Instead we kept going, and eventually clocked up 31,390 kilometres driving around the country. The whole bloody lot of it.

We had an amazing family adventure that completely changed our lives, and when we rolled back into Sydney a year later we’d seen places I never knew existed, and now could never forget.

We’d learned an enormous amount about this country, and each other, and we remembered how little you really need to live a happy & fulfilling life.

I knew I’d forget things if I didn’t write it all down, so I kept a journal of our trip, and I also took more than 20,000 photographs on the way around.

Back to the real world

We got used to so much space it was going to be impossible living in Sydney afterwards, so we sold our apartment on the way round, and moved to the Southern Highlands when we got back. We had to evacuate because of the bushfires and hunker down with the pandemic, but I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else now.

Back to business, not quite as usual

I also set up my own business during the trip, so aside from homeschooling, driving and fixing things on a permanent basis I also sat outside under the stars every night. Writing about the journey or copywriting for a client, working on a website, branding project or whatever came along.