Cursed family road trip inspires hilarious book
A family’s hilarious and ridiculously jinxed attempt to road trip the Australian outback in a caravan is subject of new book “The Misadventures of the Travelling Quirkus”.
Sitting on a true tale only fiction could top, Ripplebrook author Karen Casey was inspired to turn a travel blog of the trip into book form; “The Misadventures of the Travelling Quirkus” is the result.
It tells of twists and turns of family life on the road with The Ideas Man, Bionic Woman, the Swagman, Chipmunk and Princess Contrary.
Take or leave their travel tips and get educated on Australia’s lesser known but quirkier, history, people and places.
Having travelled Australia with her husband before having kids, Karen said his impending long-service leave roused a desire to do a similar trip as a family.
“We could have put our savings and energy into paying off our mortgage, but, like many people these days, we are big believers in living for today, and in creating and embracing experiences. And our trip was certainly an experience,” Karen said.
“I’m blessed with some high-energy, fun personalities in my family, so that alone made for great, sometimes challenging, experiences when we shoved that mish mash of personalities into a caravan and took off into the middle of nowhere.
“On top of that, we seem to be cursed when it comes to family holidays. It challenged us, but it made for an entertaining story. And it might give other travellers a heads up on what not to do, or at least confirmation that their own trip was or could be awesome by comparison.”
Karen, a journalist, said she never planned to turn the trip into a book, but circumstance and experience changed that.
“I started out writing a simple blog to keep family and friends up to date,” Karen said. “They really enjoy it and when we returned many asked when the book was coming out. It took me a while, but eventually I thought, well, why let the story go to waste? And so, ‘The Misadventures of the Travelling Quirkus’ was created.”
The book follows the last year’s release of children’s book “The Extraordinary Unordinary Gum Tree”.
The chapter book is filled with magical adventures of four farm kids and quirky Australian animal friends. It contains parallels to Enid Blyton’s classic series “The Faraway Tree”.
Karen is currently working on a prequel to this book.
“The Misadventures of the Travelling Quirkus” was released last week and is now available online or from stores such as Need2Read, Warragul; Variety Bookroom, Moe; Newspower/Atrium Bookshop, Morwell; and The Bookbarn in Belgrave and Rosebud.
Karen will also be guest speaker at the Warragul Library on Tuesday, August 13 at 6pm.
For further information, visit karencaseyauthor.com.