We’re off! Like a bucket of prawns in the sun

After months, and months (and months) of packing and cleaning, organising and sorting, planning and talking, we’re finally on the road.

22 September 2022 has always been a significant date to get to, not only because it means we’ve survived 15 years together (to the day), but because it is the start of a really big adventure – travelling around Australia.  

Almost everyone we spoke to about this thought it was a good idea, and it is, but it would be remiss of me to suggest that it is easy. This year alone to date we’ve spent almost every weekend working on fixing things around the house (including building a new office downstairs and a new deck), painting stuff, sanding, trimming trees, fixing gutters, installing new carpet…it was an endless list.

Then there was all the sorting. Every bit of stuff had to be either sold, given away, stored or chucked out, and that had to be done in bursts otherwise we felt like we were drowning in it all. And it could only be done in a certain order – some things we needed right up until the death, other things we packed or moved months ago. Like the piano, which we’ve now paid to have moved from upstairs to downstairs two or three times now over the years. 

Plus there’s the not insignificant considerations of schooling and work. The plan was always that Jim would quit his job and take charge of the homeschooling and I would keep working while on the road (have internet…can work). But that involved applications for homeschooling, chats to the school, working out what we needed to take with us, and me talking to all my clients so they could be reassured that all would continue as normal (turns out none of them were really bothered – many of them are interstate anyway). 

Then we had to rent the house out, which took months of pre-planning, getting everything in order for the photos, keeping it tidy for showings (of which there was only one in the end) and then signing off on all the requirements such as smoke detectors in every room, water compliance and so on. As it turned out we did really well out of it – rented for more than we asked for, and until the day we want to return.

On top of that we had a few different leaving “do’s”, breakfasts, lunches, drinks etc to say goodbye to all our lovely friends. 

Then finally, just a few days before we moved out of the house (which was four days before D-day) we turned our thoughts to what we actually needed to pack in the car. We’d already spent the preceding months collecting things such as a mobile internet device, Garmin inReach for when we get lost in the bush, booster antenna/aerial for the internet, more solar, another battery…would this all fit in the car? (Spoiler alert: not really…we are packed to the rafters).

So….all of these tasks done, on Thursday 22 September 2022 we jumped in the car in the flogging down rain and drove off out the driveway…