Van Cat Meow

In early 2014 I started making plans for a massive life change. Unhappy with my 10 years in the corporate world I started designing a new life for myself. I started designing a campervan that could provide me with shelter, a home, and comfort for this next stage of my life. Slowly I began to sell all my possessions such that what was left would fit in this van.

Want to see how we built our campervan? Check it out here.

In what could only be described as the most well prepared mid life crisis in history, my plan had developed to the point that I was ready to hand in my resignation. A day which I will remember forever as a feeling of pure adrenaline filled my blood in anticipation for the adventure that had only just begun, a feeling I had not experienced since childhood. I said goodbye to my amazing colleagues who had supported me for so long, to life as I knew it, and hello to the unknown.

I then spent the following months building my campervan from an empty shell into the home I live in today. It was a fun and exciting process seeing my idea become a reality as I learnt to work with the materials and changing the design as needed. But there was one little problem. A little black cat named Willow.

You can’t let this cat go. You have to take her with you

The words resonated with me and deep down I knew it had to be done, so I made it so. I took Willow away for weekends, then whole weeks, and not only did she cope, she thrived. I soon realised that what I thought was a house cat was in fact a van cat, an adventure cat!

By the end of 2014 we were living in the van full time and ready for the start of our adventure, a trip around Australia with no deadlines, and no plans. In May 2015 we left our hometown of Hobart, Tasmania by ferry to the mainland and are still travelling to this day.

We have now travelled thousands and thousands of kilometres around Australia.

Nowadays, we are joined by the love of my life, Steph, whom I met in Perth in 2016. Since then the three of us have have had countless adventures together exploring and living in Australia’s cities and wilderness.

Steph takes her roll of ‘chief cat attendant’ very seriously, ensuring that they spend lots of quality time together – notably, early mornings where Willow gets her ‘breakfast pats’.

In June 2019, after getting a non-opposable thumbs up from Willow, I asked Steph to marry me.

Read our love story here.

Now that we are married who knows where our next adventure will take the three of us?

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