Lauren’s story doesn’t start with caravans. It starts with gymnastics.
She ran a gymnastics club from the age of 19, growing it from coaching into full ownership before selling up and immigrating to Australia with her husband Greg. Life moved on. Kids arrived. Lauren stepped back into coaching for a while, but the hours were brutal, sometimes coaching until 8:30pm and barely seeing her own children.
At the same time, Greg, an electrician, had an accident that left him without full use of his right arm. It never fully recovered. Between his ongoing treatment and Lauren’s punishing coaching schedule, the family was running on empty.
A friend suggested something completely left field: buy a caravan and take a lap around Australia. Lauren’s first reaction was no. She’d camped before with young kids and remembered it as exhausting, not relaxing. But eventually they bought one anyway, and set off.
The trip became what Lauren describes as a baptism of fire. Living in a small space together forced the family to confront things about each other and about what they wanted next. There were moments of regret and moments of pure joy. When the lap finished, they expected a big epiphany about their next chapter. Instead, they were left wondering what to do.
That’s when someone suggested renting out the caravan. Lauren thought it was a strange idea, until she looked into a platform called Camplify and listed it almost as an afterthought, thinking it might just cover the rego. It was hired out within two days. Interest kept building, and a casual side hustle turned into something bigger. That’s how Outback 2 Sea was born, a business built around giving other families, and especially mums, the same reset that Lauren’s own family had found on the road.
The conversation with Nic goes well beyond the original story. Lauren opens up about the identity shift that comes with stepping away from a career to build something new, and the self doubt that followed her into a male dominated space. She talks candidly about wearing every hat in the business while still learning to delegate, and the unique pressure of running a business that can never cancel a booking, no matter what’s happening behind the scenes.
There’s also a wider conversation here for the trade community. Many businesses in the Tradies in Business world are run, in large part, by the partner or spouse rather than the tradesperson themselves. Lauren’s story is a reminder that running a business well has very little to do with holding the tools, and everything to do with systems, structure and a good team behind you.
Learn more about Outback 2 Sea here:
Website | Facebook | Instagram
