Planning the leap!

It’s February 2017 and we are keen to go sailing.  Pack up what we need, sell the rest, rent the house, buy a boat, pull the kids out of school and head off!

So I’m Bel and my husband Matt and we both love being on the water.  We’ve both worked on boats in the past.  I dabbled for a few years, he’s an experienced, qualified captain who has been in the industry his whole working life.  We met working on an amazing 50m private motor yacht, as part of a crew of 12.  A few years later we decided to settle down in his native Australia and start a family.  As a Pom, who went to sea primarily to escape the British weather, this was a no-brainer for me!

We have our two beautiful daughters, Tilly and Sasha who, right now, are 8 and 7.  Although Tilly actually turns 9 next month and planning dinner out with two good friends (and us, I hope!) followed by a visit to a Cold Rock ice cream shop and back home for a sleepover.

We live in the very beautiful Whitsundays area, in the Tropical North of Oz, a stunning area of tropical rainforests, turquoise waters, coral reefs, palm trees and many gorgeous uninhabited islands.  We bought three acres of land 10 years ago and Matt and his Dad built our house, on the side of a hill, with great valley views and lots of creepy crawlies!  We keep chooks, grow veg and have regular visits from wallabies, cockatoos and rainbow lorrikeets.

Matt works locally, driving ferries to the islands, and I’m the librarian at the same school that our kids attend.  It’s a great local community, we’re all comfortable and happy.

We feel very lucky, very blessed … and we feel like we need to go sailing! It’s not that anything is missing, it’s that we both feel the pull of the sea.  After 10 years ashore, and working steadily, and being landlubbers, and having our kids we feel that – now it’s time.  If we don’t do it now, we never will. We’re pretty nervous.  It feels like a huge step.  It IS a huge step.  What will we do for money? Will we rent the house or sell it?  How long for?  Will we come back here, if we do, what will we do for work? What about schooling? What about friends?  Will the kids hate us? Will we hate each other?! How on earth will all of us live in such a tiny space after having this lovely house and acres of land?  How will I manage my fear of keeping the girls safe? So many questions … but we feel we have to do this now, or we’ll regret it forever.  We are both very excited!

There’s a lot to think about and a lot to plan … and this is where I’m going to blog it out.

Pre-kids:  Exploring Roman ruins in Turkey on a day off from our job on a private yacht.