There’s More To Life Than Working!

“There’s more to life than working”. How many times have you heard this throw-away line? Well, it’s actually true.

I’m Andrew Murray and my best mate is my wife Peta. Together we’re a pretty good team. A bit scruffy maybe, but we’re alright. And luckily for you, we love exploring new places. I do the writing and Peta has a knack for meeting interesting people… and taking the occasional photo.

So what’s our story?

Well in 2009, we were in a rut. We were the “average” suburban family – husband, wife and 2 kids living in a large house in the suburbs in Wollongong, New South Wales.

I had been contracting for several years and running my own parts business.

Work, What Work?

Then the GFC hit and work dried up overnight. I was burnt out. What to do? What would you do?

Sit around the house and mope? Get a “real” job?

What a horrible thought – after running my own business for years, the thought of a 9 to 5 job made me feel sick. And the thought of sitting around doing nothing was even worse.

We needed a break, something completely different.

I’m pretty practical – being born and raised on a property saw to that. And I know how to fix things… a few bush mechanic skills go a long way.

We’d paid down our mortgage. We thought seriously about managing a property in Western Australia, South Australia or anywhere for a couple of months.

We knew our 2 kids – Charlie (then Yr 9) and Ben (then Yr 5) – would love it.

No bugger it, let’s go around Australia for 12 months!

Okay…

We stuck to our spur-of-the-moment decision. We did it. Yes financially it was crazy, but who cares. There’s more to life than money. I wasn’t earning an income anyway, so what’s the difference?

Was It Worth It?

Yes. It was life-changing – pure and simple. Our journey started here.

Not just for Peta and me, but also for our children. All of us have a different perspective on life. It certainly set us back financially, but it was worth every cent. Travelling is the best education there is:

• Meeting people from all over the world.
• Learning to make do with not much.
• Living on top of one other for 12 months and learning how to make it work (most of the time!).
• Accepting that we’re all different, with our own beliefs and opinions.
• Realising a person is defined by their moral and ethical code, not the colour of their skin or their religious beliefs.
• Gaining an insight into the massive inequality between those of us who live on the East coast and the those who don’t – lack of services, infrastructure and in many cases, basic needs.

So What’s The Plan?

Simple. To explore Australia, write, meet amazing people, occasionally indulge in our passion for off-road racing… and tell you all about our experiences and learnings along the way.

To give you lots of useful information. A resource you can use for travelling around Oz – whether it’s for 2 weeks or 20 years.

Join us as we continue to explore this incredible country of ours.