While we were busy learning the finer points of off-grid living at Narangba, there was another fairly major part of our lives unfolding about 1,700 kilometres away. Our house in Melbourne was supposed to be selling. I say supposed to be because our buyer was having a few issues. Mostly involving money. Specifically, getting enough of it from the bank to actually buy our house. By this stage, we'd already agreed to give them more time to sort out their finance. Then they needed more time. So we agreed again. Then came another request. Three extensions. Each time, we agreed. Partly because we wanted to be reasonable. But mostly because we really, really wanted the bloody house to sell. We had plans. Remember those? 😂 We were moving to Brisbane Despite everything that had happened since leaving Victoria, that was still the plan. We hadn't left Melbourne intending to travel around Australia indefinitely. Col's new job had brought us to Brisbane. Our Melbou...

After six weeks in Sherwood, it was time to move on. Our house sit had come to an end, the screen door had survived Cheech's renovations — and my subsequent repairs — and the Melbourne house was under offer. Things were actually looking reasonably promising. Which, by now, we probably should have recognised as a warning sign. Col needed to be based closer to Brisbane Airport for work, so we found a farmstay at Narangba , north of Brisbane, and moved Loki out there. And when we arrived, it looked pretty bloody good. Green paddocks. A full dam. Views off into the distance. Hardly another camper anywhere near us. We were up on a hill with plenty of space around us, Col could head off to work each day, and I could hang out with Wal and Cheech and enjoy a bit of peace and quiet. We were going to be camping off-grid. No problem. We had lithium batteries. Solar. An inverter. A Victron system. We were practically professionals. We were not practically professionals. Firs...

Getting Shaun back from the dealership should probably have been the point where things settled down. It wasn't. Although, to be fair, nothing actually broke for a little while — which, as we would later learn, counts as a very successful period in our travels. With Shaun updated and apparently no longer interested in displaying warning lights, we continued our very unconventional move from Victoria to Queensland. Col was still working, which meant flying in and out depending on where he needed to be. I was still living in Loki with Wal and Cheech. And somehow, somewhere along the way, I'd become the person responsible for getting all of us from one place to another. Including the caravan. Just me, two dogs and a caravan On one occasion, Col was away for work and needed to be picked up from Griffith Airport. Now, the obvious solution would probably have been to leave Loki in Hay, drive to Griffith, collect Col and come back. But we were moving on anyway. So I packe...

For most of our adult lives, we had a plan. Work. House. Family. Bills. Repeat. I spent 20 years working in justice. Col did 33. Between us, that's more than half a century of alarms, workdays, responsibilities and knowing roughly where we were supposed to be on Monday morning. Then things started to change. I finished my career, and Col left justice after 33 years and started a new job. His new role involved a lot of travel and eventually came with a choice — he could be based in Canberra or Brisbane. We chose Brisbane. Obviously. There are some decisions in life that require careful consideration. Canberra or Brisbane wasn't one of them. 😂 There was, however, one small problem. We lived in Melbourne. Our house was already on the market, so we figured we'd just start making our way north. Col could continue working, we'd take our time, and eventually the house would sell and everything else would fall into place. Simple. We had our little 15-foot Lotus Off Grid carav...