Mater Prize Home VIP holiday winner

Destination → Western Australia

With a long-held passion for 4×4 touring, Michael instantly knew where he would travel with his holiday win. He would go 1,100 km north of Perth to one of Australia’s most stunning World Heritage Sites – Ningaloo Reef.

“My grandparents who live in WA have travelled to Ningaloo Reef every year for the past 12 years. My sister and I always hoped to join them, but haven’t had the money to make it. It was amazing that we could take our partners and actually make it happen this year.”

The extensive trip from Australia’s east coast, which includes a flight to Perth and then a long drive north, seemed out of reach.

“All my savings were focused toward buying my first home and settling in with my partner. Taking a holiday would have put us even further away from our dream of owning a home.”

“But a great thing about winning a holiday, as opposed to say money, is that we’re required to take a holiday. It was so much more fun than putting money towards a mortgage!”

Michael and Tahlia, along with Michael’s sister and her partner took the amazing opportunity to hire a camper van in Perth and road trip north.

Surprise!

Michael made the trip extra special by coordinating the holiday with family to keep it a surprise for his partner, sister and grandparents; only revealing the destination on arrival.

“It feels like we live in the furthest location in Australia to my grandparents so the best part of the holiday was seeing the look on nan and pop’s face when we arrived. They couldn’t believe we were there. The first thing they wanted to do was take us out in the boat fishing. We’d always heard how spectacular that part of the world was, but to experience it first hand was another thing.”

The week long holiday being away from civilisation with no mobile service was totally relaxing for the group. They were able to ‘switch off’ and focus on fun-filled days of four wheel driving, camping, sand tobogganing, boating and fishing. Ningaloo Reef boasts the world’s largest land-fringing reef swarming with majestic marine life, and with the location renowned for catching squid and Spangled Emperor spending time on the crystalline reef was a major highlight of the trip.

“I never thought I’d win!”

When Michael signed up for the Mater Prize Home VIP holiday draw outside his local shopping centre, he never thought he’d actually win.

“Although there was a chance to win a holiday, I really signed up to help the Mater Foundation charity. The fact I’d won totally shocked me.

“Given that I’d coordinated the trip as a surprise I was really only able to share the win and the experience with my other family and friends after we’d come back. I didn’t want to run the risk of letting the surprise out of the bag so had to keep it quiet before we left.”