Who, what and where
This page will give you the basics of what you need to know before entering our site and discovering who we are, what we’ve done and where we’ve been. This site is a living page, and we have tried to break it down into sections for ease of access. The main part of the site is exploring States and Territories; the breakdown is mostly into Local Government Regions. So to find a location, you would search State (Queensland), Local Government Region (North Burnett), and then a further breakdown of the town (Gayndah).
Michael provides insight into what you need to know in regard to preparing for your towing holiday (do you know your weight?), and what you need to know about the main roads (eg Australia’s Country Way). As time permits, we will add sections on the equipment we use including why we chose it and what our honest opinions are of the items.
Nicole will provide insight into the different regions we visit; we have a template for each page so they will be easy to navigate. The template includes headings such as: What is it? What does it offer? What did we do? What was a highlight? What are the annual events? We even have sections on some of the animals we encounter (e.g. cassowary and crocodiles).
Who we are
We are a happily married couple who found each other later in life; we met in 2017 and married in 2019. Nicole was trying to overcome a fear of motorbikes (they are so dangerous), and Michael was a motorbike instructor (they’re safer than quad bikes)! Michael has 3 children from a previous marriage and Nicole also has 3 children, so between us, we have 3 girls and 3 boys, the modern day Brady Bunch!
All of our children are now adults, so we sold the family home and started exploring.
What we are doing
In 2021, we decided to travel and work while we explore Australia, discovering each area on the weekends.
I have a full-time job working remotely for an IT company.
Nicole works on short-term Environmental contracts in various regions, and this dictates the next location we explore.
This way we get to thoroughly explore each region before we move on to a new area every few months.
By doing this we hope to be able to provide you with a more in-depth viewpoint on each region as we pass through.
Why we decided
to do this
Not long after we got married Nicole completed her University degree and was looking for work. We worked out that I would be able to easily find a job in IT at any new location, so Nicole deviated from city job applications to rural and we haven’t looked back.
The first location was a 3-month contract in Cairns that turned into 16 months before we knew it.
After a brief stay in Innisfail, we ended up in Mackay. This was where we experienced our first struggle with trying to find somewhere to live, there was no rental accommodation anywhere.
We re-evaluated what we were doing and ended up buying a large caravan to live in while working in new locations.
What we have
done so far
Before we decided to travel for work, we had already completed a few different holidays (we will populate pages for these locations as time allows).
Gold Coast
Hunter Valley – Newcastle
A family reunion for Michael in 2017, along with the opportunity for Nicole to meet my family. Nicole spent 18 years in the Hunter Valley from her teens to her late 20s. She moved to the Gold Coast in 2002.
Central Coast (NSW)
Tasmania
Uluru
Cairns
While living in Cairns (January 2021 – April 2022), we found many things to do. You will find that Cairns is an extensive section. We both loved Cairns, apart from the humidity.
Cape York
During our time in Cairns, we decided to take some time off and drive the PDR and the Old Telegraph Track up to the tip of Cape York (Pajinka). We had three weeks to complete this trip which we did in August 2021.
Cassowary Coast – Innisfail
We learnt that the combination of the highest annual rainfall in Australia and the humidity of far north Queensland was not a good combination for my mould allergy. We lived here from April 2022 until September 2022.
Mackay
This is where Nicole had a 12-month contract. Neither of us enjoyed Mackay, and we both ended up with COVID during this time. We were in this region from October 2022 until October 2023.
New Zealand
We got married in June 2019 and decided we would make the trip to New Zealand for our 1-year anniversary. Thanks to Covid, that did not work out. This trip was taken in September 2023 and we visited the south island.
South Burnett
After leaving Mackay, I was able to continue working for the same company for a few months until they found a full-time on-site replacement for the position. This was only a couple of weeks before Nicole’s contract was finishing up, and I decided not to start looking for a new position until we knew where we were moving to next. This is when the website started to take shape. We lived here for 3 months.
North Burnett
Scenic Rim – Boonah
Toowoomba
We started 2025 with a move to Toowoomba. The bus was still at our friend’s place just outside Boonah, so we made trips back during weekends to work on the transformation; this restricted our exploration of the Toowoomba region. This contract was for just under 3 months, as we had already booked Africa prior to Nicole getting this location.
South Africa
We took a one month break to go on an African Safari. We started in Cape Town (Nicole’s favourite), then travelled up through Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, and then back into South Africa with a few days in Johannesburg. On the way home, we had a 5-day stopover in Singapore.
Douglas Shire – Mossman
June 2025 was our first big drive in Doris, our new home. The Douglas Shire is a pretty amazing spot to spend winter in, and be paid to live there I might add. Floating down the Mossman River was one of our favourite pastimes. We managed to get some windows put in and a 2.5kW air conditioner (just in time). We lived in Mossman for 6 months. We didn’t manage to get Doris registered before we left, as we discovered that she had two VINs!
Japan
We spent 2 weeks touring Japan with Nicole’s 3 children and their partners. We went to Tokyo, Mt Fuji, Nagano, Kyoto and Osaka.
Emerald – Central Highlands
Doris is finally registered!