Things often take a quick turn when you least expect it.
While visiting Uluru our beautiful girl, Zoe was a little silly and ate some pebbles. This led to a 6 hour dash back to Alice Springs to the emergency vet.
The pebbles became secondary as the lovely Dr Tina found a growth in Zoe’s Spleen, resulting in a very stressful 2 day, 17hr race to Adelaide to a specialist hospital, with regular calls to Dr Josh (Zoe’s regular vet) and his team back home for their awesome support.
The nurses, vets, surgeons and clinical care teams at SASH in Adelaide have all been amazing. With a lot of love, and the many people who have been touched by our gentle and loving girl willing her well, she has pulled through surgery and is recovering well in hospital, with a positive outlook.
We can’t wait to be reunited with the third member of our travelling family, and looking forward to convalescing by the beach for a couple of weeks.
We’ll keep posting photos from our awesome adventure while we spend some quality time getting our little girl back to full strength.
Exploring the unbeaten paths of Australia, one adventure at a time! 🌿 Follow along as we uncover hidden gems, tackle rugged terrains, and embrace the thrill of exploring offbeat destinations. 🚙💨
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Our favourite way to experience Melbourne is on foot, looping between the State Library, NGV, laneways, arcades, gardens and the Yarra, with a tram ride to St Kilda and the occasional MSO concert.
First visits feel longer because novelty stretches time. Returning compresses it. This reflection explores how attention shapes memory, and how slow travel allows familiar places to feel deeper rather than shorter.
J Ward in Ararat began as a gold rush gaol before becoming Victoria’s Criminally Insane Division. A guided tour reveals bluestone cells, preserved gallows, and a confronting chapter in Australia’s justice and mental health history.
Aradale in Ararat is one of Australia’s largest former psychiatric hospitals. A guided history tour reveals confronting stories, evolving mental health care, and the complex legacy of an institution that operated for more than a century.
A moving degustation through Bellarine farmland, The Q Train pairs heritage rail with seriously good food. From steam departures to thoughtful non-alcoholic pairings, it’s one of Victoria’s most memorable regional dining experiences.
Neil returned to Melbourne for a short city break, wandering the Yarra, visiting the State Library, eating well, and stocking up on freckles, while back at the motorhome Zoe gave Cameron a small health scare.
Travelling Australia with a dog means national parks require planning. Here’s how we responsibly visit parks while travelling full-time with Zoe, from splitting up visits to safe short stays and practical local dog-minding options.
A guided visit to the Victorian Pride Centre reveals a thoughtfully designed space built for connection, advocacy, and support. More than a landmark, it’s a working hub that honours the past while shaping a practical, inclusive future.
Werribee Open Range Zoo offers a surprisingly immersive safari experience just outside Melbourne. With open savannahs, accessible paths, and thoughtful design, it feels far removed from the city while remaining easy to navigate.
Photography slowed our travel down. By staying longer, noticing light, and relying on simple techniques, we learnt to photograph with more intention. Sometimes the best images arrive quietly, once a place feels familiar.
Slow travel isn’t about distance or aesthetics. It’s about rhythm, familiarity, and staying long enough for places to reveal themselves. A reflective look at what slowing down actually feels like, from life on the road.
The Holden Museum in Echuca has since closed, but we’re glad we visited when it was still open. A quiet retrospective on everyday Australian cars, regional passion projects, and noticing things before they disappear.
Exploring the mouth of the Hopkins River near Warrnambool, from calm water and dog beaches to coastal walks, fishing spots, historic graves, and wide ocean views. A lived-in stretch of coast best discovered slowly.
Just offshore from Warrnambool, guardian dogs quietly protect a colony of little penguins. The Middle Island Maremma Project is a thoughtful conservation success, best understood from the mainland, where learning matters more than access.
Those concrete domes near Warrnambool’s breakwater aren’t public art. They’re the remains of an underground aquarium built in 1971 and closed in 1997, a small coastal curiosity with an unexpected past.
2025 wasn’t about ticking boxes. It was about slowing down, paying attention, and letting the road lead. A reflective look back at the places and moments that shaped our year, in the order they unfolded.
With just one day in Adelaide, we crammed in all our favourites! Art, museums, botanic gardens and a market dash. North Terrace delivered its usual magic, reminding us why this city always feels good to return to.
Adelaide’s best days are the slow ones. Museums, galleries, gardens and the Central Market make up our top five things to do in the city — an easy, walkable loop we return to every time.
Hahndorf gave us a relaxed day of wandering, snacks and a few too many condiments from Beerenberg. Between gin tastings, strudel and leafy streets, this Adelaide Hills favourite is an easy, enjoyable stop with plenty to explore.
McLaren Vale became a favourite during our Port Willunga stay. Art at the Cube, pizza at Chalk Hill and a few essential Fruchocs for the road. A relaxed mix of wineries, food and rolling vineyard views.
The Barossa Sculpture Park and Whispering Wall made for a simple, memorable stop between the valley and Adelaide — big views, strange acoustics and a few fun moments we’ll save for our next Top Secret Dispatch.
A relaxed Barossa morning at Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop gave us scones, lake views and a visit to the kitchen from The Cook and the Chef. Peaceful, friendly and a must-stop for Maggie fans.
Waikerie gave us ferry rides, silo art, bakery stops and an easy riverfront stay. A bright Riverland town with good food, calm paths and a few rituals we return to every time we pass through.
Renmark sits on the Murray with sandstone cliffs, impressive silo art and a historic lifting bridge. We came for a day trip from Barmera and found more than expected. A relaxed Riverland stop worth slowing down for.
From buffalo chicken pizza to desert sculptures and Silverton’s donkeys, Broken Hill gave us art, weather, and classic outback humour in equal measure. It’s a place that surprises every time — dust storms included.
From rainforest pools to outback springs and shaded rockholes, these are the waterfalls and swimming spots that shaped our journey across Australia. Cool water, easy tracks, and quiet corners worth slowing down for.
From Nyngan’s riverside calm to Cobar’s quiet bush camp and the long road to Broken Hill, this stretch of outback NSW is a reminder that sometimes, the in-between days are the best ones.
Armidale gave us cool mornings, friendly markets, and the joy of finding real bookshops again. With gardens, heritage, and country calm, it’s the kind of inland town that makes you want to stay a little longer.
The NSW coast is busy, but not everywhere. From laid-back Woolgoolga to Bellingen’s Butter Factory and the mountain roads to Dorrigo, we found the quiet corners still holding their charm.
Cameron is a travel writer, photographer, and freelance copywriter with more than fourteen years of experience crafting stories that connect people and place. Based on the road in a motorhome with his partner, he documents Australia’s quieter corners through Off the Main Road, a travel journal devoted to the towns, landscapes, and characters often overlooked by the tourist trail.
His writing blends observation with lived experience, drawing on a professional background in brand storytelling. Blending visual storytelling with a writer’s eye for detail, Cameron captures moments that reveal the character of regional Australia—from weathered towns and open landscapes to the honest rhythm of life across Australia.
A slow morning in the mist at Warrnambool's historic Botanic Gardens, a drive out to Hopkins Falls running at full strength, and an afternoon browsing Fletcher Jones Market.