Life on the road

It is closing in on two years since we landed in Sydney, and thinking about the last two years gives rise to many questions. Which is harder to believe, that I've been resident of Australia for almost two years, or that I've been homeless for two years. Who do I despise more: Stephen Harper or Tony Abbott? How long until the Australian housing market implodes? How badly does Nobel Prize committee wish they could have Barack Obama's prize back?

We've been on the road for much of the past two years – initially with just a car and a tent, but for the last 16 months, with our vehicle towing a small caravan. “Back home” we were wont to go on road trips, typically of 4-6 weeks length, invariably to the southwest US states in Nelson's rainy seasons (spring and fall), and usually for rock climbing, but once for a ski traverse in the Sierras. When imagining our move to Oz, I drew upon those experiences, and had trouble picturing us travelling about living in a small caravan for more than 6 months, as 6 weeks usually seemed long enough, but here we are, almost two years in, and no end in sight. 

We have had a few months at the mother-in-law's in Sydney as we got our selves settled in the country, and five months house sitting in Cairns, which has really helped stave off the road weariness. But still, I'm surprised at our staying power.

The Podmobile

I think there are a fair number of reasons we're still going strong, but most importantly, our home on the road is certainly an upgrade – we have a much better setup in our “van” than we had with our Boler in Canada:

1. It is a bit bigger, and we each have our own bed (complete with reading lamp – “pods” we call them, hence the “Podmobile”), and the beds are permanently beds and don't have to be made up into the kitchen table every morning (like in the Boler). 
2. The Podmobile has a bigger and better fridge, that has a workable freezer even in the heat of Australian summer. 
3. Our new rig also has excellent 12V LED lighting (partially my work, partially the previous owner's), so the Podmobile is very well lit which is really important during the 12+ hour dark nights.
4. A huge plus are my off-the-grid mods to the van, which mean that so long as we have sun for the photovoltaics (which we almost always do) we generally have as much power as we need to run electronics like MP3 players, cameras, mobile phones, and computers. So long as we have a source of water and food, we can happily live off the grid indefinitely.

The Internet

Even for anti-social, cave-dwelling Luddites like ourselves, connecting to the outside world, at least sporadically, is really important. With a smart phone, a good data plan (half the cost or less compared to Canada), and an in-house tech-head, we are much more connected that we used to be when travelling in the States. Anti-technology extremists that we are, we didn't have a cell phone back then, which made planning trip logistics and communicating with loved ones a chore. Now, when we're in range of a cell tower (sometimes frequently, sometimes only every couple weeks even with my external antenna – it is a big, mostly empty country) a few magic finger swipes turn our mobile phone into a portable WiFi hotspot, and presto our laptops (one each) are connected to the Internet with minimal fuss in the comfort of our pods or sitting at the kitchen table that doubles as an office desk. Whether it is keeping in touch with family, spraying on Crackbook, checking out the weather forecast, downloading eBooks and podcasts, or getting e-brochures for the next national park ... it is now hard to imagine life without a portable Internet connection.

The Climate

The weather here is much more comfortable to be camped out in a small RV than shoulder seasons in the US. The fact that Australia has climatic zones from temperate to tropical, and we move around with the seasons, means we don't wait out rain very often (4 months since the last rain), are generally warm enough to be comfortable, and only rarely have been too hot. Most of the time there is a water source nearby that doesn't freeze over each night, so if shower facilities are lacking we can usually go for a swim and thus it is rare for us to go to bed feeling dirty.

The Lessons Learned

We have also learned a few lessons, things that we need to do, to avoid the dreaded “road weary” burnout:

1. Don't drive too far each day. Hard core travellers will think we're wastes of skin, but if we can limit our daily time in the vehicle to 4 hours or less (we loathe driving), we are oh so much happier. This sometimes means we take quite a while to travel some not very interesting sections, but for us, it is a very favourable tradeoff indeed, and cuts down on the marriage councillor costs.
2. Don't try to pack too much into each day. We have a habit of being too literal with the carpé dium thing, and attempt to jam pack each and every day, with not a wasted moment. We used to underestimate how long it takes in an unfamiliar town to get groceries, petrol, and information about our upcoming adventures. We now try to schedule conservatively to avoid the headless chicken dance, and budget in some rest days (something that does not come easily to Wife).
3. Recognize the early signs of travel burnout, and find some quiet, out of the way spot, to just hang out for a week – something that in the past would have horrified us. Now, mind you, the ideal chill-out spot, needs to have activities, but they needn't be amazing, and they need to be accessible without the use of the vehicle – leaving the vehicle parked is a key part of chill-out week.

The Housing Market

The fact that we don't own a house, and have no idea where in Australia we would like to settle, means that any incipient ideas about ending the road trip and settling down wither on the vine, so to speak. And with housing prices in Oz in a horrific bubble, the house accountant thinks it is a good thing we're not wanting to settle down yet. When we moved here, the $AUD was worth $CDN1.2 and housing prices were in the stratosphere; I said that when the Aussie buck dropped to 80¢ Canadian and housing prices fell 30%, we'd buy a house. The dollar is half way there, but housing is still hanging in. I figger that China will blow up within a few years and Australia's mineral export economy will get monkey-hammered and we'll get our buying opportunity.

We won't want to live this way forever, but all in all, we are just way more comfortable on the road here, and without a home to go back to (or look after), we seem to be happy to just keep on exploring the island. Keep on keeping on ...