4,000 km to Perth

I'm currently going through a major lifestyle upgrade.
I'm talking, beyond my wildest imagination level stuff.
Lifestyle creep at it's finest.



However it didn't come without some serious internal justification.
When is the right time? What are the long-term implications?

My wife: "when is it too much?"

How my brain rationalised my sentiments:

I have absolute certainty on where I am, and where I want to be in 5, 10 and 20 years time.
Let's say our 20 year destination is to get to Perth from Sydney.

We jump in the car, and put Perth as the destination on the GPS, via Melbourne and Adelaide.
There are familiar places we would like to revisit, and friends to see along the way.



Essentials are packed, some snacks, and cash for anything we may need.
There will be a lot we don't have. 20 years is a long drive.

Along we go on our merry way.

It was a pain getting out of Sydney. There were a few arguments, we left later than expected, got stuck in rush hour traffic, I'd forgotten to top up the fuel tank the night before. Life happens. We were always expecting a few flats along the way.

We are now cruising past Melbourne. Musics blaring, listening to some great 80's, 90's and early 2000's. You know you're getting older when you're flicking through the radio, hear a great song, and look down to see it's set to Smooth FM.

So where were we?
Right...

Wife: "you know, we've come this far, it would be awesome to do the great ocean road".

Yeah, that would be great. I haven't done it before.
Wifey puts it in the GPS. It will add an additional 200km to our trip.

Questions: Will it take us off track? by how long? can we make it up? is it a nice to do, or a must do? are we okay with this? what additional resources do we need? how do I mitigate the impact? do we still want to do it?

Aka, do we get kittens, shall we try for kids, do we move to a house, shall we upgrade the cars, shall we go on another holiday, shall I buy a jetski, suana, and an A. Lange & Sonhe Lange 1 moonphase in platinum with a brown leather strap?

Hell yeah, let's do it. Woooo!!!

What's helpful about setting the GPS early on, is it gives us an indication if we are heading in our intended direction. A detour to Cairns would not be okay.

We will get a little lost on the way, get a few flats, hopefully not run out of food, water and fuel, The certainty, is we will continue to head to Perth.

The journey is to be enjoyed. Who you enjoy it with is potentially a far more important conversation.



20 years. You really want to be with people that add massive value to the adventure. Ideally with some map reading, and car repair abilities, perhaps they brought some great snacks to enjoy.

Some may only want to accompany you to Albury, or Adelaide. That's okay. As long as you all enjoy the ride.

Now...



Some of us will start our journey with a crappy car, or some less than ideal travel mates (pro-tip: YOU can change that).
Some of us may want to go to Cairns or Alice Springs, or nowhere at all.
And some of us are under the false impression that Perth was my final destination.
I can tell you now, when I started, I was heading to Wagga Wagga via Townsville.

Along the way there will be many dreams of future adventures. We may fall in love with Adelaide and stay. Perhaps by the time we reach Perth, we are itching to go to Broome so we don't stay long.

But by continuously measuring our progress, we can see how we are tracking and make decisions accordingly.

If you'd like to share how your journey is going so far, or the lifestyle changes you're going through, please do.

Enjoy YOUR adventure!
I hope your journey will be as enjoyable as mine has been so far.

Adios amigo.

 

I’ve been thinking about your post for a couple of hours. My journey is much shorter by distance but a world away from the beginning. My childhood was humble to say the least, I’ve touched upon it in a superannuation post a few years ago. I worked hard and ended up in my dream suburb which I’ve grown out of. I’ve had my eye on some tiny blocks in a new development in the western suburbs, I missed out of the first two stages of land on sale and I put in a bid on the three cheapest blocks. Offers were only open about ten days and I thought about it and submitted one last offer, on a more expensive block at a pretty high price. The ( second) agent told me most had been sold to developers. Last week the ( second) agent rang me saying the last offer had been accepted, I literally could not believe my ears. To my surprise, it elicited all of those childhood emotions and inferiority beliefs that I thought I had overcome.
Fast forward 3 days and I’ve (almost) decided to sell my PPOR , build my small forever home ( I know exactly what I want) and maybe cut my hours at work.
So, my journey is more metaphorical and about 18 kilometres but it’s a journey I never in my wildest dreams thought I could get a ticket on. Kudos @NHG

 

Great post and well done to both of you!

