In 2018 photographer and writer Jodi Wilson and her husband packed up their home, sold 80% of their belongings and hit the road with their 4 kids. They’ve spent 2.5 years travelling in a caravan around Australia without a plan or any particular destination in mind. The goal? To slow down, live simply and spend time with each other.

Having recently settled into life in small town Tasmania, Jodi is distilling the lessons learnt from the road into a book – Practising Simplicity. We chatted to Jodi about motherhood, the opportunity we all have to slow down and take note of the little things (which really are the big things) and the importance of sharing our stories.

Tell us a bit about how you mix motherhood, work and adventure:

They are inextricable linked; I’ve written and photographed my life as a mother for the past 13 years so adding adventure into the mix wasn’t a big leap.

When we first decided to travel (bearing in mind that we had never camped or caravanned as a family before) most people called us “brave”. But really, we were consciously stepping out of a cycle of work and sleep and a life that was very much dictated by obligation and the school bell. It may have taken some bravery to make the leap into vanlife but it was such a welcome shift for us. It changed everything about our life and taught us that adventure is always worthwhile (to quote Amelia Earhart).

I think it’s particularly important to note that adventure doesn’t have to be grand or permanent. Adventure is going towards the mountains or the ocean on your weekends; steering clear of the shops and instead immersing yourself in nature. It’s finding green pockets in your neighbourhood, walking barefoot on the sand or simply embarking on the adventure that is growing veggies in your backyard.

What gets you up in the morning?

A whistling kettle.

Biggest challenge with raising kids in the outdoors:

Keeping an eye on all of them (there’s 4 and the youngest, Marigold, has grown up on the road so she has no concept of boundaries. It will be interesting to see if her wandering ways continue as she grows up).

Coffee – how do you take it?

Latte.

First thing you do when you get to a campsite?

Unhitch the van, make a cup of tea and take a wander.

Biggest accomplishment?

Finishing my book. I’ve just finished the final edits and it’s now with the designer. I had four months to write the manuscript and I did it every day; in cafes and laundromats and the quiet dark of the caravan while everyone slept around me. It was fascinating and equally challenging to write my story knowing that it needed to be much more than a straight memoir and while the process was quite esoteric, it was so incredibly rewarding to see a series of thoughts and paragraphs become whole chapters.