Comfort Zone

Nothing good ever came from a comfort zone right? Right!

While giving up our day jobs, house, 80% of our belongings and living in a van full time is definitely getting out of the comfort zone, after 5 months on the road and feeling quite settled, we thought we’d shake things up a bit!

After reaching the furthest Northern point of Queensland that our lovely van Lucy could get us (not being a 4wd!) from Cape Tribulation we turned around and made the trek inland back to the Central Highlands, to spend some more time in the Gemfields and Anakie in particular. We had made some great new friends on our previous visit and were lucky enough to have the opportunity to come back and stay a while.

Knowing that we would be well and truly off the grid, we stocked up on supplies and prepared ourselves for our next challenge. Our comfort zone stayed somewhere behind that thick cloud of dust as we made our way off the main highway.

After 2 hours of driving (somewhat around in circles as we tried to remember how to get down to the dam that Ray had shown us once, a month ago!) we finally arrived and set up camp over looking the glassy dam. I thought I knew what silence was…until we arrived here. The slight rustle of leaves on the trees as a cool breeze blew, the cry of hawks as they circled above the dry land and the occasional moo from the nearby cows. Other than the wildlife, we were completely alone. As far as the eye could see, hills of red dirt, a forest in the distance, an enormous vast amount of space. A new feast for our eyes after months of beaches, rainforests, cities and roads. A true sense of being in the outback.

As the days rolled into nights and back into days, we found ourselves truly leaving whatever comfort zone we had found ourselves in. Solar as our only power source (perfect, as we could still make real coffee!), cold showers, making fires, kayaking in the dam, (attempting to) catch crayfish, fossicking in huge holes and up steep mounds in search of sapphires, getting absolutely filthy dirty and doing it all again the next day! Overnight we would hear the dingoes howling and some nights they were so close we could hear them playing and yapping to one another. We saw a jet black wallaroo, 8 camels and a baby emu. I somehow felt that we were most certainly the minority here being human, and that was fine with me.

Life seems to be so different when you’re out of the city, away from electricity. In the ‘big smoke’ TV, lights on, devices beeping and constant distractions keep us occupied. Out here, in this life, we find ourselves settling in for the night a lot earlier, as our bodies naturally follow the sun, and waking a lot earlier too. We adapt to charging the very few devices we have when the sun is at it’s highest point and simply go without when the sun is hidden.

To add to our change, we decided (well, it seemed to be somewhat my idea, but Frank was on board!) to do a raw vegan June challenge. The first month of Winter is when most people throw on the trackies and start loading up on comfort food – not for us! On top of already substituting dairy products for almond or coconut based, we decided to eat raw and cut out meat. For obvious environmental and ethical reasons (if you don’t know how cruel and wasteful the dairy, meat and egg industries are, do yourself a favour and get online.) but also to cut down on packaging, eat fresh, no cooking as we knew we’d be off the grid, save money, have a little cleanse and keep the winter kilos at bay!

We did fine for the first week and made lots of yummy, raw salads with loads of variety, legumes and nuts, along with protein shakes and/or vital greens smoothies to ensure our nutritional and energy needs were met. By day 8 I was struggling! Not so much with the vegan aspect, but with not cooking! Cooking is ingrained in my DNA and is something I love to do. I felt not only out of my comfort zone, but completely lost (and hungry!). We later re-introduced some cooked dinners on alternate days and added in a few (ethical sourced/produced) animal products. The 2 that I most definitely cannot live without are eggs and cheese. So, we are now back to eggs and greens for breakfast (YAY!) and a little soft cheese every other afternoon! Frank being a true carnivore, has adapted really well and it really is proof that there are so many wonderful fresh foods available, if you put your creativity hat on and get out of the ‘meat and 3 veg’ mindset. Not that he really ever had that mindset…more like veg and 3 meats!

After June is over, I wonder if we will ever go back to eating as much meat as we previously did, or if we will continue to feel lighter, healthier and cleaner, finding tasty nutrition from other sources.

A few kilos lighter, hair considerably knottier & dirtier, the van so much dustier, we leave the dam with smiles on our faces (and a pocketful of sapphires!). A little sad to leave though, as Anakie and it’s residents have truly found a little soft spot in our hearts. But, what we’ve taken away from this experience is – get out of your comfort zone…you might just surprise yourself!