19 April 2017

We are excited to announce we will be moving to Australia for a 12 month stay.  The tag line to our travel blog is “Tell tales of the places you have been, not of the places you hope to go” so with that it is soon time to embark on our next adventure.

In mid-June we will be leaving for Australia.  Our plan is to settle in the Brisbane area for the first half and then Melbourne for the second half.  We hope to travel extensively across Australia and New Zealand, staying long enough to absorb the culture, make new friends, and take home life-long memories.  Most importantly this will be time to concentrate on family time before the kids start high school.

And as always, we will blog our adventures for anyone who is interested.

FAQ’s

Work:  For the most part, I am taking what we are calling an “early year of retirement”.  A stipulation of our visas is that we cannot work or volunteer in Australia.  I will be doing some technical writing.  I am fortunate to work for a company and a manager who are willing to allow me to take this time away.

School:  We will home school the kids.  They will be taking on-line classes.  In addition to the prerequisite classes, we will study Australian and New Zealand history and enroll the kids in sports, music, and art classes.

Why Australia?:  Why not?  Australia and New Zealand are both places that have been high on our travel wish list.  No, we have never been there.  We expect Australia to be different enough to be interesting but comfortable enough to take this leap.  The country is roughly the size of the Lower 48 so there should be unlimited road trip opportunities.

Why Now?:  Why wait?  This coming school year is almost perfect for the kids and you never know what could happen in the future that might keep us from doing it.

Contact Information:  We will get new phone numbers once we arrive.  Even though our old numbers will remain activated, we will not be able to receive your calls or texts on our old numbers until we return.  Our personal email and social media accounts will remain as is, so that will be the most reliable way to keep in contact.