This is an edited extract from Simone Skinner-Smith's book, Passenger Princess , available now.

Last year, I travelled around Australia in a caravan with my husband and two kids.

Having hit midlife territory, I had found myself up at 3am scrolling online, becoming obsessed with social media posts of families doing the Big Lap of Australia in caravans. Not content with waiting until retirement to become 'grey nomads', these families were switching the suburban grind for endless adventure.

And I wanted in!

Convincing my husband that this was exactly what we should do, we rented out our house, quit our jobs, pulled the kids out of school, and hired a caravan for a year.

Watch: Our resident travel expert shares her must-pack health kit essentials when on the go. Post continues below.

But having never stepped foot in a van before, it didn't take long for us to discover that #vanlife is a little/A LOT less glossy than it looks on social media — and that we were utterly clueless.

More times than I care to admit, we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere running out of petrol, water and even power to the caravan. We nearly turned back to Sydney on numerous occasions.

Only we didn't.

And over time we found ourselves learning some pretty invaluable life skills (like always carrying a spare jerry can of petrol with you). Miraculously, we went from barely surviving to utterly thriving. We swam with whale sharks, went spear fishing for mud crabs, rode on camels, fed crocodiles, drifted down hot springs, climbed up waterfalls, noodled for opals, and basically lived our best life every day of the week.

It was the most incredible — albeit dustiest — things we could have done as a family, and it is a time in my life that I will cherish forever.

So, when we returned home to Sydney, I started telling anyone who would listen that they too 'should do the Big Lap'.

But the one question everyone kept asking me wasn't about my favourite outback town or campsite recommendation. No, no, no. The question that I was being asked in the privacy of group chats or whispered at the back of the school pick-up line was:

So, like, how did you guys have sex in the caravan with kids sleeping next to you?

And this wasn't just from my amorous acquaintances. Knowing how intimacy in a caravan works seems to be a burning question that comes up (pun totally intended) all the time on caravanning Facebook groups. I know this because, whenever I see it online, I stop scrolling, grab the popcorn, and start reading the comments because everyone seems to love sharing their approach to this all too common caravanning dilemma.

And the answers are always hilarious…

"We bought a swag so we could sneak outside at night and get the job done under the stars."

"If you're in a caravan park, just give the kids a few bucks to go spend, lock the caravan door and go for it. If you do a good job you might even get a round of applause from your neighbours."

"We book a caravan site with an ensuite."

"We just tell our teenagers to go to sleep, otherwise we will rock them to sleep!"

"We put the kids to bed and then, after a few minutes, we ask, 'Does anyone want any chocolate?' If there is no answer, we slide the 'curtain of silence' across and get to business."

"We get up on the roof of the van. If the kids wake up, we tell 'em we are fighting monsters outside and not to come out."

"Me and the wife tell the kids to go out and entertain themselves for five minutes so we can do our taxes. Then we just chill out for the remaining four minutes."

For more, read Simone's book, Passenger Princess , available now.

Simone Skinner-Smith is a television producer and writer. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and has worked in the Australian Media Industry for over twenty-five years, most recently as a reality television producer on Farmer Wants a Wife, FBOY Island, Love Triangle, and just about every other dating show you've ever flicked past on telly.

As a writer, she has had a number of travel features published in the Sydney Morning Herald and short stories published in anthologies. Simone currently lives in Sydney with her husband, two children, two bunnies and two guinea pigs. She loves travelling and can't wait to plan their next big adventure (preferably not in a caravan).

Feature image: Supplied.