1000 Days of Freedom

This past month we hit a huge milestone of 1000 days Living Life on Our Own Terms, which we are so, so stoked to reach, and hopefully, there are many more to come! I look back to all the adventures that we've had over the last 1000 days and it is truly overwhelming! We have packed so much into each year as well as still being able to work a few months here and there to balance the finances and keep us on track. I can't even imagine going back to a traditional full-time job and having just 4 weeks of annual leave a year - that just seems so crazy now!

Exploring the Kimberleys, 1 month into our new lifestyle back in late 2021.

To get to this point though has been and will continue to be a lot of hard work, planning, and sacrifices. To say that I'm proud of us hitting semi-retirement at the age of 40 is an understatement! To be honest, we had a bit of a plan and financially had crunched some numbers but there was a point where we just had to pull the pin and see what would happen. Now into our 3rd year, we are starting to gain some confidence in our strategy and finding a bit of a groove. We have always had a mindset that you can never say never, and we still have our house that we rent out which will always be a home base should we ever decide to move back into a home we can't pull around on wheels! Sometimes we do miss living in a house and the things that coincide with that sort of living, but we have done some farm and house sitting which is great and plan to do a lot more in the future. We are also finding that people around us are taking our lifestyle a little more seriously these days and realising this is our way of life now and for the foreseeable future which has been a strange transition over time

We are getting close to being in our 4th year of this lifestyle and we haven't regretted it one little bit. Sure there are things we miss and at times, it actually gets tiring! I know some people will roll their eyes at that statement but since leaving our full-time jobs we have never been so busy. We not only now do a lot more with the YouTube side of things, which has been a great little hobby for both of us, but we are a year or so into managing this website, making and selling fishing rigs, running a charity, organising a fishing competition and all the other million hobbies in between. In amongst all that we still have to work to earn money to live, get us through the next few months and keep moving forward.

This freedom has given us opportunities to not just travel more but challenge ourselves and try things that we would have never had time for in the past. It's even allowed us to spend more time with our family. Even though right now we are writing this blog 4000km from our hometown, we still get to see them so much more when we are back south than we ever did when we were both working full-time. We have met a lot of like-minded people either on the road or through social media/YouTube and have built up a little community around us which has been absolutely amazing and something we never thought of happening before this journey started.

So, what are the plans for the next 1000 days??? We usually have the following 12 months roughly planned out but nothing is ever set in stone. The stint we are doing up in the Northern Territory for the next few months will leave us pretty close to the red financially so once we get back south, we might try to pick up an extra month or 2 of work on top of what we usually plan out just to keep our heads above water. On from there, we'll look at working another winter block up in the Pilbara to get some money back in the kitty then after that unsure.

Our setup while working up in the Pilbara.

We'd love to do a wet season up in the NT doing some farm caretaking or similar, so I'm constantly putting the feelers out to find something that would suit us. We have also been toying with the idea of upgrading thee ole Viscount in the next couple of years. Even though it has been a great home for us so far, we now know exactly what would work for our lifestyle and a couple more mod cons to make life a little more comfortable would be great like an ensuite and aircon. We are in no rush though and will have to save up to buy something 2nd hand so just looking at ideas and options for now. In terms of places to visit and travelling, we'd love to get back to South Oz and explore some more, Dirk Hartog Island is on the list, and we're also keen on doing some more exploring in the north of W.A.

Anyway, to wrap this up, I'd like to add that anyone can achieve freedom. It's not all about packing up everything and hitting the road, it's about having the ability to make choices and decisions that you didn't think you could make previously. I have not come across anyone I know who isn't in a position to reach a level of freedom of some sort.

If you want it, stop complaining and making excuses. Know it's possible and it's there for the taking...

On a side note, thanks to everyone who has supported us so far in this journey. You know who you are and you're bloody legends! We have such a great little community that gets behind us, sends me snakes, gives us tucka and places to camp, donates to our charity, shares their fishing spots and so much more!

Kel & I appreciate it so so much 🥰

Cheers Team and Cheers to the next 1000 days! 🍻🍻