So how did we get to this point?

We thought we were living out our big life plans reasonably well. And yet things just didn't feel right. We were struggling to manage the work/family balance. Our large energy guzzling house didn't really reflect who we were. Our mortgage didn't feel right. And generally speaking, our lifestyle didn't flow in a way that felt natural. We were losing sleep over some pretty big issues too; peak oil, predictions of economic doom, real estate busts, environmental disasters, commercialism and institutionalized schooling. Yes, heavy stuff! We were reading and discussing with like-minded friends topics such as living self-sufficiently, home-schooling and building environmentally suitable houses. We sometimes felt burdened and confused, but also excited because there were so many possibilities. It soon became pretty obvious, clearly our big life plans had to change. So we sold up, packed up and moved in with my folks. Ben quit his job and stayed at home with the kids full time and I returned to work five days a week. We had two main goals, firstly to save hard, and secondly, to come up with a new plan. We knew a few things for certain - we wanted to live with an environmental conscience, we hoped to be as self-sufficient as possible and we wanted as little debt as realistically achievable.

Finally we were free to drift and dream for a while. To work through our doubts. To work out if we'd gone completely crackers! Were we being realistic? Plenty of people around us thought we weren't. It didn't put us off - we knew that to be true to ourselves, we had to follow our instincts.

Living with Nannie and Pa proved to be great, especially for our kids. I headed out the door for work each day and Ben took on the task of home-schooling our first born. Domestic duties were shared, food costs split and contributions to electricity and phone bills made. Everybody had a role to fulfill. The house was big enough to allow everyone some privacy.  So we settled in and stopped obsessing about the future for a while.

And that, of course, is when our life journey took a most unexpected path. We were taken completely by surprise. We stumbled upon an ad in the paper. There was a job, perfect for me, on an island far, far away! I wasn't exactly sure where this island was and knew almost nothing about it - but I was intrigued and just had to find out more.  After a little bit of research, we realised what an amazing opportunity this could be. I had visions of us being just be like Swiss Family Robinson!!!! So applications were written, refined and emailed, a job interview endured (I have NEVER been so nervous in my whole life), job offered and accepted and well - the rest is history (still currently in the making of course), because here we are!

So now we reside on Norfolk Island, a small isolated, breathtakingly beautiful, island in the South Pacific.  We are part of a diverse population of just 1800 people, a proud community rich with culture, traditions and history. In this blog I hope to share with you the ins and outs of our daily life. And who knows, one day you might visit and see it for yourself!

Cheers,
Michelle

PS We still aim to be completely self sufficient one day and hope that in the future we can build/or buy a house that encompasses environmentally friendly principles. For now though, we just apply our ideals for living to our Norfolk existence - as best we can!