Let's Live Life on the Road

In April 2016, my husband Thomas and I were living in our house in Newcastle, NSW Australia with our English staffy, Beni.

We had jobs and we had a mortgage. We had health insurance. We had two beautiful, grown up daughters and our first grandson, who was five months old. We had friends, we had a computer and Wi-Fi, we had a big television, a dishwasher, a coffee machine. We had a couple of cars and a boat. We had everything! Looked good on the surface, but something was missing. We weren't happy. We were both getting bored with our jobs and looking for better ones. Would new jobs take away this feeling of just working to pay our bills? The feeling of being dictated to by society's rules... "Work hard until you are 65, 67, 69; take four weeks holiday a year; paying off your mortgage is your first priority; you must have health insurance;" etc etc. Even though we both worked, we didn't seem to be saving much money. It seemed to cost a lot to keep those vehicles insured and registered, to keep the mobile phones connected, to have health insurance. It costs money to have the clothes you need for work, petrol in the cars, social outings to keep us stay connected. So, one day, we decided to sell everything we own, buy a four wheel drive car and a caravan, and hit the road in search of happiness.

We gave ourselves three weeks to sell a house full of souvenirs and apparent necessities for life, and find reliable tenants to pay the mortgage, and we pulled it off. Bigger items sold cheaply through social media and gumtree, one huge garage sale where things were practically given away, then a call to a local charity to come and get the rest. We were mopping the floor towards the back door as the new tenants moved their stuff in through the front door.

It wasn’t as hard as one might think to get rid of everything. Inherited antique furniture, those things “that will be worth a fortune one day;” well, they weren’t worth much at all. Cupboards full of clothes and shoes, many not worn for years, some don’t even fit. Out you go!!! I have to say, we made some people very happy that day. One fellow, the same size as my husband, needed a suit to attend court in the near future. He was stoked to leave not only with a respectable outfit for that dreaded day, but with bags of clothes, shoes, and accessories. I did the same with my clothes. The recipient was so grateful, she brought me back some gifts. I kept these gifts and randomly gave them to others as we travelled around.

Although some items were a little hard to let go of (we had been gathering possessions for over 30 years), it was a very liberating feeling, and the first lesson in the joy of living on the bare minimum. We didn’t need all these things and even though they were nice, they didn’t make us happy, and we didn’t miss them at all.

We spent our first night at a free camp on the side of the road. We didn't have a battery set-up, which meant we didn't have power or lights, and once it turned dark, we just had to go to bed. We laid there just laughing our heads off and talking about solar power and batteries. We really knew nothing about off the grid set-ups, but realised we would have to learn.

We took a few days to get to Toowoomba, Queensland, where we stayed with my brother for a few days. By now, the realisation hit us, that we just brought a caravan and took off, knowing nothing about the van or the lifestyle. We were having trouble with the fridge and decided to get a safety check on the van while we got the fridge fixed. This is when we learned that the European van we brought does not comply to Australian standards and is illegal to drive in Australia. (No wonder it was so cheap). This info cost us about $600, and to top it off when we got the van back, we found that the mechanic had forgotten to reconnect the gas lines. We could have blown up in our first week on the road.

Three years later we are still living in our van, working our way around. We have learnt so much in this time. We have learnt a lot about caravaning and free camping. We have learnt how to live and travel for very little money. We have learnt to slow down and go with the flow. We have worked in a few different jobs and met lots of people. We have visited beaches, deserts, and rainforests. We go fishing and crabbing and cook damper in the campfire. We drove through the Australian Outback and to Cape York, the most northern point of mainland Australia. We've seen platypus and cassawaries, patted wild stingrays, and slept to the sound of howling dingos. We have learned to appreciate life and to be happy. Three years ago, we made the best decision of our lives.