The Adventuring Pals are hitting the road again. Here’s how they handled the Big Shift

WORDS AND PHOTOS ELVIN AND ESHLYN PAL 

Before hitting the road on a big lap, most of us have to go through the big pack up. Sorting, selling, giving away and packing up all our belongings and freeing ourselves from the tethers of “normal life” to gain our freedom on the road. 

We are currently in the middle of our second big pack up. After missing our life on the road since settling down, we came to the point of deciding to do it all over again! We are just now realising just how much “stuff” we have accumulated in the past two years of being in a permanent stationary home.

Our Daily Stuff

Must be something about filling in the space or maybe just spoiling our kids after being deprived of toys for most of their childhood due to the restricted space of our caravan home. Whatever the cause, the result has been many extra crates of toys and clothes given to Vinnie’s in a bid to rid ourselves of the excess baggage. The kids don’t mind though, as they are eager to make the swap for adventures on the road again!

As for the rest of the household goods, things like beds, our beloved couch, white goods and all the necessities of “house life”, they will go back into our shed in the backyard. We did this last time and found it worked out well and made our transition back into a house a lot easier without the worry of having to buy all these things again. It also saves us the cost of storing at a storage facility and we make it part of the rental agreement for the shed to be off limits.

The Big Things

So what did we do with our vacant house? Well, we decided to rent it out over selling it. This proved to be advantageous during our first stint on the road (2019-2022) as otherwise we would have been priced out of the market due to post covid crazy times. We were lucky in the fact that our rental income is enough to offset the cost of the mortgage and other costs relating to the house, so it was a favourable option. 

Our second car, as much as we would have loved to hang onto it, we just had to sell it. It was going to be too costly and impractical to keep due to ongoing registration, insurance, maintenance costs, depreciation and obviously storage options. The same applied to our boat and we sold that on too. These were sacrifices we had to make to live out our dream. It was liberating not having to worry about upkeeping these larger items especially whilst we are not utilising them. 

Changing Plans

This time around, we are setting off without a caravan. Due to recent storm damage, our caravan was deemed a write off just a month out from our set off date! With the payout not leaving us with enough funds and time to purchase another caravan, we are starting our life on the road with whatever we can fit into our ute canopy and calling our roof-top tent our home. All this means we have to be even more strict with what we can take with us. 

No matter how much time we allow for organising our departure, it seems to always boil down to a big rush at the end, but it’s great to have a definite departure date and I’m sure it will be a great relief to finally be on the road again.

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