 21, left Perth in a 1923 two-seater Citroen 2CV to circumnavigating the continent.

Their car, affectionately referred to as Bubsie, had less horsepower than a modern lawnmower.

“I was enamoured by the story,” David says.

“I just thought it sounded like such a fantastic adventure, you know — two young lads setting off in a tiny borrowed car with no maps, not intending to drive around Australia but it ended up becoming one of the world’s greatest road trips.

“I tried to find a book about it, but when I called the Citroen car club in WA they confirmed one didn’t exist.

“The bloke said, ‘Well maybe you’re meant to write it’. I thought, ‘well maybe I am’.”

So the Riley family’s sabbatical was interspersed with David researching the trailblazing duo who unwittingly kicked off an enduring travel trend.

“They did something for the first time that me and thousands of other people, families and individuals, do each year now,” he says.

“I mean some of the things they did to keep moving … they had so many flat tyres that they ended up stuffing them with grass, leaves and animal carcasses. It was one of those MacGyver bush mechanic tricks just to keep moving.

“They had to rely so much on the sheep and cattle stations in remote areas, and those pastoralists had incredible stories as well — the way they survived and lived in some of those towns.”

The two men were an example of that prevailing Aussie spirit that is the stuff of legends, and David couldn’t help but feel connected to their journey.

Their commitment to “winging it” and hoping for the best was particularly inspiring for the Riley family — though the comforts, infrastructure and aid available today are a world away from what the gents had to contend with in 1925.

“(When we did our trip) people were asking all these questions and were quite concerned that we hadn’t made any bookings along the way,” David says.

“But I think sometimes you just have to do as much prep as necessary and then step out in faith. The hardest bit of any adventure is just getting out the front door.”

Back home in Newcastle, David compiled all he had uncovered about Nevill and Greg into a book, Bubsie And The Boys, which will be released this month to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the epic quest.

DEVASTATING NEWS

Celebrating such an exciting milestone has coincided with a devastating chapter for the Rileys, however.

Earlier this year, during her final year of high school, eldest daughter Jessica was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer and lost her battle with the disease in May, aged 17.

Doctors discovered she had a rare syndrome whereby her body couldn’t suppress cancerous growth, and genetic testing showed David shared the condition.

Last month, he received the news that he, too, has advanced cancer.

Yet in the face of such tragedy, David, a pastor, says he is at peace.

“Statistically, I probably shouldn’t even be here, but here I am and I feel like I have lived two or three lives,” he says.

“I feel very fortunate.

“Other parents can probably appreciate this but my own terminal illness is a walk in the park compared to walking my daughter through her own end of life.

“During these kinds of diagnoses, you think about your legacy and what you’re leaving behind. I am hoping this book is a story well told and it allows people to reflect on their own sense of adventure. If that’s the case, then I am very grateful.”

And there’s the legacy the family shares of their time on the road: the laughter, the exploration, the cramped confines, and the figuring it out as they went along.

“I look back now and my main motivator was knowing I would regret not doing it once my kids had grown up,” David says.

“The memories we have with Jess are even more precious after what has happened. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have regretted it, but in these special circumstances our gladness for doing it is amplified.”

POWER OF TRAVEL

Many families dream of the day they can put their jobs on hold, pack up their brood, and drive around this vast country.

Only a fraction of them actually make the leap, though, and David thinks it is fear of the unknown that ultimately holds them back.

“Whether it’s travel or study or a career change, people tend to put off things and say ‘I’ll do that later on’. But as our family has experienced this year, things can change quickly and you kind of have to just seize the day, now,” David says.

He has seen first-hand how powerful travel can be for children to cultivate resilience and bravery in the face of uncertainty.

“I think it’s given my kids a huge platform of experiences where they won’t be afraid of trying something new, being somewhere new, or doing something that initially felt a bit uncomfortable,” David says.

“You know, all of those little cliche experiences of jumping off a rock into a swimming hole on the Gibb River Road or climbing those ridiculously tall trees you’ve got down there in the South West, the Bicentennial Tree and the Gloucester Tree.

“They were fearful down at the bottom, saying ‘I don’t know if I can do this, Dad’. But they did it, and we still talk about it. It might sound trivial, but later in life when they apply this to career choices or moving cities, they have all these experiences of being out of their comfort zones and knowing they will not only be OK, they will be better than OK.

“And that’s brought me a lot of comfort, personally.”

David doesn’t know how many days he has left, but he is committed to making them all count.

BUBSIE & THE BOOK

David’s book, Bubsie And The Boys: The First Journey Around Australia By Car, will be released on October 28.

It reveals how Mr Westwood and Mr Davies, two young missionaries, originally planned just to drive from Perth to Darwin, distributing church literature in remote outback areas of WA and the Northern Territory.

As David writes, the first part of their journey, from Perth to Darwin, was pioneering in itself, as no one had driven this route before.

But when the men reached Darwin, a car dealer suggested they drive on to the east coast, which led to the first circumnavigation of Australia by car, despite the lack of roads and fuel stations.

The book recounts their adventure, the people they met, and the hardships they overcame.

The story of Bubsie continues to give David energy and he has been planning a re-enactment of the original trip with a small team next year, using its sister vehicle to mark the centenary (Bubsie resides in the National Museum of Australia in Canberra).

While David has accepted he won’t be on the adventure, he has been heavily involved in raising funds and awareness for children’s cancer charities Canteen Australia and Brainchild Foundation via the project.

A newly published book, a charity mission, the trip of a lifetime, and a family he adores — it’s a legacy David can be proud of.

“I want to watch as many sunrises as I can, spend as much time with family as I can, and go away with them in between my chemo treatment,” he says.

“The doctors have explained that the treatment is just about giving me a bit of longevity, but with these things you have to balance longevity with quality of life.

“So, what are my plans? Just to enjoy every single day as best as I can. Which is probably how we should be living life anyway, irrespective of any terminal illness.”

+ Bubsie And The Boys: The First Journey Around Australia By Car will be released on October 28.

+ Pre-orders are available on Amazon ahead of distribution to major book retailers.