 

Fantastic! Enjoy the journey.

 

That looks like a rusted up Datto 1600. OK where’s the after shot?

 

Interesting. How often and how many you are planning to change that ? A younger and more attractive one each time?

 

If that's what is important to you, then sure.

I was thinking more about passengers who complain about how uncomfortable the car is, how the road is always too bumpy, the view to bland, and the music too soft or too loud.

More than likely continue to remind you, they would have preferred to have taken a boat to New Zealand, or how Pedros trip must be WAY more fun. Damn people, why didn't you go with Pedro.

I've met drivers who have a car filled with passengers who connect over how bad the road, the car, and the sky is. They didn't check the fuel gauge, fluids levels, or tire wear before leaving. The journey is irrelevant. When the car finally breaks down, it will be the manufacturers fault and will give them something new to bond over.

Personally I've parted ways with passengers who couldn't enjoy the trip because other people had cars, and were driving...? They had better snacks than we had, or it's gotten cloudy in Adelaide an should never have left Sydney.

Am super grateful I had a passenger who reminded me constantly how bad a driver i was. It gave the clarity to find my navigator who lightens the mood with jokes and good banter to cheer me up when I get lost, helps out when we get a flat, and if I'm getting dozy, takes over and drives towards our chosen destination.

It's your journey. How you choose to go about it is up to you.

 

That's awesome, thanks for sharing.

Sounds like you reached a previous destination and have set a new one.

It's human nature to outgrow where we are.
Wouldn't be surprised to hear an update in a few years time

Unrelated side note:
Some also sabotage where they are so they can have 'growth' by traversing the known path to get back where they already were.

It's a loop where they have have growth, maintain certainty, and can stay connected with their people.

As Tony Robbins says, anything that hits 3 or more human needs becomes an addiction.

 

What a brilliant post. My own life journey has been long with many twists and turns along the way. Many hardships as well as hard work, and many great times. If you'd asked 20yr old me how my life would be pan out, I would never have guessed the eventual route that we took. Currently living the life.....but.....have we reached our final destination to sit back & just enjoy the space? I really can't imagine moving again, but only time will tell.

 

You post reminded me of a few years ago, when I used to jump on my Motorbike and disappear for three four days...

Sometimes I'd be on the way to work and just call the boss, tell him I'm not coming to work today and just leave for a long weekend... One of the reasons why i'm still working for the same company ...

I'd do 700/800kms a day in any direction I pick and sleep wherever I can find a place, mostly backpackers lodges as they used to be cheap and usually have interesting characters staying there. Most of my riding mates used to think I'm crazy to ride by myself for days, especially being that far away from home. For me, that was ultimate freedom...

I miss those days and been working on getting back to that. Enjoy your journey and be safe.

 

OK I did some research. But they are strikingly similar. I just thought that from the rust pattern , it was a datto. Apparently Lada was a copy of a Fiat.

 

I want to take a trip with my husband from Perth to Exmouth over a few months, let’s see if we can fit it in next year. A few places I want to visit is Monkey Mia, (Best eggs Benedict, amazing sunsets and beautiful wildlife), and see for the first time Dirk Hartog Island, remote Stations and go swimming with Manta Rays at Coral Bay. I went swimming with Whale Sharks at Exmouth a few months ago, it was incredible and mind blowing - they are so huge and you can’t imagine what it’s like but when you first see them it’s amazing. Last time I went snorkelling at Exmouth I cam across some huge fish and a massive sting ray. I find it so wild that you are looking at them and they are checking you out also. We had talked about doing the driving trip in our twenties but still haven’t but I think now is a great time! My hubby loves driving long distance so that’s good as I’m not big on driving. Daniel living my dream. https://www.news.com.au/finance/bus...ws-story/d18854a1932e993967f9804c74e183ae?amp

 

i actually had a lada once in my previous life, looong looong time ago.

 

Lada has a unique design charecteristic that limits rust. Ladas are made from ****. Copied from a 1967 Fiat is about as close as it gets. Fiat bundled up its panel stamping and sold it all. Russian didt use old Fiat engine as it was old fashioned.

 

How do you double the value of a Lada?

Fill the petrol tank.