A remarkable motor home family passed through Geraldton last week en route to try out Indian Ocean Drive during a second circuit of Australia over seven years.

All 11 members of the family, plus two dogs and Bob the cockatoo, squeeze inside the converted 1984 Austral Tourmaster bus called “The Gauntlet”.

Not only that, but there’s another child on the way, due in June when air-conditioning engineer Peter Cairns and partner Alison expect to be in South Australia with their family.

Four of their nine children, aged from two to 15, were born during the couple’s travels after they sold their home at Tweed Heads in northern New South Wales.

“We did buy another place in a rural area but it needed work and we ended up living in the bus anyway, so we sold the property and went back on the road,” Peter said.

Alison said they originally intended to travel for only a few years, but they so enjoyed the experience that they continued, and had no plans to settle down.

“We particularly like Western Australia and came back this time to make sure we visited Kalbarri and have another look at Geraldton,” she said.

Alison is teacher as well as mum, using distance education and similar programs to put the children through their paces.

“When we stayed in Darwin for 12 months, we sent the older children to a regular school where they turned out to have better-than-average grades, so we must be on the right track,” she said.

Not only is the family remarkable, but so is the fit-out of the bus.

The two older girls have their bedroom (and television) in one of the bus luggage bays they call “the basement” — reachable from outside the bus or through the roof underneath the family lounge inside.

Six bunks in the centre of the bus house the remainder of the children, while past a spa bath (yes, a full-size spa bath), mum and dad have their own bedroom.

A specially-built trailer houses a Toyota Hi-Ace people mover which the family has used extensively to see just about every sight possible during their extended journey.

“Everybody thinks we have this tremendous lifestyle, and we’re living the dream, but there are days from hell and we wonder why we do it,” Peter said.

“But it’s an experience we wanted to give our children while they were young and we have no real regrets.”