Living small: motorhome versus yacht

You might have noticed that adventures in Delvy have currently been replaced with adventures on a big red yacht.  We’ve swapped one isolating lifestyle for another; a green landscape for blue. Living in a small space on land and water has similarities, but there are plenty of differences. Knowing how to sail is one of them!

Having spent a few years roaming the vast land of Australia in our Toyota Coaster motorhome, life on the water kept beckoning, so we have found ourselves a floating home once again. This sailing vessel is a little different to our previous yacht, Lady Katherine. We are now the proud owners of a 71-foot Pacific Proa. What’s that you ask? More on that later, but in the meantime let’s compare life on the road with life on the water.

Isolation continues

As COVID-19 restrictions begin to ease it hasn’t really changed much for us in rural Queensland. We’ve been here 6 weeks now and are happy living on the ‘farm’, still keeping busy with odd jobs like mowing, weeding, and shack maintenance, but enjoying the tranquillity and solitude of the Lethebrook district.

Our pot of gold iso spot. 

Coronavirus lockdown

We are camping on a floodplain, the Goorganga Plains wetlands, but it’s nearing the end of the wet season in the dry tropical region of the Whitsundays. Conway Range is at the northern edge and the Clarke Range to the south west, with not a hill in between. Long stalks of sugarcane ruffle in the wind, creating a Mexican wave; a random waft of burning off drifts past. A rooster crows, a tractor drones in the distance, the tin roof crackles as it’s heated by the sun.

One thing that is noticeable about living in isolation in a rural area: it’s quiet. No traffic noise, no sounds of music or other people’s voices; just nature’s tune. So very peaceful.

The advantages of getting up early, spectacular sunrises

Life off the road

Living on the road with no fixed address, what does one do when the government announces a ‘stay at home’ mandate? We can stay in Delvy – we have been for over 12 months now – but Delvy wouldn’t be welcome to keep travelling around rural and coastal towns of Australia throughout this coronavirus pandemic. And neither would we want to intrude or possibly burden small communities as we all endeavour to practice social distancing to help stop the spread.

Heading south on the Bruce Highway between Bowen and Proserpine