Winston (Winston_FJ) 
John, good on you for setting the plan in motion to live the dream.
But as others have pointed out 2 weeks ain't enough. I did the drive from Melbourne to Cairns when I moved up there. It's a 3 day drive if you really push yourself as a minimum, so there's 6 days knocked out of your 16 (3 weekends, 2 weeks) already. If you want to go fishing, want to actually take in the experience of one of Australia's most epic and iconic 4wding trips, then you are really gonna be looking at around 20 days off work as a minimum.
If the disco isn't your daily driver, I would suggest trucking it to Cairns and back and flying yourself and your son up. It's a long and boring drive with very little worth seeing along the way. It'll cost more than driving but what's the price on setting out feeling refreshed on the real start to your journey?
If you've always dreamt of doing this drive - and having done CREB as a passenger years ago I speak from experience - don't rush it. Take your time and enjoy it. Your memories of the trip will be much better and the stories you will be able to tell fellow 4wd'ers at future trips and meets will be much more captivating.
All the best for your planning.
03 Sep 2016