A year at sea has not dampened the spirits of a Wharfedale family-of-five on a round the world voyage of a lifetime.

Sue and Rod Campbell-Ross and their children Emily, three, Pippa, ten, and Harry, seven, from Ilkley, set sail in their yacht Tintin last April on an 18-month trip to Australia.

At first it was a struggle but with five months to go they don't want it to end.

"The past year has been incredible - I can't begin to describe what I have learnt," said Sue.

"For the first few months, the learning curve was very steep and I often felt completely out of my depth.

"This lifestyle, although it sounds very stress free and relaxing, is very often for me, more stressful than my life in Ilkley ever was - it is a basic and very physical life and at times, lonely, very, very hot and frustrating, but mostly it is exciting and wonderful in the extreme.

"Now that we have been travelling for over a year, I am very confident with the boat and can handle most things easily.

"I have learnt to accept Tintin with all her flaws and discomforts. I am still on a learning curve - it is just that it is not so steep anymore."

The family decided to sell-up and leave their Westwood Drive home after Rod, a city accountant, was made redundant in June 2001.

It prompted them to take the life changing decision to follow their dream, despite Sue not having any sailing experience.

They bought the 20-year-old 44ft aluminium yacht for £80,000 and have journeyed across the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Ocean, through the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean.

"At the beginning of this trip, I did not think that I would have it in me to get this far but I have and it was not difficult," said the 36-year-old.

"Rod is extremely supportive and encouraging to me, and it is him that has got us here.

"There have been times when thoughts of quitting and heading home have been on our minds, but I am pleased and proud that we have found it within ourselves to carry on.

"It is worth it - we have been to some incredible places."

When the family departed, the children missed playing football and Sue missed her cooker, hairdryer and washing machine.

And a year later she is still craving her washing machine.

"The thing I have missed the most is firstly, my family and friends - there is nothing like an old friend or your mum," she said.

"The other thing that I miss is a washing machine, lugging my washing to laundromats is a pain, and washing it yourself never gets it as clean and takes it out of me.

"I also miss a good supermarket too, but on the whole I don't miss much."

The family have been travelling across the Pacific Ocean and just reached their first island in months.

"We are all feeling great," she said.

"We have just arrived in French Polynesia after a very long and slow crossing of the Pacific Ocean. It was a joy and a relief to see the first island.

"These islands are like nothing you have ever seen before - such a dramatic coastline, sharp cone like mountains, covered in lush, tropical bush. It is such a sight to see."

Sue and Rod have been educating the children on the way to ensure they do not miss out on too much school.

They have taught them the history of the places they have visited and make them study every day.

"Their schooling is very erratic," said Sue.

"We have great enthusiastic bursts of school and then nothing for weeks after that. I think that they learn so much just by the nature of what we are doing and being bright and quick, I hope that they will catch up with the basics of maths and science fairly well when they return to regular school.

"We have done some wonderful projects - for instance, we have just finished a project on the Galapagos islands - starting with how they were formed, Charles Darwin etc, and ending up with the cataloguing of the animals that we saw and on conservation of those species."

Living on the open seas away from the world meant that news of the war on Iraq came as a shock to the family.

"This war in Iraq totally passed us by," she said.

"We were never able to hear any news, except the odd Spanish speaking news which all we could do was look at the pictures.

"From what I hear we were in best place and that it was, and still is, a depressing situation to witness."

The family is planning to reach Australia in October after exploring more of the world.

"We have a few tropical paradises to explore before then and then who knows," she added.

"We will start the job search and go to where ever we find one. It might be Sydney but we don't really mind where we end up.

"I am looking forward to living in a house again with a nice big bed and a washing machine and my kids going off to school - but I don't think about it too much.

"I want to live for now and enjoy what I am doing and cross the next bridge when I get to it. It will all happen so quickly and this amazing experience will be over."