{"id":144,"date":"2024-01-02T13:04:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-02T03:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thingstodoexploringaustralia.com.au\/?page_id=144"},"modified":"2026-02-07T15:10:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T05:10:45","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thingstodoexploringaustralia.com.au\/","title":{"rendered":"What you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Explore States and Territories<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Preparing for
your road trip<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Explore Australia
by road<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Find picturesque waterfalls<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Explore Australia
off road<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Native Australian
Animals<\/a><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Who, what and where<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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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).<\/p>

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.\u00a0<\/p>

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).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Who we are<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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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! <\/p>\n

All of our children are now adults, so we sold the family home and started exploring.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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What we are doing<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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In 2021, we decided to travel and work while we explore Australia, discovering each area on the weekends.<\/p>

I have a full-time job working remotely for an IT company.\u00a0<\/p>

Nicole works on short-term Environmental contracts in various regions, and this dictates the next location we explore.\u00a0<\/p>

This way we get to thoroughly explore each region before we move on to a new area every few months.<\/p>

By doing this we hope to be able to provide you with a more in-depth viewpoint on each region as we pass through.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Why we decided
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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. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The first location was a 3-month contract in Cairns that<\/span> turned into 16 months before we knew it.\u00a0
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After a brief stay in Innisfail, we ended up in Mackay.\u00a0<\/span>This was where we experienced our first struggle with trying to find somewhere to live, there was no rental accommodation anywhere.<\/span><\/p>

We re-evaluated what we were doing and ended up buying a large caravan to live in while working in new locations.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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What we have
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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).<\/em><\/p>

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Gold Coast\u00a0<\/h5>
This is where we met. Nicole had raised her 3 children here and lived there for 18 years.\u00a0<\/div>
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Hunter Valley – Newcastle<\/h5>

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.<\/p>

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Central Coast (NSW)<\/h5>
Various road trips. I grew up in this region. I moved to the Gold Coast around 2013.\u00a0<\/div><\/div>
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Tasmania<\/h5>
This is the holiday we took when I proposed to Nicole in 2019<\/div>
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Uluru<\/h5>
This trip was taken in October 2020. Flights were cheap because of Covid.\u00a0<\/div>
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Cairns<\/h5>

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.\u00a0<\/p>

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Cape York<\/h5>

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.\u00a0<\/p>

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Cassowary Coast – Innisfail<\/h5>

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.<\/p>

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Mackay<\/h5>

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.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

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New Zealand<\/h5>
During our time in Mackay, we were able to finally book our honeymoon to 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.\u00a0<\/div>
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South Burnett<\/h5>

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.<\/p><\/div>

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North Burnett<\/h5>
After only being here for a short amount of time, I was offered a full-time position working remotely for a company based in Sydney with offices throughout Australia. This means that from now on, I will be a full-time remote worker with no need to reapply for different positions every 3-6 months when we move to the next location. Our time in the North Burnett was extended to 6 months.<\/div>
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Scenic Rim – Boonah<\/h5>
Before moving to Toowoomba, we had a stopover in Boonah. The caravan has been getting a bit small for full-time living and we want more space, so we invested in a bus. When we purchased the bus, it was still fully set up as a coach, so there was a fair bit of work to be done with gutting the bus for a rebuild. Plus, just for fun, the bus leaked like a sieve, and we had a river running through the bus with the first downpour. The other thing that we found really difficult with trying to build a bus is tradesmen; there are none, and the ones that are around aren’t interested in the work (yes, we did do a lot of the work ourselves, but there are some things that we were either not comfortable doing, or we need to be signed off by a professional before the bus can be registered). We were here for 2 months.<\/div>
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Toowoomba<\/h5>

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.\u00a0<\/p>

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South Africa\u00a0<\/h5>

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.\u00a0<\/p>

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Douglas Shire – Mossman\u00a0<\/h5>

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!<\/p>

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Japan<\/h5>

We spent 2 weeks touring Japan with Nicole’s 3 children and their partners. We went to Tokyo, Mt Fuji, Nagano, Kyoto and Osaka.\u00a0<\/p>

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Emerald – Central Highlands<\/h5>

Doris is finally registered!\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Explore States and Territories Preparing for your road trip Explore Australia by road Find picturesque waterfalls Explore Australia off road Native Australian Animals 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-144","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thingstodoexploringaustralia.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thingstodoexploringaustralia.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thingstodoexploringaustralia.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thingstodoexploringaustralia.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thingstodoexploringaustralia.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":227,"href":"https:\/\/thingstodoexploringaustralia.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8898,"href":"https:\/\/thingstodoexploringaustralia.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/144\/revisions\/8898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thingstodoexploringaustralia.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thingstodoexploringaustralia.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}