Almost Perfect

Growing up, Kelly Denley had dreamed of the perfect family - and of being the perfect mum - but as the mother of eight she discovered that almost perfect was actually just perfect enough .

After being a full-time wife and mother since 17, by age 31 Kelly Denley has lost sight of who she truly is. The big family she'd always hoped for isn't working out quite as she expected, so when the pregnancy test is positive for number 8, she isn't exactly ecstatic. Then within months Kelly and her family hit rock bottom. A difficult birth and postnatal depression are taking their toll, her father is given just a year to live, her husband has been retrenched, one daughter is seriously ill in hospital, another is diagnosed with depression and, in a final frightening development, her eldest boy, who suffers from Asperger's, threatens suicide at the age of 13. Kelly blames herself for the state of her family and knows that everything has to change.

After counselling for the whole family, Kelly realises that her sense of worth is so tied up with her family that even the slightest critical glance at the mall is enough to send her self esteem plummeting.

In a bid to turn her life around Kelly Denley takes a giant leap out of her comfort zone, donning a school uniform and returning to high school to finish an education cut short by teen pregancy. The suburban mum, used to sneers like 'Don't you know what causes it?', blitzed the HSC with an amazing 97.3.

But that, it turns out, is just the start of an incredible journey for Kelly and her family. Concern about her kids' school problems and behaviour compels her to take dramatic action. Reminded vividly of her own wild teenage years, Kelly is determined to stop her children repeating her mistakes - so university is put on hold and instead the family sets off on a camping trip around Australia for a year, in the hope that the experience will draw them closer together, discover there's more to life than msn and FaceBook - and build memories to last a lifetime.