Page 38 - Kickin Up Dust - Australia

FEATURE Raising of the Sons

Live life or just exist in it.
These words can haunt you when you’re not living a life you’re proud of. But if you live your life like it’s
your last day on earth, then these words may just inspire you. Breathe excitement into your day, roll
around in lush green grass, feel mud squish through your toes. Have dust cover your windscreen and fill
your tummies with amazing food. Ride waves, walk mountains, laugh, dance and most importantly, love
your life hard. Think of yourself rich, not with money but with experiences.
We have a saying in our family and that is “if you’re
dirty, you’re having fun!” So 10 months ago our
family Amy (mum) John (dad) Jimmy (11) Gus (9) and
Skipper (5) decided to get dirty!

Our adventure started when we decided to purchase a
caravan, get a new car and leave everything we knew
and travel Australia. It’s quite honestly the best thing
we have ever done for our family unit.

So that all seems pretty easy hey. Well this is how
it all came about. John worked as an operations
manager in Northern Victoria’s largest garden
supplier. Amy as a senior Peri operative technician
in the local Echuca hospital. The boys attended the
local catholic primary school and threw themselves
into community sport, which they thrived in. We
lived a great life full of fun, adventures and throwing
ourselves into work. The daily grind became
exhausting. Amy debilitatingly injured her back and
needed surgery. This kept her from enjoying anything
life created. Covid hit and we were locked down on
and off for 15 months.
“ We asked ourselves what we At the time of making the decision to leave for
the trip fear made it difficult to think straight. We
wanted in our lives, and it thought of so many reasons why not to go. We were
completely obsessed with thinking about everything
wasnt what we had. we would miss out on. What was really happening
So, we changed it up! “ was we were failing to see what opportunities
we would be providing our family. Wow, the
opportunities we have experienced on the trip were
those we didn’t ever consider! The resilience we’ve
developed, our communication styles improving, the
bonds and life long friends we’ve made with other
travellers and time spent with our kids, that will
slowly become less as they grow up.

When we told people we were leaving to go on a trip
around Australia they said “we wish we had done
that”. Those comments actually made me sad, sad
for the people that wished their lives away.
Our decision to travel has taken us from Mallacoota
to the Macdonnell Ranges. The Daintree to Darwin.
We’ve chased tuna in Coffin Bay, and crocodiles up
the Cape. We’ve swam in the blue hue waters in the
West and wandered the wilderness of Uluru.
KICKIN UP DUST start living their dreams, to fall completely in love
We want to inspire other people to stop wishing and
with their lives. Go check out our adventures on
Instagram at “raising of the sons”.

Amy Hogan
38 Instagram - @raisingofthesons