Teenage Tech Wizard

By Chrissy Eustace

The Robinson family hit the road nearly four years ago. Since then teenager Daniel has attended school wherever their travels have taken his parents Wendy and Ralph and himself.

Originally from Frankston, south of Melbourne, Daniel did the standard primary school and half a year in high school. By that time Ralph had finished building his own fifth wheeler. Distance Education Victoria has provided the correspondence tuition since then in English, maths, recreation and leisure: the latter topic is part of the ‘introduction to the workforce’ course.

These days when you ask Daniel, “Where is home?” he easily replies “Over there”, indicating the fifth wheeler.

“We haven’t been to Western Australia or Tasmania yet and only have seen part of South Australia – it’s such a big country,” he reports. “I love all the travelling because you get different scenery every day. If you don’t like your neighbours, you can move on somewhere else but most of the people we’ve met are cool, even if they are a lot older than me!”

Teen spirit

The major downside for Daniel is the fact he does have to do school work. This year sees the end of year 10 and he really doesn’t want to go further. He would prefer to get work, preferably an apprenticeship, and in the RV industry.

“Because I helped Dad build our fifth wheeler, I’ve got a good start on what is needed to manufacture any sort of RV,” Daniel reckons.

The one thing Daniel loves is going north for the great Queensland winters, where they get to visit many places and meet up with people they’ve met on the road.

“Sure, I miss friends from back home but you make new friends all over the place. Most are of Mum and Dad’s generation but when we go to the CMCA rallies, a group of us kids hang out together for the week and that’s really cool!”

While Daniel is obviously totally at home with ‘oldies’, as he refers to most motorhomers and caravanners, he is still only a teenager and looks forward to catching up with his travelling peers when he can.

Having his own room in the fifth wheeler makes it just like living in a house. He can hang loose in his bedroom, go outside, go for a bike ride or just do whatever. Needless to say, like all teenagers, music is important (hip hop is the latest phase) and Daniel and Ralph also share a love of cars and watch the car racing on satellite TV whenever possible. Incidentally, Daniel uses his knowledge to help Grey Nomads the family meets along the way to install their systems, and make some pocket money as well.

Asked where he might settle down eventually, he gave Adelaide the thumbs-up.

“I suppose Mum and Dad might settle down for a bit while I get established in a job but then I think they will go back to travelling. They really enjoy it and have made a network of friends who all keep saying, come and visit, so they probably will.”

RV manufacturers take note: there’s a young man with a positive attitude who has experienced life on the road and he’s looking for a job. Perhaps Daniel could be the next keen apprentice in your RV manufacturing complex. At the very least, if you’re a traveller and you need your satellite TV hooked up, MHG knows just the person for the job.